More from America's favorite art critic

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Glen Beck released a video about controversial art and the first amendment. And he submerged an Obama figurine in a jar of "pee-pee." It's a reference to the furor over Andres Serrano's 1987 photograph called "Piss Christ." And if 1987 seems like kind of a while ago, it's much more current and topical than Beck's rant over Diego Rivera's New York murals...painted 75 years ago.

Quote of the Day

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"What I have in mind is that art may be bad, good or indifferent, but whatever adjective is used, we must call it art, and bad art is still art in the way that a bad emotion is still an emotion"

Marcel Duchamp, "The Creative Act"

Free art in Dallas!

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The Dallas Museum of Art is doing away with its $10 admission fee, recognizing that admission fess are only about 2% of the museum's revenue but a hindrance to many people who may want to visit. In a somewhat more revolutionary move, it's also making museum memberships free. The new director says that the museum "values participation over cash." Major special exhibits will still be ticketed, but members who come to the museum often can earn points toward discounts to those exhibits.

Growing up in Dallas I went to the DMA often, especially when I was in high school. I would have gone much less often if there were an admission fee each time--it was free back then. I'm happy to see it free again.

Art critic buys knockoff paintings, on purpose

(this one is real, not a fake)

Jerry Saltz, one of the bigger names in art criticism, wanted some paintings by big-name artists but can't afford the prices ($34 million for a Richter, for example). So he put out a call for $155 fakes. The results, and the process, are pretty fascinating.

Christo's other big plan

While Over the River gets delayed over and over, Christo has been working on another project: the largest permanent sculpture.

The Tapestry. Again.

Here is the Vimeo version of the Bayeaux Tapestry animated. Since Youtube is blocked at school.

Where do you go for good garage sales?

Some people can go to MoMA.

"I don't know if anyone else has realized this. I feel so cool."

What could make one of my students feel so smart and cool? Noticing how much this looks like this. That's all it takes!

Look! The picture moves!

Folks seem pretty in awe of my background photo this week. Because they've never seen a gif before? Several people have asked where I got it. Here.

Razzle Dazzle

Wrong Razzle Dazzle

I recently discovered the podcast 99% Invisible. Ok, I didn't "discover" it--my dad introduced me to it. Anyway, the most recent episode is about Dazzle camouflage on World War I ships. The website has an advantage over the podcast--it has photos of the "sea-going Easter eggs."

The future of portraiture?

A Japanese photo studio is using 3-D printers to make photobooth-style portraits. In three dimensions. How long do you think it will be before we all have 3-D printers in our homes and can send each other 3-D photos to print out?

Shopping spree

This weekend my wife and I went to the 16th annual Avenue CDC Art on the Avenue. Rather than say "rampant overspending," let's just call it "passionate support for Texas artists." We bought work from Terry Hagiwara, Virginia Bally, Michael Golden, Jim Brown, and Orna Feinstein. Don't ask me where we're going to put it all.

Cool Video

I'm pretty sure this is going to be the next dance craze. Start practicing now.

"Street Art"

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Who decides when it's graffiti and when it's art? In Toronto, it's now a municipal committee.

Art/science headline of the week

Can you tell which is which?

Honeybees Can Discriminate Between Monet and Picasso Paintings

Bees can.

Update on the Wright House

An anonymous (for now) buyer has agreed to buy the threatened Frank Lloyd Wright house in Phoenix. Because some folks have two and a half million dollars to help out historic sites.

For the record, it's not me.

A brief foray into math

So this blog post is all about learning math, not art history. But it's about learning, and it's fascinating. So, you know, read it anyway.

Need more of a teaser? It's by a guy who went through all 33 course of MIT's computer science program...in less than a year. He explains his process and techniques.

For those of you who start your Christmas shopping early

This came out this week.