Art Breaks

MTV is renewing its Art Breaks series, with short videos by and about young artists appearing both on their stations and their web site. The series was first introduced in 1985 and featured artists like Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

And so my love-hate, on-and-off relationship with MTV continues. It's been going on for 25 years now. And a note to MTV: any reviving of your past that includes Fab 5 Freddy is fine with me. The sooner the better.

Follow-up on Taj Mahal

So I told Amanda I was going to start calling her "my favorite wife." She said that was fine, and she's going to start calling me "her future ex-husband." So there's that.

A gift

Ms Casperson sent me these links to share with you:

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

New York Public Library Picture Collection Online

And let me throw in this bonus to sweeten the pot: the National Gallery of Art now has all its public domain images available online.

Maybe there's hope for your lost homework as well?

New pieces for the public: a play by Eugene O'Neill (died 1953), a painting by Van Gogh (died 1890), and a piano composition by Mozart (died 1791).

Now may be a good time to remember that most of the tombs from Ancient Egypt have only been discovered in the past century, and there are many more to go. The Laocoon Group was hiding out in Rome for a thousand years. Both the art part and the history part of "Art History" are changing all the time.

Update: classical music is actually good for your heart

if you're a mouse.

Pop Art

The Art Newspaper released figures on the 20 most popular art exhibits in 2011. A name you might not be familiar with, and the venue that held 3 of the top 20 shows including the most popular, is the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil. To be in the top 10, your exhibit needed to draw over 7,000 visitors a day.

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Andy Warhol makeup

Frankly, I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner.

Art criticism and the web

Yesterday Jonathan Jones, art critic for The Guardian, wrote this essay and call for suggestions about how social media have changed the way he thinks about art criticism and, to a degree, art.

As a rule, I never read the comments from readers at the end of newspaper articles or even blog posts. What am I missing? Is the really good debate and multiple viewpoints worth sifting through the inane repetition and side arguments? Are there any websites that have better comments than others? Let me know.

Put on your suit for dancing

The best thing since David Byrne's big suit in Stop Making Sense? The light-up suits on this Japanese dance crew.

Art is good, but you may want to avoid classical music

for your own safety.

This week Brahms caused a fistfight and Bach caused a fatal heart attack.

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New work from dead artists

There may or may not be a lost Leonardo masterpiece hidden behind a Vassari fresco in Italy.

Frank Lloyd Wright once designed a doghouse, which didn't get built for 10 years and then was later scrapped, and now it's built again and the star of a documentary.

"He is to art what Dubai is to architecture and Michael Bay is to movies."

I won't try to evaluate Damien Hirst's work right now--my opinion changes almost daily, and that's fine. But I don't think we'll stop talking about him and trying to evaluate his work for a long while to come, so I'll pass this along: possibly the most concise review of his art yet.

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Update

The Rock is now at its new home.

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Word of the day: petrophile

It turns out LA isn't the only place with a craving for art rocks. It's an old Chinese tradition that's gaining new momentum. Now that China is such a large and important part of the international art industry, I expect we'll be seeing much more of this influence in the coming years. And a lot more rocks.

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Rock Star

I'm having trouble getting excited about this myself, but a lot of art bloggers and news sites are following the travels of a giant rock that's being transported 105 miles to the LA County Museum of Art.

You can see photos of the journey here.

You can read background on the piece here.

You can read about one of its artistic predecessors here.

Mona Lisa and Little Satan

Nothing has been confirmed, but consensus is building that the newly restored copy of the Mona Lisa that's getting so much attention in Spain was painted by Leonardo's assistant (and supposed lover) nicknamed Salai, or "Little Satan."

Note: the photo above is not supposed to be Leonardo, his assistant, or the Mona Lisa. It's just the top hit on an image search for "Little Satan." However, it's fun to think of people going to see this picture with the same sort of enthusiasm that they visit Mona Lisa.