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

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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.