Edvard Munch: The Scream Sells For $119m at Auction

The only privately owned version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream – one of the most recognisable paintings in history – has set a new world record, selling for $US119.9 million at Sotheby’s in New York.

Heated competition between seven bidders took the price tag to the highest for a work of art at auction in just 12 minutes. The packed sales room erupted into applause and cheering when the hammer went down.

An unnamed telephone bidder gave the final offer of $119,922,500, including commission, far exceeding pre-sales estimates of about $US80 million.

“A group of seven bidders jumped into the competition early, but it was a prolonged battle between two highly determined phone bidders that carried the final selling price to its historic level,” said Sotheby’s spokesman Darrell Rocha:: Read the full article »»»»

STUPIDKRAP: Ben Frost

By far my favorite artist – Ben Frost – has just finished a new set of 24 pieces, continuing the series of painting onto found objects. These include pharmaceutical packages including: Viagra, Cymbalta, Endone, Cialis, Morphine, Ventolin Botox and Sertra, as well as food packaging such as: Corn Flakes, Smarties, Oreo Cookies, Coco Pops, Rice Bubbles and Throaties. Check them all here: http://stupidkrap.myshopify.com/

Frost is known for his kaleidoscopic Pop Art, mash-up paintings that take inspiration from areas as diverse as graffiti, collage, photorealism and sign-writing. Subverting mainstream iconography from the worlds of advertising, entertainment and politics, he creates a visual framework that is bold, confrontational and often controversial.

In his latest round of work, Frost has even done 2 paintings onto mortuary toe tags that are now on ebay: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BEN-FROST-ORIGINAL

Some of these images are NSFW!: discretion advised. Frost is relocating overseas, heading to Toronto, he’ll be bouncing around Canada and the states for the time being. Frost’s dog Bowie has found a new home in Brisbane with a big yard and some lovely allegedly people. You can follow Mr Frost. with up to the minute photo and artwork updates on Instagram @benfrostisdead.

“щасливої ​​дороги”

Edvard Munch: The Scream May Fetch $80m at Auction

A version of The Scream, one of the world’s most famous paintings, will go on sale this May in New York and is expected to fetch at least $US80 million, Sotheby’s auctioneers say. Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father was a friend and patron of artist Edvard Munch, currently owns the work. It will go on the block in New York on May 2, headlining the impressionist and modern art sales.

Sotheby’s describes The Scream as “one of the most instantly recognisable images in both art history and popular culture, perhaps second only to the Mona Lisa.” There are four versions of the painting, which features a man screaming and clutching his head against a wavy, brightly-coloured landscape, but this is the only one in private hands. The influence of the image, described by Munch as recording a moment of paralysing anxiety during a walk with friends in the hills above Oslo, has few parallels. Read the full article »»»»

New Museums in Libya Reflect The War Experience

Eight months after revolutionaries took control of Misurata, a strategic and bloody battlefield in Libya’s uprising against former leader Moammar Gaddafi, people are going about their lives once more. Shops and schools have reopened, and a few valiant souls are beginning to patch up the sooty skeletons of buildings shattered by months of fighting.

But Misurata, 131 miles east of Tripoli, has not quite gone back to being a sleepy coastal city. Some former rebel fighters like to block the main street with trucks loaded with missiles so they can have races, executing screeching hand brake turns while irritated motorists are forced onto back streets. And the thousands who died here will not soon be forgotten, as ubiquitous memorials to fallen sons, fathers and colleagues testify.

The latest addition to this city is fittingly macabre. Crammed between bomb-blasted apartment blocks is a makeshift museum of last year’s war and its spoils, its contents filling a former computer center, and spilling out of the building to the sidewalk and the street.

Artguardian Keeps Watch on the Gallery Environment

While great works of art should be exhibited so the public can enjoy them, putting those pieces on display also puts them at risk. If environmental factors such as lighting intensity, temperature or humidity aren’t in the optimal range, for instance, works can prematurely deteriorate as a result. In order to minimize the risks, three of Germany’s Fraunhofer research institutes have collaborated to develop Artguardian, a system that monitors the conditions under which artworks are displayed.

Each Artguardian-monitored piece of art is adorned with four hidden sensors – these register humidity, temperature, lighting conditions, and any bumps or movements. At regular intervals, that data is transmitted to a nearby base station. That station is in turn linked to an IT platform that users can access at any time using a smartphone, to check that everything is within parameters. If any of the preset environmental thresholds are exceeded, an alarm will sound.