Moping Owl: Flowers

I don’t know about you, but I find it’s becoming increasingly hard to keep up in this brave new art world of ours, fly as I might. Perhaps it’s just my tired old wings, but I have a horrid feeling it might be rather more than that, even if I do manage to catch up… Continue reading Moping Owl: Flowers

Alexander Adams: Women in Art Today

Alexander Adams We are told that in many fields women face systematic disadvantage and are under-represented. It has become a core belief of many and goes almost unchallenged. When politicians came under pressure regarding supposed gender discrimination in the workplace, the British government conducted a survey of arts organisations. The 2018 report found that women… Continue reading Alexander Adams: Women in Art Today

Alexander Adams: Why are Artists Poor? – July 2017

Alexander Adams July/August 2017 Why Are Artists Poor? Imagine the most absurd and outrageous provocations about art that you can. For example: there is no such thing as a pure work of art; artists are unusually ill-informed; there is no market reward for good art; government subsidies make artists poor. Both defensive supporters of state… Continue reading Alexander Adams: Why are Artists Poor? – July 2017

Alexander Adams: What is Critical Theory and Why Should I Care?

Alexander Adams “Was Lt Columbo’s name really Frank? We’ve all seen the freeze-frame close-ups of Columbo’s ID badge which states that his first name is ‘Frank”. But should we consider this canonical?” I’m becoming more and more confused by this ‘canonical’ business. The above is from Columbophile website. I love his joke about the Jewish… Continue reading Alexander Adams: What is Critical Theory and Why Should I Care?

Alexander Adams: The Road to Reparation – May 2018

Alexander Adams May/June 2018 The Road to Reparation – The Restitution Question This essay will discuss reparations. The definitions of “restitution” and “reparations” used in this essay are as follows: restitution is the return of specific unlawfully acquired goods to the lawfully determined owner or descendants (or estate) thereof; reparations are the return of goods… Continue reading Alexander Adams: The Road to Reparation – May 2018

Michael Daley: Selling a Leonardo with Oomph

Michael Daley Questions proliferate on the disappeared $450 million Leonardo Salvator Mundi. Where is it? Who owns it? Who still believes it a Leonardo? Will it be exhibited this year at the Paris Louvre’s big Leonardo exhibition, as promised? Can it be true, as an artnet blogger now claims (on the claimed say-so of “two… Continue reading Michael Daley: Selling a Leonardo with Oomph

Dick French: On The Town – November 2020

Dick French November/December 2020 Rebecca Cains has died. She was only 50. “Death lies on her like an untimely frost.” Also known as “Becky the Scrapyard Queen” on account of the subject matter of her paintings – mostly wrecked cars and vans on roads or in scrapyards. She showed occasionally at the Royal Academy and… Continue reading Dick French: On The Town – November 2020

Laura Gascoigne: Institutional Rationalism – November 2020

Laura Gascoigne November/December 2020 In the introduction to his 1951 book The Greeks and the Irrational, the classicist E R Dodds recalled a chance meeting in front of the Parthenon marbles with a young man who confessed: “This Greek stuff doesn’t move me one bit”. When Dodds asked him why, he replied: “Well, it’s all… Continue reading Laura Gascoigne: Institutional Rationalism – November 2020