BANKSY IN “THE WORLD’S FIRST STREET-ART DISASTER MOVIE”
By Elanor Mills | SUNDAY TIMES, February 28, 2010
He’s the most successful graffitist ever, the elusive outsider who has become our unlikeliest national treasure. Now we are about to glimpse him in ‘the world’s first street-art disaster movie’

Whether it is snogging policemen, a House of Commons full of chimpanzees, Princess Diana on a £10 note, or I Don’t Believe in Global Warming half-submerged in a canal, a Banksy makes you smile, but it also forces you to take a second look, to think a little deeper.
It’s funny how this anonymous graffiti artist evokes such strong affection in people, particularly those who don’t usually reckon that art has much to say to them.

“Banksy, love ’im,” says a mate who wouldn’t be seen dead at Tate Modern. Another friend, who met him at a crusty travellers’ party in Bristol, says: “He’s very quiet, sweet though, very Bristol, scruffy and funny, but you’d never know if you didn’t know, if you know what I mean.”

So why does everyone have a favourite Banksy? Perhaps because he catches us unawares, shows us a clever take on our culture from a topsy-turvy angle on a scruffy bit of wall, or bridge, or hoarding we’ve looked at a million times but never noticed before.

My commute takes me through Shoreditch and Hoxton in east London, and I’ve learnt where to look for them. Recently he has been painting in Camden Town, north London, where he has had a running spat with a fellow graffiti artist called Robbo. On a freezing day I went down to have a peek. Past the lock, along a grotty towpath in the snow, under a most insalubrious bridge, and there on a bit of concrete on the far side of the muddy canal is a stencil of a workman painting a wall. The workman was added by Banksy to the original Robbo tag. Since then, a vengeful Robbo has revisited the work to daub “King Robbo” in giant silver letters over it.

Back towards Regent’s Park there is a charming stencil of a little boy fishing in the canal, which now bears the aggressive slogan “Did you think it was over? Team Robbo”, and the words “street cred” where the fish should be, implying that Banksy has lost his. Click HERE to continue reading at the SUNDAY TIMES…

BANKSY’s subterranean screenings of his new documentary, “Exit Through The Gift Shop” in a makeshift pop-up theater in an unused subway tube beneath London’s Waterloo Station kicked off this week to queues of rabid fans. Miraculously, the UK bomber managed to keep news of the screenings and his dank setup totally secret until last week’s surprise announcement when screenings (twice daily until March 4th) instantly sold out via online sales. The theater features copious amounts of street art inside and out and functions as much as an impromptu Banksy art show as a movie theater. Ironically—or perhaps, appropriately—enough, patrons were forbidden to bring any spray paint or other graffiti marking tools into the screening. Of course, Mr Banks was a no-show (or was he?), but his melted ice cream truck concession stand proved a hit across the board. Have a look at the setup: Read the rest of this entry »

All hooker jokes aside, ST buddy SHEPARD FAIREY is currently auctioning off his services as a portrait artist on CHARITYBUZZ.COM, with all proceeds from the sale going to benefit THE ART OF ELYSIUM, a nonprofit organization that encourages actors and artists to donate their time to children battling serious medical conditions. The winning bidder (currently at $4,250 with almost six days to go) will have their portrait created by the Obama campaign artist sometime between July–August 2010. Reports that Sarah Palin is currently the top bidder remain unconfirmed. An original artwork by Fairey, “Burmese Monk,” is also currently for sale on the site with proceeds benefitting the charity. In January, Shep was celebrated as the year’s “visionary” at the Art of Elysium’s “Heaven” charity gala party. Bid now…

With Pop artist JEFF KOONS‘ first-ever turn as museum curator set to unfold next month at NYC’s NEW MUSEUM with the opening of “The Imaginary Museum: Selections From The Dakis Joannou Collection“, the NY Times has taken an in-depth look at Koons’ own extensive art collection:

THE KOONS COLLECTION
By Randy Kennedy | NY Times Feb 24, 2010
JEFF KOONS, at 55, is one of the world’s most famous living artists. And every night before drifting off to sleep in his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, he is able to survey the salmon-pink walls of his bedroom and commune with a small pantheon of the most famous artists of centuries past.

In one corner hangs an early-16th-century painted bust of a hollow-cheeked, very tender-looking Jesus by Quentin Massys, the first important painter of the Antwerp school. Across the way, perhaps reflecting Mr. Koons’s love of mingling the sacred and the profane, a risqué Fragonard stares back, showing a young woman cradling a pair of puppies at her bared breasts. But for the most part this extremely private collection, piled up salon style on the walls, seems far more classicist than Koonsian, like an eccentric little gallery transplanted from the Met: Manet, Courbet, Poussin and scholars’ delights like Nikolaus Knüpfer and Cornelis van Haarlem. Click HERE to continue reading at NY Times…

A Magritte original hanging in Jeff Koons’ home

A Quinten Massys image of Christ from Jeff Koons’ collection

A Fragonard from Jeff Koons’s collection

This is what $1.075 million worth of 71-year-old pulp looks like…

Serving as clear evidence that the truly rich remain unshaken by any financial catastrophe, regardless of scale, a copy of 1939’s DETECTIVE COMICS #27 featuring the first-ever appearance of BATMAN changed hands yesterday for $1.075 million, trumping this week’s previous sale of a SUPERMAN comic book for a paltry $1 million. The book’s sale by HERITAGE AUCTION GALLERIES in Dallas, Texas, sets a new world record and the book’s final price was determined by seven anonymous international bidders who competed for the book on the company’s website. At this pace, you can guarantee Amazing Fantasy #15 featuring Spider Man’s debut, will be the next record breaker…

EXPERTS AUTHENTICATE VAN GOGH WINDMILL PAINTING

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A painting of a windmill newly attributed to the Dutch master Vincent Van Gogh went on display on Wednesday after spending decades in the depot of a Dutch provincial museum.

After experts at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum concluded “Le Blute-fin Mill” was by the Dutch artist, the brightly-colored painting depicting large human figures around a mill was put on display in the Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle.

“The painting is a little a-typical for Van Gogh because of the many people appearing on it but also very typical because of the prominent role for the mill,” said Ralph Keuning, director of the Fundatie museum. He had discovered the painting in 2007. Click HERE to continue reading at Reuters…

It was only a matter of time before TERRY RICHARDSON embraced his inner guido. Amazing…