DaVinci's Last Supper Online

The Italian art site haltadefinizione.com has put up the definitive Last Summer image on their site. 16 billion pixels! 1,600 times more detailed than the typical 10 million pixel digital camera.



Yahoo News:

By COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press Writer Sun Oct 28, 7:40 AM ET

MILAN, Italy - Can't get to Milan to see Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpiece "The Last Supper?" As of Saturday, all you need is an Internet connection. Officials put online an image of the "Last Supper" at 16 billion pixels — 1,600 times stronger than the images taken with the typical 10 million pixel digital camera.

The high resolution will allow experts to examine details of the 15th century wall painting that they otherwise could not — including traces of drawings Leonardo put down before painting.

Full story from Yahoo News

Woman Finds Masterpiece in the Trash

Four years ago, Elizabeth Gibson was walking her dog in New York's Upper West Side when she came across a painting lying in some trash. Thinking it was too "powerful and beautiful" to be in the trash, she took it home.



Turns out that it's a painting done by famed Mexican artist, Rufino Tamayo, and had been stolen some 20 years ago. She returned it to it's rightful owners and is receiving a $15,000 reward, plus a percentage of the auction price.

The full story from Yahoo news

Feh

As an artist, there are times when you come across someone's work and are blown away. You simply fall in love with their work. Then there are times when this happens, but you get the added benefit of realizing how much you suck as an artist. I mean, by comparison, you stink and you should quit and go work for Whataburger. This is one of those guys:



Not only is his work amazing, it's in a genre I wish I could break into, but for one reason or another, haven't taken the plunge. That's the other aspect of artists like this. They make you feel like you are wasting your talent by not pursuing what you'd really like to be doing, while making you realize you couldn't compete anyway because he is so amazing.

The Wow Factor

There are a few contemporary artists that I admire, mostly because they have a gimmick. Ron Mueck for his amazingly realistic, yet oddly oversized sculptures of people, Damien Hirst for his vision and David Mach, for his wire hanger sculptures.



Yeah, this is made from bending white coat hangers.

Source

Damien Hirst Plagiarism?

For an artist who normally is surrounded by controversy, who indeed has nearly made a career of controversy, this is one bit of hubbub he probably doesn't need. The newest Damien Hirst project involves art pieces that mimic stained glass and are constructed of butterfly wings. Apparently there is another artist who has been creating art with this same technique for at least 10 years.

Damien Hirst Butterflies Controversy

Full Story from ArtNewsBlog

Statue of Buddha Returned to Pakistan

Among a number of artifacts that were illegally exported from Pakistan and are now being returned is a statue of a starving Buddha that at least one expert in London thinks is fake.

Starving Buddha sculpture returned to Pakistan

But leading London expert says it’s a fake

By Martha Lufkin | Posted 22 March 2007

NEWARK. A group of artefacts said to have been illicitly exported from Pakistan were handed over to the Pakistani government on 23 January by the US Department of Homeland Security. A prominent London art expert believes that one of the objects restituted, a “Starving Buddha”, is a fake. However, US Customs said that the Pakistani government had determined that the objects were authentic.

Full Story from The Art Newspaper.com

The Louvre Dubai

As previously noted, the Louvre is planning to sponsor a museum in Dubai. The prospect of this has the art world in an uproar. Critics of the idea say that it's completely a monetary decision.

"The Louvre is selling the use of its name to Abu Dhabi for $520 million. The building will cost a mere $108 million to build, but to slap the Louvre name on it, Abu Dhabi will have to part with more than half a billion dollars!

Is a name really worth that much? I can understand a cola maker wanting to use the Coke name or a shoe maker wanting to use the Nike name, but how does a museum justify paying $520 million to use the Louvre name?"

Full Story from ArtNewsBlog.com

DeviantArtist of the Month

~carts is an artist I found on Deviantart.com. I really like his style as an illustrator, but also as a painter. His blue underwear piece is very cool, as are his portraits.

Saturn Ascends

The NASA spacecraft Cassini-Huygens is completing a series of flybys before descending to a lower orbit around the ringed planet.






There are some more great images on the Cassini site and more from the imaging branch, Ciclops as well.

The Desert Louvre?

The Louvre intends to lend its name and its art to a museum venture in Abu Dhabi, drawing harsh criticism from other museums. The fear is that art and national treasures will become commercialized and that the Louvre is being run like a corporation seeking to maximize profits rather than museum.

The full story from Bloomberg

The Munch Theft a Diversion?

The theft of Edvard Munch's iconic, The Scream, shocked the world, not only because of the paintings stolen, not only for its boldness, but also for its apparent ineptness. The robbers had planned the crime well, but when they arrived at the Munch Museum, they had to be shown where the two paintings were.

Now, years later, after the painting has been recovered, after long months of police work, authorities are wondering if the theft was a glaring crime meant to draw attention to the real crime.

The full story from The Guardian

300

If you haven't seen this preview yet, you will be blown away. I suggest trying the Hi-def version, but any of them will have the desired effect.

300 is a new film based on a graphic novel by the same artist who inspired Sin City, Frank Miller. It tells the story of 300 Spartans who withstood a million Persians.

300 Website
Trailers

Analysis Cast Doubt on 3 Pollocks

A Harvard study analyzed the pigments in three disputed paintings attributed to Jackson Pollock and found that there are serious issues with the paintings in question. The study found that the pigment in one of the paintings wasn't available until 1996 and the pigment in another was only available after 1971. Pollock died in 1956.

Full Story

Rijksmuseum Reopening Delayed

The reopening of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, home to many of the most famous works by Rembrandt and many other Dutch artists has been delayed to 2010.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Amsterdam's renowned Rijksmuseum, home to some of the most famous works by Rembrandt and other Dutch masters and which is undergoing restoration, will not reopen until 2010, two years later than planned.

Delays had arisen due to the need for extra building permits after some initial designs had been modified, the Dutch culture ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Full Story

Klimt In Demand

Until a few decades ago, Gustav Klimt was relatively ignored by the art establishment. Now his paintings are among the most expensive ever sold. How did the Viennese painter’s prices rise so high so fast?
by Eileen Kinsella

When Ronald Lauder, the cosmetics heir, art collector, Neue Galerie cofounder, and chairman emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art, shelled out a reported $135 million for Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) last June, many observers were shocked not only by the amount paid—one of the highest known prices for a single painting to date—but also by the name of the artist it was paid for.

How, they wondered, did a work by Klimt, who was largely ignored by the art establishment just a few decades ago, suddenly vault more than four times to a previous auction record of $29.1 million? How did he surpass even Picasso, whose $104.2 million Blue Period Boy with a Pipe (1905)—still a much discussed market milestone two years after the fact—officially holds the slot for the most expensive painting sold at public auction?

Full Story

Mathias Verhasselt

Mathias Verhasselt is a member of cgcommunity.com. He produces some amazing concept art. Some of it appears to be created for motion pictures, or gaming, but it could be simply for his own enjoyment. Whatever the purpose, his work is simply incredible.

Latte Art

Artwork au cafe

Ashes and Snow

Since its debut in Venice in 2002, more than a million people have attended Ashes and Snow, an exhibition of more than 50 large-scale photographic artworks, a 60-minute feature film, and two 9-minute film haikus by Gregory Colbert.

Little Girl Giant

On the morning of Sunday 7th May the little girl giant woke up at Horseguards Parade in London, took a shower from the time-traveling elephant and wandered off to play in the park...

A Perfect Circle

No, not the band. Apparently there is a competition held in Vegas for people who can draw perfect circles freehand. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about this being all that impressive, but when you see him do it, you can't help but be amazed.

Yeah, this is art

This guy, Erik Mongrain, is a French Canadian guitarist and he's frankly, amazing. What Eddie Van Halen did 20 years ago hadn't seemed to have been taken and incorporated by anyone else the way this guy has. I would assume he got his style from playing the Stick, a guiatr-like instrument that gets a similar sound.

Finally

Well, after many trials and tribulations, I am finally in Arizona. I just finished my second day at my new job working for Phoenix Art Group. Very exciting. We worked on our first real project today. I was hired with two other artists and we are in training, but we did really well today, almost completing a project. So yeah, I'll basically be painting 5 days a week. Sweet!