Marcel Breuer at RISD

One of the best shows of 2009





















From my review of "Marcel Breuer: Design and Architecture" at the RISD Museum:

It is one of the icons of 20th-century design. What distinguishes Marcel Breuer's "B34" armchair from 1928 is its materials (fabric seats slung between steel tubing) and the lack of rear legs. The chair levitates on a continuous line of metal — from the runners, up the legs to the armrests, which in turn support a loop of tubing that forms the seat and back. It's the epitome of stripped-down elegant machine-age Modernist cool.

So begins "Marcel Breuer: Design and Architecture," on view at the RISD Museum (224 Benefit Street, Providence, from April 17 to July 19). Organized by Vitra Design Museum in Germany, it marshals furniture, photos, brochures, architectural models, video, and pull-out architectural plans to beautifully, clearly, dashingly enumerate the ideas and development of one of the most influential designers of the past century. It is one of the best shows you'll see in New England this year.

Read the rest here.

"Marcel Breuer: Design and Architecture," RISD Museum, 224 Benefit Street, Providence, April 17 to July 19, 2009.

MCC could face 10 percent budget cut

The Massachusetts Cultural Council's budget would be cut by 10 percent under a draft state budget proposed by the state House Ways and Means Committee today.

The change, if approved, would reduce the state arts agency's budget by roughly $1.27 million to $11.4 million for fiscal year 2010, which starts July 1. The Committee's proposed cut is roughly twice the cut proposed by Governor Deval Patrick in January.

The full Massachusetts House is scheduled to debate the spending plan during the week of April 27, with the Senate scheduled to release its budget in May. The two chambers must then agree on a budget before sending it to the Governor for final approval.

The House committee's budget plan, like the governor's proposal, also does not include funds for the MCC's Cultural Facilities Fund, which the MCC says has since 2006 invested more than $24 million in the state's creative economy through grants to cultural organizations, schools, and communities to build, repair, and expand their facilities.

Fairey could face jail for Boston graffiti

Shepard Fairey could face jail time for his, ahem, alleged graffiti in Boston after a Municipal Court judge decided yesterday that the vandalism charges against him could be treated as felonies instead of misdemeanors.

The Los Angeles artist, whose work is the focus of a major retrospective at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, faces as many as a dozen charges from Boston police. Treated as misdemeanors, Fairey could have been fined up to $100 per charge and ordered to pay restitution. Judge Eleanor Coe Sinnott’s ruling means that Fairey could now face up to three years in state prison for each felony charge.