Hanging from the ceiling!

I knew--thanks to Ms Harris's comment a few weeks ago--that Maurizio Cattelan has a big show at the Guggenheim. What I didn't know until today is that he refused the service of walls and instead hung all the art from the ceiling in the center.

Road trip to New York?

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Something About Mary

We were talking this morning about Mary's face and gesture in the Annunciation.

This ought to explain a lot. Also try this. Or this. Or even this.

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Never Mind the Cave Paintings

This recent archaeological find in England may help scholars understand the culture that created the drawings a little better (but probably not).

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Leonardo as Rock Star

Here's yet more evidence that "Rock Star" may not be such an anachronism for Leonardo: scalpers are making huge profits for tickets to his show in London.

(I checked, and it seems that tickets for the King Tut exhibit at the MFAH are not being sold on ebay.)

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Art collecting for the digital generation

I've seen this talked about in a few places over the past week. (S)edition Art Gallery--I've also seen it as S(edition), you get the point--is selling limited digital downloads of contemporary art from big-name artists (anyone heard of this Damien Hirst fellow?) for your digital collection.

I didn't go through the registration process to see what's inside, but let me know if you're curious and you do. I'd love to see what's in there.

Cleaning up Art. With Bacteria.

Some art restorers have found a way to use bacteria to clean up old frescoes. Basically, you grow bacteria that are good at eating up the things you want gone, and then you let them loose on your fresco. And, um, then you kill the bacteria.

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Bayeux Tapestry

Watch this video.

You may or may not also like this.

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I Want Pygmies!

Watch this short video, all of which is fun, and you'll see what I mean. I promise you'll want Pygmies too.

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Picture of the Day

Next Friday's picture of the day is the Rose window at Chartres Cathedral. It's image 18-14 in your textbook. Get ready!

Oops!

"Cleaning woman in Germany damages $1.1 million sculpture by scrubbing off 'rain puddle'"

Some art gets attacked, other art gets over-cleaned. Maybe there's some karmic balance? Maybe?

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The Wal-mart Museum

Many of the great art museums began as the private collection of a rich family or were primarily funded by super-rich patrons. Think Guggenheim, Barnes, Louvre, Whitney. And now, Crystal Bridges, in Bentonville, Arkansas.

At the moment everyone is calling it the Wal-mart Museum, because it's located in the same town as Wal-mart's headquarters, is funded primarily by a $1.2 billion endowment from the Walton family, and features art owned by the Waltons.

But if the collection is good (it seems to be) and it is run well (it promises to be), then this will no more be a Wal-mart museum to future generations than the Guggenheim is the Yukon Gold Company Museum or the Menil Collection is the Schlumberger Oilfiled Services Museum.

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"Over the River" one step closer!

Christo's Colorado project "Over the River,"years and years in the making, is now a step closer to execution. Today the US government approved the work. This isn't the last hurdle, but it was the biggest one.

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