More Nations in painting

America painting a nation at AGNSW starts 8 Nov

Henry Inman, No-Tin (Wind) Chippewa Chief 1832-33 (detail)

Call for submisions

SUBMISSIONS DUE: DECEMBER 6, 2013 Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society invites submissions from scholars, artists, and activists for a new issue of the journal exploring Indigenous art, aesthetics, and decolonizing struggle, guest edited by Jarrett Martineau (University of Victoria, Cree/Dene), in conjunction with the Editors of Decolonization.

http://critical-theory.com/submit-papers-indigenous-art-aesthetics-decolonial-struggle/

Take off with Kimberley design

Reveal of new Qantas plane in Seattle, new-build 737-838 VH-XZJ .

Reportedly the design is based on the work of the late East Kimberley artist Paddy Bedford.
and entitled Mendoowoorrji

You can follow its journey from Seattle on the Qantas website here or on twitter #QFflyingart

Shaun Gladwell

Shaun Gladwell speaking about his video work 'Approach to Mundi Mundi' shot on same location as Mad Max II. He nods to Nolan's Ned Kelly series and describes his desire to perform ideas in his own way.

Jason Donovan on the exhibition at The Royal Academy

Cultural commentator Jason Donovan ( actor/ singer in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, theatre production touring UK; participant on Strictly in 2012) on the RA exhibition Australia:
.'.. the blue sky is a big part of the Australian landscape and the Australian paintings.'

Lou Reed

NME obit for Lou Reed here
And from the BBC site here

Arthur C. Danto

Arthur C. Danto Letter to Posterity published online in The American Scholar in Autumn 2012
A passion for philosophy led me to my first career, and a passion for art led me to a second, as a critic

'I hate the idea of dying, since I relish life, as long as I can actually live it. But death is a gift of the gods, a way of escaping life when it is really intolerable. Though I have built a philosophical system, it does not contain a philosophy of life. If I have a philosophy of life, it is to keep living until I drop.'

Arthur C. Danto

1 January 1924 - 25 October 2013

RA in Oxford Times

Theresa Thompson in the Oxford Times
Australia @ Royal Academy, London: 'Big themes without beating round bush'

Australia at the Royal Academy: liars and thieves

Nina Caplan in the New Statesman suggests using theft as the organising principle for the current exhibition of Australia at the Royal Academy.

The Royal Academy has certainly underestimated Australia, similarly trying to fit the continent into too small a space. The gallery has form on this kind of sweeping treatment – its 1995 “Africa” show triggered outrage – but the curators are also responding to Australian self-deprecation, not to mention the internal incoherence of a nation founded on theft by people who were there mostly as punishment for stealing.

Australia the embarrassment, self-inflicted

This blog is not supposed to be about Australia, the country, as such but I couldn't ignore that the country is now being managed by insulting international experts and relying on wikipedia as the source for 'facts'.
Christiana Figueres executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is talking through her hat  says the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott. He just can't help his misogynist self shining through his ignorance.

Greg Hunt, Environment Minister, confidently uses Wikipedia as his source for claims that the devastating fires in NSW this week do not in any way have anything to do with climate change.
Sorry to burst your worldview balloon Greg but there ain't no tooth fairy:

Wikipedia itself says:

Users should be aware that not all articles are of encyclopedic quality from the start: they may contain false or debatable information. Indeed, many articles start their lives as displaying a single viewpoint; and, after a long process of discussion, debate, and argument, they gradually take on a neutral point of view reached through consensus   link to Wikipedia

Tit-for-tat or tat-for-tit

The Bendigo Art Gallery is thrilled to announce that it will be exhibiting 100 of the 'finest examples of British art' from the Royal Academy in London in 2014.
The title of the exhibition is not Britain.
The title is Ambition and Genius.
The works are dated from 1868 - 1918 and include Gainsborough, Reynolds, Sargent, Fuseli.

This is irritating. Of course British painters between 1868-1918 will be presented as ambitious geniuses to an Australian audience, whereas Australian painters in that period exhibited for a London audience
(if included) are perceived as derivative and didactic (ok not all...). But do you get the irony that I can see in the naming and framing of this work going from RA to Bendigo in the light of the NGA work being shown here in London which claims to show all of Australia just through its singular title.
More to say here but have to cool off first...

Bendigo Advertiser article

Link to Bendigo Art Gallery website here