Category: art news

  • Paintings displayed in Iraq mosque a first

    Paintings depicting scenes from the life of Imam Hussein (grandson of the Prophet Muhammad) are on display at a mosque in a Shiite area of Sadr City, Iraq.    Under Saddam Hussein such displays were forbidden, but a gradual increase in religious freedom has resulted in the approval and acceptance of these paintings.  A total of…

    Read more

    ,
  • Mark Ryden’s timelapse painting

    This video on YouTube of Mark Ryden painting “Incarnation” in 4:27 minutes is really fascinating, and useful as an illustration of the process of painting. Read more about Mark Ryden and his work here.

    Read more

    ,
  • Bill Viola + USC Game Innovation Lab = The Night Journey

    Video artist Bill Viola has teamed up with the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Interactive Media Division‘s Game Innovation Lab) to create an experimental video “game,” but not one with high-speed chases nor increasingly effective weaponry. The Night Journey “[is] a game that rewards you for slowing down and for introspection,” said Viola, who has…

    Read more

    ,
  • Audit of Russian museums follows allegations of widespread in-house theft

    The Hermitage and other museums in Russia have apparently been frequent victims of theft by curators and other employees.  President Putin ordered a nation-wide audit of museum inventories when he was still in office.  The results of the audit will be made public soon but it has been confirmed that at least 87,000 pieces are…

    Read more

    ,
  • Art Handling Olympics

    Teams of art handlers turned out for the first ever Art Handling Olympics at Ramiken Crucible gallery in New York on 21 March. Called “equal parts olympic competition, three ring circus, and foreign TV game show,” the events took inspiration from many “worst of” scenarios art handlers face (e.g., psychotic art directors, cruel curators, indecisive…

    Read more

  • Have you seen this painting?

    The Boston Globe reports the FBI is using billboards along Boston highways to advertise a substantial reward for any information that might help solve what is considered the greatest art heist in US history. Twenty years ago today, two men posing as police officers stole 13 works of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum,…

    Read more

    ,