14 THE ART NEWSPAPER Number 284, November 2016
In the Frame
The Obamas rolled out the red carpet for the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, and
the actor Roberto Benigni, among other distinguished guests, when they hosted their
inal state dinner at the White House last month. Mario Batali, the US chef known for
putting his own spin on classic Italian dishes, created the menu. Our spies tell us that
Paola Antonelli, the senior curator of architecture and design at New York’s Museum
of Modern Art, was in attendance. So how was it? “It was a great honour, great fun and
[there was] great emotion,” she says of the historic bash.
Dylan: mystery man, mystery show
The legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan initially failed
to respond to last month’s news that he had been awarded
the Nobel prize in literature, and a similar air of mystery
surrounds a show of his works that is due to open at London’s
Halcyon Gallery this month. The musician is also a proliic
visual artist, having made a series of large-scale metal
sculptures that were shown at the gallery in 2013, but details
of this month’s exhibition have been kept under wraps. The
only information divulged so far is its title: The Beaten Path.
Bob Dylan in his studio in 2013, when he created his irst
permanent public work of art, the iron archway PortalIt’s a dog’s life for Dubya
A series of sculptures depicting former US president George W.
Bush, garlanded by a wreath of shoes, is making waves in Doha.
The provocative pieces feature in an exhibition at Qatar Museums
Gallery Katara, dedicated to the feisty Iraqi artist Mahmoud Obaidi
(until 30 January 2017). The works focus on a “moment in history
that Obaidi does not want forgotten”, the organisers say, referring
to the incident in 2008 when the Iraqi journalist Muntadhar
al-Zaidi hurled his shoes at Bush during a press conference in
protest at the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. “He’s the one, but he’s
not the only one. It’s the system, but I have to ind someone to
blame, so he’s the one,” Obaidi says. Bush, meanwhile, has made
his name painting dogs since leaving the White House.MoMA curator at the White House
OBAMAS: PETE MAROVICH/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES; © BLOOMBERG FINANCE, 2016. KUSAMA: COURTESY OF OTA FINE ARTS, TOKYO/SINGAPORE, VICTORIA MIRO GALLERY, LONDON, DAVID ZWIRNER, NEW YORK, AND KUSAMA ENTERPRISE; © YAYOI KUSAMA. ARTCURIAL: © ARTCURIAL. DYLAN: © JOHN SHEARERCaptionklj lkj lkj lkjlkjlkjllj;kljlklk;lk ;lk;lk ;lk ;lk ;lk;lk
Kusama meets Tussauds
The art phenomenon that is Yayoi
Kusama receives the ultimate accolade
this month: her own “artistic themed
zone” at Madame Tussauds in Hong Kong.
Local press reports say that the area in the famous waxwork emporium will be
painted yellow and daubed with the Japanese artist’s customary black dots.
Mirrors will create a sense of “ininite space, inviting visitors to let loose as they
embark on a journey of self-obliteration”. And a wax igure of Kusama herself
will sit in the centre, wearing a red hairpiece and a yellow dress covered in—you
guessed it—black dots.Baby curators, apply here
We know that collectors are getting ever younger,
so it’s no surprise that the auction house Artcurial
is targeting infant connoisseurs with a workshop
for children based on its Old Masters sale (
November). The auctioneer Matthieu Fournier will
give collectors and their children a guided tour of
the consigned works in Paris on 12 November, with
plenty of activities planned. “The young amateurs
will learn, for instance, that blind-man’s buf already
existed in the 18th century, thanks to Jean-Baptiste
Pater’s painting Le Colin-Maillard. But the game
owes its name to a soldier from the tenth century
who was blinded during a battle but continued to randomly shoot at his
enemies,” a spokesman says. Rather more highbrow than Peppa Pig. One of Mahmoud Obaidi’s sculptures of George W. BushThe Italian prime minister and his wife were among the Obamas’ guests
Artcurial will host
a workshop for
young enthusiastsYayoi Kusama: next
stop Hong Kong