If you live near or planning a vacation to Germany, you now have one more destination to go: a new museum in the German town Baden-Baden.

 
On May 9 2009 Russian tycoon Alexander Ivanov is planning to open first “world’s only museum dedicated to the Russian Imperial jeweler Faberge” there.

 
“The collector had originally planned to show his treasure trove of Russian art in the country’s capital and now reveals it will open instead on May 9 in the German spa town of Baden-Baden. Ivanov, 46, says he’s a patriot and only changed his mind because of the high cost of building and Russian bureaucracy. He says his 3,000-piece collection is worth about $1.5 billion. ”

 
“Ivanov said he chose Baden-Baden, near Germany’s western border, because it’s “close to France, a resort for the rich, and historically it has always been the most popular resort for Russians.” The local government has also been supportive, he said.”

 
“The German word ‘Baden’ translates as ‘to bath/bathe’”.
“The 19th century saw the town rise to become a meeting place for celebrities, attracted by the hot springs as well as by the famous Casino, luxury hotels, horse races, and the gardens of the Lichtentaler Allee. Baden-Baden was then nicknamed the European summer capital.”
Read about this city here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baden-Baden.

 
“Entrance to the Faberge Museum will cost 20 euros. Ivanov’s most pessimistic forecast is 200,000 visitors a year, and he’s planning for up to 500,000.

 
“Even at 100,000 visitors a year we would cover costs,” said Ivanov, whose office is one block from the czarist-era Faberge shop in Moscow, now occupied by a bistro. “The collection needs to make money and to pay its way.”

 
“The House of Faberge was founded in St. Petersburg in 1842 by Gustav Faberge.”
Company’s goldsmiths made jewelry and luxury items for the Russian tsar’s family and other kings and riches.

 
“In addition to Easter eggs, the company made a wide range of jewelry and decorative artworks, the most famous of which are semi-precious stone and jeweled figures of people, animals, and vases with flowers. The company had international brand recognition, with a shop in London, and it counted as a customer the King of Siam (now Thailand).”

 
Read more about Fabergé Easter eggs here: Wikipedia.org. Faberge Eggs

 
About House of Faberge here: Wikipedia.org. House of Faberge

 
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com

 

 

a

 
Her paintings are represented extensively at the exhibition and I think they are breathtaking. The collection of Russian avangard paintings “in Spain is on view now and through January 18 at Caixa Girona Fontana d’Or Cultural Center.”

 
Goncharova is known, together with Mikhail Larionov whose works also displayed at the exhibition, for the creation of “Rayonism (or Rayonnism) is a style of abstract art that developed in Russia in 1911″.

 
Many other Russian artists also represented at the exhibition, but I don’t think I should write about it extensively in this article because: not only I am not an expert, it’s not specifically an art blog. I merely call your attention to the things I find interesting.

 
Please, click on the links (blue text) within this post and see for yourself the magic of these paintings and read biographies of these artists.

 
I don’t insert pictures, because the template I use don’t provide enough space for the pictures to be shown in all their beauty and because I really hope you’ll want to read the original article as well…

a

 
I think Chinese artist Zhang Huan is in direct competition (or in sync) with Damien Hirst (think Hirst’s animal series: golden calf, zebra, shark in formaldehyde). The choice of materials from both artists and the ideas behind the objects exhibited is widely open for the interpretation. That’s my opinion. Any thoughts? 

 
Here is an article with more info about Zhang Huang, a very intense artist, who is for the occasion of one exhibition “slathered himself with fish oil and honey, then sat motionless in a public latrine as insects crawled over him, into his mouth, up his nose. At the end of an hour, he stood up and slowly walked into a nearby pond until the water closed over his head.” Read NY Times. Find some biographical facts there, too.

 
Now, watch this absolutely incredible YouTube Video, where artist himself is talking about his work.

 
And here is Hirst’s “Golden Calf”  “with hoofs and horns made of 18-carat gold and a gold disc crowning the head”, which was sold for $18.6 million.  Please, read the article in its entirety: not only it’s informative, it reads as a novel. 

 
In addition, you may check the Gallery of Hirst’s works at Guardian.co.uk. 

 
Please, click on the links (blue underlined text) provided within this post and see all the works. Enjoy!

a

 
Whether Hirst is trying his famous PR to attract attention to his branding and personae once again or he is smart enough to adjust the prices on his recently unsold old and new works, is remains to be seen. The fact is, he seems to be just awaken from some state of euphoria and noticed the turmoil in the world, as well as the changes, it brings to the art appreciation. He said: “art is too expensive”. If you agree, read the article here: www.independent.co.uk.

 
The following link is about the reaction of the backlash Hirst’s art is attracting: Reaction to Damien Hirst. “Last week the esteemed art critic Robert Hughes dismissed his work as “absurd” and “tacky”. The week before, the influential Art Newspaper revealed that £100m-worth of Hirst art works remained unsold at his main dealers, White Cube in Hoxton, a claim White Cube denied.”
 Next article is about works of art by other famous artists and 2007 painting by Hirst, that had failed to sell: November Auction.

 
In August of 2007 “diamond-encrusted skull by Damien Hirst has been sold to an unnamed investment group for the asking price of £50m nearly three months after it first went on show. For the Love of God is a platinum cast of the skull of a 35-year-old, 18th-century man, complete with the original teeth, covered with 8,601 near-flawless pave-set diamonds, including a large pink diamond worth more than £4m in the centre of its forehead. The platinum cast of an 18th Century skull is covered in 8,601 jewels. It is thought to be the world’s most expensive piece of contemporary art.  Here is more on the subject of Skull.

I don’t know about the aesthetic and artistic value and materials involved for this work, but I liked the setting of those diamonds. At least, on my screen.  One more picture and info: Diamond Skull by Damien.

 
Meanwhile, Banksy’s (the graffiti artist) “Mona Lisa” is sold for a record price of £57,600. “in his version of the Mona Lisa, Banksy used his familiar stencil technique to depict the subject with spray paint dripping from her eyes. Also at the auction, a set of six prints of Kate Moss, portrayed in the style of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe series, fetched about £50,000.” Read the article here: Banksy’s Mona Lisa.

 
Still, it seems that everybody, who has any big money is not in a hurry to spend it for art.  At least, not now. The biggest spenders, Russians, are noticeably absent, too.

 
Don’t forget to click on links (blue text) and then come back to read the rest of the article.

a

 
 Even if you don’t know a thing about art, you probably have heard about the famous painting by Kazimir Malevich titled “Black Square”, which is being hotly discussed to this day.

 
The joke exists about the curator of the museum reprimanding workers for hanging the “Black Square” upside down and, what a shame, not noticing it for two weeks.

 
You have to be a great artist, to be able to transform the filling of a darkness within you into a painting, which becomes famous by its simplicity: Just Black Square. But that (I think) can be understood only if you know the history of that painting, or equally artistic to understand it fully without explanation.

 
Visit this Kazimir Malevich Wikipedia page to read more about the artist and see his other very interesting paintings”.Here is something Malevich wrote: “I felt only night within me and it was then that I conceived the new art, which I called Suprematism”.

 
The thing is, that this Russian artist is famous for creating a Suprematism movement in art, did enjoy a good life as a trendy, albeit somewhat a traditional artist before that.

 
And here is Malevich’s: “White on White” composition.

 
The auction itself was a lackluster event (as I understand), but had one more bright spot: the work of a French artist Edgar Degas “Danseuse au repos”, depicting a ballet dancer. The painting was also sold for a record of $37,042,500.Many of the paintings had failed to sell.

 
Here is about Degas and his work: Edgar Degas.

 
There’s also going to be an auction at Christie’s (next two days), and unless it produces an unexpectedly high and exciting sale, this auction (Sotheby’s) will become a point of yet another countdown: a noticeable sliding down of art appreciation, which manifests itself in a significant price correction.

 
The slipping economy reaches one more segment: high priced art.

a

 
An article by BBC News have a short clip of an actual auction .

 
Claude Monet by rerouting a river created a water-garden at Giverny, where he painted his famous “Water lilies” paintings.
Painted in 1919 and only once exhibitioned in public, the “Water Lily Pond” (Le Bassin Aux Nympheas) was sold yesterday for a record breaking price of $80.5 million, which was almost double the estimated price.

 
Here is one more short, but informative article on the subject by CNN.

a

I already wrote about Dale Chihuly in my post Dale Chihuly’s Glass Creations in San Francisco.
The beauty of his creations is indisputably the work of a genius, who sees the colors, the light and the life, surrounding us in such a manner, that every glass sculpture becomes a triumph of the human mind, skill and limitless possibilities, once again brilliantly noticeable. Even if you are “not into art”, visiting this particular exhibition should be on your agenda.
Read more about the artist here: Wikipedia.org about Dale Chihuly

The exhibition of Frida Kahlo’s works at SOMA is a different story: it simply must be seeing. The talented artiste, who lived a life full of pain: tragic accident, mad love and crippled body, but remained a strong individual and left her mark as an artist, despite being in a shadow of her famous husband – Diego Rivera , is present in every painfully raw with emotions painting.
Reading a following article will help you better understand her work: Wikipedia about Frida Kahlo.

Tickets for both exhibitions are sold on a timed system to regulate amount of people in the gallery at any given time:
Info on Dale Chihuly’s exhibition: at De Young Museum
Info on Frida Kahlo’s exhibition: at SF Modern Art Museum

a

 
But did you go inside the hotel? Have you seen the stunning design of the glass ceiling in the lobby? In the daylight streaming sun rays transform the ceiling to even more beautiful, eerily fairy tale- like creation. The imagination and the delivery of this incredible artwork belongs to Dale Chihuly. If you walk straight through the lobby to the covered courtyard, you’ll see the more of his work and a store, where his smaller pieces can be bought.
Interesting thing, there aren’t many photographs I’ve seen, that deliver a true impact or make justice to the beauty, the colors and the lightness of the design of his glass sculptures. It’s one of those phenomenons, which you have to see to truly appreciate it.

  
Now, that said, I’d like to inform you about the upcoming exhibition in the de Young Museum.
“The full exhibition is at the de Young Museum from June 14–September 28, 2008, but two site-specific works will be installed outside of both the de Young and the Legion of Honor starting in April. At the de Young, a Saffron Neon Tower will be installed in the Pool of Enchantment on the building’s east side. A 15-foot diameter yellow orb called Yellow Sun will be installed at the Legion of Honor in the Court of Honor.”
Source: www.famsf.org

 
The exhibition includes eleven galleries of works, made in the course of the last 40 years and is accompanied by a catalogue written by curator Timothy Anglin Burgard.
Please, mark your calendar and plan to visit this exhibition. Even if you are not into art, you’ll be glad you went.

  
Meanwhile, here are a few sites to visit for more info.
Chihuly’s Biography. Wikipedia.

 
and Artist’s website www.chihuly.com/

a

 
British graffiti artist Banksy did it again: under the cover of the night he managed to leave one of his works, believed to be the biggest one so far, on the wall of the Post Office in central London, right under the watchful eye of the camera.

 
To do this he had to erect (behind the security fence) three story scaffolding, use it to paint a huge sign and the figures of a boy on a ladder, a security guard and a dog watching him, then leave, without being noticed and stopped. The scaffolding were removed later, and again without being detected by the camera. Banksy’s message is tale telling: Big Brother, we know we are being watched and we know how to work around it.

 
I have to admit, I am warming up to his methods and his art. He is different, he is driven, he is unique. He is also a criminal, he is breaking the law. Do I really like him, or I fell under the influence of the media? How do you interpret and accept this somewhat a phenomenon, without feeling divided? Is there a middle of the road solution? Or, if compromise found, the whole concept will lose the appeal it delivers?

 
Here is my two cents on it:
I wonder if he could create his art with a kind of paint, that could be easily washed away? This way an unhappy owner gets rid of the graffiti with a minimum of a hustle: spraying a good deal of water on the graffiti will clean the wall and the memory of an unpleasant surprise at the same time.

 
Or, if the owner wants to profit from the graffiti, as happening more and more often with Banksy’s creations, the owner may spray a protective layer of whatever is used for it and go into a business of marketing and selling the painting on the eBay. Any profit realised will make happy at least 2 people: the seller and the buyer. The city would have to live fine-less or devise a new way to use a citation.

 
Would I want to have graffiti, painted by Banksy, on my property? Let’s see.
If I wake up finding it on the wall of my house, I’d have to pay a substantial fine within 30 days, or remove the graffiti. If I leave it there, my fine will grow, my home will attract attention of the media, the neighbours will call me names, I’ll have to come up with the reasons why I do what I do, I’ll be misquoted on several occasions…
All in all, at this point my liking the painting won’t be an issue. I’ll have to come up with a solution to remove it.

 
Then again, I could sell the piece of the wall with the painting on it as soon, as possible, since the price and the hustle seems to worth it.
Or, should I keep it hidden somewhere for a while? For that I would have to carefully remove the painting from the wall… No! I’d have to remove a piece of the wall, replace it with a new wall, paint. There.

 
Now, I am not knowledgeable enough to know how and where (providing I rent or have a space) to keep it, control the temperature, the light, the humidity, to do whatever you do with the painting to preserve it for a number of years. Isn’t it what you do with piece of art, when you hold it for the posterity or the near future?

 
Now, imagine, three years later I visit my piece of art, stored in some place, and find it all dried up, colors faded, stucco cracked, half of it in dust on the floor. No painting, no investment, money spent on the upkeep of this treasure is lost. Oh, no, the insurance! Do I have it?
And then, to add to an insult, I find out it was not even painted by Banksy. It was a copycat. But Banksy kept quiet, because he liked the message, the attention and the plight of the homeowner. What a bad dream! But I had fun writing it!

 
Now, seriously, how can someone, breaking the law become so popular, develop a following, command an outrageous price for the graffiti he leaves on the walls for free, and manage to stay invisible and untouchable to do it all by himself or with a very devoted team?.

 
He does all this to deliver his message: he is against the government? rules? laws? What is his solution? What should we, as a society, do?
Banksy is definitely a very talented and driven individual, but do we want every wall in town to feature a graffiti display, even if it’s popular among some individuals?

 
Maybe, Banksy should became a leader, organize a movement. He already proved his disdain for money by inventing a way to make it, give it away and not stopping the action by allowing himself being bought. He could start and keep disciplined an army of young people, teach them planning, delivering, following the agenda, hopefully, with a good cause, and other thing which the society could accept, embrace and agree with…And then…

 
Yahh, what a Utopian country I’ve described!!!
Anyone! Care to comment? On me or on Banksy.

 
See the picture and read the article with the comments at Daily Mail.

 
If you are on the page of this post and want to see more articles on Banksy, scroll down past the contact form. If you are on the home page, click on the title of the post to see the individual page of the post.

a

  
“Guggenheim Hermitage, a partnership between the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, was the smaller of the two”, located in the Venetian Hotel and stayed open for the next 7 years, until now.

  
Guggenheim Hermitage had 10 major exhibits in seven years. Visitors could see works by Degas, Picasso, Chagall, Kandinsky, Rothko, Modigliani, Klee and others.

  
“It’s a big loss to not have the great works of art on display and in our community,” said Libby Lumpkin, executive director of the Las Vegas Art Museum.
“…We sent our finest collections, our masterpieces,” she said, “masterworks that we committed to long periods of time in Las Vegas, things that were not available for loan to other museums anywhere in the world or even for us. I think that’s a pretty profound commitment to very high standards of exhibition in Las Vegas in a space designed by one of the world’s leading architects. I don’t see how that can be interpreted to anything but caring.”

  
Many factors, combined together, brought on the demise and the closure of this fine museum, which will be missed by many.

 
The museum will stay open until May 11 and will offer free admission.
Source: Art Knowledge News and Las Vegas Sun.

 
While Las Vegas has other art galleries, it will only have one on the Strip: the fine arts gallery at the Bellagio.

a