Newest Features
By BIG RED NEWS EDITOR The artists Alexi Antoniadis’ and Nico Stone’s first show ever, Refuge and Prospect at UMass Boston’s Harbor Gallery has met much more controversy than they ever imagined. The controversy, however, has nothing to do with the subject matter of their show, the controversy any young artist would hope for. Antoniadis describes his collaborators and his work as “improvised, whimsical exploration of building materials and found objects.” “It is a sort of psycho-carpentry that manifests as both singular art objects and installations,” he says. The show, “which included…
By BIG RED NEWS EDITOR In a press conference last week, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston announced the transfer of thirteen antiquities to Italy via the Ministry of Culture. The objects in question had been acquired through deals stemming from illegal trafficking. The event opens a dialogue between both parties to help in the recovery of illicit objects. The MFA and the Ministry of Culture had reached the agreement earlier in meetings this past summer in May and later in July. Both parties agreed to a more open cultural exchange, allowing…
By ANONYMOUS ART DEALER Have you ever wondered how the gallery business works? Are you an artist who wants to sell your work, but have questions or concerns? Are you a collector looking for the best deals? Our anonymous art dealer has advice for you. This first installment features general questions encountered by gallerists, and our AAD is waiting for your questions: advice@bigredandshiny.com Q: How do galleries make money? A: I was surprised entering this business how many people asked me this same question. Typically, a gallery will take 50% of any…
By KATHLEEN BITETTI What makes a scam a scam? As a continuation in the spirit of my column on fair trade means fair trade — I want to first alert artists to a scam that has come to my attention. Apparently now artists need to be very vigilant about people posing as collectors buying their work over the internet via artists websites. Recently, a so-called collector wanted to buy several works from an artist and sent several money orders that looked authentic. The collector then contacted the artist saying that he paid…
By THOMAS MARQUET #4: Thomas Marquet’s comic strip about life in a gallery. “The White Cube” comics can be read in series in the Big RED & Shiny Collections section. Thomas Marquet is a cartoonist, sculptor, and critic, based in Brooklyn, New York, which is an admittedly unoriginal place to be pursuing any of these things.
By MATTHEW NASH I recently had a very pleasant conversation with a gentleman named Raymond Liddell. He is a professor of art history where I work, and in the course of our conversation he pointed out that Big RED & Shiny calls itself a journal, yet does not meet the academic standard of peer review. He felt that since our writers were not formally trained art historians, no matter how interesting their writing or how much attention they brought to artists who might be otherwise overlooked, it was a misnomer to consider…
By MATTHEW NASH The American childhood is a much discussed institution, often held up as something to be protected against the loss of innocence that is adulthood. Thus we put warnings on music and ratings on movies, and spoon-feed Disney and Dr. Seuss because they are safe and simple and avoid looking at adulthood in any realistic light. In Europe, and particularly the Germanic countries, the view is much different. Consider “Max and Moritz” or the original Grimm fairy tales (in which Hansel and Gretel are eaten), and you will find a…
By FRANK PEREZ I’m new to Boston, been here a little more than a week. Before I showed up, I had heard about Newbury Street as the place where art is shown, but it turned out to be that, for the most part, it’s art for tourists. Predigested art for consumption, non-poisonous, calming, predictable, like a chain restaurant. Like Applebee’s. A few places had something quite different, a great Edward Burtynsky show at Barbara Krakow Gallery, as well as an interesting multimedia collaboration at Howard Yezerski. In the middle, I found Chase…