Modernism

A little known mural created by Keith Haring in a Barcelona club in 1989 is at risk of being demolished to make way for an elder care facility, according to a report by the Guardian.

The red mural in Haring’s signature style, depicting a figure with a flower for a head, was a tribute to the acid house music scene of the time. After the club’s closing in 1993, the venue became a billiards hall. The owners revealed that they were planning to demolish the building—and, with it, the Haring mural. Since the announcement, there has been a scramble to determine the fate the mural, including if it could be safely removed and possibly sold.

The manager of the billiards hall, Gabriel Carral, told the Guardian, that the Keith Haring Foundation offed to buy the mural for €80,000 (or roughly $97,000), as well as the cost of removing … Read the rest

Douglas S. Cramer, a television producer who amassed a vast collection filled with prime works by Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, and others, has died, according to the Hollywood Reporter. He was 89.

Cramer once headed Paramount Television and was integral in launching shows such as The Love Boat, Wonder Woman, Dynasty, Mission: Impossible, and more to mass success. With the fortune he assembled, he bought hundreds of artworks. He also served on the boards of the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

In a 2012 interview with Christie’s, Cramer discussed three artists who became the cornerstones of his collection: Johns, Kelly, and Roy Lichtenstein, all of whom Cramer came to know personally. Over time, his collection also came to include a spread of artists spanning multiple generations, among them David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Joel Shapiro, Cecily … Read the rest

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A good utility knife should be something you want to reach for over and over again. Deploy it for general everyday tasks, like opening cardboard boxes and slicing tape, or more specialized projects in the studio, like cutting canvas panels or trimming fabric. When choosing a knife, it’s important to think not only about sharpness but also comfort and safety. We’ve done the research for you; check out our favorite utility knives below. 

ARTNEWS RECOMMENDS
X-Acto Surgrip Retractable Utility Knife
This solidly constructed knife is sharp, precise, and comfortable. Its handle features evenly spaced ripples for your fingers to rest in to maximize control over each cut, and the tool feels substantial but not heavy in the hand. The retractable blade can slice through heavier materials including cardboard and … Read the rest

New York–based multimedia artist Franklin Evans creates immersive paintings and installations that are often composed of brightly colored geometric shapes. “I make [art] out of all these things I love,” Evans told Brooke Jaffe in a recent interview for “ARTnews Live,” our ongoing IGTV series featuring interviews with a range of creatives.

Evans came to art making toward the end of college. Growing up in Reno, he said, art “wasn’t part of my life growing up. Sports was culture. I loved playing golf.” But once he took a studio art class during his junior year at Stanford University Evans became engrossed in art-making: “I was just hooked.” His semester studying abroad in London also proved influential. “I met all these creatives and, I think, the not-so-out gay boy in me also felt like this was my tribe,” he said.

In creating his art, Evans said he likes to use … Read the rest

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Monday that archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old Roman basilica established by King Herod. Unearthed in Ashkelon National Park, the basilica, found with a nearby odeon (ancient theater), is the largest structure of its kind in Israel.

King Herod the Great, who is perhaps best known from the Christian Bible for ordering the murder of Bethlehem’s infants in an attempt to kill the newborn baby Jesus, was appointed by the Roman Empire to rule over Judea, serving from 37 to 4 B.C.E. The basilica he erected stood at the heart of Ashkelon—then a major seaport with a thriving trade economy—and functioned as a hub for all aspects of public life. In the Roman Era, it was common for citizens to conduct business and legal affairs, to socialize, and to attend religious ceremonies and performances there.

The massive public building contained a central hall flanked by … Read the rest

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Watercolor sticks are a great tool for artists who want to add watercolor effects to sketches and drawings. They are somewhere between a watercolor and a pastel, with a good amount of variation among brands. Apply them in a range of ways: Draw dry on dry and then wet your surface with a brush, dip the stick in water as you work, apply dry to wet paper, or even treat these sticks like watercolor pans, using a wet brush to take pigment from the stick and transfer it to paper. Watercolor sticks are sometimes priced better than traditional pans, and they’re highly portable: no palette or brush necessary. If you’re interested in using watercolor sticks for drawing or painting, find our list of recommended options below.

ARTNEWS RECOMMENDS
Winsor … Read the rest

Paint isn’t as permanent as you might think! If you’ve made an error with your acrylics or oils, there is a way to fix it: Pick up a painting scraper. Featuring a sharp blade, this tool makes quick work of dried pigment; you can use it to lift paint off your canvas without ruining the fabric and without having to use any solvents. Scrapers are also great tools for cleaning off your palette and cleaning up your work space. Below, we highlight some of our favorites. 

ARTNEWS RECOMMENDS
RGM Scraper Knife No. 109
Our favorite scraping tool is made to last, comfortable to hold, and pretty inexpensive to boot. Made in Italy, it features an asymmetrical multi-angled blade made of tempered steel that is firmly fitted into a solid wood handle and secured with a brass ferrule. It is beautifully weighted, and the blade is offset so you can maintain … Read the rest

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Essential to any oil or acrylic painter’s practice is a great palette knife or painting knife. With such tools, artists can combine colors and materials in the process of creating their works. Though originally intended for mixing media, palette knives can also be used to apply paint to canvas, with different sizes and shapes producing different effects. Even watercolorists can use them to scratch into a work. Note that a painting knife, often with a curved neck or handle to keep the artist’s hands away from the painted surface, is technically a different tool and may be best suited for applying pigment to canvas, but painting and palette knives—both the tools and their names—are often used interchangeably. The blades’ edges can be blunt or sharp, allowing a wide range … Read the rest

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An art subscription box is one of the best gifts you can give yourself or a creative friend. Typically delivered monthly, these kits come with specially curated supplies, whether paints, inks, or paper, to surprise and inspire you. Because everyone’s preferences are different, you likely won’t be in love with every single product you receive every month. Still, subscription boxes are a fun way to try products you might not have used before or even known about. If you’ve ever been overwhelmed by all the choices at a typical art store, these boxes are also a handy way to hone your tastes so you can be more informed the next time you shop in person. Below, find five of our favorite art subscription services that offer the best deals … Read the rest

Known for his abstract compositions, the New York–based artist Ali Banisadr recently described his paintings as “quite encyclopedic” and “trying to gather different fragments of information and knowledge from different sources,” as he told Brooke Jaffe during an “ARTnews Live,” our ongoing IGTV series featuring interviews with a range of creatives.

Influenced by classic literature and the work of Old Masters like Bruegel, Bosch, and Goya, Banisadr admires their ability “to show humanity from a macro level.” To create his works, he said he “fall[s] down the rabbit hole” while researching the imagery that appears throughout his oeuvre. His maximalist approach to painting starts by sitting with “the infinite possibilities” of a blank canvas until an idea or feeling strikes him. To capture a mood, Banisadr bottles his own color combinations of paint, which has become the basis of his works. The rest, he says, is a “fluid process” … Read the rest