OLD NEWS

ON ART, POLITICS, AND TODAY’S EVOLVING CULTURAL LANDSCAPE.-- DEAN KISSICK
“I actually believe that art is more important than politics—but not everyone has to go along with that. I think it would be good for museums to care about art first, not about things outside of art, if they’re art museums. That’s just where I stand. It’s not a crazy thing to say, is it? You know, art museums should care about art most of all…
But if the museum’s primary concern is social justice, making a more equitable world, well, they don’t need to pivot from that. Just take it more seriously, do it better, be more convincing. Make shows that dazzle people. Make shows that make bold political statements or bold statements about social justice. Not this like wishy-washy, empty text that says nothing. Be more political. I don’t have a problem with political art, but I think the forms it’s taken recently, at least at these high-level biennials, is so superficial and shallow. It doesn’t do anything. It’s so useless. It actively puts people off. If you care about social justice, you shouldn’t like the forms of social justice art that are pushed because they actively undermine the cause. They are making serious causes look stupid. They are absolutely useless and counterproductive and they are turning people against progressive politics and turning people against art.” _artnet

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HAVE
<https://tinyurl.com/4867y7m2> _DavidShrigley

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CECILIA GIMÉNEZ, PAINTER BEHIND ‘BEAST JESUS’ RESTORATION, DIES AT 94
<https://tinyurl.com/35wjekvn>
Cecilia Giménez Zueco, the amateur Spanish painter who butchered an attempt to restore a small-town fresco and became a global phenomenon because of it, has died at 94.
Giménez, a lifelong resident of Borja in the province of Zaragoza, vaulted to unexpected international fame in 2012 after she tried to revive Ecce Homo, a 1930 devotional mural by Elías García Martínez. Her well-meaning but unsanctioned intervention transformed Christ’s face into what many online described as simian, sparking a torrent of memes, jokes, and a dedicated parody account that rechristened the work Ecce Homo as Behold the Monkey. Today, the painting is colloquially often called Beast Jesus.
While initially derided as a fiasco, the episode drew unprecedented attention to Borja. The church housing the fresco became a tourism magnet, and in time, Giménez embraced her unlikely celebrity. She exhibited her own paintings and watched as her name became shorthand for failed restorations everywhere.
Her restoration has since continued to act as an unusual form of inspiration, leading people to create music videos, operas, and even documentaries in response to the painting and the controversy that surrounded it.
Eduardo Arilla, Borja’s mayor, paid tribute to her calling her “one of the town’s most beloved residents” and crediting her “infinite generosity” for what the influx of visitors ultimately brought to the community.
Giménez’s transformation from local amateur to global pop-culture figure remains one of the art world’s strangest—and most enduring—viral legends. _ARTnews

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REST IN PEACE, REINA
<https://tinyurl.com/5ferkkfd> _JesseLocker

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LEVINE X SOUTINE by greg
<https://tinyurl.com/3re833aw>
While speedrunning through Soutines at Christie’s the other day, this popped up, Sherrie Levine’s 1984 watercolor of a Soutine that belonged to Melva Bucksbaum.
Of course, it’s not a watercolor of a Soutine, but a watercolor of a reproduction of a Soutine, yet another flattening step removed from the intense painterly construction of Soutine’s portrait.
The Aspen Museum had a whole show of early Sherrie Levine this past summer, and it’s worth remembering that rephotographing reproductions à la After Walker Evans was just one of Levine’s techniques for exploring the reproduction and circulation of images. Others included buying and framing posters of paintings; framed plates from art books; drew photos of drawings; and painted photos of paintings.
Back in the day, these watercolors were discussed in terms of their declarative absence of the original’s structure and painterly action, and as a thin, even surface on a thick paper ground. But they’re paintings of photos, so whatever flattening is there counts as documentation.
Anyway, I’m not finding a ton of stuff about Levine’s watercolors, nor of her exploration of Soutine. What I do see, though, makes me wonder why Bucksbaum, of all people, matted this picture this way, when it feels like it should be floated on its sheet. _greg.org

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THE MOUNT WASHINGTON POST
<https://tinyurl.com/2krpy6x2> _LisaAnneAuerbach

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ON A FRIGID DAY IN NYC,
I'm thinking of how many modern artists depicted stoves in their studios,
a valuable feature when most studios were unheated.
Look no further than Cezanne's "The Stove in the Studio," c. 1865;
note how the bright red of the artist's signature matches that of the fire within
<https://tinyurl.com/mss54rux>
I regret writing "when most studios were unheated,"
as I'd want to confirm that detail.
I had in mind the story that, while working on his "Man with Broken Nose,"
Rodin returned to the studio one winter morning to find
back of the clay model's head broken off
due to freezing temperatures overnight
Not such a reckless assertion.
Good light and enough heat are hard to get at the same time.
<https://tinyurl.com/pub68dwy>
Not an artist's studio per se, but in his 1889 "Ward in the Hospital at Arles,"
Vincent van Gogh depicted the interior of the hospital where he stayed
immediately after his notorious ear incident,
which shows numerous figures warming themselves around a stove in the foreground
<https://tinyurl.com/4tysp29c>
And in James Ensor's 1889 painting "Skeletons Warming Themselves,"
the artist depicts a group of costumed skeletons gathered around a studio stove,
although a written inscription cautions "No fire. Will you find any tomorrow?" in French
<https://tinyurl.com/349dveah>
Oldenburg, Stove, 1962
<https://tinyurl.com/yp7be7uj>
Here's one of my favorites!
Sheeler called his stove his "companion." .
<https://tinyurl.com/mvft6y6e> _MichaelLobel

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MAN RAY'S LAMPS by MONDOBLOGO
I’ve always been a gigantic fan of the Philly-born, Brooklyn-raised Dada & Surrealist master as I too tried my hand at being a serious “art” photographer, even getting an MFA in the Darkroom Arts at SAIC back in the late ‘90s. I’ve posted a lot about Mr. Ray here, dipping into his studio, portraits and relationship with Lee Miller. She is another source of fascination for me that was rekindled last month in London when Clyde and I spent several hours at The Tate Britain’s recent solo exhibition. I also just finished Carolyn Burke’s 2005 biography “Lee Miller: A Life” which was highly enjoyable. Anyway, I digress, and need to get back to the subject at hand: Man Ray’s lamp designs which I have always kept in the back of my head as something I would “write” about. I have finally gotten around to it, because for Christmas I received from my Secret Santa (thanks Christine!) the most recent Man Ray monograph, from The Met’s exhibition “Man Ray: When Objects Dream” which I have not yet seen, but I have read the entire catalog (!) and looked at the pictures, so I will give myself a pass until I get back to NYC and see it before it closes on February 1st, 2026.
While studying photographs of Man Ray’s studios — two in NYC, several in Paris and his Los Angles home that he shared with his ballet dancer wife Juliet, I always came across interesting lamp designs that at first I assumed where photographic lamps that he modified. Turns out this was only partly true because as I looked closer and dug deeper, I found that he was actively designing lamps and riffing on old designs until the end of his life. So let’s start with the earliest examples of lamps that he either designed or modified for his own purposes, both for studio and domestic use.
<https://tinyurl.com/5bwt4rty>
The story behind this “Lampshade” lamp / sculpture is that Man Ray found a shade in the trash and took the paper off the metalwork frame and attached it to a threaded rod with a base as seen here:
<https://tinyurl.com/4awkprf3>
So, I know what you are thinking, “Hey Patrick, this isn’t a lamp, it’s a sculpture.” And I would kinda agree with you except for the fact that Man Ray returns to this form over and over, hanging it from the ceiling, resting it on a pole with a base, while all the time the sculpture is reflecting light and acting just like a proper electrified lamp. So, give me a little latitude and stay with me…
<https://tinyurl.com/2mr5bswm>
Here from c.1920, you can see he has also made this form in very thin reflective sheet metal, and presto, added power and a bulb as seen by the switch and wire in the lower left of the image. Told you to stick with me!
I also love that almost 50 years later, that form turned into these:
<https://tinyurl.com/ya54e6nb>
Catherine Deneuve in 1968 wearing earrings Man Ray made for her based on “Lampshade”.
<https://tinyurl.com/3644448u>
Ok there is no arguing with this one, as Man has taken the top portion of what appears to be a cello and added small chromium tube shades with bulbs to where the tuners had previously been. I love the two very chunky Bakelite flip switches on the base. This image is the photograph “Self-Portrait with the Lamp” from 1934.
And if you are looking to brighten your home up with a photo of Man Ray (and the Solarized version to boot), head over to Walmart <https://tinyurl.com/2x7sm87b> !
<https://tinyurl.com/3za9mhre>
Too bad they aren’t making the lamp, I might have gone for that!
Next Up:
<https://tinyurl.com/4y5aded8>
Jumping ahead to the late 1950’s early 1960s we have some sketches for lamps. These would have been done when he was in California and I don’t think he executed them, no real loss in my opinion.
He did make this floor lamp during his Californication time though:
<https://tinyurl.com/5d49v3xc>
Very Driftwood Aesthetic, but cooler. This was shot in 1948 at his Hollywood home. If you want to get really dark California Art Vibes check this old post <https://tinyurl.com/5n7ebd7k> out…
<https://tinyurl.com/2vnhhn57>
“La Lune Sous le Chapeau” lamp, was designed by Man Ray in 1935, and put into production in 1973 by Sirrah, Italy. You see these a lot because several companies made them and they are still being made today. Nothing radical here but they are nice, I’d happily with an older one, as the newer ones don’t have much soul. I believe this is the original lamp that inspired it:
<https://tinyurl.com/5wku8rbf>
The above photo was taken by Jan Svenunsson in Man Ray’s Atelier <https://tinyurl.com/y23xymwr> , 2 bis rue Férou, Paris in the 1980s.
<https://tinyurl.com/mvmhvse4>
Above, in this untitled image from the 1930s we see a clever use of a realistic mannequin’s hand attached to a simple painted wooden base with a hardware store spun aluminum shade rising up. If you brought this to your Design 101 crit today, I would be pretty brutal, but in 1930 this was cutting edge.
<https://tinyurl.com/34823wju>
This studio image is also from the 1930s and my focus is the strange little lamp in the upper left hand corner:
<https://tinyurl.com/y33a26um>
Not 100% sure what this is, photo lamp? heat lamp? photo flash? or just another one of his odd lamp designs? If you know please share.
I bet if I asked these guys they would know:
<https://tinyurl.com/ej8nzkje>
That’s famous nocturnal train photographer O. Winston Link and his assistant George Thom in 1956.
To finish things off here are a few more Man Ray lamps, some more utilitarian than anything else, but still worth a look:
<https://tinyurl.com/mr45f2tr>
Who hasn’t drawn on and hand decorated an ugly lampshade? May Ray and Juliet certainly did, shown here in 1969 in their Paris studio on Rue de Férou.
<https://tinyurl.com/msetthbf>
Crazy lamp assemblage behind Man and an upside down shade to the far left, another college dorm room decorating trick.
Wait, I think I judged the upside down shade too quickly, it also seems to have a light-emitting disc cut out of it which is pretty cool.
<https://tinyurl.com/yc6p2vhv>
<https://tinyurl.com/2h8tpx88>
This one is an interesting bricolage of a ceiling lamp cap as base with a hardware store shade attached to it on a knobbed joint to adjust the shade. Either that or its a ceiling / wall mounted lamp placed on the windowsill ;-)
<https://tinyurl.com/76kkxc22>
Last but not least, this appears to be another version of “Lampshade” but I can’t find much info on it. It looks like a helmet or a nun’s “flying” coronet with the photo lamp casting a strong light on it. If you know more about this image or have any other lamps for me to add, please drop me a line!
Thanks again for staying with me this long, I appreciate it!
-Patrick

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NEWBERN FIREHOUSE NEWBERN, AL
<https://tinyurl.com/98jrkzc6>

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HONG KONG’S ARTISTS FIGHT TO PRESERVE BAMBOO SCAFFOLDING CRAFT AFTER DEADLY FIRE
<https://tinyurl.com/3kzxff3r>
As Hong Kong grapples with the fallout of its deadliest fire in nearly eight decades, a battle has erupted online over who—or what—should shoulder the blame. When photographer Elaine Li posted images of the charred high-rises wrapped in bamboo scaffolding last week, she added a blunt plea: “Leave the bamboo alone.”
Her post, echoed by artists and architects across the city, pushed back against early news reports that implicated Hong Kong’s centuries-old craft in the blaze that killed at least 159 people, with 31 still missing.
Over the past week, Li has joined many Hong Kong residents, from construction experts to former officials, in publicly defending bamboo scaffolding. Multilingual explainer videos have spread online amid concerns that early, hasty media reports about the fire may have unfairly tarnished the craft’s reputation. Many fear that bamboo scaffolding may share the same fate of neon signs, which have been fading away from Hong Kong’s cityscape as government tightens regulations. Early this year, local authorities also announced plans to phase out bamboo scaffolding.
<https://tinyurl.com/5n6y644u>
Bamboo, revered in traditional Chinese culture as a symbol of integrity and resilience, has been used in construction since the Han dynasty around 2,000 years ago. It became widespread in Hong Kong in the 1800s and was formally documented after the city became a British colony in the 1840s. Bamboo theaters, built for Cantonese opera and religious rituals, are now recognized as official intangible cultural heritage. Today, bamboo scaffolding remains common across Hong Kong, even for high-rise buildings, and has been embraced by renowned architects like Norman Foster and I.M. Pei in their landmark projects.
As a versatile, resilient, and sustainable material, bamboo offers cost-efficient solution and the agility that meets the unique needs of Hong Kong’s cityscape where metal fails, said Bob Pang, an architect based between Hong Kong and London and author of Unknown Brutalism Architecture in Hong Kong. The construction of bamboo scaffolding by professionally trained craftsmen, known as si fu in the local language of Cantonese, also represents generations of hardworking and wisdom.
“Without bamboo, this city wouldn’t even have existed,” Pang said.
<https://tinyurl.com/48ebjzum>
Bamboo scaffolding straddles art, architecture, and craft, and has long been proudly presented as a unique art form internationally. It was featured at the Hong Kong stand in the 1986 Expo in Vancouver and, in 2000, Hong Kong architect Rocco Yim built Bamboo Pavilion, a large-scale temporary outdoor performance venue, at Berlin’s House of World Cultures as part of the Festival of Vision—Hong Kong in Berlin. Architect, artist, and collector William Lim built West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre in 2013, one of the early major public projects of the arts hub. The practice was also featured the city’s presentation in this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale.
“Bamboo scaffolding in Hong Kong isn’t just a building technique. It’s a kind of living knowledge system passed down through masters or si fus, who literally hold the memory of the city in their hands and their bodies while they climb on the structure,” said Swedish-born artist Lap-See Lam. With the help of Hong Kong si fu Ho Yeung Chan, she has routinely featured the craft in her exhibitions, including “The Altersea Opera” at the 60th Venice Biennale’s Nordic Pavilion, and “Floating Sea Palace” at London’s Studio Voltaire.
<https://tinyurl.com/3yj9373m>
The performative aspect of building bamboo scaffolding inspired London- and Hong Kong-based architect and artist Siu Man, who erected a scaffolding installation called Dis-place, which was featured in the Architecture Urbanism Biennale Hong Kong in 2022. She created the piece in collaboration with a dancer who also became a freelance si fu. “The si fu are essentially artisans,” Siu said. “They are trained to build bamboo scaffolding but they also understand the structure intuitively.”
Against the backdrop of grief and ongoing relief work, U.K.-based Hong Kong artist Gum Cheng, who also used bamboo in his early work, believes that bamboo will continue to inspire artists, and most artists will support the defense of bamboo scaffolding as the city rebuilds in the wake of the tragedy. “Hong Kong people must safeguard these cultural symbols,” he said. _artnet

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TWO GREAT ARTISTS WERE BORN ON THIS DATE,
Joseph Cornell and Ad Reinhardt, and also Paul Manship!
Red and Blue Composition, oil on fiberboard by Reinhardt,
the great abstract rationalist, 1941:
<https://tinyurl.com/535zpn7m> _‪PeterHuestis‬

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DEAR ART DADDY
Dear Art Daddy, how do I end the year without spiraling?
Daddy says: Stop treating December like a verdict on your worth. The year is closing, not judging you. Things slow down, people disappear, and nothing needs to be resolved right now. Take stock quietly and save the big emotional accounting for January, when everyone has slept and eaten something green.
---
Dear Art Daddy, how do I let go of things that didn’t work this year?
Daddy says: Name them honestly and then stop carrying them forward. Not everything needs a lesson or a narrative. Some projects just weren’t right and that’s enough information. Dragging disappointment into the new year will not make you wiser. It will just make you tired.
---
Dear Art Daddy, what should I carry into the new year?
Daddy says: Discernment. Fewer yeses. Clearer priorities. More trust in your own taste. You do not need to do everything or keep up with everyone. You need to do what matters to you and do it with care.
---
That’s where we’re leaving it for now. The market is being carefully stage-managed, institutions are choosing quiet over clarity, old money is eating itself, and the men are posting like the algorithm is a confessional. None of this feels accidental, and none of it feels resolved.
We are heading into a new year that will reward discernment over noise, specificity over spectacle, and people who can read a room instead of dominating it. Until then, hydrate, log off when necessary, and remember that just because something is being said loudly doesn’t mean it’s true._TheArtDaddy

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EMIL NOLDE - SULTRY EVENING - 1946
<https://tinyurl.com/2dk5sp4s> _RabihAlameddine

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ANGELINA JOLIE IN SECRET LEGAL BATTLE OVER NYC STUDIO
Angelina, 50, has found herself in yet another protracted legal battle, this time over the name of her Manhattan art studio, Atelier Jolie, which opened in November 2023.
The actress’s art collective is housed in a two-story graffiti-strewn building.
It encompasses a Bohemian mix of art residences, clothing design, workshops, and a cafe run by refugees.
At issue is that there is already a firm out there with the same name, and with a very similar function.
According to documents, Angelina applied to trademark Atelier Jolie in May of 2022, but when the application was finally published in the US Patent and Trademark Office gazette in March 2024, it was immediately opposed by another art business with the same name.
The other Atelier Jolie is based in Easton, Pennsylvania, and is also a trendy gallery for up-and-coming artists with an attached cafe.
The owner is Omnaia Jolie Abdou, an artist, curator and entrepreneur.
In a filing, Omnaia claimed to be operating her business, located in Easton, Pennsylvania, since 2021 under the Atelier Jolie moniker.
According to documents filed with the United States Patent & Trademark Office, Omania demanded that Angelina’s trademark application be refused.
The notice of opposition filing stated: “Since at least as early as 2021, Opposer has been regularly and continuously using the mark ATELIER JOLIE.
“Opposer’s ATELIER JOLIE mark is primarily used to identify and promote art and design studio goods and services featuring the works of Omnaia Jolie Abdou, managing member of Applicant, which include but are not limited to custom art pieces, apparel and luxury wear, paintings, sculptures, pottery, prints, posters, and other custom merchandise and artistic works.”
Omania added that her business “has created significant goodwill and consumer recognition in the ATELIER JOLIE mark through its continued use and expenditure of significant time, effort, and money in advertising and promotion.”
“Opposer’s and Applicant’s ATELIER JOLIE marks are identical in spelling and therefore are also identical in sight, sound, and commercial impression.
“Opposer, Atelier Jolie, LLC, respectfully requests that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board sustain this Opposition and refuse registration of the mark ATELIER JOLIE for Applicant’s goods and services.”
Angelina’s team has attempted to rebuff Omania’s claims, saying that there would be no confusion between the two businesses.
Now the lawyers for both parties are negotiating a settlement, which could mean Angelina will have to fork over money to use the name. _USSun

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ON ART, POLITICS, AND TODAY’S EVOLVING CULTURAL LANDSCAPE.-- ANDREA FRASER
“In the art world today, maybe we can still talk about one art world, but increasingly artists, artistic practices, discourse, art discourse are located in specific subfields and that are actually, in many respects, functioning in radically different social spaces, economies, institutions, with radically different and often conflicting perspectives on what art is, what artists do that’s of value or worth to society, different criteria, different artistic practices.” _artnet