Art News from Around the World

Visual Arts Wed, 22 Jan 2020 19:28 When Your Body Art Gets In The Way Of Life… Take It Off Tattoos can be a barrier for people getting out of prison. They can make it hard to find jobs, to feel safe in certain neighborhoods, to reconcile with family and to leave the past behind. Now there are programs to help inmates with tattoos wipe the slate clean. – NPRSource: Visual Arts Wed, 22 Jan 2020 17:04 The State Of Gay Art In Beijing: Delicate And Discreet On the third floor of Destination, a nightclub-turned-cultural center that’s one of the few such places in the country to expressly welcome queer people, is ART.Des, a (very rare) gallery that features Chinese art that addresses homosexuality. While there is censorship, says one artist, “perhaps it’s not as free as the West; but it’s not […]Source: Visual Arts Wed, 22 Jan 2020 13:05 Feds Reject Ancient Rock Art Sites In Utah For National Register Of Historic Places Reversing an earlier decision, the National Park Service has now denied an omnibus petition for 199 sites on public land near Moab, Utah to be listed in the National Register. The NPS agrees that the ancient petroglyphs are significant, but it now wants individual applications for each of the sites. – The Salt Lake TribuneSource: Media Wed, 22 Jan 2020 22:31 For The First Time Netflix Reveals How Many Watched “The Queen” The third season, which stars Olivia Colman as the Queen, was watched in 21 million homes in its first four weeks. That was 40% more than saw the second season over the same time period, Netflix said. – BBCSource: People Wed, 22 Jan 2020 22:02 Remembering Fellini On His 100th Birthday Anthony Lane: “Fellini is the great divider. “La Dolce Vita” was the film most loved by Roger Ebert, for whom it was transformed with every viewing, whereas Pauline Kael likened Fellini’s efforts to “poking your head into a sack of fertilizer and then becoming indignant because you’re covered with excrement.” – The New YorkerSource: Ideas Wed, 22 Jan 2020 21:29 How Self-Help Books Have Influenced Literature Serious authors create; self-help writers multiply. But the influence of self-help on prestigious literature is much deeper and more sustained than figures such as Macdonald would have us believe. – AeonSource: Music Wed, 22 Jan 2020 21:01 San Jose Opera’s New Direction Since taking over as general director in October, Khori Dastoor, 39, has been on a tear behind the scenes — beefing up staffing levels, setting ambitious financial goals and consulting with members of the tech community for data-driven ways of attracting new subscribers to the 36-year-old company. – San Francisco ChronicleSource: Theatre Wed, 22 Jan 2020 20:30 Shows That Won’t Let You Back In If You Leave Make It Hard For Physically Challenged People Sitting through a show of that length might seem manageable enough if you’re young and in good health, less so if you have a medical condition like Crohn’s disease or other hidden disability, you’re pregnant or you’re experiencing the menstrual equivalent of the elevator scene in The Shining. If someone leaves during a performance, it’s […]Source: Theatre Wed, 22 Jan 2020 20:01 New Crop Of Plays Treats History Of Blacks In Britain “From an African girl who was ‘gifted’ to Queen Victoria to a slave who took on his master in a British court, several little-known but remarkable chapters of black British history are being put in the spotlight on stage this year.” – BBCSource: People Wed, 22 Jan 2020 19:03 The Man Who Invented The Laser Printer, Gary Starkweather, Dead At 81 “While officially working on a fax machine project, Mr. Starkweather began to experiment in his spare time with copy machines and digital technology, in effect trying to merge the two. … [His] supervisor at Xerox discouraged his experiments, calling lasers ‘toys’ … [and later] and threatened to lay off Mr. Starkweather’s entire staff.” Now, says […]Source: Dance Wed, 22 Jan 2020 18:32 Social Media Influencers Are Changing The Face Of Dance Commercial dancers — the performers who animate music videos, films and TV shows — have long needed the right look, the right connections, expertise in the most popular styles and an agency to access coveted jobs. Now, however, video and social media have democratized who can succeed in the industry. – Los Angeles TimesSource: Issues Wed, 22 Jan 2020 18:02 Nancy Pelosi Said That ‘America Will Heal Through The Arts.’ Don’t We Wish … The Speaker of the House told a town meeting last month, “I truly believe that [the arts are] something where we find our common ground.” Would that it were so, writes Lucas Justinien Perez: “The ‘arts’ are more divided than ever. Schismatic tribal ‘factions’ generate and consume art and media that’s increasingly characterized by blatant […]Source: Words Wed, 22 Jan 2020 17:30 Why Do We Fetishize Books As Physical Objects? We seem to project enormously intense feelings onto books, feelings that make us protective of them and furious toward those we perceive as threatening them. We think of our books as symbols of our taste, our intellect, our moral vigor. And when we hold books in such high esteem, those who treat them as objects […]Source: Issues Wed, 22 Jan 2020 16:29 Enrollment In Art History Programs Down 28 Percent In UK The number of UK domicile first year students (first degree) selecting historical and philosophical subjects fell by 5% between 2017-18 and 2018-19, contributing to a 17.5% decline in popularity over the past ten years. Tucked within this category sits art history, which fared a particularly rocky 28.5% drop over the decade. Between 2017-18 and 2018-19, […]Source: People Wed, 22 Jan 2020 16:01 Terry Jones Of ‘Monty Python’ Dead At 77 “After huge success with Python in the 1970s and early ’80s, including [directing and acting in] the feature films Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life, Jones went on to work on a huge variety of projects. With [Michael] Palin, he created the successful TV series Ripping Yarns […]Source: Issues Wed, 22 Jan 2020 15:35 Restaurant Noise Is Good! Says The New York Times’ Restaurant Critic Pete Wells: “Restaurants are loud because we’re loud. With a few exceptions, when we complain about the noise, we’re complaining about ourselves. … Far from being an accidental side effect, a noisy restaurant is the end product of a business that helps us have a good time, just as purring is the end product of […]Source: Dance Wed, 22 Jan 2020 15:02 Why, Exactly, Is The Paris Opera Ballet On Strike? Here’s An Explainer The company’s labor action is yet another part of the series of national protests against President Macron’s planned pension reforms. The twist is that, as we know, ballet is not like other professions (dancers’ bodies won’t hold out until age 65), and the Paris Opera Ballet’s pension system dates back to the 17th century. – […]Source: Music Wed, 22 Jan 2020 14:43 Case Of Ousted Recording Academy CEO Gets Uglier As Each Sides’ Explosive Allegations Mount Last week, Deborah Dugan was placed on “administrative leave” following what the Academy’s board called “serious concerns” about her mistreatment of staff. Dugan responded by filing an EEOC complaint saying she was being retaliated against after reporting numerous dishonest practices at the Academy. Now Dugan’s interim replacement alleges that she only reported the allegedly improper […]Source: Dance Wed, 22 Jan 2020 14:04 Why There’s A Campaign To Boo Ballet Star Amar Ramasar In Broadway’s ‘West Side Story’ The fired-then-reinstated New York City Ballet principal was a figure in the company’s recent #MeToo scandal (and accompanying lawsuit). While City Ballet’s dancers and the company of West Side Story seem willing (at least publicly) to let Ramasar redeem himself, a number of others — including lawsuit plaintiff Alexandra Waterbury — are calling on audience […]Source: Words Wed, 22 Jan 2020 13:31 ‘Indiana Jones Of Art World’ Locates Stolen 15th-Century Persian Manuscript Worth €1 Million Arthur Brand has recovered one of the oldest surviving copies of the Divan of Hafez, one of the most important and beloved works in all of Persian literature. The volume was the only still-missing item from a collection of manuscripts stolen in 2007 from the estate of a collector in Munich; the rest had been […]Source: