Thursday, September 24, 2009

Armed Robbery at Museum

Stolen Magritte

An artwork valued at $1.1m (£675,000) and entitled Olympia by the surrealist painter Rene Magritte has been stolen this morning during a daylight robbery at a museum in Belgium. The nude portrait was stolen from the artist's former home in Jette, a museum dedicated to Magritte's life and work.

Although entry to the museum is by appointment only, two armed men forced their way into the building and ordered staff to lie on the floor while they made off with the painting. No shots were fired. The painting depicts the painter's wife, Georgette, lying on her back with a shell on her stomach.

He's baaaaack!

It dawned on me yesterday, during a visit to the Arlington Art Center, that he who is all about spreading information has completely forgotten to tell anyone here that I have moved from the Greater Philadelphia area and I am now back in the Greater DC area!

All the galleries and artists who snail mail me press releases, etc., please email me a note and I will send you my new address.

We forgot!

A lost Renaissance masterpiece by Italian artist Mazzolino has been rediscovered after being left in a packing case for nearly 60 years.

Experts from the National Gallery in London identified the painting, which depicts the Madonna and Child with St Joseph, as dating back to 1522.
Read the BBC article here.

Craftiest Bastard

I voted for "goshdarnknit" - vote for them here.

Or someone else below...

Gopnik on Yo

WOW! What a surprise in the WaPo

If Yo were shooting, say, in 1972 -- just when her technology was fiercely up to date -- she'd be on the cutting edge, as good as anyone, and her future would seem certain. All she'd have to do is keep developing the skills that nature gave her. Nowadays, however, to fully realize her promise, she'll have to aim at redefining what a photograph can do, not just at taking yet another telling shot.

Yo is acutely aware of the predicament that she, and her entire art form, is in. "The future is scary," she says. But she trusts in her vocation.

"I love photography, and I will be an addict until the day I die."
That newspaper's chief artc ritic, Blake Gopnik has a very glowing article on Corcoran student Michelle Yo.
I recently caught up with Yo in the house she's sharing just up from the bars of U Street. She showed me a portfolio that's amazingly mature.
The article does make Yo's work sound interesting (the compliments from Andy Grundberg and Terri Weifenbach confirm her photographic presence) and also puts her forth as a really nice kid as well.

Shot on a Corcoran trip to El Salvador, Yo's image of a local woman seems perfectly "straight." Yet it achieves a quietly artistic balance between zones of leaf-green (two well-groomed shrubs) and of pale blue (the woman's skirt and a patch of mural). To complicate its vision and temper any artiness, it also throws in some out-of-focus branches that are almost illegible. That makes it all the more artful. -- Blake Gopnik (By Michelle Yo)
I also find interesting the need to disclose that Gopnik's wife (the superbly talented and elfin-like Lucy Hogg) "teaches in fine arts at the college, but does not know Yo." Call that the Tyler Green policing effect on the world of fine arts writing.

Update: By the way, Gopnik doesn't mention it, but the exhibition where he saw Yo's work was curated by Terri Weifenbach and the very hard-working gallerist Jayme McLellan from Civilian Art Projects.

Job in the Arts

The Washington Printmakers Gallery located on Connecticut Avenue in Dupont Circle's prime arts district is offering a part-time position to a qualified candidate with an arts background, familiarity with printmaking, strong writing and computer skills, marketing savvy, office administration, and sales proficiency. This is a 25-hour a week job offering salary and commission on sales, plus a two-week vacation.

This 24-year very successful gallery consists of 40 professional highly skilled printmakers, a board of directors and several robust committees.

Salary: $12,000/year. Commission: 20% of sales. Health Benefits: None. Hours: 25 hours per week - Wed & Thurs Noon to 6 pm; Fri Noon to 7 pm; Sat 10 am to 5 pm. Vacation: 2 weeks.

Please send them: 1. Your resume. 2. A cover letter explaining what you would bring to this position, and. 3. A one-page press release describing a two-person exhibition featuring the work of two of the WPG artists whose work appears on WPG's website www.washingtonprintmakers.com.

Details here.