Win a visit to Danny Heller's studio in L.A.

Born in Northridge, CA in 1982, Danny Heller holds a B.A. in art with an emphasis in painting by the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
After capturing Santa Barbara’s surf landscapes during his formative years, Danny started focusing his attention into the retro iconography characteristic of mid-century Los Angeles.
Now working in his studio located in Silver Lake, Danny concentrates on chronicling Modern American imagery, depicting the architecture, design, and car culture found in Southern California.



His paintings have been shown through individual and colective exhbitions and published in art magazines.
Danny Heller's work has been acquired by the Foundation Colas, Boulogne-Billancourt, France and by the Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA.

In 2008, Danny gave an interview to the Art Inquirer, sharing his approach to art and part of his techniques.

Now, after three years, The Art Inquirer and Danny Heller are collaborating again to provide a magnificent experience for two readers of this blog: a visit to his studio in Silver Lake, LA.

Whether you are an emerging or seasoned artist, or an art lover, this will be a great opportunity to get directly in touch with an artist at his studio.
During the visit you'll be able to ask Danny about his development as an artist, how he approaches his favourite themes and subjects, and even get some tips on how to improve your painting techniques.

As mentioned before, the visit is for two readers of The Art Inquirer.
Here's how it's going to work:

If you're interested in participating in this visit, just leave your comment here and a link to a simple post on your blog about this event, so that I may easily contact you in case you win. That's all you have to do.

The two winners of this event cannot be relatives.

After randomly selecting the winners, The Art Inquirer will contact them directly and will ask them to provide a contact.

The visit will take place in November, during the morning or afternoon, and at the same time for both winners. The specific day and timing will be arranged between Danny and the winners, with whom he'll get in touch.

Danny Heller and The Art Inquirer will do their best to provide you the best possible experience during your visit to his studio.

As long as all the parties agree, they are free to arrange the visiting parameters as they wish, including changing the month of the visit. The Art Inquirer does not pose any final conditions.

Eventual traveling and personal expenses are responsability of the winners.



The artist's latest individual exhibition, entitled "The LAX Series," was inaugurated yesterday at the George Billis Gallery in LA and will run until November 12.

Disclaimer: This studio visit is not a sales visit. Danny Heller's paintings can be acquired through galleries that represent him.

2011 Edition of ArtReview’s Power 100 is headed by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei

This month, Art Review has issued its tenth annual ranking of whom their editors consider to be the contemporary art world’s most powerful players. In their own words: "...a guide to the general trends, networks and forces that shape the artworld."

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who was detained and imprisoned by the Chinese authorities during 81 days earlier this year, comes first on Art Review’s Power 100. This choice results from the artist's art practice and activism, manifesting his artistic independence from the system.

Besides Weiwei, the 2011 Edition of ArtReview’s Power 100 includes a few artists, being Cindy Sherman, Takashi Murakami, Marina Abramovic and Anish Kapoor
, four of them.

Names such as Hans Ulrich Obrist & Julia Peyton-Jones, Glenn Lowry, Larry Gagosian, Nicholas Serota, David Zwirner, Klaus Biesenbach, Eli Broad, François Pinault, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Victor Pinchuk, Artangel, Creative Time, artists Anton Vidokle, Julieta Aranda & Brian Kuan Wood (all three from e-flux), Boris Groys and Kaja Silverman, are among the list of curators, museum directors,gallerists, art patrons, collectors, distribution agencies and thinkers who influence and dynamize the art world.

The November issue of ArtReview's magazine includes full profiles, analysis, features, photography portfolios and commissioned artwork by Matt Mullican.

MAXXI presents: Indian Highway

Presented by the MAXXI museum in Italy, the Indian Highway itinerant collective exhibition brings to the public, a selection of 60 works by 30 artists, including 4 site-specific installations conceived for MAXXI Art and a series of works exhibited for the first time, offering a comprehensive panorama of the Contemporary Indian artistic scene.

This constitutes the first investigation by an Italian museum about the art of this fascinating country and reflects the economic, social and cultural developments of the past twenty years. In the likeness of the highway as a supporting element of the migratory flows moving from the periphery towards the city, Indian Highway is about technological development, the economic boom and the growing global relevancy and influence of this subcontinent in the world of the arts since the 1990s.

The exhibition can essentially be divided into three macro areas:

Indian Identity and Histories: investigates political, social and religious themes such as the war between India and Pakistan, the religious struggles, the transience of the national borders.

Exploding metropolises: examines urban expansion and chaos and the abandonment of the rural areas.

Contemporary Tradition: explores the revisiting of ancient forms of expression in Indian culture such as miniatures, ceramics and ink paintings.

The Indian Highway exhibition can be visited between 22 September 2011 – 29 January 2012, at the MAXXI (Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo) in Rome, Italy.

Indian Highway is curated by Julia Peyton-Jones, Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Gunnar B. Kvaran together with Giulia Ferracci, Assistant Curator MAXXI Arte, and organised in collaboration with the Serpentine Gallery, London and the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway.

Curated by Amar Kanwar for the ‘Exhibition Within The Indian Highway Exhibition’, The News shows a selection of three news extracts of news footage: The first is filmed in the early 1930’s and shows us glimpses of protests against British rule in India; the second is from 2004, of Manipuri activists under attack from the police, while demanding the removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act [AFSPA], a law that gives the army the right to search, arrest and even kill with impunity (across the North East of India) since 1958; and the third clip, shot in 2011 shows the people of Jagatsinghapur District, Orissa, protesting against the police attempt to forcibly enter their villages to acquire land for the South Korean Steel Company POSCO.

Carrousel du Louvre – Paris: Art Shopping 2011

Under the motto "L'Art Contemporain à Moins de 5000€," the 9th edition of the Art Shopping salon will take place at the Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, during the days of 22 and 23 October 2011 (11h – 20h).

The event aims to provide an opportunity to new generation galleries and emerging artists to show their art to the public in a friendly and accessible atmosphere, while at the same time offering visitors the chance to contact directly with the artists and eventually purchasing contemporary art within reasonable prices.

Each edition of Art Shopping at Carrousel du Louvre is usually attended by near 10000 visitors who spend between 1000 and 2000€.

Tickets for the Salon Art Shopping automne will cost €10 (€7 when purchased in advance over the internet). Entry is free for under 12 years old.

Register for the Learning & Product Expo: Art!

Registration is open for the Learning & Product Expo: Art!
The event will take place in the Hall B of the Pasadena Convention Center, CA, between the 28th and the 30th October 2011.

Visitors will be able to learn about the latest news from their favourite art materials manufacturers, try and buy products at discounted prices, assist to demonstrations provided by renowned artists and attend workshops.
A juried art show will also take place during the expo.

The Learning & Product Expo: Art! (7th Annual Pasadena, CA expo) is a major art event for all those involved in the art world, from emerging to more seasoned artists, passing through those who dedicate themselves to the business side of the arts.

New Kindle Touch Giveaway for Christmas

Christmas is approaching and to celebrate the soon to achieve 100000 visits, The Art Inquirer will offer a new Kindle Touch (with special offers) valued at $99 to one of its readers.



In order to be elegible to enter this promotion, you need to complete the following simple tasks:

a) Write a simple article on your blog about this promotion, with a link to this post.

b) Stumble any article of The Art Inquirer (this one is optional)

c) Leave a "I want the new Kindle Touch" comment with a link to your article and an optional link to the stumble.

d) Subscribe The Art Inquirer's newsletter through Feedblitz (see right column)

e) Follow this blog

You can enter this Christmas promotion until November 30, 2011 (GMT time).

Each participant will be attributed a number (two numbers for those who have stumbled an article).

On December 1st, the winner of the new Kindle Touch will be announced.

Due to Amazon's price policies, this promotion is only valid for residents in the USA.

A list of free ebooks for artists, compiled by Briggsy, can be found at the Conceptart forum.

Dia EPAL at the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga

To celebrate the Water's National Day, EPAL and the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (Lisbon, Portugal) invite the population to visit the museum on September 30, between 10h00 and 24h00, free of charge.

The EPAL Day (Dia EPAL) at the MNAA will include guided tours through all day.

This event marks the restore of the most famous piece of the Portuguese goldsmithery, the Custódia de Belém (a gold and enamel ostensory dated from 1506 and attributed to goldsmith Gil Vicente), and the continuity of EPAL's successful programme started in 2010, now supporting the Tesouro da Vidigueira.

For more information, you can call the museum at: +351 21 391 2800

"Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is showing a major exhibition of works by the acclaimed Dutch old master Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669).

Gathering an exceedingly rare and singular series of seven portraits depicting the head of Christ and complemented by more than fifty related paintings, prints, and drawings, some of them rarely exhibited or lent due to their light-sensitivity and fragility, the "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus" exhibition invites the viewer to grasp the religious, historic, and artistic significance of these works, while at the same time witnessing Rembrandt's iconoclasm and his search for a meditative ideal.

These bust-length portraits portraits of Jesus mark a new step in the history of Christian art, which had previously relied on rigidly copied prototypes for Christ, by making use of a human model.

The "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus" exhibition can be visited until October 30, 2011.

LUMINA Light Festival in Sintra

Today, September 23rd at 21h00, will be inaugurated at the National Palace in Sintra (Palácio da Vila), the LUMINA light festival.

Everyday until the 25th, between 21h00 and 24h00, the public will be able to watch several light based artistic events such as performances, multimedia projections and installations. These events will take place in several venues throughout a "Light Path" (Caminho da Luz).

Lumina Light Festival is promoted by the SINTRARTES 2011 – Artes de Rua, an initiative of Sintra's City Hall.
The city of Sintra is part of UNESCO's World Heritage Site.

Admission is free to all events. Don't forget to bring your flashlight !

Portuguese artist Júlio Resende died at the age of 93

The Portuguese artist Júlio Resende passed away this 21 September 2011 in Valbom, Gondomar (Portugal) with 93 years of age.

Júlio Martins Resende da Silva Dias was born in the city of Oporto, on 23 October 1917. He graduated by the Escola Superior de Belas-Artes do Porto (Oporto School of Fine Arts) in the year of 1945, where he studied under the instruction of Dúrdio Gomes. Júlio made his first public appearence at the exhibition "Os Independentes" in 1944.

In 1948, the artist travels to Paris, where he receives instruction by Duco de la Haix and Otto Friez.

Júlio Resende was nominated member of the Académie Royale des Sciences, des Letres et des Beauz-Arts de Bélgique in 1972 and in 1982 he was awarded with the insignia of "Orden del Mérito Civil" attributed by the king of Spain. In Portugal he was distinguished in 1985 with the AICA award (Associação Internacional de Críticos de Arte).

His funeral will take place tomorow, September 22. Mass will be celebrated at 16h00 in the Igreja Matriz (mother church) of Valbom and the funeral will follow to cemetery in Valbom at 16h45.