News from Around the Art World: October 2, 2017
2,000 Miles Of Yarn To Make Up Border Wall Exhibit At Smart Museum Of Art
HYDE PARK — The Smart Museum of Art has collected more than 1,000 miles of yarn knitted into blankets.
It needs 1,000 miles more.
The museum is collecting so much yarn to reach 2,000 miles, the length of President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall, as part of its first exhibit under the museum’s new director.
-- Via Sam Cholke, dna info
Century of Progress Homes Tour at Indiana Dunes takes visitors back to the future
The Century of Progress Homes Tour (Oct. 14-15) offers a rare glimpse inside five iconic houses that helped shape the way we live today.
Each year, the annual tour of this time-capsule of a housing enclave — conspicuously plopped on the banks of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore — draws a mix of curious lookie-loos and serious architecture and design buffs. But if you're someone who's just wanting an easy weekend day trip, you'll love it, too.
-- Via Chris LaMorte, Chicago Tribune
Jacques Grange’s Collection of a Lifetime, Now Up for Sale
At 73, Jacques Grange is cleaning house. For half a century, the French interior designer has not only created homes for Yves Saint Laurent, Sofia Coppola, Princess Caroline of Monaco and others, but advised his clients on which art and furniture to buy and how to arrange it in a loose, layered style sometimes called haute bohemian. He plays the role of the sophisticate’s sophisticate.
It was Mr. Grange who, working in collaboration with Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé, helped the pair accumulate an incredible collection of art and furniture that was sold in 2009 by Christie’s France in what was billed as “the sale of the century.” It should come as little surprise, then, that all the while, the designer was using his great eye to amass his own world-class collection of modern and contemporary art, 20th century design, photographs and antiques.
-- Via Steven Kurutz, The New York Times
15 Emerging Illustrators Every Art Lover Should Know
What separates illustration from art? For most emerging illustrators, the answer is complicated.
“I’m not really sure there is a major distinction—boundaries between artistic practices are increasingly and refreshingly blurry,” says Brooklyn-based illustrator and painter Sam Kalda. Milan-based Olimpia Zagnoli agrees: “I’m not really interested in dividing my work into separate boxes. I’m interested in doing good work and cultivating my curiosity for things.”
While illustration has traditionally referred to drawing commissioned for media and advertising, times are clearly changing. And no longer confined to paper sketchpads and print publications alone, contemporary illustrators are indeed expanding their toolkit, techniques, and the range of projects they’re pursuing.
-- Via Alexxa Gotthardt, Artsy
Pompeii to build contemporary art collection
Pompeii is inviting artists to create sculptural works incorporating archaeological fragments from the ancient Roman site near Naples, which its director-general Massimo Osanna says will show that it is still “a place of the contemporary”. Osanna hopes to build a permanent collection of new works and open a space to display them. The initiative launches in November with an ambitious exhibition about the enduring fascination of the site for artists and intellectuals, from Goethe to Le Corbusier, since it was first excavated in 1748.
Roman artefacts from the ruins are due to go on show with Modern and contemporary art at the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina (Madre) in Naples on 18 November. The display will include archaeological-inspired works by Laure Prouvost, Jimmie Durham, Adrian Villar Rojas and Mark Dion, among others.
-- Via Hannah McGivern, The Art Newspaper
Obama Foundation Summit
On October 31 and November 1, the Obama Foundation will welcome civic leaders from around Chicago, the U.S., and the world to join us for a two-day immersive event in Chicago. During this inaugural Summit, hundreds of leaders from around the world will come together to exchange ideas, explore creative solutions to common problems, and experience civic art, technology, and music from around the world.