Art a GoGo

Do Copyright Laws Apply to Public Art?

"Who Owns Public Art?" CS Monitor article explores the controversy surrounding Anish Kapoor's public sculpture called "Cloud Gate."

"The attitude that nature is chaotic and that the artist puts order into it is a very absurd point of view, I think. All that we can hope for is to put some order into ourselves."
- Willem de Koonig

Damien Hirst Admits He's Had Silly Ideas

Pickled shark, sliced cow, Damien Hirst's art is out there!  Here's a great quote from the Reuters story:

"People come up to me sometimes and say 'You're in a position where you could put a dog poo onto a lobster and call it art.' But why would I? Why would somebody do something stupid like that," he said."

The Man Behind "The Accordion Guy"

We were in downtown Santa Cruz yesterday, and couldn't resist taking another picture of The Accordion Guy decked out for Easter.

Who is the man behind The Accordion Guy?  It's Frank Lima, of course.

"Bansky" the Art Prankster Strikes NY Museums

A British graffiti artist known as "Bansky" smuggled his own art into four New York museums.  A painting hung at the Natural History Museum went unnoticed for four days!

"My instinct about painting says 'if you don't think about it, it's right.'  As soon as you have to decide and choose, it's wrong.  And the more you decide about, the more wrong it gets."
- Andy Warhol

Richard Serra's 80 ton "Ballast" to be installed at UCSF.

OurMedia.org offers free storage for digital artists to share their work.

Long Lost Kandinsky Could Fetch $25M

A Kandinsky painting that has not been seen in a century could sell for $25M.

"Most of the time they buy what other people buy. They move in great schools, like bluefish, all identical. There is safety in numbers. If one wants Schnabel, they all want Schnabel, if one buys a Keith Haring, two hundred Keith Harings will be sold."

- Robert Hughes

Salvador Dali Quote

"Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing."

- Salvador Dali

Global Museum Attendance Figures – Part III

After reviewing Art Newspaper’s 2004 museum attendance survey in detail, there is only one conclusion.  People can’t get enough of this stuff!

The Art Newspaper survey of museum attendance revealed that approximately 241 shows worldwide attracted more than 1,000 visitors a day. Based on the survey, it is estimated that:

• 43 Million people worldwide attended shows that had more than 1,000 visitors a day in 2004
• Of the 43 million, over 14 million people attended museum exhibits in the United States in 2004

So many shows, so little time…get out there and become a statistic in the 2005 attendance survey!

"Give me a museum and I'll fill it."
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

World's Largest Toast Mosaic!

"A group of people with 400 loaves of bread broke a world record by creating the largest mosaic of toast ever, a spokeswoman said. "

Steve Keene: Prolific Artist

A search of artist Steve Keene describes him as a "prolific artist who considers each piece a souvenir of a day."

Since 1991, Steve Keene has reportedly sold over 170,000 paintings.  Keene produces 60 to 80 paintings a week!

Worldwide Museum Attendance - Part II

Here's a few more museum attendance facts to impress (or bore) your friends with.

2004 Museum Attendance Figures:

• Worldwide top ten:  4.1 million people
• Impressionist and modern top ten:  5.2 million people
• Old Masters top ten:   2.3 million people
• Contemporary top ten:  2.1 million people

If you want to sound like a total know-it-all, you can add that 5 million people visited Universal Studios, and over 13 million made their way to Disneyland in 2004.

Source: The Art Newspaper Survey