'Obamao' artwork tests limits of free speech in China

Anyone who has been following President Obama's visit to China this week has no doubt heard of "Obamao" -- the graphic superimposition of Obama's face on the body of Chairman Mao that has found its way onto T-shirts and other souvenir items around the country.

The phenomenon, which was first reported during the summer, has reached a cultural tipping point this week, as Obama makes his way through the country as part of his first tour of Asia as president. Everyone -- NBC as well as  Gawker -- has weighed in on "Obamao." On Friday, the Christian Science Monitor reported that the Chinese government had gone so far as to ban the image by threatening to shut down vendors selling the popular T-shirts. Apparently, the government fears the image will offend the visiting president.

Culture Monster finds it is somewhat ironic that the Chinese government is cracking down on an image of Obama just as Obama himself publicly urged the country to embrace the freedom of speech. As reported this weekend in The Times, Obama spoke recently in Shanghai about "free expression, worship, political participation and access to information," which the president termed "universal rights."

"They should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities, whether they are in the United States, China or any nation," he said.

Obama also stated that unrestricted access to the Internet "should be encouraged."

Monster Mash: Whitney Museum's expansion; art theft gets complicated; Artes Mundi prize

-- Expanding: The Whitney Museum of American Art (left) is moving ahead with plans to build a new museum near New York's High Line. (The New York Times)

-- Plot thickens: The recent $80-million art theft case in Pebble Beach gets weirder as police investigate whether one of the victims was trying to swindle his partner. (The Boston Globe)

-- And the nominees are: Eight artists have been named finalists for the Artes Mundi, Britain's biggest visual-arts prize. (BBC News)

-- What goes up...: China's contemporary art market is experiencing a plunge in prices. (Reuters)

-- Ultimatum: Iran has given the British Museum a two-month deadline to loan an ancient artifact called the Cyrus Cylinders. (Bloomberg)

-- Unconventional parking: A planned automobile museum in China will allow visitors to drive through the building. (Daily Telegraph)

-- High culture: Not everyone is happy about efforts by Henri Loyrette, the director of the Louvre Museum in Paris, to loosen up the institution. (The New York Times)

-- Eureka: Santa Fe Opera upsets locals after it gives permission for oil drilling on some of its property. (Associated Press)

-- Blackout: Esa-Pekka Salonen runs into electrical problems during a recent performance in London. (The Guardian)

-- Flat note: Contract negotiations at the New Mexico Symphony have hit a wall. (KRQE)

-- Soldiering on: Lynn Redgrave is still scheduled to open in the New York run of her solo show despite a recent undisclosed medical diagnosis. (Variety)

-- Le divorce?: Opera star Roberto Alagna confirms that he has separated from his wife, soprano Angela Gheorghiu. (Le Figaro)

-- And from the L.A. Times: Tim Robbins discusses the latest initiative by his theater company, the Actors' Gang. (Los Angeles Times)

-- David Ng

Photo: A view of the Whitney Museum in New York. Credit: Los Angeles Times

'Ancient Paths, Modern Voices' illuminates Chinese culture in O.C.

My Sunday Arts & Books story on the "Class of 1978" -- the first group of Chinese musicians who were allowed to pursue their music studies at the Beijing Central Conservatory after the 10-year tumult of Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution -- serves as a preview for the wide-ranging "Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: A Festival Celebrating Chinese Culture" that begins Oct. 11 with music, film, theater and cultural events at various Orange County locations including the Orange County Performing Arts Center, South Coast Plaza and the Orange County Museum of Art. The group is named for the year the artists entered the conservatory.

The expansive festival, which continues through Nov. 24, is an offshoot of Carnegie Hall's Oct. 21-Nov. 10  festival in New York. The West Coast version is presented by Segerstrom Center for the Arts and Philharmonic Society of Orange County.

Monster Mash: Gustavo Dudamel's wonder years; more NEA bickering; Anne Frank on YouTube

-- Family album: Gustavo Dudamel's relatives talk about the conductor's early passion for music.

-- Politics as usual: The National Endowment for the Arts' Rocco Landesman responds to attacks by Republican politicians.

-- Nixed trip: The New York Philharmonic has canceled its trip to Cuba scheduled for this month due to the U.S. government's decision to bar the travel of a group of patrons. 

-- Video history: The Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam launches its own YouTube channel.

-- Oompa Loompa: A new stage musical of Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is reported to be in the works.

-- Waterworks: Lincoln Center's famous fountain returns after 18 months of renovations.

-- Rumors of a mutiny: Is there hostility between the cast and director of the Broadway revival of Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs"?

-- Magic kingdom: After months of anticipation, the Disney Family Museum opens its doors to the public in San Francisco.

-- Cultural icebreaker: Taiwan's National Palace Museum is opening its first joint exhibition with mainland China.

-- Chorus of disapproval: A new production of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" at the Royal Opera in London received boos from the audience.

-- Fake art: Federal authorities have recovered a counterfeit copy of a watercolor painting by Andrew Wyeth.

-- Creature feature: The off-Broadway musical "The Toxic Avenger" is set for a national tour in 2010.

-- David Ng

Photo: Gustavo Dudamel, center, at age 16. Credit: Hoy/Dudamel Family Album

Monster Mash: Smithsonian's buyout plan; 'Enron' sets Broadway date; Madoff gored, figuratively

--Drastic measures: The Smithsonian Institution is offering its entire staff a buyout or early retirement package, citing budgetary difficulties.

--Heading to New York: "Enron," a new stage production about the corporate financial scandal, is set to open on Broadway in April 2010.

--Painful to look at: Artist Chen Wenling has created a sculpture depicting convicted financier Bernie Madoff being gored in the buttocks by a bull.

--Retiring: Antonio Castillo de la Gala is ending his run as a pianist at the Hotel Bel-Air's Champagne Bar.

--Preventive measure: The Los Angeles City Council approves an ordinance requiring new homes to include a graffiti-resistant finish in order to reduce incidences of tagging.

--Stage heaven: The Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago is named one of the top 15 places to work by the Wall Street Journal’s Top Small Workplaces 2009.

--Protest: Workers at the Venice Biennale strike to protest working conditions and not receiving overtime payment.

--Defying gravity: Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte will spend time aboard the International Space Station, where he will "lead" a performance next week.

--Group effort: Five prominent architects -- including Frank Gehry and Jean Nouvel -- are contributing designs for a new arts center in the South of France.

--Fancy feet: The United Nations declares the tango a world cultural treasure.

-- David Ng

Photo: A sculpture by Chinese artist Chen Wenling, titled "What You See Might Not Be Real" on display in Beijing, depicts convicted financier Bernard Madoff. Credit: Ng Han Guan / Associated Press

A sneak peek at Iranian artist Shirin Neshat's award-winning movie

Take a politically charged subject -- the 1953 CIA-led coup in Iran -- and match it with a visual artist known for producing arresting and sometimes disturbing images, and you have a feature film that's a must-see in the international festival and art-house circuit.

Iranian artist Shirin Neshat has directed her first feature film, "Women without Men," which won the best director award at the Venice Film Festival. Adapted from a novella of the same name by Shahrnush Parsipur, the movie tells the story of three women from different social classes as their lives unfold against the backdrop of the CIA-led coup to reinstall the Shah.

At the movie's Venice premiere, Neshat walked the red carpet with her creative team, all of them dressed in green (the unofficial color of the Iranian protest movement following the recent elections). If anyone knows how to make a bold visual statement, it's Neshat, whose video art work has been shown in prominent museums around the world.

What's less certain, however, is Neshat's storytelling abilities. Reviews of the film have skewed slightly negative, with Variety complaining that the movie's visuals "are more successful than structure and rationale."

Check out some scenes from the movie in the above clip. Please note: some of the images in the clip are disturbing and may not be suitable for small children.

-- David Ng

Photo: Actress Arita Shahrzad, left, and director Shirin Neshat, center, walk the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival. Credit: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

Korean art goes front and center at LACMA

Hyonjeong Kim Han arrived at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2006 as associate curator of Chinese and Korean art. But she is making a sort of debut with the recent opening of the museum’s new galleries of Korean art. Formerly tucked away on the lower level of the Ahmanson building and then closed for a couple of years amid an ongoing reorganization, the Korean art showcase is now much larger and more prominently located, on the plaza level of the Hammer building.

LACMA’s big summer exhibition, “Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists From Korea,” has already brought more Koreans and Korean Americans to the museum, the curator says. “I hope the new galleries will bring more people to see the objects, talk about them and think about what they mean.”

The new display highlights a collection that has grown from a few works to about 500 paintings, sculptures, ceramics and textiles and an 800-piece trove of pottery shards.  The inaugural exhibition also offers three loans from the National Museum of Korea, including a “Pensive Buddha” sculpture designated as a National Treasure.

“I am very happy and proud,” says Jaewon Kim, director of L.A.’s Korean Cultural Center. “My hope is that the galleries will provide great accessibility to the museum and Korean art for the Korean community and Los Angelenos in general. When the first Korean galleries opened at LACMA, their collection was not so full-scale. This time, not only is the space greater, but the collection is richer. I also hope, through the development of the relationship between LACMA and the Korean National Museum, there will be other treasures coming and going.”

To read the full story in Sunday’s Arts & Books section, click here.

-- Suzanne Muchnic

Photo: Hyonjeong Kim Han with Korean portraits at LACMA. Credit: Christina House / Los Angeles Times

Related coverage:
‘Your Bright Future’ spotlights contemporary Korean artists at LACMA

Monster Mash: Yale criticized over Muhammad cartoons; Michael Jackson glove sells for $49,000; Hitler paintings auctioned in Nuremberg

-- Sacred and profane: Yale University gets an earful of criticism after removing cartoons of the prophet Muhammad from an upcoming book.

-- Auction news, Part 1: A crystal-encrusted glove once worn by Michael Jackson is sold for about $49,000 at an auction in Australia.

-- Auction news, Part 2: Three artworks attributed to Adolf Hitler have been auctioned for $60,000 in Nuremberg.

-- Stage to screen: The Japanese movie "Departures," which won an Oscar this year for foreign-language film, is being adapted for the stage in Tokyo.

-- International effort: Interpol has launched an online database of stolen artwork from around the world.

-- Ancient discovery: Researchers believe they have solved a lingering mystery about the statues on Easter Island.

-- Hideous architecture: The Liverpool Ferry Terminal has been named the worst building in Britain built in the last 12 months.

-- Architectural scare: The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge reopens today after a crack in a steel link was discovered.

-- Coming together: Producers have announced the full cast of "The Addams Family" musical, starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, that will open in Chicago before transferring to Broadway.

-- Across the pond: The Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Ruined" by Lynn Nottage will have its British debut at the Almeida Theatre in London, most likely in early 2010.

-- In discussion: Photographer Martin Parr is in talks with British museums over the fate of his art collection.

-- Classical mystery: Did J.S. Bach pioneer the 12-tone system, which was only popularized in the 20th century?

-- Back in business: Yasmina Reza's Tony-winning "God of Carnage" resumes performances today on Broadway following a summer hiatus.

-- David Ng

Photo: cover art for "The Cartoons that Shook the World." Credit: Yale University Press

Monster Mash: Glenn Beck controversy continues; Gustavo Dudamel coming to PBS; Virgin Mary art removed

-- Communist art: Times art critic Christopher Knight joins in the debate about political commentator Glenn Beck.

-- Maestro moments: Gustavo Dudamel's inaugural gala concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Oct. 8 will be broadcast on PBS and released on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon.

-- Restitution: The Netherlands said it will return 13 paintings in national museums to the heirs of collectors persecuted by the Nazis.

-- Still singing: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa insists that she's not retiring, despite what the press has reported.

-- Religious art controversy: Artwork that features the Virgin Mary with the superimposed faces of female suicide bombers has been removed from the headquarters of the National Federation of Israeli Journalists in Tel Aviv.

-- Welcome to the club: India's contemporary artists appear to be experiencing a somewhat rough time in the international art market. 

-- Theater speculation: A stage adaptation of Pedro Almodovar's "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" could be coming to Broadway in the 2009-10 season.

-- Going to jail: A former accountant for the Tucson Museum of Art has been sentenced to five years in prison for embezzling close to $1 million from the institution.

-- Whoops: LACMA forgot to check with the UCLA Film & Television Archive before announcing its new film society, CineClub.

-- David Ng

Photo: Glenn Beck. Credit: Mike Mergen / Associated Press

Monster Mash: Norton Simon painting still questioned; UCLA faculty fight back; Riccardo Muti takes new post

 -- Court ruling: The rightful ownership of a work of art depicting Adam and Eve, currently at the Norton Simon Museum, is still up in the air despite a court decision Wednesday on art that was looted during the Holocaust.

-- Rallying point: UCLA faculty have launched an online campaign to save the university's arts library from the chopping block.

-- Creative gathering: The India Art Summit, the country's largest contemporary art fair, is without  one of India's most famous painters due to fears of attacks by Hindu extremists.  

-- Cutting back: Christie's reportedly has abandoned plans to start an art-investment fund and lending division.

-- Star turns: John Lithgow and Jennifer Ehle will star in a new play by Douglas Carter Beane opening February at New York's Second Stage Theatre.

-- In the works: Architect Santiago Calatrava discusses his plans for the new transportation hub at New York's Ground Zero site.

-- Moonlighting: Conductor Riccardo Muti will take the top spot at Rome's opera house while continuing to serve as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

-- Something different: Novelist Margaret Atwood has created a one-hour theatrical production as part of her new book tour.

-- Art controversy: Scholars are denouncing a new stash of Frida Kahlo paintings as fakes.

-- Flexibility: The Sacramento Ballet has found creative ways to deal with the economic recession.

-- Live forever: The trailer for the upcoming movie "Fame" is now online.

-- David Ng

Photo: A gallery at Norton Simon Museum. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times