Artist: Feng Zhengjie - Happy Couples

ROMANTIC TRIP NO.16

By Feng Zhengjie

Artwork Description

Dimensions: 109.5 by 109.5cm.; 42 3/4 by 42 3/4 in.

Medium: oil on canvas

ROMANTIC TRIP NO.10

By Feng Zhengjie

Artwork Description

Dimensions: 80x100 cm

Medium: Oil on canvas

Creation Date: 1997

ROMANTIC TRIP NO.13

By Feng Zhengjie

Artwork Description

Dimensions: 150 by 110cm. (alt: 59 by 43 3/8 in.)

Medium: oil on canvas

BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM

By Feng Zhengjie

Artwork Description

Dimensions: 100×80cm

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Creation Date: 1997

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/feng_zhengjie.htm

Artist: Feng Zhengjie

LE PAPILLON AMOUREUX

By Feng Zhengjie

Artwork Description

Dimensions: 73 3/4 by 74 7/8 in. 187 by 190.3 cm.

Medium: oil on canvas

LE PAPILLON AMOUREUX NO.14

By Feng Zhengjie

Artwork Description

Dimensions: 129.5 by 110cm.; 51 by 43 3/8 in.

Medium: oil on canvas

Feng Zhengjie (born 1968, Sichuan Province, China) is an artist based in Beijing. Originally a high-school and college art teacher in Sichuan, he came to Beijing in 1995.

His best-known work is his Portrait of China series, very large Warhol-style oil portraits, in a red/turquoise palette, of Chinese fashion model faces with vacant diverging eyes (his signature style). Critics view his work as a critique of contemporary consumer society. His early paintings were inspired by 1930s Shanghai posters. His more recent work is based on the red and green of traditional Chinese New Year art, the colours made "more acid, a representation of the flashy, commercial nature of modern China".

Zhengjie has exhibited internationally in many shows including Dialogue With Asia at Vika Gallery in Oslo, the 2002 Korea Contemporary Art Festival in Seoul, China Femmes de Chine at Veronique Maxe Gallery in Paris, Primary Colors at the Singapore Art Museum in Singapore and New Perspectives in Chinese Painting at Marella Gallery in Milan.

He is represented by Goedhuis Contemporary in London, New York and Beijing, and by Willem Kerseboom Gallery in Amsterdam.

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/feng_zhengjie.htm

Artist: Zhang Xiaogang - Bloodline works

BLOODLINE: BIG FAMILY NO.1

By Zhang Xiaogang

Artwork Description

Dimensions: 150 by 179 cm.; 59 by 70 1/2 in.

Medium: oil on canvas

BLOODLINE SERIES: BIG FAMILY

By Zhang Xiaogang

Artwork Description

Dimensions: 80 x 100 cm

Medium: Oil on canvas

Creation Date: 1998

BLOODLINE - BIG FAMILY (TWO PIECES)

By Zhang Xiaogang

Artwork Description

Dimensions: 64×80cm(each)

Medium: Print on Paper

Creation Date: 2006

Edition number: 33 from an edition of 99

BIG FAMILY

By Zhang Xiaogang

Artwork Description

Dimensions: 33½ x 39¼ in. (85.1 x 99.7 cm.)

[MY BIG FAMILY]

By Zhang Xiaogang

Artwork Description

Dimensions: L. 22½ x 28 1/8 in. (571 x 715 mm.)

A BIG FAMILY SERIES

By Zhang Xiaogang

Artwork Description

Dimensions: 90 x 70 1/8in. (229 x 179cm.)

A BIG FAMILY SERIES NO. 16

By Zhang Xiaogang

Artwork Description

Dimensions: 78¾ x 98½ in. (200 x 250 cm.)

Zhang was born in the city of Kunming in China's Yunnan province in 1958. He came of age during the 1960s and 70s political upheavals known as the Cultural Revolution, which exerted a certain influence on his painting. In 1982, he graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in the city of Chongqing in Sichuan province, then joined a young group of young avant-garde painters who came to prominence during the 1980s. Like Wang Guangyi, Xu Beihong and Wu Guanzhong, Zhang Xiaogang belongs to the best-selling contemporary Chinese artists and is a favorite of foreign collectors.

Western painters including Richter, Picasso and Dali are influences. Zhang said: "I read in a book once a few words by British experimental artist Eduardo Paolozzi, which were very influential for me: 'a person can very easily have the right idea, but choose the wrong means to express it. Or he can have the right means, but lack a clear idea.'" Zhang also cites his discovery of photos of his mother as a young, attractive woman as a key inspiration for the Bloodline series.

Artist: Yoshitomo Nara

TEAR DROPS

Artwork Description

Dimensions: 29.5 x 21 cm. (11 5/8 x 8 1/4 in).

Medium: Graphite and coloured pencil on paper.

Creation Date: 2002

LEBEN SCHAUM (LIVE FOAM)

Dimensions: 4 x 8 5/8 in. (10.2 x 21.9 cm).

Medium: Graphite and colored pencil on paper envelope.

Creation Date: 2002

(I) ABANDONED PUPPY

Artwork Description

Dimensions: each: 12½ x 9½in. (32 x 24cm.)

(I) UNTITLED

Artwork Description

Dimensions: each: 28¾ x 20¼in. (73.2 x 51.9cm.)

American Circus Posters at the Cincinnati Art Museum

The Amazing American Circus Poster February 26, 2011 – July 10, 2011

Strobridge Lithographing Company Living Pair of Full Grown Hippopotomi. 1882 Color Lithograph Poster Gift of the Strobridge Lithographing Company, 1965.685:47

Organized by Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, Kristin Spangenberg, The Amazing American Circus Poster features 80 circus posters created between 1878 and 1939, along with materials related to circus advertising.

Cincinnati-based Strobridge Lithographing Company, which created all the posters in this exhibition, and became the leading printer for the major circuses of this time. The posters designed and printed by Strobridge were unrivaled for their quality, and contain a detailed portrait of the American circus in its “Golden Age,” when it flourished as a vital institution for cultural entertainment in this country.

This exhibition will travel to the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. The Amazing American Circus Poster has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: great ideas brought to life.


Click on centered images to enlarge

“The Amazing American Circus Poster has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Because democracy demands wisdom.”



“Any views findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.”


http://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/absolutenm/templates/ArtTempExhibitions.aspx?articleid=992&zoneid=66

New Pop-Up Art Loop Exhibition - Chicago - featuring artist Lauren Brescia

In One Art, Please, Brescia examines the concept of art as a commodity. She is entertained by the idea that fine art, even typically non-commercial art, could be neatly packaged and sold in units, in a downtown storefront, much the same way a retailer would sell items in an upscale boutique or trendy bakery. Would showing my work not only for the purpose of exposure, but with an intent to sell, cheapen the sentiment?

Brescia's art explores what it means to be a female artist creating work that falls into the domestic sphere and craft genres. In utilizing a wide range of atypical materials, she references the illusion of theatrical spectacle. I employ conventions that transform the materials allowing the piece to become an imitation of real life and fantasy. Her knowledge of cake decorating informs my work, emphasizing ideas of decadent excess, preservation, decay, and the grotesque in relation to the body. Working with mixed media, found objects, and a limited color palette, she produces pieces that are whimsical, nostalgic, and distortedly Victorian, embodying femininity and a kind of strange beauty.

Gabrielle Giffords about Sarah Palin's cross hairs

In August, 2009, Sarah Palin's political action committee posted a map of the U.S. showing the locations of 20 democratic members of congress, including Gabrielle Giffords, it was targeting for defeat. Each location was marked by an image of a gun crosshairs. Some might see this as merely symbolic, but it was intentionally sinister enough to be interpreted as a literal direction to the far right.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/10/gabrielle-giffords-town-h_n_255656.html

http://twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA/statuses/10935548053

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/keith-olbermann-arizona-shooting_n_806311.html

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/palin_violence/?r=6816&id=15049-3286734-.iv0B_x

Giffords Opponent, Jesse Kelly, Held June Event to “Shoot a Fully Automatic M16″ to “Get on Target” and “Remove Gabrielle Giffords”
By: Jane Hamsher Saturday January 8, 2011 11:43 am

Giffords’ 2010 Congressional opponent Jesse Kelly held a June 12, 2010 gun event that was billed as follows on the Pima County Republican website:

Get on Target for Victory in November Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office Shot a fully automatic M15 with Jesse Kelly

Jesse Kelly, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to be bothered in the least by the Sarah Palin controversy earlier this year, when she released a list of targeted races in crosshairs, urging followers to “reload” and “aim” for Democrats. Critics said she was inciting violence.

He seems to be embracing his fellow tea partier’s idea. Kelly’s campaign event website has a stern-looking photo of the former Marine in military garb holding his weapon. It includes the headline: “Get on Target for Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly.”

The event cost was $50.



This has apparently been scrubbed from Sarah Palin’s web page:






Just a few mounths after story of Bryon Williams, 45, a convicted felon with two prior bank robbery convictions, targeted workers at the American Civil Liberties Union and the Tides Foundation - see October 2010 blog post.