Marla Olmstead on 60 Minutes I did not see the episode on 60 minutes recently, but it's interesting to see what people have to say about it. See the two previous posts on BgArt News Blog and the comments that people have had.
Marla Olmstead post 1 - sept 30, 2004
Marla Olmstead post 2 - jan 13, 2005
I can't verify that this poster is real and actually know's Marla's dad (Mark Olmstead) but it seems real enough.. and would explain a lot..
"Let me start off by saying this: I know Mark Olmstead, Marla's father. Mark always was, and is, a glory hound. He was an athlete in High School, but never a star..
Let me say as a person that knows Mark and knows him well I don't believe that his daughter is painting the final product that they are selling. I do believe that she paints a portion of them and that Mark finishes them. If you watch the film taken by the hidden camera you can plainly see that she sloshes around with the brush, covers over things and randomly places shapes and other globs of paint on the canvas. Not nearly the polished, united presentation you see in the gallery.
I hope that she is a prodigy, but I believe that she is a normal four year old with opportunistic parents.I know Mark, and this has living vicariously and sucking up the attention written all over it."

See more on the 60 minutes episode..
"I saw no evidence that she was a child prodigy in painting. I saw a normal, charming, adorable child painting the way preschool children paint, except that she had a coach that kept her going." Ellen Winner   ¶ 10:38 AM 64 comments

  Art.com and AllPosters merger? Most art webmasters have probably tried the affiliate program of one or the other of these two companies. Now it looks like Art.com and AllPosters.com will merge in the not too distant future. Art.com is working on raising $30 million to fund the merger and to fill the bank accounts ($9.9million) of the officers and directors at Art.com.
To be honest, I think it should be made illegal to sell fine art posters. Original paintings can be so cheap if you know where to look, so where's the sense in buying something that 10,000 other people also have hanging on their wall?
Bad art should be made illegal too, but that's a whole other story.
Art.com, Allposters.com eye merger
"Art.com executives told employees on Feb. 16 that they are working on a merger with AllPosters.com, an Emeryville, Calif.-based online retailer that bills itself as the "world's largest poster and print store." It's not clear at this point where the merged operations would be based, but AllPosters.com is the larger company with a higher revenue base and a larger head count."
bizjournals
  ¶ 4:42 PM 3 comments

  Artists Resale Rights Levy Britain's booming contemporary art market may be affected by the new "droit de suite" tax or the artists resale rights levy when it is introduced next year. Artists or their families will receive a percentage of the sale of their work for up to 70 years after his/her death. This make the US market more attractive for sellers of high priced works as they have no such tax.
I can see the positives and negatives of such a tax. Maybe it should be introduced to works under a particular price (eg $500,000). That way the artists that are "hard-up" get the benefit of such a levy and the big super-priced works still get sold in Britain/Europe.
EU levy 'will hand much of Britain's booming art market to the US'
"Supporters of droit de suite say it helps hard-up artists who otherwise lose out on the rising value of their work. But the survey shows that more than 80 per cent of the money paid out goes to descendents of artists, many of whom are already wealthy."
telegraph   ¶ 6:16 PM 0 comments

  Christo in New York Park Christo sure does know how to attract attention and draw a crowd. His latest project in Manhattan's Central Park is creating a media frenzy, which can only be good for art, and thousands of people are going to NY just to see the work. "The Gates" is a collection of 7500 16 foot high gates with saffron fabric hanging from them, described as "a visual golden river".
'The Gates' open in New York
"I can't promise, particularly since this is New York, that everyone will love 'The Gates,' but I guarantee that they will all talk about it," Bloomberg said Friday at a news conference with the artists. "And that's really what innovative, provocative art is supposed to do."
cnn   ¶ 5:49 PM 2 comments

  Lucien Freud's Kate Moss An unusual portrait for Lucien Freud of supermodel Kate Moss, estimated to be sold for £2,500,000-3,500,000 / $4,500,000-6,500,000 at a Christies auction has sold for 3.93 million pounds ($7.32 million).
His models are usually everyday people, with the exception of once painting the queen of England. His models are not models, but people he is familiar with, in surroundings that he is familiar with.
"It is about myself and my surroundings. I work from people that interest me and that I care about, in rooms that I know." Lucien Freud
He preferred not to work with professional models as he felt they had "grown another skin" because they were looked at too much, which makes Kate Moss an unusual subject as she was one of the most looked at people in the world at the time of the painting.
see previous lucien freud - kate moss post
  ¶ 4:10 AM 3 comments

  Chaim Soutine Auction Record Chaim Soutine's Le pâtissier de Cagnes achieved a record at auction for the artist, raising nearly ten million (£5,048,000 / $9,449,856 / €7,344,840).
The Impressionist Art, Modern Art and Surreal Art auction in London at Christies on the 7th raised a total of £41,014,000 / $76,778,208 / €59,675,370.
Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale
"Christie's February evening sale of Impressionist and Modern Art again attracted extremely fierce bidding from an international audience," commented Jussi Pylkkänen, President of Christie's Europe and tonight's auctioneer. "European collectors continued to dominate as they sought works of art of great quality. We did see activity form the American trade, in particular for select Surrealist works of art. All the rooms were absolutely packed, bringing a lively atmosphere to proceedings as the overall market continues to be strong." christies
  ¶ 5:40 PM 0 comments

  Versace Art Sale Gianni Versace's art collection will be auctioned off in May/June this year. The murdered fashion designer amassed a great collection of modern and contemporary works of art with decent paintings by Lichtenstein, Basquiat, Warhol and Clemente. Versace's heirs are set to pick up a cool $17+ million for the sale.
  ¶ 7:19 PM 1 comments

  Bomb Barrier Art Big ugly grey concrete walls in Baghdad, Iraq are beginning to come to life with art. The walls are to protect important buildings from mortars and suicide bombers.
Previously the only public art in Iraq was of Saddam, but now there's big brightly colored murals of picasso-ish people, historical scenes, flowers and plenty of doves... all screaming out for peace. See them here at BBC
Baghdad's blast wall art
In a dull Baghdad world of concrete and razor-wire, chicanes and blast barriers, a little colour has just re-appeared.
BBC

  ¶ 6:50 AM 0 comments