Blockbuster Bust: Australian Rags Masterpieces from the Prado for Lackluster Attendance, Opens at MFAH on December 16
The Australian Newspaper gleefully reports that Australians did not flock to see the blockbuster Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado, on view for the past fifteen weeks at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane. In typically Australian muck-raking style, the newspaper points out that the show, booked by former director Tony Ellwood (who then [...]
Honeybees Can Discriminate Between Monet and Picasso Paintings
Honeybees (Apis mellifera) have remarkable visual discrimination abilities that extend beyond simple colours, shapes or patterns. In spite of their small brains, they can discriminate landscape scenes, types of flowers (go figure!), human faces and have some capacity to distinguish on the basis of artistic style: Impressionist paintings by Monet and Cubist paintings by Picasso. [...]
Art Fugitive: Menil Vandalism Suspect Crit on Artinfo, Discussed in Wall Street Journal
The Menil Picasso vandalism story is working its way up the media ladder: the Wall Street Journal‘s Eric Felten pokes at the art/crime knot without unraveling it, referring to a tongue-in-cheek “portfolio review” of Landeros’ rambling, immature symbolist paintings, on ArtInfo.com, based on pictures posted on Landeros’ Facebook page. Not really getting the humor, (admittedly [...]
Thomas Kinkade, Disney, and NASCAR
The world lost Thomas Kinkade more than a week ago, an artist whose importance during his life was measured by product placement and marketing prowess. Kinkade’s work always fascinated me, not because his formulaic shuffle of cottages, lighthouses and waterfall gardens appealed to my taste, but because he seemed like a conflicted character. Many remember [...]