The Old Capitol Building in Iowa City became the home of the University of Iowa when the state capital was moved to Des Moines in 1857. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Debate over the sale of a Jackson Pollock painting valued at $140 million is over this legislative session because there is little chance of reaching consensus on the issue, a House Republican leader said Monday.
Rep. Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale, said with all the other issues lawmakers need to focus on this year “it appears the sides are so far apart that it is not a good use of legislative time.
“There is too wide a gulf to build consensus on this this year,” the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee told The Associated Press.
Raecker said lawmakers will be busy focusing on budget issues and that “there is not the time and energy and possibly the will to bring these participants to a common ground.”
The announcement comes less than a week after a House appropriations subcommittee voted to sell the painting, which was donated to the University of Iowa by art dealer Peggy Guggenheim in 1951. She died in 1979.
The 8-by-20-foot painting titled Mural is the centerpiece of the university’s art collection, but some lawmakers were considering a proposal to sell it and use the proceeds to fund art scholarships.
A spokesman for the university referred questions Monday to the Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s universities.
Earlier this month, board President David Miles issued a statement that said the proposed sale of the painting is a “profoundly bad idea.”
On Monday, Miles said he appreciated Raecker’s effort to “put a spotlight on increased financial aid for our students … but I’m pleased this action will not go forward.
“I hope this decision not to proceed brings closure to the discussion because we have a terrific asset here that I believe will become ever more valuable, not just financially, but in the education of our students as well,” Miles said.
The regents examined the possible sale of the painting in 2008 and rejected the idea.
Over the weekend, the American Association of Museum’s accreditation commission sent a letter to lawmakers condemning the sale. Commission chairwoman Bonnie Styles wrote that the sale could jeopardize the University of Iowa Museum of Art’s accreditation. Without accreditation, the museum could fall out of favor with donors and the public, Styles wrote.
Pollock, an American painter and major figure in the expressionist movement, died in 1956 at the age of 44.
Rep. Todd Taylor, D-Cedar Rapids, said selling the painting would be “cultural vandalism.”
“To sell it is like the biggest poke in the eye to the (Expressionist) movement,” Taylor said.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Abraham Lincoln’s statue sits at the corner of Ninth and Main streets in downtown Rapid City. Image courtesy of the Rapid City Convention and Visitors Bureau. RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – A Rapid City foundation is close to its goal of putting up statues of every United States president but is a little short of money.
The City of Presidents Foundation started putting up bronze statues of U.S. presidents on downtown Rapid City street corners in 2000.
After the George W. Bush statue is installed in a few months, only President Barack Obama will be missing.
Foundation vice president Dallerie Davis told the Rapid City Journal that the foundation needs to raise $70,000 to cover the cost of all work done to date.
Every year, four artists research a president and try to create a bronze figure that captures the essence of the president and his place in history.
Each statue costs about $50,000. Forty sponsors in four states have donated since 2000.
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Information from: Rapid City Journal,
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The donor of a famed Jackson Pollock painting that some state lawmakers are trying to sell asked for the piece back in 1963 after hearing rumors the University of Iowa was considering auctioning it off, according to letters she sent to the school.
Peggy Guggenheim, who died in 1979, gave the masterpiece titled Mural to the university in 1951, school officials said. The 8-by-20-foot Mural now serves as the centerpiece of the university’s art collection, but some legislators are considering a proposal to sell it and use the proceeds to fund art scholarships.
Pollock was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He died in 1956 at the age of 44. The painting was valued in 2008 at $140 million.
In a May 1963 letter to then-university president Virgil Hancher, Guggenheim said she’d heard the university was planning to send the painting to London auction house Sotheby’s.
“If this is true, it is extremely unpleasant for me that you should sell my gift, when there are so many museums in the world who would be delighted to own this wonderful painting,” she wrote. “If you no longer wish to have this mural in your university, I must ask you to return it to me.”
That and other letters were posted on the Internet. The university confirmed their authenticity in stories published Saturday in the Des Moines Register and Cedar Rapids Gazette.
Hancher assured Guggenheim that there were no plans to sell the painting and that the university was raising money to expand its art gallery. But he also consulted with a law professor about whether Guggenheim would be able to reclaim the painting
A bill from state Rep. Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale, calls for the sale of the painting to provide scholarships to undergraduate art majors.
University president Sally Mason has urged lawmakers to reject the proposed sale. She said scholarly works given to the school for caretaking cannot be replaced, and Iowa “will suffer a far greater long-term loss in the state’s image and quality of life than any immediate proceeds gained.”
The American Association of Museum’s accreditation commission sent a letter Saturday to state lawmakers condemning the sale. Commission chairwoman Bonnie Styles wrote that the sale could jeopardize the University of Iowa Museum of Art’s accreditation. Without that accreditation, the museum could fall out of favor with donors and the public, she wrote.
A campus rally against the bill is scheduled for Thursday.
Copyright 2011 Al rights reserved. Associated Press. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Banksy (British), Love Rat, signed and stamped screenprint from edition of 150, 19 3/4 inches by 13 3/4 inches, 2004, auctioned for $13,810 in The Fame Bureau’s May 27, 2010 auction. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and The Fame Bureau. LOS ANGELES (ACNI) – The elusive British street artist Banksy is purportedly leaving his mark around Los Angeles in the run-up to the Feb. 27 Academy Awards ceremony, where a film about him could take away the Oscar for Best Documentary.
Several examples of graffiti with a style distinctly similar to Banksy’s have popped up on walls and billboards around LA, both in upscale Beverly Hills and grittier downtown neighborhoods. Some of the images attributed to Banksy include Mickey Mouse knocking back a cocktail, a child soldier firing crayon bullets from a machine gun, and a dog urinating against a wall. In another so-called Banksy creation, painted on the wall of a burned-out L.A. building, Charlie Brown is depicted smoking a cigarette and holding a gas can, presumably contemplating an act of arson.
Many believe the street art – which may or may not be the actual work of known prankster Banksy – is part of a clever campaign to publicize Exit Through the Gift Shop, the Oscar-nominated film about the artist that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival last year. Speculation that the tagging is a media promotion was fueled by the appearance of an artwork spotted recently in LA and attributed to Banksy. The scene includes a large, Oscar-like gold figure garbed in a hoodie and standing on a red carpet, flanked by “Star Wars”-style troopers.
In one video-documented incident, an altercation erupted over the removal of “Banksy” art applied to an existing billboard on Sunset Boulevard. A billboard company tore down the sign a few days after it had been given the Banksy treatment. TMZ.com reported that the owner of the gas station located at the site of the billboard had offered to pay $10,000 for the artwork but that the billboard workers brusquely declined. A scuffle ensued as the workers stashed the folded-up billboard art into their van.
A spokesperson for the Nevada-based company The Light Group, which had paid for the original ad on the billboard, told TMZ they had not been consulted prior to the ad’s removal, but showed a sense of humor with the comment: “We were flattered Banksy tagged on our ad – it was epic.”
Banksy’s real name has been widely reported to be Robert, Robden, Robin Gunningham or Robin Banks. No one is really sure, but few would argue that he is the most famous unknown artist of all.
Copyright 2011 Auction Central News International. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – University of Iowa President Sally Mason is urging lawmakers to reject the proposed sale of a famous painting that is the centerpiece of the school’s art collection.
Mason told lawmakers in a written statement Wednesday donors have been questioning whether their gifts will be protected after the introduction of a bill that would require the school to sell the Jackson Pollock masterpiece titled Mural.
Mason noted that painting was donated by art dealer Peggy Guggenheim in 1951. She said scholarly works given to the school for caretaking cannot be replaced, and Iowa “will suffer a far greater long-term loss in the state’s image and quality of life than any immediate proceeds gained.”
A House panel nonetheless voted to support the sale of the painting, which is valued at $140 million.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
LONDON and NEW YORK – Both Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal are reporting that Andy Warhol’s 1967 Self-Portrait, auctioned by Christie’s London on Feb. 23, was purchased by art dealer Larry Gagosian.
The striking, 6-foot-square red and white depiction of Warhol in a thoughtful pose, with splayed fingers pressed against the front of his face, was purchased by Gagosian for $17,441,892. Reportedly, Gagosian was speaking to a client on his cell phone while bidding in the room.
One of the underbidders vying against Gagosian was Jose Mugrabi, a Jerusalem-born textiles importer who is said to own the world’s largest collection of Warhol paintings.
Gagosian, owner of the Gagosian Gallery chain of art galleries, got his start in business by selling posters near the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles. In the early 1980s he developed his business rapidly by exploiting the possibilities of reselling works of art by blue-chip modern and contemporary artists, earning the nickname “Go-Go” in the process.
PAAM’s Hawthorne Gallery. Image courtesy of Provinetown Art Association and Museum. PROVINCETOWN, Mass. – Provincetown Art Association and Museum has announced its newest community-oriented, educational offering Gallery Conversations, a monthly free event based around exhibitions. This series brings together curators, artists, collectors and visitors to discuss artwork and explore each exhibition.
The first discussion took place with the 2010-2011 visual fellows from the Fine Arts Work Center on Feb. 17. PAAM is committed to working together with other local organizations, partnering annually with the Fine Arts Work Center to provide an exhibition to the visual fellows.
In February, PAAM hosts a panel on juried exhibitions. The jurying process is often one of mystery and sometimes frustration. “Why didn’t my piece make it? They picked that one?” can often be heard after jurying has occurred. Juror James Veatch, chair of the UMass Dartmouth Art Department, and PAAM Executive Director Chris McCarthy will host this discussion on Saturday, Feb. 26, at 12:30 p.m. This is in conjunction with the Members’ Juried Exhibition on view Feb. 25-April 17.
Curator Mike Wright and the three Mid-Career artists Karen Cappotto, Liz Carney and Megan Hinton will discuss their exhibition “Beyond Surface” on Thursday, March 17, at 6:30 p.m. Come weigh in on what it means to be at your mid-career point and see how these artists worked together in creating their exhibition. In conjunction with their exhibition Beyond Surface on view March 11-April 24.
Curators Robert Henry and Selina Trieff will join artist and educator Robert Rindler to discuss his site specific installation on Thursday, April 28, 6:30 p.m. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear more about their collaboration, the installed pieces, the desire to collect and what each of them thinks about the dialogue that transpired in the process of realizing it all. In conjunction with the exhibition Robert Rindler: “Recycling Vernacular, Collecting Sorting Illuminating, Moment Place Object, A Site Specific Installation” on view April 15-May 29.
The last in the series is an evening with artist and collector John Raimondi, in conjunction with the exhibition about his collection on Thursday, May 12, 6:30 p.m. The exhibition is on view April 22-June 19.
Since the 1920s the Provincetown Art Association and Museum has participated in outer Cape Cod’s tradition of offering instruction and studio art classes to visitors and members of our community. In 1982 PAAM’s educational mission was furthered when the Museum School at PAAM was officially founded, with an onsite studio classroom. Modeled after the Art Students League of New York, the Museum School has provided students of all levels the opportunity to work with local, professional artists in a variety of settings and media-working en plein air and in the traditional, studio classroom environment.
PAAM was renovated in 2003-05, creating greatly improved studios for the school, which are naturally lit with skylights, ventilated and handicapped accessible. The space includes a drawing studio, painting studio with movable wall, and a nontoxic print studio featuring three printing presses. In 2009, the school was named to honor the late Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed, who were artists, teachers, and active members of PAAM and the Provincetown arts community for over 50 years.
Over the past 29 years, programming has evolved to year-round offerings, featuring four months of summer classes, as well as fall and spring workshops. Media covered includes art history, drawing, film, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture.
To deepen participation in our artistic community, students are invited to become members of PAAM. As PAAM continues its commitment to support and represent contemporary artists, each new artist/member joins a long roster of distinguished American artists who have studied, taught, and exhibited at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum over the last century.
Provincetown Art Association and Museum is located at 460 Commercial St., Provincetown, MA 02657. Visit the website at www.paam.org or phone: 508-487-1750.
Zevs, Liquidated CBS, Liquitex on canvas, 48 inches square, New York 2010. Image courtesy of De Buck Gallery.
NEW YORK – De Buck Gallery has announced its grand-opening show, which will run from Feb. 24 through April 7, will feature the French graffiti artist Zevs (pronounced “Zeus). Titled “Liquidated Version,” the show’s theme interweaves unconventional street art methods, with a pointed critique on high finance. Zevs artworks are created both on canvas and sculpture.
Zevs, who now divides his time between New York and Zurich, began as a graffiti artist in Paris in the 1990s. He acquired his pseudonym from a Parisian metro train named “Zevs” that almost hit him. Drawing on his namesake’s mythological attributes, Zevs began to view the street and the city as his canvas and his kingdom.
Zevs’ body of work involves performances at its core, beginning with a series of performances titled “Visual Attack,” wherein the artist attacked several public advertisements, leaving them with artistic bulletholes and trails of blood.
His next series of performances, “Visual Kidnapping,” built further on Zevs’ exploration of brands, advertising and consumer culture by literally kidnapping images from advertisements, emblazing the message “PAY NOW” on the victimized ad.
The last series, “Liquidated Logos,” demonstrated Zevs’ growth in his body of work, as he “liquidated” the familiar logos of worldwide companies and made them his own. Zevs’ experimentation with the pervasive symbols of pop culture and consumerism has proven to be a rich discussion in the art world and beyond.
In his first New York solo exhibition, Liquidated Version, Zevs presents a new body of work using the “liquidation” process for which he is known, as well as new conceptual techniques, to confront the financial crisis head on. By targeting the emblematic logos of financial leaders, Zevs questions not only the stability of the institutions, but also their branding strength as visual commodities.
Drawing on Alfred Hitchcock’s famous thrillers, The Birds and Psycho, and Breton Ellis Easton’s American Psycho, Zevs uses looming birds, bloody shower curtains and pristine hatchets to add an eerie element of foreboding and impending doom. Moody and psychological, Liquidated Version fills the space with a fresh look at the “greed is good” theme and the confusion between surface and substance of American high finance.
Gallery De Buck is located at 511 25th St., Suite 502, New York, NY 10001. For additional information on the Zevs exhibition, call 212-255-5735 or visit Gallery De Buck online at www.gallerydebuck.com
American Crayon Co. produced crayons and paints under many brand names including Popeye and Prang. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Homestead Auctions. SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) – A northern Ohio city says a 110-year-old crayon factory is a serious safety hazard and wants quick court auction that could tear it down.
The American Crayon building is one of the largest in Sandusky. The plant closed in 2002.
The deteriorating structure failed to sell at a sheriff’s sale on Tuesday, and officials say it’s a threat to squatters who live inside the building and to firefighters who might be called there.
Interim city manager Don Icsman told the Sandusky Register it’s an “emergency” situation.
The building is now in foreclosure. In a legal motion, the city argues that the factory should be demolished if its owners can’t secure it.
Erie County Common Pleas Judge Roger Binette will hear arguments on Feb. 23.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-CS-02-16-11 0733EST
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
American Crayon Co. produced crayons and paints under many brand names including Popeye and Prang. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Homestead Auctions.
The Keno brothers, Leslie (left) and Leigh (right).
HIGH POINT, N.C. (ACNI) – Antique furniture experts and TV celebrities Leigh and Leslie Keno have another hit on their hands. The identical twin brothers best known from their on-air appraisals on PBS Television’s Antiques Roadshow have been on the road, stumping their upscale new range of furniture produced in partnership with the North Carolina manufacturer Theodore Alexander.
“We are very excited to be partners in this venture,” Leigh said in an e-mail sent to Auction Central News while waiting to board a plane in Florida. “They have given us total freedom to stretch the boundaries of our imagination. The level of craftsmanship is tremendous.”
Technically, Leigh and Leslie Keno soft-launched their promotional tour of the Keno Bros. Collection™ at Selden’s Home Furnishings in Tacoma, Wash., on Nov. 4, 2010. Scott Selden, president of Selden’s, remarked that the brothers’ appearance was “one of the most successful private events” his company had ever hosted. “The draw of the Keno brothers was key to the event’s success and attendance,” he said. “Their presentation caused a flurry of sales that night immediately following the presentation…they really connected with the audience.”
The brothers’ grand tour is now in high gear. Last week Leigh and Leslie appeared at three sold-out events for Robb & Stucky furniture stores in Florida. “We had a great launch in Naples today and in Boca [Raton] yesterday! Great people and, happily, lots of excitement,” Leigh wrote in his e-mail.
The Kenos’ next confirmed engagements in connection with the new furniture line are:
March 3 ABC Carpet & Home, New York City
April 21 Louis Shanks, Houston
May 18 Gabberts, Edina, Minn. (suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul)
Additional appearances are expected to be added in the coming weeks and months.
The Keno Bros. Collection™ is carried by luxury furniture retailers throughout North America, Europe and Asia. It consists of approximately 100 pieces, all hand made from sustainably sourced exotic woods, stone, glass and metals. Because Theodore Alexander has not only its own furniture factory but also its own foundry, even the hinges incorporated into the designs are custom designed and crafted for the collection.
Leigh and Leslie, who both have dealt in the highest of high-end American furniture, were insistent that the range of furniture bearing their name should be uncompromising. They weren’t disappointed. “The quality of craftsmanship is just tremendous,” Leigh told ACN.
Because they have such a thorough knowledge of furniture, the brothers were able to offer suggestions to Theodore Alexander craftsment that resulted in improved designs. An example would be their Slope Chair. The lines of the back, seat, arms and legs appear to have been hewn from a single piece of wood, with the arms terminating in a wonderfully smooth, tactile shape that Leigh describes as being like “holding hands with the chair.”
The Sampler Table is one of Leigh and Leslie’s favorites because it showcases 14 different wood species in a single cocktail-size table.
The twins’ love of vintage race cars even made its way into the furniture line. From fine racing vehicles from the mid-20th century, the brothers drew the inspiration to include hand-hammered metalwork on their Flying Buttress tables.
Their Fine Point I table is clearly inspired by classic 18th and 19th century French and English pieces. It is devoid of ornamentation, but the serpentine shapes and exotic African ofram veneer create great movement and interest. As the brothers describe it, “This table embodies the essence of the S-shaped line which the British artist and philosopher William Hogarth called the ‘line of beauty.’ This line is based on the curves of the human body. Multiple curves with their undulations, peaks, and dips lead the viewer’s eye on a chase.”
“We offer a fresh and bold new spin on the Rococo table form in two rich shades of ofram veneer,” the brothers continued. “When we saw the prototype in the design state, we loved the color of the ofram in its natural, unstained state. We had never seen anything quite like this in our careers. The dark striations contrasting with the lighter ‘canvas’ complement the curves of the table.”
Leigh and Leslie are hopeful that one day the pieces in their new range of furniture will be viewed as heirlooms. View the range online at www.theodorealexander.com. Click on “Locate a Dealer” to find your nearest retailer carrying the Keno line.
About Leigh and Leslie Keno:
The Keno brothers achieved celebrity status as appraisers on the highly rated PBS show Antiques Roadshow. In 2003-2004 they were hosts of the PBS show Find! Since 2008 they have also hosted the show Collect This! with the Keno Brothers on MSN. Aside from their television duties, Leigh owns and operates Keno Auctions in New York, while Leslie serves as senior vice president and director of American Furniture and Decorative Arts at Sotheby’s in New York. The brothers are also accomplished writers, authoring a book on antiques called Hidden Treasures: Searching for Masterpieces of American Furniture. They have written monthly furniture and design columns for House Beautiful and This Old House and are often featured in Traditional Home.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Chair known as The Slope, designed by the Keno Bros. Image courtesy of Theodore Alexander.The Sampler Table featuring 14 different wood species, designed by the Keno Bros. Image courtesy of Theodore Alexander.The Fine Point I Table, designed by the Keno Bros. Image courtesy of Theodore Alexander.The Flying Buttress Table, designed by the Keno Bros. Image courtesy of Theodore Alexander.
