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.)

See the embroidery work of Steve MacDonald, aka the Ramblin’ Worker, at the Paper Boat in Milwaukee. Opens tomorrow. (Image courtesy of Ramblin’ Worker.)

• Absolutely Fabulous does artspeak. Included: a nice piece by Edward Winkleman, reflecting on the bear market.
• The Day in Corporate Douchebaggery: Louis Vuitton goes after artist over a Darfur-related print, which contains an image of a naked child holding a Murakami bag. “As an artist yourself, we hope that you recognize the need to respect other artists’ rights and Louis Vuitton’s Intellectual Property rights,” reads the cease-and-desist letter.
• Is the press rooting for an art market crash? Uh, maybe. (Thanks, Jason!)
• In a related story: Kenny Schachter on Art Cologne: “On opening day, the 42nd Art Cologne international art fair was so empty that an American could be forgiven for imagining tumbleweeds rolling down the aisles.”
• The coffin couch, the ideal piece of furniture for today’s art fair.
• Paris Bureau Chieftess Yvonne Connasse tells us that there is a Land of the Lost remake in the works…and Universal has just released early photos of the ‘08 version of the Sleestaks.
• She also reports that the Czechs predicted the existence of QVC, back in 1957.
• The Daily Show does a great take-down of the 60 Minutes interview with Supreme Court judge Antonin Scalia.
• Carnegie International has a Flickr page. (Via MAN.)
• Courbet: Cindy Sherman before Cindy Sherman was Cindy Sherman.
• The artist list for OCMA’s California Biennial.
• Photos from the Olafur Eliasson show at MoMA.
• The Day in Name Changes: Harvard University Art Museums will now be known as Harvard Art Museum. I wonder how many academic committees it took to come to this radical decision.
• Howard Zinn, illustrated.
• R.I.P. Albert Hoffman, the father of LSD. More here.
• So totally odd. But I couldn’t help liking it.
• Felt weapons. (Via Murketing.)
• In NYC: Using transit cams to catch graffiti artists.
• Graff of the Day: Murocracia in Spain.
• I’m Banksy T-shirts.
• Amazing what you can do with an X-Acto knife: One of the best billboard jams I’ve seen yet.
• The floating graffiti pig at Coachella.
• New work by Boogie.
• Timelapse of cherry trees blossoming at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. (Via Kottke.)
• Johnson’s Glass House used to shill denim.
• Trippy cool building with rad stairs: BIP Computers by Alberto Mozó in Santiago, Chile.
• New Architecture Book: Verb Crisis, a tome that examines solutions to high urban density.
• Is the CIA photoshopping satellite imagery? (Via PDN.)
• Andy Warhol, thespian. Love the part where Liz Taylor decides she’s not his type.
• Your moment of snoozing bear cub, courtesy of Yvonne Connasse.