SONG1, Doug Aitken’s latest projection,debuted on Gordon Bunshaft’s Hirshhorn building last week. The Washington Post’s Philip Kennicott reviewed it here (and added this note on his own website.) Kriston Capps’s Washington CityPaper coverage was more news-driven: The Hirshhorn promoted an Aitken lecture as a public event, but restricted the huge majority of seats for VIPs. Nice. And if the Hirshhorn bubble is ever built/inflated, it will be officially called the Bloomberg Balloon. (Of course unofficially it’s still Koshalek’s Folly.) The Aitken is on view every night through May 13, which means that allergy sufferers will be able to see it after the pollen is gone.- Curious about what SONG1 actually looks like (and not how photographers with extra-$$ equipment can make it look)? The Hirshhorn’s Twitterers are re-tweeting out visitor pix like mad. [Image: Aitken, SONG1 (detail), 2012 with Alexander Calder, Two Discs, 1965 in the foreground. Image via Flickr user Tericee.]
- On the occasion of its presentation at the Tacoma Art Museum, NPG historian/curator David Ward explains how “Hide/Seek” happened.
- Martha Schwendener takes to the NYT with a super take on Kehinde Wiley at The Jewish Museum.
- Sebastian Smee loves Charline von Heyl at the ICA Boston, wishes Petzel-sized show was larger. (And yeah, is 10 paintings really a museum-level show?)
- The Akron Art Museum has decided that owning quality and depth in Cindy Sherman is a bad thing, apparently. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer’s Steven Litt reports on the museum’s deaccessioning of a major Sherman.
- Enough with the hoopla over the journey of a rock, says Catherine Wagley in LA Weekly.
- In Modern Painters, Doug Harvey reviews the Richard Diebenkorn Ocean Park show at the Orange County Museum of Art. I reviewed it here. Short version: We both think that it shows the Ocean Park paintings as a pinnacle of 20thC abstract art.
- In the NYT, Sylviane Gold offers a short write-up of “Colts & Quills” at the Wadsworth Atheneum. The show is essentially an art + Civil War show. I’m surprised — really surprised — that more art museums haven’t presented Civil War-anniversary-related exhibitions/collection installations.
On this week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast: Jan van Eyck. Art historian Craig Harbison joins me to talk about the revision and expansion of his important “Jan van Eyck: The Play of Realism,” and technical specialist Ron Spronk tells us about the remarkable new “Closer to van Eyck” web resource he coordinated. Download the program, subscribe via iTunes, subscribe via RSS and/or view images of art discussed on the show.
March 26, 2012, 7:29 am
