Until recently Sam Dargan's paintings displayed a grim lineup of middle management grunts, battered priests and hollowed-out delinquents: a politically disenfranchised gang rendered with a sense of humour as black as a lifetime's worth of leaky ballpoint pens. In one such work, blindfolded suits in various states of undress staggered around the sea's edge, like the survivors of a stag do that has gone wrong. In another, the dead eyes and ingrained frown of an office worker belied the cute cat face someone had painted over his leathery features and five o'clock shadow.
In these earlier paintings life looks relentlessly bleak, be it the cinematic desolation of a wrecked car on a blasted heath, a grey stone staircase spiralling to nowhere, or the hopeless humdrum walls of a prefab office. But Dargan's beef is not with the office jobsworth – a figure whose fortitude might be seen as brave as much as infuriating. Rather, it's a hopeless system of dead-end jobs and political powerlessness he wants to challenge.
While the last 10 years have seen the Royal College graduate hone an angry polemical vision, his latest works – large, comely landscapes – take a new direction. They're still painted in Dargan's precise graphic style, with each blade of grass picked out and every silhouetted tree as defined as a razor cut. Yet there's a sense of joy in the sweeping vistas. The clue to the paintings is in their long titles, variously referencing moments when socialist dreams briefly seemed possible, like the ill-fated Paris Commune, or the English Diggers movement of the 17th century.
These nature-loving Protestant reformers established their first commune at St George's Hill in Surrey. Now, in a twisted kind of progress, it has been turned into a private estate with a golf and tennis club, which has been home to the likes of Kate Winslet and Elton John. Dargan references this in a painting of a lovely empty wilderness, though, on closer inspection, the idyllic cottage perched on the horizon turns out to be on fire.
Similarly ominous is a painting of a forest of birches, a strip of asphalt disrupting the bucolic scene in a reference to the Red Army Faction's murder of former SS officer Hanns Martin Schleyer whose body was found in a car boot on a woodland roadside. Look hard and you can find a snaking striped tie and an abandoned shoe in the foliage. Devoid of people, Dargan's acerbic wit has mellowed in these paintings. Instead, they balance the covert threat of violence with the beauty of a promised land.
Why we like him: For his wall painting depicting the events of the Paris Commune in the style of a Ladybird book, which graced the loo at South London Gallery in the summer of 2011.
Yesterday's heroes: Dargan puts his new interest in history and landscape down to two key influences: Alex Butterworth's chronicle of anarchist history, The World That Never Was and 19th-century Russian Romantic painting.
Where can I see him? At Rokeby, London until 11 August.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
iPad painting App for cats invented by US company Little Hiccup - Metro.co.uk
Developer Little Hiccup has created a series of iPad apps designed to keep pets across the globe entertained and stimulated.
Its first App Game For Cats features a fast-moving mouse pointer which is said to appeal to their hunting instincts as they try to catch it.
It has been so popular that its creator TJ Fuller has followed up the App with a sequel named Paint For Cats.
Designed for the more artistic moggy, the App makes a colourful paw imprint when a cat touches the screen.
The App was recently tested at an animal shelter where it received a positive response, with bigger cats such as lions and tigers even taking to it.
Creator TJ Fuller said: 'I had seen so many YouTube videos of cats playing with iPads but of course they were playing games designed for humans.
'We took our beta version to the local animal shelter and let the cats there play with it.
'They all absolutely loved it so we knew we had something awesome. It was very heartwarming seeing the orphaned cats go crazy over our game.
'We were concerned that maybe the cats would scratch the screen, but it turned out that they don't even use their claws when they play. They just like to paw at it.'
He added: 'I would love to do a game for dogs but they generally don't react to that sort of stimuli like cats do. They are just not bothered, it would seem.'
Source: www.metro.co.uk
Record price for painting from Dame Kiri's collection - ONE News
Opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has sold a piece from her art collection for a record price.
The 1998 oil on canvas painting, Opening, by New Zealand artist Sir Peter Siddell, was bought by a private buyer for $218,000 at an auction at the International Art Centre in Auckland last night.
It was more than double the previous record for a Siddell.
The painting was described as "a suburban mosaic of villas and bungalows" which included the Mt Eden shopping village where he lived.
Dame Kiri had owned the painting for a decade.
International Art Centre director Richard Thomson said the singer sold the painting as part of her philosophy of constantly updating and changing her collection.
In 2010 another painting she owned, Forty Winks by Charles Frederick Goldie, sold for $573,000 - the highest price paid for a Goldie painting offered at auction.
Bidding was brisk for the Siddell work last night, mostly with bids from around New Zealand but also with some overseas interest.
Thomson said the Siddell price reflected the mood of art lovers who were often not influenced by the state of the economy.
"Fine art has always been a good investment and we have found time and time again that even when the economy is under pressure, there will also be buyers for quality art simply because it is like having money in the bank."
At last night's sale a 1984 oil painting by Don Binney of Karekare Beach sold for $173,000 and a rare example of Goldie's early work, Study of Still Life, painted in 1890 when Goldie was only 20, sold for $183,000.
Latest NZ News Video
Source: tvnz.co.nz
Show Me the Monet - Series 2 - Episode 14 - BBC News
Among those facing the Hanging Committee is a 50-year-old Russian-born painter who likes to be known simply as ARINA. She came to the UK in 2005, completed a degree and masters in fine art, and now works full time as an artist in London and has exhibited her work in the UK and abroad. A spot at the Mall Galleries would be an important stepping stone in building her profile, but what will the judges make of her painting - and the whopping £35,000 price tag ARINA wants to put on it?
Richard, 39, from Somerset already makes a living from painting - but as a painter and decorator rather than a fine artist, and his dream is to stop painting ceilings and start selling masterpieces. But rather than show the judges a painting, Richard has decided to submit a miniature sculpture entitled 13 Secrets and containing a hidden message. Will the judges be drawn in by the intricacy and mystery of his tiny sculpture?
Clem, 49, from Devon has always loved art but ended up running an online business trading vintage collectables instead. In his forties he decided to follow his heart and study fine art at university. Now, with his degree behind him, it is make or break time to establish himself as an artist. He is presenting the judges with a drawing using mixed media including soya sauce and rice, which is inspired by a photograph of his great grandmother and explores his Chinese identity. Will the judges warm to Clem's originality?
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
PBS video mashup honors 'Joy of Painting' host [Video] - YAHOO!
LOS ANGELES (AP) — On the heels of PBS' hit Mister Rogers video mashup, a second public TV favorite is getting the star treatment.
PBS said Thursday it has posted a video remix with clips from "The Joy of Painting" instructional series, featuring the late Bob Ross.
The "Happy Painter" remix is from John Boswell, who created the "Garden of Your Mind" video tribute to Fred Rogers. That mashup of clips from "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" has been viewed nearly 6 million times on YouTube.
"The Joy of Painting," still seen in repeats, aired on PBS from 1983 to 1994 with its bushy-haired, mellow-voiced host. Ross died in 1995 of cancer at age 52.
The two PBS Digital Studios mashups are the start of a "PBS icons remixed" series that's intended to get people talking about public TV and to support their local PBS stations.
Boswell, also known as Melodysheep, has done autotuned video pieces featuring prominent scientists including Neil deGrasse Tyson and the late Carl Sagan.
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Online:
http://apne.ws/MKyaR2
http://www.youtube.com/pbsdigitalstudios
http://www.youtube.com/melodysheep
Source: tv.yahoo.com
An app for cats....*sigh* this is what you spending time and money on....an app for CATS