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Spectator
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
The podcast of the summer
The cover painting for The Specialist, a new podcast from Sotheby's, looks like a scene from Mad Men. The people are so good-looking and so well dressed that you barely notice how odd they are. One chap's walking along with a porcelain bowl as if it were a macchiato; a lady holds a plant in her palms in the manner of receiving communion; someone else walks the street with a gavel. The admen have done their job: intrigued, I press play. It becomes apparent that the people who work at Sotheby's have no interest in persuading anyone that they are normal. I listen to Ottilie, Julian and Gregory, and to mouths that volunteer, with ease, such phrases as 'the visceral power is undimmed by the passage of time'. Voices grow more animated at the discovery of pentimenti, particulars of provenance and the prospect of record-breaking sales. Like estate agents for HNWIs, only clever, the specialists make no effort to pretend their world is something it isn't. I applaud their honesty. There are two main types of episode. The first, released as a batch last month, is longer and more conversational. Simon Schama and curator Eleanor Nairne discuss portraiture and actress Julianne Moore gives a collector's view on 20th-century design. Most of these episodes were taken from recordings of live events. A week after this delivery came the start of what feels like another series entirely. Each episode averages 11 minutes and features one Sotheby's expert speaking directly to us about the sale of a single artwork. I have worked my way through most of the short ones and duly crown The Specialist my podcast of the summer. It's remarkable what you can learn in 11 minutes. Simon Shaw speaks wonderfully – and at auction-speed – of the record set by the 2012 sale of Munch's 'The Scream'. There were only ever four versions of the work, two of which have been stolen, and only one privately held. The production of prints kick-started the fascination with the image, which is apparently alone among paintings for inspiring not one emoji, but two (you may not yet have discovered the screaming cat). The £16.25 million realised by the sale of a Vermeer were a bonus to the achievement of the painting's attribution. I had no idea there were just 36 recognised Vermeer paintings. The prospect of adding to the catalogue was complicated by the fact that the artist has so often been forged. Even a painting sold to Göring on behalf of Hitler was revealed as a fake. Listen to the episode on Kandinsky for a moving story of art restitution. A painting by the Bauhaus master had hung in the dining room of a family that had tried to flee the Nazis. Its rediscovery, many years after its sale under duress, was quite miraculous. Should all this put you in the mood for more art, ensure you listen to Your Places or Mine first. Clive Aslet, the architectural writer and visiting Cambridge professor, and John Goodall, architectural editor for Country Life, have been running their fascinating weekly podcast since the early summer, delving into many a museum and historic house. They recently assessed the changes to the National Gallery, which, incidentally, has an enjoyable new podcast of its own, Stories in Colour. Aslet and Goodall admire William Wilkins's original gallery building (apart from the 'clunky' dome) but save their enthusiasm for the latest additions by Selldorf Architects. I confess, I hadn't noticed many of the features they praise, including the removal or slimming down of some of the 'Teletubby' columns in the entrance to the Sainsbury Wing, and an area of rustication that Goodall describes, in his jovial tones, as 'really, really satisfying'. As with The Specialist, this podcast is most likely to appeal to listeners with ears attuned to long vowels and guffaws, and for whom 'rustication' is familiar terminology. Which is to say the readers of this magazine. Aslet and Goodall will digress in order to explain ('I suppose we'd better say something about Wilkins…') but rightly feel no compulsion to dumb-down. They often seem to forget that the tape is rolling, so at ease are they in each other's company. 'You've got to pity these people,' remarks Aslet of 19th-century aristocrats who sought American wives to replenish their coffers and restock their art collections. 'They hadn't been brought up to do anything except serve in the army… many had been to Eton so could talk very well about things, but…' Cue an endearing guffaw from Goodall, who sounds forever to be on the verge of hysterics. Art: a serious business, except when it's not.
Euronews
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Euronews
George the Poet teams up with young Londoners to reimagine iconic art
'I think expressing yourself creatively is like opening a window in a crowded room,' George the Poet told Euronews Culture. 'It's part of the cleansing process. It's a way of letting go. A way of just confronting things that you might not even want to say out loud.' That energy was exactly what filled the shimmering LED walls of FRAMELESS, the UK's largest immersive art space, for a special event celebrating the words of young Londoners. In a collaboration between FRAMELESS, the Mayor of London's Violence Reduction Unit, and spoken word artist and podcast host George the Poet, the Art of Expression initiative invited a group of 13–25-year-olds to reimagine famous artworks through original spoken word pieces. Their work - poetry rooted in their lived experiences - was presented not just alongside the art, but within it: an immersive, multi-sensory reframe of Rembrandt's The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Edvard Munch's The Scream, Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights, and more. Making art more accessible for young people The project comes off the back of new research which uncovered a growing cultural divide: 48% of young people don't feel historical art is relevant to their lives, while a quarter find traditional galleries 'posh and intimidating.' Yet, despite this disconnect, the appetite is there - 61% of young people say they wish they had more opportunities to engage with art, and 64% believe that learning to interpret or create art would improve other areas of their lives. 'I always imagined a space where we can do immersive artwork,' explained George the Poet, recalling how he has previously utilised audio immersion through his award-winning podcast, "Have You Heard George's Podcast?". 'But the visual immersive was always the missing piece. Frameless reached out… connecting young people, classic pieces, contemporary pieces, and poetry. I said, yeah - you've come to the right person.' George led workshops with the Young People's Action Group from the VRU, using art as a mirror to reflect back the challenges, hopes, and complexity of youth in modern London. A post shared by Frameless London (@framelessldn) 'I personally believe that everything we drew out was already within them,' he said. 'They had the appreciation of art, of poetry, of how these things connect to contemporary society. It's been beautiful to watch it blossom.' He added: 'If you recognise that we all have that creative instinct, that artistic impulse, and you invite a young person to bring that to the table - they will become receptive to anything you want to introduce them to,' he said. 'I've never seen it fail.' One young writer turned "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" into a metaphor for migration and family displacement. Another took on "The Scream", framing it as a cry against systemic injustice. And George himself reimagined John Atkinson Grimshaw painting "Reflections on the Thames", all through the lens of 21st-century urban life. George believes that this kind of expression can leave a lasting imprint not just on the individual, but on society: 'When we come together and share our reflections, that becomes like a map of society,' he said. 'And in this era of AI, of online wars, of populism - it's very important that we're making our voices heard. Our authentic voices.' But the barriers to entry in the creative industry remain high, especially for those from working-class or marginalised backgrounds. For George the Poet, the solution lies in real, long-term investment. 'We need more public support, more state support,' he told Euronews Culture. 'It's very important to proactively meet our young people in their communities with a real, intention to usher them into the industry." The spoken word pieces can be heard here on the Frameless website, and are also available to listen to in the gallery space this summer by scanning a QR code.
New York Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Christie Brinkley details devastating moment that ‘nearly broke' her: ‘Something was very wrong'
When Christie Brinkley found out that her husband was having an affair, it 'nearly broke her.' The veteran Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model is on the cover of Social Life Magazine in celebration of her memoir, 'Uptown Girl,' which came out earlier this year. The 71-year-old spoke to the outlet about what it was like sharing her story, both the highs and lows. 'There were parts where I thought, 'Please don't cry,'' said Brinkley when it came to reading her story out loud for the audiobook. 'I tried to keep [my voice] level, but [the publisher] let me be. Let my voice crack. Let it show.' One of the moments Brinkley described in the book was discovering how her fourth husband, architect Peter Cook, was unfaithful after eight years of marriage. According to the outlet, Brinkley was at a graduation ceremony in 2006 to give a commencement speech. She described how a man approached her with a revelation that had the 'weight of a wrecking ball, delivered in barely a whisper.' 'I asked him to repeat it,' she recalled before turning to look at Cook. 'And then I looked at Jack,' she said about her son. 'Jack's face was frozen in panic. He felt it instantly. He knew something was very wrong.' 4 Christie Brinkley at the Sports Illustrated Swim Issue Launch Party held at the Hard Rock Hotel on May 16, 2024 in New York, New York. WWD via Getty Images According to Brinkley, she looked out into the crowd. She saw 'mouths agape,' reminding her of 'The Scream' oil painting. 'They all knew,' the outlet shared. 'Maybe some judged. Maybe some didn't. But in that suspended moment, she felt faint, exposed… like the floor might drop beneath her.' Brinkley said she asked the man if he had a card. 4 Alexa Ray Joel and Brinkley attend the SASF Sweet 16th Unconditional Love Gala on July 19, 2025 in Bridgehampton, New York. Getty Images 'No,' he said. 'But I'm a cop at the Southampton station.' After the ceremony, Jack rushed over to his mother and asked what was wrong. She told him, 'Mommy needs to go to the police station.' There, she would get more information about how her marriage was unraveling. Brinkley told the outlet that she didn't know what readers would expect from her book. 'I had thought this book might sit on shelves,' she admitted. 'I worried it would embarrass my kids. But people bought it. They loved it. I cried.' In her book, Brinkley describes how the police officer who made the revelation was the father of the 18-year-old Cook was involved with. 4 Brinkley was married to her fourth husband, Peter Cook, from 1996 to 2008. Djamilla Rosa Cochran 'I know from Peter's face that he was guilty,' Brinkley wrote. 'When your whole world falls apart, and you realize in a heartbeat you've suddenly become the cliché middle-aged woman whose husband is having an affair with a much (much) younger woman, what do you do?' That night, Cook was out of the house. And friends urged Brinkley to search the family computer. They even came over to help, an operation Brinkley said looked like something out of 'Charlie's Angels.' There, she found a 'creepy labyrinth of files and photos I never knew existed.' 'I was good at guessing passwords, and soon enough, a panoply of frightening email exchanges, incriminating photos, and porn accounts populated the screen like fireworks,' Brinkley wrote. 'It was so insane that it was almost funny, and soon enough, the three of us were doubled over in laughter, as printouts of girls in X-rated poses began piling up on the floor faster than trash outside a greasy takeaway.' 4 The veteran Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model is on the cover of Social Life Magazine in celebration of her memoir, 'Uptown Girl,' which came out earlier this year. Getty Images Brinkley and Cook's split resulted in a six-year court battle. Social Life Magazine reported that the divorce trial was 'tabloid catnip and a full-blown media spectacle.' It was also 'a mother fighting to protect her cubs.' Today, Brinkley told the outlet she finds solace tending to her garden, just like another famous blonde. 'I admire Pamela [Anderson],' Brinkley told Social Life about the 'Baywatch' icon. 'I think we were both misread. Different myths were built around each of us, and now we've found the freedom to say what was always ours. We're not salon blondes. We're hands-in-the-dirt women. We bloom in the garden.' Brinkley previously told Fox News Digital she dares to love again. 'I find that love is the strongest thing in the whole world, and we are surrounded by love,' she said. 'There are so many kinds of love and love for our friends, love for our families, love for nature and love for people that protect nature. I love love – I feel like my life is so full of love.' 'I think if there's a romantic love that comes along, it would be wonderful,' she shared. 'But I also feel very content and happy with the life that I have right now. I consider my life to be very full of love.'
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
That time Chris Martin blew up the world (oops) for a couple caught cheating on the Coldplay kiss-cam
Sometimes you just want a moment back. Just one tiny moment. For example, the moment that a kiss-cam busted you and your head of HR for cheating at a Coldplay concert on Wednesday night. Andy Byron, chief executive of data-infrastructure company Astronomer Inc., was caught on camera holding human resources chief Kristin Cabot — a woman who is not his wife — tenderly in his arms. The moment was an instant classic for those attending the concert: 'Ohhh, look at these two,' singer Chris Martin said as the cam spotlighted the couple, prompting Cabot to suddenly, awkwardly duck out of camera range while Cabot turned her back, covered her face and ultimately fled. 'Wait, what? Either they're having an affair,' Martin said, 'or they're just very shy.' Or maybe, just maybe, they were actually really stupid to react that way? No cheating experts here, but if they had simply smiled and continued their loving embrace, the details of their entanglement might have stayed unknown to the 65,000 or so folks packed into Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL's New England Patriots. All they had to do was nothing. But ooh, they did something. So much for conscious uncoupling. Nice move, Martin. But the singer wasn't really to blame for this week's hottest story. What happened in Foxborough, Mass., could have stayed in Foxborough, Mass., were it not for one Grace Springer. Springer is reportedly the 28-year-old who posted the clip on TikTok. She told the U.K. Sun she made the video public because she thought the couple's 'something' was 'an interesting reaction' from the people involved. 'A part of me feels bad for turning these people's lives upside down, but, play stupid games … win stupid prizes,' Springer said before adding that she hoped their partners could 'heal' and get a second chance at happiness. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Ouch. The internet, of course, has been quite happy to mete out those stupid prizes left and right. There's now merch to commemorate the moment, including one tee on Etsy that simply reads, 'Not Shy. Just Married. #Coldplaygate.' Another seller is offering a sweatshirt that screams in all-caps, 'I TOOK MY SIDEPIECE TO THE COLDPLAY CONCERT AND IT RUINED MY LIFE.' One T-shirt dips its toes into political waters, urging people to MAPA: 'Make Affairs Private Again!' The tee with an actual photo of the couple is unlikely to last long, what with copyright and all, but the animated version might hang around a bit longer. Alas, there are no koozies for sale. Not yet. Then there are the memes. One shows the couple with the hitchhiking ghosts from the famous finish of Disney's Haunted Mansion ride. Another shows Miss Piggy in the arms of a tall Fozzie Bear, with a sign in one corner saying 'Coldplay's Caught-in-the-Act Cam.' On X, Elon Musk chuckled at an image of the couple reimagined in the style of Edvard Munch's 'The Scream.' Then there was the classic MasterCard meme: 'Priceless.' 'Coldplay hasn't made a single in years,' one wit said on X, posting a still from the video. 'Last night, they made two.' 'This is outdated,' another account said, commenting on a ChatGPT blurb about a Taylor Swift ticket allegedly selling for $200,000 on the secondary market. 'Coldplay now holds the record for most expensive concert ticket ever sold.' 'Uh, it's time to 'Kiss It Goodbye,' ' ESPN's Randy Scott said as he and 'SportsCenter' co-anchor Gary Striewski reenacted the viral moment live Friday morning. 'Baseball's probably not the only thing you could say that about recently.' And if Andy Byron appeared to be having some really bad days, what about other dudes named Andy Byron? 'NOT THE GUY FROM THE COLDPLAY GIG' reads the Threads bio of one such Andy, who apparently hails from Dublin. 'The only one having a worse day than Andy Byron is all the other Andy Byrons,' one user snarked. However, an apology statement attributed to the Astronomer CEO turned out to be fake, according to the company itself. The real Astronomer Inc. announced Friday that it is looking into the matter and that Alyssa Stoddard, whoever that poor thing is, is not in the video. Um, we were concerned? Turns out Stoddard is the company's VP of HR, a step or so down from Cabot, and probably doesn't deserve to be mentioned in this context at all. 'Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability,' the company said in a post on LinkedIn. 'The Board of Directors has initiated a formal investigation into this matter and we will have additional details to share very shortly.' Additional. Details. Very. Shortly. Soooooo — the fun won't be ending any time soon. Meanwhile, the real Andy Byron's real wife, Megan Kerrigan Byron, nuked the 'Byron' from her name on Facebook and then deactivated her account entirely amid an onslaught of comments from the public, according to Newsweek. Looks like she's choosing to do something instead of nothing, too.
Winnipeg Free Press
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Mass tourism a modern ill
Opinion When I went to Paris in 2012, I skipped the Louvre. Sacré bleu! Don't get me wrong: I notably love an art museum and try to go to one in every city I visit. From the Tate Modern in London to the Art Institute of Chicago to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to the Denver Art Museum, I've had the absolute privilege — and it is that — to have seen many amazing works by incredible artists at world-class institutions. But the Louvre gave me a particular kind of crowd anxiety. I'd seen the photos of sweaty throngs of people jockeying to get a glimpse of the Mona Lisa which, in addition to being famous, is famously not a large painting; Leonardo da Vinci's Renassiance-era portrait is 77 by 53 centimetres. Thibault Camus / The Associated Press Seeing Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa seems to be on a lot of bucket lists. Our girl draws 30,000 visitors a day, which means actually getting anywhere close to her is all but impossible, and I'm sure it's only gotten worse with the advent of selfies and content creators. I just took an exterior photo of the Louvre Pyramid (itself a cultural landmark) and called it a day. On Monday, the Louvre, which is the world's most-visited museum, closed its doors, leaving long lines of tourists stranded outside. The temporary closure was the result of a so-called wildcat strike, an unauthorized work stoppage by unionized employees. Staff are exhausted, trying to work at a crumbling institution that cannot handle the staggering crowds. And 80 per cent of visitors to the Louvre are there to see the Mona Lisa. I'll admit that I don't quite understand this. I get making a pilgrimage to see a masterpiece — Vermeer's The Milkmaid, Kent Monkman's The Scream and Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte are all works I've written about travelling to have a moment with — and I agree that the Mona Lisa is a masterpiece. But why this masterpiece — so reproduced, parodied and pop culture-fied — is harder to parse, especially since the gauntlet one must pass through to see it looks so miserable. The Louvre has what New York Times arts critic Jason Farago dubbed a 'Mona Lisa Problem.' 'No other iconic painting — not Botticelli's Birth of Venus at the Uffizi in Florence, not Klimt's Kiss at the Belvedere in Vienna, not Starry Night at the Museum of Modern Art in New York — comes anywhere close to monopolizing its institution like she does,' he wrote in 2019. That one artwork, he argued, eclipses all the others in the museum, including others right near it, and it needs its own dedicated space outside of the Louvre. I do wonder if the Mona Lisa is, for many people, simply a box to be checked, something people feel they have to do (and I'm using the word 'do' intentionally, as though it's on a list, instead of 'see') because that's just what you do when you go to Paris. In other words, you can't talk about the Mona Lisa without talking about mass tourism, of which this kind of bingo-card box ticking is a symptom. Also this week, Spaniards in Barcelona and Mallorca sprayed tourists with water pistols to protest an oversaturation of visitors they say is contributing to both an erosion of their communities' character and a housing shortage. It's not just Spain. You don't have to search far to find similar complaints about overtourism in Japan, Iceland or Switzerland. The advent of Instagram Tourism, where influencers visit places just to take perfect photos for social media — coupled with the proliferation of short-term rentals — only adds to the pressure on these places, many of which hold humanity's greatest achievements. People are unlikely to stop visiting these hyper-popular locales, even though I think we can agree that mass tourism, at the level it's at now, is unsustainable socially, economically and environmentally, which no one likes to talk about because, well, people want to travel. Travel can be enriching. It can change your perspective. It can give you a better understanding of the world and your place in it. Wednesdays Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture. But is throwing elbows to see the Mona Lisa really a meaningful cultural experience? Does 'going for the 'Gram' really allow one to have real interactions with a place where, by the way, actual people live? The good news is, there's a whole big globe to explore. Going off the beaten path might yield more discovery of out-of-the-way local economies where you could spend your tourism dollars. Might I suggest Winnipeg? I realize I am probably mostly preaching to residents, but I'm serious. Maybe not while there are wildfires burning in the province, but any other time. We've got history. We've got nature. We've got A+ restaurants. If it's art you're looking for, we've got that, too, and it's not an abject nightmare to go look at it. We've even got a Seine. Just as there are other artworks in the Louvre, there are other cities in the world. Jen ZorattiColumnist Jen Zoratti is a columnist and feature writer working in the Arts & Life department, as well as the author of the weekly newsletter NEXT. A National Newspaper Award finalist for arts and entertainment writing, Jen is a graduate of the Creative Communications program at RRC Polytech and was a music writer before joining the Free Press in 2013. Read more about Jen. Every piece of reporting Jen produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
