American Anti American ART Activities

An art exhibit that trashed the U.S. flag - and portrayed images of terror on the streets of New York - NearGround Zero to mark the fourth anniversary of 9/11 has been shout down by secter Serviece.
The show ridiculed the war on terror, depicted the death of civil liberties - and featured the image of a cocked pistol pointed at the head of President Bush in a work entitled, "Patriot Act."

Chicago artist Al Brandtner's "Patriot Act" featured 42 mock postage stamps with Bush's image - and a 9-mm. handgun leveled at his head. When exhibited in Chicago in April, Secret Service agents photographed it and launched a probe of the artist.
"It was a show of intimidation," Brandtner told the Daily News yesterday. "The work was done tongue and cheek. The idea was for people who didn't like George Bush to look at it and laugh."
Hanging at the Seaport will be his "Flag: Study in White No. 1," an upside-down and whitewashed U.S. flag. "The colors have been washed out," he said. "It shows the eroding of civil liberties in America."
• North Carolina artist Lisa Charde echoes that theme in "The (un)Patriotic(ic) Act," in which a straitjacket patterned after the flag portrays the supposed shackles on America's freedoms.
• New Jersey artist Grace Graupe-Pillard's "Interventions" takes images from the war in Iraq - car bombings, erupting flames, puddles of blood - and puts them on the streets of Manhattan to portray the "politics of fear" in "our own backyard."

After displaying a painting of U.S. soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners, a San Francisco gallery owner bears a painful reminder of the nation's unresolved anguish over the incidents at Abu Ghraib -- a black eye and bloodied brow delivered by an unknown assailant who apparently objected to the art work.

The assault outside the Capobianco gallery in the city's North Beach district Thursday night was the worst, but only the latest in a string of verbal and physical attacks that have been directed at owner Lori Haigh since the painting, titled "Abuse," was installed there on May 16.



Last Wednesday, concerned for the safety of her two children, ages 14 and 4, who often accompanied her to work, Haigh decided to close the gallery indefinitely.



Painted by Berkeley artist Guy Colwell, "Abuse," the painting at the center of the controversy, depicts three U.S. soldiers leering at a group of naked men in hoods with wires connected to their bodies. The one in the foreground has a blood-spattered American flag patch on his uniform. In the background, a soldier in sunglasses guards a blindfolded woman.



Thanks To "John Doffing " www.startsoma.com
Resources:
San Francisco Gate :LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer | May 29, 2004
NY Daily: DOUGLAS FEIDEN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER | August 31, 2005

A Woman won the top prize

A clay sculpture of a woman who has been sculpting for only three years won the top prize in this year's Central Otago Art Society Blossom Festival Art Exhibition.

WINNING ENTRY: Sonia Keogh with her winning sculpture in the Central Otago Art Society Blossom Festival Art Exhibition
EMMA DAWE/SouthlandTimes













While she couldn't remember exactly how she thought of the concept for her sculpture, she didn't take any inspiration from other artists because her work was unique, she said.

Twilight (2003)40 x 30 x 20cm Polymer clay, glass

Each sculpture is hand-moulded from flesh-toned polymer clay. Oven-firing hardens the clay, which is then coloured to enhance the characters’ features. A range of different media is used to complement and display the pieces. She estimated it took her 150 to 170 hours to complete the sculpture.
The awards were judged by Dunedin artist Sheryl McCammon, who said the standard was extremely high with lots of variety.

Detail From Bird (2003) 40 x 40 x 150cm Polymer clay, glass, feathers, accessories

Cromwell artist June Boulton was awarded second prize for her oil painting Through the Trees, while Wanaka's Denis Kent and Richard Parsons, of Alexandra, were awarded merits.

Detail : Gene (2003)

Also visit:
Artist’s WebSite :http://www.skulptor.com/
The Southerland times: http://www.stuff.co.nz/

About Venice biennale 2005

The Venice Biennale is the most important contemporary art event for Welsh artists to show their wares.

la biennale di Venezia - 1964-Rauschenberg






..The Venice Biennale... Art Architecture Cinema Dance Music Theatre... since 1895...




The Venice Biennale has for over a century been one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in the world. Ever since its foundation in 1895, it has been in the avant-garde, promoting new artistic trends and organising international events in the contemporary arts in accordance with a multi-disciplinary model which characterises its unique nature. It is world-beating for the International Film Festival (61 editions), for the International Art Exhibition (50 editions) and for the International Architecture Exhibition (9 editions), and continues the great tradition of the Festival of Contemporary Music (48 editions) and Theatre (36 editions), now flanked by the Festival of Contemporary Dance (2 editions). The Biennale promotes numerous publishing initiatives in the same sectors. Its visibility is high in all the media. Through the ASAC (Historic Archives of Contemporary Arts), the Biennale conserves the documentation of its history.

The Foundation's venues, which receive an increasingly vast international public (320,000 visitors per annum), are not owned by it but are made available by law by the Venice City Council - the Giardini di Castello (visual arts and architecture), the Palazzo del Cinema and the Palazzo del Casinò on the Lido (cinema) - or are obtained through plurennial agreements with the Italian Navy and the Inland Revenue - the Arsenale (visual arts and architecture), the Teatro alle Tese and the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale (dance, music, theatre).




Art
51st International Art Exhibition
Directors:
María de Corral - The Experience of Art
Rosa Martínez - Always a Little Further


Visit The Venice Bienalle official website : Fun

Mahdi Mohammadi Paintings in Laleh Gallery

Mahdi Mohammadi ,Painter and Graphic designer is showing His Paintings at Laleh Art Gallery –Tehran.


He is one of The Posetive/Negative members–Iran and has been working for 10 years.
Mahdi mohammadi’s Paintings ,As I saw, are not Artistic ones but Some cood and clean
Images worked and well done from City Nightlight photos.



Also visit more from Mahdi Mohammadi in Mahdid.com

Maryam Rahimi Exhibition

As the photo shows ,Painting Exhibition of “Maryam Rahimi Namin” is Open at Seyhoun Art Gallery –Tehran.


In this Exhibition which is held from 10 to 15 September 2005 ,One would see two kinds of Paintings ( or maybe two different views expressed through colors and canvas). Going to her Exhibition ,today ,you see some Nostalgic and Romantic Atmosphere , which reminds you of all good feelings of Humanity and regrets of losing The time, but on the other hand you can see some Nice Expressive portraits of Depressed and Sad persons ,done very well (but not enough) .Hope to see more and better works by This Artist.

Group Painting Studies 4

Based on a similar expression, Kolahstudio seeks to apply the right path of expression, being in line with the time and the social experience. Artists believe that The group painting experience is a way to see themselves working in the same atmosphere and treating their own ways of Expression . So One could see what he does ,in contrast with the actions made by the others.


Experiencing the Group Painting

This time the project is held by Kaveh Tavakoli (30) Sculptor\painter , Karan Reshad (24) Painter and Hanif bahari (24) Cartoonist .(Photo Above)

Modern Art Witnessing Tehran MOCA

Photo Shows Gholamreza Nami Arguing with one Of the visitors about the Security Beeps system . “ It’s the first time We apply this method of security Alarms in Tehran museum Of contemporary Art and People should be aware of the Red lines. “. Works of Van gogh , Lautrec Bacon and the greatest Artists of Modern Art movements are witnessing The Wrong managing system of Tehran MOCA ., They are too many security alarms breaking the silence of the exhibition time to time . Besides, the Officers walk next to you in the museum corridors and all these things are there to not let the visitor touch the Art.


Is Mr. Nami (one of the Exhibition managers) in charge of treating the visitors if any problem occurs or it’s up to the security officers to handle the situation ?
As I saw, a visitor was looking at a painting and he moved his head forward to read the Name and information of The Masterpiece Next to the frame , exactly at that time an unfriendly voice called out to make him aware of the red lines and the security rules…
Regardless of this event, the author believes Such wrong treatments are nothing but the main source of chaos in the Exhibition that may bear more doubts about the efficiency and validity of exhibition managers.

Draw Me A Garden at Spin Gallery

Draw Me A Garden is the first solo show of Anna Torma in Toronto. In August, she was in a group show "Just My Imagination" at MOCCA. In the Spin Gallery exhibition, a span of ten years work can be seen. While the earliest one was made in 1994, she has produced a number of new work in 2005. As I was trying to trace back techniques, ideas and changes of her work over the years, Anna told me she uses them back and forth all the time, and there is no obvious "stages" of her work. I guess that's quite true because her 1994 work seems like her newest work, except the old work is more contrived and cautious. Her new work shows more control and confidence, her techniques more sophisticated and replete with variations.


Anna Torma was introduced to textile art by both her mother and grandmother who taught her hand sewing and embroidery. Her study of textiles at the Hungarian Academy of Applied Arts in Budapest from 1974 to 1979 coincided with the growing popularity of fibre production by artists from abroad. Since textile practice was not considered a fine art, it afforded Hungarian artists greater creative freedom because they were not as closely monitored by the Hungarian government as artists who were producing in other media. Torma’s textile structures incorporate numerous techniques such as embroidery, patchwork, appliqué, quilting, and felting. First she assembles a patchwork base often composed of discarded fabric, such as old clothing, and proceeds to produce textile drawings in embroidery upon this ground. "My goal is to create innovative textile based work which blanches craft with concept into femininity, domesticity, and ethnicity," Torma wrote in 1996. Torma’s embroidered designs are often based upon her children’s drawings and hand writing. "This borrowing of images and compilation permits Torma to infuse her spiritual, personal, and mundane experiences with those of others" (Theresa Morin, 1996). In Quotations (1994) Torma’s embroidered images and texts include excerpts from her children’s notebooks, charting her children’s learning process. Lullaby I (1996) consists of pieces of cheesecloth stitched together and embellished with floral motifs found in Hungarian textiles. A participant in numerous international textile art conferences, in 1994 Torma took part in the European Textile Network Conference in Budapest. She has taught art at the Burlington Art Centre and given lectures at the Harbourfront Centre and Sheridan College in Toronto, Ontario.

Group Painting Exhibition in Behzad Gallery

Group Exhibition of Neystani ,Ghazarian ,Dastan , Sombat , Pour Almalou , Mousavi , Sadeghi , Rezaee ,Rahimi , Ma’ani, AaliVand, Tavakoli ,Arbaboon , Roouhollahi , Yahyaee, Afrazi ,Esmaeeli , Taghavi , Panahi , Amini , Hojatti , Shafiee , Esfandiari , GhafarZadeh , Behdad ,Zareheeyan , Zomorodi , Abdi , Ghaderkhanzadeh is Now open On Behzad Art Gallery in Tehran. Bloulvard Str.
Paintings are more Influenced by realism and somehow impressionism .I think their works, comparing with other Exhibitions of Iranian Artists-in this Field ,are good and well done.