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ian says DC statehood now

@wareian.com
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professional library enjoyer, union member, former @UVAlibrary n other stuff / all opinions mine pls don’t take em / pfp obviousplant, banner dan flavin DC if that wasn't clear art blog: 202arts.org

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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 39m
"Big Ass Lake" Wikipedia article. "Not to be confused with Big Bass Lake. Big Ass Lake is a glacial lake in Halifax County, Nova Scotia, Canada.[2] It is located 60 km (37 miles) to the northeast of Halifax, the capital city of Nova Scotia and 253 km (157 miles) from Sydney, Nova Scotia.[1] The lake was formally named on March 5, 1953.[2]"
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 2h
calder family giving anish kapoor a run for his money on the "very specific color" contest www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/a...
Then came the dilemma over the sculpture’s signature Calder Black paint, a light-absorbing matte black hue no longer in distribution. Before she was elected to the Senate in 2024, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, then a county executive, learned of the problem and connected the Calder Foundation to the U.S. Army Research Laboratory based in Prince George’s County, Md. Leaders there said they could recreate the shade.

It was a persnickety detail, but vital to the project. Mr. Rower said his grandfather had a vision, and he wanted to honor it.

“My grandfather died 50 years ago this year, and his art still inspires people,” he said, adding, “Even if you don’t go deep, it still inspires you to have an expression that’s something more, something enriching.”

Senator Murphy, who long admired Calder and championed the project, said the sculpture reflected the idea that the Senate could tackle mountainous projects.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 21h
i find the ones in indianapolis funny only in that they take up so much gd space
Lichtenstein's 'Five Brushstrokes' (1983-84, fabricated 2012) at the Indianapolis Museum of Art/Newfields. Five separate monumental classic Lichtenstein brush stroke sculptures are arranged across a massive lawn, creating a choreographed view as the visitor walks around them.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 23h
funniest part of the Danh Vo show at White Cube is the "McNamara walnut wood" he used to build out the structures in the gallery. as in, walnut wood sourced from the orchard in CA run by Robert McNamara's son.
Installation view of Danh Vo's solo show at White Cube. Several ceiling height wooden posts are placed throughout the gallery, attached to a minimal wooden scaffolding on the ceiling, holding several small glass containers and a hanging sculpture. Acattered around the room are several other works, including a sculpture with a foot brace and an ancient bust of a head, several works on paper and a ceramic on the wall, and a waist-height sculpture at far left.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 29/09/2026
is this anything
the myth of "consensual" copyright. Andy Warhol Foundation & Pollock-Krasner Foundation & Joan Mitchell Foundation: We consent! Artists Rights Society: We consent! US Copyright office & US courts: We don't! Isn't there somebody you forgot to ask?
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 29/09/2026
serious question how in the fuck have these not fallen apart yet. especially if they're not in the (hopefully gloved) hands of a museum conservator. untitled elephant dung sculptures by David Hammons, 1983-85, at independent 20th century (ryan lee/salon 94)
A small irregular oval-shaped sculpture made of compacted elephant dung and other loose earth material/detritus. Several areas of yellow, red, and pink paint cover portions of the work, with the outline of an elephant excised from the pink paint on top.Another oval-shaped dung sculpture, this time with a band of silver paint covering the upper third of the outer surface, and with a rusted metal chain wrapped around the sculpture.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 28/09/2026
what am i supposed to do about this, recaptcha. why are you telling *me*
Captcha challenge for Archive Today. "This site is exceeding reCAPTCHA Enterprise free quota"
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 26/09/2026
also this is a good pairing even if i am not a warhol lover
The full Felix candy work, installed in front of Andy Warhol's 'The Last Supper' (1986), a large painting showing a black and white stenciled interpretation of the titular scene, covered in screen printed logos for Dove and General Electric, along with a screen printed "59 cents" graphic.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 26/09/2026
i also saw the philippe parreno melting iceman and i can't pretend it's not fun.
Philippe Parreno's 'Iceman in Reality Park' (1995-2023) at the Esther Schipper booth at Independent 20th Century. A half-melted ice blob in the general shape of a snowman, sitting atop a grate on a black metal box. Three buttons are stuck inside torso of the iceman, like a snowman's buttons, and two sticks extend out as arms. The whole thing is lopsided, having been melting since its delivery this morning.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 25/09/2026
oh i took em off, per the sign just out of view, and as i sat there with my socked feet dangling over the edge while various collectors walked in and stared at me, i wondered if it was even worth it. and i think my expression captured that.
me, selfie on the pfouch, desperately trying to ignore the people watching me.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 25/09/2026
i sat on the john chamberlain pink foam couch and all i got was the sinking feeling that i needed more hand sanitizer
The weirdest couch you've ever seen. A huge square platform of foam, covered in loose pink fabric, with three "islands" of foam in the center and at the left and right edges, forming two distinct niches for people to sit. Several works by Chamberlain are on the wall behind the work, all on view at Independent 20th Century at Sotheby's in the Breuer Building.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 25/09/2026
where the rubber meets the road, where the candy meets the wall
detail shot of a Felix Gonzalez-Torres candy spill [“Untitled” (Placebo)] at MoMA. A flat pile of silver wrapped candy abuts a gallery wall, with some pieces entering the space under the temporary wall.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 25/09/2026
at first I was like where’s ARS among this hits parade, but then I remembered they’re in a coalition already listed lol
This legislation is endorsed by over a dozen organizations: Motion Picture Association (MPA),
Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA), Information Technology & Innovation
Foundation (ITIF), Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL), American Society of Collective Rights Licensing (ASCRL), Association of American Publishers (AAP), Recording Academy, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), Songwriters Guild of America (SGA), the Copyright Alliance, Songwriters of North America (SONA), Directors Guild of America (DGA), Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), CreativeFuture, Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP), Authors Guild, American Association of Independent Music (A2IM),
Independent Film and Television Alliance (IFTA).
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 25/09/2026
and another one (eric n. mack at paula cooper)
Installation view of Eric N. Mack's exhibition at Paula Cooper Gallery. An array of textile artworks hung on walls, metal sculptures, and from the ceiling.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 24/09/2026
alright if jordan wolfson is gonna do this, i should be allowed to call him the f slur
A flat, shiny metal slab propped horizontally against a wall, with spikes protruding from its corners at multiple angles. A black and white photograph of Felix Gonzalez-Torres laying on a bed is printed in the center of the slab.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 23/09/2026
very interesting read kunstkritikk.com/storm-over-g...
Kunstkritikk
But after just four months on the job, Christensen resigned and has now returned to her position at Nuuk Art Museum. She describes the plans for the future national gallery as "poorly thought through."
"They have approved a building without reflecting on what it should represent or what works it should contain," says Christensen. "Greenland's national gallery will be the first national gallery in the world devoted to the art of an Indigenous people.
That means we need to think carefully rather than simply adopt a traditional
European model designed to underpin the nation state which, at the time when most of these institutions were founded, was often a colonial power with a fairly complicated collection.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 22/09/2026
i love when trees eat their enclosures. consume your prison, you have nothing to lose but the bars of your cage.
A tree on a sidewalk, with gnarled roots that have engulfed the metal bars originally installed to keep people off the patch of dirt.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 20/09/2026
freeman & lowe new long-term installation at von ammon is nuts. built into the gallery behind a false wall.
A gaping person-sized hole in the corner of an otherwise pristine white cube gallery setting.The hole viewed from the other side, inside of a woodpanelled room covered in hand made knickknacks, sculptures, and paintings, all lit by a light bulb in the ceiling.Interior view of the room. A small desk and chair with a screen, more paintings on the walls and on the floor, knickknacks everywhere and binders and binders of material on shelves. A mannequin head on the wall at left amongst the clutter.One of the binders neatly piled around the room. "The Smile Pentagon. Plant Mineral Neuromorphic Communication Networks. Elizabeth Case and Dita Smiley. Property of Signal Ecology Institute Library"
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 18/09/2026
i mean good for her for staying true to the vision in the face of this questioning. but are we sure we want to look back at this historical moment and say we avoided provocation because it's "not the time for that"? seems like a cop out but what do i know
ZEIT: And these works are not supposed to offend anyone?

Beckwith: Exactly. And if anyone in the audience does feel attacked or uncomfortable, then let's talk about it. But I'm very confident that we as a team are ready to defend every work shown at Documenta 16. We will avoid any kind of violence.

ZEIT: Hasn't there always been violence in art? Think of Judith beheading Holofernes. A very popular motif.

Beckwith: My primary concern is how people behave here, both towards each other and towards the team. This applies to the audience as well as the artists. But I'm equally concerned with the works we exhibit. I'm not a fan of provocative art that merely aims to elicit an emotional response from people.

ZEIT: The entire history of modern art is a history of provocation.

Beckwith: Now is not the time for that. We have too many politicians who resort to provocation. The question our Documenta aims to pose is: What else is possible in the world? What invigorates the discourse?

ZEIT: Art should be constructive.

Beckwith: Exactly, it's about constructive art.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 18/09/2026
this is genuinely surprising!
ZEIT: After the last Documenta, the political pressure was very high, which is why a code of conduct was introduced to prevent antisemitism and racism. You did not sign this code of conduct.

Beckwith: I wasn't asked to do it.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 18/09/2026
wait are you fucking kidding me how have i not seen this one. they tried to copyright a fish!!!!! not a picture of a fish, not a sculpture of a fish, but an actual fish that they genetically engineered to make glow!!!!! no, you can't copyright a fish. www.copyright.gov/rulings-fili...
I. DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK
GloFish Red Zebra Danio Glowing in Artificial Sunlight (the “Work") is a living Red
Zebra Danio fish that the Applicant has genetically altered so that the fish "fluoresces" when it
is exposed to artificial light. The below image is a photographic reproduction of the Work from
the deposit materials: [Picture of a small pink fish]
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 18/09/2026
i've read this so many times but i never get tired of it. the drama of it all!
Conclusion
Even aesthetically pleasing and artistically interesting works may not be
registrable if they lack the sufficient modicum of expression of original authorship. The
Appeals Board did not find such copyrightable authorship in Wrapped Reichstag, and
therefore cannot register the work. This letter constitutes final agency action.
Sincerely,
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 18/09/2026
begging them to stop honking every time it happens
Brittany from Glee: "Stop the violence"
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 17/09/2026
Devon's listing v Amy Sherald's. this is so fucking funny to me, get wrecked.
Time screenshot. "Devon Rodriguez, by Belinda Luscombe" [Picture of Devon Rodgriuez. But no article.]Time screenshot. "Amy Sherald would rather walk away than water down her art. By Belinda Luscombe". [Picture of Amy Sherald and the beginning of an article]
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 17/09/2026
haven't seen this much cope in a long ass time lol. your crypto bill is dead. not "mostly dead". just dead. accept your fate and move on. finance.yahoo.com/markets/cryp...
"This is a meaningful near-term setback for comprehensive U.S. crypto market structure legislation that materially narrows the path to passage before the midterms," Raymond James strategist Ed Mills said. "Importantly, while the bill's failed vote signals underlying concerns about the framework, we do not characterize the failed vote as formally killing consideration of CLARITY, as there is a difference between dead and mostly dead, but the midterm legislative calendar is now working against the bill."

"More importantly, the vote reinforced what we believe has become the central obstacle to bipartisan crypto legislation: President Trump's and his family's financial involvement in the industry has made crypto ethics increasingly difficult for Democrats to separate from the underlying market structure debate."
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 16/09/2026
when the treat wanter spots a treat
baby beast (grey tortie kitty, LC) in her window perch, lickin her lips with ears perked up
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 11/09/2026
and you KNOW they're jumping on the AI train too. it's comical.
"Dating for Keeps: Building a Company that Aims for Marriage, not Matches
On September 9, 2026, Jake Kozloski, a UVA graduate, spoke about building Keeper AI, America's most marriage-minded dating app, and how he uses modern technology to help singles find not just a match, but a spouse. The talk offered a rare inside look at how technology can serve marriage rather than undermine it."
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 11/09/2026
every few months i remember that my alma mater pays for and legitimizes this bullshit, essentially just a platform for one Weirdo to spout nonsense.
Screenshot of the University of Virginia's "National Marriage Project". The main item on the homepage is essentially an advertisement for the project director, Brad Wilcox's book "Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization", with an endorsement quote from David Brooks: "Vitally important."
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 09/09/2026
reader, the bike was gone
A large blank sign leans against a graffitied wall with blue metal fencing. The sign is white apart from "Free :) Bike" and a small arrow pointing left, painted in deep red spray paint.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 09/09/2026
I generally agree that resale residuals for artists are good. but per usual, ARS doesn't want to stop there. they also want you to have to pay artist ESTATES if you sell work by a deceased artist. because that *totally* benefits the artist who did the labor, right? www.artnews.com/art-news/mar...
Theodore Feder, founder and president of Artists Rights Society, which represents over 200,000 visual artists worldwide, congratulated Bonhams for “taking a vital first step in inaugurating a system of artists’ resale royalties,” as he wrote in a statement to ARTnews. He added, “Bonhams’s initiative, however important as a first step and for which ARS is grateful, goes but part way into remedying this situation in the U.S. As proposed, the resale royalty only applies if the seller gives his or her consent thereto. It should apply to all eligible work and should not be restricted to the lifetime of the artist.”
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 09/09/2026
i did not know the richard prince detail and that really makes the whole story a lot more amusing to me news.artnet.com/market/libbi...
WHERE IS THE WARHOL?
Two years into their marriage, Libbie and David Mugrabi bought a house in the Hamptons. Eleven years later, that house would be the site of an event that would end their marriage, according to Libbie. She alleges that she woke up one morning to find her then-husband naked and asleep with another woman there, a Richard Prince painting as the backdrop.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 08/09/2026
how many lawyers does it take to disprove "derivative work", re/max wants to know www.copyright.gov/rulings-fili...
I. DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK
The Work is a graphic drawing of a hot air balloon and basket. The balloon is shades of
red, white, and blue. In the middle portion of the balloon is the stylized text stating “RE/MAX”
in blue and red. The Work also displays a grey basket at the bottom, detached from the balloon.
The Work is as follows:
[Modern graphic of the Re/Max balloon logo]The Work is a derivative of an earlier work “RE/MAX hot air balloon logo (vertical1998)”1 (“98 Work”). The 98 Work has more vertically oriented sections or “gores” and those
gores are delineated with structural load tape or seams in white. In the horizontal white portion
of the 98 Work’s balloon, there is shading and the text’s font is different, though the coloring is
otherwise similar. The 98 Work has a more detailed basket in white and includes a passenger,
the balloon’s skirt, and supports connecting the basket to the skirt. The 98 Work is as follows: [slightly less modern version of the logo]
The 98 Work is itself a derivative of a 1991 photograph titled “RE/MAX hot air balloon
photograph (vertical-1991)” (“91 Work”)2
 The registration for this work has the following
notation of an earlier work: “RE/MAX hot air balloon design preexisting.” Predating all of these
works is a 1978 picture of the RE/MAX hot air balloon in flight adopted for RE/MAX’s 1978-
era logo3 and RE/MAX’s three-dimensional balloon itself.
4
 The 1978-era logo is as follows: [Version of the logo from 1978 that reads "Above the crowd! 1978]
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 08/09/2026
nooooooo you can't copyright novelty golfball-textured whiskey glasses :,( www.copyright.gov/rulings-fili...
I. DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK
The Work is a drinking glass with a concave base. The base is textured with a pattern of
numerous, closely spaced circular and hexagonal indentations.
The Work1
 is as follows: 
[Two pictures of a whiskey tumbler with a golf ball-textured concave underside]
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 08/09/2026
i get some satisfaction knowing alexander wang's co a) got this copyright registration rejected and b) paid a lawyer to write a request for reconsideration even though this is the most obviously uncopyrightable one in this thread. you can't copyright four letters. www.copyright.gov/rulings-fili...
I. DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK
The Work consists of four black lowercase letters. The letters “w” and “a” appear
horizontally side by side and are positioned atop the letters “n” and “g.”
The Work is as follows
["wang", stacked as
"wa
ng"]
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 08/09/2026
first up: peter pennoyer's clock at moynihan train hall. uncopyrightable, useful article, any elements that can be conceptually separated from the work are too simple. i always love the back & forth too. don't talk about art deco to the USCO, they don't care lol www.copyright.gov/rulings-fili...
DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK
The Work is a clock encased in a three-dimensional sculpture consisting of multiple
clock faces set in a case comprised of a series of rectangles separated, except for at the corners,
by recessed isosceles trapezoids that are arranged in rectangular tiers. The central tier has a
circular band surrounding the clock face. The top of the Work has two rectangular, terraced tiers
and the bottom has three. Each tier is arranged concentrically, and evenly, with the tiers
becoming smaller as they increase in distance from the clock face. All sides visible in the
deposit images appear to be identical.
The Work is as follows: 
[Pictures of the large clock in the train hall from two angles]Lastly, Pennoyer asserts that, as opposed to the telephone book at issue in Feist, the Work
here is a “distinctive and striking sculptural design” that was “inspired by art deco.” Id. at 1.
The Office, however, does not consider a work’s aesthetic value or artistic merit, which have no
bearing on whether these works’ separable elements satisfy the standard for originality. See
COMPENDIUM (THIRD) §§ 310.2, 310.5, 924.5; Star Athletica, 580 U.S. at 423 (“[O]ur inquiry is
limited to how the [work is] perceived, not how or why [it] was designed.”). Accordingly,
whether the sculpture was “inspired by art deco” or is “striking” does not factor into the
copyrightability analysis. Because the separable features of this design are common and familiar
shapes arranged in an expected manner, the Board concludes that there is not sufficient creativity
to warrant registration.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 07/09/2026
come on this would be funny. roof is for Blue!
Google Maps street view of the National Gallery's East Building, viewed from Pennsylvania Ave looking up at the roof garden. At right, Katharina Fritsch's 'Hahn/Cock', her big blue rooster sculpture; at left, i pasted in Joel Shapiro's 'Blue'
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 07/09/2026
i can't remember the last time i got push alerts about a work of public art, so i guess that's another silver lining.
NYT push alert: "Kennedy Center Artwork: David Rubenstein, the arts institution's ousted chairman, has purchased the 'Blue' sculpture that it dismantled last week."
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 07/09/2026
i forgot about this lol
Detail from Felix Gonzalez-Torres's "Untitled" (1989), a text portrait installed at the top of the wall near the ceiling. Two lines of text in silver paint. The top line reads "Twitter 2006". The bottom line, only partly visible, reads "The World I Knew"
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 07/09/2026
trying to imagine a person who would drop ~6 grand for the full set. or ~$3250 for a "lifesize" version. and everyone I'm imagining is either dead or already owns a real one, so like, why bother.
"The Andy Warhol Foundation. Brillo Box Collectable (Lifesize). Limited edition of 100. Shipping est. 29 Dec-5 Jan. Draw closing on WEd, 30 Sep., $3264" [A Warhol Brillo box, apparently "lifesize"]
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 07/09/2026
is anyone actually paying for this. like who is this for.
Instagram ad screenshot. warholfoundation and avant.arte. "Art history in your hands – and on your walls! Limited edition Brillo Box collectable in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation. Also available in WHITE and YELLOW. Collect our first collaboration with The Andy Warhol Foundation - a limited edition silkscreen..." [A photo of a bright green deconstructed Warhol Brillo Box]Instagram ad from warholfoundation and avant.arte. "The box that changed art. Limited edition Brillo Box collectable in collaboration with The Andy Warhol Foundation. Please store admiringly. Collect our first collaboration with The Andy Warhol Foundation - a limited edition silkscreen..." [Nine small photographs of replica Warhol Brillo boxes in white, bright green, and yellow, arranged in a grid.]
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 05/09/2026
the joke is this picture
Photo of a young Damien Hirst making a 'Spin' painting in the 1990s. He stands at left on a ladder, splashing a bucket of paint onto a circular canvas lifted off the ground and spinning in a circle on top of a box in a paint splattered studio.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 04/09/2026
same girl
YouTube preview. "People who remember every second of their life | 60 Minutes Australia. 'I remember my whole life!'" [Woman with red hair, mid-sentence]
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 02/09/2026
i can't even begin to think about them removing this from the kennedy center so instead i've decided to laugh at NYT for thinking they needed a license to publish this image of the sculpture. incredible. like half the thing is covered! and it's fair use anyway! ARS is a psyop i swear to god.
Joel Shapiro's 'Blue', a monumental stick-figure sculpture in Shapiro's signature style, being wrapped and removed from the Kennedy Center's grounds at the Reach. Image caption: "The Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Photo by Salwan Georges for The New York Times."
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 01/09/2026
i wanted to make a joke but this is just inherently funny. dan flavin you will always be famous.
Screenshot from the July 20, 1980 front page of The Anchorage Times. An arrow previewing the content inside the magazine containing a picture of artist Dan Flavin, from behind, installing a line of lights on a wall, as a man looks on from left. Headline: "$80,0000 'tubes' light up Federal Building"
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 01/09/2026
this made me re-read what I wrote about Noland and yeah I may not be the smartest person ever, but when I tell you how proud I was for flipping the Buchloh quote like that.... man. go me.
Saul Ostrow’s review in The Brooklyn Rail of this new Noland show is one of several recently that posits any critique at the center of the artist’s work is simply negated by that work’s very essence, scattershot and on the edge of legibility. This all calls to mind an oft-cited Benjamin Buchloh quote on Joseph Beuys from 2001: “The roots of Beuys’ dilemma lie in the misconception that politics could become a matter of esthetics…” Then again, maybe Noland never set out to make work about much of anything at all apart from the disquieting memories that kept her awake at night. It’s not her fault that we all projected our own political virtues onto the unyielding surfaces of her polished, metallic oeuvre, stumbling through galleries and website archives looking for clues, grasping at nonexistent straws. Maybe the roots of Noland’s dilemma lie in the inconvenience of her (a)esthetics becoming a matter of politics, including those of this museum.
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 01/09/2026
this is presented as a relatively straightforward take which really belies how many artists would stridently disagree lol. I speak from experience, you use the word "legible", even offhand, and suddenly you've opened a can of worms that can't be closed. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
It turns out that joy twinned with simplicity is the radical thing. “Let’s say you’re a designer, right?” says Self. “To make something simple but functional is seen as the height of conceptual rigour. But somehow when it comes to fine arts, people equate simplicity with something being devoid of conceptual rigour.”

So Self rejects all of that, opting for legibility above all else. “If an artwork doesn’t move a large group of people from different educational, class and racial backgrounds, if it doesn’t move people in a relatively uniform way, I would say that’s more of a deficit of the maker than the audience. If the art’s strong enough, it should be legible to some degree to whoever comes across it. That’s part of the skill of being a great artist.”
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 31/08/2026
i shouldn't laugh but man imagine fucking up your annual fundraiser so bad it leads to front pages with headlines like this
Front page of the NY Post's website. "NOT IN VOGUE: Anna Wintour calls antisemite John Galliano 'courageous', offers him 'full support' after he's forced to pull out of Met Gala." [Photographs of Galliano with Wintour and other celebrities at the 2026 Met Gala]
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 31/08/2026
thinking about this more, it does appear like one Met trustee (Wintour) duking it out against other trustees and donors (including Tisch), losing the fight, and then going off script for the announcement because she can't bear to admit defeat (aka besmirch Galliano)
NYT screenshot: "Those critics were joined by Alice Tisch, a prominent donor to the museum. On Friday, as the backlash mounted, Tisch sent an email to Hollein, the museum’s director.

“This exhibit bespeaks a failure of governance,” Tisch wrote.

She went on to call the planned exhibition a “whitewash,” adding that “it is not in the museum’s interest to have this perception out there, and it flies in the face of your rich curatorial history and ongoing fiscal and moral leadership.”

Tisch forwarded her email to some people close to her, and it made its way across New York society over the weekend and was viewed by The Times.

Her words carry weight with the museum. Through a foundation, she and her husband, Thomas Tisch, gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Met between 2020 and 2024, tax filings show. (Thomas’s sister-in-law, Merryl, is a Met board member whose daughter, Jessica Tisch, is the New York City police commissioner.)

On the watch of Anna Wintour, the chief content officer of Condé Nast and a museum trustee, the Met Gala has become a star-studded benefit, with celebrities seated among billionaires at tables costing hundreds of thousands of dollars."
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 31/08/2026
it somehow gets worse. she gave a MUCH longer quote to Vogue, not included in the Met's public release online.
In the statement, Anna Wintour said, “John’s decision to ask the Museum to postpone the exhibition devoted to his work is very courageous and a measure of the man he is. I believe this is the right decision, and both he and the Museum have my full support. His soaring imagination, fed by a lifetime of curiosity and research, is matched by his exceptional craft. Cut, fit, the evocative line of a bias-cut dress, color—he’s a master of it all. Without one or the other, if his technique wasn’t equal to his storytelling talents, he wouldn’t be the premiere couturier of his generation. But he most certainly is. From the staged-on-a-shoestring feat that was his Fall 1994 show at the Sao Schlumberger Hotel Particulier in Paris to his tour de force swansong at Maison Margiela Artisanal for Spring 2024, Galliano gave fashion its most marvelous shows. The way that Christian Dior called Cristobal Balenciaga “the master of us all,” a generation of designers have looked to Galliano as the greatest. His impact reverberates across generations, not least of all with Dior’s current creative director Jonathan Anderson, who calls Galliano one of his heroes.”
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ian says DC statehood now @wareian.com · 31/08/2026
unclear, because otherwise their readers would've been faced with her calling Galliano "very courageous", of all the adjectives one could reach for at this time
Statement from Met Trustee Anna Wintour: "John's decision that the exhibition devoted to his work should not take place at this time is very courageous and a measure of the man he is. I believe this is the right decision, and both he and the Museum have my full support."
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