Art Gallery Honors Eduardo Paolozzi

Art Gallery Honors Eduardo Paolozzi

The Royal Academy is paying tribute to Scottish sculptor, printmaker, and filmmaker Eduardo Paolozzi by showcasing more than 100 of his works spanning from 1940 to the late-1970s. Hailing from private collections, "Two Forms on a Rod," "Table Sculpture," and "Saint Sebastian" will highlight the late Paolozzi (he passed in 2005), and amply reflect his cubism- and surrealist-influenced style.

Daniel Hermann, the Paolozzi collection's curator, said, "He is undoubtedly one of the most versatile artists of the 20th century. As an artist, he reinvented himself time and time again." It isn't always easy to explicitly see such reinvention from an artist if you aren't living concurrent to him; the Paolozzi collection provides everybody with an opportunity to do so.

Art Gallery Invites Visitors to Fight

Art Gallery Invites Visitors to Fight

Until June 3, 2006, witness boxing as a cultural manifestation of black heritage in Britain and the United States, as depicted by half-white and half-Jamaican artist Satch Hoyt. Although he isn't a boxer himself, he's created insightful sculptures and sometimes-audio-incorporated installations to reflect the athletic phenomenon.

The art show's centerpiece, "In the Corner," interacts with its spectators by inviting them to take off their shoes, enter the ring, and fight a sculpture made of red boxing gloves. The sculpture then responds to any initiated contact with syncopated sounds. So... Are you ready to rumble? The Galerie Anne de Villepoix, 43 Rue de Montmorency, Paris, awaits you until June 3, 2006.
Visit http://www.annedevillepoix.com or call (33) (1) 4278-3224.

See Greece Differently in Art Gallery Exhibit

See Greece Differently in Art Gallery Exhibit

"An Obvious Moment of Happiness" reflects painter Lisa Ruyter's hill-, road-, and village-laden excursion through the Greek island of Mykonos. While archetypal elements of surrounding scenery drives the artwork, she used blue, orange, pink, and other vibrant acrylic colors to interpret what she saw. So don't count on photorealism from the New Yorker now living in Vienna.

Interested? It's at the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, 7 Rue Debelleyme, Paris, until May 29, 2006. Expect tranquility and an appreciation of life.

Visit http://www.ropac.net or call (33) (1) 4272-9900.

The French Art Gallery Grand Palais Houses Controversial Exhibit

The French Art Gallery Grand Palais Houses Controversial Exhibit

A state-subsidized synopsis of contemporary art, "La Force de l'Art," recently opened at the Grand Palais, and those who have seen it are pretty freakin' upset. They're calling it an elitist show because it leaves out many significant contemporary artists, and many ended up protesting the exhibit in front of its museum home. For those of you who wish to see what is there and what isn't, or if you'd plainly like to see surrealist collage work or an oil portrayal of three good-time girls, then you have until May 27, 2006.

Monet's Water Lilies Live in Art Gallery

Monet's Water Lilies Live in Art Gallery

It's been an extra-long wait for feverous Monet appreciators, but the tunnel's natural light is in refreshing sight: Claude Monet's timeless Impressionist masterwork of Nymphéas -- a.k.a., water lilies -- "Orangerie, 1934: Painters of Reality," will aptly reside in the southwestern corner of the Tuileries Gardens starting on November 21, 2006.

In death, Monet has doubtlessly watched Nymphéas perpetually blossom -- he couldn't bear to part with his paintings after he promised them to the French state at World War I's end -- in the home that they received in 1927 (a year after Monet passed). This home, Musee de l'Orangerie, boasted special oval rooms basking in natural light, overlooking the Place de la Concorde as a must-see Paris attraction until other must-see attractions overshadowed it.

To remedy its resulting elusiveness, in the late-1990s, the French government renovated the Musee de l'Orangerie, reintroducing the botanical representation to its former glory in naturally lighted rooms to create "an endless image, without horizon or shore," per Monet's wishes. Soon, visitors will need to catch their breath at the entire portrayal in continuous panels near the entrance of the Tuileries Gardens.

Art Contest - Denuded Artist Competition Judged by Public

http://www.denuded-artist.org Launches public judged ongoing art contest. http://art-contest.denuded-artist.org offers 1 square inch of world wide exposure, fame, prize money and perhaps riddicule to starving artists everywhere. Art lovers and artists alike can upload their favorite artwork and see what the world thinks of it.

Every month, the highest ranked artist will get 100% of the Sponsors' Award Purse as payment for an Art Commission. The only potential catch is that the people doing the ranking are your neighbors. They are the same people who think that Ikea is tres chic.

Tijuana Art Gallery Exhibit Enhances San Diego

Tijuana Art Gallery Exhibit Enhances San Diego

Starting on May 20, 2006, and going for three months, Tijuana is taking over the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in Downtown and La Jolla, and I'm not talking about immigration advocates. OK, so maybe some of them are fighting for border leniency, but more importantly, they're participating in this art exhibit to spread the ceaseless spirit of Tijuana.

"Strange New World: Art and Design From Tijuana" will happily feature 150 works by 41 artists, architects, designers, artist collectives, and filmmakers after four years of preparation by its creators. The art exhibit is projected to do more for Tijuana artists than any single U.S. event has ever done. "This is an extraordinary creative explosion that's happening in Tijuana in all the art forms: music, film, graphic design, architecture, and art," Hugh Davies, the museum's director, said. And now we, along with the rest of the general public, get to observe it in all of its cultural vitality and artistic progressiveness.

"Opening Minds" Art Gallery Exhibit Did Just That

"Opening Minds" Art Gallery Exhibit Did Just That

"Opening Minds" at the San Luis Obispo Art Center and Transitions Mental Health Association (TMHA) may have ended on Friday, May 13, 2006, but its message to study artwork as a representation of its artist prevails. In this particular exhibit, a clinically depressed artist showcased her drawings and paintings; an agoraphobic exhibited Navajo-type weavings made from materials such as Shetland fleece, angora, and human hair; a schizophrenic-affective artist featured her work, "Pasta Lady"; and a TMHA housing tenant played his keyboard and sang at the show's opening.

Dede Sanfilippo, TMHA's manager of adult social rehabilitation and peer support programs, had this to say about the artists: "Mental illness is not a death sentence. People lead very productive, creative, normal lives."

We observe contemporary art every day in the billboards we see, the museums we visit, and even on roadway sidewalks, and admire them for their observation of and insight into modern affairs. But what better way to study the human brain than to observe all different sides of it and the alternative perceptions those sides create.

Auctions a.k.a., Contemporary Art Gallery at Sotheby's and Christie's Prove Valuable

Auctions a.k.a., Contemporary Art Gallery at Sotheby's and Christie's Prove Valuable

Numerous art lovers, dealers, and collectors united to celebrate and bid on more than 200 postwar and contemporary works at Christie's and Sotheby's last Tuesday, May 2, and Wednesday, May 3, 2006.

Sotheby's proudly sold a Picasso, "Dora Maar au Chat," for US$95.2 million, marking the piece as the second-most expensive ever sold by the auction house, right behind Picasso's "Garcon a la Pipe," which sold for $104 million a couple of years ago. Sotheby's also offered Roy Lichtenstein's 1964 piece "Sinking Sun" and Willem de Kooning's "Untitled XVI."

Christie's, on the other hand, lavished fortunate buyers with Andy Warhol's "Small Torn Campbell Soup Can," Francis Bacon's "Man Carrying a Child," and Willem de Kooning's "Untitled."

What an inspiring blend of contemporary styles… Tasteful shows continue to endure changing times in modern art; annual double-digit rises in value over the past five years are timeless proof of such prosperity.

Pecha Kucha Art Exhibit Melts Creative Disciplines Together

Pecha Kucha Art Exhibit Melts Creative Disciplines Together

In 2003, Klein Dytham Architects (KDA) in Tokyo founded a new standard for the contemporary art world: Pecha Kucha. Boasting architecture, art, design, and business, this year's event, "The World's Biggest Pecha Kucha," at the London Architecture Biennale 2006 will bring together 14 speakers who will show 20 images and talk about each one for 20 seconds. The exhibit will take place on June 25, 2006, and there, 1,500 attendees will be able to absorb the presiding artistic prowess as they meet other attendees involved in alternative disciplines. It's the melting pot of art...where only creativity matters and ideas are praised.

Brooklyn College Moves Sexually Explicit Art Gallery

Brooklyn College Moves Sexually Explicit Art Exhibit

If Brooklyn College didn't want any negative feedback regarding its choice to move its students' sexually explicit art exhibit, boy did it make the wrong move. The art exhibit opened on Wednesday, May 3, 2006, at the city-owned Brooklyn War Memorial, which Brooklyn College normally uses as gallery space. The college transferred the exhibit's fully exposed -- literally -- watercolor pieces depicting gay sex and sculpted male genitalia illuminated in a box to campus, because it deemed the exhibit inappropriate for families.

About its new residence, Marni Kota, one of the 18 artists participating in the exhibit, said that she and several others were "adamantly opposed" and they refused to cooperate with the transfer. For a city that many people consider progressive in the art realm, it certainly needs somebody to open a few minds concerning censorship.

Cartoonist Tom Prisk Portrays Mars at Art Gallery

Cartoonist Tom Prisk Portrays Mars at Art Exhibit

He's been in The Saturday Evening Post, National Examiner, Reader's Digest, Yankee Magazine, and Woman's World, but not for his talent as a journalistic writer, a professional photographer, or a surviving interviewee... Tom Prisk from Michigamme, Michigan, is a professional cartoonist; one skillful enough to end up at The Cartoon Museum in London with imaginative insight into the science of Mars. Featuring cartoonists from around the globe in addition to Prisk, the exhibit, "Mars in Their Eyes," will explore scientific discovery on Mars until July 1, 2006.

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Welcomes Justin Hayward

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Welcomes Justin Hayward

Measuring 72 inches deep and 48 inches wide, "Young Marriage" depicts a young married couple in the throws of newlywed-hood in New York City. Based on Jan van Eyck's "The Arnolfini Wedding: Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride" (1434), the metaphoric portrayal displays artist Justin Hayward sitting upright holding a paintbrush as a king's scepter, as his red pea coat-clad new wife hovers over a book-supporting chair adjacent to him. Conveying messages of uncertainty, sexuality, and expectation -- giving observers subdued insight into what many of them have experienced themselves -- Hayward entered this particular piece in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2006, and earned status as one of the exhibit's seven finalists. Now he moves on to the final art show at the esteemed Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., which lengthily takes place from July 1, 2006, to February 18, 2007.