The Digest. 09.15.08.

Detail of a paint sculpture by Loriel Beltran at Fred Snitzer in Miami. His show, Process/Processed, is up through 10/4. See footage of a shirtless Beltran at work here. Hubba hubba… (Photo by C-M.)

I’m back! And ready to grumble. Thanks for your patience during my absence. xox, C.

• Bummer.
• Bangin’ Art Video of the Day: Kelly Burns pounding the skins. Sort of. (Go to the link that says Projects on the left and then click on Rush Fort, 2008.)
• The End is Near: “…no part of the art market is more vulnerable than contemporary art, which has risen so very high on little more than PR and salesmanship.” (Via A.O.)
• All Hirst all the Time: A profile of the artist as a middle-aged man in Time, as well as Richard Lacayo’s Q&A in one and two parts. More on Hirst’s garage sale here. Plus: Robert Hughes does a full-blown fist drop on the artist, while Bloomberg reports that Sotheby’s stock takes a dip in anticipation of today’s debacle auction.
• Forgive the tardiness, but I was swamp-walking when this happened: Thomas Campbell is named The Met’s new boss man. More here. (What’s up with Campbell’s Sears Portrait Studio-style headshot, by the way?) Also: New York Mag speculates on what Gary Tinterow, another in-house favorite, will do now that the gig has gone to Campbell.
• The Slog is super happy that Dana Gioia will be leaving the NEA: “…he revitalized it by turning it into the most cowering, deferential source of government arts funding this side of Syria.”
• ‘Cuz they needed more room for all that boring art: The New Museum buys another property on the Bowery. Plus: Yet more evidence that the Lower East Side is totally done: Sperone Westwater Gallery to get the Dark Lord Foster to put up a big and shiny building just up the block.
• Newsflash: Art Basel to stay in Miami Beach. Because, really, there was a huge chance they were gonna decamp to Fresno.
• The beginning of the end for satellite fairs? Or the end of the beginning?
• New York Mag’s Jerry Saltz (aka the “food virgin”) and the Guardian’s Adrian Searle write about what it’s like to dine at El Bulli. On a competitive note: C-Monster was there last month. Take that, you mainstream media muthas!
• Grocery list art.
• Sarah Palin not wild about museums (via AFC). Plus: Palin and Hillary, together again. (Sort of.) And: McCain wants to tax the poor.
• Graff of the Day: Titifreak mural in Brazil.
• Cool animation: Agua by Sam3. (Via Ekosystem.)
• Pixadores in Brazil destroy a gallery show at Choque Cultural in São Paulo for commercializing street art. More here.
• R.I.P. David Foster Wallace. Video interviews with the writer here.
• Photos from the Venice Architecture Biennale.
• The glassification of NYC. In related news: Rem Koolhaas is coming to NYC, or at least one of his buildings is.
• Will the affordable housing of today be the slums of tomorrow?
• Photo Essay: The construction of the Pentagon 9/11 memorial. Should be interesting to see what this looks like once the trees fill in.
• When television imitates architecture: J.J. Abrams’ new series, Fringe, rips off Libeskind.
• Attempts are afoot in the Illinois state legislature to keep Frank Lloyd Wright’s Dana-Thomas House open to the public. Plus: Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House is flooded by a surging Fox River.
• Your moment of Andy Rooney on public art. Sublime.