Chip off the Old Block!

Two vandals recently chipped off a piece of rock from the Stonehenge monument. Armed with a hammer and a screwdriver, vandals removed a piece about as big as a large coin by cover of night. They also left a 2.5 inch scratch on one of the megaliths. Any further desecration was foiled by security guards.

It is believed they could've been in search of a souvenir! They could have been tourists. Most people go on vacation and come back with a "I Love New York" shirt or a fake Rolex - but these guys come away with their very own piece of Stonehenge! What a shame...

Pronunciation of Artists' Names

There are alot of artists' names out there that get butchered/mispronounced all the time! I was guilty of this sin too. I'm no linguist or anything. I really only know German. (Even then, I'm pretty rusty at it!) So here is a helpful list of the culprits, courtesy of http://www.inogolo.com/
enjoy!

Artists' names and their correct pronunciations!

Jean-Auguste Ingres - pronounced: "Zhahn-o-gust" "Ang" not "ing-res"

Jacques-Louis David - pronounced: "Zhahk-loo-ee" "Dah-veed"

Nicolas Poussin - pronounced: "Nee-ko-lah" "Poo-sah"

Paul Klee - prounounced: "Pow-ull" "Klay"

Berthe Morisot - pronounced: "Bairt" "Mo-ree-zo"

Wayne Thiebauld - pronounced: "Tee-bo"

Titian - pronounced: "Tih-shuhn"

and saving the best for last!...

Amedeo Modigliani - pronounced: "Ah-may-day-o" "Mo-deel-yah-nee"

Where Id's At!

Lucian Freud has been named the most expensive living artist after his painting of Sue Tilley recently sold for $33.6 million at auction! (I wonder how much that translates into an hour? 50,000 an hour? 100,000 an hour?) Freud is movin’ on up. His last painting sold for a mere 19 mil.

The painting titled Benefits Supervisor Sleeping is lifesize and was painted in 1995. “Big Sue” posed for Freud in the early 90s for four long years, two or three days a week! It’s a beautiful painting and all, but who would want a painting of a naked, morbidly obese woman hanging over his mantle? (Hey, Different strokes for different folks.)

At this point, it seems that Lucian Freuds have become like Ferraris for the rich. It’s quite a status symbol to own one.

Lucian is the grandson of the psychoanalyser himself, Sigmund Freud. Lucian is known for his fleshy technique of capturing skin using globby brushstrokes. His ability to capture the “meatiness” of the flesh is brilliant and genius.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm stuffed. I was watching the Macy's parade on tv and saw a bizarre site...Jeff Koons created a Macy's balloon after one of his sculptures! The Shiny Rabbit had its place next to Snoopy and Santa Clause. Atleast it was a relatively tame sculpture and not his kitschy porn from the 90s.

Support your local starving artist!

Everyone should come out to Meek Hall Gallery 130 this Friday, Nov. 9 for our annual Christmas auction. I will have 4 paintings up on the auction block (that sounds so professional like I'm selling them at Sotheby's or something!) There will be artwork by students, faculty, and alumni featuring pottery, paintings, prints, sculptures, drawings, etc, etc. A guaranteed fun time will be experienced by all. So come on down and bring your fat stacks!

Holiday Art Auction
Meek Hall, Gallery 130
Preview: 9:00 am (all day)
Silent Auction: 5:30–6:30 pm
Live Auction: 7 pm
Friday, November 9

Whiff of Warhol

A New York Company will be releasing an Andy Warhol perfume called "The Silver Factory."...Odd, I wonder what it will smell like? Probably, musk of dirty hippies and leftover Campbell's soup. Anyone who's seen Factory Girl with Sienna Miller and Guy Pierce will know of Andy's indulgent and bizarre lifestyle in his studio called "The Factory" (which I guess the perfume is named after.)

I think it's funny that Andy Warhol is probably the only artist that would work for this. Could you imagine a perfume after any other artist...
Musk of Man Ray by Calvin Klein anybody?

Heads Up

Flying baby angel heads attack! I saw this photo on flickr.com. Just wondering why Bernini stuck some wings on a couple of dismembered heads and called them angels? Anybody know?

Dumpster Diving

A person recently threw away 1,000,000 dollars on the streets of New York City - in the form of a 1970s Rufino Tamayo painting! The painting "Tres Personajes" was stolen in 1987 and just now reappeared. A woman walking around the streets of NYC saw the painting in a pile of junk. She quickly plucked it out of the rubbish. But this was four years ago. I guess it took her four years ago to realize she was sitting on a gold mine!

The painting originally belonged to a Houston couple before it was stolen. The painting will be returned to the original owner and sold at Sotheby's.

One man's trash is another man's treasure! I keep on telling myself that my habit of dumpster diving will eventually pay off. Probably not in the form of a million dollar masterpiece though...

Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones

Venezuelan bully Hugo Chavez recently thought it would be a good idea to erect a sculpture honoring Che Guevara in Caracas, Venezuela. Yeah, that's all fine and dandy except the sculpture was made of glass! If there's anything that an old proverb will teach you is that those who live in glass houses and or next to glass sculptures shouldn't throw stones....or should they? As you guessed it the inevitable happened. The sculpture was destroyed by vandals within two weeks! Che Guevara is a pretty controversial fella I guess even in his old stomping ground...

tramp stamp

Saw this tat one day while using the internets. M.C. Escher would be so proud!