Having been away for a few days, there seem to be some especially good reads this weekend:
- Art event of the week was neither an opening nor an auction sale, but surely a blog post and the 300 comments it generated. Suffice to say, Jonathan Jones doesn’t rate Mark Leckey.
- So much for the artistic boycott of China. In Modern Art Notes, Tyler Green reports on Chinese attempts to withdraw Ai Weiwei’s work from Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
- Meanwhile on artnet, Matthew Bown talks about the medieval cult of relics. Quite a long read, but then it does tell you everything you might ever need to know about contemporary art. Really.
- Two weeks until the Vorticism show at Tate Britain, but Craig Raine has already seen it. In the Guardian he suggests you don’t hold your breath, unless you’re a fan of the Monkees.
- The axis of time has flipped, according to music journalist Simon Reynolds. Find out how/why/wtf in this thoughtful interview with Dan Fox in Frieze.
- It’s turning into a musical week all round, as The Paris Review interviews the author of Our Band Could Be Your Life, Michael Azerrad. Great book, modest guy.
- But today is also a sad day for music. RIP Gil Scott-Heron. Pay tribute by watching YouTube clips on Animal blog.
- This week has also seen the obituaries of Leonora Carrington, a surrealist painter who led a remarkable life. Would love to see a biopic by Guillermo del Toro.
- With captions like these, who needs pictures: an entertaining tour of the Milwaukee Art Museum by Carolina Miranda at C-MONSTER.net.
- Knowing people who can’t find a nice family home in Brighton, it should be said this high security villa in Warsaw looks idyllic. Story by Kyle Chayka on Hyperallergic.
- Finally, if you like short fiction, there’s a brilliant site called InkTears who will send you one new story each month. (Starting with one of mine, if you’re quick!)