Friday, March 29, 2024
 


What Ever Happened to Fistfights?


And the power of blogging.

This is one thing we’ve been wondering about over here at Clancco headquarters: what ever happened to the Pollock’s, the Mailers, and the Rodmans of yesterday; to respect and courtesy for the old school? December’s issue of Esquire Magazine has an interesting article by Chris Jones relating the anonymity made available via blogging to the importance of bringing back the spontaneous—but necessary—fistfight.

How’d we get here? Blogs are part of it, along with the incessant frothing of TV pundits and reality-show contestants, especially that lippy midget from The Amazing Race: Everybody thinks they’re above being edited. And the saddest part is, the Jerichos are right to feel bulletproof. Somewhere along the way, we’ve evolved into a culture without consequence, taught so much hokum about the bigger man walking away.

Is society really acting more and more like an internet? Perhaps, but in the real world (Lacanians love that), there are consequences, and it seems like in the virtual as well. Law.com reports of a Tennessee defense attorney who is arguing for a change of venue in a racially charged double murder, citing that postings on Internet blogs have tainted the jury pool. In his brief, Philip Lomonaco argued that blogs “spread lies and helped create an urban legend surrounding the details of the final state of the victims’ bodies — details meant to outrage and taint any jury pool. These untruths made a heinous crime even more horrific, and has created an irreversible fog of prejudicial publicity.”

Calling the Marlboro man.

 

Threats of Columbine-style Attacks Not Free Speech


Leave it to someone from El Paso, Texas to claim that communicating written threats of violence are protected by the First Amendment. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals however feels quite differently.

Using Morse v. Frederick, the most recent case of student speech and its limitations, the 5th Circuit conclude that Morse allows school administrators to apply zero-tolerance rules to threats of violence and potentially other subjects of student speech. What exactly did Enrique Ponce, a Montwood High School sophomore, write in his diary? Well, Ponce described creating a pseudo-Nazi group, committing several incidents of violence against homosexual and “colored” students and planning Columbine-type shootings at several schools. The plan, which according to the diary, was fomented by Ponce’s anger which would “get to the point where [he] will no longer have control,” would be carried out on a graduation day several years later.

Wow! This is even more interesting because we assume that Ponce himself is a “minority,” and being from the El Paso area it would be safe to say that he is either Mexican-American or Chicano, so presumably these two “minority” statuses would not be covered in his diatribe of violence toward other minorities. Interesting! Anyhow, Ponce’s plan was unveiled when he told another student about his writings and supposedly showed the diary to this undisclosed snitch (another reason why one should never confide in strangers). The snitch then reported Ponce to their teacher, and, well, here we are.

Incidentally, it was another great El Paso school, Jefferson High School, which produced the notorious Richard “the night stalker” Ramirez.

The First Amendment Center has more on this story.

 

Private Contributions and Public Museums


A couple of interesting questions are being kicked around the “artworld” these days, and they concern (1) whether or not nonprofit art museums should, or can, accept money from commercial galleries with a clear financial stake in the exhibiting artist’s career, and in some cases in the actual artworks on display, and (2) whether financial contributions of galleries should, or can, influence what a nonprofit art museum exhibits?

The “should” aspect of these two questions is of course up for ethical debate (i.e.- appearance of impropriety). They are not new or groundbreaking issues, and have existed, let’s say, since Plato. The reason the ethical question is not that interesting, at least not at this point, is because ethical questions and dilemmas lack the power or, more appropriately, the force of law. To believe that a nonprofit museum could be ethically shamed into correcting itself is to believe that Barry Bonds was ignorant of the contents in his daily breakfast (or see MASS MoCAs treatment of Christoph Buchel).

The real issue is the first question: whether or not a nonprofit museum, with tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code, can receive monies from private art galleries or private collectors without these monies benefiting the private parties in more than “insubstantial” way. The reason for this is quite obvious, but just in case, the IRS Code stipulates that a party “donating” money to a 501(c)(3) organization cannot privately benefit from the acts and/or services of the 501(c)(3) because this same private party is already receiving a private benefit–a tax deductible contribution.

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Museum Accepts Owning Warhol Fakes


The Los Angeles Times reported today that the Moderna Museet in Stockholm has officially stated that six Brillo boxes in their Andy Warhol collection are fakes made in 1990, three years after Warhol’s death. The Museum had investigated the authenticity of its six wooden Brillo boxes, donated by its former head, Pontus Hulten, in 1995, after a Swedish newspaper claimed they were all copies.

warhol.brillo.jpg

 

Deaccessioning @ Christie’s


Mexican newspaper La Jornada reported today that a painting by Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo that was expected to be sold at a Christie’s auction was pulled from the sale Monday after a court ruling.

The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the lower circuit court’s decision granting an injunction against Randolph College. The injunction stated that Randolph College can’t auction off four paintings from its beloved art collection — at least not for six months. Those who sued the college to block the sale, including alumnae, students and parents, hailed the ruling as a victory.

“Trovador” (”Troubador”) was expected to fetch up to three million dollars at the Latin American art auction. According to La Jornada, the Maier Museum’s ex-director, Ellen Agnes, stated that “since the works were donated, it is unethical for them to be auctioned off for profit. Additionally, they possess major artistic and academic merit.”

Although we’ve noted this before, it brings to mind Michael Asher’s incisive critique from 1999 of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, for MoMA’s own group exhibition, The Museum as Muse: Artists Reflect. In his project, Publication listing deaccessions from the Painting and Sculpture Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1929-1998, Asher had MoMA list all the works deaccessioned by the museum during its history, including some very embarrassing deaccessions. In order to obtain this booklet, the viewer had to approach the bookstore and request one from a cashier, many times sent away with explanations that the booklet was out of stock, when in fact many of the booklets were stored by the museum.

 

Woman Fined for Kissing Cy Twombly


The BBC reported today that Cambodian-born Rindy Sam has been ordered to pay 1,500 euros in damages to the owner of the painting by a French judge. She must also pay a symbolic one euro to Twombly, as well as the gallery owner 500 euros.

“I just gave it a kiss. It was an act of love, when I kissed it, I wasn’t thinking. I thought the artist would understand,” she said.

Apparantly the fines for French kissing a painting are larger, and life-sentences are in order for sleeping with a painting, noted a renowned French art critic. However, flings with sculptures are not covered by French law.

 

Nussenzweig Loses–Again!


Third time is not a charm for old Erno Nussenzweig, the Hasidic Jewish man made famous by Philip Lorca di Corcia. The New York State Court of Appeals decided on Thursday, November 15, 2007, that Erno’s suit against di Corcia was barred by the statute of limitations as applicable to a right of privacy claim. The Court basically concluded that the statute of limitations begins to run on the first “date of publication,” and not on the first date that the plaintiff first discovered that her/his image was being used without consent. Thus a plaintiff must commence the suit within one year of first publication, and not within one year of first discovery. Although stupefying, the Court’s decision states that an artist/photographer has the right to exhibit any images of private individuals, without their consent, so long as the artist/photographer is crafty enough to keep these images from the wronged party, or better yet, so long as the artist/photographer takes pictures of private citizens who are not likely to hang out in Chelsea galleries. One wonders if these judges collect art.

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