OLD NEWS

EASTERN CHIPMUNKS EMERGING by Mary Holland
<https://tinyurl.com/362zcvjt>
The first sign of spring can often be heard or seen the beginning of March in most of the Northeast. Each year it’s always fun to see what you hear or see first that tells you that winter’s in the rear-view mirror. A striped rodent that has spent the winter in an intermittent state of torpor is likely to appear any day, if it hasn’t already. Eastern Chipmunks somehow detect that days are lengthening and temperatures are rising from their subterranean tunnels and soon scamper above ground. One of their two annual breeding seasons occurs in early spring, and there is no time to lose — females mate usually within a week of emerging above ground and will give birth in about a month. _NaturallyCurious

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DON'T
<https://tinyurl.com/hf7n5ztu> _DavidShrigley

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ULYSSES JENKINS, LOS ANGELES ARTIST AND PIONEER OF BLACK EXPERIMENTAL VIDEO, DIES AT 79
<https://tinyurl.com/2c2eubbd>
Ulysses Jenkins, the pioneering Los Angeles-born video artist whose avant-garde compositions embodied Black experimentalism, has died. He was 79.
Jenkins’ death was confirmed by his alma mater Otis College, where he studied under renowned painter and printmaker Charles White in the late 1970s and returned as an instructor years later. The Los Angeles art and design school shared a statement from the Charles White Archive, which said, “Jenkins had a profound impact on contemporary art and media practices.”
“A trailblazing figure in Black experimental video, he was widely recognized for works that used image, sound, and cultural iconography to examine representation, race, gender, ritual, history, and power,” the statement said.
A self-proclaimed “griot,” Jenkins throughout his decades-spanning career maintained an art practice grounded in the tradition of those West African oral historians who came before him. Through archival documentaries like “The Nomadics” and surrealist murals like “1848: Bandaide,” he leveraged alternative media to challenge Eurocentric representations of Black Americans in popular culture.
He was both an artist and a storyteller who sought to “reassert the history and the culture,” he told The Times in 2022. That year, the Hammer Museum presented Jenkins’ first major retrospective, “Ulysses Jenkins: Without Your Interpretation.”
“Early video art was about the problems with the media that we are still having today: the notions of truth,” Jenkins said. “To that extent, early video art was a construct that was anti-media ... a critical analysis of the media that we were viewing every night.”
Jenkins’ legacy is not only artistic but institutional, with the luminary having held teaching appointments at UCSD and UCI, where he co-founded the digital filmmaking minor with fellow Southern California-based artists Bruce Yonemoto and Bryan Jackson.
As artist and educator Suzanne Lacy penned in her social media tribute to Jenkins, which showed him speaking to students at REDCAT in L.A., “he has been an important part of our histories here in Southern California as video and performance artists evolved their practices.” _LATimes

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THE MOUNT WASHINGTON POST
<https://tinyurl.com/3njudyt3> _LisaAnneAuerbach

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THADDEUS MOSLEY, ACCLAIMED SELF-TAUGHT SCULPTOR, DEAD AT 99
<https://tinyurl.com/2xarxc9n>
Thaddeus Mosley, known for his dramatic abstract sculptures made from reclaimed wood, died on March 6 at his home in Pittsburgh. He was ninety-nine. Drawing from disparate influences including Constantin Brancusi, Isamu Noguchi, and African sculpture, Mosley turned out “sculptural improvisations,” as he called them, for over seventy years before finally achieving broad acclaim in the last decade of his life.
Thaddeus Mosley was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania, on July 23, 1926, to a homemaker mother and a miner father. The only son among five siblings, Mosley would be the first man in several generations of his family not to work in a coal mine. After a stint as a navy draftee in the waning days of World War II, he enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh, graduating with a double major in English and journalism. A part-time job developing negatives fostered his interest in art, which was furthered by frequent visits to the Carnegie Museum of Art.
A black-and-white photo shows a young Black man with short hair and a short-sleeved print shirt in profile with his back to an abstract wooden sculpture.
Thaddeus Mosley, self-portrait, 1957. Photo: Courtesy of Karma and the Estate of Thaddeus Mosley.
Thaddeus Mosley, known for his dramatic abstract sculptures made from reclaimed wood, died on March 6 at his home in Pittsburgh. He was ninety-nine. Drawing from disparate influences including Constantin Brancusi, Isamu Noguchi, and African sculpture, Mosley turned out “sculptural improvisations,” as he called them, for over seventy years before finally achieving broad acclaim in the last decade of his life.
Thaddeus Mosley was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania, on July 23, 1926, to a homemaker mother and a miner father. The only son among five siblings, Mosley would be the first man in several generations of his family not to work in a coal mine. After a stint as a navy draftee in the waning days of World War II, he enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh, graduating with a double major in English and journalism. A part-time job developing negatives fostered his interest in art, which was furthered by frequent visits to the Carnegie Museum of Art.
After graduating in 1950, Mosley married his first wife, Ruth Ray, with whom he would have three children before the couple divorced in 1960. Taking a job with the post office to support his growing family, Mosley in the 1950s worked side gigs writing for the Pittsburgh Courier and for the magazines Ebony, Sepia, and Jet, covering jazz and sports. It was during this decade that he caught sight of a group of teak birds accompanying a shopwindow display of Scandinavian furniture and decided to try making some himself.
Constructing his earliest works from castoff two-by-fours, Mosley soon progressed to carving small figures and from there to using a chisel and gauge to shape larger abstract forms from fallen logs of hickory, cherry, and sycamore discarded by the city’s parks department. Informed by the many books on sculpture he read at public libraries, and expanding his practice to incorporate stone, bronze, and glass, he developed a distinctive style that paid homage to the organic materials with which he was working while lifting them into a realm that was decidedly otherworldly. A hallmark of his sculptures was their quality of suggesting precarity and mutability while in fact being remarkably stable.
Mosely retired from the post office in 1992, after a forty-year tenure. He was separated from Yvonne Reed when she died, in 2015; he is survived by his partner, Teruyo Seya, as well as his six children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Asked by the New York Times’s Will Heinrich in 2023 how it felt to finally achieve acclaim in his tenth decade, Mosley was succinct. “Well, it feels very good,” he said. “I don’t feel that the work has improved, but the situation has tremendously.” _Artforum

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WHILE PIET MONDRIAN, DUTCH ARTIST BORN THIS DXAY IN 1872,
is rightfully celebrated as one of the key figures
in development of modern abstract painting,
I'm partial to some of his earlier, representational works as well (thread).
First up, his vibrant & luminous 1908 "Mill in Sunlight"
<https://tinyurl.com/4zd2kay4>
One aspect of Mondrian's early work I wish was better known
<https://tinyurl.com/nhjvhhsz>
are the many gorgeous paintings and drawings he made of chrysanthemums,
<https://tinyurl.com/an4t69y2>
which tend to focus on the flower's detailed structure
<https://tinyurl.com/ye3wtw46>
a painting that shows the geometric structure
that would characterize Mondrian's later work
coming to the fore
<https://tinyurl.com/3sv6vsez>
And here, the artist taking himself as subject:
Piet Mondrian, Self-Portrait, c. 1900
<https://tinyurl.com/352yya8n> _MichaelLobel

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A SHORT GUIDE TO THE HIDDEN MEANINGS IN GREAT PAINTINGS
<https://tinyurl.com/52btcaze>
The former picture researcher Caroline Chapman provides a wealth of contextual information about key historic paintings in her new publication Painted Mysteries: Interpreting Great Paintings. The author has looked at more than 135 paintings, from Botticelli to Boucher and Raphael to Rembrandt, “recounting the stories the artists were depicting and unravelling the layers of meaning that modern viewers may find elusive or mysterious”, according to the publishers. Below is a short extract form the book’s illustrated glossary, outlining some of the most common symbols and motifs used by artists throughout the centuries.
Extract from Painted Mysteries: Interpreting Great Paintings
Apple
Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Although the fruit is not specified in the Bible, it was taken to be an apple, perhaps because malus is Latin for both apple [tree] and evil. An apple thus represents original sin and the Fall of Man. However, if held by the Christ Child it signifies salvation and redemption.
Archangel
The order of angels that most frequently interact with humanity. The three most important ones are: Michael, messenger of divine judgement, who is depicted with a sword or a pair of scales with which he weighs the souls on Judgement Day; Gabriel, messenger of divine mercy, holds a lily at the Annunciation; Raphael is particularly associated with healing.
Book
An attribute that represents intelligence and the contemplative life. In portraits, it is a sign that the sitter is educated and learned. The Virgin Mary is often reading a book at the Annunciation.
Butterfly
Because the caterpillar transforms itself into a pupa, then a butterfly, it symbolises life, death and resurrection. It can also be a symbol of the resurrected human soul. Butterflies sometimes appear in still-life paintings as a reminder of the transience of life.
Candle
The eternal light that burns in churches symbolises the presence of God or the Holy Ghost. A recently snuffed-out candle can also signify that God is present. A lit candle can refer to the transience of life.
<https://tinyurl.com/murrz89k>
Carnation
A symbol of Christ since its Greek name, dianthus, means “the flower of god”. Red ones refer to a betrothal or marriage, and are also symbolic of maternal or compassionate love as they were said to grow on the ground where the Virgin Mary’s tears fell at the Crucifixion. Three red carnations together recall the three nails with which Christ was hammered to the cross.
Cat
A symbol of satanic mischief, lust, darkness and laziness. Cats are not mentioned once in the Bible. In art, they feature as mediators between the human and animal kingdom.
Columbine
It was so named because the flower was thought to resemble
doves in flight. Hence, the flower is a symbol of the Holy Ghost. Seven blue
columbines are symbolic of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. _Gareth Harris_ArtNewspaper

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BENNING X BESS X DE MARIA by greg
<https://tinyurl.com/3k945ypz>
We’re probably all off the hook for seeing it because the Fridericianvm’s Forrest Bess retrospective <<https://tinyurl.com/3dx6t87r> opened in February 2020. But we should all be very aware of the related edition made by James Benning.
Benning loves an extreme pursuit of solitude where he finds it. And in Kassel, he found it in Walter de Maria’s Vertical Earth Kilometer <https://tinyurl.com/kskx4tma> , which he turned into one of Bess’s mysterious, little cosmological pictures, complete with a handmade frame.
Any further similarities to Bess or connections to de Maria’s rod, I leave buried in the platz.
[breaking tumblr update] @voorwerk proposed it, and measurements confirm that Benning’s print is a life-size image of de Maria’s 2cm-wide rod. A Vertical Earth Kilometer Facsimile Object, if you will.] _greg.org

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47. THE FLATIRON BUILDING by Rainey Knudson
<https://tinyurl.com/4yatnway>
The old Wickquasgeck trail originally snaked through the brushy hills along the length of Manhattan. When the Dutch arrived, they widened it into the main road leading up the island. Nearly two centuries later, the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 envisioned everything north of Houston Street as an orderly grid and tried to do away with the problematic diagonal street. But by that point, Broadway—the old Native American trail—was there to stay.
And so an awkward wedge of land, a triangle amid rectangles, was formed. By the time Harry S. Black bought the lot in 1901, it contained a jumble of buildings with a large wall dedicated to advertising, a precursor to Times Square. Black envisioned something others couldn’t: a monument rising from this odd sliver of land.
The Flatiron Building is only six feet wide at the tip, a constraint that rendered the site worthless to any developer unwilling to think radically. Steel frame construction was new and still distrusted, but Black and architect Daniel Burnham knew a vertical grid of steel would support the structure. Skeptics called it “Burnham’s Folly,” predicting the wind would topple it. It didn’t.
Instead, the triangular building appeared to be in movement, plowing northward like the bow of a ship. The tiny offices in the narrow tip of the building became unlikely status symbols, with wraparound windows offering panoramic views of the city. The building’s shape, the artifact of an ancient footpath overlaid with geometry, gave rise to its most desirable spaces. _TheImpatientReader

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CHARIZMA MONTE VISTA, CO
<https://tinyurl.com/25vvvb6t> _RuralIndexingProject

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MUSEUM WALL TEXTS— WILL THEY SURVIVE THE DIGITAL AGE?
<https://tinyurl.com/52xka5z4>
A museum always provokes questions, but should it also provide answers? When a visitor walks into a gallery, a hunk of metal or a combination of pigments on stretched fabric can become laden with meaning in front of their eyes. Even if a visitor knows nothing about the object, they can feel it. But sometimes it is necessary to read historical context or criticism to understand what is in front of you. Debates in the art world over how much wall text museums should provide are underlaid with the question: Is art meant to be understood, put into context? Or is it felt, wordlessly?
Some museums have entirely done away with wall text. The recently opened Calder Gardens in Philadelphia leans heavily on this in its branding, explicitly saying it is “open to interpretation” and rejecting the term “museum” entirely with an aim to be more accessible and less preachy to its visitors.
But other museums still use wall text and believe in its power to improve viewers’ experiences and provide accurate information about their collections, not packaged and regurgitated by the internet but curated by the museums themselves. “What is not being said in exhibition text is often just as revealing as what is being shared,” “It feels more important than ever to invite multiple voices into the museum space. There isn’t one perfect solution for all visitors, but we strive to offer a variety of access points—whether it’s traditional labels, guided gallery conversations or prompts to spark reflection and dialogue.”
The Frick Pittsburgh has done that by inviting guest “labelists”—historians, artists and critics—from the local community to contribute their perspectives.
The board of the Association for Art Museum Interpretation (AAMI), a professional organisation dedicated to how installation choices—like wall text—affect viewers’ experiences. Museums in multilingual countries like Canada also face the obstacle of needing multiple versions of the same text.
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) presents its exhibitions with an in-house interactive app called ArtLens
, which allows visitors to save photos they take and learn about the museum’s collection. Stephanie Foster, the lead interpretive planner at the CMA, says that, with ArtLens, “labels don’t necessarily have to carry all the weight”. ArtLens came out of the feeling that, as the museum’s chief digital information officer Jane Alexander told in 2019: “We’re not competing with other museums. We’re competing with Netflix.”
Museums are also competing with the 24-hour news cycle—all in a piece of metal in visitors’ hands. While these all existed in 2019 as well, there is a real sense in 2026 of both information overload and a lack of trust in the information that is already out there, especially given how AI now aggregates data to create a confusing miasma of potential misinformation.
A 2021 study from the University of Vienna in Austria, conducted by art historians and cultural scientists, used mobile eye-tracking devices to determine whether visitors engaged with what was presented by wall labels after a reinstallation of the Belvedere Museum’s collection. The findings were unequivocal that visitors do read wall labels, but it is not so much what the labels say as where they are. Those at eye level are much more effective. But some works of art overwhelm attempts at labelling; Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss (1907-08) is a hard piece to label, for example, because any wall text is overshadowed by the size and grandeur of the painting.
The researchers in Vienna found the typical viewing pattern to be “art-label-art-label-art”, implying that visitors look at the art first, then look for context, then apply the context back to the art. There was also a correlation in eye movement from reading the title of the work and focusing on what the title depicts in the painting—like the figures in The Kiss. This shows that wall text is not inconsequential. It is actively shaping what museumgoers see in the art in front of them. Putting it in those terms highlights the need for the text to be written with care. _ArtNewspaper

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HAND FROM MICHELANGELO’S PIETÀ AFTER THE SCULPTURE WAS VANDALIZED IN 1972
<https://tinyurl.com/jpvvmmkx> _RabihAlameddine

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MAC3 BUYS OUT THE BIENNIAL by William Poundstone
<http://tiny.cc/9540101>
In August 2024 the Hammer, LACMA, and MOCA announced the Mohn Art Collective (MAC3), an alliance to buy and share contemporary art funded by Jarl and Pamela Mohn. The Mohns' founding gift included 260 works by L.A. artists, many drawn from the Hammer's "Made in L.A." biennials.
Great concept, but how does it work going forward? The just-closed 2025 biennial offers the first data point. MAC3 acquisitions include a strong sample of "Made in L.A. 2025" artists, starting with Mohn Award winner Ali Eyal. His sole work in the show, a hellish vision of street-vendor capitalism outside New York's 9/11 memorial, was purchased.
<http://tiny.cc/a540101>
So were Pat O'Neill's photograph of a car and palm tree (featured on the street banners); Alonzo Davis' Eye on '84 (recreated as the stairway commission); Gabriela Ruiz's Collective Scream; Beaux Mendes' Dr. Lazarus.
<http://tiny.cc/d540101>
Every museum that has a biennial/triennial/whatever tries to buy out of it. MAC3 seems to have the cash to preempt a strong selection of a biennial that truly matters. That's good for the museums and the artists.
<http://tiny.cc/g540101> _LosAngelesCountyMuseumOnFire

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MARCHESE ROBERTO DEI PRINCIPI STROZZI,
dressed in costume for the inauguration of the facade of the Duomo of Florence, 1887
<https://tinyurl.com/3vdat6pe> _JesseLocker

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LEGAL CONFLICT BETWEEN ART-DEALING BROTHERS ESCALATES INTO COMPETING ASSAULT ACCUSATIONS
<https://tinyurl.com/4bvemsfu>
A legal conflict between two art-dealing New York brothers over the names of their respective businesses has escalated from accusations of breach of contract to allegations of physical assault.
An October 21, 2025 complaint filed by Harry Hutchison against Projjal Dutta and Aicon Contemporary says that on April 11, Hutchison was at work on the second floor at 35 Great Jones Street in New York when he was “accosted” by Dutta. “He was assaulted, beaten, and battered” by Dutta, says the complaint, causing “severe and permanent injuries” and “pain, shock, and mental anguish” as well as considerable medical expenses and the loss of the ability to “perform his normal activities.”
In a response, Projjal Dutta’s attorney states that as the defendant, Dutta “reasonably believed that [Hutchison] was using or was about to use unlawful physical force against Defendant, and if Defendant used force, he used only such force as Defendant reasonably believed to be necessary to protect himself from imminent harm.”
Dutta claims that Hutchison actually “shoved, battered, and assaulted Dutta,” causing his own “severe and permanent injuries.” He claims Hutchison knowingly made false claims to the police after the incident, and notes that Dutta was arrested and arraigned based on Hutchison’s false claims. On June 13, the case against Dutta was “adjourned in contemplation of dismissal,” notes the complaint, meaning that if Dutta meets the court’s requirements and stays out of trouble, the case can be dismissed and the charges sealed.
<https://tinyurl.com/4wruuhfc>
Aicon Gallery was in operation for 20 years before the dueling brothers, Prajit and Projjal Dutta, parted ways in 2019. Aicon Contemporary, represented by Projjal Dutta, filed a suit in New York Supreme Court in October against defendants Prajit Dutta and director Hutchison, representing Aicon Art as well as ArtsIndia.com. The suit alleges false designation of origin, unfair competition, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract, based on the defendants’ “misleading and unlawful” use of the name Aicon without the word Art attached to it, as they had reportedly agreed to do. The galleries share a place of business on Great Jones Street as well as, per their respective websites, a phone number. _ARTnews

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1-2-3
3000yrs-14yrs-29mins
<https://tinyurl.com/y9fc33n8> _ON&ON / Jefrf Weiss