Roundup: Death metal in a box, vintage Koons and billboard bombs

Video games take on mental illness, a death metal band plays in a box until it runs out of oxygen and Brad Pitt’s architectural foundation focuses on houses for American Indians. All this, plus a walk down memory lane of vintage reviews covering Jeff Koons’ colorful career in this week’s arts Web Roundup:

- I love a good billboard bomb: L.A. graffitists Buge and Augor take on “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.” Making it a good time to circulate this LA Taco photo essay on epic billboard pieces.

- Jamilah King’s terrific essay about art, race and Kara Walker’s sugary sphinx in Brooklyn.

- California’s art-in-prisons program is back.

- Death metal band plays in a box until they run out of air. They should do something like this with politicians. Or, perhaps, members of the U.S. Supreme Court. (Art F City)

- Musicians get royalties. Writers get royalties. Visual artists? Not so much. Why they should.

- 10 digital projects that are changing the way we interact with art. (@curiousoctopus)

- Speaking of which: Paddle8 and Tumblr are declaring that digital art is the next thing among collectors. Let’s see about that, especially for art that resides purely in the digital realm. Net art has been hailed as the next thing for almost two decades, yet sales have never been big. (Artnet)

- The first Photoshopped image.

- “Vibrant funny charm of true vulgarity.” Hyperallergic has a handy roundup of vintage Koons reviews that date back to the ‘80s — some of which are quite celebratory. There are lines here that would have worked quite wonderfully in the gesamtkunstwerk known as my Koons epic poem.

- What exactly is George Lucas talking about when he is describing his collection of “narrative art”? Good question. If you’re still wondering, Gizmodo has pictures.

- Photographers Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb document Rochester, the city that the Kodak Co. helped build, with the film that is now no longer made.

- Building the L.A. subway … while making sure that the rumble of underground trains doesn’t mess up the sound at Disney Hall.

- “Islands of California in a sea of sub-Saharan Africa.” One of India’s most powerful architects, Hafeez Contractor, is building cities within cities that shield India’s comfortable classes from the realities of a country where 300 million people still don’t have access to electricity. He is also, quite controversially, “redeveloping” slums. A really good read. (Archdaily)

- Sacred Hopi tribal masks again sold at auction in France.

- Pull of the Moon: Ai Weiwei’s unlikely collaboration with Navajo artist Bert Benally in New Mexico.

- Video games have tackled a lot of topics: cowboys, car theft and now, mental illness.

- For Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation, a project devoted to creating homes for American Indians.

- New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl is totally OK with the bland derivative tower planned for the Frick. He makes some good points. But does the additional space need to be so derivative?

- Just because: A photographic portfolio of architect Luis Barragan’s house in Mexico City.

- The day in GIFs: Homer Simpson backs into a Jackson Pollock.