Truth (plus lies) » art

Mark Landis, forger and donor

Jefff — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:50:14 +0000

Mark Landis forges paintings and then shows up in disguise to museums to donate his forgeries. He’s been at it since the 80s, and his most favored disguise is “Father Arthur Scott”, a Jesuit.

He had dressed as a Jesuit priest because he had been taught by one in London, and was amused by the reaction. “I’ve helped out a lot of people. They come up to me at airports and tell me of their problems. There’s not much to being a priest. Some comforting words, that sort of thing. And a blessing.” He donated in the name Helen Mitchell because “it wasn’t mother’s name but it was grandmother’s, and mother would know in heaven, right?”

From The Financial Times, via Kottke.

Thanks to a law requiring it, Seoul has a lot of bad public art

Jefff — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:43:12 +0000

For 16 years, Seoul had a law that required new buildings to also install new public art. A lot of the resulting art was bad, so the law has been changed to allow builders to donate money instead of commissioning the art themselves.

“Unless citizens actively petition for the removal of any bad art that’s already installed, they’ll have to live with it,” said Yang Hyun-mi, a professor of culture and arts administration at Sangmyung University.

People again point to “Amabel” as a case in point. First installed in 1996 at a cost of $1.4 million, Stella’s work was subtitled “Flowering Structure.” The piece, the artist said, symbolized the endurance of steel and the role it has played in human endeavors.

Several years ago, however, officials responding to critics chose to plant trees to try to hide the sculpture after deciding the $400,000 cost to move it to Korea’s Museum of Modern Art was too expensive.

Via The Morning News.

The adventures of a giant balloon with a face who got stuck in an art gallery

Jefff — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:29:09 +0000

Via Ffffound.

This is my artist’s statement. If you don’t like it, I have others.

Jefff — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:28:00 +0000

My work explores the relationship between postmodern discourse and midlife subcultures.

With influences as diverse as Kierkegaard and John Cage, new synergies are generated from both simple and complex textures.

Ever since I was a teenager I have been fascinated by the ephemeral nature of the mind. What starts out as vision soon becomes corrupted into a hegemony of greed, leaving only a sense of chaos and the prospect of a new reality.

As spatial phenomena become transformed through diligent and diverse practice, the viewer is left with an insight into the possibilities of our world.

Need your own artist’s statement? Generate some arty bollocks. Via Dangerous Minds.

Painting lost by drunk guy found on the street

Jefff — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:55:36 +0000

Maybe he was telling the truth all along. James Hagerty was helping his friends sell a painting, but got drunk and lost it. His story sounded suspicious, but then one of the painting’s owners was indicted for fraud. Which maybe has something to do with it, but maybe not because the painting was found by a doorman. It was sitting outside his building.

Via The Morning News.

In God We Trust has changed his name to One Nation Under God

Jefff — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:23:28 +0000

A man named In God We Trust recently changed his name to One Nation Under God. It’s the second of seven planned name changes.

One Nation Under God, who was known as Steve Kreuscher before he made his first name change in 2008, said his next name will be 777, a sequence significant in Christianity.
…
After 777, Under God said he wants to change his name to What Would Jesus Do, No Cross No Crown, Thermado Zattersof and, finally, Angelico Zioneero.

His purpose is to raise awareness of the need for Christian unity and for his art, which looks like this:

You can buy some art here.

This is a pipe

Jefff — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:22:17 +0000

By Frank Chimero, via This Isn’t Happiness

Pie Packing

Jefff — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:08:56 +0000

Mario Klingemann recreates fine works of art with pie charts representing their colors.

Via Boing Boing

Girl and Lizard

Jefff — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:12:47 +0000

Freaks me out:
found on Ffffound

The Art of Arms Control

Jefff — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:23:16 +0000

Lovely:

via Andrew Sullivan