Sir Robert J. Loescher, 70, died on December 8, 2007.

Mr. Loescher was Professor Emeritis at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and founder of SAIC Art History Department. He was knighted in 1990 by King Juan Carlos, of Spain.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his infant brother, George. He is survived by his brothers, Thomas Loescher, of Tucson, Arizona, and Richard Loescher, of Appleton, Wisconsin; friends, Shay DeGrandis, Nathan DeFoor, Brian Sikes and Bibiana Suarez, of Chicago; Joyce Neimanas, of Albuquerque; Wendy Woon, of New York; and many other colleagues and friends.

A memorial service to honor Sir Robert Loescher, in conjunction with the Midwest Art History Society Conference, will be held on April 4, 2008, at the Gene Siskel Film Center.

Robert J. Loescher, a specialist in Spanish and Latin American art, helped revolutionize the art history program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he taught for more than 30 years.

Mr. Loescher, 70, died in his Lake View home Saturday, Dec. 8, having had suffered from heart problems and was weakened by a recent operation.

Richard & Sarah had the pleasure of knowing and working with Mr. Loescher and will miss him greatly.

After almost 3 years of operation Chicago gallery 40000 is closing its doors starting December, 29th 2007. Below is the press release giving the details.
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Yes, artist Hannes Broecker has taken the middle man out of the gallery opening and made Color Field art that you can drink. Telling visitors to “Drink Away the Art”

By hanging flat, glass containers with a variety of cocktails in the Dresden, Germany exhibition space complete with spouts and glassware, viewers were awash in color at the beginning of the night and when they were emptied basked in the company of pink elephants by the end.

30 miles from the ancient city of Turin, lies the valley of Valchiusella. This is the place that Oberto Airaudi startted his excavations and painting in 1977. The temple complexes which were inspired by a childhood dream he had of human civilization at age 10 are so large that they could hold the volume of Big Ben twenty times over.

With the help of over 16 people and twenty years they built it to what it is today. Funding the construction with Oberto Airaudi’s (or Falco as he prefers to be called) income as an insurance broker and multiple local businesses that were set up.

After being investigated for tax evasion by the local police and them finally hearing about the temples they saw them, seized them and have finally opened them for public viewing.

Read more and see aditional pictures here.

A Providence, Rhode Island artist was arrested day by mall security as he left the secret apartment he’d built almost four years ago, in an unused utility space in the mall’s parking garage. The apartment which had no running water (they used mall bathrooms) did include “a sectional sofa and love seat, coffee and breakfast tables, chairs, lamps, rugs, paintings, a hutch filled with china, a waffle iron, TV and Sony Playstation 2,” according to the Boston Globe.
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