Alias Arts

Hazel Dooney has released a free art print for download to celebrate her 400th blog post. It’s available for 30 days and she’ll sign and inscribe it for you if you send your print to her studio.

It’s not quite as sexy as her last print, so you could probably even use the printer at work if its better than your home printer.

The work is a drawing called “Iku, For You” which means I’m coming for you.

The print can be downloaded Here. There’s also postal details of her studio on the same page if you wish to get it signed by the artist.
>> Nude News, Art Print News, Being an Artist

Arts editor Tom from Spoonfed in the UK recently went to a lecture at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London to hear a talk called “Violence to Endurance: Extreme Curating.”

I’ll let him explain what happened during the lecture..
“Periodically they are interrupted by a 50-year old man with a thick Russian accent saying ‘Bullshit, this is not shocking.’ Then, this man stands up and walks to the front of the room (it’s not far – he’s sitting on the front row). He undoes his belt, drops his trousers and takes a shit into his own hand. He does his trousers and belt up, walks up to the man in the centre of the panel and deposits the shit in his glass. He then sits back down, a slight look of triumph on his face.” Continue reading his report over at Spoonfed here.

Artists are a funny breed! It reminds me of a story that an art teacher told me years ago, where an artist cut off his own penis on stage and died. I’m not sure if it was true or not, but I thought it was funny at the time.

Anyway, the artist that took a shit on stage and dumped it in the speaker’s glass was the Russian performance artist Alexander Brener. Brener is famous for shitting in front of a Vincent van Gogh painting at the Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow and for painting a dollar sign on a Kazimir Malevich painting (which he spent time in prison for).

He’s not some one I would take to an exhibition. If he’s not shitting in front of paintings, he’s yelling at them naked. I don’t know what he’s saying to them in the video below, but it would be a little distracting if you was actually interested in looking at the art on the walls

>> Funny News, Shit News, Controversies

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has inspired a lot of artists to get political in the studio. I think politics has no place in the studio, but it’s interesting to see what the good little propagandists come up with.

I already mentioned Pricasso’s painting of Sarah Palin nude and Chicago painter Bruce Elliott’s nude Palin picture in his bar. But artists are also taking their political message to the street according to the Gawker blog.

Here’s a spoof of Shepard Fairey’s Barack Obama poster, where the word “Hope” has been changed to “Nope” for Sarah Palin..

And here’s a vote Sarah Palin poster from A Frightening Prospect which is appearing all over the country..

Saturday Night Live also has a lot of fun with her. Here’s Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin and Sarah Palin making a real appearance on the show.
>> Political Art News

Bonhams is holding another Urban Art Auction at their salerooms in New Bond Street, London on Thursday 23 October 2008 at 7pm. After the success of their first auction dedicated solely to urban art earlier in the year, it now looks like they have created a new auction category.

A list of names in the urban art auction include Adam Neate, Aiko, Anthony Lister, Antony Micallef, Banksy, Blek le Rat, Dan Baldwin, D*Face, Eelus, Faile, Jef Aerosol, Jose Parla, Keith Haring, Matt Small, Paul Insect, Seen, and Shepard Fairey.

Gareth Williams of Bonhams says “Urban Art is an international phenomena and we have created a sale which reflects this with artists representing five continents. This auction is a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase some of the most established names in the field alongside a host of exciting and emerging artists who have not yet gained the recognition that they deserve.”

Here’s a few works of interest from the auction..

Shepard Fairey (American, born 1970) ‘OG Andre’, 2008
Estimate: £5,000 – 7,000

José Parlá (American, born 1973) ‘Pirate Alphabet 3′, 2006
Estimate: £600 – 800

Bast (American) ‘Blue Mickey’,
Estimate: £7,000 – 10,000

D*Face (British) ‘Green Lady’, 2007
Estimate: £500 – 700
See Vladimir Tretchikoff’s Green Lady here.

Anthony Lister (Australian, born 1980) ‘Hulk Arm Mary 2, Right’, 2007
Estimate: £3,000 – 5,000

Antony Micallef (British, born 1975) ‘Head’, 2007
Estimate: £6,000 – 8,000

To see a full auction catalogue online or more information on the Bonhams Urban Art Auction go to their website here.
>> Art Auctions

Art Review has released their annual list of 100 powerful artworld leaders. This is the seventh year the magazine has published the Power 100 list.

Damien Hirst and his marketing/manufacturing company have reclaimed the number one position on the ArtReview list after a very successful year.

01. Science (Damien Hirst)
02. Larry Gagosian
03. Kathy Halbreich
04. Sir Nicholas Serota
05. Iwan Wirth
06. Jay Jopling
07. David Zwirner
08. François Pinault
09. Jasper Johns
10. Eli Broad
11. Jeff Koons
12. Steven A. Cohen
13. Daniel Birnbaum
14. Charles Saatchi
15. Brett Gorvy & Amy Cappellazzo
16. Tobias Meyer & Cheyenne Westphal
17. Marian Goodman
18. Gerhard Richter
19. Richard Prince
20. Dominique Lévy & Robert Mnuchin

See the full list at the ArtReview website here.

Other notable artists on the list include Takashi Murakami (28), Richard Serra (33), Bruce Nauman (45), Cy Twombly (46), Ai Weiwei (47), Peter Doig (53), Marlene Dumas (56), Banksy (63), Lucian Freud (66) and Thomas Kinkade finishing off the list in 100th position.
>> General Arts, Power 100 2007, Power 100 2006, Power 100 2005

I know it looks politically biased and almost sexist to be posting two pictures of Sarah Palin nude, but nobody seems to have painted Joe Biden nude, so I haven’t posted his pictures.

The first painter to depict the oil loving, polar bear hating VP nominee naked was the Chicago painter Bruce Elliott. The nude Sarah Palin painting below is done by the penis wielding Australian based artist Tim Patch, better known as Pricasso because of the tool he uses to paint with. It shows the American vice president hopeful completely naked, squatting on the head of a moose, with a gun between her legs.

Pricasso (Tim Patch) also did this painting below of Barack Obama and John McCain with his Penis.

For an idea of how Pricasso uses his tool of trade, see him painting the Obama/McCain painting in the video below..

Pricasso will be appearing at Perry Mann’s Exotic Erotic Ball and Expo at Treasure Island, San Francisco, USA on the 24th and 25th of October, 2008. For more penile art by Pricasso or Tim Patch see his website here.
>> Nude News, Political News, Funny News, Sarah Palin Naked

On Sunday I spent the day in Sydney and visited the Claude Monet and the Impressionists exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW. Impressionism was never my favorite art movement, but when a whale of an artist like Claude Monet comes to town it’s hard to find an excuse to not see it. Australian museums aren’t exactly overflowing with masterpieces from around the world, so any decent traveling exhibition is a must see.

“Paint what you really see, not what you think you ought to see; not the object isolated as in a test tube, but the object enveloped in sunlight and atmosphere, with the blue dome of Heaven reflected in the shadows” Claude Monet Quote

Claude Monet
Water Lilies 1905
oil on canvas, 89.5 x 100.3 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Claude Monet
Charing Cross Bridge (overcast day) 1900
oil on canvas, 60.6 x 91.5 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Here’s a slideshow and talk about Monet and the exhibition on the SMH website.

Monet & the Impressionists is on at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney until the 26th of January 2009.
>> Museum Exhibitions, Australia