When we talk of culture some people think that we are treading the terrain of the utopian or, even worse, the luxurious and dispensable. Opposing ideologies resign culture, in an opposing but similar way, to private initiative.
Opinion
Portrait of a Venetian Lady
One of the dreams of any antiquarian-cronopio is to have a famous client visit their shop and buy everything. The possibilities are minimal but, in this business, like in life, it could happen. In fact, it did happen to a colleague of mine the day that…
Where is the Catalan Jeff Koons?
On 15 May Jeff Koons’ work “Rabbit” (1986) was sold at Christie’s in New York for 91 million dollars.
Aesthetic as anaesthesia
He’s an international photographer with an impeccable reputation, and I’ve asked him a favour, as a friend: to accompany me to the World Press Photo Exhibition (WPPh). I’m interested in his personal vision of the tragedy. Because the WPPh is one big tragedy: in the photos almost no one is smiling.
10 Instructions for Bidding at Auction
Do you think buying art at an auction is easy? Well, you are wrong. Artur Ramon, who is an expert in the field, gives you ten basic tips to, at least, not make a fool of yourself in an auction.
The Erratic Life of Art and Culture in Public Education
In a society where the vast majority of creators are involved in activities of mediation or education, the lack of weight that humanistic and art subjects carry in regulated education is surprising.
Xavier Vendrell: singular double cronopio
Xavier Vendrell in a Baudelairian chercheur who does not wander around the Paris Spleen but around the Encants flea market in Barcelona.
Design is not Culture: or at least that is what they say
During these last few days we have discovered who the National Culture Awards 2019 will go to. Congratulations to all the prize-winners. And no, this year once again not a single designer among them.
The 1976 Venice Biennale as a Symptom
The cultural control of the Spanish and Catalan Communist parties took the baton from the window-dressing politics of Francoism. In the midst of the transition to democracy, the 1976 Venice Biennale bore clear witness to this.
Political art. A Tricky balance
A few years ago I was able to visit the Proa Foundation in Buenos Aires. Ai Weiwei was exhibiting. The exhibit was called “Inoculación” and consisted of a large number of political works presented as a project of public and social intervention, as dissident art.
The cultivation of irrelevance or the sweet comfort of mediocrity
I’m in the grip of a simian rage, and I hope this is obvious from the tone in which this article is written.
Barcelona is falling. Fall and carry on…
Most of these last four decades of democracy have been spent creating a fake culture, using as a marketing ploy a country which urgently needed to demonstrate that it could hit the spot in terms of European culture.
Paintings with Titleplates
Many of the old paintings hanging in city apartments have a small gold titleplates with the name of the painter – usually one of the Grand Masters: Murillo, Ribera, Velázquez, Zurbarán.
Mercy for the MACBA
To the now classic dilemma of “who do you like best, Mummy or Daddy?” the people of Barcelona have added “which do you prefer, culture or health?”.
The Purge of the Foundations
The artistic and hereditary fabric of Catalonia is extensive…and thinly spread, too thinly spread. Are the recent staff dismissals at the Joan Miró Foundation and the “strategic change” at the Antoni Tàpies Foundation, warnings of future suspensions?
The Lost Caravaggio
All antiquarians who dedicate out noble profession to antique paintings have dreamed of finding a Caravaggio.
The Invisible Collection
I receive a strange telephone call from a woman who, by the sound of her soft voice, seems young. She tells me that her father has an important collection of drawings and invites me to see them Argentona.
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, the Megalodemocrat
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer has launched in Barcelona, “Megalodemocrat”, the documentary following the last decade of his extraordinary career.
Bernardo Bertolucci and the Last Tango in Paris
The ghost of the butter scene haunts Bertolucci even in death.
Change Needed at the Academy
An analysis of the convulsive events which have changed the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi.
The Most Christmassy Tradition of Barcelona
If there was ever a Christmas tradition that attracted more followers than the others, at least in the city of Barcelona, it would be to criticise the nativity scene in the Plaça Sant Jaume.
The Hunter Hunted
That a hunter would wish to hunt another is an impossible mission. Second installment of the series “Stories of Antiquarians and Fame”.
The Movies According to Stanley Kubrick
The first characteristic to define Stanley Kubrick and his movies is his extremely high and exceptional ambition.
Stories of Antiquarians and Fame: a brief autopsy
“An antiquarian is a hunter of art works, somebody who seeks or chases pieces obsessively until they are bagged.” In this space, every month antiquarian Artur Ramon will give us a taste of his most impassioned professional experiences. #nofilters.