Crystal Bridges, Part II: American Stories
Last December, before my visit to Crystal Bridges, I wrote about the challenges of being a museum funded by Wal-Mart money and located in Bentonville, Arkansas. I had interviewed the museum’s director, Don Bacigalupi, and I was taken with his brand of populism — which did not equate inclusion with dumbing down content and pandering [...]
Crystal Bridges: Don Bacigalupi, Art, Arkansas, Populism and Wal Mart
When art people ask, “Where did you grow up?” and I answer, “Arkansas,” there is, invariably, an awkward pause. It is usually followed by “Oh.” or “Oh. Really?” and occasionally, “Well, um, I hear it’s really pretty there.” East coasters are the worst. It’s like they asked what your father does and you said, “He’s [...]
Bible Belt Bauble Highlights Art World Inequities, Guardian Calls for Revolution!
The Guardian (UK) is taking an interest in the new Crystal Bridges Museum, focusing on the controversy surrounding the perceived inequities in Walmart heir Alice Walton’s $1.4 billion bible-belt bauble and the ever-declining benefits offered Wal-Mart employees. Said Ben Waxman, spokesman for the union-affiliated Making Change@Walmart,”Opening a huge, opulent museum in the middle of nowhere [...]
The Robinson Report: Wal-Mart Museum of Art Grand Opening
Gaile Robinson, art critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, made the trek to the new Crystal Bridges Museum of Art in Bentonville, Arkansas and turned in a detailed report on Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton’s ambitious project, which opened Friday. Influenced and partly in collaboration with Fort Worth’s Amon Carter Museum and its founder, Ruth Carter [...]
El Paso’s Vaquero Rattles His Hocks for Arkansas
Perhaps Luis Jimenez’s most famous work, Vaquero, is riding into the sunset. On loan from collector and fiberglass fabricator Frank Ribelin, the monumental fiberglass statue of a pistol-packing cowboy has stood in front of the El Paso museum of Art Since 1998 has gone to a permanent home at the Crystal Bridges Museum of Art [...]