PXHERE
Science
Scientists are using all kinds of specialized tools, like X-rays and terahertz radiation, to analyze the origins—and secrets—of artworks. Here is a nice overview, that includes a look beneath the visible layers of paint on a “Blue Period” Picasso. [The New York Times]
Politics
Jared Kushner, the art collector and senior adviser to President Trump, is reported to be resisting losing his security clearance, as White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly cracks down on the use of interim security clearances. [The New York Times]
Artist Joshua Smith, who has called for the repeal of the Second Amendment, penned an essay with writer Lion Summerbell entitled “The Second Amendment is a Threat to us All.” [Democratic Socialists of America]
Fun
The new director of the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma (MACRO) says that he will convert the institution into MACRO Asilo (MACRO Asylum)—an “open laboratory” with no exhibitions in which artists will have open studios and scholars will offer lectures. [The Art Newspaper]
Artist Carsten Höller has written an essay on his trademark form: the slide. “A reaction to the shock of industrialization, the metal slide was purely visceral, vaguely mechanical and a solitary, not social, entertainment,” he says. “It was, in other words, a refashioning of the new industrial mode of relaxation.” [Artsy]
Artists
Here’s a profile of San Francisco–based artist Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the “grandson and namesake of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party,” whose “work explores the intersection of Islam, sexuality and masculinity.” [The New York Times]
New York’s Rachel Uffner Gallery added to its roster Maryam Hoseini, Arcmanoro Niles, Curtis Santiago, Sally Saul, and Molly Zuckerman-Hartung. [Rachel Uffner Gallery]
Tania Bruguera will do the next Turbine Hall installation at Tate Modern. If you’re in New York, you can see an installation by her currently at the Museum of Modern Art at the moment. [The Art Newspaper]
And here’s a taste of an interview that Jason Farago did with artist Giuseppe Penone. Penone: “I’m certainly very happy people are working on climate change. But if you look at the climate more broadly, you can consider that this fear is ultimately a fear of human survival. It’s not about the survival of the planet, or of nature. What is nature? Nature is whatever is outside; nature will be present even if the human species goes extinct.” [Even]
Furniture
Greg Allen, who recently covered the unveiling of the Obamas’ portraits in these pages, goes hunting for the chair on which President Obama is posing in Kehinde Wiley’s painting. [Greg.org]
And here’s Allen on the debut of the paintings. [ARTnews]
Acquisitions
The University of Colorado Art Museum acquired the collection of the long-running local print studio Shark’s Ink for $1.35 million. Among the artists who worked with the firm over the years are Red Grooms, Jane Hammond, Robert Kushner, and Betty Woodman. [Daily Camera]
Museums
The Milwaukee Art Museum donated 500 pounds of food collected from—along with 100 bowls made by—visitors to the Hunger Task Force in the city. [CBS58]