Arts news

• Is art for No 10 a waste of money – or could it teach Johnson something?

  09-08-2021 17:22
  
  The UK government has been lambasted for spending £100,000 on two works by Cathy Wilkes and Willie Doherty. But the Government Art Collection is not in the same category as the Johnsons’ curtainsAs the hands of a clock turn, so, every few years, will there be a set of headlines condemning the Government Art Collection. So it is now: the Mirror has whipped up a small storm of protest over the fact that an artwork by Willie Doherty (price, £18,775) has gone on display in No 10, D
  
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• What’s Up With The Not-Quite-There Dream Ballet In The Musical Spoof Schmigadoon?

  09-08-2021 15:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Though they become a joke in the fifth episode of the show, dream ballets used to signal deeper emotions in musicals – but now they’re seen as slow-moving narrative stumbling blocks. – Entertainment Weekly
  
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• Medieval Literature Scholars, Movie Critics, And Fans Of King Arthur Walk Into A Bar

  09-08-2021 14:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  And they all disagree about the most recent adaptation of the anonymously written poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – the movie starring Dev Patel. – Los Angeles Times
  
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• We Need To Talk About The Ethics Of Digital Resurrection

  09-08-2021 14:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The latest in questionable use of an artist’s likeness or image, and/or voice, after death: “A hologram of Whitney Houston will perform a six-month Las Vegas residency beginning in October 2021.” – CBC
  
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• Jacob Desvarieux, Musician Who Created Zouk Style, Dies Of Covid At 65

  09-08-2021 14:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “Desvarieux and the founder of [the band] Kassav’, the bassist Pierre-Edouard Décimus, created a style called zouk by fusing Afro-Caribbean traditions of the French Antilles with sleek electronic dance music.” Even French president Emmanuel Macron paid the musician tribute after his death. – The New York Times
  
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• There’s No Joy For An Actor In Playing A Perfect Character

  09-08-2021 14:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  That is, the character might be perfect for the actor – perfectly broken. – The Observer (UK)
  
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• Drawing a blank: can artistic talent ever be taught?

  09-08-2021 14:00
  
  While Romantics insist artists are born not made, some of the best painters, sculptors and modern artists followed conventional teachingModern Toss on whether artistry is a result of nature or nurtureGenius cannot be taught but skills can. And even the wildest, most visionary of artists relies on the techniques they were taught. If you want to make digital art, you need to learn to code. A training in film will help with moving-image art. So much is obvious. But today we’re in thrall to a
  
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• A Brief History Of Art At The Olympics

  09-08-2021 13:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Leni Riefenstahl, Andy Warhol, the Black Power salute, and this year’s floating heads – there’s a long history of, and often a large budget for, art at the Olympics, whether an audience cares or not. – FastCompany
  
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• Jane Withers, Child Star Of Depression-Era Hollywood, 95

  09-08-2021 13:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Withers was “an antidote to the cloying sweetness of Shirley Temple,” and later became moderately famous as Josephine the Plumber in Comet ads. – Washington Post
  
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• How The Met Became Cooler Than MoMA This Summer

  09-08-2021 13:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Live music, of course: “By activating these spaces in ways that shed the Met’s stuffiness, the museum is broadening what performance can be.” – Hyperallergic
  
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• As Golden Gate Park Enacts A Car Ban, Its Museums Stress Out

  09-08-2021 13:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The road through the park has been closed since the start of the pandemic – and so have the museums. But now, as museums reopen? The closure to cars “has become a flash point.” – The New York Times
  
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