I wonder if it's this amusing from the outside when New York acts as if its concerns are the most important in the whole wide world.
The British art crowd's all worked up over a speech by Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate (and "the most powerful man in the museum world" WTF??), where he criticized the country's policy of "saving" art treasures (i.e., buying them so the Getty doesn't get them).
Serota, with total disinterested objectivity, I'm sure, suggests using the £25 Million earmarked for saving Raphael's Madonna of the Pinks to buy modern and contemporary work instead.
The Guardian polls a variety of BritArt grandees to see what they'd do with the money. The only one I can agree with is the Ikon Gallery's Jonathan Watkins, who wants to buy some On Kawara works. [Ikon had a highly praised On Kawara show last year. Coincidence?]
My, er, two pence: Set up an endowment, which, if it threw off £1.25 million/year, would be plenty to commission and purchase a steady stream of projects by emerging artists all over the world. Rather than keep a crusty old Madonna in the country (as if there's any other kind in the UK these days), get works early by the Raphaels of the 23rd century.
