Archive for December, 2009
“I live and work in Melbourne Australia. I grew up on a farm with my grandparents. There were apple orchards and cows. I had a pony called Frisco and a cat called Smokey. I have always liked drawing.
I studied art at the Victorian College of Arts, Melbourne completing a BA in fine Arts majoring in painting. I now work fulltime as an illustrator. I draw, paint and make murals.
I get commissions from graphic designers, ad agencies, architects, foodies, stylists, retailers, corporates and the general public.
My favourite pens are uni ball fine. I like to draw in cafes and my car. My favourite colour is yellow but I like to wear red.” —Jane Reiseger
[ via janereiseger.com ]
[via bookcouncil.org.nz ]
When Hugh Grant bought an Andy Warhol painting of Elizabeth Taylor for £2million, he was hailed as a true collector and art connoisseur. Six years later his image as a collector further increased when he sold the painting for an £11million profit. What was the secret to his success?
Grant, 49, had been on a two-day drinking spree when he ordered an assistant to bid for the painting at an auction in New York.
He said: ‘And to my horror, she did, and even worse, got it. I slightly regret selling it now, even though it made me rich.’
[via Daily Mail]
Victor Pinchuk, Ukrainian billionaire and future Bond villain, announced that he’s offering a $100,000 prize to an artist 35 or younger. The Future Generation Art Prize will be awarded every other year. Five runners up will be selected for the $20,000 artist-in-residency program and mentored by some of Pinchuk’s collected artists that include Takashi Murakami, Jeff Koons, and Damien Hirst. The contest opens January 18, 2010 and is open to any artist in any country. Twenty artists are then selected for the shortlist to have their work displayed at the Pinchuk Art Centre in Kiev in October and the final winner will be announced in December.
For more info and to apply online visit futuregenerationartprize.org
(photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
According to a report released by the National Endowment for the Arts, attendance for arts and cultural events is at the lowest point in 27 years. Factors affecting the arts include the rising price of gas, a drop in overall consumer spending, and of course the deteriorating economy. Perhaps the scariest part is that the data was collected in 2008, which means any 2009 statistics from when the recession seriously dug in have yet to be analyzed. Prepare for things to get worse.
Notable findings:
- Fewer students are taking art classes and lessons, a drop by 6-23% depending upon the art form (the rates are even worse when directly compared to 1982: music education has dropped 30% and visual arts by 50%).
- Audiences for live music, events, and performances are both declining and growing older.
- People with higher education (the go to group for the arts) have consistently curtailed participation in the arts each year
However, not all the findings were bad. Internet and broadcast media have made it easier for people to engage with the arts, and more are doing so each year. Additionally, photography/videography/film-making has increased so much in popularity that it now ranks as the top creative activity.
So while no one may show up to your gallery opening, at least someone might look at your work online or document your destitution. There’s always that.
Keren is a talented Brooklyn-based illustrator whose work appears in magazines and on album covers. She describes her work as:
“a stylish world inspired by sixties iconography and psychedelia, contemporary fashion, Islamic and Scandinavian textile design, and 8-bit arcade games.”
view Keren’s portfolio at: notkeren.com
This innovative font by Tobias Sommer reminds me of the days of paper dolls. What a creative way to take something that is 2-dimensional and digital, and make it 3-dimensional and actual.
In November the Andy Warhol silk-screen “200 One Dollar Bills” sold for $43.7 million at auction. The Atlantic Wire has an interesting article about what makes a Warhol so valuable, even if he didn’t do the work.
“It is precisely because the 1965 Red Self Portraits were made without Warhol’s on-the-spot supervision that they are so critically important. They are the kind of transitional works museums and collectors particularly value because they show Warhol groping toward the working method he would adopt in the following decade, when his participation in the creation of his own paintings was often limited to choosing the image and signing the picture.”
Like him or not, Warhol was one marketing genius.
