The Digest. 03.26.08.

Work in progress by Nacio in Paris. Photo by Vitostreet.
- Unwrapping El Anatsui at the Nelson Atkins. More on the artist and his work (and how he is condescendingly reviewed) at MAN.
- From the Department of The-Clue-Phone-is-Ringing-and- it’s-for-You: Finnish tourist breaks off a piece of a moai on Easter Island as a keepsake and now faces jail time. (Via El País.)
- The work of Michael Salter: The Styrofoam robot is frackin’ rad and it’s gonna be on show at the San Jose Museum of Art next month.
- ArtInfo has a list of the Top 5 things to do in NYC while you’re in town for Armory. Missing from the list: picking up a gram bag and getting down in Albany.
- Fountain Fair not returning to NYC during Armory because the fair’s organizers are “disappointed with the current state of the art fair scene and the ‘commercialization of contemporary art.’” Or could it be that everything was commercial except for Fountain?
- National Gallery in London will not be taking on any 20th century art.
- BCAM’s heavy security presence makes visiting the museum as pleasant as strolling through the DMZ, reports Articulations. (I recently had much the same experience at Miami’s MoCA during the Jorge Pardo exhibit. I had three—yes, three—guards tail me as I tried to look at the art. I know I probably look suspicious, but did they all need to be within a four foot radius at all times?)
- And speaking of surveillance, the Brooklyn Museum plans on donating a portion of their Murakami Louis Vuitton proceeds to the Federal Enforcement Homeland Security Foundation. Somebody please tell me that April Fool’s has arrived early.
- Whitney Biennial Review of the Day, courtesy of Paddy Johnson: “Given the opportunity to see a lot of art at once, and the fact that more than 30 of the 80 artists included were plucked directly from Chelsea, many New Yorkers won’t need to look to this exhibition to reveal any trends.”
- Totally tubular: The art of Geoff McFetridge.
- On the Block: Watteau’s La Surprise, which was missing for 200 years and was recently found in British country house. Plus: one of the many versions of Edward Hicks Peaceable Kingdom.
- Graff of the Day: Unknown artist in Buenos Aires.
- Graffiti Research Lab at MoMA.
- Credit card statements as art.
- The Hyde Park Effect: Photos of the model for Frank Gehry’s Serpentine Pavilion, expected to crash land in London this summer.
- David Hockney donating his largest painting, Bigger Trees Near Warter, to the Tate. (Via AO.)
- SANAA’s New Museum as table lamp. (Via NotCot.)
- New Book: The Endless City, a chronicle of our endless urbanization.
- The San Zhi UFO houses.
- Video: The spread of Wal-Mart. (Via NotCot.)
- Paris Bureau Chieftess Yvonne Connasse put down the vermouth long enough to file the following comics report: “It seems that anybody can produce comics these days. Joining the growing list of celebs creating books for Virgin Comics (the brainchild of Deepak Chopra, film director Shekhar Kapur and Sir Richard Branson!) is…Hugh Jackman? Zoinks. He joins the ranks of John Woo, Guy Ritchie, Ed Burns, Jenna Jameson (!!!), Nicholas Cage (who might still be living in Francis Ford Coppola’s basement) and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame.” I guess someone’s got to help keep these folks employed.
- The day in antlers.
- Your moment of glutes.
Posted by C-Monster.