Musée du Louvre’s Art of Islam

Twenty years after the Louvre’s great pyramid project was finished, it has created a new Department dedicated to the collection of Islamic art.

The World’s most famous art gallery and former palace – Musée du Louvre – has opened a new wing dedicated entirely to the art of Islam. In absolute contrast to the deadly Muslim uprising and protests that continue to rage outside the resplendent walls of the gallery, inside  hoses one of the most important collections of Islamic art.

The Louvre describes the permanent collection as an architectural, cultural, artistic, and civilizational offering, inviting visitors on a veritable sensory voyage of discovery into the world of Islamic art, revealing the radiant face of a civilization that encompassed an infinitely varied wealth of humanity  :: Read the full article »»»»

Ronald Coles Charged Over Australia’s Largest Art Fraud

A former Sydney art dealer has been released on bail after being charged over a multi-million dollar investment fraud. Police say 64-year-old Ronald Coles sold investors valuable artworks that had either already been on-sold to others or were already the property of others. More than 40 investors allegedly lost a combined total of more than $8 million. Coles was arrested by officers from Strike Force Glasson which was established in 2009 with Fraud and Cybercrime Squad detectives to investigate the alleged artwork investment fraud. Police say they began investigating in early 2009, with 400 paintings seized while officers established who legitimately owned them. Coles was arrested this morning at Gosford Police Station on the New South Wales central coast. The Ettalong resident has been charged with 77 counts of larceny and 10 counts of cheat and defraud.

Ronald Coles was one of Australia’s leading art dealer, under the crimes act Coles face 77 counts of Larcenya s a bailee and a further 10 counts of director/officer cheat or defraud. Coles specialised in fine art, and dealt with some of Australia’s most respected artist, including Sir Arthur Streeton and Brett Whitely. Read the full article »»»»

Film Review: Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous

Anonymous ★★★★★

Cast: Rhys Ifans, Rafe Spall,

Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson

Director: Roland Emmerich

In Cinemas: Now

In his 1998 survey - Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human - Harold Bloom provides an analysis of each of Shakespeare’s 38 plays, “twenty-four of which are masterpieces.” Written as a companion to the general reader and theatergoer.

Bloom declares that bardolatry ought to be even more  of a secular religion than it already is. Bloom contends in this work that Shakespeare Invented Humanity, in that he prescribed the now common practice of Overhearing Ourselves, which he says drives our changes.

I’m not suggesting that Roland Emmerich’s latest film – Anonymous – in which the filmmakers introduce an alternative history of the Bard, then promptly sets about dismantling all we think we know, and all we’ve learnt about Shakespeare, is in anyway based on any form of fact, it’s a little more ambiguous in it’s take on possibilities. If shakespeare had written a 39th play though, Anonymous could very well have been his plot. Critics have been short on praise for Emmerich – the director of Independence Day, Godzilla and The Day After Tomorrow – most squarking that taking on a British period drama was a huge misdemeanor for one of Hollywood’s blockbuster kings.

The far to clever Luke Buckmaster of crikey.com wrote: “Much of the running time consists of well coiffed regal authorities conversing in dark hallways. Ignore the interesting ideas the script’s premise implies: Anonymous is not about how streaks of greatness can come from unexpected places or about how geniuses can be shunned from the history books, at least not in any meaningful ways. The acting is soporific, the writing dull and Emmerich’s fish-out-of-water direction is surprisingly consistent — he provides the film a steady ebb and flow — but lacklustre. Full disclosure: despite feeling well rested and wide awake when I entered the cinema, I slept through around 20 minutes of the second act” Read the full article »»»»

Cult of Elizabeth Olsen: Martha Marcy May Marlene

Olsens latest film is the first feature film from young writer/director Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene is certainly a stylistically assured debut, mysterious, moody, unbearably tense…

One of the benefits of a large family is that, of several children, your more likely to turn out at least one normal adult. A point in case are the Olsen sisters. Elizabeth Olsen is a commandingly lovely actress, wistful, with soulful eyes and a gracefilled figure, Elizabeth cuts a fine figure on the screen.

CONTINUED: Read the full article »»»»

Kick Gallery: The Aerosol Assassin

The Aerosol Assassin: Refining the spirit of graffiti, of guerrilla art can be a tricky practice in contemporary arts. Although contemporary and post graffiti has become an important genre within art today, it is still too often viewed with a specious eye. Talking about contemporary graffiti in art history, the discussion generally starts with Keith Haring or Jean-Michel Basquiat and ends with Banksy.  All this in mind, John Williams  - DUEL – sidles the thin boundary between contemporary art and his much loved street work, a foot either side of a distinct line. Duel’s technique is much lauded by his – street – contemporaries, it is also easily recognized by those who gaze on contemporary abstract art. Duel’s refined stensiling style drags the mind back to Post-Painterly Abstraction and Abstract Expressionism, in this vein Duel is very much an Action Painter,

Duel’s Aerosol Assassin exhibition is a little reminiscent of Mark Tobey’s more intricate works, and like Tobey Duel’s pieces are infact works within works, multi layered, multi messaged geometric abstract works that begged a viewer to seek THE hidden meaning. Amusingly the artist informed me that each picture has a hidden word, then warned he’d had people stand in front of a picture for 45 minutes trying to find it. This latest show is a serious collision of gestural abstraction and guerrilla street art, the works lift Duels art to his next level. The works are intricate, layered and spontaneous. Bursts of color have always been part of Duels form, many of his current works simply pop with color, line and contrast.

“A big part of the inspiration for this show came from Denny Dent, his art and his physical movement making his art really triggered something” said Duel “A big problem in moving from painting the sides of trains to a studio is getting that high, the high you get from running, how do you move that to a studio? “

Attraction to street based works has to be partly based on a seemingly energetic approach, almost an attack on canvass. Staying true to this is a hardship, we all have to make a living and the pressures of conforming to moderation is a hard thing. Duel, fortunately doesn’t seem to suffer any need for an arithmetic mean. His measure is well entrenched  in a glorious history of mischief, a bounding talent and an eye that is well attached to a weirdly wired mind. Duel has realized what many miss, that getting any word out there in a single medium is laborious, and getting the word out is what it’s all about.

As a culture, street art is a complex being, a crew, a need for adrenalin, an eye for good spaces, and a style with the ability to stand out from a sea of layer upon layer upon layer of color. Being pursued down the street at speed by angry land owners and city officials also qualifies as a talent, though Duel says he talked his way out of most tight place. His reputation as one of the worlds finest street artists is important, it keeps him grounded, we are after all what we do. Duel it seems has a need for a public, an audience, his art is and always has been as much about performing as technique, her will doubtless be an interesting - at the least - artist to watch.

“I want different people to view my work in different environments, I like to watch people watch my art, it must be the performer in me, an audience is a good thing”

Duel’s Exhibition Runs Until August 6

Kick Gallery is at 4 Peel Street, Collingwood

For further information visit www.kickgallery.com/duel/

or contact the gallery on info@kickgallery.com

Le Quatorze Juillet: Mozart Guerra

So we have a theme going on, Bastille Day, more precisely, what Bastille Day means to we  none French! The obvious celebration aside, the modern French Republic has offered the galaxy more space than any other nation to be of an artistic mind. Artists from all over the planet have gravitated to France to freely express and be inspired. In this vein Mozart Guerra, Scuplteur! Guerra was born in Recife, Brazil in 1962, he studied architecture at University Federal of Pernambuco in Brazil, obtaining his degree in 1986. Guerra worked as a set designer in theatre, cinema and television. Mozart lives and works as a sculptor in Paris since 1992 and has participated in several solo and group exhibitions in galleries and art fairs in Brazil, France, Canada, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg and Italy.  Through his wondrous creations, the Brazilian sculptor Mozart Guerra seeks to show the public a skewed perception of the world. His works are sculpted using nylon rope and almost pure creative genius. GALLERY: Read the full article »»»»