Rob Pruitt’s The Andy Monument will not be removed from Union Square on schedule. It’s sticking around due to popular demand. According to Kellie Honeycutt, representative for Public Art Fund, the sculpture will stay up through the tourist season, with the thought that millions more will see it.

This is the second time the sculpture’s exhibition has been extended. The Public Art Fund commission was initially conceived as a temporary installation running from March through October 2011. For the time being, the life-size Andy Warhol will remain on view through the end of summer.

Union Square Partnership, the organization responsible for The Andy Monument’s on-site upkeep, has said that aside from wiping off occasional lipstick kisses, maintenance has been minimal. Seems like people *really* like that artwork.

Once the Union Square exhibition ends, the Public Art Fund plans to relinquish the rights of the sculpture back to Rob Pruitt. And then it’ll be up to Pruitt to decide where his shiny Andy moves next.

• Dana Schutz on Artinfo: “What is the most “questionable” scenario you’ve thought of?” “A woman giving birth.” [Artinfo]
• Roberta Smith reviews the video projection at the opera. [Times]
• Friends make the best frauds. [New York Magazine]
• Emily Nathan’s round-up of five New York shows. [Artnet]
• Time and again, Lichtenstein shows amaze audiences as “not just being about dots”—and we suspect that the Art Institute of Chicago’s upcoming retrospective will do the same. If you missed his latest at Gagosian, it was fantastic. AIC opens May 22. [Artinfo]
• You know that old guy who feeds the ducks and plays the hurdy gurdy in Central Park for pocket change? He’s been outlawed. [Village Voice]
• That TIME magazine cover is still burned in our brains. [HuffPo/Voice].
• What happens when you graffiti a Marc Jacobs store. [Hyperallergic]
• We say this every time, but there are some *highly* desirable pieces in Performa’s benefit auction, among them work by Laurie Simmons (Performa 05) David Gilbert, and a Liz Magic Laser (Performa 11) DVD. Remember: without performing arts organizations like this, we wouldn’t have Simmons and Lasers, we’d only have Barneys and Francos.  [Performa]
• NYU’s ITP program hosts its Spring Show tonight. Think science fair on acid. [NYU]

In the six months since Pinterest became one of 10 largest social network sites, we’ve heard no end to its praises. It’s been sold to us as a venue for self-expression, similar to Tumblr — but with auto-filled boards like “Products I Love,” “My Style,” and “For the Home,” it’s far less shy about its use of love-only Facebook-derivitive lifestyle branding. Unless you’re working against it, can such a place even be a venue for self-expression?

With a “repins from” category on every profile, “following” and “followers” menus, and profile-linked comment threads, it’s remarkably easy to bounce around in Pinterest; four hours can go right out the window. But, as Hyperallergic’s An Xiao pointed out recently, it all tends to look the same. It’s bright here. Many of my auto-followees (mostly white, early 30s art directors) wear sunglasses, and photos are almost all daylit. Idle browsing begets a mix of 1930s Eastern Europe (letterpress, kerchiefs, potato prints) and 1960s fashion photography (sunglasses, pin-up girls, Bridget Bardot). Blouin Artinfo’s “Mad for Mad Men” board looks fairly original by comparison.

When I search for something I like, though, the landscape slightly improves—which makes me think that if more people join, and if Pinterest finds a way to direct its users into streams, this could be a very useful tool. Though Tumblr’s got its fair share of torture porn, for example, you’ll probably only stumble across it if you’re looking around in that social group; Pinterest’s layout is so open that any one and their grandmother could stumble over it in minutes. (And when that happens, the internet might explode; as Gawker reported back in February, light-hearted use of the word “fuck” provoked an onslaught of offended users).

For now, art boards function almost exactly the same as the product boards, where opinions expressed largely range from a scale of “wonderful” to “superlative.” “Broadway Boogie-Woogie,” for instance, draws praise like “can’t beat a bit of Mondrian!” and “Love that Mondrian!” Like everything else here, art’s sole function is to temporarily improve a user’s day. On that particular board, brightly-colored epic sculpture (like Olafur Eliasson’s “One-Way Tunnel”) get the most repins, followed by epic sculpture (like Fiona Banner’s “Harrier”), followed by bright colors (like a magenta James Turrell), followed by paintings of women. Only the stockiest art photos survive Pinterest’s sieve. Here, Lynda Benglis makes rainbow pours; Bruce Naumann makes neons; Keith Harring lives on through cars or fake nails; Marilyn Minter photographs high heels and pearls in mouths. Laurel Nakadate is a stock photo model, and Duchamp’s urinal, a funky sink.

“Self-expression” is ironic word choice for Pinterest’s selection process. Far more often than an expression of taste or selfhood, we’re basically re-affirming what we already agree upon: colors are pleasant, large things are impressive, animals are cute, food is delicious. Conversation is polite both because invitations can be rescinded (it’s “invite-only”), but also because if you extend an invitation, you want the party to make you look good. (As one commenter noted under the “fuck” photo: “THIS IS SO NOT APPROPRIATE, I JUST INVITED MY DAUGHTER-IN-LAWS AND A FRIEND PLEASE STOP THIS OR YOU ARE GOING TO MISS A LOT OF VIEWERS!!!!!!”) There’s also a general assumption that animals and colors are fundamentally good, therefore we should proliferate these things in order to improve the world.

Search “hate,” though, and the enamel begins to crack: alongside photos of a kitten in water and a grouchy cartoon character grumbling about being tired, there are rare moments like an African American girl giggling on a bench (“don’t hate”), or a sign that reads “I HATE CANCER.” After these and countless friendly comment threads, my own boards “Boobs I Love” and “Things That Make Me Bang Me Head Against the Wall” made me feel like a bit of an asshole. The fact is that this isn’t a place for discourse; this is a place where people go to fantasize, and that probably makes a lot of people feel good. This internet Pleasantville can only last as long as I keep my mouth shut—which is only to say, don’t Pin this.

Lucian Freud, "Girl With a Kitten," 1947.

Glimpses of dialogue do congeal around paintings like Lucian Freud’s “Girl With A Kitten,” in which a beautiful girl with a 1930s haircut holds a kitty by the neck. Comments range from “beautifully painted” and “nice pallete” to “is she trying to choke the kitten?!” and “absolutely horrible.” The most revealing of the space Pinterest had created, though, is the response “Um, why gripping the neck? We’re all friends. :)” We’re not actually friends, as Pinterest doesn’t allow “friendships”; you can follow people, but everything is public. But the difference between this and other social networks is that you don’t need an introduction, just an invitation—it’s a social media network where everyone automatically knows each other.

UPrinting is a leading, socially responsible online printing company. Online since 2000, the company combines high-quality press printing with a robust yet easy-to-use online ordering system and has established itself as a major player in the industry.

UPrinting offers a wide variety of products from business cards and brochures to envelopes, greeting cards, posters, canvas prints and more. They are specifically proud of their high quality eco-friendly prints that use recycled paper and vegetable/soy-based inks with lower levels of VOCs than traditional petroleum-based inks to reduce harmful carbon emissions.

“I wanted to make a lot of vocabulary,” choreographer Luciana Achugar told Gia Kourlas of her new dance FEELingpleasuresatisfactioncelebrationholyFORM. That’s FEEL FORM for short, and it opens tonight at Abrons Art Center.

As the playbill tells us, four women — Achugar, Rebecca Brooks, Jennifer Kjos, and Melinda Lee — will “engage in a psychedelia-inspired kaleidoscope that multiplies their experience and reflects both rigorous formalism and corporeal excess.” In other words, don’t expect some sloppy experimental dance bullshit. The group practiced for over six months, and we expect it will show.

For the record, AFC doesn’t purport to have any objectivity about this piece and it’s not just because constant AFC-praise recipient (and Sound of Art release party performer) Michael Mahalchick is responsible for the sound. Melinda Lee is the roommate of AFC Editorial Director Paddy Johnson, they get along very well, and have dedicated a good deal of time to discussing the project. We think that inside knowledge gives us early line on a great new piece that will literalize “the experience of what it feels like to follow a path of movement in the body“, but readers can tell us if they think we’re wrong tonight. The dance starts at 8 pm, and we want to see you there.

Andy Warhol's "Double Elvis" propped up by non-unionized art handlers. The work sold for $37 million at Sotheby's on Wednesday night.

At Sotheby’s annual meeting, shareholders passed all but one proposal—a Teamsters-backed plan opposing “golden parachutes” for departing executives. That proposal might normally have passed, but an albatross lingered in the meeting room: the five shareholders forced into unemployment by Sotheby’s. Those five shareholders belong to the Teamsters Local 814, the art handlers’ union that has been locked out of negotiations with the auction house for over nine months.

The proposal submitted by the art handlers would have prohibited Sotheby’s from allowing automatic executive payouts and compensation packages to any departing executives. The Teamsters’ proposal was supported by ISS and Glass Lewis, two leading voting advisory services.

Philip Boroff for Bloomberg offered this explanation of how the existing policy works:

Had there been a change of control at the end of 2010, Chief Executive Officer William Ruprecht—whose compensation last year was valued at $7 million—would have been eligible for $18 million in severance and benefits.

Despite the proposal’s outside endorsement and sound financial advice, the plan was rejected. While it failed to garner majority support at the meeting, the proposal did receive positive endorsement from 39% of shareholders. It appears that the art handlers, by challenging Sotheby’s corporate policies, were able to demonstrate support from within the auction house.

Throughout the meeting, the art handlers continued to express their opposition to the Sotheby’s lockout. Thomas McAllister, one of the five art handlers in attendance, pressed on the contrast between the auction house’s soaring profits and the art handlers’ forced unemployment.

“My family isn’t doing well,” McAllister told Sotheby’s Board Chairman Michael Sovern. “There is not a party in my household.”

As of Tuesday’s board meeting, Sovern said he had no plans to budge on the lockout, believing “extra security and temporary labor costs haven’t been ‘material’ and are less burdensome in the long term than acceding to contract demands.”

AFC continues to support the art handlers during their lockout. If you haven’t done so already, sign our petition written on behalf of the workers. Sotheby’s has forced their art handlers out of work, and are currently filling those positions with a rotating series of temporary workers.

Hennessy Youngman, in full regalia.

On Tuesday, May 15th, Electronic Arts Intermix will host a screening of two new Hennessy Youngman videos, followed by a conversation between Youngman (Jayson Scott Musson) and EAI Public Programs Director Josh Kline. It looks pretty good. I might go.

One line at the bottom of the press release, though, caught my eye: “Jayson Scott Musson’s work is now available through EAI’s distribution service. For more information, please click here.”

It’s true: you rent or purchase an educational or exhibition copy of, say, How to Make an Art, on VHS, DVD, U-Matic, or Beta, for prices starting at $50. You can also, I imagine, watch Youngman’s videos by booking EAI’s viewing room; make sure to do that a few weeks in advance. If all that fails, maybe someone’s uploaded them to YouTube.

So, first things first: this is really weird. I mean, somebody just offered me my favorite YouTube videos on VHS, despite it being fairly well-known that it’s quite simple to download videos directly from YouTube—probably in higher quality. The angle, of course, is that EAI will preserve the videos forever and pay a significant portion of their fees on to Musson himself; it does make a certain amount of sense. In a comment on AFC two months ago, EAI Distribution Director Rebecca Cleman offered a few thoughts on the nonprofit’s role in an age of YouTube:

There are certainly impediments to providing access – and one of them is the obsolescence of technology. As John commented here, EAI has a long and important history leading and advocating for the preservation of video formats – at a time when very few institutions or dealers were willing to assume this responsibility (things have changed significantly only in the last decade or so). It is absolutely true that without these efforts, works by Joan Jonas, Dara Birnbaum, and Tony Oursler, among many others, would simply not exist.

The imposed scarcity model of editioning also, of course, impedes access – but it doesn’t have to. Artists have been challenging the restrictive edition model by having editioned works posted on YouTube, circulating through distributors such as EAI, VDB, or LUX, and available for sale through a gallery. To me this perhaps outlines an “ideal scenario”– the works are available in a very general and open field, extending beyond the confines of the art world and high culture, while being appreciated by collecting institutions for their cultural value and impact. One of the many points raised during the panel, however, is how this impacts on the notion of “ownership” – which is especially important to public institutions acquiring the works and anticipating archiving and housing them as long as the Earth revolves…

Hennessy Youngman would seem to be the materialization of Cleman’s “ideal scenario”; those with money to burn (like institutions) can pay Musson his fair share, while the rest of us can continue to watch Art Thoughtz for free as long as Musson decides to keep them online. The archival side of the equation, though, still seems a bit far-fetched; the possibility of YouTube’s eventual obsolescence is one that’s difficult to comprehend in 2012. The site has remained essentially the same since 2005 and its video format, Flash, has a reputation for backwards compatibility and has only seen three major updates in the past nine years. Even if the site were to die, one assumes the same noble internet heroes who archived Geocities would gather up the remains of YouTube for history.

The real question here might be whether a VHS of How to Make an Art qualifies as the whole work. While Ryan Trecartin, another video artist in EAI’s collection well-known for putting works on YouTube, seems to fit neatly into artist/viewer dichotomy of video art, Hennessy Youngman is a more networked project. He addresses his audience directly as “innanet”, provides links at the end of his videos to the music he uses, and interacts with commenters, often hilariously. Hennessy Youngman isn’t a series of transmissions from outer space; he’s your big brother, here to help you understand art. That gets lost when he’s translated into the one-way medium of video.

So can Hennessy Youngman be a VHS? Jayson Musson would seem to say yes, and that’s probably the only opinion that matters. Still, we wonder where video ends and something else, something that can’t quite fit on a VHS, begins. AFC spoke to EAI’s Josh Kline, who confirmed that no EAI artist so far has requested that, for instance, YouTube comments be included in the archive. One suspects that might change. A growing body of young artists will look to Musson’s sudden success as an artist working not just on YouTube, but for YouTube, and want to follow. If more video art is produced with web audiences in mind, will EAI remain a video-only affair, or move to something more akin to Rhizome’s digital archives? It will be interesting to watch how institutions like EAI evolve.

Tuesday night, the Akron Art Museum sold off Cindy Sherman’s Untitled #96 (1981) at Christie’s. Continuing the solid sales at New York spring auctions, the “orange” Cindy Sherman sold for $2,882,500, including tax and commission. That’s more than the Akron Art Museum’s total revenue from 2010. While this makes a strong case for museums to garner revenue through deaccessioning, museums rarely sell off works from their collections for such a large sum.

From a money-making standpoint, the Akron Art Museum was smart to auction off this work. With her MoMA solo show still up, Cindy Sherman’s works are hot sellers: In 2011, Christie’s sold a different print of Untitled #96 for $3,890,500. Last weekend, Metro Pictures sold a 1977 Cindy Sherman for $950,000 during Frieze New York.

By doubling its yearly revenue through the sale of one artwork, the Akron Art Museum plans to build an endowment in order to grow its permanent collection. Although infrequent, museums do sell works at auction. In November 2011, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston fetched over $9 million at auction for a single Monet, directing the revenue into an acquisition fund. The American Association of Museums’ (AAM) ethical guidelines allow for such collection sales, with the requirement that “in no event shall they be used for anything other than acquisition or direct care of collections.”

Even if the Akron Art Museum’s move is ethically sound, there’s still something icky about it. I mean, what if they go buy a ton of Dale Chihulys with the money? So far, the Akron Art Museum Director and CEO Mitchell Kahan has no plans for that.

“Now we can look forward to acquiring other Cindy Sherman works from later in her career,” Kahan said after the sale. I sure hope so.

If this is you, get in touch.

Are you a master’s student in art history overwhelmed by the quantity of your own opinions? Perhaps you’re journalism student, with burning desire to report on the news. Either way, have we got a job for you!

Art Fag City is seeking summer editorial and administrative interns.

Ideal editorial candidates have a strong interest in visual art and digital media, are proficient in basic HTML, and possess excellent writing and editing skills. Applicants should also be extremely organized, self-motivated, and detail-oriented. Familiarity with AFC’s content is absolutely essential.

Ideal administrative candidates have a strong interest in visual art and digital media, are proficient in Excel and Quickbooks, and possess excellent attention to detail.

Interns will work directly with AFC Editorial Director Paddy Johnson and Editor-in-Chief Will Brand to support all aspects of running an art blog, from content management to fundraising efforts. The position offers valuable hands-on experience in the fast-growing world of digital media, and in-depth insight into a prestigious online publication. Interns will also have the opportunity to attend private tours and panel discussions as well as contribute original content for the blog.

Our previous interns have gone on to full-time positions at ArtINFO, Rhizome, Glide Magazine, and the Dia Foundation, among others. They were capable, motivated, often brilliant individuals who left AFC ready to make their mark on the art world. If you want to join them, get in touch.

Editorial Intern duties include:

• Copyediting posts and columns.
• Digital image management.
• Managing ongoing series like IMG MGMT.
• Project-based research.

Administrative Intern duties include:

• Basic invoicing and data entry.
• Helping put together events, along the lines of our Art Fag City Rob Pruitt Art Awards and Auction* or the Sound of Art release party.
• Grant research.
• Post office runs.

For either position, familiarity with Javascript and PHP is a fantastic bonus.

Applicants should expect to make a minimum commitment of 20 hours per week, although some work can be done remotely. You should live in New York—we’re based in Clinton Hill, and we’ll want to see your face regularly. Candidates who have or are working towards a degree in journalism, art history, or arts administration are preferred. This position is unpaid.

If interested, please e-mail a cover letter, a resume, and your availability to internships@artfagcity.com with the job title you are applying for—either “Editorial Intern Application” or “Administrative Intern Application”—as the subject line. Application deadline: May 21st, 2012

It only took a year, but I’ve finally written about The New Aesthetic. What is it? Does it constitute a new movement? I tell you why I think this thing isn’t going anywhere valuable at The L Magazine.

It’s amazing how much talk an ill-thought-out concept can generate when it comes in the form of a PowerPoint lecture. That’s part of the appeal of “The New Aesthetic,” a term coined by designer James Bridle and discussed by thousands of internet nerds over the last month. Ever since SXSW hosted a panel on the subject and Bruce Sterling produced a 5,000-word response for Wired, a day’s hardly passed when I haven’t seen mention of this so-called burgeoning movement.

The New Aesthetic, as Bridle tells it, is the new merging of physical and digital, a kind of cybernetic vision with the sudden confidence to throw out all this nostalgia we’ve been trucking around for the past few decades. In truth, it isn’t so much a movement as it is a tumblr paired with a lecture circuit. I mean that literally: Bridle’s blog by the same name hosts image after image of supposed instances of the “New Aesthetic”, from pixelated giftwrap next to an unpixelated child to pixelated water spewing from a pipe on the street. The connecting thread is what Bridle sees as a reaction against nostalgia. “We need to see the technologies we actually have with a new wonder,” he explains in some of the sparse text provided. Bridle doesn’t notice that many of the images posted carry their own nostalgia for the 8-bit era.

Read the whole piece here, but don’t expect much on either the SXSW talk and Bruce Sterling response for Wired that seem to have popularized the term. I didn’t see the talk, and as a friend rightly noted over email, Sterling’s piece isn’t so much as an essay as “someone catching up on lecture notes after a session in the pub.” It’s best to focus on the source material. Those who don’t want to slog their way through Sterling’s piece can read artist William Powhida’s condensed version. I recommend it.