COURTESY WATSON FOR PRESIDENT 2016
Huh?
IBM’s Watson is dropping science about art on view at a museum in Brazil. Among the questions the cognitive computer system can answer, as the brain of paintings being queried: “Do you like to play soccer?” and “Why is love impossible?” [Adweek]
A rich profile (with studio visit!) of Rachel Dolezal, whose controversial racial self-identification caused much collective forehead-slapping in 2015. [The Stranger]
An impressionistic appreciation of 1880s-era paintings by Albert Pinkham Ryder, in which the writer tips his hat to Miami Vice and wonders “Is the snake Satan or just some random snake?” [New York Review of Books]
Collections
All eyes are on a collection of heavy hitters in “Maven of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in California,” now on view in Pasadena. Among the highlights: László Moholy-Nagy, Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, and a gorgeous watercolor by Lyonel Feininger. [Los Angeles Times]
Ten classics from the NASA Art Program, founded by the space agency to commission artworks in 1962. [Houston Chronicle]
The record collection of legendary house-music DJ Frankie Knuckles has made its way to Theaster Gates’s Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago. (Too bad the article has Theaster’s name misspelled.) [Spin]
The Criterion Collection released a trailer for its new restoration of Andrei Tarkovsky’s mesmerizing film Stalker. [IndieWire]
Lineage
Art collector Steven Cohen donated $1 million to President Trump’s inauguration. [The Art Newspaper]
Chillin’ with the grandkids of Calder and Miró. [The New York Times]
Lay eyes on some amazing 1920s-50s German buildings, from the exhibition “Otto Bartning: Architect of Social Modernism” in Berlin. [The Guardian]
Look/Touch
Romare Bearden channeled the bayou in collages worth peeping in this slideshow. [The Paris Review]
Touching the art is A-OK at “Liz Nurenberg: Twiddle, Poke, Hold” at Elephant gallery in L.A. [Los Angeles Times]