art

Gunduz Agayev, an artist acclaimed for his work on illustration series such as, "Just Leaders", "War and Peace", and "Imagine" is back with a new collection he calls, "Transformers".

In this series Agayev casts politicians as transformers. Check out the leader of North Korea, the British Queen, and many others. Who'd administer unrivaled power over them all though?

Pretty sure this Putin could take Galvatron for a walk round the kickass block, while he juggled Soundwave and Starscream. Yeah, he'd be a Decepticon, for sure.

That Trump tidbit though. Are we even surprised?

Oh what's up Kim Jong-un?

Well Angela Merkel woke up on the right side of the bed.

10-year-old Amelia Poggenpoel reached out and touched Shia Labeouf's soul with the choirgirl pure voice of an angel.

Shia receives no shortage of grief, critical leers, and general public disapproval for his endless montage of hysterical press antics; and when the going gets rough, he gets tough, and dons a paper-bag.

The young Formby School of Dancing and Performing Arts student, Amelia Poggenpoel has her mother Tor to thank for her breakout vocalist performance. Tor told the ECHO: "I started talking about Amelia and how proud I am of her and how sometimes I don't feel that she's loved enough. I don't always have attention to give to her when I'm at work or if I'm tired. I got quite emotional talking about it and they then realized I was in the room with them. They took their headsets off and Shia started welling up. I told them that Amelia has an amazing voice, so he asked if she could sing for him."

From there Amelia was handed the floor, and under the fiery, intensified gaze of Shia Labeouf, she broke out in song with a cover of "Who's Loving You" by Jackson 5. LaBeouf overcome with a flood of emotion was brought to tears, and shortly after the performance's conclusion, went on to embrace Amelia.

The #TOUCHMYSOUL four-day live performance wrapped up a few days ago, after 2,000 people visited FACT in person to watch Shia take phone calls. Oh, also almost 300,000 people tuned in from a live webcam, so, that happened.

Artist Ally Burguieres claims that Taylor Swift, champion of artists getting paid, stole her artwork and appropriated it to promote her album 1989. According to Burguieres, after months of trying and failing to receive attribution for her work she wrote an open letter to Taylor Swift. 

This is how she summed up what happened and the fallout with Taylor's reps:

 

As a professional artist, I was astonished to see you use one of my most popular designs on all your official social media platforms as part of your promotions for 1989. While I wondered why no one had sought permission or offered compensation to do so, I recognized that such endorsement is a once-in-a-lifetime boost for an artist and can skyrocket an artist’s career. Friends congratulated me and customers expressed joy. But congratulations turned to confusion. The design was a copy, and with someone else’s name signed to it.

I was devastated, but I took solace in thinking that someone so outspoken about artists’ rights would willingly fix her mistake. Mistakes are easy to make; I thought if you only KNEW about the error, you would do what is in your power to make it right. I was wrong. My efforts to combat the pirated and unauthorized copy (and your use and distribution of it to millions of people) were noticed, as you removed the post after several days. But the copy had been shared and downloaded countless times, and it seemed neither you nor your team intended on correcting your mistake.

After months of effort, I received an offer from you and your team that mentions no credit to me as the artist of the design, but does include payment of a “four-figure” amount, with the stipulation that I must donate it all. Taylor, as a professional, would you agree to such terms from Apple, or Spotify?

via Ally Burguieres

She also included this image of her original work and the post in question. 


Swift's representatives have made a statement that flat out refuses any of Burguieres' claims. They explain the situation as a misunderstanding, countering that they did take down the post and offer up compensation which they did not require to be given to charity. They end their statement with this: 

We have tried on multiple occasions to address Ms. Burguieres' concerns, but these actions make it clear to us that this is just an unfortunate effort to extract more money and more publicity.

via Rolling Stone

With such different accounts of what happened, it's hard to know who is in the right. Burguieres managed to get recognition for her art but the fight seems to be ongoing. 

Apparently the Mona Lisa is a little two-faced. Using intense light and a multi-lense camera, French scientist Pascal Cotte found this second face underneath the well known portrait after laboring over the images for 10 years. 


via BBC Shorts 

How much do you trust strangers?

These people trust strangers. A lot.

Popular New York tattoo artist Scott Campbell is giving people tattoos for free. All they have to do is stick their arm through a hole and have no input as to what tattoo he will give them.

Revealing the artwork & seeing the tattoo for the first time with an audience and cameras nervously watching 🙈 #WholeGlory

A video posted by Anette (@ms_nilsen) on Nov 15, 2015 at 11:01am PST

This is all part of Whole Glory, a one-man installation and performance taking place this week in NYC. The lucky few selected through a lottery get a 1-hour session where Campbell gives them a tattoo somewhere on their arm.

His creations are pretty cool, so for a very trusting person this might be a fun exercise.

Here are some of the surprise creations from Instagram...

A monstrous Kickstarter project is bringing kid's artwork to life.

The Monster Project collects kid's monster drawings from around the world and enlists a team of professional artists to make them a reality.

The project was started to encourage an appreciation for art at a young age.

Here's what the project's website has to say:

With a decreasing emphasis on arts in schools, many children don't have the opportunity for creative exploration they deserve. That's a monstrous trend we would like to destroy. As artists ourselves, we understand how important that initial creative exposure is and how it can truly alter the shape of a child's future.

Cleaners at the Museion modern art gallery in Bolzano, Italy thought a recent art installation was trash.

Literally.

The modern art piece entitled "Where are we going to dance tonight?," which features the leftovers of a dance party, was inadvertently tossed in the rubbish bin by cleaners.

#new #artproject @MuseionBZ #goldiechiari #Doveandiamoaballarequestasera #disco80 #lafestaèfinita #tuttiassolti pic.twitter.com/9iKxGqAH2H

— ME Putz (@MarleneP_) October 22, 2015

From International Business Times:

Meant to represent consumerism, hedonism and the blending of revelry and politics of 1980s Italy, the installation depicted the aftermath of a party, with empty champagne bottles, confetti and cigarette stubs scattered all over the floor.

So, when a cleaning lady attended to tidy up the premises, she assumed the items was a pile of rubbish. Gallery curator Letizia Ragaglia said the mistake was partially due to the fact that the employee was new at the museum and thus unfamiliar with its exhibitions.

Luckily, the trash bags had not been thrown away when the museum discovered the mistake.

This kid may love art, but he doesn't have to use it as a crutch.

Some poor, uncoordinated tween lost his balance and unfortunately found it again in a 350-year-old painting in Taiwain.

Even more unfortunately for him, they released the surveillance footage of this clumsy person, struggling with the awkwardness of his growing body.

The Telegraph gives more details:

The 12-year-old lost his footing next to the 17th century Paolo Porpora oil painting called Flowers, valued at $1.5 million (£950,000), at a Leonardo da Vinci show at Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei on Sunday.

He lost his balance, stumbled over the safety rope and pressed a can of soda into the painting to steady himself in the security footage released by the exhibition organisers.

Andrea Rossi, the exhibition curator, said the boy seemed "nervous" and asked that he not be blamed for the damage. The family will not be asked to pay the restoration costs.

They did confirm with a local news source that the painting is insured and this kid's ensuing teenage years will not have to further suffer under the weight of crushing debt, leaning on him as he did that work of art.

This is what the painting looked like pre-kid:



And here's the hole he made:



Here are some museum experts trying to assess the damage done.



We're sorry to say it, kid. But this will not be the last inelegant thing to happen to you in adolescence.

Sit back and let me tell you about the 1990s, my children. It was a time when the Internet barely existed, when most soft drinks were transparent and when every popular movie had an accompanying Saturday morning cartoon.

That honor was almost bestowed upon 1993's classic Jurassic Park, based on original images released by William Stout on his website.

Check out these images:

Moviefone got some more information from Stout about what became of the neat-looking cartoon:

"We made a trailer to communicate the look and feel of the series, also showing how we would combine computer animation with traditional animation. All we needed was Spielberg's approval.

"I heard through the grapevine that [Spielberg] never bothered to watch what we had done," Stout said. "By that time, the word was out that he was burnt out on 'Jurassic Park' merchandising and all of the film's commercial exploitation. So, it never got made. Too bad."

With the crazy success of Jurassic World, you'd almost expect them to be exploring this all over again.

Citizens of the western English town of Weston-super-Mare thought the construction of a dilapidated castle in their defunct water park was for the filming of a movie.

Nope, that's just guerrilla artist Banksy's newest massive-scaled project — Dismaland: Bemusement Park.



The large send-up of Disneyland will open Aug. 21 and will feature of the works of 46 international artist, including installations, workshops and events.

There will be a cinema, mini golf, a circus tent and instructional workshops 'on how to hack billboards'.

A Facebook page has been set up to welcome visitors and give a peek at what's waiting for them in the murky waters of Dismaland.



The site promises 10 new works from Banksy himself, as well as pieces from Damien Hirst, Jenny Holzer and Mike Ross.

Banksy spoke to the Weston Mercury about Dismaland Aug. 20.

"I always loved the Tropicana as a kid, so getting to throw these doors open again is a real honor, I hope that everyone from Weston will take the opportunity to once more stand in a muddle of murky water eating cold chips to the sound of crying children."

It's not too late to plan that summer vacation of your dreams.

Australian professor and artist Stelarc wants the world to hear him. He just has an unorthodox plan to get there.

The head of the Alternate Anatomies Laboratory at Curtin University is in the process of growing a human ear under his left arm, from a bio-polymer scaffold implanted there.

ABC plots the route of this project from conception to implant.

Stelarc first conceived the idea in 1996, but it took another decade to find the medical team willing to make it a reality.

They were recruited from around the world to insert a scaffold underneath his skin.

Within six months, tissue and blood vessels had developed around the structure.

"The ear is pretty much now a part of my arm, it's fixed to my arm and it has its own blood supply," he said.

The next step is to make the ear more three-dimensional — lifting it up off the arm and growing an ear lobe from Stelarc's stem cells.

After that, Stelarc wants to implant a microphone, recording all that happens around him as if it were a functioning ear. He wants anyone to have access to the live audio via Internet.

"There won't be an on-off switch," Stelarc told ABC. "If I'm not in a wi-fi hotspot or I switch off my home modem, then perhaps I'll be offline, but the idea actually is to try to keep the ear online all the time."

Art, y'all.