http://articulations.smithsonianmag.com Thoughts on canvas at Smithsonian.com Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:27:42 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I never went to see Christo’s gates when they were in Central Park, but I have been counting down the days to Olafur Eliasson’s New York City Waterfalls project. And it’s finally here. Four mammoth waterfalls, from 90- to 120-ft.-tall and as much as 80-ft.-wide, have sprung up in the East ... http://articulations.smithsonianmag.com/archives/401 I tried to think of a witty way to start this, but all that kept running through my mind was the fact that this book costs $155,000. Sure, it is a book of photographs taken by Aurelio Amendola of Michelangelo’s sculptural works. Amendola is internationally recognized for his photography of ... http://articulations.smithsonianmag.com/archives/400 With precise stitches and neatly embroidered rows, Ghada Amer interweaves politics, feminism, sexuality and anti-war ideologies into her work. The first American career survey of her work, Love Has No End, is up at the Brooklyn Museum through October. The show comprehensively examines each stage in the artist’s development. Amer, Egyptian ... http://articulations.smithsonianmag.com/archives/398 What caught my attention about Yeondoo Jung’s work was the color. Saturated and rich, the images capture high-octane hues that, coupled with the stylized appearance of the photos, make for surreal viewing. But the effects are honestly achieved—digitized retouches and glossy alterations hold no allure for the artist. With an ... http://articulations.smithsonianmag.com/archives/396   This week brought the passing of Robert Rauschenberg, and with it the customary obituaries. Some are obligatory chronological inventories of milestones, neatly encapsulated with birth and death date bookends. Most are kind and reverent, hailing Rauschenberg’s genius, describing an important work or two, and drawing a line in the family ... http://articulations.smithsonianmag.com/archives/390 A few weeks ago, I spoke with an art collector who is more than comfortable buying works (in his case, photographs) via the Internet without seeing the prints in person. For many collectors, this is the norm, especially if thousands of miles separate the work from the buyer. The owner ... http://articulations.smithsonianmag.com/archives/389 If you used Google to research anything over the last couple of days, you may have noticed that the icon above the search bar has been replaced with a sculpture of multi-colored chrome tulips. Artist Jeff Koons crafted the work specifically for the search engine as part of a larger ... http://articulations.smithsonianmag.com/archives/388 Gregor Schneider works in peculiar ways. A German sculptor and installation artist, he came on the scene in the mid-1980s for spending almost a decade dismantling, recreating and exhibiting, down to the slightest detail, the rooms in his home. The mere reconstruction is a fairly prosaic exercise, but the attentive ... http://articulations.smithsonianmag.com/archives/387 A number of zoos in the U.S. have realized that artistry is not limited to those who walk upright on two legs. Parrots, cougars, raccoons, apes and elephants at various venues have been given the opportunity to dabble in painting. The Houston Zoo gives visitors the opportunity to sit and watch ... http://articulations.smithsonianmag.com/archives/383 Last week I visited The Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery, a delightful space in the Washington DC Jewish Community Center. Their current show “L(A)TTITUDES” attempts to mediate a discussion surrounding the borders and boundaries of Israel and Palestine. On the surface, I expected a historical survey of the area’s cartography, giving perhaps ... http://articulations.smithsonianmag.com/archives/379