Welcome to the Art Angle, a podcast from Artnet News that delves into the places where the art world meets the real world, bringing each week’s biggest story down to earth. Join host Andrew Goldstein every week for an in-depth look at what matters most in museums, the art market, and much more, with input from our own writers and editors, as well as artists, curators, and other top experts in the field.
If it’s possible, 2021 was even weirder and more confusing than the previous year. Just when we thought everything was back to normal, the universe threw a wrench at us. From Hunter Biden’s painting career to the surge of NFT artists—plus, who would’ve predicted something called “Immersive Van Gogh” would become the hottest ticket in town? The places where the art world meets the real world became even murkier, and we were along for the ride.
Loyal listeners may have noticed some new voices on the podcast this year, as we welcomed a slew of stand-in hosts while our editor in chief Andrew Goldstein welcomed a new baby into his family, and we look forward to expanding even further in the new year. It was hard to choose, but we combed through the last year’s-worth of episodes and selected 10 of our absolute favorites, from an interview with an inmate at San Quentin who is revolutionizing the way outsiders view the penal system to four artists who were in residence at the World Trade Center when it collapsed on 9/11, and reflected on how that day affected their lives and art practices.
Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next year.
We were lucky enough to kick off the year speaking to Rahsaan Thomas, co-host of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated podcast Ear Hustle, who is himself a prisoner at San Quentin prison in California. Thomas joined the podcast to discuss the dual crises of the pandemic and mass incarceration and how art and empathy can shift perceptions about life inside and outside of prison.
Remember when we thought NFTs were a passing phase, much like the pixelated rainbow streaming behind Nyan Cat? LOL. Billions of dollars and a Beeple later, art business editor Tim Schneider’s primer to the wild world of NFTs still holds up. Consider this required reading before any family gathering this holiday season.
It’s a simple question, but the answer is a lot more complicated the harder you look. On this episode, investigative reporter Zachary Small and Artnet News’s senior market reporter Eileen Kinsella delve into the murky world of financing an art gallery, and the startling truth about how much money art dealers really make.
If you haven’t heard about Immersive Van Gogh yet… what rock are you hiding under? At the dawn of the now ubiquitous phenomenon, critic Ben Davis reflects on how a show that’s not really about art at all surpassed Taylor Swift in number of tickets sold, and why it’s got museum directors shaking in their boots at the future of art and entertainment.
One of the bright spots of 2021 was in the range of individuals who found outlets for their creativity via NFTs. One of the most exciting and genuine new voices is undoubtedly that of FEWOCiOUS—and you can find him on our new Artnet NFT 30 Report, too.
There’s no question that this year’s biggest (ahem, physical) art story was first-son Hunter Biden showing his art with a blue-chip gallery in New York and Los Angeles, prompting a political maelstrom.
Four artists who were in residence at the World Trade Center on 9/11 recount their experiences of the day, how it changed their art and lives forever, and remember their peer Michael Richards, who died during the attacks 20 years ago.
The 100th (!!!) episode of the Art Angle featured a conversation with author, professor, and astute social commentator Roxane Gay. An avid art collector, Gay spoke about a particularly moving painting by the artist Calida Rawles, on view in the artist’s exhibition at Lehmann Maupin in New York. The discussion touched on empathy, trauma, and healing through the lens of Rawles’s gorgeous canvas.
Another milestone in Artnet News’s 2021 was the debut of Artnet News Pro, where we dive even deeper into data analysis, art criticism, and of course, vetting newfangled market tools. In this episode, executive editor Julia Halperin spoke to Tim Schneider about a piece he wrote for the Intelligence Report, outlining five technologies that will transform the art market as we know it, from hologram art dealers to even more advanced A.I.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
