Wednesday, July 27, 2016

In Texas, kids learn money doesn't grow on trees

 
 
 
Education

In Texas, kids learn money doesn't grow on trees

Piggybank 3
Students run things in the North Texas town of Enterprise City. - 
Enterprise City is a tiny North Texas town where the government and every business are run by students. The kids get paid too, even though they’re underage. And it’s all legal.  Enterprise City was launched to teach government and commerce. Now that Texas requires financial literacy courses through eighth grade, the little town’s getting additional interest.
Jay Thompson deposits checks at Enterprise City’s bank.
Jay Thompson deposits checks at Enterprise City’s bank.
In a large school classroom in Richardson, just north of Dallas, Enterprise City is bustling. Fifth graders, like 11-year-old Jay Thompson from Lakeside Elementary, are busy being in charge of things.
“I’m the owner of the sports shop,” Jay said.
He’s just finished signing employee pay checks. In real life, Jay has never even written a check.
“I give it to them, they go to the bank, deposit it, and then they can go buy something,” Jay said. “This teaches us how to sign checks in the real world so we know later on in our life.”
Jay’s dad, Dan, is a teacher who’s brought seven previous fifth-grade classes to Enterprise City.
“There are so many kids that think they know what their parents actually do with their money, and when they’re actually put in that position they realize 'Oh, it doesn’t just grow on trees,'” Dan Thompson said. “Maybe it actually is limited. There is accountability here that, just like in the real world, if they do actually overspend, they do have to return some of the items.”
Farah Kader runs Enterprise City’s jewelry shop.
Farah Kader runs Enterprise City’s jewelry shop.
Students can take stuff home, like T-shirts, with their Enterprise City salaries (paid in play money). But only if they have the money in the bank. That’s what 10-year-old Farah Kader wants more of. So the Enterprise City jewelry store owner bought a live radio spot, using the "Jingle Bells" melody, on the station that runs nonstop throughout Enterprise City.
“Jewelry shop, jewelry shop, buy your gifts right here, you can buy all sorts of things like bracelets and some rings!”
“We wanted something that would stick in people’s heads,” Farah explained “Whenever you sing Christmas carols, it, like, gets stuck in your head. So we chose it to the tune of 'Jingle Bells.'”
Farah has entrepreneurial ambitions.
“I kind of want to be the CEO of my own company, like a technology company,” she said.
Actually, Farah wants to be like Steve Jobs. If she achieves a fraction of his success, that could be worth singing about.

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Pricing an Artwork

Artiquette: 10 Tips for Pricing an Artwork

What is the single-most important thing to remember?
KAWS 'SMALL LIE' (2013) Photo: Courtesy the artist and YSP
KAWS 'SMALL LIE' (2013) Courtesy the artist and YSP.
Artiquette is a series that explores etiquette in the art world.
The sands of the art market are always shifting. An artist’s work could be selling for record highs at auction one year and below estimates the next. For a dealer, figuring out where the value of your artists’s work falls on the spectrum—whether it’s a massive installation by a blue-chip artist, a painting by an emerging talent, or editioned prints—can be a daunting proposition.
To help us break it all down, artnet News spoke to Cristin Tierney of Cristin Tierney Gallery about the major considerations she takes into account when determining the price of each and every work that passes through her establishment.
Related: Artiquette: 7 Things Not to Do on a Studio Visit
“From the outside looking in, it’s kind of byzantine,” she told artnet News. “We all do this all the time and we think about it all the time, but articulating it is tricky.”
Even though it’s not an exact science, figuring out how to appropriately price a work of art is actually fairly straightforward process.
The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), Maastricht, 2013.Photo: Harry Heuts, courtesy TEFAF.
The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), Maastricht, 2013. Courtesy photographer Harry Heuts/TEFAF.
1. When in doubt, look to past results. 
“One of the first things we think about is price history,” said Cristin Tierney. How an artist has sold in the past is an excellent yardstick by which to predict future performance.
2. Compare, compare, compare. 
When you’re working with a younger artist who might not have much of an existing track record, look to sales of comparable work by artists at a similar point in their career. “The single-most important thing to remember is that it’s very much about comparison,” Tierney explained. “You’re always thinking in terms of comparison. You do that because your clients will do that too.”
Related: Artiquette: How to Take a Winning Selfie With an Art Star
3. Consider both the primary and secondary market for an artist. 
The longer an artist has been around, the more likely it is that their work will turn up at auction. “Often the primary market and even the private secondary market is very different than auction pricing,” said Tierney. Sometimes, there’s a big difference in what a work sells for in the various realms.
But that doesn’t just mean that an artist who has grown in renown will suddenly start hammering down at high price points: “It can go both ways,” Tierney explained, noting that for some artists, their best work often winds up in the hands of friends, dedicated collectors, or museums who rarely part with it, leaving lesser works to make up the bulk of their auction history. “There are some artists that can really pop at auction and then other artists that do better selling privately,” she added. “There’s all kind of reasons on the secondary market why things don’t add up.”
Sotheby's auctioneer Henry Wyndham at the auctioneer's London salesroom in February 2016.Photo: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images.
Sotheby’s auctioneer Henry Wyndham at the auctioneer’s London salesroom in February 2016. Courtesy Tristan Fewings/Getty Images.
4. You don’t want to be an outlier. 
“There’s nothing worse than everyone having a slightly different price,” noted Tierney. “Not only is it not cool if you’re the person looking to buy the work, but you pretty much look like an idiot if you do that.” For the art market to function, “everybody has to be on the same page.”
“You know that if you price something ridiculously high, it’s just not going to sell,” Tierney added. “There’s a threshold for clients.” (Over-priced artwork also angers collectors.)
Related: Artiquette: 7 Tips for Surviving a Gallery Dinner
5. Proof of authenticity is a big factor.
Sadly, we’re all familiar with the tale of the unlucky collector who almost certainly owns a masterpiece, but can’t sell it because no one in a position of authority will vouch for its authenticity. (See Richard Avedon’s master printer’s set of prints, the unconfirmed Mark Rothko from the California School of Fine Arts, and Greece’s cursed van Gogh.)
One of Tierney’s own artists, Peter Campus, had a video piece that sold at auction a few years ago for less than $1,000, even though the gallery prices similar works at around $18,000. “It had no certificate—[the seller] never contacted us about it to get any of the proper paperwork and authentication,” Tierney recalled. “We didn’t protest it or anything, but it sold for pretty much nothing.”
A painting sold by Knoedler as a Mark Rothko that turned out to be fake.
A painting sold by Knoedler as a Mark Rothko that turned out to be fake.
6. Take condition into consideration. 
A pristine, mint-condition print is a totally different animal from one faded by years of exposure to the sun, and the price will absolutely reflect that. “Condition is incredibly important—the same image can sell for half as much,” said Tierney.
7. Don’t be afraid to have a conversation. 
A second opinion is always a good idea. “We definitely talk to our colleagues and other people who represent an artist or an estate,” Tierney said. “People don’t realize how collegial the art market can be.”
Related: Artiquette: 11 Things Not To Do at an Art Auction
“If I’m having trouble finding the right kind of price I don’t hesitate to call one of my colleagues and talk some things through,” she added. “People are honest about whether things are actually selling.”
Jill Magid, Trust, from "Evidence Locker" (2004), video still, in the new International Center of Photography's inaugural exhibition "Public, Private, Secret." Courtesy the International Center of Photography, © Jill Magid.
Jill Magid, Trust, from “Evidence Locker” (2004), video still, in the new International Center of Photography’s inaugural exhibition “Public, Private, Secret.” Courtesy the International Center of Photography, © Jill Magid.
8. Think about who the audience is. 
For a conceptual artist that might have less commercial appeal, sellers won’t price it as aggressively, Tierney said, because “the heart of that market is institutional,” and museums don’t have the deep pockets of wealthy collectors.
9. Scope out the art fairs. 
Outside of your immediate circle of friends and colleagues, the art fairs, which unite gallerists from around the world in a single room, are another important resource to find out what prices make sense for your artwork. “Art fairs are hugely helpful—just like everybody else,” said Tierney, “we’re all running around and asking for prices.”
10. You can only go so low. 
Especially large-scale pieces sometimes seem made for museums, as only the wealthiest collectors really have the space to store and display them. “You want to be flexible with how you price it,” said Tierney, but big work often comes with a big price tag. “A 32-foot installation can’t be priced at $20,000, obviously,” Tierney said. “There are production costs and things like that have to be factored in as well. It really can vary based on the installation.”
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Sarah Cascone

Associate Editor

Mistakes Not To Make While Promoting Your Art

Artiquette: 10 Mistakes Not To Make While Promoting Your Art

Don't fall into these traps.
Master self-promoter and artist Damien Hirst at the Tracey Emin dinner hosted by Phillips and Vanity Fair at Cecconi's at Soho Beach House on December 3, 2013 in Miami Beach, Florida. Courtesy of Mireya Acierto/Getty Images for Soho Beach House.
Artiquette is a series that explores etiquette in the art world.
How do you make it in the art world? It’s a magical formula that involves, talent, drive, grit, and yes, the ability to promote oneself. Unfortunately, talking up your own artwork, projects, and ideas can be a delicate balancing act.
To help you walk that line, artnet News has rounded up a list of mistakes to avoid in self-promotion. This advice applies not only to artists looking to make a name for themselves but also to everyone navigating the thorny issues involving self-promotion: Galleries, museums, and publicists, take heed.
Related: Your Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Successful Artist
Actor John O'Hurley emerges from a prop can of Spam during a launch event to introduce "Monty Python's Spamalot" at The Grail Theater at the Wynn Las Vegas January 22, 2007. Courtesy of Ethan Miller/Getty Images.
Actor John O’Hurley emerges from a prop can of Spam during a launch event to introduce “Monty Python’s Spamalot” at the Wynn Las Vegas in 2007. Courtesy of Ethan Miller/Getty Images.
1. Don’t spam your audience.
No one likes to feel bombarded. As Hyatt Mannix, the communications manager at High Line Art, told artnet News in an email: “You are likely to lose interest from your followers if you post more than twice in the span of 30 minutes.”
This applies to emailing art writers as well. On Monday, July 4, while many in the US were out grilling hamburgers, a man who goes by the moniker “Moltenglue Drywallmud” for email purposes chose instead to send me no less than nine emails between 2:30 p.m. and 2:44 p.m. Unsurprisingly, those were the only messages I received at that time. (Despite having different subject titles, each included the same painting in the attachment.)
Related: Artiquette: How to Take a Winning Selfie With an Art Star
2. Don’t put out an underwhelming press release.
It doesn’t matter how great the work is: If you aren’t able to communicate your message clearly, it’s highly unlikely anyone will pick it up.
One of my favorite stories that I wrote last year, about how a curator identified a long-lost Fabergé egg surprise in the British royal family’s art collection, almost didn’t get written because of the hard-to-parse email announcing the discovery.
You might think your work speaks for itself, but that’s not always the case.
Gagosian Gallery. Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery.
Gagosian Gallery. Courtesy of the gallery.
3. Don’t send galleries unsolicited artwork.
A few months ago, in a Facebook post that has since been since been removed, a Brooklyn gallery owner complained about being inundated with emails full of artwork from artists she had never met who were seeking representation:
Dear portfolio-link sending artists,” she wrote. “It doesn’t work like that with galleries. This is like walking up to a girl and asking if you can fuck her. You need to meet the gallerists in person, get to know their taste and interests and find where your work fits, thoughtfully.”
Avoid this aggressive approach by identifying a gallery you think might be a good fit, working your connections, and seeking a personal introduction, rather than cold emailing.
Related: Artiquette: 10 Tips for Dressing the Part of the Art Connoisseur
4. Don’t just email anyone.
Whatever it is you’re pushing, it isn’t going to appeal to everyone. Do your research, and figure out who, be it a journalist, a gallery, or a collector, has expressed interest in similar projects in the past. This is who you want to target.
As arts publicist Molly Krause, founder of Molly Krause Communications, put it in an email to artnet News: “Just because someone writes about art doesn’t mean that he or she necessarily covers upcoming gallery exhibitions, and just because someone covers upcoming gallery exhibitions doesn’t mean that he or she necessarily writes about anything other than, say, photography. Be respectful.”
5. Don’t overwhelm your audience.
How many photos should you share of the work? Mannix warned against both using too many images and having too many: “Don’t underwhelm or overwhelm,” she wrote.
Be considerate of download times and choose low resolution images. Remember, as Mannix points out, “you don’t want to clog up anyone’s inbox.”
Related: Artiquette: 10 Tips for Pricing an Artwork
A Christie’s staffer with Henry Moore's sculpture Reclining Figure No. 2 (conceived in 1952) at Christie's King Street, London, in 2015. Photo by Rob Stothard/Getty Images.
A Christie’s staffer with Henry Moore’s sculpture Reclining Figure No. 2 (conceived in 1952) at Christie’s King Street, London, in 2015. Photo by Rob Stothard/Getty Images.
6. Don’t forget the 5 Ws.
When approaching someone with a pitch, lay out what you’re promoting, and be as clear as possible. “Don’t forget to tell us what exactly your work is. Is it a painting? Is it a sculpture?” Mannix wrote. “It’s helpful to ask yourself if you’re explaining who, what, where, and (a very brief) why.”
Related: The Ego-Centric Art World is Killing Art
7. Don’t make your audience angry.
If you’re consistently getting radio silence in response to your efforts at self-promotion, leave well enough alone. Trim your mailing list in an effort to reach out only to those you really think are interested. And definitely let people opt out.
Danielle Wu, a gallery associate at Galerie Lelong, told me in a Facebook post that her pet peeve is when people are “emailing regularly and not including a way to unsubscribe.”
8. Don’t forget about links. 
One big no-no is putting a link in your Instagram caption. “We can’t click it!” Mannix explained. “Always put the link in your bio, where visitors to your page can easily follow a link to visit your website.”
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Russian President Vladimir Putin visit the Byzantine and Christian museum in Athens, on May 27, 2016. Courtesy of THANASSIS STAVRAKIS/AFP/Getty Images.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Russian President Vladimir Putin visit the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens on May 27, 2016. Courtesy of THANASSIS STAVRAKIS/AFP/Getty Images.
9. Don’t be cryptic.
Between mid-March and mid-May, I received eight bizarre emails from a man I will call Bob. The emails had subject lines like “Question the monopoly” and “Western decline,” and were addressed to me, first and last name, and artnet.com, and were also sent to our editor-in-chief, Rozalia Jovanovic.
Bob, who appears to have some sort of project about non-Western art, always asked a vague question, such as “Do Western governments discourage Western identity? Please consider.” He included a link to his website in his email signature every time, but I never felt compelled to visit it—nor, to be honest, to open his subsequent emails, save for the purposes of this story. If Bob can’t take the time to explain what the heck it is he’s doing, why should I bother to try and find out on my own?
Related: Artiquette: 11 Tips to Surviving a Gallery Dinner
10. Don’t exaggerate. 
Using Donald Trump-esque “truthful hyperboles” to enhance or lie about your work or your resume might help in the short term, but it is a faulty long-term strategy. The truth will eventually emerge, and you don’t want to be caught in a compromising position.
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The Ego-Centric Art World is Killing Art


The Ego-Centric Art World is Killing Art

JJ Charlesworth on what 2014 revealed about the future of art. It's not pretty.
Portrait of Marina Abramovic, 2012 © 24 ORE Cultura S.r.l. and © Laura Ferrari Courtesy of The Marina Abramovic Archives
Portrait of Marina Abramovic, 2012 © 24 ORE Cultura S.r.l. and © Laura Ferrari Courtesy of The Marina Abramovic Archives.
miley-cyrus-gallery-show-speed-read
Miley Cyrus at the opening of her exhibition “Dirty Hippie.”
Photo via: Miley Cyrus/Instagram.
The year 2014 offers many contenders for its most significant art world issue/theme/phenomenon. Record-busting auction results? Check. Artists getting caught up in pretty messed up free-speech controversies? That’s a good one. Political activism taking over the visual memesphere? I’m not complaining. The increasingly desperate attempts of blue-chip galleries to maintain the credibility of their over-hyped young art star painters? I like a good laugh.
But sometimes, it’s the more marginal developments that start to bug you. And one of the least appealing, and, yet, for me, most significant trends of 2014 was the rise of the noisy, empty celebration of the artist-as-ego. Or maybe that should be ego-as-artist. I’m not sure. Of course, the art world has always been full of pretty massive egos, so what’s new, right? Yet 2014 seemed to be the year in which the obsession with the most narcissistic expression of the individual started to take center stage. It points to the apparently unstoppable merging of art with a new form of celebrity culture, one in which individual self-expression has become an obsession above all other considerations.
I’m not talking here about the slew of big swinging, er, ego shows of mostly late-career male artists that peppered the year. Though, those kept coming on strong: the Whitney’s enthronement of Jeff Koons as “the most important, influential, popular, and controversial artist of the postwar era” (according to the Whitney’s crazed, hyperventilating publicity), the interminably pompous gravitas-lite of Anselm Kiefer’s retrospective at London’s RA, and minimalist god Richard Serra’s massive steel erections in the desert of Qatar, among them. When it came to career anointment, the big museums were happy to oblige, desperate as they are these days to pull a big crowd.
Marina Abramović: 512 Hours at Serpentine Gallery
Marina Abramović.
Photo: Marco Anelli (2014), Courtesy of Serpentine Gallery.
Yet if we’re talking about the truly contemporary aspect of art world ego-mania, what really came to the fore this year was the figure of the artist as the channel for a supposedly profound, personal, even therapeutic experience. This was perhaps best epitomised by the unstoppable rise of Marina Abramović, now dubbed the “queen of performance art.” With her “512 Hours” show at London’s Serpentine, followed later in the year by “Generator” at New York’s Sean Kelly, Abramović scaled new heights of participatory absurdity. It’s not every day people queue round the block for an art show without complaining. But such is the reverence accorded to Abramović’s arted-up version of a New Age self-help plan that not only did they queue, they queued for the privilege of standing around for hours, doing nothing much, at the orders of guru Abramović, with the Serpentine turned into a kind of minimalist hipster ashram.
Maybe I’m offending those for whom meditation, mindfulness, and finding one’s inner stillness is a big deal. Oh well, too bad. I never invite you to my parties anyway. The point is that, couched in the language of meditational self-realization, of “forgetting the past” and “living in the now,” Abramović’s recent work really only crystallizes and reflects the wider trend of contemporary culture: its narcissistic ideal of personal self-realization, of experiencing the now, of finding oneself, and (once you’ve found yourself) of being yourself. In short, it’s the cultural expression of Generation Y, or Generation Me, as US academic Jean Twenge styled it in her eponymous book of 2006.
Generation Y’s culture is one that privileges self-expression over anything else. In 2014, that seems to have led to a lot of celebrities (admittedly mostly American celebrities) expressing themselves through the medium of art—or at least the medium of the art world. James Franco “reworked” the early works of Cindy Sherman with himself in the starring role. Shia LaBoeuf went on with his performance-art-styled antics in his gallery show “#IAMSORRY” (complete with his bizarre claim that he was raped by a female visitor).
luke-turner-shia-labeouf-iamsorry
Luke Turner, Shia LaBeouf, and Nastja Säde Rönkkö, #IAMSORRY (2014).
Photo: Courtesy the artists.
And who could forget the art world reinvention of pop munchkin Miley Cyrus, whose turn to making sculptures was prompted by the gifts fans throw to her at concerts. As Cyrus put it with characteristic precision and sincerity, “I had a bunch of fucking junk and shit, and so instead of letting it be junk and shit, I turned it into something that made me happy.” Cyrus declared, “I feel like my art became kind of a metaphor—an example of my life.” To which one might respond, “Sure, but who gives a shit?” The trouble is that, while it’s easy to dismiss the variously inane displays of creative self-realization of the celeb-artist, they’re only really riding the bigger cultural movement of “me,” as it rolls through everyday life on an unstoppable tidal wave of selfies and tweets.
Too much of a stretch to tie the austere pseudo-spiritualist transcendentalism of Abramović to the moronic carnival of celebrity art? Not really. They may look poles apart, but they’re based on the same veneration of individual self-realization through self-expression in which it’s the process, not the product, that matters. Everyone, just “being themselves” and claiming to be art. It’s also why art shows are becoming experiences. The only show anyone really wanted to see, as I did my annual stop in Art Basel this summer, was Klaus Biesenbach’s and Hans Ulrich Obrist’s performance art museum-cum-fun-palace-cum-freaky-corridor-of-nightmares, “14 Rooms.” (It includes, of course, one piece by Marina Abramović.) Feeling an experience, being in the now, is the new aesthetic of Gen Y.
That’s why, even though those Alpha male artists might make a big show of themselves (Jeff Koons naked with just the leather gloves on in the gym! Help!), they’re way behind, stuck in the past. That’s because they’re from a generation that still thinks art should be about something other than me, here, right now. That art should be, say, about consumerism, or about the history of Germany, or even just about how massive huge chunks of Cor-Ten steel look when you stick them in a desert. In other words, about stuff you have to think about, maybe discuss, argue over with others, disagree about—something, which isn’t entirely about yourself. But, for now, between Miley and Marina, 2014 began to reveal the future of art: the artist and the audience, holding hands between infinity mirrors, one hand free to squeeze off a selfie.
JJ Charlesworth is a freelance critic and associate editor at ArtReviewmagazine. Follow @jjcharlesworth on Twitter.
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JJ Charlesworth

Awkward Things Artists Have Said to Art Critics

12 of The Most Awkward Things Artists Have Said to Art Critics

Sometimes artists say the silliest things.
Art critic Jerry Saltz. Photo: J Grassi/Patrick McMullan.
It’s no secret that the relationship between artists and the critics who opine on their work can be fraught with tension. Though many artists insist that they don’t care what critics say or write about them, they must care a little. Presumably no one enjoys seeing their work misinterpreted or trashed.
While some artists deal with it better than others—on occasion even befriending their critics—many of contemporary art’s biggest names have made buffoons of themselves trying to zing a critic. From Richard Prince to Jeff Koons, here are some of the most awkward things that have been said to and about art critics. We only hope to one day be so lucky as to be similarly acknowledged.
Richard Prince Photo: Patrick McMullan
Richard Prince Photo: Patrick McMullan
1. Jeff Koons to an unnamed critic (overheard by Jerry Saltz): “You don’t get it, man. I’m a fucking genius.”
2. Marina Abramovic to Spike Magazine: “Then [Jay Z] just completely used me. And that wasn’t fair…. I was really naive in this kind of world. It was really new to me, and I had no idea that this would happen. It’s so cruel, it’s incredible.”
3. Oscar Murillo to Jerry Saltz regarding widespread criticism of “A Mercantile Novel”: “This is where my practice is now.”
Art critic Jerry Saltz. Photo: J Grassi/Patrick McMullan.
Art critic Jerry Saltz.
Photo: J Grassi/Patrick McMullan.
4. Richard Prince to Vanity Fair: “You couldn’t speculate about [the “Joke” paintings]. So much of art depends on the critic as the umpire. With a joke there’s nothing to interpret.”
5. Salvador Dalí to Brian Sewell while photographing him naked: It might be better if you took your clothes off.”
6. Jack Vettriano to The Radio Times: “The person who [rejected The Singing Butler for display at the Royal Academy] ought to go and live in a cave somewhere. That painting has since sold over 10 million copies. How could somebody get something so wrong?”
Jack Vettriano, The Singing Butler (1992). Photo: Wikipedia.
Jack Vettriano, The Singing Butler (1992).
Photo: Wikipedia.
7. Marcel Duchamp to James Johnson Sweeney: “Repeat the same thing long enough and it becomes taste.”
8. Lawrence Weiner to Adam O’Reilly: “I don’t want to fuck up anyone’s life on their way to work. I want to fuck up their whole life.”
9. Ed Ruscha to Dave Hickey, on what artists respect about other artists: “It’s not the quality of the work, it’s the quality of the job.”
Loris Gréaud. Photo: Inhale Mag.
Loris Gréaud.
Photo: Inhale Mag.
10. Loris Gréaud to Lauren Smart: “I really invite you…study a bit litterature, study A LOT art history and art after the 20 century (you’ll be amaze) obiviousely ill higly recommand during this 4 years studies: a boyfriend with at least 400mg Anadrol a day… and I swear you’ll make it [sic].”
11. Andy Warhol to Calvin Tompkins: “Do you have a big cock?”
12. James Franco on Ben Brantley: “BEN BRANTLEY…IS SUCH A LITTLE BITCH HE SHOULD BE WORKING FOR GAWKER.COM INSTEAD OF THE PAPER OF RECORD. THE THEATER COMMUNITY HATES HIM, and for good reason, HE’s an idiot.”
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global study finds world's tallest are Dutch, Latvians

100-year

by Reuters
Monday, 25 July 2016 23:01 GMT
By Kate Kelland
LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) - Dutch men and Latvian women are the planet's tallest people but Iranian men and South Korean women have grown the fastest in the last century, according to the largest ever study of height around the world.
Americans, once among the world's tallest people, have dropped from having men and women at 3rd and 4th in the global height rankings a 100 years earlier, to placing 37th and 42nd respectively in 2014.
The research, led by scientists at Imperial College London and published in the journal eLife, also found some nations have stopped growing over the past 30 to 40 years, despite having spurts at the start of the century studied.
The United States was one of the first wealthy countries to plateau, followed by others including Britain, Finland, and Japan. Meanwhile, people in Spain and Italy and many countries in Latin America and East Asia are still gaining height.
In contrast, some nations in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East have seen average heights decline over the past three to four decades.
Human height is strongly influenced by nutrition and environmental factors, although genetic factors can also play a role in individuals. Children and teens who are better nourished and live in better environments tend to be taller.
Research suggests a mother's health and nutrition during pregnancy may also play a role in how tall her children grow.
Height also has lifelong consequences. Some studies have found that taller people tend to live longer, get a better education and earn more. But being tall may also increase some health risks, with studies linking height to a higher risk of developing ovarian and prostate cancers.
"This study gives us a picture of the health of nations over the past century," said Majid Ezzati, an Imperial professor of public health. He said the findings underlined the need "to address children and adolescents' environment and nutrition on a global scale."
The 800-strong research team, which worked with the World Health Organization, used data from various sources including military conscription figures, health and nutrition population surveys and epidemiological studies.
The scientists use these to generate height information for 18-year-olds in 1914 through to 18-year-olds in 2014.
They found that Iranian men have gained an average of 16.5 centimetres (cm) in height, and South Korean women 20.2 cm.
The height of men and women in Britain has increased by around 11 cm over the past century, while the height of U.S. men and women has risen by 6 cm and 5 cm. Chinese men and women have gained around 11 cm and 10 cm.
The study also found that:
*Dutch men are the tallest, with an average height of 182.5 cm. Latvian women are the tallest, with an average height of 170 cm.
 Men from East Timor were the smallest in the world in 2014, with an average height of 160 cm. Women from Guatemala were the smallest in 2014, with an average height of 149 cm.
 The difference between the tallest and shortest countries in 2014 was about 23 cm for men - an increase of 4 cm on the height gap in 1914. The height difference between the tallest and shortest countries for women has remained the same across the century, at about 20 cm.
 The height difference between men and women has on average remained largely unchanged over 100 years - the average height gap was about 11 cm in 1914 and 12 cm in 2014.
 Australian men in 2014 were the only non-European nationality in the top 25 tallest in the world. The nations with the tallest men in 2014 (1914 ranking in brackets): 1. Netherlands (12) 2. Belgium (33) 3. Estonia (4) 4. Latvia (13) 5. Denmark (9) 6. Bosnia and Herzegovina (19) 7. Croatia (22) 8. Serbia (30) 9. Iceland (6) 10. Czech Republic (24) The nations with the tallest women in 2014 (1914 ranking in brackets): 1. Latvia (28) 2. Netherlands (38) 3. Estonia (16) 4. Czech Republic (69) 5. Serbia (93) 6. Slovakia (26) 7. Denmark (11) 8. Lithuania (41) 9. Belarus (42) 10. Ukraine (43) (Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
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