London, May 30 (ANI): A new controversial artwork, which shows Silvio Berlusconi lying in a casket on a velvet carpet and gives the impression that he is dead, pokes fun at the beleaguered former Italian premier and hints at his sins.
The very realistic waxwork, entitled Il Sogno degli Italiani' or 'The Dream of the Italians', has been created by artists Antonio Garullo and Mario Ottocento, the first ever married gay couple who tied the knot in Amsterdam in 2002.
The name of the installation refers to what Berlusconi apparently called himself on the phone to one of his girlfriends, according to Italian media.
The former prime minister, who is still very much alive at 75, is seen smiling as he lies in a glass coffin with his eyes closed.
Bizarrely he is wearing giant Mickey Mouse slippers as he lies on a satin pillow in a double-breasted blue jacket.
There is also one hand inside his unzipped trousers while the other hand rests on the History of Italy.
Positioned in a shrine at the Ferrajoli Palace, the shocking installation is available for all Italians to see and is just yards from Berlusconi's former stomping ground, the Palazzo Chigi, the official residence of Italian prime ministers.
"We put Berlusconi's body into a glass case to emphasise the personality cult that he has been creating for all these years and which will possibly remain for years to come," the Daily Mail quoted Garullo and Ottocento as saying.
"At the same time we put a screen between the contingent reality and historical judgment.
"If Italians are ultimately "a people of saints, poets, seafarers" then the arch-Italian Silvio is a worthy simulacrum of this people," they said.
Berlusconi stepped down as premier last November after failing to come up with convincing reforms to help Italy exit from the sovereign debt crisis.
The last part of his term in office was marred with a constant stream of lurid revelations about his private life.
The sleazy politician is currently embroiled in a high-profile court case after being accused of paying for sex with underage minor Karima El Mahroug, also known as Ruby the Heartbreaker, in February 2010 when she was just 17-years-old. (ANI)
Source: in.news.yahoo.com
Giant murderous half-ton car-part junkbot will hold 32 bottles of wine for you - Boing Boing (blog)
Giant murderous half-ton car-part junkbot will hold 32 bottles of wine for you
A welder in Phoenix assembled a robot out of car and motorcycle parts that serves as a wine-rack. It weighs "Approx 1,000lbs," stands six feet high, holds 32 bottles of wine (or other beverage of choice) and is liberally wired up with glowing LEDs. Yours for a mere $7,000.00.
For the discerning individual who appreciates artwork and wine - you now have a great opportunity to meld those together into one piece of artwork that will display your bottle collection like no other wine rack. This will make you the talk of your wine club, HOA, alcoholics anonymous support group, etc...
There are only several times in one's life when one has the opportunity to purchase something that is RIDICULOUSLY COOL. This is one of those moments.
Need something unique? Sure, you could certainly go to the local Mercedes dealership and pick up a G55 or wait until next year's G63 comes out and yes, it would be unique, you'd be the talk of your friends, and ride around in style but it wouldn't be any different than the next G55 or G63 rolling around. Nooooo waaaaaaay man! Those suckers are mass produced!! You see those all over the place in Scottsdale!
What ya need is a one-off piece of artwork that you will not find anywhere else in the metropolitan area and likely - the entire state.
Half Ton Transformer-style Wine Rack made of auto transmission parts - $7000 (North Phoenix)
Where not otherwise specified, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Boing Boing is a trademark of Happy Mutants LLC in the United States and other countries.
Source: boingboing.net
'A fantastic field of visual ecstasy' – the art of Tim Rollins and Kos - The Guardian
In 1981 I was recruited by a really rough public junior high school on Kelly Street in the South Bronx to teach art classes for students with special needs. It wasn't long after I started this work that a band of the most dedicated and enthusiastic kids would hang out in the art classroom after school to make things. Soon, it became obvious that we needed a space of our own outside of the school system. We found a large space in a nearby abandoned public school that had been converted into a neighborhood community centre. We called the space The Art and Knowledge Workshop and we called our team "KOS" ( for "Kids of Survival"). We met almost every day after school and on weekends to create collaborative paintings inspired by classic works of literature and music that many outsiders assumed would be beyond our ability to comprehend or appreciate.
Thirty-one years later, our paintings are in the permanent collections of over 95 museums worldwide including the Tate Modern in London.
KOS and I continue to conduct art making workshops with young people throughout the world. Several of the team's original members still work with the group.
Artwork by Tim Rollins and KOS. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2011. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York Our participation in Wide Open School will engage with Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. We always paint on a grid of book or music score pages that are carefully glued in a grid on canvas. This time, we will be painting on the music score for the incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, written by Felix Mendelssohn (who began composing the work in 1826 when he was a teenager).
For us, the central character of Shakespeare's comedy is Puck. Puck is a creature who loves to create transformations just for the sheer, mischievous joy of it. Puck is our role model – the ultimate artist. In our workshops at Wide Open School we'll ask the participants to invent magic flowers in pencil and watercolor – hundreds of them. These bizarre but beautiful blossoms should look like they possess a juice, a nectar that when squeezed on the eyelids of someone sleeping causes that person to fall madly in love with the first living creature they see upon awakening. All the flower elements will then be collaged onto pages from Mendelssohn's score for A Midsummer Night's Dream, conjuring a quick, bright, confusing and fantastic field of visual ecstasy.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Artwork will go under the hammer at Beach Road Hotel to raise money for homeless - Wentworth Courier
ARTWORK will go under the hammer this month to raise money for the area’s homeless.
More than 50 original photos will be on display from tomorrow as part of the Love Is A Four Letter Word exhibition at the Beach Rd Hotel.
Bidding will be by silent auction on June 30, with all money going to Bondi Youth Accommodation. More than 32,000 young people sleep on the streets every night.
This number and the 21 Challenge which is raising money in June for homeless people inspired Mel Dymott and Julie Jenkins.
“It has been a great response,” Miss Dymott said.
The silent auction is part of the final event on June 30, Winter Warmers.
From 6pm to midnight the hotel will also feature live bands, raffles, live graffiti and night food markets.
For more visit facebook.com/loveisbeachroad.
Source: wentworth-courier.whereilive.com.au
Fun and Games: Air passengers greeted with image of champion athlete at Heathrow - Daily Mail
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We all like to spot a friendly face at the airport after a long flight.
But air passengers flying into Britain's Heathrow for the London 2012 Games won't have to wait until the arrival gates to do just that.
Travellers will be able to see a 53m by 75m image of champion heptathlete Jessica Ennis painted onto a field from the window of their plane, declaring 'Welcome to our turf'.
Welcome to Britain: An image of Jessica Ennis greets air passengers on their way into London
The Sheffield star's likeness - bigger than 15 tennis courts and 193 London buses - appears in Thornbury Playing Fields, about three miles from Heathrow, the creation of British Airways, a London 2012 sponsor.
The carrier said it created the artwork to welcome home Team GB and ParalympicsGB supporters and remind athletes from overseas that only one country has home advantage.
The painting also has the Twitter hashtag #HomeAdvantage.
Britain's pride: The artwork is bigger than 15 tennis courts and 193 London buses
Ms Ennis, one of the favourites in a tight race for heptathlon gold at the Olympics, said: 'I'm thrilled to be the first face that people will see arriving into the UK for the London 2012 Games.
'I hope it brings excitement to homecoming Brits, and reminds international athletes that we're ready and prepared.'
The real thing: Heptathlete Jessica will be competing in four events during the Olympic trials next month
She added: 'We have the most dedicated fans in the world, who will get behind us every step of the way to give us a home advantage.'
It took two days and more than 600 litres of red, white and blue weatherproof paint for workers to complete the project.
It will be on show for five weeks until July 17 and retouched at intervals to keep it fresh.
U.S. rower Kate Johnson, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist in the women's eight, said: 'As an athlete at the Athens Games in 2004, one of my strongest memories was seeing the city for the first time as we flew in, because that's when the reality kicked in.
'It's an exciting and anxious moment for athletes, and I expect they will be amused and a perhaps a little unsettled to see such a bold message as they arrive to the UK.'
The quirky stunt is not the first time visitors to the UK have been greeted with a giant piece of patriotic artwork.
Heathrow unveiled a giant Union Jack flag with an image of Her Majesty the Queen to mark the Diamond Jubilee.
Ten metres taller than Buckingham Palace, the flag gave air passengers a right royal welcome to the UK.
Heathrow will be the main flight hub for the Games with millions of passengers set to stop off there.
Airports owner BAA estimate that 80 per cent of all Olympics visitors will pass through the airport on its busiest days.
Getting ahead: Heathrow created this flag adorned with the Queen's head on it for travellers
These include July 16 as the peak day for athlete arrivals and July 26, peak day for arrival of sponsors and media.
It is gearing up for a 45 per cent increase in passenger numbers of up to 138,000 at this time.
British Airways estimates that it will fly 50,000 expats back to the UK this summer.
The airline has also launched a Flying Britain Home campaign offering a quarter of a million pounds worth of flights to Brits that live abroad to fly back for the Games.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Stockholm Art Heist Botched Because Getaway Car Is Too Small - Huffington Post
When two bumbling art thieves in Sweden recently decided to get creative with their getaway car, their art heist scheme took a hilarious turn. Note to self: when choosing a getaway car for your art heist, go with the traditional white van.
Yesterday Aftonbladet reported that two men broke into a man's house in a suburban town in Stockholm and stole three paintings, one of which was the beloved Swedish artistCarl Larsson's 1877 work, "Clair-Obscur." Yet their plans were foiled when they tried to stick the 4 by 3-foot painting into their getaway car, a small red Ford.
An unnamed witness reported to Sweden's The Local: "They tried to get the painting in the car, but it was too big. They threw it aside when we came." The men then zoomed away, almost running over the painting in the process. The two other stolen paintings were found in a nearby dumpster. Police are currently searching for the offenders, but we're guessing it won't take them too long to find these incompetent would-be thieves.
The hefty 1877 artwork, titled "Clair-Obscur," is worth between $428,000 and $713,000. The artist, who died in 1919, is a Swedish painter who represented the Arts and Crafts movement, an anti-industrial school dedicated to reviving classical tradition and technique along with ornament and romantic design. The other two paintings were also by Swedish artists, but their provenance is still unknown.
These have not been the greatest few weeks for art heists. Late last month, the Daily Herald reports a pair of bronze statues went missing from Waukegan Public Library, a small city north of Chicago. The stolen works, worth around $15,000, were then sold to a scrap metal business for a mere $270. In a truly tragic finale the sculptures, depicting a young boy and girl reading, were melted down by the time police investigated the theft.
Waukegan's police chief called the crime "despicable," saying "even amongst thieves, there are lines that should not be crossed." One of the alleged thieves is currently being held in jail on $50,000 bail.
We suppose we can find some solace in knowing those dim enough to try to steal art are often too dim to get away with it, right?
Also on HuffPost:
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
Society’s well respected art show opens in Seaford - Lewes Today
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Source: www.sussexexpress.co.uk
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