from the LA Times, Christopher Knight, Culture Monster, and Modern Art Notes (image is not from original article) Additional byline Kevin Freitas



Monogram - Robert Rauschenberg


Here is some Breaking News that has gone south but only appears to have reached as far as Los Angeles. Why isn't the UT or Reader all over this? Alas, of those things (principally art) going south or at least a little farther east to the Strip, you must read Tyler Green's (Modern Art Notes) scoop and interview with MCASD's Hugh Davies (the concerned Institution's Director) and his response to the debate over collection-to-casino rentals. Or what Christopher Knight called "pimping out" masterpieces from the MCASD's collection. The first part of Tyler Green's article begins here.

I ask, is it a matter of a little extra spare change or a spare tire to loan? You decide.

Finally, speaking of extras I was thrilled to see Larry Baza (a very dear man indeed) of Noel-Baza Gallery complete his jury duty service at the SDAI Museum of the Living Artist this month, but dismayed to see that he had given a Juror's Award to one of his gallery artists. If you follow the blog, you know my position on what the art critic John Canaday refers to as a "sympathetic interest", candidates inducted into the fold by their close proximity to the one doing the selecting. I've spoken about this very same issue before. Recall that this year's San Diego Art Prize was hotly contested by a few (or just me) for its relational politics and rule-bending selection process.

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" If a critic writes criticism and no one is around to read it, does it matter? I wonder.