Dispatchwork: a Project by Jan Vormann

Born in 1983 in the city of Bamberg, Germany, the Berlin based artist Jan Vormann initiated a creative and amusing project that would be followed by people around the world.

"Dispatchwork" consists in using plastic bricks, usually 'Lego' ones, to repair damaged parts of buildings and other constructions such as monuments.
The can be found filling cracks on walls or missing parts of stair steps, or even a column's capital.


The artist maintains a website where one can see the photos taken in several cities from around the world from works completed by Jan Vormann and by all those who have joined and continue to join the "Dispatchwork" project.

You too can start your own "Dispatchwork", either by yourself or gathering a group of friends.
This is also a good initiative for schools and a way to give more colour to our cities.






Jan Vormann studied History of Art and Care of Architectural Monuments at the Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg (2003-2004) and Arts and Sculpture at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee.

2011 Photo Month Juried Advanced and Amateur Level Photography Competition

Photo Month is the first juried photography competition offered by Southern Delaware and will be hosted by Gallery 50 in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and Packard-Reath Gallery in Lewes Delaware. This competition invites both advanced and amateur photographers to exhibit their work.

Throughout the whole month of September this gallery will celebrate photography by hosting many special events, including lectures and presentations by professional photographers.

The deadline for submissions is August 1, 2011. The fee varies depending on the skill level with $30 fee for advanced level photographers and $20 for amateur photographers. There are many awards to be won for both advanced and amateur photographers for a total amount of $1150.

Works accepted are limited to gelatin silver and archival pigment prints and no mixed media will be accepted.

Photography will be Judged on the opening day, September 1 by: Lee Wayne Mills, Ellen Elms Notar, Ph.D. John Burger, M.D., Dinah Reath, Owner and Director of Packard Reath Gallery Jay Pastore, Director of Gallery 50.
For more information and application visit Gallery 50 official website.

This article was written by the artist and guest writer Armada Volya

Detroit's new Kunsthalle Detroit Museum

Detroit, Michigan, was internationally recognized during decades as a reference in industry development, with particular focus on the automotive industry.
Unfortunately with the recent economical crisis and subsequent social impact, Detroit had its reputation hurt due to criminal developments.
Nonetheless the majority of its inhabitants deserves to have their once prosperous community back, not only economically but also culturally, and that's where the new Kunsthalle Detroit Museum of Multimedia & Light-Based Art can play a significant role.

Born from the wish of its Founding Director Tate Osten, the Kunsthalle Detroit Museum has the mission to encourage the understanding and appreciation of light-based art, namely by establishing an artistic collection that may be regarded as a worldwide reference on its genre.

Among its plans are workshops, providing workspace, schollarships, and exhibition opportunities, exempt of curatorial bias or commercial constraint, for artists of light-based mediums.

Tate Osten greatly expects the museum to be a leading force in the revitalization of Detroit and a key organization in community outreach programmes.

In the future the Kunsthalle Detroit Museum of Multimedia & Light-Based Art (the second of its kind in the world) is expected to present world renowned exhibitions and become the international leading museum of light-based arts.

As a non-profit organization founded in 2010, the museum is always looking for volunteers to share part of their time and knowledge in several areas, as a way to help the museum with its mission and projects.

Tate Olsten is a contemporary art professional with 15 years of working experience in the fields of film and multimedia. She holds a Master's degree in Fine Arts, a PhD in Creative Writing and Poetry, and also a Professional Certificate in Art Appraisal.
Osten has dedicated part of her career providing fine art consulting and management for numerous corporations and private collectors.

Formerly to her career in contemporary visual arts, Tate Osten worked as a director in the Museum of Dance History in St. Petersburg and as a consultant on international art affairs at St. Petersburg branch of George Soros Art Exchange Initiative.

"Surreal Visions" by SlowArt Productions

Artists worldwide, with 18 years of age or older, are welcome to enter the "Surreal Visions" competition presented by SlowArt Productions and have the chance to see their work exhibited at the Limner Gallery.

The exhibition will accomodate all forms of surreal and visionary figurative art derivative from the artist's interpretation of the Surreal Visions concept.
All interpreatations will be reviewed and considered.

All forms of art including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, installation, graphics, digital, video, etc. are eligible.
Entrants should observe the size limits mentioned in the restrictions.

Winning artists will be featured in a group exhibition of near twenty works, at the Limner Gallery, September 3 - October 1, 2011, which will also be displayed on the gallery's website.
One artist will be awarded a two page display in Direct Art Magazine Volume #19, Fall 2012 issue. Two artists will be awarded a single page display.

All works in the show must be for sale. The gallery will take a 30 percent commission on all sales. Sale price is determined by the artist.

Images must be sent in JPG format (1 MB or less in size) via email or web post with direct html link to a dedicated web page.
Videos artists may post on a web page or on YouTube and provide a link to the page.

There is a $35.00 entry fee for one to four artworks entered, with a $5.00 fee for each additional artwork above four. Details of 2D artwork count as an additional artwork. Sculptors may provide one additional view per artwork without cost.
On regular bases shipping costs will be supported by the artists.

Artists will be notified of acceptance or non-acceptance no later than July 20, 2011. Results will be posted on or before this date at SlowArt's Results page.

Entry deadline for "Surreal Visions" is June 30, 2011.
More information and an e-mail contact are available in the submission guidelines.

Adam Art Gallery presents Behind Closed Doors: New Zealand Art from Private Collections in Wellington

From the 4th of June to the 18th of December 2011, the Adam Art Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand, is holding an exhibition where the public may explore the art acquired by private collectors.

Recurring exclusively to private collections in Wellington, "Behind Closed Doors: New Zealand Art from Private Collections in Wellington" examins selective ‘moments’ in the history of New Zealand art from 1946 to the present, giving the rare opportunity to witness how some private art collections can provide museum-quality exhibitions.

Curated by Gallery Director Christina Barton, the exhibition includes paintings by renowned artists Toss Wollaston and Colin McCahon, seldom-seen works by Michael Smither and Rita Angus, along with provocative multimedia artworks by Peter Robinson and Ronnie van Hout.

A book documenting the pieces as they appear at collector's homes, with photographs by leading New Zealand photographer Neil Pardington and texts by writer Lara Strongman, complements the exhibition with an intimate alternative to the 'institutional' framing of works at the gallery and offers an idea of the relation that a private collector establishes with art. The publication will be launched in August.

The Adam Art Gallery is also staging a series of programmes in its Kirk Gallery room, entitled "in camera: a project series around and about collecting."
Floor talks, panel discussions and film screenings haven been design to engage the public and provide a platform for critical discussion.

"52 Weeks of Free Art" by Crystal Despain

On November 30th, 2010, the North Colorado based artist Crystal Despain started an art project consisting on doing one painting each week for 52 weeks.

After receiving several messages from people who enjoyed her artwork but could not afford to acquire them, Crystal decided to give the chance to some of these people to own an original work of art, and at the same time making the most of an excellent marketing campaign.

The process to receive a free work of art is pretty straightforward.
You have to send an e-mail with a good photo of the subject (try to avoid using flash and arrange a good contrast between light and shadow) and the story behind it, elaborating on how important is for you to have that subject represented by the artist.

After sending the e-mail, participants must check Crystal Despain's blog until next Saturday, to see if their photo was chosen, and contact the artist.
There's an option to subscribe to e-mail updates on her blog.

Those who are selected will not get the painting right after its completion, since the artist pretends to make an exhibition featuring the 52 paintings and their story counterparts.
After the exhibition period recipients will start receiving their paitings.

You can see the paintings that Crystal has completed until now on her website and learn the details about the "52 Weeks of Free Art" on her blog.
A video about this project is also available on Youtube.

Although this kind of project is not new, the idea of representing a person's cherished subject or story through painting and having a final exhibition is an appreciable fact.
Moreover it demands discipline, perseverance and, of course, financial investment.

Magical Moments Festival of Disneyland Paris at the Blankenberge Sand Sculpture Festival 2011

The 2011 edition of the Blankenberge Sand Sculpture Festival shows the works from 38 artists from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Siberia and Australia, who will transform tonnes of sand (the ideal kind of sand comes from the river, featuring coarser and more angular grains, which cling more easily to each other) into wonderful sculptures.

Based on the theme "Magical Moments Festival of Disneyland Paris", the festival offers its visitors a journey to the magical land of imagination that Disney has presented through generations of children and grownups.

By the hands of these sculptors, characters such as Alladin, Alice, Flynn Ryder, Rapunzel, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and Captain Hook, the unmissable novels of Jules Verne, or the adventures of the Wild West and the Pirates of the Caribbean, the Blankenberge Sand Sculpture Festival 2011 is an event to be visited by everyone who likes art, namely sculpture, and especially by those who keep the child within.



Tickets can be easily purchased at the box office at the entrance to the festival, in every Belgian Railway station, on the coastal tram service (Kusttram) and online (with a reservation cost).
More information is available on the official website.

The festival can be visited until Semptember 12, everyday between 10am and 7pm.

Jennifer Dalton's "The Biggest Ego" artist reality show

In the 2011 summer issue of Frieze magazine.

Discovered on Edward Winkleman's blog.

Pig Parade (Évora): The pigs were stolen !

Organized by the Federação Portuguesa de Suinicultores (Portuguese Federation of Pig Farmers) and the support of the City Hall of Évora, students and people from other institutions in Évora artisticly decorated near 50 fiberglass-made pigs.

Entitled "Pig Parade", the outside public exhbition intends to promote the II Ibero-American Congress of Pig Farming that is taking place in Évora (Portugal) between the days of 21st and 24th of June 2011, as well as to aknowledge farmers and landowners who on Tuesdays used to get together in the Praça do Giraldo (Giraldo Square) thus originating the "Dia de S. Porco" (St. Pig Day).

Now, in the middle of this month, the decorated pigs were distributed through several strategic places around the city and everyone was quite happy with the event.

The problem is that although the pigs could not move on their own, someone thought that they could use some help and near twelve are missing at this time.

The Art Inquirer is aware that the portuguese economy is not going through its best days, but it will be difficult to make sandwiches with these pigs. Maybe they will try to sell one or two mixed with real ones ?

Due to these facts, the decorated pigs were all moved to the Praça do Giraldo where they'll be closely watched.

Anyway, besides the already mentioned reasons for this "Pig Parade", there will occur a special event that is worth referring.
The pigs will be auctioned on the 29th of June (18h30) in Horta das Laranjeiras and the proceeds will be donated to the APPACDM of Évora, (Portuguese Association of Parents and Friends of the Hadicapped Citizen).

Meawhile two authors of one of the stolen pigs started a Facebook page to help find the pig named "Dummie". The page is called "Vamos encontrar o Porco dummie."

Interview with artist Ben Heine, the author of "Pencil vs Camera"

Born on the 12th of June 1983 in the city of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Ben Heine (Benjamin Heine) is a Belgian artist widely known by his series "Pencil vs Camera."

Ben holds degree in journalism (Brussels) and a Masters' final assignment on the "limits of freedom of speech in political cartoons" (2007). He frequented drawing, painting, multimedia and history of art in Hastings, England and studied Technologies of Information and Communication in Utrecht (Netherlands). During two years, Ben studied Slavic languages, history and cultures (Polish and Russian).

He started as painter and political cartoonist, but interrupted his political art in 2009 and started focusing on his own art.

In the year of 2010, Ben starts developing the creative idea of mixing drawing and photography, originating his most famous series "Pencil vs Camera" where the artist plays with illusion and surrealism and blends imagination with reality.



In the same year he initiates a new creative process that he names "Digital Circlism", a mix between Pointillism and Pop Art where the artist combines circles of various sizes and colours, each of a single colour, over a black background, usually to reproduce portraits of celebrities and cultural icons.



More recently he starting working on the new project "Flesh and Acrylic", painting abstract shapes with acrylic on a life model.



Ben also has an extensive experience in photography, essential to the creation of his works.


The Art Inquirer contacted Ben Heine for an interview where he talks about his art, projects for the near future and coming exhibitions.

TAI - From what age do you remember of drawing being one of your favourite activities

BH - I think I was 11 year old or so. At that age, I knew that drawing would change my existence and that it would become the primary way to express my ideas and my conception of life.

TAI - What other mediums have you used or keep using ?

BH - To give just a few, I’ve tried many different mediums like pencils, ballpoint pens, pastels, acrylic, oil, watercolor, ecoline and ink, on paper or on canvas. I’ve also made some sculptures and I’m more into photography and digital art now.

TAI - Tell us what those mediums offer to you that makes you want to work with them.

BH - Each medium offers something particular. It’s also nice to mix them together to get unexpected results. I used to work only with simple tools, easily available. I’m now trying more and more to prepare my projects in advance and to make more complex combinations with the instruments I use (See my most recent work “Flesh and Acrylic”, for instance).

TAI - Before your “Pencil Vs Camera” series that got you so well known by the public, what other forms of creativity have you tried ?

BH - I’ve done in the past other series that have had less impact than “Pencil Vs Camera”, like “Wild Animals Downtown”, “Chess Art”, “Digital Caricatures” and others. I never know how the public will react to my new works so I try not thinking too much about it. But when I see that people really don’t like something I’m doing, I just stop and start something else because I want to make art for people, not for me. I’m trying to make it understandable by everybody.

TAI - How did you get to the kind of art that you are doing now ? What triggered it ?

BH - Pencil Vs Camera is a mishmash of my two favorite disciplines: drawing and photography, so this series came quite naturally. Before starting this project, I saw some artists merging a photo in a photo or a drawing in a drawing, but I had never seen a drawing in a photo. So I thought there was a perfect opportunity for me to bring something new and creative.

TAI - Which are your favourite themes and subjects ?

BH - In Pencil Vs Camera, the main themes and values I want to share are love, friendship and happiness. I like to focus on architecture, portraits, nature and animals (a bit of everything). This series mixes imagination and reality in a simple way with simple tools. The only boundary is my own perception of the world, my own imagination. I like playing with illusions, visual tricks and surrealism. Finally, my hand is always visible. I think it emphasizes the connection between the viewer and the action happening on the little piece of paper.

TAI - When you include people in your works, do you try to do it without them noticing, do you tell them or give them a hint of the situation, or it's not relevant ?

BH - When they are famous, there is usually no problem at all, because these people are used to see their personal image exploited, as long as it remains positive. When they are random people I meet in the street, it’s more delicate, I have to make sure we don’t recognize them too much. If we can identify their face, I have to ask them the permission to have their image potentially published in the entire world.

TAI - How do people react when they realize that you're drawing them or are asked to serve as models ?

BH - They are often surprised and intrigued but still very positive and willing to collaborate.

TAI - What's their reaction after seing the final result ?

BH - Most of the time, they are very happy with it.

TAI - When you decide to start one of your artworks, how do you plan your day ?

BH - I often find ideas before going out and starting a new project. I just decide a bit in advance where I’ll go and I do the sketch on the place where I’ll take the final picture. If needed, I do the drawing home, at my desk, more comfortably, and I come back later to the scenery where I intend to take the photo.

TAI - Do you have plans to make this kind of creative work with other mediums ?

BH - Good question. I might be doing “Pencil Vs Camera XXL”, which means that I might use some huge paper on wooden panel (several meters long) and ask several people to carry it in front of a nice landscape, then make a giant drawing on it and take a final picture…

TAI - What would you like to try next ?

BH - I just started a new project called “Flesh and Acrylic”, in which I paint abstract shapes with acrylic on a life model. I think this series has a big potential too, but it’s only the beginning.


Ben Heine's "Pencil vs Camera + Digital Circlism" will be exhibited in the following places:

The Avenue (organized by The Art Movement)
7-9 St James Street, London SW1A 1EE
July to September 2011

Gallery Garden
206 rue Stévin, 1000 Brussels
July the 5th to 4th of September 2011

Art London (Chelsea)
Royal Hospital, Chelsea, SW3
6 - 10 October 2011

AAF Spring (London)
Battersea Evolution, London SW11 4NJ
20 - 23 October 2011

London Art Fair
Business Design Center, 52 Upper Street London N1
18 - 22 January 2012

You can visits Ben Heine's website and his blog, as well as keep up with his latest artistic projects on Facebook.

The Sketchbook Project World Tour 2012

Artists from all over the world will have the chance to make their art and themselves known globally through a traveling exhibition of sketchbooks.

The Sketchbook Project World Tour 2012 will travel through several cities within the USA and Canada, and will be present in London and Melbourne (these last two reserved only for sketchbooks from the respective continents). All other cities will feature all the sketchbooks.

Participating artists will be able to choose from 40 preestablished themes and have the option to have their sketchbook digitized and uploaded to the official Sketchbook Project virtual archive, so that visitors can explore it online.

The 2012 project will feature a custom-desgined library cataloging system, enabling visitors to easily find a determined sketchbook and artists to keep track of how many times their sketchbook has been requested. The Brooklyn Art Library will acts as the physical extension of Art House and will be home to the Sketchbook Project.

Among the several presented features, an important one will allow art patrons to search for books by theme, geographic location and even user-generated keywords, including when on tour.

Those interested in participating in The Sketchbook Project World Tour 2012, must sign up until October 31st, 2011 and postmark the book by January 31st, 2012.
Books have to be completed in order to be exhibited.
There's a $25 participation fee that will be used to cover all the expensives involved in such a global art project. The optional scanning and online publication of the sketchbook is $20.
All the rules and details should be consulted.

The Sketchbook Project is organized by Art House Co-op.

"Soul of Brooklyn Week" 2011

The second annual Soul of Brooklyn Week celebration starts this Saturday, June 18th, with a press conference held at noon in the Cuyler Park in Fort Greene on Fulton Street and Greene Avenue, during the 11th Annual Fort Greene Juneteenth Arts Festival, which commemorates the anniversary of the abolition of slavery.
The event will be presented by Tribal Truths Clothing Store in partnership with Urban Bush Women Dance Company.

Organized by the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) and the Brooklyn Arts Council, the Soul of Brooklyn Week will host from June 18th through June 25th, a series of 18 cultural events that will include performances, street fairs, educational events, workshops, tastings, film screenings and shopping opportunities.

Brooklyn residents, visitors and tourists will be able to experience all that Brooklyn’s African Diaspora has to offer from its African, African American, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latino communities.

Most of the events will have free admission, while some can be accessed by purchasing tickets in advance for a very reasonable value.

In the words of Laurie A. Cumbo, Founder and Executive Director of MoCADA, “The Soul of Brooklyn Week is designed to preserve the economic and cultural diversity of Brooklyn, and to encourage locals and tourists alike to utilize the website to discover all the exciting businesses and cultural offerings within the Borough with the largest African Diaspora population.”

This year's edition has the financial support from the NYC Rockefeller Innovation Fund.

Ilustra_Cidades - ETIC International Award for Illustration 2011

The first edition of the Illustration award organized took place in 2005 under the theme Ilustra_te (self-portrait), and since its start the success stood out in the illustrators community, namely the portuguese one.

Now in its 6th edition and confirming the recognition of illustration as form of expression and creativity, ETIC (Escola Técnica de Imagem e Comunicação) organizes the Ilustra_Cidades - ETIC International Award for Illustration 2011 under the theme Cidades (Cities).

Entries (original and unpublished) must be sent in digital format exclusively in the following sizes: 50x70cm, 70x50cm and 50x50cm, together with an updated curriculum, to ilustra@etic.pt . The file size cannot exceed 8MB. The files must be sent until June 30.
Each participant can submit up to two files.

A juri will then select 30 works and their authors will be made public on July 15 at ETIC's website.

The selected works must be sent on CD support, with a maximum resolution of 300DPI to the following adress:

ETIC – Direcção de Comunicação
Rua D. Luís I, nº6
1200-151 Lisboa
Portugal


Three winners will be awared the following prizes:

1st prize: a studying voucher at ETIC valued in €2000
publication of the illustration in the Pack of Don't Panic.

2nd prize: a studying voucher at ETIC valued in €1000
publication of the illustration in the Pack of Don't Panic.

3rd prize: a studying voucher at ETIC valued in €500
publication of the illustration in the Pack of Don't Panic.

The Ilustra_Cidades - ETIC International Award for Illustration 2011 is open to all artists wordwide.

Winners authorize the use of their works for the catalogue, promotion of the event and of the school.
Sponsors will also be given the right to use images of the winning works, always preserving the author's copyright.

The contest rules are only available in portuguese.
You can clarify any doubts through the following e-mail adress: info@etic.pt .

Original Paintings by José Carrilho (new website)

Dear readers,

Last week I opened a new website where you can view my original paintings.
These include mostly landscapes and still lifes, but also other themes.
All the works presented are original and completed using artist quality materials so that your investment will last for many years, passing from generation to generation.

You will have the chance to read about my artistic career and my objectives as an artist.
Soon I will start developing the blog on that website where I will keep visitors and collectors updated with the progress of my works and my artistic career.

I welcome you to visit JoseCarrilhoFineArt and leave your feedback.

Yours truly,
José Carrilho

Shea Hembrey: "How I became 100 artists" at TED Talks

There are many artists, especially emerging ones, who aspire to reach success or at least due recognition. But that is not an easy task and few will achieve that goal.

A successful artistic career can be achieved through several ways, such as working hard developing technical skills, having a prolific imagination, owning some good connexions in the art world, or being good at marketing and branding, just to name a few.

Starting an artistic career involves creating artistic projects that demand knowing what one wants in first place, planning and lost of work. And after everything is done, there is the need to announce it and to show it to the public as to cause the most positive impact as possible, therefore leading to the expected results.

The TED Talk speaker artist and curator Shea Hembrey is an example of what has been delineated above. During his intervention "How I became 100 artists" Hembrey guides the audience through his early life, his artistic ideas and concepts, finalizing with his art project Seek.

Seek is a new international biennial that results from Shea Hembrey's idea of creating 100 works, each of them by a fictional artist, to whom the author even created a bio, and curated by Calinda Salazar and Fletcher Ramsey, also fictional charaters.

Even though the artists and the curators are fictional characters, the 100 works of art were all created by Hembrey, which attests the artist's capacitiy of developing a complex and successful creative process.

The inaugural exhibition of Seek biennial is available through a catalogue in a limited edition of 1000 that can be acquired through Shea Hemprey's website.

Shea Hembrey passed nine years studying art at university, though he continuously seeks to develop his methods and skills on his own. His art imitates nature’s forms, in an attempt to appreciate how humans have always appropriated and learned from forms in nature, which has led to projects such as "Mirror Nests."

He studied Maori art in New Zeland thanks to the Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship program.
Hembrey also owns an MFA from Cornell University.

"A Italiana" (The Italian Woman): Malangatana's Masterpiece at Auction

Born on the 6th of June 1936 in Matalana, a village of the district of Marracuene, the Mozambican artist Malangatana Valente Ngwenya dedicated an important part of his life to cultural projects with the objective of helping those in need, with special focus on youth.

The early age of Malangatana was outlined by difficult times, with an absent father and a sick mother he went to live with an uncle and started working with eleven years of age.

It's at the house of the biologist, sculptor and painter Augusto Cabral that Malangatana asks to be taugh painting, later continuing to developing his artistic skills with the sponsorship of the portuguese architect Pancho Guedes.
Soon he starts exhibiting his works and in the 70's travels to Portugal with a Gulbenkian's scholarship.

His name his recognized internationaly and his paintings become part of public and private collections worldwide, including museums.

Malangatana, besides painter was also an actor, poet, dancer and musician, and tried his skills on tapesty and sculpture. He was handed the Prince Claus award, attributed the Honoris Causa degree by the Évora university and nominated Artist for Peace, by Unesco in 1997, including other recognitions.

The artist also known by his close friends as "Crocodile" passed away at the age of 74, in the Hospital Pedro Hispano (Matosinhos, Portugal).

But lets talk about "A Italiana" or "The Italian Woman."

The idea was conceived in the end of 2010, when the long-time friends Malangatana and the Ferreira Dos Santos family together decided to develop a project of artistic and cultural value that would serve as a major beneficial social cause.
Unfortunately the artist would not live to assist the auction of his masterpiece.

Celebrating the official launching of FIAT in Mozambique on the 5th of April in Maputo, a brand new white Fiat 500 1.4 Pop painted by Malangatana is being auctioned until 8 p.m. on the 6th July, 2011, Mozambique time (UTC/GMT + 2 h), during a gala to be organized to this effect.
The minimum bid started at 125.000,00 USD, with minimum increments of 2.500,00 USD.
Auction regulations and FAQs are available for consultation.

The proceeds of the auction will be donated to the Malangatana Valente Ngwenya foundation.

Malangatana's latest masterpice, "A Italiana" (The Italian Woman) resulted in a fusion of Italian design and evocative African symbolism, with native and nature-inspired imagery represented through warm colours in a harmonious composition.
Embelishing the car's rear and the dashboard is the artist's signature embossed in aluminium.

The Fiat 500 and the art materials were donated by Tecnica Industrial, a company part of JFS Group.



Top image source: O País newspaper

"The Biggest Photography Exhibition in the World" Lisbon 2011

The second edition of “A Maior Exposição Fotográfica do Mundo” (The Largest Photography Exhibition in the World) takes place in Lisbon during all the month on June 2011.

Counting with the participation of national and international photographers, including some prize winners, the exhibition will show their works throughout the city of Lisbon, in places like St. George's Castle (Castelo de São Jorge), Chiado, Augusta Street (Rua Augusta), Palace's Terrace (Terreiro do Paço) and Monument to Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos).

Between the 1st and 30th of June, from 10h00 to 20h00, a free bus (Expo Bus) covers all the event's itinerary Belém - Cais do Sodré - Terreiro do Paço - Santa Apolónia - Rua do Comércio - Restauradores - Belém.
The departure takes place at Belém (Padrão dos Descobrimentos / Monument to Discoveries) at 10h00, 13h30, 16h00 and 18h30.
The Expo Bus will stop for 10 minutes at each of the 18 exhibition nodes and visitors will be able to hop on and off at each of the stops as they wish.

Lisboa 2011 “A Maior Exposição Fotográfica do Mundo” is organized by Login for Love and produced by Laura Diogo.

For more information you can reach the organizers at (+351) 213 861 105 or (+351) 218 868 047, or send an e-mail to expolisboa@gmail.com.

"Marilyn Monroe: A Última Sessão" by Bert Stern at the Centro Cultural de Cascais

Presented by the Fundação D.Luís I in partnership with Terra Explêndida - Produção Cultural, the photographic exhibition "Marilyn Monroe: A Última Sessão" (Marilyn Monroe: The Last Sitting) brings to the public 60 photos that Bert Stern selected from his book "The Last Sitting" edited in 1982.

During the three sessions that Stern had with Marilyn in the year of 1962 for the Vogue magazine, he took 2571 photos, some of them never fully revealed since the actress didn't enjoy them and defaced them with a cross directly on the film.

The selected photos shown at this exhibition are from the last session, some six weeks before Marilyn's death, and are part of the private collection of NY based Leon and Michaela Constantiner.

"Marilyn Monroe: A Última Sessão" by Bert Stern can be visited until the 17th of July 2011 at the Centro Cultural de Cascais, Portugal. Admitance is free.

50 years will have passed in 2012 since the death Norma Jean Mortenson.

Festival International du Pastel 2011

Since its start in 2001, the Festival International du Pastel, organized by the Société des Pastellistes de France in partnership with the village of Feytiat, holds reputation as one of the most prestigious art festivals in the world dedicted to pastel.

Each year the festival receives near 20000 visitors desirous to see the near 300 works by pastelists from around the world.

Several workshops will take place during the festival, offering participants the chance to improve their techniques, learn from the experience of master pastelists and put in practice the acquired knowledge.

The workshops, in the number of four, will cover the following themes and subjects: still life, florals, nude, portraiture, landscape, seascape and animal portraiture.

Starting with a welcome cocktail followed by a dinner on Monday at 19h00, the workshops will start on Tuesday (10h00 - 12h30; 14h30 - 17h30 ). Participants will enjoy a lunch with the artists in a convivial atmosphere.

Regular fees to attend the workshops start at 100 Euro per day (subjected to availability) and go up to 400 Euro for complete workshops.
Children between the ages of 10 and 14 can attend a two days workshop (no lunch included) for 174 Euro.
Feytiat inhabitants are eligible for special prices.
Download the poster and the form for the workshops.

This year's edition will count with artists from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada (including from Quebec), Colombia, England, Finland, France, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, Poland, Russia, USA, Spain and Vietnam.
Violette Chaminade is this year's guest artist.

The Festival International du Pastel will take place at the Espace Georges Brassens in the village of Feytiat near Limoges (Limousin, France) from July 2 through September 4, 2011.

Entrance is free, with the following schedule: (14h00-19h00 Mon-Fri) and (10h00-12h00; 14h00-19h00 Saturday, Sunday and holidays).

"Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey" by George Stubbs to be auctioned at Christie’s

During the the Old Master and British Paintings Evening Sale on 5 July 2011 at Christie's in London, one of the most important works of the British painter George Stubbs (1724-1806) is expected to realise in excess of £20 million.

Commissioned by the horse’s owner, Frederick St. John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, and executed during the year of 1765, "Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey (40in. x 76¼in. (101.6 x 193.6 cm.) shows Gimcrack in the foreground with his trainer and jockey, a stable-lad rubbing him down, and in the background winning a ‘trial’ by some distance.

George Stubbs spent his early artistic career working as a portrait painter, first in his native Liverpool, and subsequently in York. He visited Rome in 1754 and later on spent 18 months in a farmhouse in Lincolnshire dissecting and drawing horses in preparation for the publication of his famous book The Anatomy of the Horse.

His accurate depictions of animals and exceptional talent earned the artist the patronage of many important aristocrats, particularly those involved in horseracing, the ‘sport of Kings’.
Often celebrated as the most remarkable artist-scientist since Leonardo, Stubbs portrayed the horse with anatomical perfection, showing his veins pulsing through his skin.

Gimcrack was one of the most popular and admired of all 18th century racehorses. Although he was small, he had great stamina and won an impressive 28 of his 36 races, finishing unplaced only once.

Sold by the Bolingbroke family in 1943, it was bought by Walter Hutchinson, founder of the National Gallery of British Sports and Pastimes, before being sold again at Christie’s in 1951 when it made £12,600 and entered the Woolavington Collection.

This is the third time that "Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey" appears at Christie's.
The painting is offered from the Woolavington Collection, one of the finest private collections of Sporting Art, and will be auctioned at the Old Master and British Paintings Evening Sale on 5 July 2011 in London.

Art Competitions Around the World

For artists who seek an opportunity to have their work recognized and eventual win a prize, there are several online resources with information about art contests.

One of the most complete ones, with competitions organized by country and medium, including a search function, is Compete Around the World created by EGB Systems and Solutions Inc.

This valuable online resource for artists includes information not only about Art & Craft, Drawing, Animation and Painting competitions, but also covers other areas that reach a vast audience.

MoMA agrees to acquire American Folk Art Museum's building on West 53rd Street

Design by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects LLP, and comprising a 30,000-square-foot structure, the American Folk Art Museum’s building at 45 West 53rd Street was inaugurated on December 11, 2001.

A debt of near $32 million was taken by the museum to construct the building. However attendance never met expectations and the recent financial crisis led to considerable financial challenges for the museum, with little progress in raising the substantial funds necessary to satisfy the bond on the West 53rd Street building, dispite the effort to balance its budget and bring meaningful fiscal stability to the museum’s annual operations.

To face this unsustainable situation, the board decided to sell the building to the Museum of Modern Art, which has right of first refusal on the property.
No disclosure was made about the value paid, but according to the announcement made by Laura Parsons, President of the Board of Trustees, it will suffice to eliminate the bond debt entirely.

Following this restructure, the American Folk Art Museum will reestablish its branch at 2 Lincoln Square, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, to where it moved in 1989 and pays $1 a year in rent for 5,000 square feet.

The museum intends to explore strategic partnerships with other cultural and educational organizations, start on tour exhibitions of its collection, and an enhance its online presence.

You can see on this map where both museums are located at this time.

Utrecht Art Supplies 3rd Annual Art Competition

Open to legal residents of the United States, its territories and possessions, who are at least eighteen (18) years old at the time of entry (exceptions apply), Utrecht Art Supplies, in partnership with Studio Incamminati and sponsorship of Interweave Press, LLC through American Artist magazine, welcomes all artists to submit their drawings, paintings or sculptures (computer – generated art or fine art photography entries for this competition will not be accepted. However sculptural works of art will be permissible as digital file entries) for the Utrecht Art Supplies 3rd Annual Art Competition.

With over $16,000 in prizes and honourable mentions awarded for a variety of categories, styles and materials, winners in each category will receive $1,500, $750 and $500 Utrecht ArtSmart gift cards respectively for first, second and third place.
The grand prize winner will be awarded with a 6-week summer workshop scholarship at Studio Incamminati plus dinner with Nelson Shanks at the Chelwood Estate (valued at $4,600) and $3,500 for travel, accommodation and art supply expenses.

The submited works to the previous editions have been of recognized quality and the organizers expect the Utrecht Art Supplies 3rd Annual Competition to raise the bar.

No payment or purchase of any kind is necessary to enter this juried competition, nor it will improve your chances of winning, which by itself attests the integrity of this competition.

Read the official rules carefully and start working hard if you want to have a chance to win.

Deadline ends on September 1, 2011, 11:59 PM. Sponsor is the official time keeper for this Competition.

The Andy Monument: photos, videos and articles

Commissioned by the Public Art Fund, NY and created by Rob Pruitt, the nearly ten-foot-tall chrome finished sculpture of Andy Warhol was unveiled on Wednesday March 30 at Union Square, just outside the building that housed Warhol’s Factory for more than ten years in the 70s and early 80s.

Several photo illustrated articles have been published, and videos have been made about the statue. You can see them on the website exclusively dedicated to The Andy Monument.

Photo by James Ewing

My Feenix Art Contest

My Feenix art contest is opened to adults and well as high school students From continental United States, Alaska or Hawaii and offers an award of $10 000 to the winner. The challenge is to depict a character, Feenix, from New York Times best selling Urban Fantasy Novel, Blood Trinity. Three categories of art are accepted, 2-d traditional art, digital art and 3-d art. Each category is limited to 1500 entries. Deadline to enter this contest is July 9th.

This will be a juried competition and all art will initially be judged to choose the finalists. Finallists will then be displayed at live gallery event in Atlanta, Georgia that will be open to the public and covered by the media. During this gallery event the final judging will be done.

Scoring will be based on the following criteria:

• Physical representation closest to the character in the book (10 points)
• Capturing Feenix’s personality (10 points)
• Creative flair (5 points)
• Quality of art (5 points)
• Visually pleasing (3 points)

Judges for this competition are:

Dave Akins
Catherine S. Perry
Wes Sarginson
Alexi Torres
Su Walker
Barbara Vey, Publishers Weekly

It is absolutely free to enter, however only one image per person will be allowed.

For more information visit the official My Feenix website, where you can read about the official contest rules and FAQs.

This article was written by the artist and guest writer Armada Volya

"Jardins Romantiques Français" at the Musée de la Vie Romantique

Near one hundred paintings, watercolours, drawings and other artworks representative of the history of the french garden can be explored at the Musée de la Vie Romantic (The Museum of Romantic Life, or Museum of the Romantics) until July 17, 2011

Spanned between 1770 and 1840, the paintings transport the viewer to pictoresque and romantic gardens depicted by famous painters of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Famous names such as Antoine-Patrice Guyot, dit Guyot le Jeune, "Le Moulin de la Folie Beaujon"; Louis-François Cassas, "Mortefontaine, vue du lac et du Grand Rocher"; Jean-Thomas Thibault, "Projet de monument pour Jean-Jacques Rousseau au jardin des Tuileries"; Hubert Robert, "Vue du parc de Méréville", this last one known for his famous capriccio paintings, are some of the artists represented in the "Jardins Romantiques Français (1770-1840)" (French Romantic Gardens) exhibition.

The exhibition can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday (10am - 6pm), except holidays.
Regular admission is €7, with reduced prices and free entrance for other cases.
Permanent exhibitions are free.

A catalogue with 256 pages and 150 coloured illustrations is available for €30 and a Pixxie application is available for iPhone.

Located in the former Scheffer-Renan hotel, at the foot of Montmartre hill in the IXe arrondissement, 16 rue Chaptal, Paris, the Musée de la Vie Romantique became a museum in 1982, under the name of "Musée Renan-Scheffer" and after an extensive renovation it reopened in 1987 with its present name.

The main pavilion, built in 1830, was the Paris base of the dutch-born painter Ary Scheffer (1795-1858), where together with his daughter he would host Friday-evening salons, attended by the most famous in La Nouvelle Athènes.
George Sand, Eugène Delacroix, Ingrés, Frederic Chopin Alphonse de Lamartine and Charles Dickens are among those who frequented the place.

Access can be made by subway (Saint-Georges, Pigalle, Blanche, Liège) and bus (67, 68, 74).

More information regarding the exhibition and the museum can be found here (in French).