Hasta La Ideas

You know that go-to image at a convenience store or a gas station where there are either photos or bounced checks tacked to the wall with a sign that reads something to the effect of “Do not serve” or “Cash only”? It might be a bit tacky, sure, but we’re thinking maybe the National Gallery of Art should have a space for one at their entrance, particularly so that they don’t let Susan Burns sneak in again. Following her attack on Paul Gauguin‘s “Two Tahitian Women” back in April, wherein she removed the painting off the wall and pounded it on the floor, fortunately not breaking the plastic case it was protected in, the mentally disabled woman recently appeared again at the museum and attacked Henri Matisse‘s “The Plumed Hat.” According to the Washington Post, Burns tried to remove the painting from the wall, but was unable to do so completely before being apprehended. Though the painting doesn’t appear to have been affected, the “antique original frame” was apparently damaged to some degree. The Post writes that when she was detained for the attack in April, she was required to sign a document stating she’d stay away from all museum, the National Gallery in particular. Given how well that worked the first time, we’re guessing they’ll make her sign at least two forms saying as much this time around.

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with its “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty,” apparently aren’t the only ones setting new attendance records for themselves. The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art has announced that its extremely popular and often controversial “Art in the Streets” exhibition of graffiti and otherwise inclined street artists, has set a new record for most-attended exhibit in the museum’s history (pdf). During its run from mid-April through to August 8th, a total of 201,352 visitors reportedly saw the show, with a daily average attendance of nearly 2,500 people. And like the Met’s McQueen exhibition, there was a big push at the very end, with 32,278 in its final week. The news is certain to be welcomed by its new director, Jeffrey Deitch, who is still within his first year in the job and had faced some substantial hurdles fairly early on. Finally: remember back in mid-June when the museum announced that the artist Banksy was putting up the money to make Mondays free for visitors? Apparently that helped boost the numbers quite a bit:

One of the most popular features of the exhibition, and an unprecedented gesture by an artist, was Free Mondays, the first-ever museum sponsorship by British artist Banksy. The program, which provided free exhibition admission on Mondays, drew an average 4,083 visitors each Monday. On closing day, an all-time daily high of 8,424 visitors attended, with lines stretching from the entrance of The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA to Alameda Street in Little Tokyo.

All of this makes you wonder if the Brooklyn Museum might be reconsidering after they decided to cancel hosting “Art in the Streets” next year.

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Ron Arad’s Curtain Call uses 5,600 silicon rods to create a 360 degree projection screen in London’s Roundhouse venue. Arad has invited some of his favourite artists to create work for the piece

Arad created the piece as part of the Bloomberg Summer at the Roundhouse season of events. The installation encloses an 18-metre in diameter space – visitors sit in the middle to enjoy a daily reel of works by a roster including animator/designer Javier Mariscal,

fashion designer Hussein Chalayan

Greenaway & Greenaway, whose piece references the Roundhouse’s architecture

and Gabriel and Shira Klasmer, whose abstract graphics are among the more effective pieces.

My favourite and yes I’m aware that he divides opinion on this blog, is David Shrigley’s Walker in which a hairy, booted figure stomps miserably around the room, pausing briefly to let out a heartrending moan, before renewing his never-ending journey.

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There will also be a variety of special events in the space. Curtain Call is on until August 29. More info here. Arad’s studio blog on the project is here

Speaking of thievery, as we were in that last post, here’s something a bit more direct. Two weeks ago, though only being reported now, a man sneaked into fashion designer Marc Ecko‘s studio in Manhattan and stole the print “Untitled (Calvin Klein)” by the artist Kaws. NY1 reports that the thief knew the door code to the building, entered with a poster tube under his arm, lifted the print and then stuffed it into the tube while hiding in a bathroom before hightailing it back out into the street. The Kaws print is said to be worth roughly $100,000 and Ecko’s most recent blog posts have laid out information about the case, currently being investigated by the NYPD. Here’s all the info about the suspect:

The suspect is described as being a white male between 20 and 40 years old, approximately 5’11″ tall with a thin build and a mustache. He was wearing a dark green hoodie, blue jeans, a tan baseball hat with dark sunglasses and running sneakers. Police say he was also carrying a dark backpack at the time.

Anyone with information about the case is being asked to contact Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-577-TIPS, by texting TIP577 to CRIMES, or by [visiting their website]

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The last time we called the New Yorker‘s office and asked how much they’d charge to hire out architecture critic Paul Goldberger for the day to show us around the city a bit, they hung up on us and blocked our number. Jokes on them though because now we can download the magazine’s new Goings On app for that very same phone we made that call from. Not only is it free but it features a guided audio tour through the High Line by Goldberger himself. Too bad, because on top of the fee we would have paid him, we probably would have even sprung for a hot dog too.

In something completely unrelated to both that last tidbit and really anything at all in general, artist Daniel Edwards, made (in)famous for his sculpture of a nude Britney Spears giving birth on a bear rug and later another featuring Oprah in a sarcophagus, has struck again. This time he’s captured tween-idols Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez in a piece called “Justin and Selena as One,” which features the pair conjoined, nude, and cast in bronze. If Thomas Kinkade is the “Painter of Light,” then Daniel Edwards is the “Sculptor of Things That Get Lots of Mentions on Twitter, Celebrity News Blogs, and as the Short Joke Piece That Will Close Out Your Local Nightly News.”

Finally in this cavalcade of randomness: since Barbie gets her own new AIA member-designed house, then it’s only fair that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. should get his own Hot Wheels. Granted, we understand the logical fallacy there, with Earnhardt being a real person and all, but let’s just go with it, shall we? The newly-released toy car from the famous NASCAR driver is called the “Hammerhead,” reportedly one of his childhood nicknames, and “features classic ’50s hot rod meets ’60s muscle car styling.” You can watch a selection of the design process, wherein Earnhardt himself helped, which resulted in this unintentionally sort-of funny video. It’s definitely much more funny than this branded short film for Hot Wheels featuring Jeremy Piven.

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