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What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we learned about a gang of thieves who stole a 10-ton Czech bridge. We watched Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka dance on Inside the Actor’s Studio. We were curious about a Henry David Thoreau-inspired video game. We read a 1943 Disney employee handbook. We followed the maturation of billionaire… Read More

Film

Ai Weiwei and Marina Abramović Documentaries Finally Opening This Summer

By Alison Nastasi on

Two highly-anticipated documentaries — one of which we’ve been chatting about for some time here — are readying for a national rollout, according to the LA Times. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry and Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present both screened at Sundance Film Festival and Berlin International… Read More

Art

Tate Modern Buys 8 Million of Ai Weiwei’s Seeds

By Caroline Stanley on

The New York Times reports that London’s Tate Modern has purchased eight million of the 100 million hand-painted, porcelain “sunflower seeds” that were on view as part of Ai Weiwei’s massive installation in the museum’s Turbine Hall last fall. To wit, “the mini-version was purchased directly from the artist, officials at the… Read More

Architecture

Ai Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron Will Design This Year’s Serpentine Pavilion

By Caroline Stanley on

Since launching back in 2000 with Zaha Hadid, the Serpentine Gallery’s annual pavilion series has featured work by some of the most noted architects in the industry — from Oscar Niemeyer to SANAA. Today it was announced that controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei will be reteaming with the Swiss architectural firm Herzog &… Read More

Art

Required Viewing: Essential Documentaries About Famous Artists

By Marina Galperina on

We’re happy if our previous roundup of feature films about artists inspired or rejuvenated any of your artistic or bohemian impulses. That said, pull up a chair. Let’s get real. Here you will find some of our favorite documentaries about artists, many of them current and some even freshly made. Dig out the heart of Louise Bourgeois’ gigantic spiders. Go behind Pablo Picasso’s brushstrokes. Wonder eternally if Banksy’s fooling you. Rebels, superstars, activists, eccentrics, con artists — they’re all here and they’re ready to tell you their story. … Read More

Pop Culture

Flavorpill’s Most Fascinating People of 2011

By Judy Berman on

Another year, another uninspired list of “fascinating people,” courtesy of Barbara Walters. Babs’ 2011 list seems frightfully behind the times: Aren’t Simon Cowell, Katy Perry, Derek Jeter, and the Kardashians kind of old news? Why interview Donald Trump when you could have picked a real politician who actually plans to run for president in 2012, instead of just teasing about it to hype his past-its-prime reality show? Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet from Modern Family aren’t a bad pick, but do we really need to hear more from tabloid favorites Amanda Knox and Pippa Middleton? Here’s hoping the one name ABC is withholding until Walters’ special airs tomorrow night is more inspiring. Meanwhile, your friends at Flavorpill have our entire list of 2011′s most fascinating people ready right now. Our top 10, and the questions we’d ask them, are after the jump. … Read More

Celebrity

'Legends of the Lower East Side' Get Their Own Coloring Book

By Alison Nastasi on

The Lower East Side (LES) neighborhood has been the subject of countless movies, songs, and stories — but now the downtown locale has its own coloring book. Legends of the Lower East Side is a collaboration between Outlaw Art Museum owner and photographer Clayton Patterson, and artists Troy Harris and Orlando Bonilla. The roughly $12 book (not on sale just yet) features 24 of the neighborhood’s most iconic and colorful characters — several no longer with us. In keeping with the spirit of the project, Patterson intends to sell them locally. Everyone from artist Dash Snow SACER and activist Ai Weiwei are included. Click through for a preview of the book, see who you recognize, and debate who should or shouldn’t be included below. … Read More

Art

A Brief Survey of Artists in Trouble with the Law

By Marina Galperina on

Artists are only human. Whether it’s their dissident views, bohemian spirits, malevolent character flaws, or just bad timing, sometimes they find themselves behind bars. Here are just some of art history’s alleged law offenders and their varied crimes — from Ai Weiwei’s constant struggle with tyrannical government hounds to a wild night with Willem De Kooning that ended in a drunken jaunt around the beach and an arrest for indecent exposure. The details of those crimes are, naturally, iffy, buried in history, tabloid exaggerations and conflicting reports. Or, in Willem De Kooning’s case, sherry daze. Read all about it! … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Tower Heist surprised many by landing in second place at the box office in its debut weekend behind Puss in Boots; as ArtsBeat notes, this “does not bode well for the next Academy Awards,” which will reteam Eddie Murphy as the evening’s host and Brett Ratner as its producer.

2. Photographer Amy… Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Rocketjuice and The Moon, Damon Albarn’s recently-launched supergroup with Flea and Tony Allen from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, have posted seven live tracks online, with a debut album planned for release some time next year. [via NME]

2. It looks like Chinese authorities are after Ai Weiwei again, this time serving… Read More