Banksy graffiti: art or vandalism? Yellow lines
When Tower Hamlets Council announced that they would remove any graffiti by Banksy, he challenged them with this, in Bethnal Green. November 2007. Source: virginmedia.com
News
Banksy graffiti: art or vandalism?
Bristol City Council asked local residents to decide whether they wanted this piece removed in June 2006. Following a positive response, the graffiti was allowed to remain. Source: virginmedia.com
Elegant Art Jokes: THE LABYRINTH OF EGYPT
A labyrinth, with the ancients, was a building containing a great number of chambers and galleries, running into one another in such a manner as to make it very difficult to find the way through the edifice. The most famous was the Egyptian labyrinth, situated in Central Egypt, above Lake Moeris, not far from Crocodilopolis, in the country now called Fejoom. Herodotus, who visited and examined this edifice with great attention, affirms that it far surpassed everything he had conceived of it. It is very uncertain when, by whom, and for what purpose it was built, though in all probability it was for a royal sepulchre. The building, half above and half below the ground, was one of the finest…
Banksy graffiti: Cash machine
As works by guerilla artist Banksy fetch tens of thousands under the hammer at a Shoreditch gallery, we look at some of his famous daubings and ask: is it art? Cash machine abducting young girl – Exmouth Market, London. May 2007. Source: virginmedia.com
Banksy graffiti:Portraits
Clockwise from top left: The Queen, Winston Churchill, Kate Moss, a policeman. Source: virginmedia.com
Naked Mans and Nuns Riles Some (but not all) Catholics
When life and art collide … A fitness club ad running in Boston magazine that depicts nuns sketching a naked man has triggered protests among some members of the Bay State’s Catholic community. The ad for the Equinox Fitness Club is running in this month’s issue and some Catholic organizations blasted the photo saying it was offensive. C.J. Doyle of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts said the ad shows contempt for the Catholic religion. “It says a great deal about this perverse obsession in both the fashion industry and the advertising industry of exploiting and mocking and sexualizing Catholic religious imagery,” Doyle said. That’s the Catholic Action League for you … no sense of humor. Actual nuns have a…
Picasso’s first Painting
His first major painting, an “academic” work is First Communion, featuring a portrait of his father, mother, and younger sister kneeling before an altar. Picasso was 15 when he finished it.
David LaChapelle’s return to fine art
The photographer known for his glossy, glamourised images reveals why he fell out of love with fashion and is now focusing on his art By William Oliver Over a 20-year career, David LaChapelle has carved a name for himself as an enfant terrible of pop culture photography. The cutting, acerbic wit and layered symbolism in his celebrity portraiture, fashion and advertising images is seen as a bolt of honesty—albeit a glamourised and high-gloss one—in an industry known for its false vision of reality. During the last few years, LaChapelle has moved away from commercial work to focus on fine art. While retaining his unique visual style, this new direction highlights his interest and understanding of both contemporary practice and art…
Archive of the painter Giorgio Vasari sold to a Russian company
Controversy surrounds €150m sale to Russian company, which officials think may not actually exist The Italian government has seized the archive of the painter and writer Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), sold to a Russian company late last year, because it does “not believe that the Moscow-based firm actually exists”, says the lawyer representing the archive owners. The move is the latest twist in a saga that began last autumn with the sale of the Vasari documents to the Russian conglomerate Ross Engineering for €150m. A contract was signed in September by the late owner of the archive, Giovanni Festari, and Vasilij Stepanov of Ross Engineering. However, questions were raised about the authenticity of the deal with sources in the Russian art…
Lucian Freud is rumoured to have up to 40 illegitimate children.
Personal life of Lucian Freud. Freud is rumoured to have up to 40 illegitimate children, although this number is generally accepted as an exaggeration. After an affair with Lorna Garman, he went on to marry her niece Kitty (daughter of sculptor Jacob Epstein and socialite Kathleen Garman) in 1948. After four years and the birth of two daughters, Annie and Annabel, their marriage ended. He had begun an affair with Lady Caroline Blackwood, a society girl and writer. They married in 1953. The marriage was dissolved in Mexico in 1958. Freud has children also by Bernardine Coverley (fashion designer Bella Freud and writer Esther Freud); Suzy Boyt (5 children: Ali, Rose Boyt, Isobel, and Susie Boyt); and Katherine Margaret McAdam…