Alias Arts

Doodle 4 Google is a competition open to school kids, giving them an opportunity to design a Google logo. The theme for the competition is “What I wish for the World.”

So I did my own crude Google doodle in Photoshop expressing what I wish for the world!

What I wish for the world is some kind of radical population control as we’re a disease killing our host (what happens to a disease when the host dies?). So I have a ban on fertile sperm, the pill and a condom pictured in my Google logo.

Kids, don’t be influenced by my Google doodle as it’s crude on a few levels and people don’t like being told to stop breeding, so you wouldn’t win the competition.

Schools and students can find more information on the doodle for Google competition here.

Art News Blog will now have an article posted on the Encyclopaedia Britannica Blog from time to time. I even have my own profile page here. I have a little giggle to myself when I see my name on a list of real writers. Most of the others on the list seem to have books published and/or have “Ph.D” after their name. So I feel a tiny bit inferior as I didn’t even finish my arts degree and have never wanted to be a writer.

I do like a challenge though, so if you see me starting to use words that you have never seen before, just know that it’s me trying to look more important. I’ll keep the dictionary close by and do twice as much fact checking before I click publish on each post now. I wonder if I should get an editor in or maybe even a ghost writer too.

Here’s some posts of interest on the Britannica Blog (not by me)..

Cybercrime on the Rise – Online theft is estimated to cost $1 trillion per year!
Art in the Eye of a Needle ($20 Million Worth) – The tiny sculpture of Willard Wigan.
Architecture: The Year in Review (2008) – A look back at some notable buildings.
Body Art, Wallpaper, & More – Emma Hack shows some of her body art.

Painters working on the streets of Montmartre in Paris may soon become a thing of the past with the introduction of cheap, soulless Chinese paintings done by the painters equivalent of a battery hen in a small steal cage.

Many of the 300 officially registered artists working on the streets are now competing with souvenir shops selling mass produced Chinese oil paintings for a fraction of the cost that local Paris artists can afford to sell them for.

David Chazan wrote some more on this topic at the BBC here.. “When I visit some of the souvenir shops and question the owners about the origin of their pictures, at first they deny that they are imported. But after a few minutes, some admit that they do buy imported pictures or prints – and even touch them up themselves.” Continue Reading..

My first opinion would usually be to let the fittest survive, but not in this case. Mass produced Chinese oil paintings are anti-art and any artist or art lover that supports them should hang their head in shame. Go buy an art poster if you must, but don’t encourage the abuse of featherless battery hens that pop out countless empty blobs of colored mud parading as art.

If the uncreative junk that they turn out day after day isn’t enough to change your mind, think of the working contemporary artists around the world that constantly have their images stolen by battery artists in China. Van Gogh may not mind having his sunflowers ripped off and reproduced thousands of times each year, but emerging and mid-career artists probably Do mind.

On a somewhat related note, this week I have tried to buy some shorts and shirts without a “Made in China” label on them and have been unsuccessful. I will keep trying, but at some point I have to buy clothes, which will mean that I will have to submit to buying products from the world’s mega-factory (a factory that is hungry for coal fired power plants and has little time for silly things like an ecosystem).

End rant on China here.

Phew, sorry you had to hear that.

After my recent anti-ad rant, I found these words by Banksy almost poetic. I sighed. It’s perfect.

I love it when artists write to me and thank me for helping them avoid being scammed. Just yesterday I mentioned the art scammer Janet Francis and today I received an email from an artist thanking me for it.

Janet Francis even has her movers contact artists by email to make the whole scam look so much more real. It’s funny that the movers talk like Janet Francis too.

> From: expressmover@yahoo.com
> Subject: Shipping Arrangement For Mrs. Janet Francis.
> To: +++++++
>
> Good day,
>
>
> I have received communication from Mrs. Janet Francis that we should work with you to ship some artworks with her other house decors to her new house in Johannesburg, South Africa when you two are through with the transaction,as she advise.
>
>
> I will like you to give me the kind and nature of the things she want to ship.I will like to have your studio address aswell,so i can make arrangement with any nearby Agent that will be coming for the pick up once you and Mrs.Francis are through with the transactions. Thanks.
>
> I will appreciate your earlier reply .
>
>
>
> Yours,
> James Carter.
> For: Expressmover.
> The atlantic House.
> 48 Caledonian Road,
> Kings’s Cross.
> London D 4 7 BT
> UK.

So, even if the Cockroach post stops just one artist from being scammed by Janet Francis, I’m happy, but I’m sure it will help more artists as she seems quite active at the moment.

>> Art Scammers

Here’s an example of a cockroach at work. This particular cockroach calls herself Janet Francis ( jan.fran001@yahoo.com ) See a list of cockroaches here.

Cockroach writes to artist..

Subject: Artworks Inquiry..
Hi,
Happy New Year. Hope this message finds you well. I saw these creatives
works on your web site and i will like you to get back with more details
if they are still available for purchase.
“Palms at Sunset” and “Bella Vista”
I will appreciate an urgent reply.
Best Regards,
Janet.

Artist writes back to the cockroach..

Hi Janet, Happy New Year to you, too. Yes, both of these paintings are still available. The “Palms at Sunset” is a 16 X 20 Gallery Wrap Oil painting. It is priced at $250 for a direct sale. The “Bella Vista” is also a 16 X 20 oil, done with a palette knife. This one is framed in a brushed gold frame. This is priced at $275 for a direct sale. I live in +++++, are you local?
Thanks for your interest in my work.

Cockroach writes back to the artist..

Hi +++++,

Good to hear back from you. Yes,i will like to proceed with the purchase of both works. I think they are lovely works that will add alot of colours to our new wall. I hope to give them a good home.

I am presently away in London for my twin sister’s wedding even though it comes at a time when i was preparing for a big move and also expecting a baby but it means so much to her. I should be back in few days.

Meanwhile,i will like you to forward your mailing address and phone number so i can inform my husband still shutling between our home in New Jersey and Jo’burg, SA on where to forward the payment . He has just been transfer to head the IT section of their head Office in Jo’burg.

I can also forward your contact info to the local cartage company that will be moving all our house decors so they can get in touch with you to arrange shipping details. They can arrange pick up FedEx pick up of the artworks from your studio.

I will look forward to hearing from you so i can know how best to proceed. Cheers.

Best Regards,Janet.

Artist writes back to the cockroach..

HI Janet, I will accept payment through Paypal, I will have to add the shipping and handling to your total price for the two paintings since they have to be shipped, Let me know where they need to be sent so I can get the price for shipping. Thanks, +++++

Cockroach thinks she has done the deal now..

Dear +++++,

Hope this message finds you well. I am very sorry that i have been unable to get in touch with you for some days now. I was hospitalised in London immediately after my twin sister’s wedding. I almost had miscarriage but thank God,i am now feeling better and can’t wait to have my baby and settle down.

The paintings will be shipped to our address in NJ. Regarding the payment , my husband said he will prefer a bank transfer, so i will like you to get back with wire transfer details so we can proceed with the payment.

Meanwhile, i will like you to have our both addresses ,you can add it in your mailing list. I will like to hear about your future works and art shows. Our address in the states is…

2451,Dunlop Circle,Trenton ,New Jersey

While our new address in SA is….

Nelson Mandela Resolt,
Railway Housing Ave,
BLK 25,15,
Joannesburg,
405LA,South Africa.

Try and get back as soon as possible so i can knw how best to proceed. Cheers.

Best Regards,
Janet. (the cockroach)

Update: See more of Janet Francis at work.
>> Art Scammers

Imagine coming towards the end of your career as an artist. You have achieved a lot of success and important galleries around the world regularly put together exhibitions of your life’s work. The galleries invite you around and treat you like royalty so that you will say a few words at the openings. Sounds like a nice way to spend old age after a lot of hard work.

Imagine being at the point described above, but arriving at your exhibition to find that most of the paintings are fakes! It’s the position that the famous Indian artist S.H. Raza found himself in recently.

The 85 year old Syed Haider Raza was invited to attend an exhibition of his work at the Dhoomimal Gallery in Connaught Place, New Delhi, India to find that most of the 35 works supposedly by him were fakes.

SH Raza told the Times of India “The gallery had my works on display and they invited me to visit the gallery on the opening evening. When I entered the gallery, I felt as if I had entered some other place since none of the works on display was mine. The fake makers should realise that creating fakes of someone’s works is like signing a cheque in someone else’s name.”

The gallery closed the show immediately after Raza informed them of the fakes.

At 85, I would hope that I still had a sense of humor and could laugh about it as the only other alternative would be to cry.

An item of interest in Sotheby’s upcoming London auction on the 6th of February is a piece of shit, literally. It’s called CLOACA FAECES (NEW YORK, 26.01.2002, 2.30 P.M.) by the Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. It was created by his shit making machine that I mentioned a while ago.

There’s an auction estimate of between 2,000—3,000 GBP for the piece of shit. It would be a good conversation piece, but I’m not sure if I could live with it.

>> Cloaca Machine, Weird News, Shit News, Sotheby’s

An item of interest in Sotheby’s upcoming London auction on the 6th of February is a piece of shit, literally. It’s called CLOACA FAECES (NEW YORK, 26.01.2002, 2.30 P.M.) by the Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. It was created by his shit making machine that I mentioned a while ago.

There’s an auction estimate of between 2,000—3,000 GBP for the piece of shit. It would be a good conversation piece, but I’m not sure if I could live with it.

>> Cloaca Machine, Weird News, Shit News, Sotheby’s

American painter Andrew Wyeth passed away on the 16th of January, 2009 at the age of 91. He had his fans and critics, with labels as varied as one of the greatest 20th century American painters, to a mere illustrator, and corny Americana painter placed on the artist.

I think the best of Andrew Wyeth is more than illustration or American regionalism, it is contemplative and spiritual. The emptiness and simplicity allows the viewer’s mind to breathe, as much as a Rothko painting or a Brancusi sculpture can.

>> Artist Deaths