Futurist Revival? A man described by Italian media as a “rightwing extremist” dumped paint into Rome’s famed Trevi Fountain, turning its waters blood red on Friday. He dropped leaflets attributed to a group called “FTM Futurist Action 2007” and declared, “Today we give birth to a new violent conception of life and history, which exalts the battle against … the toadies of false power, slaves to the global market. You wanted just a red carpet; we want a city entirely in vermilion.” The red carpet refers to the expense of hosting the just-concluded Rome Film Fest.
Dylan, Shillin’: The “climes they are a changin’,” but that didn’t stop Bob Dylan for cutting a commercial for the 14 mpg (city) Cadillac Escalade. While Todd Haynes’ new movie on Dylan has film buffs buzzing, some in the art world aren’t wowed by the Cadillac ads. Guardian blogger Kelly Nestruck writes, “Enjoy Dylan’s music. Enjoy his radio show. But don’t look to the man for any sort of spiritual or moral guidance.”
Ephemeral Buddha: Like fellow Chinese-born artist Huang Yong Ping’s castle of sand (on view in the Walker’s 2005 show House of Oracles, which opens at the Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art in Beijing in March 2008), Zhang Huan’s new work Berlin Buddha is meant to deteriorate throughout the course of its showing. On view now at Haunch of Venison in Berlin, the piece features a 4-meter-tall Buddha made of compacted ash from ceremonial joss sticks, presented with the aluminum mold used to make it.
RIP: Civil rights photographer Ernest C. Withers, including an iconic image of striking sanitation workers in a sea of “I Am a Man” signs, passed away last week in Memphis. He was 85.
“Portrait of a Ladies’ Man”: Malkovich plays Klimt in a new film that opened last week.
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