The Pope’s not too happy about Martin Kippenberger’s sculpture of a crucified frog holding a beer mug. You know Spartacus was crucified. Maybe this is some kind of statement about Spartacus.
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“One of the judges of Australia’s top religious art competition has resigned in vehement objection to a work that has been included in the finalists’ short list.
Australian art critic and historian Christopher Allen resigned from the panel of judges after Adam Cullen’s triptych Corpus Christi made the short list for the $20,000 Blake Prize for Religious Art…
…Last year, an entry depicting the Virgin Mary in a burka and a hologram of Christ morphing into an image of Osama bin Laden drew harsh criticism from former Australian prime minister John Howard. He said the works were insulting and lacked artistic merit.”
“This overwhelming piece of the Ku Klux Klan was made by photocopying the bible, resizing, and then copying some more. Then the copies were cut apart and placed to make the picture.”
Here’s a closeup:
The one below is entitled Paul.
“This portrait of a homeless man that lived down the street was made by stepping in paint and walking over the canvas.”
Phil Hansen’s website can be found here.
Check out Gerry Judah’s enormous Land Rover sculpture. He’s also created a number of other groovy car-related sculptures and some interesting paintings/constructions which can be found here.
Even though Ed McGowin paints his art really isn’t about the paintings. It’s about the frame or the idea. That’s why he is modern rather than postmodern. Also the fact that he isn’t very talented. At least not at painting. His whittling skills seem pretty good. It’s amazing that someone who has been painting for so long would never acquire the ability to do it well. It has to do with the fact that his mediocre works have always been lauded as brilliant. He never felt the need to get better.
Anyway, it’s always good to see a homeboy do good. He received his masters from the University of Alabama.
McGowin is having a big retrospective at the Flint Institute of Arts called Name Change because he has legally changed his name 12 times as a form of artistic expression.
An interesting article about the show can be found here.
The work below is entitled Dog Triptych.
