C-MONSTER.net

Amelia Hannah, a yarn painting by Robert Forman. (Image courtesy of Robert Forman.)

• An absolutely gripping collection of 18 years worth of Polaroid pictures documenting one man’s life and death. (Thanks, Eugenio.)
• Chicago government types buff graffiti mural because it’s too “urban.”
• The NYC graffiti crackdown continues: Peter Vallone Jr. has introduced a bill that would require developers to remove vandalism from construction sites or face fines. (Does that include removing illegal advertising as well?)
• Hamptons cops arrest gallerist for serving champagne at an opening. Winkleman gives his take on the situation here.
• And ‘cuz today is a police-state kinda day: Cops raid Sydney gallery and confiscate photos of adolescent nudes by photographer Bill Henson. In related news: His former models are rallying behind the artist (via AJ). More here.
• Christie’s to auction Goya sketches that were rediscovered after 130 years. Jonathan Jones at the Guardian reviews the images: “I think that Goya is our conscience. He lived in an age of spiralling unreason, and so do we.”
• Artist needs your antidepressant pills more than you do. (Via Bloggy.)
• Photo Essay: Jacob Riis’s New York.
• The Huntington Library in L.A. gets a serious makeover. More here and here. Plus: A slideshow.
• A Q&A with Peter Schjeldahl: “Oh yes, curatorial babble. My distaste for that is well known. But you know I think there’s been a trend recently against that. I think there’s a lot less of that than there was, and it’s interesting, the New Museum has almost no wall text.”
• MAN has a good round-up of museo-related news, including an item about ducklings getting killed in the pool drain at the American Indian Museum in D.C. Harsh.
• Bo Diddley kicks ass.
• Back on the Block: Neutra’s Kaufmann Desert House sale will not take place because of buyer problems.
• Dezeen has a really good photo essay on Madrid’s Caixa Forum, designed by Herzog & de Meuron.
• How Youngstown, Oh. is trying to deal with all of that excess urban architecture cast aside by a declining population. (Via architecture.mnp.)
• Architectural asymmetry not so hot, says Slate.
• Jean Nouvel to design new Paris skyscraper. (Is it me, or does he look like Dr. Evil in the accompanying photograph?)
• The Day in Architecture Industry Gossip: The Dark Lord Foster has taken over a Melbourne gig previously assigned to Zaha Hadid. Plus: some nice photos of the Dark Lord’s Beijing airport. (Via NotCot.)
• Incredible photos of highway interchanges by Ken Ohyama.
• Your moment of break-dancing, crazy fingers edition. (Via Maykr.)