adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Art

Secrecy surrounds major new public art piece in downtown Kelowna – The Daily Courier

Published

 on


A major piece of public art once planned for Highway 97 North disappeared last year after criticism from city councillors.

One main complaint about the proposed $250,000 sculpture, which featured 10 human figures perched atop tall poles, was that its beauty and grace would be lost by being placed next to the busy highway with all its speeding cars.

Coun. Gail Given suggested last November that artist Ted Fullerton’s proposed sculpture should have been located in pedestrian-friendly City Park where people could better relate to its scale and take pictures of themselves beside it.

300x250x1

Fast forward to Wednesday, when much secrecy was woven into a press release issued by the Kelowna Art Gallery about a “large new outdoor public art sculpture” about to be unveiled next to the building on Water Street.

“No announcements will have been made via any Gallery communications before the media preview event,” art gallery spokesman Joshua Desnoyers wrote in an email invitation to attend the event.

Feverish media minds, or one of them anyway, wondered if the about-to-unveiled sculpture was a revival of Fullerton’s ill-fated piece, which was conceived as a new ‘Welcome to Kelowna’ sign.

“I can confirm that it is not a sculpture by Ted Fullerton, although that is a very astute guess,” Desnoyers wrote in an email.

So media, and all of Kelowna, will have to wait until 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 27 to get a look at the sculpture, described as having been made by “an established artist whose work has been shown throughout North America and who has received major commissions in Canada and the U.S.”

Kelowna currently has more than 70 pieces of public art. The newest, whatever it is, will be located between two of the most photographed sculptures, ‘Rhapsody’, a representation of playful dolphins at the entrance to Waterfront Park, and ‘Bear’ , a representation of a bear, in Stuart Park.

The look of ‘Bear’ was such a closely guarded secret before its unveiling in 2010 that it was wrapped in plastic and a security guard was hired to watch over it the night before, lest anyone try to get a sneak peek.

Whatever happened to plans for a new Welcome to Kelowna sign on Highway 97 North also remains a bit of a mystery as calls to relevant authorities at City Hall were unreturned Wednesday.

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Art

Empty Frames and Other Oddities From the Unsolved Gardner Museum Heist – The New York Times

Published

 on


In the pre-dawn hours of March 18, 1990, following a festive St. Patrick’s Day in Boston, two men dressed as police officers walked into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and walked off with an estimated $500 million in art treasures. Despite efforts by the local police, federal agents, amateur sleuths and not a few journalists, no one has found any of the 13 works lost in the largest art theft in history, including a rare Vermeer and three precious Rembrandts.

The legacy of the heist is always apparent to museum visitors who, decades later, still confront vacant frames on the gallery walls where paintings once hung. They are kept there as a reminder of loss, museum officials say, and in the hope that the works may eventually return. Last month, Richard Abath, the night watchman who mistakenly allowed in the thieves, died at 57. He was a vital figure in an investigation that remains active, but where the trails have grown cold.

Here are five oddities that make this one of the most compelling of American crimes.

300x250x1

The thieves took a really strange array of stuff.

Important paintings were taken from their frames during the heist. But other items that were stolen were not nearly of the same caliber: a nondescript Chinese metal vase; a fairly ordinary bronze eagle from atop a flagpole; and five minor sketches by Degas. The thieves walked past paintings and jade figurines worth millions, including a drawing by Michelangelo, yet they spent some of their 81 minutes inside fussing to free the vase from a tricky locking mechanism.

The handcuffed guard was later scrutinized.

Abath, one of two guards on duty, was handcuffed and gagged with duct tape. He was never named a suspect. But over the years investigators continued to review his behavior because he had, against protocol, opened the museum door to the thieves. (The second guard, who is still living, was never a focus of investigative interest.) The F.B.I. monitored Abath’s assets for decades but never saw any suspicious income. He consistently said he told investigators everything he knew, and an F.B.I. polygraph he voluntarily took was deemed “inconclusive.”

The empty frames have stayed on the walls.

The museum was once Gardner’s home and she wanted to ensure that her expansive art collection was displayed in the same manner she had arranged it. She stipulated in her will that not a thing was to be removed or rearranged, or the collection should be shipped to Paris for auction, with the money going to Harvard University. Though it’s long been reported that the empty frames are left hanging to accord with that will, the museum says that is actually a long uncorrected mistake. “We have chosen to display them,” it said in a statement “because 1.) we remain confident that the works will someday return to their rightful place in the galleries; and 2.) they are a poignant reminder of the loss to the public of these unique works.”

The thieves left behind a prized Rembrandt.

A self-portrait of Rembrandt at 23 was taken down by the thieves but left leaning against a cabinet. “I really believe they probably forgot it,” said Anthony Amore, the museum’s current security chief. The work was on an oak panel, making it heavier than the paintings on canvas that they stole. But it was about the same dimensions as Govaert Flinck’s “Landscape With an Obelisk,” which was also on oak, and stolen.

The list of suspects has been a dizzying stew.

Investigators have looked at all manner of burglars and art thieves and dismissed all sorts of theories. Did Whitey Bulger steal the art to help the Irish Republican Army raise money for arms? No. Did the Mafia want a bargaining chip to help free a member from prison? Maybe. In 2015 the F.B.I. named two long-dead, Boston-area criminals, George Reissfelder and Lenny DiMuzio, as the likely bandits. They have never publicly discussed why.

Investigators still hope to recover the art. The museum upped its reward to $10 million in 2017 from $5 million in 1997 and $1 million in 1990. It has devoted several sections of its website to educating the public about the crime. It embraces publicity in the hope that someone, someday, somewhere will recognize one of the artworks and contact it.

“We have followed every lead and continue to check out new leads,” Amore said, adding, “All that matters is finding out where they are today and getting them back.”

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Art

Small art featured in exhibition – CTV News Edmonton

Published

 on


[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Small art featured in exhibition  CTV News Edmonton

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Art

Banksy Goes Green With New Street Art That's Like An Optical Illusion – HuffPost

Published

 on



LOADINGERROR LOADING

var label_65f82d3ee4b0defe9b27b88a = “ctx-wait-65f82d3ee4b0defe9b27b88a”;
var defer_65f82d3ee4b0defe9b27b88a = document.currentScript;
console.time(label_65f82d3ee4b0defe9b27b88a);
window.waitForGlobal(
() => window.HP && window.HP.params && window.HP.params.clientUUID && window.localStorage && defer_65f82d3ee4b0defe9b27b88a && defer_65f82d3ee4b0defe9b27b88a.parentElement.dataset.ready === “true”,
() => {
console.timeEnd(label_65f82d3ee4b0defe9b27b88a);
(new Image()).src = ‘https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b&cid=1bf35e8b-3d55-48a6-aef8-0ebfdd277df7’;
cnx.cmd.push(function() {
cnx(
mediaId: “b65dfedf-f34b-4c12-a74f-1f730ad202a8”,
playerId: “ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b”,
playlistId: undefined,
customParam1: window.localStorage.getItem(“cet-page_session_id”),
customParam2: “65f82c6be4b0defe9b27b889”,
customParam3: “HPVideoTeamHuffPostNOWnews,HuffPost NOW News,Banksy,art,Antiques Roadshow,BBC,street art,Bristol,England,artists,MV3,MV2”,
customParam4: “desktop”,
customParam5: window.HUFFPOST.params.clientUUID,
settings:
playbackMode: undefined,
disableAdvertising: false,
customization:
floating:
mode: undefined,
floatingGutterY: 58,

).render(“65f82d3ee4b0defe9b27b88a”, (renderError, playerApi) =>
const wrapper = document.getElementById(“65f82d3ee4b0defe9b27b88a”).closest(“.connatix-wrapper”);
const loadingEl = wrapper !== null ? wrapper.querySelector(“.loading-message”) : null;
if (renderError)
// An error occured while rendering the player
if(loadingEl !== null)
loadingEl.classList.add(“error”);

return;
else
// player is ready and rendered
if(loadingEl !== null)
loadingEl.classList.add(“loaded”);

300x250x1

const dismissBottomStickyButton = document.querySelector(“.ad-bottom-right-sticky__close”);
const bottomStickyContainer = document.querySelector(“.bottom-right-sticky-container”);
if (bottomStickyContainer && dismissBottomStickyButton)
playerApi.on(cnx.configEvents.FloatingEnterStart, function()
dismissBottomStickyButton.classList.add(“slide-out”);
bottomStickyContainer.classList.add(“video-floating”);
);
playerApi.on(cnx.configEvents.FloatingExitStart , function()
dismissBottomStickyButton.classList.remove(“slide-in”);
bottomStickyContainer.classList.remove(“video-floating”);
);
playerApi.on(cnx.configEvents.CloseButtonClicked , function()
bottomStickyContainer.classList.add(“slide-out”);
);

);
})}
);

Banksy is back with his first confirmed installation of 2024.

The anonymous British street artist posted on his Instagram account on Monday that he was behind a mural that was first spotted in Finsbury Park in London over the weekend.

In the artwork, a stenciled figure of a woman appears to have sprayed green paint over a white wall behind a pollarded tree, thus giving an optical illusion effect of foliage.

Banksy, who has never been officially identified, shared before and after images of the art on Instagram.

See the post here:

The artist didn’t caption the post, prompting multiple theories as to the meaning of the mural.

Some people thought it was a message of hope amid the climate crisis, of which Banksy, who originally hails from Bristol in southwest England, has used his artwork to highlight on multiple previous occasions.

Others suggested it was a pessimistic take on the environment or a commentary on greenwashing, the tactic the United Nations defines on its website as “misleading the public to believe that a company or other entity is doing more to protect the environment than it is.”

Banksy confirmed he was behind the mural in Finsbury Park, London. (Photo by Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images)

Banksy confirmed he was behind the mural in Finsbury Park, London. (Photo by Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images)
Jonathan Brady – PA Images via Getty Images

Documentarian James Peak, the creator of the BBC’s “The Banksy Story” radio series, said the message is “clear” that “nature’s struggling and it is up to us to help it grow back.”

“When you step back, it looks like the tree is bursting to life, but in a noticeably fake and synthetic way,” he told the broadcaster. “And it’s pretty subtle for a massive tree, I’d say.”

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending