Specifically, the children were trying their hands at spin painting, in the style of the multimillionaire artist, aided by assistants from his company, Science Ltd. So if they can do it, why would anyone pay £668,450 for one of Hirst's?
Alas, it turns out spin-painting is not as easy it looks, as I soon discovered. To make the works, a pre-cut piece of cartridge paper is pinned down on to a spinning platform and brushed with water. Then you splodge on the paint.
I chose to use a skull-shaped piece of paper (a popular, if morbid choice), but whacked on some pink and gold paint so as not to create something resembling Voldemort's Dark Mark of Harry Potter fame.
As the platform spun around, Hirst's assistant seemed to suggest that the event at Covent Garden in central London, in aid of Camila Batmanghelidjh's charity Kids Company, was one of the more pleasurable tasks the Science Ltd team has been assigned – better, certainly, than sourcing thousands of dead flies for one of the artist's more unsightly creations.
Despite keeping to Hirst's advice – "If in doubt, stop. If you think it might be finished, stop" – my effort looked pretty dreadful. As did, though it seems mean to say it, the children's enthusiastic contributions. Even Hirst himself seemed to be having an off-day – his own heart-shaped design left a lot to be desired – but his piece is nevertheless likely to fetch a princely sum when it is auctioned at a gala Kids Company dinner in October.
The event was Hirst's first public appearance since it emerged that Maia Norman, his partner and mother of his three children, had left him for a former army officer, Timothy Spicer.
As a result, any questions directed towards the artist were met with a scream of "no press!" from his minders. But with many newspapers fixated on Hirst's love life, Ms Batmanghelidjh was more forthcoming about a lesser-known side of the artist. "He has supported us and never tried to announce it, but actually he has given £2m over the years," she said. "Not once did he ask for credits or acknowledgement."
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Sir Winston Churchill painting to fetch £750,000 - Daily Telegraph
David Coombs, the official authority on Churchill’s art, will include it in his revised edition of His Life and His Paintings.
Mr Coombs said: “It’s really beautiful, I was thrilled to be shown it.”
“The subject adds to its special interest. A Royal Horticultural Society source suggests that they are Cattleyas with a Miltonia.
“Such complex and delicate forms would be difficult to tackle even for a professionally trained painter and it reveals not only his liking for the flowers, but his characteristic determination to paint them whatever the difficulties.”
Churchill once spoke of being rescued by the “muse of painting” after he sank into depression following his resignation as First Lord of the Admiralty after the disastrous Dardanelles landing in the First World War.
Mr Coombs said: “The fact that Margot Sandys saw the present painting in 1936, confirms its date.
“The 1930s were Churchill’s ‘wilderness years’ when he was out of power but also, perhaps not entirely coincidentally, a period of abundant painting.”
He added that, at that time, Churchill came to know the celebrated artist Sir William Nicholson who, Churchill once said, taught him most about painting.
The 46 x 38cm (18 x 15in) orchids painting will be unveiled by the MacConnal-Mason Gallery at Masterpiece, an art fair staged from 28 June to 4 July at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, London. Bids for the painting will be taken during the exhibition.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
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