Nov. 23--An art theft in Italy. A death sentence in Saudi Arabia. A whistle-blower loses her job in San Francisco. Plus: whitewashing O.C.'s Chicano murals, preserving Los Angeles, and military bathroom graffiti. Lots of good stuff in the roundup this week:
--Thieves steal paintings by Tintoretto, Mantegna and Rubens from a museum in Verona, Italy.
--Prominent artist and poet Ashraf Fayadh has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia (our ally) after being found guilty of apostasy.
--More drama at the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums: Whistle-blower Michele Gutierrez, who reported on possible financial improprieties involving board chair Dede Wilsey, is out of a job.
--Orange County is whitewashing its Chicano murals.
--L.A. artist Edgar Arceneaux, whose play "Until, Until, Until ..." explored a racially charged performance by Ben Vereen at the 1981 Reagan inaugural, has won the Performa biennial's Malcolm McLaren Award for risk-taking.
--Pioneering performance artist Carolee Schneeman, known for staging actions such as "Meat Joy," in which performers rolled around in paint and raw fish, is getting a museum retrospective dedicated primarily to her painted works. Hope to see a retrospective of all of her works at some point soon.
--Plus, video art by women is having a moment in L.A.
--The skull of the black bear that inspired A.A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" is going on view in a London museum.
--"Does 'American Art' exist anymore?" asks Jacoba Urist in the Atlantic. My answer: Yes. Yes, it does.
--"Jack the Dripper as Jack the doodler, sketcher and lifelong printmaker." The Museum of Modern Art reconsiders Jackson Pollock.
--An all-around terrific essay by famed art critic Robert Hughes on when Andrew Wyeth's "Helga" paintings whipped up a ridiculous media frenzy. A huge lesson in not falling for hype.
--Vaguely related: Can collectors tell which works will stand the test of time? Probably not, says L.A. County Museum of Art Director Michael Govan on a panel the Frick Collection in New York: "The importance of what we see now depends on the work of artists who haven't even been born yet."
--And the best, most bitterest rant about Art Basel Miami Beach.
--Because what LAX really needs is a special terminal for celebrities and the rich instead of a functioning airport for everybody.
--A ballot measure to "preserve" Los Angeles has Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne asking, "What about L.A. does the measure seek to preserve?"
--An essential piece of writing: Scott Beauchamp on the significance of bathroom graffiti in the military. Just, wow.
--Creating a Nazi-occupied United States: a fascinating piece on how the designers of Amazon's "The Man in the High Castle" established the show's look. One of the rules: "a strict no-fins policy" on cars. I'm addicted to this show.
--Essayist Rebecca Solnit's terrific retort to Esquire's list of "The 80 Best Books Every Man Should Read" (which, quite irritatingly, is laid out like 80-page clickbait).
--Life at Sony after the hack. Couldn't stop reading.
--And last but not least, your moment of original GIFs.
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