Tuesday's Art Notes

_US artists Doug and Mike Starn's sculpture "'Big Bambu: You Can't, You Don't, and You Won't Stop'":http://culture.wnyc.org/articles/features/2010/apr/26/big-bambu-mike-and-doug-starn-met/, a large bamboo structure on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Big Bambú will measure 100 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 50 feet high, made of a complex network of 5,000 interlocking 30- and 40-foot-long bamboo poles, lashed together with 50 miles of nylon rope and incorporating an internal elevated pathway system. Big Bambu will be constructed throughout the spring, summer, and fall by the artists and a team of rock climbers and will ultimately take the form of a cresting wave. Photo by Stan Honda/ AFP/ Getty Images_ * Artist Jeanne-Claude was honored Monday night at a memorial at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, via "The Art Newspaper":http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/A-%22once-in-a-lifetime%22-artist-is-honoured/20663. The installation artist, who collaborated with her husband Christo, died last November. "Read our appreciation of Jeanne-Claude here":http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2009/11/jeanne-claude-74-christos-muse-and-collaborator.html. * Five men who were suspected of trying to exhort more than $6 million dollars in exchange for the return of a priceless da Vinci painting have been cleared of charges, via "BBC":http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/8630172.stm. * Why hasn't the President invited hip-hop artists to perform at the White House, wonders the "Washington Post":http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/23/AR2010042300046.html, as part of "a series offering advice on cultural programming":http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2010/04/23/ST2010042303184.html?sid=ST2010042303184 at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. * British painter David Hockney explains why he is an enthusiastic convert to the iPad as sketchbook, via "Bloomberg":http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601120&sid=aTsCxV8aS84U.