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Russian artists found guilty of race hate crime

Alan — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:32:18 +0000

Two men behind a 2007 controversial Moscow art exhibition were found guilty in a Russian court of inciting hatred. Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev set up the questionable exhibition entitled Forbidden Art in Moscow at the Sakharov Museum. The men were both fined for the exhibit.

The show was condemned by the Russian Orthodox Church and many others for artworks such as one that showed Jesus Christ depicted with a head of Mickey Mouse. In another painting Jesus Christ was painted with a head that was the Order of Lenin medal.

Also within the exhibition was a spoof Coca-Cola ad that had the slogan ‘This is my blood’ painted within it that a visitor could see by looking through peep holes.

The two men, the former director of the museum, Samodurov, and Yerofeyev, an art expert, stated that they put together the exhibition in an effort to fight the art censorship that exists within Russia.

Prosecutors launched a formal investigation after a complaint was filed by an Orthodox group.

Samodurov received a fine of £4,300 and Yerofeyev received a fine of £3,200.

The trial started in April of 2009 and faced criticism not only from the Orthodox church but also those within the art community with 13 renowned Russian artists bonding together to write a letter to the Russian President Dimitry Medvedev asking him to halt the trial explaining a guilty verdict would rock the contemporary Russian art world.

Amnesty International also released a statement last week stating that a guilty verdict would hurt the status of freedom of expression within Russia.

However, the legal action was defended by the Council of People who issued the complaint that spurred the trial.

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Charles Saatchi donates gallery to the public

Alan — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 18:58:49 +0000

The always glorious art-nut Charles Saatchi has decided to offer his art gallery to the state by renaming the Saatchi gallery in Chelsea on King’s Road the Museum of Contemporary Art London. To top it off, the collector is going to offer 200 pieces of his own collection to the museum.

The gift is valued at £25m and will include some of the top highlights of his collection such as the Chapman brothers’ mannequins, Tracey Emin’s My Bed, and the installation of Richard Wilson titled 20:50.

The aim of Saatchi apparently is to leave a legacy behind him although the name will not be changed until 2012 and to create a museum that will live on according to the words of Rebecca Wilson the gallery director.

Given his name has always been a sensation, Saatchi is showing a lot of generosity by taking his name off of the marquee although most question if he can really explain the true meaning of contemporary art.

Also questionable is if MOCAL will be able to grow in a more formidable direction than the one that Saatchi founded or if the notable millionaire will continue to mandate the direction by his every whim and request.

While the contribution is quite generous, it is yet to be seen if it will be as ambitious of a donation as it seems at first.

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Turner prize surprises

Alan — Fri, 07 May 2010 02:28:39 +0000

Dexter Dalwood, the artist behind the painting of Dr. David Kelly’s death, which echoed throughout the Scottish history via an astronaut on board of the Soviet space station in 2003 was acclaimed as original, unique, melancholic, and at sometimes even lyrical.

However, even though Dalwoods’ Bristol Banksy exhibition was extremely popular those who love him including the Turner Prize judge Andrew Nairne will be disappointed since the street artist did not make the final shortlist of the 2010 Turner prize.

His most notable painting is The Death of David Kelly which some people compare to The Death of Marat by Charlotte Corday and is thought to have a great historical value to it.

However, comparing these two paintings is a mistake given that Dalwoods’ is drastically different. In it is a tree that has a moon behind it sitting atop a mound which is thought to be a vision of Kelly’s death instead of a direct depiction of the manner in which he created suicide back in 2003.

Other glorified works by Dalwood include the Brighton Bomb and the Greenham Common dispute that are construed scenes from media pictures meant to exemplify his belief that history is just a piece of fiction that has been written and thus can be taken from a subjective point of view which should not be considered to be of any less value than any other images from a specific event or time.

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Youngest modern Royal artist completes portrait of the Queen

Alan — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:18:51 +0000

Rupert Alexander has earned a small place in art history by becoming the youngest person to be commissioned to paint the Queen. He has produced the final in a series of portraits of the Royal family which began with the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales when Alexander was just 23; the latest painting of the Queen was completed when he was 35.

The London born artist who learnt his craft at the prestigious Florence Academy of Art, is believed to have had a total of three sittings with her Majesty in order to complete the painting.

The Queen is said to have been interested in discussing Alexander’s uncle Alan Campbell-Johnson during these meetings, as he was right-hand man to Mountbatten while he was serving as the Viceroy of India.

The selection of a head and shoulders portrait was apparently Alexander’s as he was trying to bring out the more intimate areas of her Majesty’s character, as such he deliberately avoided the inclusion of any Royal symbols or other ‘clutter’ that would take away from exposing her Majesty’s more ‘human’ side.

Alexander is the youngest artist to the commissioned to paint the Royal family in the last 300 years since the apprenticeship system for younger artists was withdrawn during the mid-17th century.

The artists’ time at school in Italy was funded by the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) which seeks to bolster fading areas of the visual arts. Not surprisingly since his first Royal portrait his reputation as an artist has been greatly enhanced and he has become a very much in demand portrait painter.

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Kent’s own Tracey Emin gets behind Kent University’s KRIKEY! Kentemporary Prints

admin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:03:43 +0000

More Margate More Past by Tracey Emin

An exhibition of prints, curated by students at the University of Kent, has received a resounding endorsement from leading artist Tracey Emin. KRIKEY! Kentemporary Prints, is the result of work by History and Philosophy of Art students at the University of Kent. The exhibition, which runs from Monday 10 May 2010 until 4 June 2010, is open from 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday, in the University’s new School of Arts building, Canterbury campus.

Commenting on the exhibition, Tracey Emin, said: “It’s amazing how many appreciated and well known printmakers come from Kent. It’s obviously a hotbed of printmaking activity.”

Emin, famously from Margate, features alongside similarly high profile artists, from Royal Academicians to YBAs (Young British Artists), associated with the Kent region. Others include Frank Auerbach, Peter Blake, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Ian Davenport, Angus Fairhurst, Gary Hume, Humphrey Ocean, Chris Orr and Ana Maria Pacheco.

The exhibition forms an eclectic mix from the controversial Chapman Brothers’ Unhappy Meal and Gary Hume’s Hermaphrodite Polar Bear to Pop icons such as The Beatles and Andy Warhol in Peter Blake’s shimmering Love me do and Diamond Dust.

Michael Healey and Martyn Hill form the student duo who had the initial idea for the show. Martyn has said: “We wanted to demonstrate the print as a serious contemporary art form that would appeal to the masses; something that was both accessible but at the same time enjoyable and thought-provoking.”

The exhibition will be the fourth organised under the auspices of The Kent Print Collection. Established in 2005, it aims to give undergraduate students the opportunity to collect art on behalf of the School of Arts, and to put on museum-standard exhibitions drawing on this resource.

Dr. Ben Thomas, convenor of the Print Collecting and Curating module said: “I am excited about Krikey! kentemporary prints and very proud of what History & Philosophy of Art students have achieved. This is the fourth Kent Print Collection exhibition and they just keep getting better and better. By any standards this will be a great show of contemporary British art. It would not have been possible without the generosity of artists and art dealers, and I am very grateful for the amazing support we have received from professionals in the art world.”

Further details here.

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Labour manifesto makes promises to the arts

Alan — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 02:55:48 +0000

This year the Labour manifesto is taking an extensive look at the arts and culture segment of government to an unprecedented extent which may partially be due to the fact that Conservatives have offered a few initiatives on the arts over the last few months, or perhaps because they are afraid to get negative publicity from the small but noisy arts lobby.

Among the inclusions are a handful of new policies and initiatives such as a £10 theatre ticket scheme that will be extended nationally to match the National Theatre’s Travelex £10 tickets, a biannual Festival of Britain in order to celebrate the achievements in British theatre starting in 2013, new incentives for philanthropy, and primary legislation to guide natural museums so that they can get greater independence.

Also included is a mention of looking over the current structure of the English Heritage in order to ad mutual principals at the core governance so people can offer more input into how the historical legacy of Britain is preserved and maintained although this can be a bit hard to interpret and can really be expanded to mean anything from pubs to football clubs.

Worth noting is a promise that will allow public institutions to borrow art from the national connection so that more people will be able to view the artistic heritage of Britain although once again the statement is a little open-ended and could refer to art within national museums, the arts Council collection, or maybe the government art collection.

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Guardian family friendly museum of the year award

Alan — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:31:08 +0000

Trips made undercover by a team of judges along with their children led to the winner being announced of the Guardian family friendly museum of the year award which was awarded to the Coventry Herbert Art Gallery and Museum.

The award is quite notable for the museum and well timed given that it celebrates its 50th birthday this year. The museum won the award for scoring the best on the 20-point Kids in Museums manifesto which is a template that was created in order to make all museums think about the best way to design their exhibits so that they make for great places to plan a family visit.

The Herbert museum was officially named the winner at a London ceremony beating out other shortlisted museums including the National Trust’s Beningbrough Hall and Gardens, Great North Museum, the Highland Folk Museum, the Exeter St. Nicholas Priory, and the Stoke Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.

As winner of the award, the Hebert will receive 500 activity sheets illustrated especially by Quentin Blake.

Journalist Dea Birkett led to the creation of the awards in 2004 who was horrified to be kicked out of the Aztec exhibit at the Royal Academy when her son yelled ‘monster’ at a scary exhibit.

Since then the campaign has only grown stronger launching a new manifesto in 2010 at the British Museum this past January. Included in its objectives are widening family ticket options outside of the standard two adult two children packages and ‘shushing’ at museums.

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Ai Weiwei and the Tate

Alan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:29:10 +0000

The Chinese Artist, Ai Weiwei, who worked on the collaborative design for the Beijing Olympics Bird’s Nest stadium will soon be working on the design for the Tate Modern Turbine Hall.

Weiwei has large footsteps to fill following in the likes of Rachel Whiteread, Anish Kapoor, and Olafur Eliasson working on a design for what is known as the most popular art attractions in Britain.

Of course, Weiwei has plenty of credits under his own name working alongside architects de Meuron and Herzog on the 2008 Olympic Games stadium, which is one of the most notable of modern designs.

Vicente Todoli, the director of Tate Modern, announced the appointment of Weiwei this week stating that the installations of Weiwei are some of the most engaged art works to be constructed today so the museum is excited to see how he will be able to work with the large public environment of the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall which should be completed in October.

Weiwei was born in 1957 in Beijing and returned to his home to work after spending time in America during the eighties. Since then he has had a large influence in Chinese contemporary art with works that include a photo-triptych recording of how a ceramic vase from the Han dynasty was dropped onto the floor.

Other works include a Munich wall to commemorate the 2008 Sichuan earthquake composed of children’s backpacks and a ‘colonization’ of the Kassel town made up of 1,0001 citizens of China.

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New Scottish motorway art work

Alan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:13:24 +0000

Motorists on A1 at Macmerry in East Lothian will get to watch art in action for the next few weeks. Two huge cranes, supporting the slowly emerging form of a crouching man 25 metres high, are visible from the motorway as drivers pass by.

The construction underway is the work of Had Fab Ltd. of Macmerry Industrial Estate, a company well known for building pylons and transmission towers. The project is quite different from Had Fab’s typical jobs, but they obviously have the necessary equipment and expertise to accomplish it. A project of this size requires a lot of construction workers thus providing many job opportunities in East Lothian and the local area.

Antony Gormley, designer of the famous Angel of the North in Gateshead, designed the new sculpture for Lelystad in the Netherlands. Once it is completed (sometime in May) the entire 60-tonne structure will be disassembled and shipped via flatbed trucks to its permanent home in Lelystad, where it will be reassembled to stand looking out to sea.

Managing director of Had Fab, Simon Harrison, says he has been working with Gormley for the past five years to put the project together. The finished sculpture will be (aptly) named ‘Exposure’, and Mr. Harrison says it has been getting a lot of attention from the public.

It has also tested the skill and ingenuity of the crew at Had Fab, but they are achieving what many thought was impossible. Harrison said that Gormley is eager to work with them again, but he hopes the next colossal artwork will be designed for a spot in the U.K.

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2010 Art Fund Prize

Alan — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:30:50 +0000

The long list of nominees for the 2010’s Art Fund Prize is dominated by multimillion pound projects and national institutions that total up when combined to cost over £230m, with a few of the larger projects including the Conflicts of Interest project at the National Art Museum, which cost £573,000, and the Darwin Centre at the National History Museum which cost £78m.

Team leader for the Conflicts of Interest exhibit, Mairead O’Hara stated that she was excited and thrilled to hear that it was included on the long list, stating that they are proud to be behind the project and overjoyed that their efforts were recognized by the art world. The exhibition spans the last forty years, and thus the project was built in flexible terms so that the content could stay current.

The Art Fund Prize is worth £100,000 and will be given to the project that is chosen as the best example of excellence, originality, and imagination.

There are 11 contenders in the running for the prize this year including the Asmolean Museum, Ulster Museum, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Blists Hill Victorian Town, Great North Museum, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, the Leach Pottery, Towner Eastbourne, Hampton Court Palace, and the Royal Institution of Great Britain.

The list will be cut down to a short-list of four which will be decided and released by the close of May, and the final winner will be declared on the 30^th of June.

The judging panel consists of Lars Tharp, Jonathan Yeo, AC Grayling, and Chairwoman Kristy Young.

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