Search This Blog

Saturday 26 February 2011

British Council Appoints New Director

Graham Sheffield has been appointed the new director of The British Council  he succeeds Rebecca Walton who was acting as interim Director of Arts in the UK’s largest international cultural relations organization.Sheffield’s extensive arts management and creative experience will ensure that the arts remain at the heart of the British Council’s mission to strengthen ties between the UK and people in over 100 countries." Sheffield has been involved in several high profile jobs in the UK and internationally. His role as CEO of the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong was considered important enough for promotion to this key position. He has also worked as Artistic Director of the Barbican Centre and Chair of the City of London Arts and Culture Forum. Read Full Article...

Friday 25 February 2011

Picasso Denounced Computers In 1968

In 1968, when Pablo Picasso stated that, "Computers are useless.They can only give you answers", he would not have been exposed to the modern computer as we know it. If Picasso had seen a computer at the time, it would have been a big, cumbersome mainframe, utilizing punch cards like the ones used by banks and insurance companies, for database management, calculating invoices, bills, and insurance premiums. In 1968 Intel was founded and it was inconceivable to realize the implications of this development on the future of home computing and its application to art.  Read Full Article....

Monday 21 February 2011

General Idea’s A A Bronson Receives French knighthood

AA Bronson Conceptual Artist and last surviving member of the collective General Idea has been awarded the highest honour in France for his contribution to visual art. On the eve of the opening of the first-ever retrospective of GI’s work in Europe, Bronson is named a chevalier (knight) of the Ordre des arts et lettres by France. The honour is an Order of France, established in 1957 by the Minister of Culture in France and confirmed as part of L’ordre National du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963.
Read Full Article...

Saturday 19 February 2011

Christian Marclay The Clock Turner Prize Contender?

Christian Marclay walks a fine line between being entertaining and mundane. His work The Clock which has been a surprise  international success closes it’s New York stint at the Paula Cooper Gallery this weekend. 'The Clock' which had its London debut at White Cube in Mason’s Yard in October and November is constructed out of moments in cinema when time is expressed or when a character interacts with a clock, watch or just a particular time of day. Marclay has excerpted thousands of these fragments and edited them so that they flow in real time. While 'The Clock' examines how time, plot and duration are depicted in cinema, the video is also a working timepiece that is synchronized to the local time zone.
Read More....

Was The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize Rigged?

Was The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize rigged? The 2010 prize is supposed to present the very best in contemporary portrait photography, showcasing the work of talented young photographers and gifted amateurs alongside that of established professionals and photography students. Through editorial, advertising and fine art images, the entrants have explored a range of themes, styles and approaches to the contemporary photographic portrait, from formal commissioned portraits to more spontaneous and intimate moments capturing friends and family.This year the competition attracted nearly 6,000 submissions from over 2,400 photographers from around the world. Read More...

Friday 18 February 2011

Sotheby's Post War and Contemporary Art Sale Protest

While the Sotheby's Post War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale realized  totals of £44.4 million another very different auction was taking place outside on the street in London. The Arts Against Cuts group were auctioning off public services like the libraries for £.99 or a pound could purchase the NHS. When confronted by the police the auctioneer stated; "and what do you think about the cuts to the police services?" The officers declined to comment.  Read More...

Banksy Meets Jamie Oliver

Photo: Lord Jim © 2011

Banksy Meets Jamie Oliver

British guerilla artist Banksy has created a new work on a wall in Westwood California in preparation for his Oscar nominated documentary, "Exit Through the Gift Shop". The ballots are due Tuesday and it is looking good for the artist, who is busy lobbying for votes by keeping a high profile. The work has been dubbed "The Crayola Shooter," Read More....

Saturday 12 February 2011

Nazi Art Claimant Maria Altmann Dies

Maria Altmann who in 2006 successfully reclaimed five paintings by Gustav Klimt, from Austrian museums that were seized by the Nazis in 1938, has died age 94. The case was one in a string of high profile disputed ownership cases that has rocked the art world in the last decade. The successful outcome resulted in a sale at Christie’s realizing 180 million pounds. ( 330.7  million dollars).
The Klimts, three landscapes and a portrait, were part of a group of five reunited  with Maria Altmann by the Austrian government. The Nazis plundered the paintings along with other arts treasures owned by this prominent Jewish family,who were friends and patrons of the Vienna Secession elite.   Read Full Story

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Eduardo Paolozzi Murals At Risk By Developers


Several of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi's mosaic murals designed for the Tottenham Court Road Tube Station, in the 1980s are to be removed, to make way for new passages and reinforced tunnels, as part of the expanded tube station, connecting to the new Cross Rail project. The unlisted works of art include, panels of tessellated mosaics inspired by Tottenham Court Road's electronics shops and the once vibrant music industry. The 1000 square metre commission is a distinct and internationally recognized feature of the station. The mosaic's frenetic designs are much loved by art critics and the public. In a statement from TFL, "London Underground highly values the Paolozzi mosaics within Tottenham Court Road Underground station, and alongside the Tube’s ‘Art on the Underground’ programme, we have been working closely with the Paolozzi Foundation as the Tottenham Court Road upgrade progresses. We are taking great care to protect and preserve these wonderful mosaics as we upgrade Tottenham Court Road station". Test areas have been investigated and a feasibility study undertaken removing sections of tiles. In all cases the damage was negligible. Read Full Report

Monday 7 February 2011

Julian Assange The New Che Guevara Wikiart

Julian Assange has become one of the hottest subjects for street art since Che Guevara. Hundreds of images of the web-entrepreneur have appeared in places as diverse as New York, London, Lisbon, Rio de Janerio and Tel Aviv. Although most of the Artists are anonymous It is thought that Shepard Fairey is responsible for a work in the style of the Obama ‘change’ poster. The term Wikiart has been coined to discribe the phenomenon.          Read Full Article

Sunday 6 February 2011

Jeff Koons Settles Balloon-Gate Lawsuit

Jeff Koons’s attorneys LLC, have called off their irrational lawsuit with the Park Life Gallery in San Francisco and the Canadian company IMM over the production and sale of multi-coloured resin balloon dogs. In an attempt to copyright the balloon dog image, as his intellectual property, the plaintiff has relented that the case is untenable. Koons, whose oversized metal balloon dog sculptures sell for millions was suing a gallery and manufacturer for copyright infringement, ordering production and sales to cease.  Read Full Article

Thursday 3 February 2011

Kinetica Art Fair 2011

Kinetica Art Fair 2011 

The Kinetica Art Fair opened in London tonight with a fantastic display of automatons, moving sculpture and light /sound installations. The fair is produced by the Kinetica Museum and is the first of its kind in the UK. It brings together international galleries, art organisations and curatorial groups  who focus on universal concepts and evolutionary processes though the convergence of movement art and technology.
The fair which runs throughout the weekend,provides a platform for museums, collectors, curators and the public to view and buy artworks in this thriving cutting edge field. Alongside the fair there will be special events, screenings, tours, talks, workshops and performances.
For 2011 a Kinetica feature exhibition and events programme will explore the evolution of the human body, brain, mind and consciousness.
The Kinetica Art Fair 2011 is the UK's only art fair dedicated to kinetic, robotic, sound, light and time-based art featuring new and ground breaking work, will take place from 3 - 6 February 2011 at the Ambika P3 space in London. The feature exhibition focuses on the Evolution of Consciousness and will explore the progression of the human body, brain, mind and consciousness in reference to our place in the universe. Of special note, the works of Tim Lewis,Tanja Vujinovic,Arts Republic,Tom Wilkinson,Alex Posada,The Middllesex University and my favorite, Christiaan Zwanikken.Have a look at the high definition ghost corpse holograms and ectoplasm by Musion Academy. It's superbly executed and extremely authentic.This is the most fun,friendly and accessible art fair to be mounted annually.don't miss it!!!!  Visit The Fair See Details


Watch Video

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Google Art Project Takes Tate Britain and National Gallery Online

Google, The Internet colossus has now turned its technical innovation to Art. Their latest innovation is called, Art Project, a web portal devoted to putting the world’s great museums online. Collaborating with 17 international Museums and Galleries, including the Metropolitan and MoMA in New York, the Uffizi in Italy , the Hermitage in Russia, as well as London’s the National Gallery and Tate Britain,they have created a staggering archive, which will grow over the next few years. Art Project took 18 months to develop and offers 6,000 “street view” formatted, room panoramas. They are similar to the visuals used by Google street maps and incorperate1,061 high-resolution artworks.  Read Full Article