Street artist K-Guy put up this touching tribute for the economic good times, called “In Loving Memory of The Boom Economy.” It’s outside the Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, Central London.
weirdnewsfiles.com
Crack is wack
Tate's Crack - People are Stupid! www.artnewsblog.com 
Either people are on crack while visiting Doris's crack at theTate Modern in London or they are just downright stupid. How could 15 people hurt themselves in the first four weeks of the "Shibboleth" installation by Colombian artist Doris Salcedo?
I mentioned a story a couple of weeks ago where the first few idiots fell into the Tate Crack, but that figure has been rising each week.
Times Online has reported that the Tate Modern may have to implement options that could include "higher levels of control of entry, barrier or demarcation lines, Perspex bridging over certain sections or other physical interventions which may become required."
The museum already has warning signs everywhere and leaflets about the work are handed out. So, unless you are blind, there is no excuse for falling into a crack that is clearly marked as a crack (unless you are trying to sue the museum!). I'm truly amazed at the stupidity of some people. Are these people just after attention or are they seriously this stupid all the time?!
ok..
Britney Spears Naked Sculpture www.artnewsblog.com 
A nude sculpture of the pop star Britney Spears clutching a dead bear rug has been creating a bit of a stir recently. The work by Daniel Edwards, titled "Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston" shows Spears naked, pregnant, and sensually bent over on her knees.
The artist said this about the pose.. "The image from behind of the kneeling pose is very strong so I felt the front of the sculpture needed an equally powerful image which is where the bearskin comes in."
Spears Sculpture on Display Next Month
"The gallery said it received about 3,000 e-mails from around the world in just a week, split between anti-abortion and abortion rights opinions."
"We also got calls from Tokyo, England, France. Some people are upset that Britney is being used for this subject matter," said gallery co-owner David Kesting. "Others who are pro-life thought this was degrading to their movement. And some pro-choice people were upset that this is a pro-life monument." ABC News
The Britney Spears nude sculpture will be exhibited at the Capla Kesting gallery in Brooklyn, USA in April.
LSD improves drawing......depends
Drawing on Drugs
Don't try this at home kids. The experiment was done by the US government in the 1950s in a controlled environment. They were testing the effects of LSD on the artist.
The artist did nine drawings over a period of several hours. This is the first drawing in the series. It looks pretty normal, but that's because the LSD hasn't kicked in yet.
On drawing number three, the artist says "Outlines seem normal, but very vivid.. everything is changing color. My hand must follow the bold sweep of the lines. I feel as if my consciousness is situated in the part of my body that's now active - my hand, my elbow.. my tongue."
See the whole series of acid drawings at cowboybooks or the post where I found the story at Neatorama.
www.artnewsblog.com
Interesting....
Patricia Piccinini at Roslyn Oxley9 Patricia Piccinini is currently showing a bunch of weird and wonderful things at the Roslyn Oxley9 gallery in Sydney. The show is called Related Individuals and closes on the 6th of December. www.artnewsblog.com 
Patricia Piccinini
The Long Awaited, 2008
silicon, fibreglass, human hair, plywood, leather, clothing 152 × 80 × 92cm
Patricia Piccinini
Not Quite Animal II (Transgenic Skull for the Bodyguard), 2008
bronze 28 × 14.5 × 19.5cm
My guess is that at least half of all working artists in the world have created at least one skull this year! Every art magazine I pick up has at least one skull in it. Are we looking at our own mortality or is it just because of the Damien Hirst skull?
YEAS!
LIFE Photo Archive on Google
LIFE is teaming up with Google to create a massive online database of more than 10 million photos from the 1750s through to today. It is a work in progress but there is already an impressive collection of photographs online now.
"For 70 years, LIFE has been about one thing, and that’s the power of photography to tell a story," says Andy Blau, LIFE’s President. "LIFE will now reach a broader audience and engage them online with the incredible depth and breadth of the LIFE Photo Archive from serious world events, to Hollywood celebrities to whimsical photographs." Time Inc. EVP, John Squires adds: "We’re delighted Google recognized the rich value of our photo archive and worked with us to bring it to millions of consumers. Consistent with the launch of the TIME Archive, PEOPLE Archive and the SI Vault, this initiative continues our efforts to build valuable new revenue opportunities from our rich heritage."
The LIFE photography archive is hosted here by Google. There's an excellent collection of Pablo Picasso pictures here. The Google Image Search is free for personal and research purposes. Copyright and ownership of all images will remain with Time Inc.
Update: Searching for "Artists at Work" brings up an interesting set of images, with the likes of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Georges Rouault, Fernand Leger, Marc Chagall, Alice Neel and more coming up.
www.artnewsblog.com
Business in art
Damien Hirst Levi's Jeans and T-shirts
I love and hate Damien Hirst in equal portions. I love the marketing genius that the man is, but I also dislike him for similar reasons as he has made art all about business. Only a (starving) fool would ignore business altogether in art, but I still find myself clinging to a romantic art that is above money and press releases. There's all kinds of art though, so I probably admire Hirst more than I dislike him.
The British artist is now teaming up with Levi's Jeans to do a limited edition collection of t-shirts and jeans. The Damien Hirst X Levi’s® collection uses well known Hirst themes like spots, skulls, butterflies and his spin paintings. The prices start at £55 for tees and £150 for jeans, so now everyone can own a Damien Hirst.. kind of.
Here's a short Damien Hirst interview about the Levi's collection..
1. How did the original collaboration between you and Levi’s® come about?
I’ve always worn Levi's® and I saw a collection that (designer) Adrian Nyman made using Warhol's art and I loved it so much I bought the whole collection. Adrian heard about it and contacted me and asked if I’d like to work with him, the Warhol estate and Levi’s®, and of course I jumped at the chance.
2. Why did you decide to partner with Levi’s® to create another Damien Hirst X Levi’s® limited-edition collection?
Because I really enjoyed the experience of working with Adrian and Levi’s® and loved the clothes.
3. What was your inspiration for this collection?
I loved the idea of art you can wear.
4. What was the inspiration and meaning behind your iconic imagery of the skull, spots and butterfly?
I live in Mexico and I love the way they celebrate all the bad and good aspects of life there. In life we are here for a good time, not a long time and I hope the imagery communicates that.
5. Do you have any favourite pieces or items in the collection you are most excited about?
I love it all.
6. Have you ever provided design inspiration for a clothing collection before?
I painted heavy metal album covers on schoolmate’s denim jackets when I was at school.
7. Have you seen people out and about in pieces from your Damien Hirst X Levi’s® limited-edition collection? Do you like the idea that people can now "wear your art"?
I tried to sign someone’s t shirt I saw in a club but they wouldn’t let me because they didn’t believe I was Damien Hirst, funny huh?
8. What similarities or differences do you find between expressing yourself creatively through art versus fashion?I don’t see a difference really, anything done well is art, but this way a lot of people get to own my stuff and in a not too precious way.
www.artnewsblog.com
Yeah, sex has been around for a while
Erotic art traces history of sex
Rembrandt's 1659 work Jupiter and Antiope is part of the exhibitionIt's an age-old question. When is art art and when is it simply pornography? A provocative exhibition at the Barbican in central London is helping fuel the debate.
Seduced - Art and Sex from Antiquity to Now contains works spanning 2000 years, by some of the most famous artists in the world, showing human beings in their most intimate moments.
Kate Bush, the Barbican's head of art, has spent five years putting the collection together.
"It's not about porn. It's a thoughtful exhibition, a celebration of what connects all human beings across time and cultures," says Ms Bush.
The aim of the show is to explore the history of what's accepted as art and to throw light on our current attitudes.
And certainly those attitudes have changed. The first exhibit is a cast of the bronze fig leaf which was made so that Queen Victoria would not be offended by the replica of Michelangelo's statue of David in London's Victoria and Albert Museum.
The visitor then passes a room of pottery showing the antics of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, through the voluptuous bodies of the Renaissance to contemporary works such as the stylised satirical photographs by Jeff Koons poking fun at the porn industry.
Martin Kemp is one of the show's curators and a professor of history of art at Oxford University.
'Sex and joy'
He says putting the exhibition together has taught him "how similar we are in terms of images of sex and joy, but also about the unease in the representation of this private act".
"There's no civilisation which hasn't had problems with it," he adds.
The curators have made a point of only including works which show sex between consenting adults. There is nothing which suggests violence or sex with children.
While many of the works can be seen at any major gallery on permanent exhibition, this collection bans under-18s from attending.
Certainly when a work is old it appears to us as more acceptable as art rather than pornography.
Professor Kemp says art is also more complicated than porn, arousing a mixture of emotions. The other big difference is the quality.
"It became clear where pornography stops and art starts," he explains.
"If you look at the frescoes from Herculaneum, they employed major artists.
"If you went to Soho to a brothel today, you don't expect major artists to be deployed.
Destroyed
"If you take the Japanese works, they are very explicit, more so than in the West.
"But the levels of artistry are high, they are sumptuous, beautiful, delicate and refined."
The Japanese prints were made by leading masters including Hokusai. The woodblock prints show men and women in elaborate clothes and equally elaborate poses and were intended for use in brothels and private homes.
There are also Chinese works showing beautiful scenes of gentle love-making in quiet gardens. Chinese erotic art is a little known tradition because so much was destroyed in the Mao era.
The exhibition throws light on how different cultures at different times have viewed sex.
What it reveals above all is how styles of art have changed over the centuries, while human beings and their desires have essentially stayed the same.
Seduced: Art and Sex from Antiquity to Now runs until 27 January 2008. news.bbc.co.uk
Body art champs!
Canadian body painting champs.....
Perhaps you're interested in enhancing your humdrum flesh, so that you can walk around almost naked and look like a lion in a tuxedo or some other mythological creature. OK, just remember that it's hard work.
At Body Gras -- the Canadian Bodypainting Championship -- models had to stand in place sometimes as long as six hours before they could come up with the amazing works of living art that strutted the catwalks last week in British Columbia. In some cases, models had to be painted hours before guests arrived, because aside from a wee bit of underwear, that was all they were wearing -- and the organizers didn't want to violate British Columbia decency laws.
It's not a pastime for everyone, but if you're looking for a little insight into Body Gras 2008's top winners, we've got them.
Weird News Highlights
“In Loving Memory of The Boom Economy.”
October 2008Boom Economy Memorial Installed Outside London Bank
The answer is yes...
Should Group Sex Be Public Art?
A new sculpture in a southern German town square has tourists snapping pictures and politicians arguing about the role of public art. The work shows Angela Merkel naked, along with other politicians, and the artist is unapologetic. He calls the work his "group-sex relief."
Source: Der Spiegel
The town of Bodman-Ludwigshafen, in the far south of Germany, doesn't top the itinerary of an average European cultural tourist. But curious Germans have flocked there for over a week to see a new work by the sculptor Peter Lenk, whose carved relief of naked German political leaders has been derided as "cheap" and "piggish" by some local politicians.
The controversial sculpture belongs to a tryptich in the center of Bodman-Ludwigshafen, near its town hall. At first glance the whole relief looks like a lively panorama populated with cartoonish Germans. But one detail shows five German politicians -- including Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Chancellor Gerhard Schrцder -- naked and laughing and grabbing each other's genitals. A banner over their heads reads, in English, "Global Players."
"Piggish," is how Thomas Strobl, son-in-law of Germany's Interior Minister, Wolfgang Schдuble, described the stone relief. Stroble heads the Christian Democratic party (CDU) in the state of Baden-Wьrttemberg, where the town is located. "Cheap effect-mongering," is what Christoph Palmer, another Christian Democrat in Stuttgart, said according to the Berlin paper Die Tageszeitung.
The mayor of Bodman-Ludwigshafen, a nonaligned independent named Matthias Weckbach, has been criticized for commissioning "pornography" and paying for it partly with public funds. The controversial panel, though, is a two-year donation by Lenk himself.
The whole work is called "Ludwig's Legacy," named for the Herzog Ludwig, who also gave his name to the nearby city of Ludwigshafen. It shows a caricatured cross-section of German leaders throughout history. Near the laughing (and living) politicians the sculptor has also placed a group of naked, bathing corporate leaders like Ferdinand Piлch, chairman of the supervisory board at Volkswagen, and Josef Ackermann, the CEO of Deutsche Bank.
Lenk says he set out to show "political group sex," according to the local Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. The five naked politicians are the architects of a welfare-reform package called Harz IV, which has been controversial in Germany for years and attended by more than one scandal involving corporate money and government figures.
"When it comes to their privileges and taking money out of the pockets of citizens," he said, "they all hold the scepter, so to speak. Politics is far more pornographic than any art."
He also said political scandals involving corporate and public money tend to fade from the public's attention after one or two days in the media, "but a memorial like this will stay around and irritate them a bit longer." www.sgallery.net
Sexy time hmmm
Free Art Print
The Australian artist Hazel Dooney is offering an unlimited print titled "Study for Unsated" to download for free. Which means that you will have to print the work, but if you then send it to her studio she will sign it and send it back to you.
Here's Hazel's blog post with a little more about the work.
And here's a link to the high resolution art print to download.
I wouldn't advise that you print it out at work or school unless you're the boss or the teacher!
Over the past couple years Hazel has released a few prints to download and print at your leisure. "An Outline Of Kelly, Later" is also slightly erotic, but her self portrait called "I Will Not Be Your Give Man Anymore" has no bums, boobs or private bits in it, so it's safe to view and/or print at work.
www.artnewsblog.com
HAHA!
Weird Signs Photographed in China During the 2008 Olympics
2008
Our friends at Engrish.com have been inundated with weird images
emailed from in and around Beijing as China hosts the 2008 Olympic Games.
weirdnewsfiles.com
No shit!
Hanging Dummy Causes Panic in China
October 2008
An ad billboard has caused outrage and panic in a Chinese city by featuring what appears to be a man hanging from a rope. The advertisement, on top of the Yinji Shopping Mall in Zhengzhou, features a mannequin hanging from the top of the billboard.
In a reference to the global financial crisis, it reads: “It’s better to invest money here than put it into the stock market.” But residents thought it was a real suicide and say children as young as eight were terrified, reports Oriental Today. After receiving complaints, the local industry and trade bureau has now stepped in and taken down the mannequin. “Without the hanging man, it’s really not that shocking,” said the deputy director of the bureau.
Jiang Chengpu, the creative director behind the ad, says the aim was to catch people’s attention, not to terrify them. “We are making fun of the depressing stock market here. And the place the mannequin is hanging is right next to the stock index line,” he said.
weirdnewsfiles.com
Big brother is always watching........
Banksy pulled off an audacious stunt to produce what is believed to be his biggest work yet in central London. The secretive graffiti artist managed to erect three storeys of scaffolding behind a security fence despite being watched by a CCTV camera. Then, during darkness and hidden behind a sheet of polythene, he painted this comment on 'Big Brother' society. Scroll down for more... 'One nation under CCTV': CCTV (pictured top right) failed to catch Banksy Yesterday the scaffolding gang returned to remove all evidence - again without the camera operator stopping them. The work, above a Post Office yard in Newman Street near Oxford Circus, shows a small boy, watched by a security guard, painting the words: 'One nation under CCTV.' Andrew Newman, 35, a businessman from Dulwich, who works locally, said: 'It was only on Sunday morning that the Post Offices guys realised what had happened.' You're being watched: Despite being observed by CCTV cameras, elusive grafitti artist Baksy managed to create his latest - and biggest - work to date under the cover of darkness www.dailymail.co.ukGraffiti artist Banksy pulls off most audacious stunt to date - despite being watched by CCTV
"Between The Folds"
Greenfuse films has released a film called "Between the Folds" which looks at a group of paper folders or origami artists. Here's their introduction to the film.. www.artnewsblog.com Between the Folds - Origami Art
A preview of Between the Folds can be seen here, with more details on where the full film can be seen.
There's some origami art below by two of the artists from the film. I have always loved good quality paper, especially hand made papers, but I didn't realize just how much could be done with a single piece of paper.
Giang Dinh does some fascinating faces, people, and animals with paper.
Monks by Giang Dinh
Bear by Giang Dinh
Michael LaFosse does mostly origami animals and has some books and guides on his website for those that want to do their own origami.
Bat by Michael LaFosse
Squirrel folded with one piece of paper by Michael LaFosse
"freaky animatronic animal/food hybrids".......humm......
Banksy Pet Store.. and Charcoal Grill in New York
I generally don't like art that preaches to me or tells me that I'm doing something wrong. There's enough people in the world trying to force others to live or be like themselves, so I like my art to be art.
Banksy is one of the few artists that I don't mind preaching to me as he's such a clever artist. I wouldn't hang (most of) his work on my walls at home as they're too preachie (and too expensive), but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate his art/messages.
His latest work is a pet shop of freaky animatronic animal/food hybrids in New York. He questions our use and abuse of animals as pets and food.
The chicken nuggets pecking at a container of McDonalds sauce is just weird. The realistic chicken looking over them like a concerned parent just makes the scene even weirder.
Here's a quote from Banksy on the Wooster Collective website.. "New Yorkers don’t care about art, they care about pets. So I’m exhibiting them instead. I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming, but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing. I took all the money I made exploiting an animal in my last show and used it to fund a new show about the exploitation of animals. If its art and you can see it from the street, I guess it could still be considered street art"
Wooster Collective has a few more photos and video of the Banksy pet shop posted here.
Watch this video below of Banksy's "The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill" exhibition..
There's more videos on YouTube for those that are interested in the Banksy freakshow. I wish I was close enough to go and see it. Banksy has a website for the Village Petstore and Charcoal Grill exhibition online here. The pet store is located at 89 Seventh Avenue South, Greenwich Village, New York, USA. The pet shop is open from 10am till 12am daily until the 31st of October, 08.
www.artnewsblog.com
I hate spiders, this is cool
Foerster has turned the Tate into a refugee shelter for a collapsed civilization, with 200 bunk bends, and not-so-subtle clues of the bombings, earthquakes, famine, floods and alien invasion that may yet come. All in all, compared to a subprime mortgage collapse and a looming worldwide depression, it's a heartwarming tale. weirdnews.about.com You fools who worry about global warming don't know about real threats -- like spiders as big as trucks reducing London to rubble.
Dominique Gonzalez Foerster's Giant SpiderOkay, okay, it's all science fiction, but the new show at Britain's Tate Modern museum, by French artist Dominique Gonzalez Foerster, is truly shaking the city, offering visitors bleak images 50 years in the future.
Contested art by graffiti star
LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Five works by cult graffiti artist Banksy failed to sell at a weekend auction after doubts were raised about their authenticity.
On its website, auctioneer Lyon & Turnbull said that the five top lots by Banksy with a combined estimate of 200-275,000 pounds ($360-495,000) and called "street works" because they were removed from their original urban settings, went unsold.
It was unclear whether their failure to find buyers was a result of the row over authenticity or reflected broader uncertainty in the contemporary art market caused by the financial crisis. Lyon & Turnbull were unavailable for comment.
Before Saturday's London sale, the auctioneer said the five main Banksy's on offer were genuine, even though the only authorized verification body had declined to confirm that they were by the hugely successful British artist.
Pest Control said it would not approve any street pieces removed from their original settings, partly to crack down on fakes and partly to protect the original concept.
Banksy made a name for himself painting stenciled satirical and political images in public spaces, always keeping his identity hidden.
His work became so valuable that several street pieces were salvaged, including a painting attributed to Banksy on a wall in London that fetched 208,100 pounds ($383,000) in an online sale. The cost of removing the wall and replacing it was not included.
The auction record for a Banksy is 288,000 pounds for "Space Girl and Bird."
On its website, Pest Control said that since its creation in January, 89 street pieces and 137 screen prints attributed to Banksy have turned out to be false, potentially involving millions of pounds of losses for the buyers.
uk.reuters.com
"Pigasso"
Pig Art or Pigasso PaintingsCoxsoft Art has pointed out some hot new art talent in the United Kingdom. The artists reside at the Pennywell Farm in Buckfastleigh and are working to raise money for the Farm Crisis Network charity.
And their finished work looks like this..
I think they would sell more posters of the little pigs than the finished paintings by them, as they are little cuties. Coxsoft Art thinks the British artists Gilbert and George might be starting to worry about the new competition. I think if cuteness has anything to do with it, G&G have no chance.
www.artnewsblog.com
Not Photoshoped
Chinese artist Li Wei from Beijing has been gaining a lot of attention for his performance series ‘Falls.’ His work is a mixture of performance art and photography that creates illusions of a sometimes dangerous reality. Li Wei states that these images are not computer montages and works with the help of props such as mirror, metal wires, scaffolding and acrobatics.Chinese Man Jumps Out Window
Fashion show takes a plunge
Decked out in designer couture, Australian TV stars Jason Dundas and Kristian Schmid, model Jamie Wright and [i]Biggest Loser[/i] trainer Shannan Ponton took the plunge, as an audience of fashion industry hotshots at Sydney's Circular Quay tried not to laugh. Cosmopolitan magazine and Neutrogena skincare company sponsored the show. Why? "For fun," an organizer said. As for the models, they tried to prove that you can hold your breath underwater and still look glamorous. www.artnewsblog.com 
Forget the catwalks and red carpets. At a recent show in Sydney, Australian models held their noses, and took runway fashion where it's never gone before -- to the bottom of a water tank.
Thank God I don't have a picture for this
London, England (WFN) -- A London artist who collected mucus from his nose for two years and displayed the resulting ball of snot at four separate art exhibitions is now ready to part with his prized possession -- to the tune of roughly $20,000.
James Robert Ford's brussels sprout-sized "Bogey Ball" now rests in a glass case on a shelf in his apartment, but he is seeking an art collector to take possession of it.
He wants no less than 10,000 British pounds for the mucus blob, explaining that each booger is a part of his body and it would be impossible for anyone to replicate. In Ford's words, "It's a physical record of all the different places I have been and people I've met. So far, the artist has only received offers in the 100-to-500-pound range, but he says his snot is worth much more than that.His desired price breaks down to roughly 10 pounds per piece of mucus -- or about $18 U.S.
How does Ford feel about parting with his notorious piece of art? He says, "It will be hard to let go, but at the same time, it's hard not to have any money."
Awesome!
Worlds Smallest Sculpture by Willard Wigan
I saw this guy on the news yesterday, working on sculpture that fits inside the eye of a needle. The English artist Willard Wigan works in-between heartbeats so that he doesn't destroy the piece he is creating. He uses rice or grains of sand and a surgical blade to create his "micro sculpture". Artists are usually trying to get attention by going MASSIVE, so it's good to see some small art getting attention too, even if it is ridiculously small art. They're so small that he uses the hair from flies as a paint brush to decorate them!
There has been smaller sculptures created, but they were made with lasers. In 2001 Japanese scientists made a tiny sculpture of a bull that measured 10 micrometers by seven (a micrometer is one-thousandth of a millimeter). Wigan's works is created by hand though.
Here's some quotes from the micro sculptor.. Though my sculptures are quite small, it's important for people to realize that I am life-size. Of course, at times, when I'm working on a piece, I might come to believe that I myself am microscopic. That's how involved in my work I become. My tiny world becomes everything to me.
Willard Wigan
Let me tell you, it's very difficult. Every movement I make is so small. I have to control my breathing and heartbeat - it's not easy! I usually work at night and have to make sure the dog isn't around.
Willard Wigan
Be original! Be creative! Be individual and make your mark
Willard Wigan
Show me yours and I'll give you one of mine....
Free Art Nudes if you Pose Nude
The artist "Johnny Naked" has a project where you can take home a piece of art for free if you agree to pose nude for him. Here's what happens..
"The installation which has been on display throughout the year invites viewers to agree to pose for a nude portrait in the Gallery 825 space in exchange for possession of the nude portrait of another person on display in the installation. Upon posing for the project, the subject's portrait replaces the one currently on display, which is then given to them as "payment" for their participation." Gallery 825
www.artnewsblog.com
Too much free time
Etch A Sketch Art - George Vlosich
The artist George Vlosich has a video posted on YouTube.com that has been viewed more than 1,600,000 times. It's of him doing an Etch A Sketch drawing for the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team.
Each work takes between 60 and 70 hours to create, with prices fetching up to $10,000 for an original piece.
He has been featured in top magazines and on television shows all around the world (I found out about him from watching TV in Australia).
Looks like George Vlosich is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame and getting to meet a bunch of his favorite famous people (see his celebrities page on his website).
I mentioned the marketing value of ideas like this a couple weeks ago, so I'll just quote myself.. "I think there's something to be learned from stories like this. Especially for artists that are working away in the studio, feeling unloved by the media, and looking for a couple minutes of fame. The media are hungry for gimmicky, throw away ideas that capture the attention of readers for a moment." Post it Notes and Marketing Art Post
www.artnewsblog.com
"The Great Picture"
World's Largest Photo
"The Great Picture" is the world's largest photograph taken with the biggest camera in the world. I love the fact that my little digital camera with 7 mega pixels fits in my pocket and can be taken anywhere, but I don't think a giant jet air craft hangar sized camera will ever be very popular!
In July this year the Guinness Book of Records certified the hangar as the largest camera in the world, measuring 13.71 x 48.76 x 24.38 m (45 x 160 x 80 ft). The photograph was also confirmed to be the largest photograph on canvas, measuring 9.62 x 33.83 m (31ft 7in x 111ft).
The photo depicts the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. It is currently on show at the Art Center College of Design, South Campus Wind Tunnel, Pasadena, California until the 29th of September.
The Legacy Project says "The photograph is a magnificent tribute to a historic turning point in Orange County history as well as a statement about the evolution of the photographic medium, hand versus mechanical/technological processes, and the importance of “vision machines” to the advancement of culture." See more about the making of the picture and the Legacy Project.
Sounds like fun
Funhouse does waterboarding
Hurry! Hurry! Step right up! Watch one robot gag in agony while another pours water down its throat to simulate drowning.It's rare when a amusement park sideshow takes on politics. But now, Coney Island is holding a funhouse mirror to the controversial interrogation technique known as "waterboarding."
Outside the Waterboard Thrill Ride, you'll see a SpongeBob in chains, with his trademark goofy grin, proclaiming, "It don't Gitmo better!" That's just a taste of things to come.
Slip a dollar through the slot, and you'll watch through a barred window as one robot in an orange jump suit, is shackled face-up, as another, dressed in black, pours water down his mouth.
"What's more obscene?" asks creator Steve Powers, "Saying that waterboarding is not torture or creating a waterboard thrill ride?"
human excrement art?
Blocks of Poop by Santiago Sierra
The Spanish / Mexican artist Santiago Sierra has managed to create another piece of tasty bait for the media, with his exhibition of human excrement at London's Lisson Gallery. The 21 blocks of shit each measure 215 x 75 x 20cm and was collected by "scavengers" in New Delhi and Jaipur, India.
"Workers of the sanitary movement Sulabh International of India are mostly scavengers who, by birth, have to undertake the physically and psychologically painful task of collecting human faecal matter, being charged with the blames of a previous life of bad deeds." Santiago Sierra
There's a message that the artist wants to get across, which could be honorable or mocking, depending on which side of the fence you choose to sit. The optimist in me sees an artist highlighting the exploitation of a group of people that need a hand up. The cynic in me sees an artist doing something shocking for the sake of publicity (exploiting the media). The humorous me sees an artist shitting on the floor of an upmarket art gallery and laughing at those that take it seriously (exploiting the gallery and public).
I couldn't figure out who was exploiting who in the end. If the objective of the exhibition was to get a lot of attention, it was a success, as I saw that most of the mainstream media publications had their fun with the story. It's not something I would go and see though.
www.artnewsblog.com
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