Lunchtime, Hungary, 2002 by Monika Merva. (Photo courtesy of Monika Merva.)
- Ricardo Montalbán, a fashion appreciation.
- George Grosz as metaphor for our time.
- Jerry Saltz gives Marlene Dumas the smackdown on Facebook. Cue the drama!
- An interesting juxtaposition of Bush and Eggleston.
- Jonathan Jones reviews Vladimir Putin’s paintings. And he says they’re not all bad.
- The Art Newspaper does a round-up on art and the economy.
- LACMA reins in expenses. Renovations on the Macy’s building have been put off.
- A photo by Lee Friedlander of Madonna in the ‘80s (with her chacha hanging out) is up for sale next month at Christie’s.
- Forget Williamsburg, it’s all about Sunset Park. (Art Observed.)
- Obamart, elementary school edition. (mcoatney.)
- “Radicals make the best posters.” The Economist on the subject of political posters in Lebanon. (Arts Journal.)
- A map that replaces states in the U.S. with countries that have similar GDPs. Michigan is on par with Argentina, Texas with Canada, and Hawaii with Nigeria.
- Last night I was hanging with a bunch of bloggas in Brooklyn who were talking utopia, so this Thomas More (My Bad!) Rem Koolhaas quote I found this morning seemed quite relevant.
- Google has filed an amicus brief in support of several legal cases challenging Proposition 8. Their argument: Prop. 8 is bad for business. (Eyebeam.)
- Today’s Graff: TEC in Argentina.
- The Guardian profiles Poster Boy.
- A 1961 Playboy article about the “Masters of Design,” on figures such as Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames: “Today design is more likely to reflect great good spirits than profound philosophies; to relish shapely contours rather than ‘honest’ structures; to pride itself more highly on elegance than earnestness.” (NotCot.)
- The end of “The Bilbao Decade.” (ArchDaily.)
- Trip and a half: A building in circles, by ARTechnic architects, in Japan. Channeling Brasilia at a more intimate scale.
- Your moment of Ann Coulter.