American conceptual artist, Wayne Hill, had his artwork stolen and drunk. His art – a clear plastic bottle filled with water and situated on a pedestal, was priced at $69,700 (£40,000). Shown at an arts festival in Devon, England, the work was apparently misidentified by some thirsty person as being… a clear plastic bottle filled with water situated on pedestal….
Does art have actual social worth and significance, or is it just another commodity to be bought and sold by the wealthy? My beliefs place me in the former camp, as I loath the very idea that something as magical, spiritual and ephemeral as art – could or should be controlled, influenced or marginalized by market forces. However, there are…
The 51st Venice Biennale opened on June 12th, 2005, and artists, patrons, curators, collectors and the general public will view the latest in contemporary art until the festival closes in November. It’s been said that this biennale has abandoned the display of gimmicky artworks designed to shock in favor of more subdued statements, and that this year’s festival is a…
Postmodernist artists have nothing to say, and they will find the most annoyingly bothersome ways not to say it. As a figurative painter I’ve long opposed the stranglehold of postmodernism and its attendant philosophy which asserts anything can be art. Painting we are told, is from a bygone era, out of vogue and irrelevant in today’s context, while conceptual, performance,…
A series of three bold and brightly colored abstract paintings will go on the auction block at Bonhams, the prestigious London auction house. The three emotive tempera on paper artworks are energetic pieces that many say epitomize the school of abstract action painting. “It’s a painting, not a picture” is an expression often used by circles of modern painters who…
On this web log I often rebuke the excesses of postmodernist artists, excoriate the state of modern day art, and berate the apolitical intellectuals and art critics who justify and praise every inane and dim-witted act carried out in the name of art. It seems that almost every day we read about yet another imbecile whose “artworks” exemplify the utter…
As Christo and Jeanne-Claude prepare to inflict The Gates upon New York’s Central Park, the famous commons is beginning to look as if it’s under police siege. Several hundred police will flood the park around the clock to guard the installation for sixteen days starting Feb. 12th. Private security, park enforcement, and hundreds of police officers both uniformed and undercover,…
Charles Saatchi set up the British advertising agency, Saatchi and Saatchi, the firm hired by the Conservative party in 1978 to catapult Margaret Thatcher to power. By the late 1980’s Saatchi was one of the most powerful figures in the art world, and he used his millions to create a personal stable of postmodernist young Turks, the so-called Brit Art…
