A visit to the Addison Gallery

The Addision Gallery (http://www.addisongallery.org/) is a very good small museum in Andover, Massachusetts, on the grounds of the Andover Academy.

I re-visited this week, since they had an exhibit of highlights from the collection, in celebration of a major renovation project just completed. The facility is beautiful - a classical building, in keeping with the setting.

It was interesting to see the approach they took with the installation. The works were grouped by themes such as Construction, Sequence, etc. - not chronoglogically. This allowed them to juxtapose works from all periods, and cause the viewer to think about the content of the work and the interrelationships.

As with most museums, photography was not allowed indoors, but I was able to capture a glimpse of one of the Dale Chihuly spheres they had embedded in the greenery of a rooftop garden.

The current exhibit ends in October; admission is free to the museum.

The Mightier Pen

The New York Times Magazine, September 19,2010 .  Jim Margraff, inventor of the Livescribe pen .

Contemporary Art for the now and future generation of education.  This article is beneficial to the arts education we all want to know.  On-line, library, worth the trip.  "The Pen That Nevers Forgets"

Artists and Celebrities

Here is a link to a slide show on Slate.com about artists using celebrities (or are the celebrities using artists?). Take a look, and think about it. Artistic expression? Marketing? Publicity stunts?

http://www.slate.com/id/2267425/

New York Times Art Section

September 12,2010, Arts and Leisure..two sections...worth the time and effort to review.  Theater, Dance,Video Games,Television, Film, Pop Art, Music, Architecture, Painting, Exhibits....and the list continues.  Covers all the above that will take place in various locations in the USA....including a full page ad for the Russian Icon Museum in Clinton, MA. , and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA.
Enjoy  and maybe plan a trip !  Thank you.  R. Parente

Damien Hirst tire cover

Although we won't be discussing this artist (Damien Hirst) until later in the course (when we will also be discussing the interesection of art and commerce), the announcement of what is purported  to be (and probably is) the most expense spare tire cover available today caught my eye.

This has been reported on many automotive news blogs (how's that for bringing contemporary art to different audiences!), and here is one link: http://most-expensive.net/spare-tire-cover

Even if you have not followed the art world in the past, you most likely remember seeing news stories about Hirst's works, in particular, the shark floating in formaldehyde. His "spin paintings", such as the one used on the tire cover, are usually created by staff in his studio, and as you can tell, created by dripping paint on a spinning surface (you may remember doing something like this when visiting a carnival as a child).

So, check it out, and try to answer whether this is art?, commerce?, serious? a publicity stunt? Elements of some or all of these?

Is your reaction affected by the price and/or the claim that it is a creation of a world-famous artist?