Nude Madonna and guy fall short of expectations

No sale for nude Madonna and Guy from BBC News Madonna & Guy, an admittedly rather unflattering likeness by Peter Howson, was estimated to rake in between £15,000 ($24,603) and £22,000 on Saturday at McTear’s, the Glasgow-based Scottish auction house, but didn’t sell — despite generating unprecedented press coverage, a McTear’s representative said.

…throw in two celebrities and a whole lot of hype and you will get this auction. but no amount of twitter buzz, news sites and publicity will turn this painting into an attractive and desirable work of art. I notice that the leading buzz was very careful to mention the names of Madonna and Guy Ritchie as much as possible but you had to really really dig to find a picture of the piece. having a celebrity as a subject is usually good for reputation boosting, buzz and moneys in the bank. and Peter Howson has received a lot of hype and exhibition requests due to this series.

Customary nuisance

languish by Jennie Rosenbaum I thought once I shipped my works to the Italian exhibition all I would have to worry about was the exhibition itself and getting them back again. how foolish am I? first I de-stretch and package the works. I sent them off Express Courier International which is Australia Post’s best international…

tighter nudity restrictions for Australian Artists

the Art Monthly Australia Cover by Polixeni Papapetrou The most repressive aspect of the guidelines is that they require retrospective documentation of compliance for images of nude or partly nude children taken over the last 18 years. This documentation will need to be reviewed by the Classification Board before such images can be exhibited. In…

Nudes clothed in protest of web censorship

SHANGHAI (AFP) – Chinese Internet users angered by censorship in cyberspace have dressed up images of famous renaissance nudes in a protest against Beijing’s crackdown on “vulgar” online content. Images posted as part of the protest include Michelangelo’s statue “David” shown in a Mao suit while black socks and a strategically placed necktie were added…

The last few weeks.

it’s been a difficult few weeks. stuff has been happening to disrupt our lives at the moment and I have not been coping as well as I would hope. we still don’t have a home to move to and we have to be out in two and a half weeks. rental occupancy is at an…

Children in Art Protocols

Beatrice The document focuses on four central areas: making sure children are protected from when the artwork is created until when it is shown; how to relate the nature and content of the material to viewers; protecting children from being exploited; and creating guidelines while maintaining the council’s support of artists and artistic freedom. Respondents…

Prudish council rejects nude art

Judge for yourself – the “highly explicit” nudes by Tuckey and Eames (photo courtesy of the ABC) “I unwrapped my work and they looked at it and told me it was inappropriate and they would not hang it in the exhibition,’’ Ms Tuckey, a TAFE art teacher, said. “They said that school children would be…

Melbourne regulates freedom of expression

falling – 36 x 24 Oils on Canvas by Jennie Rosenbaum ARTWORK depicting sex, violence, nudity and drug use could be removed from Melbourne council-funded galleries under tough new regulations. Artists will face strict censorship on what can be displayed under a shake-up of Melbourne City Council’s art protocols.

…these regulations are the latest step in an attempt to try and enforce censorship and restrictions to one of the last bastions of freedom of expression.