COURTESY STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM
West Coast Concerns
Catherine Wagley explores the exploding Los Angeles art scene, with galleries and private museums and the like sprouting all over town. But then she floats the question that most seem too scared to ask: Maybe this art world California gold rush is, um, not a good thing? [Apollo Magazine]
But at least Angelenos have Burning Man-inspired art cars rolling into downtown, all those multi-story rides affixed with DJs and stripper poles. [LA Weekly]
And in Chinatown, Jeff Gillette wants you to step on his art and kick it all over the place. [The Los Angeles Times]
Fearless Girl, Meet Urinating Dog
In case you thought we had reached the end of this whole “Fearless Girl” statue saga—which has been going down by the “Charging Bull” statue on Wall Street for some time now—hold your horses, not quite yet! Because an enterprising attention-seeker named Alex Gardega has decided to protest what he calls the “corporate nonsense” of the “Fearless Girl” statue by having a sculpture of a dog relieve himself on her. Sure, “Fearless Girl” was paid for by the asset-management outfit State Street Global Advisors, a subsidiary of masters-of-the-universe financial holding company State Street Corp. So you can be skeptical of this whole mess. But do we really need to have a urinating canine enter the picture? [The New York Post]
And it turns out that Gardega, the urinating dog artist, has long been a nemesis of subtlety. One of his works involved recreating the Sistine Chapel in his studio apartment. [CBS]
He also made hot sauce inspired by Bernie Madoff. [Fox News]
Swinging London
On Instagram, Courtney Love proclaimed that she’s #inspired by National Portrait Gallery director Nicholas Cullinan, who she saw in both #Milan and #Venice, and decided that they will be #friendsforlife. [The Art Newspaper]
This really cool-sounding exhibition of Scythian artifacts that’s coming to the British Museum in September includes—get this—a 2,400-year-old patch of human skin with a tattoo. So metal. [The Guardian]
The Robert Rauschenberg show that recently traveled from the Tate Modern to MoMA doesn’t include the tiny work that was commissioned by The New Yorker in 1964, but Calvin Tomkins still wants to tell you a very charming story about how that tiny work came to be. [The New Yorker]
Grayson Perry made some “Brexit pots” for his upcoming show at the Serpentine Gallery. [The Evening Standard]
Colin Gleadell looks into his crystal ball and foretells glorious, glorious moneymaking for London auction houses during its sales week in June. [The Telegraph]
Matters of State
Recently fired New York Times chief theater critic Charles Isherwood has a long essay about art in the Trump era that name-checks Fran Lebowitz, Philip Glass, the Kardashians, Otto Dix, and Stephen Sondheim. [Town & Country]
Michelle Obama stopped by the Whitney to get a tour of the Biennial—and to give co-curator Mia Locks a hug! [Twitter]
Structural Issues
A fire destroyed an historic gallery in Tucson, Arizona. [KVOA]
A main entryway into the Newark Museum was closed for two decades before finally opening last week. [NJ Biz]
And then, Dessert
Here is a really nice profile of Meredith Kurtzman, the little-known sweets savant who has been secretly slaving away for decades in a Mario Batali joint concocting New York’s best gelato. She is now retiring. [Eater]