Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
HuffPost: Columbus, Here I Come..!
I just returned from a short trip to a city that, to be honest, I knew very little about. So why did I bother? Out of the blue, I received an invitation for the opening of a new private museum of contemporary art. Checking out the artwork on the museum's website, I got intrigued. So, after a long flight with a layover, I arrived in the city, which turned out to be full of surprises.
If someone were to blindfold and drop me in the charming historic district of this city -the meticulously maintained German Village with its Victorian architecture and lush gardens -I would believe I was someplace in Europe. But no ma'am! I'm walking the streets of Columbus, Ohio, pinching myself in disbelief. The artistic hub of the city, known as Short North, is bursting with hundreds of restaurants, cafes and galleries. My hosts made sure that I visited several dozen of them.
And still, the main reason for my trip was attending the opening of the Pizzuti Collection in a renovated historic building, with its display of contemporary artwork assembled by major Columbus art collectors Ron and Ann Pizzuti. Several large-scale sculptures that greet visitors in front of the building set a tone for the whole collection, which is anything but ordinary. Take a look at the photos at KCRW.com/arttalk. The bronze sculpture by acclaimed LA based artist Thomas Houseago makes you think about menacing ghosts from horror movies. The stainless steel figure of a pissing boy by Tom Friedman is both amusing and impressive; first you giggle, then you admire the texture and fluidity of its form. However, my favorite was the larger than life bronze sculpture of a young boy on crutches by Enrique MartÃnez Celaya, a well-known American Cuban artist currently living in Miami.
In over 40 years of collecting the work of established as well as emerging artists from around the world, Ron and Ann Pizzuti particularly fell for Cuban artists. And that's why their museum opened with an exhibition titled Cuban Forever featuring works by young, mostly native Cuban artists. I was not surprised to see so many excellent photographic works in this exhibition as photography, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting and original aspects of contemporary Cuban art.
The rest of the diverse collection, occupying two other museum floors, is an impressive variety of major works by John Chamberlain, Louise Nevelson, Frank Stella, Jean Dubuffet and the rest of who's who in modern and contemporary art. The morning after the opening, I attended a panel discussion with three visiting Cuban artists, who turned out to be exceptions to the British rule saying that "children should be seen but not heard," which is how I feel about many artists -even those I admire greatly. But, these three Cuban artists turned out to be great conversationalists with good stories to tell.
Another high point of my visit to Columbus was a chance to see the Wexner Center for the Arts, with its edgy, unnerving architecture by Peter Eisenman, a big star in the 1980s. Since then, his light has dimmed considerably, and now this ambitious cultural center on the university campus looks rather dated. However, it doesn't stop the Center's stream of high profile exhibitions, one of which, Blues for Smoke, is scheduled to open on September 21st. You may remember this excellent exhibition, which originated here in LA at MOCA last year.
One day, late at night, I joined a group of journalists to see the sprawling Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, with its surprising display of contemporary art -both indoors and outdoors. I trust that you've already seen the amazing exhibition of James Turrell, either here in LACMA, at the Guggenheim Museum in NY, or at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. And still, you will be surprised and seduced by the magic of Turrell's colorful, slowly changing light emanating through the glass roof and dome of the Conservatory.
This magic spell was not broken when I returned back to my hotel room at midnight and turned on the TV to find President Barack Obama speaking to journalists while attending a G20 summit in my home city of St. Petersburg, Russia. And I'm listening to him while still here, in Columbus, OH, where the large sculpture by Enrique MartÃnez Celaya now proudly stands in front of the Pizzuti Museum. What does it have to do with Russian, American and Cuban interaction? Believe it or not, last year, another cast of this same sculpture was on display in the courtyard of my beloved Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Go figure...
--
Edward Goldman is an art critic and the host of Art Talk, a program on art and culture for NPR affiliate KCRW 89.9 FM. To listen to the complete show and hear Edward's charming Russian accent, click here.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
April home sales in Central Ohio set record high
April home sales set record high
(May 22,
2013) Central Ohio home sales last month (2,390) showed an increase of 30
percent in the market from one
year ago (1,834). According to the Columbus Board of REALTORS®, April saw the
highest number of home sales on record, followed by the 2,286 homes sold in April of 2004.
In
addition to the increases in sales, home prices continue to rise also. While
the average sale price has increased
every month in 2013 from $149,477 in January to $163,084 in April, the average
sale price year-to-date ($156,386) is up almost one and a half percent from 2012.
“Even
with more homes being sold and sale prices up, the average time on the market
continues to fall: down over 20
percent from a year ago”, said Chris Pedon, 2013 president of the Columbus
Board of REALTORS®. “With
such excellent market conditions, we’re seeing inventory move quickly.”
There
were 3,965 new listings added to the market in April, up 8.9 percent from April
of 2012. New listings also saw
increases from one year ago, and have been rising every month this year.
“Central
Ohio continues to see improvement in nearly every aspect of the market,” Pedon
continued. “We have not seen
the number of new listings this high in any month since April 2010.”
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Italian Village - Street Sweeping Is Tomorrow, Don't Get Towed!
 |
|
|
Thursday, April 25, 2013
10TV Video - Realtor Warns of New Real Estate Scam
A new real estate scam is targeting would-be tenants and their hard-earned cash.
It surprised even an experienced realtor, and nearly cost a young couple big.
Brian Barker and Jaime DeBois spent Wednesday night packing up their Grandview apartment, preparing for a move to the Short North.
"It was a big weight off our shoulders to finally find a place," says Barker.
Especially after the bullet they dodged during their search. While apartment shopping online, they thought they'd found a perfect place in an Italian Village rental on 2nd street. So they responded to the ad.
"We started to correspond," Barker says, "and the emails were a little strange, so I just decided to drive past the house one day. And I saw that it had the 'for sale' sign, so I decided to give the realtor a call."
Terry Penrod was that realtor. "I got a couple of phone calls asking me if the unit was for sale or for rent. And I said 'no, this unit is definitely for sale.' And they said, 'well, it's on the internet for rent,' which raised my eyebrows very quickly."
Penrod says someone swiped his online listing, even using the photo he'd posted.
But they listed it for rent, at a too-good-to-be-true price.
"For $800 a month, this would be a huge buy," says Penrod. "Someone's scamming the system and trying to get people to send in an application fee or first month's rent."
"And that's how we kind of obviously found out that whoever I was corresponding with wasn't the owner," says Barker.
Penrod says in 20 years in real estate, he's seen a lot of scams, but this is a new one.
Brian and Jaime happily didn't fall victim, but fear someone else might.
"I always thought I was doing pretty good due diligence in weeding out the scams versus what's actually real," says Barker, "but it shows you that even on a legitimate website where there are legitimate people on there posting houses for sale, people can sneak these things in."
Penrod contacted police, but says he was told since money didn't actually change hands, there wasn't much they could do.
Watch 10TV News and refresh 10TV.com for the latest.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)