Posts

artist

Mural In Kent Highlighting Violence Against Women Is A Banksy, Artist Confirms 

/in , /by

A new mural located on a wall in Margate, Kent depicting the theme of violence against women and girls has been confirmed as a genuine Banksy from the artist themself. 

The mural shows a caricature image of a housewife dressed in 1950’s traditional fashions, wearing yellow cleaning gloves and a blue apron, as she pushes her husband into a freezer while smiling with a swollen eye and missing tooth. 

Banksy posted a series of photographs on his Instagram showing off the mural with the caption “Valentine’s Day mascara.” The images also showed garbage surrounding the mural, including an empty beer bottle and white garden chair. 

Violence against women and girls has been at the forefront of political discussions especially in the UK following the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa. 

Banksy announced back in December that he had created 50 screen prints for sale that proceeds will be donated to raise funds for a charity supporting the people of Ukraine. 

Embed from Getty Images

Banksy also created murals in Ukraine in the town of Borodianka back in November. One of which showed a man who looked like Russian President Vladimir Putin being thrown to the floor in a fight with a young boy. 

Another mural showed two young children using a metal tank trap as a seesaw. 

An online auction in association with Banksy’s prints was targeted last month from within Russia by thousands of “hostile attacks,” according to reports. 

The charity Banksy has partnered with is called the Legacy of War Foundation, raising funds for the people of Ukraine as they live through a devastating war with Russia. 

“In Ukraine, I saw a Legacy of War team sweep in and provide medical attention, heaters, fresh water and a friendly face to some very desperate people in a bombed-out building.” 

“They also lent me one of their ambulances to work from, which turned out to be extremely useful when an angry babushka found me painting on her building and called the police,” Banksy explained. 

“I feel the least I should do is raise enough money to replace the number plates on the ambulances I hotted up.”

AI

Man Wins Art Fair With AI Generated Art

/in , /by

A video game designer in Pueblo, Colorado, won an art fair with artwork generated by artificial intelligence software. Jason M. Allen entered his work titled “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial” into a state fair and received first place, winning a prize of $300. He had spent 80 hours tinkering with an AI art generator named Midjourney to create his final piece.

The two competition judges, Cal Duran and Dagny McKinley told The Pueblo Chieftain that while they did not know an AI created the work, they still would have awarded Allen the prize. In Duran’s mind, the chief purpose of any artwork is to tell a story.

“Even as this controversy is coming out, it’s still invoking that. It’s still causing an uproar. That in itself is kind of remarkable.”

Embed from Getty Images

In order to generate art using an AI like Midjourney, a user must input keywords that the AI uses to make associations between prompts and images on the internet. It recognizes shapes, colors, and patterns within existing art and photos. The resulting piece of art is an amalgamation of those elements.

The recent development of AI-generated art engines such as DALL-E has started a debate on the ethics of art and the implications of automating creativity. While automation is becoming increasingly more common in other sectors of society, people previously considered the automation of art, music and writing beyond technological capability.

Even iPhone users can download AI art generators from Apple’s app store, albeit much weaker ones. Nonetheless, these apps can craft a piece of art within 15 seconds based on as little as one keyword. Even an online poetry generator titled “Verse by Verse” exists. Google programmed the software to compose poetry in the voice of historically famous poets.

Allen told The Pueblo Chieftain that Midjourney had also aided his team in creating concept art for their game designs. While inputting keywords may seem easy, Allen claims it is difficult to put in a prompt that is just right to generate the desired image.

Embed from Getty Images

Judge McKinley is optimistic about the replicability of the quote-on-quote “artist” if AI art becomes commonplace. “Yes, it will likely take away some jobs from artists, but the technology exists and we can’t go backwards,” McKinley said.

“For me, nothing can replicate human work because human work is flawed and it is those flaws that bring humanity to art. How does an artist create their own style and voice? That is what makes art interesting.”

Understandably, many artists are unhappy with the potential automation of the creative process.

RJ Palmer, a concept artist, wrote on Twitter, “what makes this AI different is that it’s explicitly trained on current working artists.” Artists are not paid for their work but instead used to generate digital art pulled from their original ideas. Palmer writes that it is “actively anti-artist.”

Russian Arts And Cultural Events Canceled Worldwide 

/in , /by

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted worldwide responses from the cultural, sporting, and arts fields. An increasing number of performances and cultural events put on by Russians are being canceled worldwide in response to the invasion. 

One of the biggest announcements came from the European broadcasting Union (EBU) who said that Russia would no longer be able to participate in this year’s Eurovision song contest. 

EBU, the producers of Eurovision, said the “event promoted international exchange and understanding, Russia’s inclusion could bring the annual competition into disrepute in light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine.”

Initially, state broadcasters from countries like Iceland, Finland, Norway, and the Netherlands all called for Russia to be banned from the contest, a move that was also endorsed by the UK’s culture secretary Nadine Dorries. 

Embed from Getty Images

The Royal Opera House (ROH) has also canceled a planned residency by Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet, which is known as one of the oldest and most prestigious ballet companies in the world. 

The ROH released a statement regarding their cancellation: “A summer season of the Bolshoi Ballet at the Royal Opera House had been in the final stages of planning. Unfortunately, under the current circumstances, the season cannot now go ahead.” The group was initially expected to put on 21 performances from July to August. 

Performances from the Russian State Ballet of Siberia have been canceled by both the Wolverhampton Grand Theater and the Royal and Derngate in Northampton. 

In terms of concerts, the Munich Philharmonic has separated itself from its chief conductor, Valery Gergiev, due to his ties to Putin. Munich’s mayor, Dieter Reiter, gave Gergiev an ultimatum that stated if he condemned Putin’s actions he would be able to maintain his position in the Philharmonic, he refused. 

“With immediate effect, there will be no further concerts by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra under his [Gergiev] direction,” Reiter said. Gergiev was also dropped by his management and had several upcoming concerts canceled due to his ties to Putin.

Embed from Getty Images

The Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale will not be taking place as planned after Russian artists and curators themselves chose to pull out. Alexandra Sukhareva and Kirill Savchenkov, as well as curator Raimundas Malašauskas, released a statement in which they explained how they would no longer be participating. 

“There is no place for art when civilians are dying under the fire of missiles, when citizens of Ukraine are hiding in shelters, when Russian protesters are getting silenced,” Savchenkov and Sukhareva said in a joint statement. 

Warner Bros, Disney, and Sony have halted the release of all new films in Russian cinemas, which means major upcoming releases such as The Batman, Turning Red, and Morbius, will not be released as scheduled. 

“In light of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, WarnerMedia is pausing the release of its feature film The Batman in Russia,” a spokesperson said.

Disney said: “Given the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the tragic humanitarian crisis, we are pausing the theatrical release of films in Russia.”

The Ukranian Film Academy has also called for an international boycott of Russian cinema, including a ban on all Russian films at international festivals:

“At a time when world powers are imposing economic and political sanctions on the Russian Federation, the country continues to be active in the cultural field”. Any action, however, has yet to be taken.

British Museum To Display More Than 100 Unseen Works By Katsushika Hokusai 

/in , /by

More than 100 postcard-sized drawings by Katsushika Hokusai will be on display to the public for the first time in two centuries after being acquired by the British Museum. The museum’s director, Hartwig Fischer, claims the drawings were “remarkable and unique, the discovery alone is incredible.” 

Hokusai is most famously known for The Great Wave, one of the most recognizable and reproduced artworks of all time. He’s known for having extreme influence on 19th-century European impressionist art; Van Gough was deeply inspired by Hokusai. 

Embed from Getty Images

According to the museum, at some point in the 1840s, when Hokusai would’ve been in his 80s, he began working on a new project called The Great Picture Book of Everything, in which he let his imagination run completely wild with fantastical and intricate drawings of beautiful fantasy scenes. 

The project was never published, so the drawings were simply put in a box, and have been stored away ever since. The history of these prints is rather unknown. They were once owned by Henry Vever, a Japanese art collector who died in 1942; a century after they were originally made. 

In 1948 the prints appeared at an auction in Paris, and were purchased to become a part of a private French collection, where they were eventually forgotten about. In 2019, they reappeared at a Paris auction, where the British Museum purchased them for around $270,000. 

“They were created at a time modern audiences could relate to. These drawings were created in a period of lockdown, if you will, when Japan had closed its borders for almost 200 years.”

Embed from Getty Images

Fischer explained that at the time, “contact with the outside world was limited and strictly regulated and even journeys within the country required an official permit. It is a situation many of us can sympathize with.”

The drawings mainly depict  religious and mythological figures as well as animals, birds, and flowers. Alfred Haft, a project curator at the museum, said “all 103 drawings were gems, each rewarding close study, each showing us Hokusai’s lively mind and hand at work together.”

Fischer said Hokusai’s art combined “boundless invention, subtle humour and deep humanity. The museum already has one of the most comprehensive collections of Hokusai’s work outside Japan, so this is the appropriate home for the drawings in my opinion.”

Currently anyone can view the drawings on the British Museum’s website, and the actual drawings will be on display in the museum for the first time in history starting September 30th until January 2022. 

Pop Culture Artist Kaws Celebrates New Exhibition In Brooklyn

/in , /by

Brian Donnelly is the man behind Kaws, who is now considered one of the biggest pop culture phenomenon’s in the modern world.

Read more
Leonardo da Vinci

Experts Claim Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Lost Masterpiece’ Can’t Be Found Because It Never Existed

/in , /by

Art experts and scholars have been looking for Leonardo da Vinci’s “lost masterpiece” for years now, however, some individuals are now claiming that the search is pointless because the work doesn’t even exist. 

On October 8th the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy held a socially distanced round-table discussion with art historians Roberta Barsanti, Giancula Belli, Emanuela Ferrretti, and Cecilia Frosinini. The four historians all presented research that they claim proves the fact that da Vinci’s work is not behind a wall in Florence’s century-old town hall, the Palazzo Vecchio, as previously believed. 

Embed from Getty Images

These claims aren’t taken lightly either, if the historians are correct they would be disproving decades worth of research performed by Maurizio Seracini. Seracini has long advocated for high-tech scientific testing of the town hall that he believed would potentially reveal the painting. 

The painting in question is titled The Battle of Anghiari, and depicts a large battle scene that da Vinci was supposedly commissioned to paint in 1503. The historians published their own findings about the painting in an Italian language book in 2019, where they first made the shocking claim that the piece was never painted in the first place. 

They’re basing these claims on the ground that the way in which the painting was prepared would make it impossible to execute given the placement. The painting was thought to be created using a technique that involved a layer of gesso and oil, however, da Vinci couldn’t have created an image using this technique because the paint wouldn’t have held, according to the historians. Francesca Fiorani is another art historian who discussed this painting in her recent novel, The Shadow Drawing: How Science Taught Leonardo to Paint.

Embed from Getty Images

“This process, which was always thought to be part of the painting, was instead meant for the preparation of the wall before the paint. Since the process to prepare the wall was not successful, Leonardo never painted on it. This means that Leonardo’s battle existed only as a cartoon, never as paint on a wall.”

The art historians also claimed at the Uffizi event that after they closely examined the traces of pigment found beneath the Palazzo Vecchio wall, they determined that a painting may have once been present there, however, it may not have even been done by da Vinci. However between 2009 and 2012, Seracini said he was able to match the same pigment to a kind of black pigment found in the Mona Lisa, one of da Vinci’s most famous paintings. 

At the Uffizi, Frosinini brought up Seracini’s findings and rebounded by stating that the specific pigment found was used widely around Italy especially during that time period, making it impossible to accurately trace if the pigment was attached to the lost painting or not.

As of right now, the only existing evidence of what The Battle of Anghiari may have looked like as a mural is a full-scale cartoon made by da Vinci himself that was made in the late 15th century. While there is little to no evidence that this painting ever actually existed, art historians are likely to continue to search for it, as it’s regarded as one of the greatest art mysteries of all time.

Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum

Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum Finalizing Depot Project With Over 150,000 Exhibits

/in , /by

Smack in the middle of Rotterdam is a structure that curves over 120 feet in the air and reflects the clouds through its walls of mirrored glass. The Boijmans Van Beuningen museum now has a new open storage extension that will contain collections of over 150,000 objects from a wide variety of collections. 

Art handlers are projected to begin moving pieces from the museum’s archives in December of this year, and it will open fully to the public late 2021. The building was originally a massive warehouse, but thanks to the Dutch design firm MVRDV, it has been transformed into a structure that staff are referring to as The Depot. 

Embed from Getty Images

Instead of keeping their most valuable jewels and pieces behind closed doors, the museum invested $50 million into an “open storage” concept with the Depot, which is an extension of the museum itself. The museum can currently only display about 8% of the pieces that the Boijmans museum has collected throughout the years, so the whole point of the Depot is to give museum goers the opportunity to see how vast that entire collection actually is. 

This is one of the first times in history that a museum will be building an open-storage facility to this degree. Sjarel Ex is the Boijman’s director who recently spoke with the press about how after a flood in 2013, his team knew they needed to make a change in how they stored and displayed the works that they’ve collected. 

“What’s the English expression – ‘out of sight, out of mind’? So much of what museums do happens in the dark. We wanted to bring some of it into the light.”

Embed from Getty Images

Winy Maas is one of the main architects who’s been working tirelessly on the Depot and explained how difficult it’s been to create “vault-like conditions” in a regular public building structure. The structure also had to be divided into five different “climate zones” with various temperature settings, as certain pieces of art need to be stored in specific conditions to maintain their beauty. 

Museums in the past have done expansion projects such as this one and the main issue has always been the amount of space they take up. The concern is over how much more certain museum collections will continue to expand. 150,000 pieces of art seems like an unfathomable amount, but considering the museum has been around since 1935, it makes sense that they would’ve curated that many works, so what will happen within the next decade when that collection expands even further?

Ex is aware that this project is very experimental, and with that comes the risk of failure, however, he seems more enthusiastic than concerned when it comes to the opening. Regardless, the project marks a monumental transition for the way humans experience history and culture at these establishments. Museums all over the country are beginning to work on projects that will expand their retail space and allow for even more collections of art to be displayed to the public. 

The redeveloped Museum of Modern Art in New York City now allows for an additional 15,000 square feet of gallery space that extends on six floors. The V&A announced an open-storage project that will open in London in 2023 and allow for over 250,000 pieces of art to be displayed throughout. For now, only time will tell how successful these massive expansion projects actually are.

Gallery Wall

Creative Home Projects to Personalize Your Space In Lockdown

/in , /by

With all of us enduring the coronavirus pandemic and remaining under lockdown until further notice, many of us are running out of things to do in our spare time to keep us entertained. Doing home improvement projects or switching up the interior design of some of the spaces in your home can be a great way to not only distract yourself from the world, but also revamp up the space you’ve been forced to stay in for the past few months. 

When we think of home improvement or interior design, we often imagine that growing list of things that needs fixing throughout our houses, however, what about projects that are more fun and don’t really have a beneficial purpose beyond just making you happy? Your home is yours, so it should reflect that! Here are home project ideas to make your space really feel like home:

Embed from Getty Images

Create An Accent Wall: An accent wall is typically one specific wall in a room, often the bedroom or living room, that differs in color, pattern, texture, etc. from the other three walls in the space. Normally, people like to put a pattern on their accent wall to highlight either an entertainment center, art piece, or furniture item propped against said wall. However, there is no limit to the possibilities of things you can do for an accent wall. Use chalkboard paint so that you and your loved ones can keep changing the designs and sign each other’s names. Order various sized prints of either personal photos, pictures of people you admire, places you want to go, or whatever else you want to look at. Frame the prints and cover the wall! The possibilities are truly endless. 

Rearrange Your Bedroom or Living Room: This is one of the more basic “home improvement” options, however, if you aren’t looking to spend any money but still want a change, moving around the set up of these spaces can accomplish exactly that. I say the living room and bedroom specifically because in normal circumstances those are the spaces one spends the most time in, however, switch up all the rooms in your house if you want! Remember, there really are no rules when it comes to making your space yours (as long as you’re following your cities specific coding requirements for larger renovation projects). Keeping these areas of the home fresh and personal can help ease any anxieties you have relating to the state of the world, because at least you know you’re safe in your own personalized bubble. 

Embed from Getty Images

Make a Gallery Wall: Similar to an accent wall, a gallery wall allows you to focus the attention of a space on unique art or photography pieces that either you’ve taken, or admire. This really is one of the most personal ways you can liven up your home because even if you choose art/pictures that don’t have you or your family in it, you’re still choosing pieces that resonate with you for a special reason. 

Repair and Refine Your Furniture: Things like large chairs and ottomans can be reupholstered so that you’re not losing the functionality of your pieces, but are still basically getting a whole new furniture item. Any wooden furniture that’s been scuffed, scratched, broken off, etc. can easily be sanded, re-polished, and repainted as well. 

Create a Meditative/Relaxation Space: Even if you’re not into meditation specifically as a means of unwinding, you should have a designated space in your home separated from your bedroom or living room that’s main purpose is just for you to sit back and relax. This could even be a simple garden chair and table in your side yard, the point of this place is to make you feel completely comfortable every time you enter it. Especially with the way the world looks now, it’s important that we all unplug and find time everyday to check in with ourselves, and what better way to do that then in your own meditation room? Decorate the space with stereotypical items that induce relaxation – candles, twinkly lights, blankets, soft lighting, etc. – and also with personal pieces that make you feel safe. 

Regardless of how you personalize your home, remember what it’s felt like to be stuck in that space for months at a time. The future in terms of the coronavirus pandemic is still unpredictable, so you might as well pass the time by creating spaces in your home that truly feel like yours and yours only.

Anxiety in Head

Willow Smith Explores Mental Health In Performative Exhibit, “The Anxiety”

/in , /by

From 9 pm on Wednesday March 11th to Thursday at 9pm the next day, Willow Smith and Tyler Cole remained within the box in the Geffen space they rented from MOCA. The exhibit was free and completely open to anyone to come and observe.

Read more
Art Museum

Virtual Museum Tours Offer A Taste Of Culture In A Time Of Quarantine

/in , /by

Coronavirus has caused millions worldwide to quarantine themselves, and thousands of different industries to adjust to the way they’re running their businesses in order to prevent the further spread of this novel virus. One of the most recent and significant changes the world has seen is the closing of hundreds of cultural attractions such as all Broadway productions, Disneyland, and multiple museums. While you’re on your leave from work and waiting for the world to figure out how to further stop this virus, there’s a multitude of things you can do to entertain yourself from home. 

If you’re one of the millions of individuals who had plans to visit any of these cultural landmarks within the coming months and are now disappointed that you had to postpone, have no fear, as many museums worldwide have begun, or are continuing to, offer free virtual tours through their establishments via their website for your viewing pleasure until you can safely visit them again. Here’s a list of just a few options of places you can “travel” to through your computer screen:

The British Museum in London is located in the heart of the city and holds some of the most famous mummy remains in Europe. Their virtual tour allows users online to travel through the archives and explore the historical contexts behind some of the more predominantly known pieces. 

Embed from Getty Images

The Guggenheim Museum in New York is known for its iconic spiral staircase architecture and multitude of art pieces from the Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary eras. Google’s Street View lets visitors walk the staircase online and stand in front of any piece from any era that they please, all from their couch. 

Google in general is the main reason all of these virtual tours are possible. Their Arts and Culture department recently partnered with over 500 museums and galleries worldwide to deliver virtual tours that make users feel like their standing in the museums themselves. This effort was already in motion before the corona pandemic, however, now more than ever Google is emphasizing their newest feature that delivers just a taste of the culture all of these establishments have to offer. 

The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. has two major online exhibits that show off two very specific art periods. The first is an exhibit exploring how American fashion evolved between the years of 1740 and 1895. It’s focus is on the textiles used and how gendered style developed from the colonial to Revolutionary eras of history. The second focuses on a series of Baroque paintings from famous Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. 

Embed from Getty Images

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea gives New York City’s MoMA a true run for its money. While the museum itself obviously emphasizes more modern works to come from Korean artists, the virtual tour seamlessly incorporates historical contexts to past art influences for the more modern exhibits. 

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has quickly become one of the most popular museums on the planet. The virtual tour explores not only the many works done by Van Gogh, but also takes users through the tragedy and genius that was Van Gogh’s inner workings. The museum itself holds the largest collection of work done by the artist, including over 200 paintings, 500 drawings/sketches, and over 750 personal letters. 

These examples only scratch the surface of other tours and exhibits Google has given the public access too. The ability to travel across the world to one of the most famous museums all with the click of a button is truly the definition of living in the future. So explore some of the 500+ museum and gallery options today, and go where you’ve never gone before.