AFC Weekly: Death and MOCA

Former MOCA Chief Executive Charles Young Tells Eli Broad to Fire Jeffrey Deitch

Is this the beginning of the end for the Deitchstag?

What an Absolut Mess! Design Company Pelonio Rips Off Artist Valentin Ruhry

Pelonio, a well-known creative agency based in Madrid, has sold a concept by artist Valentin Ruhry to Absolut Vodka, but without the artist’s consent. Now, there’s not much he can do about it.

Who Deserves Public Arts Funding? A Blade of Grass Wants to Know

As A Blade of Grass announces its candidates for grantees, we wonder whether public art should challenge a general audience.

Herbert Vogel, New York’s Most Loved Art Collector, Dies, Aged 89

Unique collector Herbert Vogel died Sunday at the age of 89 from natural causes. The most unlikely of collectors, Vogel and his wife Dorothy began their collection in the early 60s, while Herbert was a clerk for the United States Postal Service (which he remained until his retirement), and Dorothy worked at Brooklyn Public Library. With a modest combined income, the couple lived in a one-bedroom apartment in New York, surrounded by their collection of over 5,000 art works.

Franz West Dies at Age 65

The highly influential Viennese artist has died. He leaves behind a legacy so bold that it has inspired countless artists to make work that looks just like his own.

How’s My Dealing Makes An Enemy

How’s My Dealing, the infamous blog for art-dork insiders, has a new vocal critic, Stop How’s My Dealing. Stop How’s My Dealing’s anonymous author is crying foul at the blog’s nastier anonymous commenters, and wants to do away with all the bad energy by blacklisting artist (and rumored How’s My Dealing founder) Martin Bromirski.

A Happy Ending? Chris Silva’s Censorship at MOCA Resolved

In light of the current spate of criticisms hurled at MOCA, a startling censorship incident at the museum in May brings up a new series of questions about one of the museum’s corporate sponsors. During the museum’s Bring Your Own Beamer (B.Y.O.B.) event, artist Chris Silva was told to remove his projection because it featured a Peugeot race car, a competitor to Mercedes-Benz, one of the event’s sponsors. Whoops. But now, a few months later, it appears that everything is hunky-dory between Silva and Mercedes-Benz—and Silva might get an exhibition out of it.

AFC at The L Magazine: Portrait of the Robot as a Young Man

This week at the L Magazine, I review “Ghosts in the Machine,” an exhibition spanning twenty-five years of machine-related art, from outsider art to Op art to sci-fi.

Richard Hamilton’s Retrospective Will Not Swing Into Los Angeles

Richard Hamilton is enjoying a revival, but MOCA won’t be part of the celebration. Suddenly, MOCA has withdrawn from an agreement to host the first large-scale retrospective of the British pop artist, and just weeks after the departure of the exhibition’s co-curator Paul Schimmel from his position as MOCA’s chief curator.

Road Trip! AFC Goes to Philly

Philadelphia has birthed a ton of emerging galleries in over the past couple of years, so of course, it was time to pay them a visit.