• The art world was appalled by a recent decision of the Ontario Conservation Review Board which deemed that an obscure, yet academically lauded, bit of land art had no “heritage value to the ‘community” because it is out of the way and privately owned. The cultural think tanks are all on board with ways to perserve it and we predict that it will soon be properly owned and tickets will be sold to see it and coffee will be sold nearby:
Shift in heritage: Richard Serra sculpture has uncertain future: Micallef
Shawn Micallef, The Star
“The closest thing southern Ontario has to Stonehenge is Shift, a sculpture by Richard Serra in a King City farmer’s field. Serra is a superstar artist whose work is worth millions of dollars but Shift remains relatively obscure. Though many places would envy our big Serra, last month the Ontario Conservation Review Board decided not to support King Township’s request that Serra’s work be protected under the Ontario Heritage Act, so its future remains uncertain.”
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• Someone wrote the crucial annual Damien Hirst/plagerism exposé:
He’s a thieving magpie’: Unknown artist claims Damien Hirst copied his £800 painting
By Dalya Alberge and Chris Hastings, Mail Online
• Damien Hirst put a new spin on stories about his inspiration:
Damien Hirst inspired by John Noakes’s Blue Peter spin paintings
The Telegraph
“Damien Hirst said he got the idea for his spin paintings from Blue Peter, the children’s television programme he watched as a boy.”
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• A new artwork by a hated person proved so unworthy of note that it got lots of angry press:
Glenn Beck Makes Really Bad “Piss Obama” Artwork
hyperallergic.com
“Three years ago, New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz challenged Glenn Beck to curate two exhibitions, one of work he disapproved of, another of work he liked. Beck ignored the offer. But this …”
Glenn Beck’s Obama Pee Stunt Shows He’s Still in Populist Huckster Game
Michael Moynihan, The Daily Beast
“Submerging an Obama doll in fake urine may have been a bid for attention, but out of the limelight the former Fox News host’s been building an empire that goes beyond right-wing paranoia to TV network TheBlaze, a $100 million radio deal, and 10-dollar bags of chocolate pecans.”
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Yoko Ono is still milking the wack-a-doo cow:
Yoko Ono Unveils Her Ridiculously Raunchy Opening Ceremony Menswear Line
by Ann Binlot, Artinfo
“Opening Ceremony unveiled its menswear line with Yoko Ono today, based on a series of drawings she created for John Lennon as a wedding present in 1969. The items in the 52-piece collaboration, “Fashions for Men: 1969-2012,” are pretty raunchy.”
The Art Machine 