Monster Mash: Tom Hanks in Ohio; Da Vinci mystery painting; Denver Art Museum's new leader

-- Cause celebre: Tom Hanks lends a fundraising hand to Ohio's Great Lakes Theater Festival, where he got his start as an actor. (The Cleveland Plain Dealer)

-- Lost masterpiece?: Fingerprints suggest that a portrait cataloged as a 19th century German painting is actually a long-lost work by Leonardo da Vinci. (Antiques Trade Gazette)

-- Major appointment: The Denver Art Museum is expected to announce today Christoph Heinrich as its next director. (The Denver Post)

-- Stage revival: The Iraq National Theatre in Baghdad has reopened after six years. (Daily Telegraph)

-- Taking a stand: Guards at the Philadelphia Museum of Art have voted in favor of unionizing. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

-- New season: London's Young Vic has announced its spring 2010 lineup, which will feature works directed by Luc Bondy and actress Fiona Shaw. (Playbill)

-- Cultural initiative: The Kennedy Center launches a pilot arts education program in Sacramento. (Backstage)

-- Fiscal trouble: Golden Gate Opera, in Sausalito, is facing serious financial difficulties. (Contra Costa Times) 

-- Presidential art: A contrarian take on the White House art installation debate. (Modern Art Notes)

-- And from the L.A. Times: Some federal lawmakers see money earmarked for museums as wasteful pork. (Los Angeles Times)

-- David Ng

Photo: Tom Hanks. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Donald Frazell]

So, a drawing goes from $19k to well over $100 mil just because the artist is identified as Leonardo? This just goes to prove that art is now no different than stamp collecting, with the name of the artist deciding rather than just the printing date.

This is why academics suck. they rule what we are supposed to care about, rather than the power, or lack thereof, of the work decide. While this look like an excellent work from viewing here, and probably worth more than $19k no matter who made it, that its value could go overnight almsot a thousand fold,is simply absurd. We need to get back to what art is, its purpose. Is it as a means of wealth, to store it as speculative fodder and ego driven consumerism? Or as a thins created to trigger excitement of mind, body and soul. Such an evaluation can no longer be done, as its hype now rules and overloads any emotional impact.

This is sad. And why so few people care about art anymore. Its about the rich and their games, of investment, entertainment and vanity of supposed superiority. With values so skewed, how is one to react? To care? To be excited in ways other than as a star system produced speculative object. And who cares? Only the academics and their patrons, so they can write long boring treatis on an artist, who has been made into a hero to drive up a works monetary value. No true artist would want this. The cult of the individual has ruined art. And distracted us into vanity and possessiveness over bonding us as a common humanity.

sigh
art collegia delenda est
The museo/gallery/academic complex must be destroyed.