OLD NEWS

THE LURE OF FRESH CAMBIUM by Mary Holland
<https://tinyurl.com/4j4bek5f>
Over a week of below-freezing weather, often in the single digits, presented many species with challenges. One might think that beavers are not affected by the frigid weather, as they are wintering inside a lodge that stays around 32°F. even with subzero outside temperatures. However, if there is enough open water for a beaver to enter and exit its pond, the thought of fresh cambium in the middle of winter is something few beavers can resist.
Recently I came upon a beaver that had given in to this temptation – it left its lodge, swam to a very small opening near the bank of the pond and climbed out on land in order to have something other than the three-month-old submerged pile of water-soaked branches next to its lodge to eat. This venture in 9°F. provided me with not only an encounter with the cold-to-the-point-of-barely-moving beaver, but also showed me what the trail of a beaver walking in a foot of snow looks like.
Much to my surprise, I also came upon beaver scat lying in the snow where the beaver had traveled. Beavers are known to only defecate outside of their lodge in the water, so that you rarely come upon scat, and when you do, it’s on the bottom of the pond near a dam or channel, where the beaver’s spent time excavating or building. To find it in the snow was a first for me. Trails, scat and eye to eye with my favorite rodent in the middle of winter – an outing I shall not soon forget. _NaturallyCurious

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RESISTANT
<https://tinyurl.com/yh8cjb93> _DavidShrigley

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A MASTERPIECE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, MADE WITH A HUNDRED BUCKS by Sebastian Smee
<https://tinyurl.com/5h94tfhj>
Alex Da Corte had a hundred dollars in the bank when, in 2010, he accepted an invitation from Leonard Cohen and his daughter to make a video to go with Cohen’s beloved song “Chelsea Hotel No. 2.”
Da Corte took his $100 to the grocery store. Reflecting on food and love and sandwich-making, and on what becomes of love when you have, so to speak, eaten the sandwich, he came back with a loaf of sliced white bread, bologna and ketchup, as well as bananas, cherries, a cabbage, food dye, a soft drink bottle, dishwashing liquid, a wastebasket, masking tape, a broom, a bucket, nail polish, sequins, aluminum foil, soil and flour.
The resulting three-minute video has the feel of an art school assignment completed an hour before deadline. But it’s also a masterpiece — a breathtakingly deft visual poem, fired with tenderness, eroticism, heartbreak, humor, violence and mortality.
This was Da Corte’s first real attempt at video art, and it was filmed over two days. But every frame feels exquisitely calibrated to a specific mood, a body part or a state of the heart. There’s something almost fetishistic about its intensity. But all this poetic precision — when set against the work’s overall nonchalance, its cheap, improvised tackiness — is charged with pathos.
We’re of course free to interpret it any way we like. But I take Da Corte (who has gone on to become one of contemporary art’s leading lights) to be posing a question about how one might exist in the world with nothing more than a body, a bunch of cheap, take-it-or-leave-it stuff and a heart brimming with feeling.
He’s made a work, in other words, about life. About all our lives.
<https://tinyurl.com/36ehttew>
One of the most striking things about the video — and this holds for all of Da Corte’s work — is its intoxicating use of vivid, saturated color. As the footage of cherries being painted with red nail polish suggests, Da Corte makes a lot from his sense that colors are at once superficial and of the essence.
And, of course, Cohen’s wistful song is not to be taken for granted in all of this. It’s an authentic classic — a mournful, mischievous song about his brief fling with Janis Joplin. It functions as both an ode to sexual solidarity (“And clenching your fist for the ones like us who are oppressed by the figures of beauty”) and to the fleeting, illusory nature of love (“That was called love for the workers in song”).
Da Corte converts all of this into a homoerotic register, semi-submerged, as I read it, in loss and solitude, haunted by the shadow of AIDS.
I’ve watched this video dozens of times since I first saw it at Mass MoCA in 2016. (The piece is owned by the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and is a promised gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.) It sometimes reminds me of a late poem by Raymond Carver called “Thermopylae.” The poem draws on Herodotus’s account of the small band of Greek soldiers “whose duty it was to hold the Gates against the Persian army.” They did, for four days, a stand that became legendary.
But before the battle, the Persian ruler Xerxes observed the Greek soldiers, “sprawled as if uncaring,” “combing and combing their long hair, as if it were simply another day in an otherwise unremarkable campaign.” He demanded an explanation. “When these men are about to leave their lives,” he was told, “they first make their heads beautiful.”
Perhaps it’s a stretch, but I find Da Corte’s video shares with Carver’s poem the same laconic matter-of-factness, the same feeling for beauty and the same acute awareness of mortality. It communicates, too, a similar sense of things that matter being carefully, almost ritualistically, doled out, like doses of methadone, or long, beautiful hair being brushed and brushed in preparation for … what?
The question collapses, like Cohen’s ever-descending voice, before any answer presents itself. But other questions remain, like: Whose dirty hands are choreographing this bright, glamorous cacophony of color?
_WashingtonPost

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THE MOUNT WASHINGTON POST
<https://tinyurl.com/npd5dz5e> _LisaAnneAuerbach

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PULITZER-WINNING ‘WASHINGTON POST’ ART CRITIC SEBASTIAN SMEE LAID OFF IN CUTBACKS
Billionaire Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post laid off some thirty percent of its employees on Wednesday, according to sources quoted in the New York Times, slashing the paper’s sports, local news, and international coverage. More than 300 of the approximately 800 journalists in the newsroom were reportedly let go.
Among the casualties was Pulitzer Prize for Criticism honoree Sebastian Smee, who was on staff since 2018.
“I had eight wonderful years at the Post, which paid for me to travel to great museums around the country and even internationally, so I’ll always be grateful,” said Smee in a message to ARTnews. “Especially to Marty Baron who brought me from the Boston Globe, having earlier brought me to Boston from Australia. There is nothing of which I am prouder than having worked under his great leadership for a big part of my career. My heart goes out to all my colleagues who have lost their jobs. I hope people will support the superb journalists and other staffers who remain. They do incredible work every day.“
Remaining on staff, according to ARTnews’s sources, is another Pulitzer Prize winner, art and architecture critic Philip Kennicott. Hyperallergic also reports that Kennicott will remain on staff. The Post’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.
Post employees and supporters from the Washington-Baltimore News Guild rallied in freezing temperatures outside the paper’s offices on Thursday, protesting the cuts. One sign was scrawled with the paper’s slogan since 2017, “Democracy dies in darkness,” appended with the words, “Bezos is the dark.”
Smee won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2011, when he was on staff at the Boston Globe, where he worked from 2008 to 2016. The committee praised his “vivid and exuberant writing about art, often bringing great works to life with love and appreciation.” (He had also been a finalist for the award in 2009.) Among the articles that cinched the honor for him were commentary on subjects ranging from contemporary British artist Cornelia Parker and Abstract Expressionist master Willem de Kooning to 18th-century Spanish still life painter Luis Meléndez and an exhibition of artifacts from China’s Forbidden City.
His final review for the Post, “A great American artist who urges us all to hush down,” is devoted to a traveling Martin Puryear retrospective. “Coming upon a sculpture by Martin Puryear can be like greeting a cowled monk standing sentry at the gates of a mountain monastery,” writes Smee. “You can try using your words. But chances are nothing will come back. You’re best off finding some other way to build rapport.”
Before the Globe, he had been national art critic for The Australian, had worked at the Daily Telegraph, and contributed to a range of publications including the Guardian, The Times, The Financial Times, and the Art Newspaper.
Smee has also authored four books: Side by Side: Picasso v Matisse (2002); Lucian Freud (2007); The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals and Breathroughs in Modern Art (2016); and Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism (2024). He also co-authored, with Anita Hill and Cornelia Butler, Mark Bradford (2018). In the New York Times, author Christopher Benfrey praised Paris in Ruins, calling it “deeply researched and suavely written.”
He has shown himself to be unafraid of a little controversy, weighing in in favor of Impressionist lightning rod Pierre-Auguste Renoir after meta-activist Max Geller organized his popular anti-Renoir protests outside museums, which Smee dubbed “sophomoric.” Geller challenged him to a duel on Boston Common.
The paper is imposing the cuts just days after the wide release of the universally panned documentary Melania (“Director Brett Ratner is no Leni Riefenstahl,” writes Vanity Fair), produced by Bezos’s Amazon MGM Studios, which inked a $40 million deal with the Trumps to secure the rights and shelled out some $35 million to market it. The deal was announced just days after Amazon leader Jeff Bezos dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Bezos is currently the world’s fourth-richest person, with a net worth of $234.9 billion at time of writing, according to Forbes. _Brian Boucher _ARTnews

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JACOB LAWRENCE, "GENERAL TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE, STATESMAN AND MILITARY GENIUS," F
rom the Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture series, 1938
<https://tinyurl.com/cmckzvne> _MichaelLobel

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26. FROZEN MARGARITA MACHINE by Rainey Knudson
<https://tinyurl.com/3m44xf89>
Why would you struggle with a blender and fussy little shot glasses of ingredients when you could pour whole bottles of tequila into a vat that spurts out industrial-scale coils of boozy deliciousness? You wouldn’t, of course, if you were lucky enough to live after the invention of the frozen margarita machine.
In 1971, Mariano Martinez sank his life savings into opening a restaurant in Dallas. On opening night, he wore a giant sombrero and a bandito costume, and the restaurant was a smash hit. But a customer complained about the margaritas, and the bartender threatened to quit—how was he supposed to make so many margaritas in a blender? He couldn’t keep up with the thirsty Dallasites demanding Mariano’s father’s secret recipe!
Mariano was happy for his little restaurant’s success but worried, so worried. He stopped in a 7-Eleven and noticed—as if lit from heaven, a choir of angels singing—the Slurpee machine. And he knew. He knew. But 7-Eleven wouldn’t sell him a machine. They said he was crazy; everybody knows you can’t freeze alcohol, it would never work. Undeterred, Mariano bought a used soft-serve ice cream machine and got to work tinkering with the recipe. Sugar was the key that unlocked the portal to an entire country, and eventually an entire planet, entering a glorious new phase of existence. Every strawberry daiquiri, every piña colada, every frosé, and all those sweet, sweet hangovers are thanks to the brilliance and determination of Mariano Martinez. God bless him. _TheImpatientReader

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GOODNIGHT
<https://tinyurl.com/ytpfshak> _RabihAlameddine

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THE WORLD HAS TOO MUCH ART. WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO IT? by Adam Lindemann
The Financial Times is a great paper, and it’s pink, so I often carry it around to look smart. Last week, it featured an article on wine—about how the world is producing too much of it, prices are dropping, and a lot of it is spoiling. Global consumption is down, and too much money has been pumped into business. Is this not a startling parallel to the art world, where there’s too much supply and too little demand?
The art audience seems surprised that certain galleries have closed and that some galleries have dropped out of art fairs. I am surprised that so many galleries have remained open, especially in an environment that is as close to an art-market recession as we’ve seen in a while.
Then there is the art-fair conundrum, in which some galleries are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Art fairs are expensive, but if you don’t show up, you’ll never get lucky and make that sale or meet that new client who could make your entire year. If you really think galleries are all cashing in and selling out at these events, though, you are out of touch. (For 14 years, my gallery exhibited in many art fairs.)
Try doing the math on Miami Basel week last December. Art Basel had about 280 galleries, Art Miami 160, Untitled 160, NADA 140 and Scope 100. That comes to around 840 galleries. Now, if we figure that each gallery brought an average of 25 works, that gets us to 21,000 pieces that were insured, crated, forklifted into massive tents or convention centers, and then hung on the walls by teams of handlers. And that is just one week of many.
<https://tinyurl.com/34yxdm2p>
The art market has been ballooning for a good while. Collectors are full. They may add, but they don’t need more. Of course, art collecting isn’t only about money. It’s a passion, a pleasure, and an indulgence. True art collectors are a bit like compulsive gamblers. (Have you seen Uncut Gems?) They just can’t stop, even when they know they should. But they are the exceptions.
I recently watched an interview with veteran advisor Allan Schwartzman by journalist Judith Benhamou. Perhaps Schwartzman was caught off guard, as he nervously quipped that “the art market is tired . . . collectors of the established generation are tired; they’ve bought most of what they wanted to own.” He’s right. What happens to all that work they no longer want? Perhaps they can give it to institutions? Not so fast. He added: “Museums have become more selective in what they are prepared to accept.”
I don’t know many collectors who have stopped buying altogether, but there’s no doubt that they are slowing down. Schwarzman added that, for artists whose primary shows used to sell out, “…buying has slowed down tremendously” if they are unsupported at auction. In summary, tulip buying is over; it was fun while it lasted.
There are far too many galleries and far too many artists. Just like in the world of wine, there’s been tremendous overproduction, and much of it has or will go bad. Some good small galleries do find overlooked careers or discover amazing new talents—the needles in the haystack. But let’s face it, we all need to step back and think about how few artists have really moved the needle, versus the many burnouts we’ve seen in the sizzling art pan.
<https://tinyurl.com/y2b43td4>
Mega art trophies can still rise in value, but they are very rare. Last week in Brussels a smooth young gallerist said to me, “It’s all fine, if you have great things, they will always sell.” He’s right, and I surprised myself by stretching to buy an amazing work in his show. I’m an addict; a slowdown isn’t a bad thing for me. Less can be more. Here’s to less art and better shows, at least for a while.
I am certain the collecting cycle will restart. It always does. And then the art world will grow bigger than ever. Yes, I see this art world of yesterday dwarfed by what is coming in the not so distant future. I think that some prices will hold and even go up because money is worth less and less to some. Think about what has happened with tech stocks. Many people have made absurd amounts of money: Numbers so astronomical that they were literally unthinkable when I was in graduate school a couple decades ago. That’s why $450 million for the Salvator Mundi doesn’t look so crazy today, especially now that Leonard Lauder’s Klimt sold for $236 million. Is it worth that? Maybe not to you or me, but when you can buy anything in the world, sometimes you do.
Over the past two years I have met more young people than ever who are obsessed with the art world. There is a constant stream of questions about where to work and how to get a job. I also have noticed a major Instagram and TikTok phenomenon. A younger generation is posting gallery visits and openings nonstop, and there are flocks of young people all dressed up for the occasion, taking selfies. When they come of age, they are going to send this world to new heights and expand what we’ve known and seen. The future will be bright when we get there, of that I am certain.
Here is where predictions get tricky. My feeling is: The trend is your friend but also your enemy. If masterpieces by the biggest names of the most recent cycle, like a word painting by Christopher Wool or a joke painting by Richard Prince can now sell for half of what they once did, nothing is safe. That doesn’t mean they aren’t still part of art history; it just means that’s not where the flow of money is headed.
<https://tinyurl.com/5488364z>
The Basquiat phenomenon is an interesting, and telling, example of what to expect. Now I see so many young people tattooing little Basquiat crowns on their arms that it’s ridiculous. This brand has crossed over into a mainstream phenomenon and into the world of posthumous prints and T-shirts. I’ve heard that the Keith Haring estate makes over $15 million a year on licensing alone. When I tell stories of meeting Jean-Michel or Keith, I feel like a purple dinosaur from the past. The future is about branding, influencers, and trends. Watch what Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton are using for promotion or what Swatch puts on its watches. I used to disregard this as just merchandise, but there’s staying power in it, and it holds a clue to what’s in store. The future art world will be much bigger than we imagine. You might not feel it today, but it’s a certainty. The great artists will always be remembered and collected, though a new wave of collectors will decide what’s “great.” In the world of wine, consumption is down, but in the world of art, consumption is inevitably going to rise—and soon enough, the money will follow. But for now, the next time you see 20,000-plus works for sale in a single week, don’t be surprised if many of them go to spoil. _artnet

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HOW IT STARTED / HOW IT'S GOING
<https://tinyurl.com/4ymhus4v> _JesseLocker

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ART DADDY READS ADAM LINDEMANN’S MARKET HANGOVER
In Adam Lindemann’s latest op-ed for Artnet, he charts just how oversaturated the art market has become and what that glut actually means. It reads like a man leaning back in his chair, swirling a very expensive glass of wine, calmly telling everyone else to unclench.
He’s not wrong. The market is bloated. The wine analogy works because the art world has been drunk on excess for years. Too much production, too much money sloshing around, too many fairs, too many artists, too many galleries all chasing the same small, finite group of buyers. What Lindemann is describing isn’t a crash. It’s indigestion.
What’s striking is how unbothered the tone is. Gallery closures and fair dropouts are treated like seasonal weather, not casualties. When he says there are too many artists and too many galleries, it lands as a neutral observation rather than a reckoning. Institutions expanded, collectors speculated, fairs multiplied, MFAs churned people out, and the risk always rolled downhill. Now the bill has arrived.
The fair math is the real gag. Twenty thousand works in a single week. Crated, shipped, insured, installed, and quietly prayed over. That’s not culture. That’s logistics. The art fair has become a high-stakes casino where everyone knows the odds are bad but no one can afford to sit out. Lindemann can see this clearly because he’s no longer the one sweating booth fees and shipping invoices.
The line about great things always selling is collector folklore. What sells is legibility. Auction backing. Brand recognition. Names that travel faster than the work itself. The softening of prices for artists once treated as untouchable quietly admits that nothing is truly safe once the mood shifts.
Where the piece accidentally tells the truth is in the Basquiat section. Tattoos, merch, watches, licensing deals. Value hasn’t disappeared. It’s migrated. From objects to symbols. From ownership to circulation. From connoisseurship to branding. The kids posting gallery selfies and crown tattoos aren’t debasing art. They’re clocking where cultural power actually lives now. This isn’t a warning shot. It’s a reassurance. The cycle will restart. It always does. And of course it will be bigger, louder, and richer next time. That confidence makes sense coming from someone already insulated from the fallout.
Read this op-ed as a daddy memo from the penthouse. The party is slowing down. The guest list is getting shorter. The wine will flow again. Just don’t expect everyone to still be invited when it does. _Theartdaddy

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GREEN BUILDING TAMARACK, MN
<https://tinyurl.com/2jma5th3> _RuralIndexingProject

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WINTER FINCH FORECAST 2025-2026
<https://tinyurl.com/j3c5jzfr>
PINE GROSBEAK
There should be a small to moderate flight of Pine Grosbeaks this winter south to southern Ontario, southern Quebec and the border states. The crop of Mountain Ash appears below average to poor from Lake Superior across the boreal forest into eastern Quebec. Either side of this area, the crop appears to be above average.
Individuals wandering southward will look for European Mountain-ash berries and small ornamental crabapples even in urban areas
<https://tinyurl.com/72cbw8hj>
PURPLE FINCH
Most Purple Finches will migrate south out of Eastern Canada this winter with some making it to the deep southern States. Reports of early movement have been occurring for weeks. Many young finches benefited from the ample food source provided by the widespread spruce budworm outbreaks, and this led to them moving in search of food weeks ago.
<https://tinyurl.com/ywte4wvw> _FinchResearchNetwork