Museum of Modern Art Some discussion on the new Museum of Modern Art design over at PBS by Jeffrey Brown. There's also an interesting article at artnet.com by Suzaan Boettger. And a quote below by the man himself..

"I tried not to create a special object. I want to create an environment. Architecture is basically a container: You have to have something inside.
A museum has people and works of art. I just designed a cup to contain works of art and people."
Yoshio Taniguchi - Architect of the new MoMA
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  Ed Paschke Dies The American artist has died in his home at the age of 65. Ed Paschke gained recognition in the 60s when he was working with a group of artists known as the "Imagists" that borrowed heavily from Pop art.

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  Famous Art Quotes Ive always collected art quotes by famous artists. They're a great source of inspiration and amusement...

"Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches."
Andy Warhol
"All artists are vain, they long to be recognised and to leave something to posterity. They want to be loved, and at the same time they want to be free. But nobody is free."
Francis Bacon
"Creativity takes courage."
Henri Matisse
"The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection."
Michelangelo

There's plenty more artist quotes over at artquotes.net.
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  Investing in Art Incentives Interest free loans for those looking to buy contemporary art is one way of encouraging people to purchase art. The English Arts Council and the Scottish Arts Council are offering loans of up to 2000 pounds.

Hang now, pay later, way to buy art
"The kind of perks used to sell televisions or mobile phones were offered yesterday to those ready to take the plunge and buy a work of art."
scotsman
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  Mixing Politics with Paint Some say art and politics don't really mix, but artists just can't help themselves. I suspect it's mostly art collectors and commercial galleries that don't like political paintings as they often don't hang well in the living room above the lounge. Regardless, artists will keep voicing their opinions the best way they know.. with art.
(thanks to Eric for sharing the article below)

Shut Up and Paint
"Few of us, I wager, care what Colin Powell or Alan Greenspan thinks about contemporary art — why should we care what artists think about Iraq or the economy? I'll gladly pay attention to someone with the genius of Goya — whose "Disasters of War" prints are the gold standard for anti-war imagery — but to the majority of today's artists, I'd say (to paraphrase Laura Ingraham), Shut up and paint."
nationalreviewonline
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  Museum of Modern Art Renovations The Museum of Modern Art is about to open for business after major renovations.. and business should do well with a $20USD entry fee.
(watch the promo)

New MoMA simply shines
"The new MoMA, which doubles the space of the old, creates a feeling of reverence, serenity and astonishment. Unlike several recent and much ballyhooed museums, Taniguchi's is unquestionably a work of art in itself, but it never overshadows the collection for which it serves as backdrop."
nydailynews
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  Art Bargain.. or not This a great idea, where student works and works by famous artists are mixed and offered anonymously at the same price. Knowing the style of the artist doesn't help either, as there are students imitating the styles of the established artists, and the established artists work in a style they don't normally use. So it is about buying art that you actually like rather than buying a name.

Bargain on the cards at mystery art sale
"Most of the 2,000-odd works in the show are by RCA students, present or past. Some, however, are by extremely well-known artists - including David Hockney, Bill Viola, Perry and Damien Hirst. All are on sale for £35 - but the catch is that as a buyer you won't be told whom your work is by until you have handed over the cash. You could be walking away with the most fantastic bargain. Or not."
guardian
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  Turkish Artist Profile A new artist profile is up for the month at artquotes.net. Turkish artist Gizem Saka is an emerging painter currently working in New York.
Woman with Apple is a work that seems to sit happily between Eastern and Western cultures, just like her hometown of Istanbul. The style has elements of Picasso and Matisse, but there are also decorative elements that could be interpreted as Turkish, with the twirls and stylized vines bordering a corner of the work.
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  Cy Twombly Painting It's always good to see Australia getting some decent art. There's usually much controversy when any public collection acquires a good painting in Australia.

Art Gallery of New South Wales Acquires Cy Twombly
"The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney is delighted to announce one of most significant acquisitions the Gallery has ever made - Cy Twombly's Three studies from the Temeraire. The first work of art by Cy Twombly to enter an Australian public collection."
artdaily
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  Seeing God It's an interesting theme to tackle for artists.. depicting God. Probably too difficult a task to accomplish with paint. My interpretation of God would have to be an installation of a rain forest, where life and death happily live side by side.

Simply divine
"The better pieces in 100 Artists make the whole thing worth seeing, creakings and crankiness notwithstanding. Predictably, though, the best piece of all - an oil of canvas by Gerhard Richter called Grey (Grau) - seeks to distance itself from the curators and their problematic contexts. It is, as Richter himself says, "a monochrome grey painting, oil on canvas" which shows "the only possible representation/image of God". "
theguardian
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  Stolen Art the way to Riches I still can't see any value in stealing the Scream.. who would be stupid enough to buy it?

Finding Buyers for Stolen Art
"You can steal a $1 million painting and sell it for only $100,000, but it may be a lot easier than stealing $100,000 from a bank"
abc news
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  Iranian Photographers I guess I can understand the state funded Museum of Contemporary Art (Iran) not financially supporting certain works that they don't approve of, but it must be frustrating sometimes for artists.

Iranian photographers' work barred from Paris exhibition
"The works that were against Islamic values or mocked ... Iranian women were omitted. Other works by these artists that did not insult Islamic values were sent to the exhibition."
thedailystar
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  Protecting Ancient Paintings The problem with having such a rich and plentiful source of archeological treasures is that it's so much more difficult to look after every site. I remember in Turkey some of the early Christian paintings in Kapadokya had initials scratched all over them. Only the best sites were really protected from vandals and thieves as there were just so many of them.

African rock art under threat
"International experts in early human art are calling for greater protection to save many of these ancient paintings from destruction."
bbcnews
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  Monet, Money & Art Monet exhibition in Switzerland documents the life of the artist, from poverty to luxury..
Show on Monet's landmark art also 'exhibition on money'
"At one time, strapped for cash, he disposed of his pictures in job lots for 25 francs each, not much more than he got for the caricatures he did at the age of 16 and sold on the streets to passers-by. But his fortune eventually took an upturn, allowing a life in luxury for three decades until his death. He employed maids, a cook and six gardeners, swapped one painting for a fancy car and was thrilled by watching motor racing."
canada.com
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  Sotheby's Auction Update Sotheby's failed to reach their low auction estimate of $203 million, but still managed to rake up its highest total for an Impressionism/Modern sale since 1990. The 48 paintings and sculptures made $194,289,600.. far below Sotheby's high auction estimate of $275+ million.
Gauguin can now afford to buy his own tropical island with an artist record of $39.2 million for his 1899 painting, Maternite II. It was just under the low estimate of $40 million but easily surpassed the artist's previous auction record of $24 million.
Other highlights included works by Henry Moore ($8.4million), Piet Mondrian ($21million) and Amedeo Modigliani ($31.3million).

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  Buying Art I could never imagine buying a painting that I did not like, in the hope of it increasing in value. I would rather a piece of paper from the stock exchange than a painting I didn't like.
Here's a good article with tips on how to buy art and why to buy art..
westport minuteman
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  Relative of Vincent van Gogh Killed I've heard of people being verbally abused or even imprisoned for their art, but being killed for your art is a little extreme. Theo van Gogh (no, not Vincent's brother) caused outrage in the Dutch Muslim community when he made a controversial 11 minute film about a Muslim woman that was abused in an arranged marriage. An obviously deranged psychopath has decided he did not like the message Van Gogh was spreading and has attacked and killed him..

Film-maker is murdered for his art
"Theo van Gogh, 47, the great-grand nephew of the 19th century painter Vincent van Gogh, was shot and stabbed to death while cycling past Amsterdam’s city council offices. Police arrested a 26-year-old man of dual Dutch-Moroccan nationality after a gunfight in a nearby park, which wounded a policeman and the alleged assailant."
timesonline
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  The Mona Lisa Smile I could really relate to this article below on the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. I've never enjoyed the big block-buster exhibitions where you have to squeeze through the noisy crowd for a quick glimpse of a painting. They're so claustrophobic and impersonal, and not unlike trying to meditate in the middle of a busy highway. The best thing about them are the catalogues in the museum stores, where you can take them home and view the works in peace. (Going to them at unusual times or when there is something else more important on, and fewer visitors is another option).

Smile, please
"It's the most famous painting in the world and a must-see for anyone visiting Paris. But most people fight through the crowds to spend a mere 15 seconds in front of it - just long enough to grab a snapshot. So why do they bother? To find out, Amelia Gentleman spent a day with the Mona Lisa"
guardian
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  Art Auction Excitement Chris-toby's are whipping up plenty of excitement in the art world with some big names being auctioned off over the coming couple of weeks. The dollars that pass through the two big auction houses in the next two weeks would nearly eliminate world poverty, but it's still fun to watch from the sidelines.

Goldmine of art set for auction
"NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than half a billion dollars worth of paintings and sculptures, led by a $40 million (22 million pound) Gauguin, will be up for bids in Sotheby's and Christie's annual fall sales starting as owners try to capitalize on a bullish art market.
A $25 million Modigliani and $15 million canvasses by Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Andy Warhol will also hit the block during the two-week auctions in New York, which start on Wednesday."
reuters
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