“Artists, gallery directors, framers and other arts industry professionals will converge on the Chapel Street studio of David Bromley this morning to protest against the possible banning of art as an investment in self-managed superannuation funds. They say such a ban would seriously damage art sales and the industry’s viability. ”It’s an industry that needs as much support as it can get at the moment. It’s had a couple of really rough years and the super fund art investment policy is a real boost for the industry,” says artist Lisa Roet, who today will be joining fellow artists including David Larwill, Emily Floyd, Matthew Johnson and Mark Schaller at Bromley’s studio to launch the Save Super Art campaign. High-profile arts accountant Tom Lowenstein estimates that the change to the superannuation laws could cost the Australian primary art market about $100 million in sales each year…”
Read More: Super art ban faces critics
“Fans of the Jeff Koons-penned BMW Art Car were left disappointed by its performance at the weekend when it retired from the Le Mans 24-Hour after only five hours spent out on the circuit. For despite making a good start that saw the first of its three drivers, Dirk Müller, quickly commandeer sixth place in the LMGT2 class , the #79 car soon had an accident after picking up a puncture and consequently spent a lot of time being repaired in BMW pit. When British driver Andy Priaulx got behind the wheel things got progressively worse as the Art Car started to develop various technical problems. He eventually had to retire at the entrance to the Indianapolis curve shortly after 20h00 on Saturday night…”
Read More: BMW Art Car flops at Le Mans
“The authenticity of a dubious Brett Whiteley drawing that was withdrawn from auction last week has yet to be determined – and the late artist’s former wife, Wendy Whiteley, is furious about the delay and the lack of adequate checks made by the auction house before putting the work on sale. ”I do suspect that this is one that I have had trouble with before,” Whiteley told The Age. ”Nothing was done then, and it has obviously lay dormant.” Whiteley is unable to verify the work’s authenticity until she receives a catalogue or a high-quality image of the drawing from auctioneers Mossgreen – and she has been waiting for a week. She is also incensed that Mossgreen’s managing director, Paul Sumner, did not seek copyright permission before printing an image of the untitled nude, which might have avoided the problem arising in the first place…”
Read More: Whiteley’s widow furious about doubtful drawing
“Sigmar Polke’s influence on late 20th century Western art can be equated with that of Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol due to the sheer diversity of his work and his obsessive quest to unearth innovative materials and utilise well-established ones in unusual ways. His career was a constant stream of experimentation: he made prints and sculpture in his youth; satirised American Pop Art in the 1960s; explored photography in the 1970s; refocused on large-scale painting in the 1980s; and continually returned to drawing throughout his life. Polke carved himself an identity that hovered between alchemist and mad scientist, creating memorable works that comprised double-sided paintings; transparent surfaces made of plastic; gunpowder; incorrectly-developed photographs; paint that vanished in sunlight; and images built from sewn together pyjamas… ”
“Monroe, Ohio: A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said. The “King of Kings” statue, one of southwest Ohio’s most familiar landmarks, had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just north of Cincinnati. The lightning strike set the statue ablaze around 11:15 p.m., Monroe police dispatchers said. The sculpture, 62 feet tall and 40 feet wide at the base, showed Jesus from the torso up and was nicknamed Touchdown Jesus because of the way his arms were raised, as though reaching out to catch a football. It was made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, which is all that remained early Tuesday. The fire spread from the statue to an adjacent amphitheater but was confined to the attic area, and no one was injured, police Chief Mark Neu said. The fire department would release a monetary damage estimate Tuesday, he said. Travelers on Interstate 75 often were startled to come upon the huge statue by the roadside, but many said America needs more symbols like it. So many people stopped at the church campus that church officials had to build a walkway to accommodate them…”
Read More: Gigantic 62-foot Jesus statue struck by lightning, destroyed
