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The Headlines
THE CLIMATE FIGHT.Two men withJust Stop Oil Belgiumwho last weekstaged a climate protestinvolvingJohannes Vermeer’sGirl With a Pearl Earring(ca. 1665), glue, and soup at theMauritshuis Museumin the Hague, the Netherlands, weresentenced to two months in prisonwith one month suspended, theGuardianreports. The group said in a statement, “Isn’t it ironic that climate activists who nonviolently oppose the mass slaughter of life on Earth are being condemned?” Meanwhile,Just Stop Oilin the U.K., which is an independent entity, said that itwill pause its actions until Fridayso officials can consider its demand that no new oil and gas licenses be granted, theEvening Standardreports. If the authorities do not respond, “we will escalate our legal disruption against this treasonous Government,” the group said in a statement.
LIVING WELL IS THE BEST REVENGE.ArtistMariko Morihasdesigned a home and studio for herselfon Japan’s remote Miyako Island, which is near Taiwan, andArchitectural Digesthas a spread of photographs. “The ocean is almost like an aqua green or emerald,” Mori said. “It’s a beautiful palette of blue and blue-green.” Conceived withRing ArchitectsandOak Structural Design Office, the building includes a space for tea ceremonies, which is part of the artist’s practice.ADalso hasa feature on the Manhattan homeofAndrew Bolton, the curator in charge of theCostume Instituteat theMetropolitan Museum of Artand his partner, fashion designerThom Browne. On the walls are works byGeorges Rouault,Duncan Grant, andÉdouard Vuillard, and there’s furniture byGeorge Nakashima,Claude Lalanne, andDiego Giacometti.
The Digest
Harry Bates, the renowned architect who created a bevy of elegant modernist homes on the East End of New York’s Long Island, died on Tuesday at 95. CriticPaul Goldbergeronce described the structures that Bates made later in his career with a younger design partner,Paul Masi, as “fresh, sharp and original.”[The New York Times]
ArtistRyder Ripps, who worked withYe(formerlyKanye West) at various points in the 2010s, said that he heard the rapper and designer praise Hitler and discuss antisemitic conspiracy theories. Ye reportedly paid a settlement to one employee who said they witnessed him using antisemitic language. Ye has denied the claims.[NBC News]
An annual report fromUBSandArt Baselon the state of the art market found that demand remains strong among the wealthy for art. Between 2020 and 2021, imports and exports of art climbed about 40 percent each.[ARTnews]
TheTaipei Fine Arts Museumhas tapped a team of three to organize the nextTaipei Biennial: curatorsFreya ChouandReem Shadidand writer and educatorBrian Kuan Wood. The exhibition is scheduled to open in November of 2023.[ArtReview]
Googlehas been developing A.I. technology that generates images from text, but is releasing its features slowly, because of “the real risks that this technology can pose if we don’t take great care,” saidDouglas Eck, a principal scientist at the company. Some critics have argued that such applications can promote misinformation and infringe on the copyrights of artists.[Bloomberg]
Archaeologists believe that the effects of climate change may be speeding up the rate at whichNamibia‘s prehistoric rock art is deteriorating. Efforts are being made to study and document the material, some of which has been dated back 30,000 years.[Reuters]
The Kicker
THE GRAND TOUR. New Yorkmagazine criticJerry Saltzhas a new book out,Art Is Life: Icons & Iconoclasts, Visionaries & Vigilantes, & Flashes of Hope in the Night, and on Wednesday night he delivered a lecture at theGibbes Museum of Artin Charleston, South Carolina. As is his wont, Saltz has been posting regularly on Instagram about his trip. “Anything is better than writing,” he writesin one post, “so I seem to love basically everything I do any time I am not working.” Hear, hear.[@JerrySaltz/Instagram]