– THE BIG STORY –

The Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s website has recruited a nice range of celebrities to reveal what their favorite works are at the beloved institution, from Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez (who not-so-humbly chooses a Panathenaic prize amphora, the ancient Athenian equivalent of an MVP award) to Jeff Koons (who goes for the weird stuff, like Manet‘s uncommonly planar Dead Christ With Angels and Dali’s crazy Magic Eye-style Madonna). Saturday Night Live funnyman Seth Meyers picks a few impressive comedic deep cuts from the collection, like a Southern Netherlands bronze of Alexander the Great‘s seductive wife, Phyllis, riding Aristotle like a horsie (read the story, it’s worth it), and sums up most mere mortals’ relationship with the encyclopedic museum: “I often think there is nothing more artistic than a well-written joke. Then I go to the Met and I remember I’m an idiot.”

– QUOTE OF THE DAY –

“Morley, I challenge you to curate a public New York show of 25 to 35 contemporary artists — those who have emerged since, say, 1985 — whose work you really approve of, plus a few examples of your own art. I promise to review it, fair and square. Deal?” – New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz to 60 Minutes curmudgeon Morley Safer, in response to the grumpy TV journalist’s flaccid contemporary-art “exposé” that aired last night. (Hopefully Safer will agree to Saltz’s art duel, unlike the lily-livered Glenn Beck.)

– MUST READ –

The Eyes of Alex Prager – Carl Swanson has a nice brief profile of the wonderfully beguiling photographer-of-the-moment, relating how she was first inspired to be an artist by a William Eggleston photo at the Getty and previewing her eerie, digitally altered new series opening at Yancey Richardson Gallery this week. (NYM)

Stolen Motherwell Recovered – A 1947 painting by the Ab Ex artist that was swiped from a Madison Avenue gallery in 1988 and is now worth $1 million has ben recovered thanks to the quick thinking of Dedalus Foundation president Jack Flam and the Art Loss Register. (NYT)

The Art of Mad Men – Those troubled whiz kids at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce may be good with creative but their taste in art leaves much to be desired, as this roundup of the artwork on the show attests—with the exception of Bertram Cooper’s Rothko and fantastically, if esoterically, erotic Hokusai. (Art of Mad Men)

April Fools Day Story #1 – MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch, irked by the amount of attention LACMA got over Michael Heizer‘s Levitated Mass, plans to dramatically bring an even bigger rock to his museum by helicopter, noting “ours is the mass that will truly be levitated as it flies over the skies of Los Angeles.” (L.A. Weekly)

April Fools Day Story #2 – Damien Hirst came down with a case of chicken pox that looks strikingly like his famous Spot paintings, possibly contracted from Yayoi Kusama or possibly caused by “overexposure.” (Artinfo)

– ART MARKET –

Pincus Collection Heads to Christie’s – The auction house will be selling 40 works of art from the estate of Pennsylvania art collector David Pincus, with the pieces—ranging from Rothkos and Pollocks to works by Anselm Kiefer and Jeff Wall—pegged with a total high estimate of more than $100 million. (Bloomberg)

– IN & OUT –

Today MTV.com is premiering the new incarnation of Art Breaks, MoMA PS1 and MTV‘s updating of the music network’s old video art series that will now showcase emerging artists like Mickalene Thomas, Rashaad Newsome, and Mads Lynnerup. (Artbreaks.MTV.com)

The Buenos Aires-based Faena Group is now accepting submissions from artists around the world for the 2012 Faena Prize for the Arts, an award consisting of a $25,000 grant and up to $50,000 in financing for a site-specific project at the Faena Arts Center. (Faena Arts Center)

The Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas, has hired Colette Crossman as curator of exhibitions; Francesca Consagra as senior curator of prints, drawings, and European paintings; and Ray Williams as director of education and academic affairs. (Press Release)

 

Posted on: April 2nd, 2012 by Andrew
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