Our most-talked-about stories in Art, Design & Fashion, and Performing Arts, April 2-6, 2012:
ART
— Chloe Wyma checked out a new Jenny Holzer exhibition at New York's Skarstedt Gallery, and found narry a neon-toned LED display, but rather a collection of colorful abstract paintings that incorporate censored government documents.
— CBS's Morley Safer took another stab at his infamous 1993 "60 Minutes" segment "Yes, But Is It Art?" by visiting Art Basel Miami Beach, where he spoke to Jeffrey Deitch, Larry Gagosian, and more. Julia Halperin broke down the highlights.
— Coline Milliard noted that the Tate's new Damien Hirst retrospective isn't all "Spot" paintings and shark tanks, looking at eight unconventional works from the big show.
— Affirmation Arts in New York spotlighted Andy Warhol's less-well-known photographs — taken in a very classical, formal style — which the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh has loaned for the first time. In other little-known Warhol news, a drawing he made when he was just ten was purchased by a British tourist from a drug addict in Las Vegas for $5, but could be worth more than $2.1 million.
— In a two-part series, Julia Halperin asked why there were so many new documentaries about artists, and found two basic motives behind the trend: artists more and more function as media stars, and/or the public's fascination with the creative process.
DESIGN & FASHION
— Janelle Zara wrote an in-depth report on the growing tendency towards illegible timepieces, asking: "Is the onslaught of incomprehensible watches just the result of designers’ efforts to stay relevant despite the inherent, antiquated nature of an object that does nothing but tell us what we already know?"
— Ann Binlot looked at a new retrospective of the late Los Angeles fashion photographer Herb Ritts at L.A.'s J. Paul Getty Museum.
— Chloe Wyma spoke to Simon Hawes, founder of "Alternative Movie Posters," a Web site that collects fan-made alternative-universe original posters for films like "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "Jurassic Park."
— Sweden-based Charlie Davidson — a former concept designer at LEGO — created a new floor lamp that looks like a miniature construction crane.
— Ann Binlot and Sarah Kricheff chronicled the best outfits from season five, episode three of "Mad Men," including Megan's floral print bikini and Michael Ginsberg's impossibly loud plaid blazer.
PERFORMING ARTS
— J. Hoberman saw "Damsels in Distress," director Whit Stillman's first film in 14 years, and wished its tale of four self-appointed college campus suicide-prevention and hygiene policewomen — led by Greta Gerwig — were more offensive.
— Reid Singer reported that curator Ron Magliozzi — who masterminded the Museum of Modern Art's blockbuster Tim Burton exhibition in 2009 — is curating a retrospective of imaginative filmmaking duo Stephen and Timothy Quay (better known as the Brothers Quay), set to open in August.
— The first trailer for Woody Allen's next film, "To Rome With Love," revealed that Jesse Eisenberg will be the septuagenarian director-actor's latest cinematic stand-in, playing opposite Penelope Cruz's sassy Italian prostitute.
— Nick Catucci watched the visuals for Rufus Wainwright's greatest song ever, "Out of the Game" — in which Helena Bonham Carter plays a sexy librarian — and noted that "somehow this video does it justice."
— The new trailer for "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane's upcoming and unconventional buddy comedy "Ted" had man-child Mark Wahlberg having to choose between his new girlfriend (Mila Kunis) and the titular obnoxious talking teddy bear roommate (voiced by MacFarlane).