Posted October 01, 2025in Art News
Change is running amok in the art world. Galleries have reigned as supreme discoverers and arbiters of new and great things since the 19th century. Now, that seems to be changing, at least in cities where street traffic is influenced by crime problems. LA Louver, one of Los Angeles’ most
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Posted September 03, 2025in Art News
September is a self-contradiction. It is our ninth month, yet named as if the seventh. It marks the end of summer and the beginning of the end of all things perennial. It is the time of year that makes us most conscious of time. Time measures, organizes and judges everything
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Posted August 06, 2025in Art News
Des Moines supported the arts in record numbers this July, and not just for free stuff like Fourth of July Pops and various street festivals. We came about a new civic pride watching Des Moines Metro Opera (DMMO) and Des Moines Community Playhouse (DMCP) productions in completely full houses the
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Posted July 02, 2025in Art News
The late Des Moines artist Don Dunagan liked to say, “Artists are somewhat cool, but art thieves get the hot girls.” He had a point. I asked my Internet Movie Database (IMDb) app how many movies have been made about artists, and it returned 75. The same question about art
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Posted June 04, 2025in Art News
One hundred years ago, Elsa Neumann, Gertrude Shloss and Elizabeth Cowles — the original grand dames of Des Moines culture — created Civic Music Association of Des Moines (CMADM) and were determined to convince the world’s best musicians to perform in the city. By sheer force of their personalities, and
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Posted April 30, 2025in Art News
“I’m about to give you all of my money, And all I’m askin’ in return, honey Is to give me my propers” – Aretha Franklin Des Moines gets little respect from some popular touring artists. Last summer, Lil Wayne stood up is Wells Fargo Arena audience for more than three
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Posted April 02, 2025in Art News
The world edged a little closer to discovering what art is, thanks to the German court system. At least, Germany’s Federal Court of Justice determined what art isn’t — that being Birkenstock sandals. The German company that makes those, which goes back to 1774, filed a lawsuit against three competitors
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Posted March 05, 2025in Art News
This year got off to a slow start for art markets. Christie’s Old Masters sale, considered a bellwether for art markets in general, produced better numbers than last year but not much better. Lawyers were blamed. The would-be star of the sale, El Greco’s “Saint Sebastian,” was estimated by Christie’s to
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Posted February 05, 2025in Art News
This month’s art news is filled with dreams, confusions and deceptions with lawyers going to court to argue that fake art is the same as the real thing it imitates. Is all art now trompe l’oeil? Exhibit one: Sally Mann has been arguably America’s most famous photographer since her “At
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Posted January 01, 2025in Art News
Jeff Fleming will kick off the 2025 cultural year in Des Moines Jan. 10 with an exhibition of all new works based on old family photos. Fleming paints ghosts and retrieved memories in gesso, India ink, white charcoal and pencil. He calls these canvasses “chalkboards,” meaning they have been used
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