ART? I HEART

World Art Day to be celebrated April 15

2012-07-20T03:41:00.003+03:00

World Art Day to be celebrated April 15

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The International Association of Arts has declared April 15, 2012 the first World Art Day, and the event will be celebrated worldwide.

At last year’s world general assembly meeting of the International Association of Arts (IAA) in Guadalajara, Mexico Turkey’s national committee president Bedri Baykam presented a proposal suggesting that Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday, April 15, be declared World Art Day. The proposition was co-signed and presented by Rosa Maria Burillo Velasco of Mexico, Anne Pourny of France, Liu Dawei of China, Christos Symeonides of Greek Cyprus, Anders Liden of Sweden, Kan Irie of Japan, Pavel Kral of Slovakia, Dev Chooramun of Mauritius, and Hilde Rognskog of Norway. It was voted on and unanimously accepted by the IAA’s General Assembly.

Given Leonardo’s multi-faceted personality as a painter, sculptor, thinker, writer, innovator, mathematician and philosopher, his birthday was seen as a perfect choice for a day to commemorate the role of art in the contemporary world, with its complex artistic, social and political layers.
All the national committees of the IAA will be contributing to World Art Day through festivities, exhibitions, panel discussions, posters, banners and parties, emphasizing the role of art in achieving peace and freedom. From Mexico to Japan, from France to Sweden, from Slovakia to South Africa, from Cyprus to Venezuela, countries on all continents are preparing to celebrate World Art Day in different ways.

Day for artists

The IAA designated April 15 as World Art Day with the intention that it will be a day for all artists and art lovers in the world to celebrate, not only members of IAA. The idea is to create a day to emphasize the importance of art in the lives of everyone, of all ages and races. Every gallery, museum, art center, university and artist are free to organize their own activities.

The President of IAA World, Mexican Rosa Maria Burillo Velasco said, “Art is the most genuine expression of the human soul, shaped in images words, sounds and movements enduring reflections that describe us the story of humanity. World Art Day will permit to all the artists and art lovers of the world, to feel the power and the preciousness of art simultaneously and let all of us breathe its importance for all nations of the World

AUDI e-bike worthersee

2012-06-03T17:26:00.003+03:00

the AUDI e-bike wörthersee

at the wörthersee tour in austria, AUDI unveiled its 'wörthersee' performance electric bike for sports and trick cycling.
designed incorporating technology from AUDI cars, with testing and feedback from competitive cyclist julien dupont.
the bicycle also offers smartphone connectivity for the recording of stunts, and optional automatic stabilization
when performing wheelies and other tricks.

completely designed and manufactured at AUDI, the 'wörthersee' offers the highest output of any production electric model
at 2.3kW (a power-to-weight ratio of 9kg (19.8lb) per kilowatt). riders can use one of five travel programs, including the
human-powered only 'pure' mode; 'pedelec' mixed-use, with a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/hr) and range of 31-44 miles (50 - 70 km)
per charge; or 'eGrip' electric-only mode, with a top speed of 31mph (50km/hr). the e-bike's nine-speed, hydraulically actuated
gear shift is modeled after the quick response of the R-tronic transmission of AUDI R8s.

the lithium-ion battery pack of the 'wörthersee' is easily removable, charging completely in 2.5 hours.

continue reading for more about the production model of the e-bike, or see the concept sketches, early renders,
and design notes at designboom's exclusive feature, 'designing the AUDI e-bike wörthersee'.

full profile view

the frame of the bike is composed of lightweight carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) and weighs 3.53 pounds (1.6 kg);
the wheels feature 2-inch CFRP rims and blade-pattern spokes, the flat design of which increase the transmission of pedal power.
including the battery and motor, the bike weighs 46.3 pounds (21 kg).

LED lighting is integrated into the handlebar and seat. the seat's height can be adjusted through controls on the handlebar;
for example, for trick cycling, the bike's seat can be lowered to run flush with the frame, returnable to normal riding position
with the touch of a button. a multimode electronic control system also supports the rider when performing backwheeling,
wheelies, and other tricks.

julien dupont demos the production version of the AUDI e-bike wörthersee

an on-bike touchscreen computer interfaces with smartphone via WLAN, and video can be recorded via the in-helmet camera
and uploaded via the mobile device to the web. an online portal lets trick cyclists compete against one another, earning points
for successful tricks that have been videotaped and uploaded.

the AUDI pavilion at the wörthersee tour where the e-bike was debuted

trick cyclist julien dupont performs tricks with the 'wörthersee' on the rings of the AUDI logo at the wörthersee pavilion

via smartphone app or handlebar control, the bike can be set to automatically stabilize for the performing of wheelies and other tricks

additional view

3/4 rear view

3/4 top view

detail, handlebar controls

detail, nine-speed hydraulically actuated gear shift of the bike

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdShjFWgh9E&feature=player_embedded

take a behind-the-scenes look at the design of the bike in designboom's exclusive preview 'designing the AUDI e-bike wörthersee'.

Lee Sandstead's Dirty Little Secret

2012-05-31T14:47:00.000+03:00

Art historian Lee Sandstead has a dirty little secret: many of the paintings he had been taught to admire when a student, were disappointments when he saw them in person. This is by no means a condemnation of the artists who painted the works, nor of Sandstead's teachers for lavishing praise upon these paintings. It is just that whenever Sandstead encountered these pieces in museums, he noticed that the elements which had originally made the paintings special were missing or obscured. The problem he found was that many artworks are in need of a good bath.

“This might sound rather incredible,” says Sandstead, “but most classic paintings in a museum need some kind of conservation, such as replacing the varnish. And even more incredible, in all of my art history classes that I have ever taken, no professor had ever mentioned this very basic—yet crucial—fact.”

Sandstead's quest to see paintings as they were "intended to be seen" began with Leonardo daVinci's La Giaconda (the Mona Lisa). When he first saw it in its current state, he was . . . underwhelmed. “I sat there looking at this very small and dark painting behind three inches of bullet-proof glass scratching my head in puzzlement. Where were her eyebrows? Why is she so yellow?”

He knew from the account of Giorgio Vasari, who described La Giaconda in 1547, that there was once something more to the painting:

In this head, whoever wished to see how closely art could imitate nature, was able to comprehend it with ease; for in it were counterfeited all the minutenesses that with subtlety are able to be painted, seeing that the eyes had that lustre and watery sheen which are always seen in life, and around them were all those rosy and pearly tints, as well as the lashes, which cannot be represented without the greatest subtlety. The eyebrows, through his having shown the manner in which the hairs spring from the flesh, here more close and here more scanty, and curve according to the pores of the skin, could not be more natural. The nose, with its beautiful nostrils, rosy and tender, appeared to be alive. The mouth, with its opening, and with its ends united by the red of the lips to the flesh-tints of the face, seemed, in truth, to be not colours but flesh. In the pit of the throat, if one gazed upon it intently, could be seen the beating of the pulse. And, indeed, it may be said that it was painted in such a manner as to make every valiant craftsman, be he who he may, tremble and lose heart.¹

What then was Sandstead missing? Though he had not been taught the fact in school, he soon realized that for paintings, classical paintings, to be understood, several items were needed: the removal of centuries of dirt and grime, the removal of yellowed and aged varnish, the addition of a new varnish to bring out the colors and increase the depth of the darks, and some good, controlled lighting in which to view the works.

As Sandstead says, ". . . before you can understand an artwork. . . (its) characters, symbols, messages, themes, etc., you first have to know what you are looking at."

Searching out works in museum's throughout the world, Sandstead, a talented a photographer in his own right, began taking pictures of paintings in need of cleaning, and correcting them digitally so he could appreciate the works as they were intended to be viewed.

Now, Sandstead, whose TV show on The Travel Channel, Art Attack with Lee Sandstead, revealed the man to be "the world's most fired-up art historian," is trying to educate the public about what they should be seeing, at least superficially, when they look at a painting. Using new technology built upon Apple's iBook Author, Sandstead teamed up with app company Tapity to release a new, interactive book, Cleaning Mona Lisa, available today at the iTunes store. In it, Sandstead describes his disappointment with certain works which were not being presented at their best in museums, and shows examples of how some works would look if they were restored and lighted properly.

His audience is not intended to be artists, but the general public– most artists should already know that many paintings in museums have been damaged by age. As such, though, it is very encouraging. Sandstead's presentation is clear and simple, and his energy has the chance to encourage more people into museums. More importantly for contemporary realists, Sandstead has a sympathy for indirect painting methods, and is eager to educate his readers in the differences between classical and modernist technique, and why they should be appreciated differently.

Cleaning Mona Lisa is available for iBooks2 on the iPad. It can be purchased on iTunes for $2.99. For more information, visit Sanstead's website.

¹Vasari, Giorgio, "Life of Leonardo da Vinci", in Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, translated by Gaston DeC. De Vere, (London: Philip Lee Warner, 1912-1914).

courtesy:underpaintings/ innisart

gucci - biodegradable liquid wood sunglasses

2012-05-29T15:28:00.000+03:00

prototype model of gucci sunglasses in liquid wood, 2012

after their 2011 debut of four sustainable eyewear models produced in collaboration with safilo group,
italian luxury brand gucci is continuing their commitment to the environment with the design of sunglasses
made from liquid wood - a biodegradable material which has never before been used in the eyewear sector -
and new eco-friendly packaging.

the initial prototype of the semi-matte black sunglasses with shaded grey glass lenses has been developed
into a set of frames which draw their formal elements from the stems of the bamboo plant. the hardware,
including the hinges and small metal rings that outline the bamboo joints, are all made from recycled metal,
paired with mineral glass lenses. liquid wood boasts a composition from bio-based materials:
wood fibre from sustainably managed forests and lignin from the paper manufacturing process and natural wax.
the eco-friendly material offers an alternative to plastic which is typically used in the production of eyewear.

the fashion house first began using 100 % recyclable packaging made from FSC (forest stewardship council)
certified paper in 2010 and will now extend this towards its eyewear collections. the new foldable cases will minimize stock space,
limiting both the weight and amount of shipments made, in turn reducing 60% of CO2 emissions. the design will bear the
mobius loop which is an internationally recognized symbol used to designate recyclable materials.

initial gucci eyewear produced from bio-based plastic, 2011 in flamed havana with green background

the 2011 models of gucci's eco-friendly eyewear are made from an acetate, which compared to traditional acetate used for optical frames,
contains a higher percentage of materials derived from natural origins. the bio-plastic has been created in two colors exclusively for gucci eyewear,
flamed havana with either a red background or a green background, recalling the fashion house's iconic green-red-green web.

alternative bio-plastic gucci frames, 2011

david beckham plays beethoven with soccer balls

2012-05-27T22:35:00.001+03:00

in an ad for the samsung 'galaxy note', david beckham sounds out 'ode to joy' on a 15-foot wall by kicking soccer balls at specific drums

in a web-only ad for the galaxy note smartphone by samsung, soccer player david beckham plays beethoven's
'ode to joy' by kicking soccer balls against a 15-foot wall of differently sized and toned drums and gongs.

shot in under two hours, the ad was directed by creative agency cheil USA. in addition to highlighting the large screen size
and S-pen stylus functionality of samsung's galaxy note, it celebrates the upcoming olympic games of which samsung is sponsor,
as 'ode to joy' has been used in several opening ceremonies and olympic commercials of years past.

the 'galaxy note' ad

in the advertisment, the director uses a 'galaxy note' and S-pen to show beckham the 'strategy' for this play

blow job - gale-force wind portraits

2012-05-22T00:47:00.004+03:00

blow job - gale-force wind portraits by tadao cern

'blow job' by tadao cern studio, 2012
all images courtesy the artist

tadas černiauskas of lithuanian photography studio tadao cern has created a new collection of wind-pushed portraits entitled 'blow job'. the lighthearted series pictures
various persons enduing gale-force winds funneled directly at their face. the close-range images were captured in a public photo shoot which took place during
the design week of černiauskas's native vilnius, lithuania as visitors to tado cern's studio were given the opportunity to participate in this air-blown series. the artist
says of the project, 'I wanted to do something very fun for myself and the visitors, just laugh and have a good time. I was surprised that there were so many laid-back
people who were not afraid to look funny! spacious studio was bursting at the seams and everyone was crying with laughter, laughing at themselves and at each other.
everyone (and there were more than one hundred!) who dared to stand up in front of my lens that evening will remember this photo shoot for a long time and have an
extraordinary shot in his album'.

'blow job 2012' a call to models by tadao cern

via bored panda / behanced

Shiver me timbers, the 2012 D4G Winner is..

2012-05-18T23:12:00.001+03:00

Shiver me timbers, the 2012 D4G Winner is....

Posted: 17 May 2012 10:04 AM PDT

After 114,000 submissions and millions of your votes, second grader Dylan Hoffman of Caledonia, Wisc. is this year’s U.S. Doodle 4 Google National Winner. His doodle “Pirate Times” will be featured on the U.S. Google homepage tomorrow, May 18.

Hoffman, who attends the Prairie School in Racine, Wisc., responded to this year’s theme “If I could travel in time I’d visit...” with a colorful depiction of his dream visit to an era filled with swashbucklers. There, he’d “sail a pirate ship looking for treasure, have a colorful pet parrot and enjoy beautiful sunsets from deserted islands.” With his win, Dylan has come into some treasure of his own: a $30,000 college scholarship, a Chromebook computer and a $50,000 technology grant for his school. As an added bonus, Dylan’s doodle will grace the front of a special edition of the Crayola 64-crayon box, available this fall.

After this year's record-breaking submissions, choosing the National Winner and the four National Finalists wasn’t an easy decision. In addition to selecting Dylan, millions of public votes also helped us determine the four National Finalists, each of which will receive a $5,000 college scholarship:

Grades 4-5: Talia Mastalski, Grade 5, East Pike Elementary School, Indiana, Penn., for her doodle “Traveling to me.” Talia says, “When I think of Google, I think of a wormhole leading me to knowledge. If I could travel in time, I would visit a similar wormhole into the future to find out about ME.”
Grades 6-7: Herman Wang, Grade 6, Suzanne Middle School, West Covina, Calif., for his doodle “Retro City.” Herman says, “If I could travel in time, I'd visit Retro City. A future city made of robots and humans.”
Grades 8-9: Susan Olvera, Grade 8, SOAR Alternative School, Lafayette, In., for her doodle “Traveling Back to the Future.” Susan says, “If I could travel in time, I'd travel back to the future. If there is life on other planets, I believe we'd visit the natives as well as invent different ships and rockets for quicker transportation. With what we have accomplished currently, I believe the ‘future’ isn’t so far away.”
Grades 10-12: Cynthia Cheng, Grade 11, Edison High School, Edison, NJ, for her doodle “A World of Adventure.” Cynthia says, “If I could travel in time, I'd visit the age of the Vikings. Though their tales of monsters may not have been entirely true, they were some of the greatest explorers in history. It would be a remarkable experience to share adventures and discover new lands with them.”

After the awards ceremony in New York City today, all 50 of our State Winners will unveil an exhibition of their artwork at the New York Public Library, where their doodles will be displayed from May 18-July 19. In addition, the artwork of all our State Finalists and Winners will be displayed at exhibitions in their home states across the country over the summer. Be sure to check out the local exhibition near you.

Thanks to all of you who voted and helped us select this year's winner. Even more important, thank you to all of the students who submitted entries. Keep on doodling and we’ll see you next year!

Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP, Product Management

Samuel Aranda wins the World Press Photo of the Year 2011

2012-04-30T00:08:00.001+03:00

The international jury of the 55th annual World Press Photo Contest has selected a picture by Samuel Aranda from Spain as the World Press Photo of the Year 2011. The picture shows a woman holding her wounded son in her arms, inside a mosque used as a field hospital by demonstrators against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, during clashes in Sanaa, Yemen on 15 October 2011. Samuel Aranda was working in Yemen on assignment for The New York Times. He is represented by Corbis Images.
Comments on the winning photo by the jury
Koyo Kouoh: "It is a photo that speaks for the entire region. It stands for Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, for all that happened in the Arab Spring. But it shows a private, intimate side of what went on. And it shows the role that women played, not only as care-givers, but as active people in the movement."
Nina Berman: "In the Western media, we seldom see veiled women in this way, at such an intimate moment. It is as if all of the events of the Arab Spring resulted in this single moment - in moments like this."
Aidan Sullivan: "The winning photo shows a poignant, compassionate moment, the human consequence of an enormous event, an event that is still going on. We might never know who this woman is, cradling an injured relative, but together they become a living image of the courage of ordinary people that helped create an important chapter in the history of the Middle East."
Manoocher Deghati: "The photo is the result of a very human moment, but it also reminds us of something important, that women played a crucial part in this revolution. It is easy to portray the aggressiveness of situations like these. This image shows the tenderness that can exist within all the aggression. The violence is still there, but it shows another side."
Now in its 55th year, the annual World Press Photo Contest is universally recognized as the world’s leading international contest for photojournalists, setting the standard for the profession. The judging is conducted at the World Press Photo office, where all entries are presented anonymously to the jury, who discusses and debates their merits over a period of two weeks. The jury operates independently, and a secretary without voting rights safeguards a fair procedure.
The jury gave prizes in nine themed categories to 57 photographers of 25 nationalities from: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the USA.
The contest draws entries by professional press photographers, photojournalists and documentary photographers from across the world, with 5,247 photographers from 124 countries participating this year with 101,254 pictures submitted by the mid-January deadline.
2012 Photo Contest Jury
A group of 19 internationally recognized professionals in the field of photojournalism and documentary photography have convened in Amsterdam from 28 January until 9 February 2012 to judge the entries.
Chair:
Aidan Sullivan, UK, vice president of photo assignments for Getty Images
Members:
• Monica Allende, Spain, photo editor The Sunday Times Magazine
• Koji Aoki, Japan, chief photographer Aflo Sport / Aflo Dite and president Aflo Co., Ltd.
• Patrick Baz, Lebanon/France, photo manager AFP for Middle East
• Nicole Becker, Germany, senior photo editor sport DPA
• Al Bello, USA, chief photographer sport Getty Images for North America
• Daniel Beltrá, Spain, conservation photographer
• Nina Berman, USA, photographer Noor
• Pablo Corral Vega, Ecuador, director Nuestramirada.org
• Manoocher Deghati, France/Iran, regional photo manager AP for Middle East
• Renata Ferri, Italy, photo editor Io Donna - Corriere della Sera and Amica - RCS MediaGroup, Italy
• W.M. Hunt, USA, strategist at Dancing B
• Koyo Kouoh, Cameroon, founder and artistic director Raw Material Company
• Dana Lixenberg, the Netherlands, photographer
• Andrei Polikanov, Russia, director of photography Russian Reporter magazine
• Steve Pyke, UK, artist and photographer
• Joel Sartore, USA, contributing photographer National Geographic magazine
• Sophie Stafford, UK, editor BBC Wildlife Magazine
• Ami Vitale, USA, photographer and filmmaker Panos Pictures/ Ripple Effect Images
Secretaries:
• Daphné Anglès, France/USA, European photo assignments editor The New York Times
• Stephen Mayes, UK, managing director VII Photo Agency
Special Mention
Following the judging of the contest, the 2012 jury decided to give a Special Mention to an image of a Libyan National Transition Council fighter pulling Muammar Gaddafi onto a military vehicle. The still image was taken from a video shot in Sirte, Libya, 20 October 2011.
Chair of the jury Aidan Sullivan commented: "The photo captures an historic moment, an image of a dictator and his demise that we otherwise would not have seen, had it not been photographed by a member of the public."
Jury member Renata Ferri said: "This was an important document for posterity, for transparency, and to understand the dynamics of how Gaddafi came to his end."
The jury considers a visual document for a Special Mention when it has played an essential role in the news reporting of the year worldwide and could not have been made by a professional photographer.
Awards Days and 2012 Exhibition
Samuel Aranda, the photographer of the World Press Photo of the Year 2011, will receive the award during the Awards Ceremony in Amsterdam on Saturday, 21 April 2012. The award also carries a cash prize of €10,000. In addition, Canon will donate a Canon EOS Digital SLR Camera and lens kit to Aranda.
The Awards Ceremony is preceded by a two-day program of lectures, discussions and screenings of photography. The exhibition with the award-winning images will be open to the public at the Oude Kerk, Oudekerksplein in Amsterdam on Friday, 20 April 2012. The exhibition in Amsterdam is sponsored by Delta Lloyd and will be on show until 17 June.
At the same, time a worldwide tour of the exhibition will be launched. With a record number of 105 venues in 45 countries for the World Press Photo 11 exhibition last year, our exhibition program has established itself as the most popular and wide-ranging traveling photo event in the world. With the yearbook distributed internationally in seven languages, the winning images will reach a worldwide audience of millions in the course of the year.
2012 Multimedia Contest
The winners of the second Multimedia Contest will be announced online on 15 March 2012. The judges will convene in Amsterdam at the beginning of March. The 2012 Multimedia Contest jury is chaired by director Vincent Laforet, France/USA.
World Press Photo receives support from the Dutch Postcode Lottery and is sponsored worldwide by Canon.
Editors please note:
A selection of the winning images of the Photo Contest will be available for publication at the press conference and from 11 a.m. (C.E.T.) on 10 February 2012 on the international wire services. It is also possible to download the images from our press download area.
Interviews with several jury members are made available to share online.
Please contact Ms. Barbara Bufkens at press@worldpressphoto.org or tel: +31 (0)20 676 6096, for additional information and requests for interviews with jury members.

About World Press Photo

World Press Photo is committed to supporting and advancing high standards in photojournalism worldwide. We strive to generate wide public interest in and appreciation for the work of photographers and for the free exchange of information. Our activities include organizing an annual contest, exhibitions, the stimulation of photojournalism through educational programs, and creating greater visibility for press photography through a variety of publications.
World Press Photo is run as an independent, non-profit organization with its office in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where World Press Photo was founded in 1955.

For further information, please contact:

The press department at World Press Photo, press@worldpressphoto.org or tel. +31(0)20 676 6096

http://www.samuelaranda.net/

Italian museum burns artworks in protest at cuts

2012-04-29T18:07:00.001+03:00

Museum director Antonio Manfredi set fire to the first painting on Tuesday.

A museum in Italy has started burning its artworks in protest at budget cuts which it says have left cultural institutions out of pocket.

Antonio Manfredi, of the Casoria Contemporary Art Museum in Naples, set fire to the first painting on Tuesday.
"Our 1,000 artworks are headed for destruction anyway because of the government's indifference," he said.
The work was by French artist Severine Bourguignon, who was in favour of the protest and watched it online.
"The survival of the museum is such an important cause that it justifies the despicable, and painful, act of destroying a work of art," she told the BBC.
"My work burned slowly, with a sinister crackle. It cost me a lot, but I have no other means of protesting against the loss of this institution."
Mr Manfredi plans to burn three paintings a week from now on, in a protest he has dubbed "Art War".
Artists from across Europe have lent their support, including Welsh sculptor John Brown, who torched one of his works, Manifesto, on Monday.

Welsh sculptor John Brown sets fire to one of his works in support of the Italian protest

Mr Brown told the BBC that his organisation, the Documented Art Space in Harlech, North Wales, had exhibited at the Casoria museum in the past.
He said the loss of his artwork had not been particularly upsetting.
"We work in a fairly contemporary manner so the process of making art, and the interaction with people, is more important than keeping it as a precious object."
He called the burning "a symbolic act" to "protest against the way the economic crisis is being dealt with".
"These cuts reach beyond the confines of the visual arts and affect the cohesive well-being of millions of people all over the world."
Italy's debt crisis led to the resignation of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi last year. Since his departure, the government has passed a tough package of austerity measures and other reforms.
Art institutions says they have been particularly affected by the country's economic woes, with state subsidies and charitable donations drying up.

Unesco criticised the "lack of maintenance" at Pompeii earlier this year

One of Italy's leading galleries, the Maxxi Museum of Contemporary Art, said its funding had been cut by 43% in 2011.
When its board of directors failed to approve the 2012 budget last week, the Culture Ministry took steps to replace them with a government-appointed administrator.
International concern was also raised last year over the neglect of Pompeii, one of the world's most precious archaeological sites.
A number of structures in the ancient city have fully or partially collapsed, including the "House of Gladiators" which fell down 18 months ago.
However, Prime Minister Mario Monti announced a 105m euros (£87m) project to reconstruct the ruins earlier this month.
'Adverse circumstances' Mr Manfredi is known as an outspoken and radical museum director.
He opened the Casoria gallery in his hometown, just outside Naples, in 2005 and several of his exhibitions have drawn the ire of the local mafia.
In 2009, a lifesize effigy of an African figure was left impaled over the museum gates following an exhibition of art that dealt with prostitution - a trade occupied locally almost entirely by African immigrants and controlled by organised criminals.

Bourguignon's painting was completely destroyed

Manfredi has also blamed the theft of security cameras and several attempted break-ins on the mafia.
His attempts to focus attention on his museum's funding crisis have been crafted with a keen eye for publicity.
Last year, he announced he had written a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel asking for asylum, saying he was fed up with the government's failure to protect Italy's rich cultural heritage.
He said he would take his entire museum with him if the asylum was granted, but never received a reply.
He said the latest protest will continue unless the funding situation improves.
A statement from the museum described the first burning as "political, necessary, and compelling in the face of these adverse circumstances"

courtesy:http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Some thing for artists!

2011-12-30T00:06:00.002+03:00

Briefly...

Attribution means:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work - and derivative works based upon it - but only if they give you credit.
Noncommercial means:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work - and derivative works based upon it - but for noncommercial purposes only.
No Derivative Works means:
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.
Share Alike means:
You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.

You Can Paint On Almost Anything‏

2011-12-27T19:58:00.000+03:00

Courtney Jordan
is the editor of
Artist Daily.

Dear Artist Daily Subscriber,

A painting or drawing really starts before you ever make a mark because the surface an artist uses can make such a difference in the look and feel of the final product. I’m not super savvy when it comes to all of the possibilities available, so the special supplement on surfaces in the November 2011 issue of American Artist was practically tailor-made for me with information on linen canvas, paper, and boards, plus feedback from practicing artists about the attributes of the surfaces they use. It’s like Consumer Reports, but for artists. Sweet!

Warm Regards,

September 29, 2011

Ampersand Museum Series Gessobord™ –The #1 painting panel for oils and acrylics!

Gessobord™ comes ready to paint featuring a superior quality acrylic gesso ground that is lightly textured for excellent adhesion and paint control. The titanium white surface enhances and brightens paint colors. Made with True Artist Hardboard™ substrate and Archiva-seal™ technology, the surface is acid-free, non-yellowing and archival. Gessobord™ is perfect for oils, acrylics, alkyds, water-based oils and even mixed media. It’s delicate enough for glazing, fluid brush strokes and tight detail, and tough enough for palette knife painting.

Choose from 1/8" flat, 3/4" and 2" DEEP cradle profiles. Handcrafted in Austin, TX.

http://www.ampersandart.com/gesso.html

Blick Premier Heavyweight Cotton
Archival Panels

Manufactured using the highest-quality materials, these pre-primed panels are made to stand the test of time, offering a stable, archival, portable surface for your oil and acrylic paintings. Their tempered hardboard cores will not warp, become brittle, or degrade over time.

http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-premier-heavyweight-cotton-archival-panels/

Blick Premier Oil Primed Belgian
Linen Canvas

Belgian linen is the highest quailty substrate available for artists seeking painting experience and archival quality.

http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-premier-oil-primed-belgian-linen-canvas/

Blick Premier Heavyweight
Cotton Canvas

Triple-primed with acid-free Titanium gesso to reach 20oz weight, then hand-stretched & back-stapled to high-density pine wood stretcher bars, with blank folded corner to finish.

http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-premier-heavyweight-cotton-canvas/#photos

Blick Premier Belgian Linen
Archival Panels

These pre-primed panels are made to stand the test of time, offering a stable, archival, portable surface for your oil and acrylic paintings. Their tempered hardboard cores will not warp, become brittle, or degrade over time.

http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-premier-belgian-linen-archival-panels/

Canson Canva-Paper

Canson Canva-Paper has a canvas-like texture that is primed and ready for oil or acrylic paints without priming or preparation. Features a canvas-like texture that is close to linen cloth. The natural texture is treated with a high-performance barrier to absorb oil, bonding agents and water evenly, providing superb resistance by the surface paint layer.

Enjoy the freedom of creating on paper with oil and acrylics while saving them time since no added preparation is needed! Available in a variety of sizes in both pads and rolls. Acid free and bleed proof. Shop for it at your area fine art or craft & hobby store, or buy online through an art supply retailer.

www.canson-us.com | www.facebook.com/canson

Stonehenge Artist Journals

Perfect for visual and travel journaling, these 32 page journals contain 100% cotton Stonehenge paper, allowing for a title page and one sheet for each day of the month.

The naked, unfinished front and back cover invites the versatility of personalization by the artist. The covers fold back easily, allowing the journal to lie perfectly flat for easy balancing and grasping.

Legion Paper, www.legionpaper.com

MSRP, available in two colors: White and Cream; in five sizes, ranging from $19.50 to $65.50

Masterpeice Canvas

Masterpiece is a small company devoted to filling the void between prefabricated imports and locally stretched custom products. We use sustainably harvested lumber and cotton from American growers, and assemble all our products in North America. Our canvases are made to order, whether they ship to you or your local retailer, and each one is examined for the best quality and reliability of performance.

We offer the range of size and surface a custom shop provides, and the superior manufacturing capability of our factory, with pricing that utilizes the economy of scale.

Consider the care and expense you put into your paint, your brushes, and your vision. Shouldn’t your canvas be able to provide the same professional support?

For more information call 619.710.2500 or visit www.MasterpieceArts.com

RayMar Poirtrait Panels

RayMar Portrait Panel double-oil-primed Belgian linen on wood is a museum-quality painting panel for oil and acrylic painters.

Each surface is bound with RayMar’s pH-neutral adhesive to MDF in either the traditional 1⁄8 inch or new 1⁄16 inch Feather Lite. Then every panel is covered with RayMar’s exclusive melamine backing to create one of the strongest painting supports available that resists warping and deterioration from moisture.

For more information, visit www.raymarart.com.

New Mixed Media Pads from Strathmore Artist Papers

Strathmore’s new Mixed Media paper is engineered for both wet and dry media performance. The surface combines the characteristics of watercolor paper and the finish of a drawing sheet, creating a surface that performs unlike any other in the industry.

The Mixed Media paper is great for watercolor, gouache, acrylic, graphite, pen and ink, colored pencil, marker, pastel, collage and more. Mixed Media Pads are available in a full range of formats and sizes.

For more information visit www.strathmoreartist.com

Custom Weave Linens from Utrecht Art Supplies

Utrecht: 820, 850 and 880 are unique custom weave linens exclusive to Utrecht Art Supplies, these weaves were designed by our founders they all have increased yarn thicknesses and they are all double oil primed. The 800 series are the most durable and strongest primed linen’s offered in the market. Utrecht offers these linens all at a very affordable cost for the level of quality they are.

www.utrechtart.com

Meet the Turner Prize Nominees: A Q&A With Artist George Shaw

2011-12-03T10:06:00.000+03:00

by Coline Milliard

Published: November 21, 2011

George Shaw, 44, was born and grew up in Coventry, and all his paintings picture the council estate where he spent his childhood and teenage years. Working exclusively with Humbrol enamel paint, which is traditionally used for model making, Shaw maps an urban dystopia devoid of human presence. Their generic red brick buildings could be found anywhere in Britain and yet Shaw's pictures are infused with a deeply personal sense of nostalgia. Shaw was nominated for the Turner Prize for his solo exhibition at BALTIC, Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead.
The Turner Prize 2011's shortlist also includes Karla Black, Martin Boyce, and Hilary Lloyd. The winner will be announced on the 5 December at BALTIC, Gateshead, where an exhibition of the nominees' work is currently held.

How did you react when you first heard about your nomination?
I was a bit surprised. I asked if I could think about it. It felt like a hoax. Of course I felt very honored. I couldn’t wait to tell my mum and I was sad because I couldn’t tell my dad.
Why and how did you get into art?
I was good at it.
What's the nearest you've ever come to giving it all up?
When all these sort of questions started coming.
What would you be if not an artist?
Unemployed.
With which dead artist would you most like to have coffee and a chat?
L.S. Lowry.
If you could, how would you edit your past?
I can and I’m doing it for a living.
For which piece do you think you'll be remembered?
I’ve come to think that all these paintings of the place I was brought up are one piece of work so it’ll be the one I’m currently working on.
What's your biggest disappointment?
Christmas.
You live in Devon because ...
I can see the sea without getting out of bed.
What does home feel like?
On a rainy afternoon sitting on my settee with a cuppa, a bag of minstrels and an old Ealing film.
Which piece of art would you take to a desert island and why?
The Hereford Mappa Mundi ... because it’s the whole world. I’d have a go at doing another before I starved to death.
Tell us something no one knows about you.
Deep down I’m very happy.
What's the best thing about being a Turner Prize nominee?
That the work I do is seen, and with luck, considered.

benetton unhate campaign features kissing world leaders

2011-11-17T17:42:00.000+03:00

united colors of benetton advertisement featuring hu jintao, paramount leader of the people's republic of china, with barack obama, president of the USA

united colors of benetton has just unveiled its new 'unhate' advertising campaign in a handful,
of cities, featuring manipulated images that show unlikely pairings of international religious and
political leaders kissing one another.

the ad campaign supports the company's 'unhate foundation' think tank and arts research center,
designed to organize events and promote acts of intervention towards a more tolerant world.
as its first series of actions, benetton organized the hoisting of large posters and projection of digital
images of the controversial advertisements in public spaces in new york, milan, rome, tel aviv, and paris.

online, the organization's 'kiss wall' invites users from around the world to upload diptyched images
that mimic kissing duos, alongside a message of tolerance and 'unhate'.

'what does 'unhate' mean? 'un-hate. stop hating, if you were hating. unhate is a message that invites us
to consider that hate and love are not as far away from each other as we think. actually, the two opposing
sentiments are often in a delicate and unstable balance. our campaign promotes a shift in the balance.'
- alessandro benetton, executive vice president

ad featuring pope bendetto XVI with ahmed el tayyeb, imam of al-azhar mosque in cairo

north korea's kim jong-ii and lee myung-bak, president of south korea

israel prime minister benjamin netanyahu and palestinian president mahmoud abbas

german chancellor angela merkel and french president nicholas sarkozy

US president barack obama with venezuelan president hugo chavez

'guerrilla intervention' in milan, piazza duomo

'guerrilla intervention' in milan's piazza affari (milan stock exchange)

'guerrilla intervention' in new york's times square

Courtesy:DesignBoom

The Weirdest Art Case Ever?: Breaking Down the He-Said-She-Said SpongeBob Ninja Gallery Attack Saga

2011-09-07T21:35:00.000+03:00

Courtesy of Art Of White

Artist Todd White is suing gallery owner Margaret Howell for selling forgeries

By Shane Ferro

Published: September 1, 2011

White's brainchild, "SpongeBob SquarePants"

hite — the man behind the design of SpongeBob SquarePants — is one of the more unusual and outright incredible art cases in memory. A lot of accusations have been flying around in recent days, some of which involve, yes, ninjas. Howell filed a suit in California court in mid-August, alleging assault and art theft, among other things. Now, White has countersued in federal court, accusing Howell of copyright infringement and widespread fraud. After obtaining both legal complaints, ARTINFO offers up a guide to the bizarre ins and outs of the accusations on both sides of this strange affair:

THE CHARACTERS:

TODD WHITE — White worked on the television show Ren & Stimpy before becoming the head artist for Nickelodeon's cultural phenomenon "SpongeBob SquarePants." He's not just some wimpy comic-book guy, either: A fellow cartoonist, JohnK, claims on his blog that White is a black belt in Machado Jui Jitsu, once using his martial arts knowledge to help illustrate a cartoon fight scene. Several years ago, White made the jump to fine art. His triumphs, as listed on his own Web site, include being chosen as the official artist of the 2007 Grammy Awards, a deal with Coca-Cola to have his work seen on limited-edition Coke products, and being commissioned in the U.K. to paint a memorial portrait of Princess Diana. White's self-description in his own complaint also paints himself as a "respected philanthropist."

MARGARET HOWELL — The 62-year-old Howell is the owner of Gallery HB, located inside the Hyatt Regency hotel in Huntington Beach, California. She has owned and operated the gallery for eight years, according to her complaint. She also has a private art consulting firm, Fine Art Consulting Services, Inc., which is named as a plaintiff in her suit, and a defendant in White's. She claims to have sold White's art on a contingency basis, with the artist receiving a portion of the sale price, but also says she frequently "purchased White's art outright, and then resold it to customers at a markup." According to Howell's complaint, she was the first to show his work in a gallery setting. "Ms. Howell's efforts to market and publicize White's work... were pivotal to the artist's subsequent financial success and critical acclaim," writes her lawyer, Jonathan M. Jenkins.

KEITH M. DAVIDSON — Davidson is named in Howell's suit as a defendant, having allegedly been one of the men who went to the gallery to intimidate her. But he's not just some muscleman: Howell's suit claims that Davidson is also White's attorney (Paul Berra is representing White in the current suit), though he is "presently on three years of post-suspension disciplinary probation with the State Bar of California," after he mishandled a medical malpractice case, deposited a payment from a client in his personal account rather than a client trust account, then bounced a check to refund the client from said client trust account. (His license to practice law has been reactivated as of November 19, 2010.)

BRYCE EDDY — "White's agent and martial arts sparring partner," according to Howell's complaint, and another one of the alleged assailants. This is, however, only "on information and belief."

"HIRED MUSCLES" — "Martial arts experts" allegedly hired by White to attack Howell, according to her complaint. The identities of the men remain unknown, but the complaint alludes to hotel security footage from the gallery that may yet be able to help uncover their identities.

PETER M. "CLYDE" LAVOIE — A former employee of Gallery HB, who Howell accuses of having served as an inside man at the gallery, and became an accomplice of White.

THE ALLEGATIONS:

ACCORDING TO HOWELL'S COMPLAINT: Several months ago, Todd White held an "opening gala" at his personal studio and sold art directly to customers. He found that he preferred the "direct sales business model" over selling through a gallery, and wanted to get rid of the middlewoman, that is, Howell. Then, the complaint alleges, White recruited Peter Lavoie, who worked at the gallery, to be his inside man. Weeks before the art heist of August 2-3, Lavoie quit his gallery job. Howell's complaint says that "on information and belief, Lavoie is now employed by White."

On August 2, Howell was "at the hospital attending to the bedside of her ailing mother." Four men hired by White showed up at her gallery, telling her "that they represented the Brazilian consulate and were interested in purchasing White's art." However, after she was lured to the gallery, the "martial arts experts" (referred to by the complaint as "hired muscle" and in the OC Weekly as "ninjas") "forcibly shut down the gallery, physically assaulted Ms. Howell, emotionally traumatized her, and... imprisoned her in her office for long hours by force."

The men then allegedly proceeded to steal over $1 million worth of art from her gallery, took her confidential customer lists, forced her to sign documents handing over the lease on the gallery to White, and "forced Ms. Howell to take them back to her home, where they removed and stole this additional artwork belonging to the Gallery and FACS [her consulting company]."

The next day, Howell's complaint goes on to say, "White or one of his associates" faxed the documents Howell was forced to sign and requested that the lease be transferred to White, noting that she would be "vacating the premises on or about August 16, 2011." Subsequently, the defendants have been using the stolen customer list to try to sell White's paintings directly to Howell's customers, which has resulted in several customer complaints to Howell, according to the legal document she filed.

ACCORDING TO WHITE'S COMPLAINT: White's suit, for its part, focuses on another issue entirely, claiming that Howell has been copying, embellishing, and signing his artworks without permission — then selling them for a hefty profit. This scam, he claims, "caused millions of dollars of damage to him and his company." This information was established, in fact, "based upon Howell's own tearful admissions, the testimony of her top salesman, and the support of a number of defrauded customers."

White's complaint doesn't dwell on the evening of the alleged ninja assault, but it does detail the fact that the artist's "representatives confronted Howell at her gallery with undeniable evidence establishing her guilt. Realizing that she had been caught red-handed, Howell openly and readily admitted that she has copied several of White's paintings... because she was dealing with financial problems and was lured by 'greed' and the 'ease' of it all."

White's complaint goes on to state that Howell, despite claiming she signed documents under duress, "spent nearly 45 minutes reviewing... asking questions about... and making specific changes to" the documents she signed on the night of August 2. And finally, White demands that he be granted full access to her accounting books, "to figure out the full extent of Defendants' wrongful conduct."

PENALTIES:

SHE IS ASKING FOR: At least $7.5 million plus punitive damages for assault, battery, robbery, kidnapping, and emotional trauma.

HE IS ASKING FOR: At least $5 million plus punitive damages for copyright infringement and fraud.

alexa meade: real-life paintings

2011-09-02T08:53:00.000+03:00

alexa meade: real-life paintings

by painting directly onto her subjects and photographing them in a variety of constructed and real-world environments, artist alexa meade conflates the worlds of painting, photography, and performance
'transit', 18x24" limited edition chromogenic print
all images © alexa meade

american artist alexa meade creates her representational paintings directly on her subjects, covering people and objects
in layers of acrylic paint before photographing them. the works offer an unusual conflation of painting, installation,
and photography, as the three-dimensional forms are collapsed in space, taking on a 2D appearance in the prints.
in her exhibitions, meade frequently paints over small rooms in which a human subject sits for the duration of the show,
offering a performative aspect to her work.

meade:
'spending my formative years immersed in the world of politicians and PR led to a fascination with the possibilities
of repackaging source texts and adding superficial modifications that would profoundly alter perception.
what the audience ultimately unpackaged was a personal interpretation of an already mediated re-presentation.
[...] by using paint as a mask that mimics the surface attributes of my source materials, I repurpose the common codes
of painting.'

full figure of 'transit'

'mediation'
19x24" limited edition chromogenic print

'natura morta'
18x24" chromogenic print

'natura morta' installation
8'x6'x4'

'framed'
24x18" limited edition chromogenic print

'bernie' study

left: 'auspicious', 24x18" limited edition chromogenic print
right: 'the trap', a model poses outside london's saatchi gallery

meade at work painting one of her subjects
image courtesy of dailymail

the artist poses with a completed installation
image courtesy of dailymail

'spectacle' installation/performance

'spectacle'
18x24" limited edition chromogenic print

via dailymail

Warrior Art

2011-09-02T07:34:00.000+03:00

WARRIOR ART
ALEXANDRA FLUEGEL
THURSDAY AUGUST 24th, 2011
When the idea was raised to remove benches from Pekich Park in an attempt to combat the illegal activities often taking place in the public ‘pocket park,’ Grand Rapids artist and community activist, Hugo Claudin, took a stand. “I thought it was a terrible idea. How is the park supposed to be inviting to the community if we remove the benches?”
Claudin’s live/work artist loft dubbed Mexicains Sans Frontieres, (translates literally to “Mexicans without Borders”), is located across the street from the park, and though he agreed that some action should be taken, he was adamant that bench removal was not the answer.
An active member and longtime resident of Avenue for the Arts, an area in downtown Grand Rapids along South Division Avenue that also encompasses the park, the painter/musician proposed a different idea. “Let’s have some concerts and use the space for something else that will hopefully stop some of that bad behavior,” said the artist/activist. Claudin, along with others in the community, worked together to secure grant funding and held the first concert in late July. Since then, shows have taken place every other week, and the benches won’t be going anywhere.
Claudin has long been a catalyst for bringing music and other art into public spaces. He regularly hosts underground bands from all over the globe in his loft, and is a member of ArtPeers, a local nonprofit that encourages community patronage of the arts. The group holds a variety of events where exhibits and performances are held in local businesses, parking lots, and empty spaces. “I’m trying to meld the idea of being an artist and doing community-based things,” he said. Originally from Mexico, Claudin migrated to the United States following the death of his father to study art at Kendall College of Art and Design. Since settling in Grand Rapids two decades ago, he has become an important link between art and the community.
Claudin provides outreach service as a natural helper for the city’s Believe 2 Become Initiative, a collaborative effort of the Grand Rapids Public Schools, the Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Douglas & Maria DeVos Foundation.
The aim is to close the achievement gap between inner-city students and their suburban counterparts. The project focuses on engaging community members across four different neighborhood zones in Grand Rapids. Natural helpers serve as liaisons between the community and the programs offered through LINC Community Revitalization, Inc., one of the partner organizations involved with Believe 2 Become.
“I’m kind of like a foot soldier for the operation,” he explained. Foot soldier is an apt description for the artist whose work incorporates themes of revolution and ‘real life superheroes’. Claudin is engaging West Michigan’s Latino community, encouraging them to not let fear keep them from having active roles in their children’s educations. “The Latino community is kind of naturally guarded,” he said. But, he believes, as the program becomes more visible, these walls are coming down. “We’re working to engage the community through a series of meetings. We want to get a dialogue going about what the obstacles are that might be keeping the children from graduating.”
His current series of paintings bears the same name as his loft and deals with themes of immigration and the barriers frequently encountered by members of the Latino community. Claudin paints warrior-esque men and women, all of whom sport the traditional face-masks of the Lucha Libre wrestlers, an institution in national Mexican pop culture. Claudin describes the images as a metaphor for the unseen communities of undocumented people living in the US that go uncounted and misrepresented in the media.
Although his work with Believe 2 Become spans across the city of Grand Rapids, it is his own Heartside District, which continues to struggle to attract businesses and residents, that truly has his heart. “As a resident of this zone, of course I’m interested in the revitalization of this area. I think it will be a natural process,” he said. “Nobody expected this to be revitalized overnight. We’re very committed, especially the people who have been here a long time. We’re almost there. It’s a matter of persisting and getting the message out.”

A mobile laboratory - LAB

2011-08-31T03:27:00.000+03:00

A mobile laboratory traveling
around the world to inspire
innovative ideas for urban life


	Send to a Friend \| Subscribe to E-news \| Unsubscribe \| Privacy Policy
	Open through October 16, 2011, First Park \| Houston at 2nd Avenue, A New York City Parks property. Visit us online at bmwguggenheimlab.org.

Bernhard Heiliger Award for sculpture goes to Argentina-born artist Fabián Marcaccio

2011-08-31T02:10:00.000+03:00


Bernhard Heiliger Award for sculpture goes to Argentina-born artist Fabián Marcaccio


Fabián Marcaccio, CNN-Paintant, 2009. Pigmentierte Tinte auf Leinwand, Aluminium, Silikon, Alkydfarbe, 20 x 183 x 127 cm. Courtesy: Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin.

BERLIN.- In 2011, the fourth Bernhard Heiliger Award for Sculpture honors the Argentina-born artist Fabián Marcaccio. The award ceremony will be held on September 10, 2011, at the Berlin Academy of Arts at Pariser Platz. The solo exhibition on that occasion at Berlin Georg Kolbe Museum opens September 11 and runs until November 20, 2011. The exhibition will also be shown at LehmbruckMuseum Duisburg from March 15 to June 10, 2012. Created in 1999, the Bernhard Heiliger Award for Sculpture is endowed with 15,000 EUR and is awarded by an independent jury. Jurors of this year's jury were Udo Kittelmann, director of the National Gallery in Berlin, Prof. Dr. Raimund Stecker, director of the LehmbruckMuseum in Duisburg, and Dr. Anda Rottenberg, independent curator and former director of the National Gallery Zachęta for Contemporary Art in Warsaw. The intention of this prize is the appreciation of a sculptural oeuvre with intrinsic significance irrespective of art-market fashions, which has contributed considerably to sculpture or to the perception of sculpture as an art form. Previous winners were Bertrand Lavier (1999), Fritz Schwegler (2003) and Antony Gormley (2007). Fabián Marcaccio, born in 1963 in Rosario de Santa Fe in Argentina, has lived and worked in New York for more than 20 years. Since the early 1990s, Fabián Marcaccio occupies himself with the examination and extension of the classical concept of painting. His "Paintants"—a neologism of the words "mutant" and "paintings"—merge the concepts of painting, sculpture and object art. In Germany, his renown is based mainly on individual exhibitions at the Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart (2000) and the Kölnischer Kunstverein (2001) as well as on his participation in Documenta XI (2002). In recent times, the ever-increasing plasticity apparent in his works coalesced into large-scale figurative tableaus, "The Structural Canvas Paintants", whose sculptural quality was highlighted by the jury thoroughly. In this new series, Marcaccio takes on contemporary issues in politics, economy and society. These include globalization, the banking crisis, trans-sexuality, genetic engineering and terrorism as well as the role of the media. Akin to a three dimensional modern history painting, Marcaccio narrates current events or recent historical moments, prompting his viewers to question their truthfulness at the same time. The award ceremony and the exhibition at Georg Kolbe Museum is accompanied by a bilingual (German/English) publication with texts be Raimund Stecker and Marc Wellmann, edited by the Bernhard Heiliger Foundation. The entire project is made possible through the generous support of the Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin. Courtesy: ArtDaily

Iraq's holiest Shiite city, Najaf, will become an Islamic Capital of Culture next year

2011-08-18T01:09:00.000+03:00

Thursday, March 17, 2011

PRASHANT RAO

NAJAF - Agence France-Presse

Iraq's holiest Shiite city, Najaf, will become an Islamic Capital of Culture next year. The Najaf celebrations are part of broad efforts by Iraqi authorities to put the country back on the cultural map after the US-led invasion of 2003 to oust Saddam Hussein led to years of brutal sectarian war. Preparations, however, are running well-behind schedule

In 2009 the culture ministers of Muslim countries chose Najaf as one of three Islamic cultural capitals in 2012 along with Dhaka for Asia and Niamey for Africa.

A half-billion-dollar effort to showcase Iraq's holiest Shiite city to the world is coming down to the wire as many contracts remain unsigned and funds are hastily being reallocated.
Preparations for Najaf to become the Arab world's Islamic Capital of Culture next year are under way, but officials involved in its planning admit that time is short and much remains to be done.
"We don't have enough time, we need more time," said Nizar Hussein al-Naffakh, a Najaf provincial council member and one of the event's organizers.
"We only started work at the end of last year and Najaf will become the Islamic capital of culture from Jan. 1, 2012. There are real obstacles but we hope to overcome them in order to show our city in the most positive light," he said.
The Najaf celebrations are part of broad efforts by Iraqi authorities to put the country back on the cultural map, after the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 to oust Saddam Hussein led to years of brutal sectarian war.
Iraq is due to host an Arab League summit, initially scheduled for March 29 but now delayed until the end of May due to regional unrest.
Football's Gulf Cup is also to be held in the southern port of Basra in 2013, the same year that Baghdad becomes the Arab capital of culture.
"These kinds of events, they are like the Olympic Games," said Amman-based UNESCO cultural expert Tamara Teneishvili.
"They always contribute to the development of infrastructure and they provide wide international exposure. This is very important," she said.
In 2009 the culture ministers of Muslim countries chose Najaf as one of three Islamic cultural capitals in 2012 along with Dhaka for Asia and Niamey for Africa.
The year-long festivities include conferences covering topics ranging from the legacy of Imam Ali, to whom a major shrine is dedicated in the city, to modern-day Islamophobia.
Imam Ali, a seventh-century Islamic leader who was a cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, is revered among Shiite Muslims as the first imam of the Shiite order, as well as being a military leader and writer.
Authorities are also planning to translate 200 works of Islamic literature into English and French, as well as host recitals of traditional Islamic music, though there will be no dance performances.
The overall budget for the Najaf ceremonies, including capital investment and cultural activities, is 537 billion Iraqi dinars ($455 million).
But of more than 70 projects that have been planned to get Najaf ready – ranging from a $100-million cultural complex to new waste treatment facilities – a fifth have not yet been assigned to contractors.
The cultural complex, comprised of a 44,000-square meter building and 115,000 square meters (1.24 million square feet) of landscape, is on time, said Turkish site supervisor Oğuz Düzen.

Its roof is due to be completed by mid-May, when the number of workers on the project will quadruple to 600 and operations run around the clock to complete the "cultural city," a single building that includes a 1,500-seat conference hall and a 750-seat theater as well as a library and a museum.
According to Aqeel al-Mindalawi, an Iraqi Culture Ministry official who is part of the 10-member committee responsible for organizing the Najaf 2012 celebrations, the complex will be handed over at the end of the year.
But he admits that a contingency planning is under way in case it is not.
"If the cultural city is not ready by the end of the year, we will set up a temporary site in the Sea of Najaf," he says, referring to a swathe of agricultural land that abuts the holy city.
"We have alternative plans, but we are still optimistic."

Several other projects designed to upgrade Najaf's infrastructure and that of twin city Kufa, however, will either not be ready for the start of next year or are slated to be completed just before the ceremonies begin.
Of two major highways being constructed, one will be finished at the end of this year while the other will be ready in early 2012. Plans to upgrade Najaf's roads have been slowed by delayed improvements to the city's sewage system, according to Mindalawi.

He blames a combination of Saddam-era administrative regulations and new rules that require a public call for bids for projects, both of which he said took too much time.

Further complicating matters is the sudden prospect of local elections this year, with delays to the formation of a national government following March 2010 elections having already set back the Najaf planning.
In response to massive nationwide protests railing against corruption, poor public services and unemployment, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has backed early provincial polls for this year.

An ambitious $170 million cultural program has also been scaled back as money has had to be diverted to capital investment to upgrade the city's infrastructure and hotels.
In particular, funds have been redirected to build a five-star hotel after private investors pulled out of plans to build two such facilities in the city.
Indeed, one of the mooted benefits of the Najaf festivities – increased tourism – is limited by the lack of spare hotel capacity.

Among Najaf's 170-odd hotels and hostels is just one four-star facility, with overall city-wide capacity barely able to accommodate the thousands of Shiite pilgrims, mostly Iranian, visiting on a daily basis, principally to see the Imam Ali shrine.

The Najaf Chamber of Commerce expects 100,000 more tourists to visit the city for the 2012 ceremonies and notes few new hotels will be ready in time to accommodate the flow.
Officials are drawing up contingency plans, including one to ferry VIPs from up-scale hotels in Baghdad on day trips to Najaf, 150 kilometers south.
"There are several back-up plans," Mindalawi said, chuckling. "We have to – in Iraq, we have to."

Acrylic Brands and Types for Artists.

2011-07-30T20:38:00.001+03:00

1.Acrylic Paints: Winsor & Newton Artist's Acrylics

W&N launched this range of acrylics in January 2009 to replace their Finity series. It is indeed a different product, having a longer working time (up to half an hour), minimal shift from wet to dry (because of a new binder), and a satin finish (rather than gloss). The tube labels have a painted color swatch rather than a printed one. 10 Finity colors have been discontinued and 17 new colors introduced.

I've found the longer working time removes the rush to blend colors before they dry, but isn't so long I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for paint to dry (except on small-size paintings). The colors are rich, intense, and saturated, with a soft butter consistency that holds brushmarks.

Unrivalled in brilliance, Winsor & Newton’s new line of Artists’ Acrylics combines a revolutionary transparent binder that eliminates color shift from wet to dry with the highest-quality, maximum-strength pigments to ensure clean, strong colors with wonderful working properties.

Brilliance, defined as the richness, intensity and depth of a color, is possibly the most important quality of an acrylic paint. Consequently, in the development of Artists' Acrylics, Winsor & Newton combined its world-beating color-making experience to ensure an unrivalled brilliance and depth of color in the range. Brilliance does not mean the colors are garish. Rather, it pertains to clarity and purity of color, which should be evident when the color is applied straight from the tube as well as in the thinnest of films. Even the earths, blacks, and whites are clean and not dull.

Only the purest pigments are used in Artists' Acrylics, formulated individually to ensure the the cleanest, brightest, and strongest colors to give a wider choice and better color-mixing capabilities. Each individual formulation uses the maximum amount of pigment possible — without extenders — to produce a brilliant color with the broadest handling properties.

Until now acrylic paints have tended to darken in tone as they dry, making color-matching difficult from wet palette to dry canvas. Color shift is due to the binder changing from white to transparent as it dries. As the white emulsion dries within the color and becomes clear, the paint becomes more transparent and therefore darker.
Winsor & Newton’s expertise in color-making and resin technology has resulted in a unique binder that is translucent when wet and dries clear — ensuring virtually no shift in color, and colors that remain as brilliant when dry as they are when wet. The result is a range that allows artists to match colors more easily from palette to canvas and see a painting as it will actually look when finished.

2.Acrylic Paints: Golden Artist Colors Heavy Body.

My long-term favorite brand of acrylic paint is Golden's Heavy Body acrylics. Golden is an American company created specifically to produce top-quality acrylic paints for artists. I love the range of vibrant colors, which includes an extremely useful set of neutral grays. The paint consistency is like smooth, soft butter, and it thins down for glazes easily, and dries rapidly. For serious impasto, you'll most likely want to add some medium (Golden produces a range of options, including gels and molding pastes)

Golden Heavy Body Artist Acrylics are known for their exceptionally smooth, thick, buttery consistency, and for their excellent permanency and lightfastness. These paints have the ability to "stand up" and retain brush strokes or palette knife marks on the canvas.

Heavy Body Artist Acrylics also contain the largest assortment of unique pure pigments in a 100% acrylic emulsion vehicle available to the professional artist. They contain no fillers, extenders, opacifiers, toners, or dyes.

Each Golden Heavy Body color is formulated differently depending upon the nature of the pigment. Colors that tolerate higher pigment loads dry to a more opaque, matte finish, while colors that are more reactive and do not accept high pigment loading dry to a glossy finish and tend to be more transparent. Since Heavy Body Acrylics contain no additives, such as matting agents, the gloss of each color will be different.

All Golden Heavy Body Acrylic colors are thixotropic in nature. This means that when brushing or stirring, the paints actually lose viscosity and feel much thinner. The faster the paints are moving, the thinner they feel. Returned to a state of rest, Golden Heavy Body Acrylic paints gradually increase in thickness until they are again restored to their formulated viscosity.

Golden Heavy Body Acrylics retain excellent flexibility when dry, greatly diminishing the possibility of cracking that occurs in other natural and synthetic polymer systems. They also can absorb the constant stress and strain placed on canvas when it is shipped, or as it expands and contracts with changes in temperature and humidity.

-Some colors contain pigments, such as cadmium salts, that are toxic, and should be used only by persons who are old enough to follow instructions for safe use and clean-up. Cautionary labels and warnings should be followed strictly. Do not apply toxic colors with an airbrush or sprayer.

(Golden Heavy Body Acrylics were the first products introduced by Golden Artist Colors, Inc., in 1980. Initially, the Heavy Body line was sold directly to artists in Manhattan in quart and gallon containers. Pints, 8 oz, and 4 oz jars soon followed, as the products gained more and more popularity with professional artists. Tubes of Golden Heavy Body Acrylics finally appeared on the market in 1990.

In 1980, it was considered unusual to contain a heavy body, high-viscosity paint in a jar. Almost all of the literature written about acrylic paints at that time implied that jar colors were thin, and tube colors were thicker.

Actually, the first waterborne acrylic paint was thin, similar in consistency to house paint. Only after technological improvements allowing for thicker paint formulations occurred could artist acrylics be sold in tubes.

Since Golden got its start by directly supplying professional artists, the company provided Heavy Body Acrylics in larger-size containers. As Golden products became widely accessible, jars and tubes provided more size and packaging options for a growing group of artists with a variety of needs.)

3.Acrylic Paints: Liquitex.

I like Liquitex's Heavy Body Professional Artist Colors for the paint's consistency (quite buttery and 'sticky', so great for using with a knife) and because they come in 'plastic' tubes which are incredibly robust. (To be technically accurate, Liquitex comes in Glaminate, tubes made from laminated layers of plastic, metal, and paper.)

Liquitex Heavy Body Artist Acrylic Colors (previously called High Viscosity) are professional-quality acrylics that have an exceptionally smooth, thick, buttery consistency, ideal for traditional art techniques that employ brushes and painting knives, as well as experimental, mixed-media, collage, and printmaking applications.

A high pigment load produces rich, brilliant, permanent color, combined with good surface drag that provides excellent handling and blending characteristics with increased open working time. When used for thick and impasto applications and techniques, Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylics retain crisp brushstrokes and knife marks.

Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylics remain flexible when dry, and thick films remain free of cracks and chips over time.

4.Acrylic Paints: M. Graham & Co.

If you wanted an acrylic paint with a long working time, them M. Graham & Co's would be top of your list (working in a hot, dry climate, they give me about half an hour). But as I'm an impatient painter and I work mostly in glazes which I want to dry quickly, I don't need to extra working time very often. The colors are sumptuous -- very strong and saturated -- and blend together beautifully. If you were used to working in oils and wanted to swap to acrylics, this would be the brand to try.

(Only pure, high solid resins are used, with no fillers, retarders, opacifiers, or bulking agents. Each pigment is present in the highest concentration possible consistent with good working properties. This gives each color outstanding tinting strength and mass tone.)

5.Acrylic Paints: Golden's Open Acrylics.

Launched in mid-2008, Golden's Open Acrylics have an extended drying time, making them the most comparable to oil paints amongst all acrylic paints. Open Acrylics stay workable on a normal palette for hours rather than minutes, eliminating the need for a moisture-retaining palette. Open Acrylics provide the ease of using water as a medium (and for cleaning brushes) with a long working and blending time. The color range isn't as extensive as for Golden's Heavy Duty acrylics, but the fundamentals are included.

Golden Open Acrylics offer an escape from the studio, allowing acrylic artists to experience the warm sun and fresh spring breeze of plein air painting.

This is a professional line of colors and mediums formulated with a unique, relaxed set of working properties that stay wet longer, even in outdoor conditions. Their versatility allows artists to explore a wider range of techniques that rely on softening, shading, glazing, and creating fine detail.

Open Acrylics remain wet on the palette for extended periods of time. This means that color mixes are usable longer, resulting in less waste. Their remarkable working time makes them an ideal choice for many techniques, including plein air painting, portraiture, monoprinting, and screenprinting. They may be used with natural fiber brushes, and also work well with more traditional painting techniques.

6.Acrylic Paints: Atelier Interactive.

The 'big deal' about these acrylic paints is that, according to the manufacturer, they "dry differently", that they don't form a skin as they dry so you can rehydrate them to keep working wet-in-wet by spraying some water on the paint or using a wet brush. I found I could indeed work back into the paint with a wet brush, which makes blending colors less of an urgency and easier. If you do a lot of blending of colors rather than glazing, consider this brand of acrylic.

Chroma Atelier Interactive Professional Artists' Acrylics are the world's only acrylic paints that can be used for conventional acrylic painting techniques, but when needed, artists can easily take advantage of their unique ability to rehydrate for blending techniques.

Chroma Atelier Interactive can be used for ordinary acrylic painting effects such as overpainting, scumbling, or glazing when used on its own — or for extraordinary wet-in-wet blending effects by simply using a water sprayer during a normal painting session. The next day — or days later — use Unlocking Formula to blend, reveal, or scratch back. The techniques and methods employed are readily accessible to beginners and professionals alike.

Atelier Interactive can be mixed with any other professional artist acrylic, but the paint will not rehydrate as when mixed with other Interactive colors.

Atelier Interactive is a world-class acrylic — archival and lightfast — with exceptional consistency, brushability, color load, and a satin finish. When purchased in 80 ml tubes, Interactive offers one-third more paint than standard 60 ml tubes — and it often costs less.

Whether creating a landscape, doing portrait/figurative work, creating a still life, or exploring abstract techniques, artists who use Atelier Interactive Professional Artists' Acrylics control the paint, instead of having the paint control them!

CA Prop 65

7.Acrylic Paints: Matisse Structure Formula.

Matisse structure paint is a 'normal' acrylic paint that does what you'd expect from a decent artist's quality acrylic. Probably the only unexpected thing about it is that it's made in Australia and has some unique color names (such as Southern Ocean Blue, or Australia Sky Blue). It has a soft, buttery consistency that will hold brushmarks if used undiluted, straight from the tube. It can be diluted with water and/or medium for painting without leaving brushmarks, for glazing, or for watercolor-type techniques. To increase the impasto effect, you'd mix it with impasto or texture medium.

8.Acrylic Paints: Sennelier.

Sennelier are fast-drying acrylics with a consistency that's on the soft side of buttery. The colors are strong and saturated, mixing is easy before of the soft consistency of the paint. The paint spreads smoothly and easily on a canvas. If you like glazing and blending more than textures, I think Sennelier would be an excellent choice.

Since 1887, the Sennelier name has been synonymous with quality, artist-driven innovation, and an unfailing commitment to the advancement of art. Now, Sennelier has turned its expertise, experience, and unerring eye for color to creating a line of artist-quality acrylics.
Sennelier Extra-Fine Acrylique Paints contain only the highest-quality pigments, selected to assure clarity, purity, opacity, and stability over time. A broad palette of 120 colors, most made from a single pigment, includes all the colors that made Sennelier’s Artists’ Oils famous, including traditional Ultramarines, Earths, Ochres, Cadmiums, Cobalts, and colors based on Quinacridone, Pyrrole, Naphthol, and Phtalocyanine. The line also features four interference and six iridescent colors.
Sennelier maintains a tradition of artisanal fabrication, subject to strict and constant quality control. Each stage of production is rigorously tested in the laboratory.
With a texture that duplicates the rich, creamy working properties of Sennelier Artists’ Oils, Sennelier Extra-Fine Acrylique are ideal for working with layers or wash drawings; in combination with other techniques such as pastels, charcoal, or ink; in overlays; and for creating collages and inlays. They can be used outdoor as well as in the studio, and adhere well to non-oily surfaces, including paper, canvas, cardboard canvas, wood, fabric, cement, plaster, and some plastics and metals.
They can be worked with a brush, painting knife, metal spatula, fingers, or directly from the tube to obtain thick lines. Their excellent spreading properties make them easy to mix, allowing for an infinite number of shades without altering luminosity. They are excellent for coatings and can be mixed with Sennelier mediums and retarders to modify their texture, viscosity, transparency, or luminosity. They are low-odor and dry rapidly to create a permanent, insoluble, non-cracking, non-yellowing, water-resistant film.

CA Prop 65

9.Acrylic Paints: Daler-Rowney

As Daler-Rowney artist's quality paints (Cryla) are generally cheaper than Golden, Liquitex, or Winsor and Newton, I use them if I've got a large area to cover, especially in an underpainting. I've found some colors (e.g. Prussian blue) are a bit darker than other brands, which can be useful. The consistency of the paint is stiff to buttery. (Daler-Rowney's student acrylic range is branded System 3.)

10. Acrylic Paints: Utrecht.

This is an American brand of paint which seems to be distributed only in the US. I first bought various tubes from a Utrecht store in New York because the price was competitive with more familiar brands. The paint is thickly buttery but spreads easily when diluted. The colors are what you'd expect from an artist's grade paint: saturated, with good tinting or covering strength depending on what color it is. While I wouldn't make a special trip to get hold of it, if it's one of the options at your local store, it's worth considering.

11.Acrylic Paints: Winsor & Newton Galeria Flow Formula.

While I'm a great believer in using quality artist's paints sometimes it's too inhibiting because you're worrying about wasting the paint. Then it's better to use a good student's quality paint that enables you to feel free to experiment, to just see what happens if you do something, to scrape off paint and paint over something. Winsor & Newton's Galeria brand is an affordable or student's grade of paint that has good strength in colors and works easily (though you'll have to add texture paste if you want thick paint as it's quite soft paint). And it doesn't put too huge a dent in your pocket.

Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylic Color is a high-quality acrylic that delivers professional results, ideal for artists who want good-quality color at an affordable price. The 59 colors in the Galeria range offer a wide spectrum of pigment characteristics to choose from as well as excellent brilliance of color, strong brushstroke retention, clean color-mixing and high performance. Galeria has a smooth, free-flowing consistency, making it easy for the artist to use and mix, while maintaining its body and retaining brush marks.

They brush straight from the tube or pot, making them accessible to beginners. The adhesive qualities and quick drying nature of these acrylics, overpainting is possible within 20 minutes.

Use Galeria Acrylic Colors on many surfaces, including paper, canvas, degreased leather, fabrics, masonite, wood, brickwork, and plaster.

They are not recommended for use on shiny, glossy, greasy surfaces such as glass, unprimed metal, or surfaces painted with oil colors.

Galeria paints are formulated to be compatible with water, other Winsor & Newton acrylic colors, and Winsor & Newton Watercolor Mediums. All colors conform to the European Toy Safety Standard EN71/3.

When diluted, they are suitable for a wide variety of techniques, from stenciling, collage, sponging, and airbrushing, to painting on canvas. Colors are weather and water resistant once dry, making them ideal for use in sculpture and mural work.

Every artist will have their own preferred brand of acrylic paint, based on things such as the colors available and the consistency of the paint, which ranges from extremely buttery to fluid. Rather buy a few quality colors of artist's quality acrylics than a whole range of cheap colors. (Remember, student acrylic paints are cheaper for a reason: they've usually more filler in them, or made from cheaper pigments.) Here are my personal favorites from the brands I've used in paintings.

Pictures and Description by

Compiled by Shama.

Brands List By:

Marion Boddy-Evans
Painting Guide.
Courtesy: www.about.com

painter Rick Stich

2011-07-30T13:10:00.000+03:00

Unquenchable thirst for artistic inspiration

Water is the dominant fascination and artistic inspiration of painter Rick Stich

Lux artist Rick Stich's Water Mirror #1.

Rick Stich

Where: Lux Art Institute, 1550 S. El Camino Real, Encinitas
When: In residence through April 23; exhibit continues through May 18
Tickets: $10 (members, visitors under 21 and bicyclists admitted free; memberships start at $50)
Phone: (760) 436-6611
Online:
luxinstitute.org

Portrait of an artist

Personal: Born in Glendale in 1949. Currently lives in Santa Barbara with his wife of 35 years.
Affiliation: Santa Barbara City College
Education: Attended Orange Coast Community College in Costa Mesa and San Diego State University
Notable California exhibitions: Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Carnegie Art Museum, Edward Cella Art + Architecture, L.A. Louver Gallery, and Ruth Schaffner Gallery
Corporate collectors: Bank of America, Eli Broad Foundation, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Artist Rick Stich is inspired by water.

Lux artist Rick Stic's "Water Mirror #2," 2008.

Rick Stich’s “ Near left: Water Mirror #110,” 2007.

In the age of the short attention span, it is rare to find focus like that of painter Rick Stich, who has been painting the same subject — water — since 1981. Stich, who lives in Santa Barbara and teaches landscape and figurative drawing at Santa Barbara City College, is the current artist in residence at Lux Art Institute in Encinitas. Residents in Lux’s unique program spend a month creating new works of art in an exhibition space where the public can view past projects and interact with the working artist.

I met with Stich at Lux, where we were surrounded by his paintings, which are large and colorful renditions of the surface of water, and a site-specific installation he created for Lux. The installation comprises a dock, a pool of water, a small boat and light.

“The installation would be nothing without the light,” Stich said. While in residence, Stich is painting from the water in the installation. He is particularly interested in capturing the reflections of visitors looking in the pool.

Q: Are the paintings on exhibit drawn from memory or real life?

A: I draw to warm up, like an athlete warms up before a game. I make drawings to study the movement of water. The paintings are mostly from memory though. I’m a surfer. Riding a wave takes 10 seconds. The rest of the time I’m out there, I contemplate the movement of the water. In the studio, color becomes much more important. A work isn’t finished until both of those things are balanced and working together. I built a dock and small boat slip in this space so that people can see the source material and make connections between the paintings and the light, movement and patterns of water.

Q: I’m having a hard time deciding if your paintings are hyper-realistic or abstractions.

A: Good. I like it when they straddle the line between abstraction and realism. They may teeter one way or another, but that is a balance I try to keep.

Q: If you didn’t live on the coast of California, do you think you would paint something besides water?

A: I grew up on a beach in Southern California. That is what I know. Artists can only draw on what they know, and most of them return to memories of their childhood. This dock is a lot like the dock from my childhood. The color and shape of the wood are similar.

Q: What’s your favorite surf spot here in San Diego?

A: Swami’s and Pipes in Encinitas. We live in Encinitas every summer because Santa Barbara doesn’t get good waves in the summer.

Q: You’ve been painting the same thing in a similar way for a very long time. Do you anticipate your interactions with visitors here at Lux will change your process at all?

A: It already has changed. The other day, a teacher from the education building said a train of “tater tots” — that’s what she called the kids — were coming to show me their paintings of water. One little girl was dressed up like a pink princess, and her painting of water was also pink. Her piece excited me and made me want to paint in that color. All of the kids’ paintings were great. I asked them if I could have them, but they weren’t too keen on that.

Q: How do you teach someone to paint water, a notoriously difficult subject?

A: I grab a book and show students how other artists have depicted water. Then I tell them to try and find some movement. Start there. Draw that, and things will usually go well from there.

Q: Thirty years is a long time to study something. What keeps you interested, and do you envision a stopping point?

A: Have you ever found something precious? Or had the realization that you are looking at something rare? Water is everywhere; it is ordinary. Everybody has been in a boat or on a dock, and yet it is extremely precious. Water ties us all together. I can’t imagine an end to my contemplation of water. There is just too much to hold my interest.

Q: Did you know one of your paintings is for sale on eBay right now?

A: I can’t look at that stuff. I have a hard time even being at charity auctions where my work is for sale. It makes me feel like a cow at auction — I immediately say to myself, “I’ve got to get out of here!”

Q: What was the last book you read?

A: “The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean.”

Q: Ha! It’s water-related … what a surprise. Do you have any hobbies besides surfing?

A: I lead a simple life. I spend time in the water, I teach, and I go to the studio.

Shawnee Barton is a San Diego artist and arts writer.

Courtesy.

Ai Weiwei's spot!

2011-07-02T03:42:00.005+03:00

Ai Weiwei's New York: At the Asia Society, the Artist's '80s Photos Show How the Big Apple Shaped His Defiant Temperament

"Ai Weiwei, Williamsburg, Brooklyn," 1983, is among the self-portraits included in the Asia Society's exhibition of Ai Weiwei's New York photography.

By Andrew M. Goldstein

Published: July 1, 2011

NEW YORK— "I was a bit bored, very bored," Ai Weiwei told curator Stephanie Tung, talking about the period he lived in New York in the 1980s. Later in their conversation he added, "I don't really like to take photos that much actually."

Both of those statements begin to lose credibility after a tour of "Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993," a new exhibition at New York's Asia Society that reveals the mountainous heap of pictures that the Chinese artist and world-galvanizing political dissident took while living in the East Village. Ai led an interesting life indeed for the decade he took refuge in the Big Apple, and his photographs — by turns matter-of-fact and archly ironic — suggest an engaged budding artist who had no trouble keeping himself occupied.
Ai moved to New York when he was 24, and the early self-portraits here show him as a thin young man with a confident, up-to-something look in his eyes — a figure we get to watch morph over the course of the exhibition into the girthier and more hirsute artist we know, pursuing social causes with his camera. Much of the time he lived in the city he stayed on East 3rd Street, briefly attending Parsons while working such odd jobs as a street portraitist for tourists in Times Square, a extra in a Metropolitan Opera production of "Turandot," and a renown blackjack "guru" in Atlantic City. (Other gigs he worked include "renovation, construction, babysitting, cutting grass, [and] cleaning houses," he relates in the show's catalogue. "I liked them all.")

Ai also hosted a steady influx of fellow Chinese artists, who used his apartment as a way-station while reveling in the gritty freedom of New York City in the '80s. The expats in his circle included Tehching Hsieh, the performance artist who had come to notoriety by locking himself in a cage for a year in 1978 and spent the '80s doing other yearlong endurance pieces, including one where he tied himself to a woman with a rope. As the son of famous Chinese poet Ai Qing, Ai was also drawn to his neighborhood's literary counterculture, frequently hanging out with his East 12th Street neighbor Allen Ginsberg ("whose anti-establishment, anti-authoritarian stance clearly resonated with him," the catalogue helpfully notes). All the while he was taking photographs of everyone and everything, snapping thousands over the course of the decade.

Among the more compelling images in the show are the following: a nude self-portrait of Ai standing on a chair, with his genitals tucked between his legs, posing as a classical female garden statue; a photo of a wire hanger that Ai bent into the shape of a profile of a face — evoking Duchamp's cutout silhouettes — and filled with his now-signature sunflower seeds; another picture of Ai posting at MoMA with Duchamp's "To Be Looked at (from the Other Side of the Glass) with One Eye, Close to, for Almost an Hour" (the similarities between the two conceptual artists, who both sought artistic freedom in New York, are inescapable) and a series of Andy Warhol self-portraits; a shot of Ai posing with Ginsberg in a Chinese restaurant; images of Mott Street's famous Chinese New Year Festival; and pictures from the funeral, at St. Mark's Church, for Ginsberg's friend, the exemplary New York mystic scavenger Harry Smith.

But what has the most resonance — especially today, given Ai's recent and ongoing travails in China — are his photographic documents of social ills, from the era's AIDS epidemic to its ghettoized immigrant colonies to its rampant homelessness ("nothing had improved since Jacob Riis began photographing New York City slums in the 1880s," a catalogue author notes), and political subjects, like military pilots returning from the Gulf War and "Bill Clinton at His Last Campaign Stop in New York, 1992," as one photo is titled. The grand opus of this work is Ai's pictures from the Tompkins Square Park riots of 1989, during which he took pictures of the army of squatters facing off against heavily armed and thuggish policemen — pictures that he sold to the New York Times, the Post, the Daily News, and other newspapers. After the violence subsided, photographs of the riots were used in court to convict cops of police brutality.

Asked what drew him to take pictures of the event, Ai said, "I was interested in individual rights, group rights and their relation to power — power in the form of the police control — and the resulting confrontations and abuse of those rights." It was a prologue to his battles, in courtrooms and galleries both, with the Chinese government. Now that he is silenced by his yearlong probation, one hopes he still has recourse to his camera to capture and illuminate what he is seeing around him.

Courtesy of:Artinfo.

claudia ficca + davide luciano: potholes

2011-06-20T00:10:00.000+03:00

'potholes' by claudia ficca, davide luciano
all images courtesy claudia ficca, davide luciano
(above) 'baywatch' on almafi drive, los angeles
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'potholes' by canadian creatives claudia ficca and davide luciano is a series of photographs
depicting the concave cracks as functional tools in a collection of imaginative tableus in the city.
captured within the backdrop of los angeles, montreal, and new york city, the set explores the urban
flaw as a playground, creating a multitude of uses out of them including a swimming pool, an oil tank
to fry doughnuts, a bath for pedicures, a giant plate of spaghetti, and more.

directly engaging with the street and the city, the highly imaginative series transforms the bad into good,
creating a tongue-in-cheek collection of tableus that are at once contextual and surreal. taking no more
than 10 minutes from start to finish, the photoshoots are done during uninterrupted traffic where there
is a suitable - and sizeable - pothole.

'alice in wonderland' on 30th street, new york city
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'fisherman' on henri-julien, montreal
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'diver' on avenue musset, montreal
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'gardener' on cote du vesinet, montreal
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'winemaking' on rue st.zotique, montreal
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'spaghetti & meatballs' on greenwich street, new york city
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'dog wash' on alfred street, los angeles
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'doughnuts' on rue belanger, montreal
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'beer & BBQ' on rue waverly, montreal
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'champagne' on tecumseth street, toronto
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'scuba diver' on avenue beaconsfield, montreal
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'laundry' on rue st.urbain, montreal
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'pedicure' on rue queen, montreal
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'baptism' on chemin de la foret, montreal
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'bubble bath' on rue de st.firmin, montreal
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'walk of fame' on new hampshire, los angeles
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

'santa claus' on tremaine street, los angeles
image © claudia ficca, davide luciano

courtesy:DB

Fire Drawings

2011-06-19T20:01:00.000+03:00

'approaching storm' by paul chojnowski
burned and scorched paper (30 x 40 inches)

american artist paul chojnowski works with fire and water on paper and wood, creating photograph-like and narrative
images by selectively burning and charring the surface.

chojnowski developed his unconventional technique in the early 1990's, while working with wax and raw pigments
on wooden panels. discovering that he could burn marks into the wood's surface using handheld torches, chojnowski
began creating 'fire drawings', first on wood and then also on paper.

his current technique involves the use first of a water dropper, which he uses to soak each part of a sheet of watercolour paper
to a different level of wetness. taking a torch to the surface, he then burns the image; the wettest areas of the piece are the slowest
to burn, and thus remain lighter in tone even as the driest sections char to black. control is critical in the process, as even a moment
of overheating can cause the entire work to burst into flame.

chojnowski also uses the natural textures of his surfaces as a layer of detail; for example, in his 'evening of the deluge'
and 'after the deluge' prints, burned and highlighted regions align carefully against the grain of the wood, offering the impression
of water ripples.

'search lights', burned and scorched baltic birch plywood (40 x 60 inches)

'after the deluge', burned and scorched paper (30 x 40 inches)

'beacon', burned and scorched baltic birch plywood (48 x 36 inches)

'candere 1', burned and scorched paper (22 x 15 inches)

'evening rain', burned and scorched paper

'ribbons and ring'

'times square 11:20pm', burned and scorched paper (30 x 22 inches)

Optical delusions and small realities

2011-06-19T19:45:00.000+03:00

otherworldly: optical delusions and small realities
museum of arts and design, new york
on now until september 18, 2011

miniature work by lori nix
'beauty shop' (in progress), 2010
c-print
40 x 52 inches
courtesy of the artist; clampart gallery, new york

'otherworldly: optical delusions and small realities' presents a series of 37 miniature worlds, transporting visitors into surreal,
hyperrealistic worlds, secretive environments, challenging one's perception of what is real and what is fabricated.

the featured artists explore the use of the diorama as a contemporary art form through site-specific installation, video, photography,
(even snow globes...), creating dioramas as free-standing sculptures, while also using them as subjects for photographs or animated videos.
each tiny built world is realized through an intense engagement with a diverse set of materials and a meticulous attention to detail
allowing for the production of elaborate environments that are at once familiar and foreign.

miniature work by lori nix
'great hall', 2006
courtesy of the artist

'otherworldly ...', held at the museum of art and design (MAD) in new york, is loosely organized around four themes,
providing a narrative thread for the diverse subject matters at hand:
'apocalyptic archaeology' introduces viewers to architectural monuments and interiors, frequently in ruin, as a means of investigating
the ultimate deterioration and decay of cultural artifacts. 'unnatural nature' is an ironic look at our fascination with simulating
natural phenomena. works pertaining to 'dreams and memories' question the nature and meaning of recalled experiences.
finally, 'voyeur / provocateurs' delves into hidden, secretive spaces and unspoken narratives.
the exhibition excludes dollhouses, theatrical sets, maquettes and architectural models.

miniature work by alan wolfson
'canal st. cross-section', 2009-10
27 x 23.5 x 19.5 inches
courtesy of the artist

the international artists represented are each dedicated to a practice that focuses on traditional low-tech and hand-made processes.
photographs in the exhibition are created using traditional equipment and not digitally manipulated, constructing small locales,
both mythic and actual, becoming the subjects of their photographic investigations. for many of the photographers represented,
this exhibition is the first occasion in which their built models are displayed to the public, focusing specifically on dioramas
and installations as works of art.

miniature work by alan wolfson
'canal st. cross-section' (in progress, detail), 2009-10
mixed media
27 x 23.5 x 19.5 inches
courtesy of the artist; private collection, england

see designboom's article on alan wolfson's canal st. cross-section.

miniature work by joe fig
'chuck close: 8/1/04 - 4/25/06', 2005-06
mixed media
11 x 11 x 9.5 inches
courtesy of the artist

'in a social and artistic environment in which digital programming and cyberworlds are embedded in almost every aspect
of our day-to-day activity, these artists are taking the bold step to reengage with the tangible and going back to the roots
of artistic practice. they are creating magical worlds that, whether depicting floating landscapes, haunting interiors,
or abandoned rooms, are all about place, emotion, memory, and vision - both perceived and created,'
says MAD's chief curator david mcfadden

miniature work by joe fig
'jackson pollock', 2008 (detail)
wood, polymer clay, canvas, pencil, oil / acrylic paint, metal, plastic
8 x 21 x 17.5 inches
courtesy of the arts; private collection

miniature work by patrick jacobs
work in progress, 2008
courtesy of the artist

exhibiting artists include:
matthew albanese, rick araluce, mat collishaw, thomas doyle, gregory euclide, joe fig, frank kunert, walter martin, charles matton,
didier massard, paloma muñoz, lori nix, david opdyke and charles simonds.