Arts News will be on vacation for the next three weeks.

We’ll be back on August 15, 2011.

Two Vancouver art galleries head outdoors.  Elspeth Pratt brightens up Vancouver Art Gallery’s Offsite space, while the Contemporary Art Gallery’s Ron Tran takes a walk…In beautiful and surprising ways, the impact of Elspeth Pratt’s Second Date shifts and mutates with the light and the weather. Georgia Straight, July 21, 2011

Fetching sketching for everyone at Draw Down 2011.  Vancouver Draw Down, now in its second year, was inspired by The Big Draw, a U.K. campaign to get people drawing as a tool for thought, creativity, social and cultural engagement. The Vancouver Park Board is the primary sponsor with a contribution of $5,000, with additional support from the VAG, MOA, community associations and corporate sponsors.  The Province, July 20, 2011

Look What I Found in the Museum's Basement!  Bill Richardson's favourite five things discovered in the archives of the Museum of Vancouver.  The Tyee, July 19, 2011

It's all about the art at Black Rabbit Tattoo Studio.  At the age of 23, Emily Carr grad Christina Christie has seven years of tattooing under her belt. Now, opening her own shop, she hopes to support other artists. Georgia Straight, July 20, 2011

Arts Umbrella is Surrey-bound. The Arts Umbrella is on the verge of opening a massive new facility in the heart of Surrey. Georgia Straight, July 21, 2011

Edmonton

AGA exhibit showcases art world's troublemakers.  Edmonton didn't have a big community of conceptual artists in 1969, so EAG curator Bill Kirby imported one. He brought in troublemakers working against the art world's status quo, people who believed there were enough paintings and statues collecting dust already. These new artists thought text, performance and all this new audiovisual technology Marshall McLuhan had been fretting about was changing what art could be. Art never was the same.  Edmonton Journal, July 21, 2011

Montreal

on second thought... Over the past two decades, New York painter John Currin has become famous for mixing refined old-master techniques with raw sexual imagery. Now, as his biggest Canadian survey opens at DHC/ART in Montreal, Currin tells Leah Sandals he's having surprising second thoughts about his oeuvre. National Post, July 21, 2011

Théâtre de la mode.  Review of Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ exhibition The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk. Le Voir, July 21, 2011

Utah

Who Owns Spiral Jetty? Greg Allen is a true polymath: he's a filmmaker, curator, art collector, web entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He's an artist in his own right: he likes to play with conceptual art-about-art-about-art works. He even has an MBA in finance from Wharton. Now he's set up the Jetty Foundation, which has made a bid to lease the site of Robert Smithson's most iconic work from the state of Utah.  Reuters, July 8, 2011

New York

Copyright Vs. Copywrong In Richard Prince V. Patrick Cariou "The biggest news Mr. Prince's collectors have to absorb now, though, may be that the paintings they bought from Gagosian Gallery not only can't be displayed; it's also likely they can't be resold except, conceivably, on the black market (unless the court's decision is overruled on appeal, a process that could take years)." New York Observer, July 19, 2011 

London

Why Closing Libraries Over Budgets Is Wrong "Closing libraries is the behaviour of a debased culture. Libraries are not just a source of books. Many of us feel that they symbolise something more, that Britain is a civilised place. And when part of our civilisation is being destroyed, we have to stand up against the barbarians." The Telegraph (UK) July 11, 2011

Man Held after Poussin Painting Is Vandalized at National Gallery   A seventeenth-century painting by Nicolas Poussin was vandalized at the National Gallery in London after a fifty-seven-year-old man reportedly sprayed it with red paint before being arrested by police. The Adoration of the Golden Calf, completed by the French classicist in 1634, along with a smaller painting on the adjacent wall in the Poussin room, was attacked at about 5:00 PM.  The Guardian (UK) July 17, 2011

Amsterdam

Dutch Government To Switch Bulk of Arts Funding To Per-Project Grants While seven orchestras, four major dance companies and a few other national-level organizations will continue to receive direct subsidies, medium-sized and smaller companies will lose their four-year grants and will have to apply for funding - from a much smaller pool of money - for each individual project. Deutsche Welle, July 20, 2011

Paris

Ignorance Is Defense in a Case of Lost Art  The prominent art dealer Guy Wildenstein said a vault of his family’s institute that held missing works was never inventoried.  New York Times, July 21, 2011 

Warsaw

Get the skinny on the world’s narrowest house. Polish architect Jakub Szczesny has turned the popular notion of “size matters” on its head with his design of the world’s skinniest house in Warsaw, Poland. Toronto Star, July 20, 2011

Qatar

Christie's President Quit To Work In Qatar Christie's president Edward Dolman is resigning from his post after 27 years of service to become the managing director of the Qatar Museums Authority. The Art Newspaper, July 20, 2011

Afghanistan

Remembering The Destroyed Afghan Buddhas "In March, international teams of experts and Afghan officials at a Unesco meeting in Paris announced that a total reconstruction of either sculpture is not being considered. And while participants agreed to leave the larger niche empty to highlight the Buddhas' violent destruction, a feasibility study may be conducted at a future date regarding a partial reconstruction of the smaller Buddha." The Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2011