Free Republic

Artists, they can be so temperamental. Me? I can be temperamental too, but I never thought that I had anything in common with the creative class. However, if the object of this story s truly art, then it appears I may be an artist after all. Check it out. (A GIANT inflatable dog turd by the American artist Paul McCarthy has blown away from an exhibition in the garden of a

Iraqi singers, actors and artists are fleeing the country after dozens have been killed by Islamic radicals determined to eradicate all culture associated with the West. Cinemas, art galleries, theatres, and concert halls are being destroyed in grenade and mortar attacks in Basra and Baghdad. According to the Iraqi Artists' Association, at least 115 singers and 65 actors have been killed since the US-led invasion, as well as 60 painters. But the terror campaign has escalated in recent months as both Shia and Sunni extremists grow ever bolder in enforcing religious restrictions on the citizens of Iraq. Those remaining are...

TARA DONOVAN'S PINS are hard to miss. There are thousands of them upstairs at the new Institute of Contemporary Art. They're smushed together almost as if dropped into a trash compactor, except instead of being bent, they form a 3½-foot-tall block of sinewy, shiny metal. This is art, and it sits in the center of a gallery at the ICA, one of the signature pieces of the museum's collection. Stare at "Untitled (Pins)," and you're likely to have questions. How does this cube stick together? Is it solid or a kind of pin shell? And what of the artist? Did...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2007 – Just in time for the holidays, 13 major recording artists have created a musical “Thank You” for the troops. “CD for the Troops” is a compilation of songs from 13 of today’s top music artists. Active-duty servicemembers and veterans with a valid military identification card will be able to download the CD from the Army and Air Force Service Exchange Web site for no cost beginning Nov. 17, 2007.  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “CD for the Troops” will be available for anyone with a valid military identification card to download at no...

Tributes have been pouring in for Ingmar Bergman, one of the most influential film directors of the 20th century, who died on Monday at his home on the Swedish island of Fårö. He was 89. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt hailed Bergman as "one of the great dramatists in this world," and French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute to "one of the geniuses of our time." "The dream ended, the music went quiet that night on the island of Fårö, where Ingmar Bergman died," Sarkozy said. "France, a land of the cultural exception that was dear to Ingmar Bergman, honours...

In a case that is reverberating in the art world, the New York Police Department said yesterday that a video-game designer and budding filmmaker committed suicide last week and that her companion, a rising art star, has been missing since Tuesday. The filmmaker, Theresa Duncan, 40, who has also drawn attention for her writings on cultural topics, committed suicide in their East Village apartment on July 10, the police said. Her companion, Jeremy Blake, 35, a well-regarded artist known for digital animation that blurs the line between abstract painting and film, has been missing since his clothes were found on...

James Maldonado-Berry  Other Articles by James Maldonado-BerryPrinter Friendly Version   Why We Need Sacred Art April 15, 2007 The great schism that divided Western Christendom into Catholic and Protestant camps had far-ranging consequences. Across Europe, religious and political leaders, at the local and national level, viewed their nation's religious association with Rome as a hindrance toward true independence at a time when nationalism was on the rise. Many political leaders objected to a foreign pope asserting sweeping authority and demanding broad allegiance over all the faithful in their realm.The cultural and religious bonds that had held the Continent together...

Barbra Streisand's politics didn't find a wholly agreeable crowd during her Monday concert at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise. As Babs traded political barbs with a George W. Bush imitator, a fan of the songstress who apparently disagreed with her politics pelted her with a beverage. And as her anti-GOP riff ended, another man in the crowd found himself being escorted out of the center as he shouted at Streisand. Streisand shrugged both incidents off, saying some people would do better to buy her records than come to her shows. A similar scenario unfolded during Streisand's concert earlier this month...

WASHINGTON, July 25, 2006 – Seeing his artistry on the big screen was a bit of a rush, but former Hollywood sculptor Chuck O'Brien said it's nothing compared to the satisfaction he gets using his art to help transform military amputees. Army Spc. Adam Standfuss, a Minnesota Army National Guardsman wounded in Iraq, looks on as artist Robert Rubino paints a new artificial hand for him at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Photo by Michael Dukes  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "You can't go wrong working with heroes," O'Brien said as he sat side by side with two...

WASHINGTON -- Post-9/11 security rules aimed at stopping terrorists from entering America are keeping artists, musicians and others out as well, renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma told a congressional committee Tuesday. With a growing number of foreign artists canceling their U.S. performances -- last week Britain's Halle Orchestra called off its American tour citing prohibitive visa fees and requirements -- Ma said America is in danger of losing meaningful cultural exchanges. "Bringing foreign musicians to this country and sending our performers to visit them is crucial," Ma, a U.S. citizen born in France to Chinese parents, told the House Government...

Is America really FREE? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am asking this to find out how many people actually consider America free. I know that is a very controversial subject but this could be very interesting.

Some of my leftist friends have one thing in common with the Muslims now sacking foreign embassies: a fundamental lack of understanding as to how democracy works, and how precious it is. The leftists have grown up knowing nothing but freedom and opulence, and take things like the Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers, and Constitution for granted (if they have even read these hallowed documents). The Muslim radicals (Islamists) are throwing lit jugs full of gasoline at Danish embassies because they have known nothing except Big Brother (One Newspaper, One Nation, One Religion, One World), and do not even know...

Kevin P. Casey for The New York Times Hope Forstenzer, a glass blower formerly of Brooklyn, at work at the Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle, where she moved two years ago. They may not have the money of the hedge fund managers who line up at bonus time at the open houses for $5 million homes, and their numbers do not equal that of health care workers. But New York City's creative sector - which includes architects, potters, filmmakers and clothing designers - has long helped fuel the city's economy because of its size and its role in...

December 07, 2005 Cave paintings reveal Ice Age artists By Norman Hammond, Archaeology Correspondent BRITAIN’S first cave art is more than 12,800 years old, scientific testing has shown. Engravings of a deer and other creatures at Creswell Crags, in Derbyshire, have proved to be genuine Ice Age creations, and not modern fakes, as some had feared. The engravings were found in 2003 at two caves, Church Hole and Robin Hood’s Cave, which lie close together in the Creswell gorge. Palaeolithic occupation deposits dating to the last Ice Age were excavated there in 1875-76, but the art remained unnoticed. Although the...

Salvation: Homemade or Vintage? Wine, being both beverage and nourishment, is (along with water) the perfect drink for human beings. In terms of savor, health benefit, and psychological effect, wine reigns as the king of cups at the finest tables in the world. Yet many people do not care for wine, citing its "bad taste" as the reason they do not partake. I have always suspected that for most oenophobes this distaste for the fruit of the vine is the result of a bad first impression. For many people, their first taste of wine comes as a child, when their...

CMT, MTV and VH1 Launch Hurricane Katrina Relief Campaign Wilson and Mellencamp Among Performers Scheduled for Sept. 10 TV Special   CMT, MTV and VH1 have announced the first stage of an ongoing Hurricane Katrina relief campaign -- a multi-artist, multi-genre, multi-platform live performance special set to air across all three networks on Sept. 10. Gretchen Wilson and John Mellencamp are among the artists scheduled to perform from locations in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Nashville. The special will seek to raise much-needed funds for the American Red Cross and similar organizations as they continue their relief efforts. The...

MY STRAIGHT LINE LEARNING CURVE Learning can be a slow process for me. It never ceases to amaze me how amazed I can still get when some factoid finally manages to bore a hole in my skull and jump in. I mean, not to sound too self-congratulatory or anything, but when you're nearing the end of your sixth decade, you start thinking there aren't too many surprises left. So imagine my surprise when one of those surprises that had been lagging for 58 plus years decided to finally show up. The occasion was the Monday morning writers' group I regularly...

It is always amusing when extremely wealthy entertainers stage a concert to eradicate poverty. They appear on stage, and do interviews, before and after the concert, criticizing other wealthy people and politicians. What is never mentioned is that they arrived at the venue by private jet or helicopter, lodging at five star hotel suites that cost several thousands of dollars per night. What is even more amusing is when the liberal mainstream media proclaim – as the Philadelphia Inquirer did the next day - that the concert did not communicate the message properly because they did not speak with moral...

Using bits of garbage and flotsam and finding their roots in voodoo, poverty and the urban Haitian experience, a group of men in Port-au-Prince is pushing Haitian art's boundaries. At the end of a twisting dirt alleyway crowded with tin shacks, a large metal man with hair made of shredded tires and feet of wheel spokes sits in a small clearing. According to its creator, who goes by the name Guyodo, he and other local artists are inspired by their daily surroundings. "We use all that society throws away, all that is not going to be used again that we...

I wrote this letter to send to Ani DiFranco, after her most recent music catalog made very anti-Bush comments. Please feel free to copy and send to your favorite liberal entertainer: Righteous Babe Records P.O. Box 95 Ellicott Station Buffalo, NY 14205 To Whom It May Concern: Please remove me from your mailing list. After reading your latest letter on the catalog, I think I’ve had enough. I have been very fond of Ani DiFranco’s music, but I cannot tolerate another musician who deems it necessary to force their politics down my throat. I really wish that just once I...

A New Week....Well, almost....Will the Wall Street jitters continue??Will, FINALLY, steps be taken to end the judicial log jam in the Senate??Will the Dems, under Dr. Dean, begin to control their wacko elements??Just a few questions to ponder....We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail!

ART MARKET BIDS BRITAIN FAREWELL, PUSHED OUT BY FRANCE AND EUFebruary 16, 2005I have a strong sense of déjà vue about the travails of the art market in the wake of the introduction of droit de suite. I first wrote about it about ten years ago, when the legislation was being discussed and the British Government swore blind that it would protect the flourishing British art market. So much for promises. The droit de suite is a sliding-scale levy paid by the vendor of a work of art to a living artist or to an artist's family for 70 years...

MIAMI (AP)-Will Eisner, the artist who revolutionized comic books, helped pioneer the graphic novel and taught generations of soldiers how to maintain their equipment with the "Joe Dope" series, has died. He was 87.

Frank Kelly Freas, the Hugo-Award-Winning artist who painted covers for some of the best-loved SF books of all time, died at his home in Los Angeles on Jan. 2, his official Web site reported. He was 82. Freas, who was under hospice care, died in his sleep before dawn in the company of his wife, Laura.

This is a message to my fellow professional (and amateur) artists:The plight of the people victimzed in the South Asia Tsunami Disaster has touched the world. We all want to help them, but, besides donating as much as we can to the various relief agencies involved in the global aid effort, what can any of us really do? As artists, it’s our duty to use the abilities God has given us to help our fellow men, but how can art help people who need food, water, medicine, clothes, and hope? I think I may have discovered a way. While there’s...

Special Dispatch Series - No. 817 November 23, 2004 No.817 Arab Progressive Columnist: Arab Artists Deal with the Past and Not with the Present, Due to Fear of the Regimes    The progressive Kuwaiti columnist Ahmad Al-Baghdadi published an article titled 'Drama and Tyranny' in the UAE daily Al-Itihad. The following are excerpts from the article:(1) "The [month of] Ramadan has showered us with historical [TV] series' and dramas [dealing with] the Ottoman period ... with the Imperialist period ... or with the period of recession and poverty... "[These series'] do not deal with the present, not to mention...

Second of two parts. What is the artist's role in society? Artists have been debating the question throughout history. The former U.S. poet laureate said he thought about the election results all day -- "when I could think." "The question of how the rest of us should behave seems pressing," he said. "Erosion of civil liberties? The courts? Further and deeper predations on the environment? It's hard to see how the Endangered Species Act will survive, except perhaps in name. An interesting indicator of the intentions of that Bush clique will be to see whether they punish Republican dissenters like...

The Springsteens support Kerry, the Schillings support Bush. Bruce Springsteen held a free concert for Kerry with 80,000 people in attendance. Schilling helped the Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time in 84 years. While being interviewed by Good Morning America, Schilling threw in a last minute political comment. "just tell everyone to vote...and vote for Bush". The look on Charles Gibson's face was worth the price of admission. Both "celebrities" symbolize their perspective candidates values. Springsteen, a rich, famous musician who spends most of his time ensconced in his own world. Schilling is a rich...

Thursday, 10/21/04 Video of beheading in Iraq part of Nashville art exhibit By ALAN BOSTICKStaff Writer Show of students' work also includes explicit sexual photo A video showing the beheading of an American hostage in Iraq and a photograph of a man masturbating have divided students and challenged administrators at Watkins College of Art & Design.

By PETER COOPER Staff Writer A vote is a voice, and celebrity provides a microphone. Thus — especially in an election year — it's common for politically minded artists and musicians to use their fame as a platform to push agendas and candidates. That's been the case for hundreds of years in hundreds of countries, and the American tradition includes plenty of singing and stumping.

Artists back effort to unseat Bush Several leading Norwegian artists are donating works to a local campaign aimed at driving US President George W Bush out of office. The campaign, called "Tellhim.no," is raising money to place an ad in the Washington Post just before the US election in November. The artists include painter Frans Widerberg and photographer Morten Krogvold. One of Widerberg's paintings, for example, will be auctioned in August over the campaign's web site, with proceeds from a sale going towards efforts to unseat Bush. "We are frustrated and shaken over what's been going on," Widerberg told Norwegian...

http://adeimantus.blogspot.com/2004/06/instant-rehabilitation-of-saddam.html In his report on the transfer of sovereignty, Associated Press writer Tarek el-Tablawy includes the following quote to buttress his assertion that "the response [to the handover] in Baghdad was mixed":"Iraqis are happy inside, but their happiness is marred by fear and melancholy," said artist Qassim al-Sabti. "Of course I feel I'm still occupied. You can't find anywhere in the world people who would accept occupation. America these days, is like death. Nobody can escape from it."I am always suspicious of these man-on-the street-type of quotes, which reporters too often use selectively as a device to interject their own...

A London nightclub cancelled a concert last night by the Jamaican reggae artist Beenie Man after officers from Scotland Yard stopped him at Heathrow airport to discuss his allegedly homophobic lyrics. The singer, real name Anthony Davis, had flown to London as part of a European tour. He is one of the biggest stars of the dancehall genre but he has attracted increasing criticism from human rights campaigners who claim that songs such as Bad Man Chi Chi [Queer] Man incite the murder of gay men. Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll, head of the racial and violent crime taskforce for the...

    STOP HARPER!JOIN Sarah McLachlan, Chantal Kreviazuk, Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace), Sum 41, Avril Lavigne, Treble Charger, Sarah Harmer, Sarah Polley and other prominent Canadian artists in opposing Stephen Harper. As a prominent artist we need your name on this statement of concern!  Canada is sleepwalking into the election of Prime Minister George Bush! He is a Conservative Culture Killer and we need your help to stop Stephen Harper NOW! Anyone interested in canadian culture, should read the Globe and Mail article: Tories set to bring CRTC duties in-house - 21st June 2004 "I also don't think this is...

(Hello everyone! This is the new featured essay at my pro-life website, www.indefenseofthefetus.com. I am posting it here because many of you had good suggestions for my Ultimate Pro-Life Links page, and I was hoping some of you might be able to suggest some good pro-life artists or art works for me.) Artists and Activists Could someone please tell me where all the pro-life artists are? Our country's political and cultural establishment endorses the slaughter of helpless innocents by denying the most fundamental human right to those most in need of its protection, yet I'm aware of no significant playwrights,...

Why A Naked Bike Ride? Every day we are bombarded with countless messages demanding our obedience to the corporate dictates of a consumption dependent society. Little regard is paid to the future of our planet and generations left with a legacy of waste and environmental contamination. How many countless times each day do our media masters spin the same message: Unless you buy this, you are not worthy. Unless you look like this you should be ashamed. By cruising naked down the spending frenzy capitals of the world, we are saying.NO! ...a fancy new car is not a mark of...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello on Tuesday defended musicians who speak their minds in these "fairly dangerous times" and warned Americans to guard against "any attempts by people who swindle their way into office."

I HAVE NEVER met anyone who told me they loved modern art. No one ever came up to me, their eyes glowing with pleasure, telling me I just must see, say, the new wall drawings by Sol Lewitt in the 1970s, or the smashed-plate paintings by Julian Schnabel in the 1980s, or the life-size, glazed porcelain figures by Jeff Koons in the 1990s. I have, however, met plenty of people who have told me that I ought to like modern art. There is some place for “ought” in life, but none at all in art; art is a gift, not...

Brad paisley has a new song out that bashes the hoity toity Celebrities. It's halarious. Has anyone heard it yet?

As actor and left-wing activist Tim Robbins complains about how unfairly he and Susan Sarandon are being treated these days, you can almost hear the world's smallest violin playing in the background. Until it was abruptly canceled, Robbins and Sarandon were scheduled to appear at a Baseball Hall of Fame salute to their movie Bull Durham. The Hall's president decided to can the whole event, saying the couple's opposition to the war in Iraq undermined the U.S. position and "ultimately could put our troops in even more danger." It's not the first time their anti-Operation Iraqi Freedom statements have...

 Arthur Szyk. A great unknown artist  http://www.szyk.com/ World War Two George WashingtonHis illuminated manuscript of our Declaration of Independence.  His illuminated manuscript of Israel's Declaration of Independence.I urge you to take a look at this EBAY auction to see it. It's truly beautiful and a big image Here is small size rendition Founding of Israel More at:http://www.szyk.com/Plus you can see Arthur Szyk's work here.  

Posted Mar. 06, 2003 Eric Klister column: Look for musicians to turn up volume on anti-war stanceThe bombs are about to fall, troops are set to be deployed and tanks are ready to roll, or so it appears. I wonder what Bruce Springsteen and Madonna are thinking. As sure as it appears that a war with Iraq is imminent, you also can bet that musicians are ready to launch their own attack in the form of protest songs, speeches and advertisements. Curiously, the music industry so far has turned down the volume on anti-war sentiments. At this year’s Grammys, hardly...

YO! I'M FOR DUBYAClassical Musician Yo-Yo Ma and R&B star Brian McKnight, speaking on the Grammys red carpet, talk about their support for President George W. BushVideo Presentation

The owner of a toy museum is calling on the public to boycott an art exhibition that features the charred and mutilated bodies of teddy bears. Deady Bears, which forms part of a wider work entitled A Walk on the Darkside at the Artlounge gallery in Lytham St Anne's, Lancs, features cuddly toys that have been variously dismembered, pierced with 6in nails and daubed with red paint intended to resemble blood. Irena Thompson, who runs the nearby Toy and Teddy Bear Museum, is outraged. "This exhibition is simply dreadful, and I do not see what the artist is trying to...

When ART Becomes InhumanKarl ZinsmeisterReprinted from the ART Renewal Center Origionally published in TAEmag. Many of today’s avant-garde artists, I’ve decided, have modeled themselves on that well-known societal fixture, the snot-nosed teenager. Since the 1960s, the hippest modern art has aspired to exactly what every garden-variety 13-year-old brat aims for: maximum opportunities to shock, flout, insult, and otherwise chuck rocks at polite society. And so “artists” spread American flags on the floor and invited gallery and museum patrons to walk on them. “Sculptors” stacked bricks in low heaps and convinced collectors to pay bags of money for something they...

Fellow Freepers, there is an anti-war movement gathering as we speak for a series of protests this weekend. While most reliable data shows that these individuals do not speak for all Americans, we know that the liberals and their allies in the media will attempt to paint it as such in order to discredit a prospective war with Iraq. As such, I have applied a great deal of thought on how to express our own opinions on these issues without being painted as fanatics or being ignored. This is by no means an end-all be-all to the problem of demonstrating...

Lists, and especially musical lists, are always a joy, as they guarantee much discussion, debate and controversy over who made what position on said list. My reasons for posting this thread are two-fold: (1.) To demonstrate the worthlessness of wasting valuable taxdollars on public radio. As we all know, the largest portion of the listenership to public radio are very well-to-do (dare I say RICH ) liberals, who can support their own damned musical choices, without your and my public support...which leads me to the kicker: This countdown was compiled by combining the votes cast by only 1,800 listeners (if...

LINARES, Spain - Fifteen years after his death, master classical guitarist Andres Segovia finally was brought back to his hometown as he wished. Segovia's remains were exhumed from the Madrid cemetery where he originally was buried and brought to Linares in Jaen province, the heart of Spain's olive-growing region. Segovia, widely considered the greatest classical guitarist of the 20th century, died in 1987 at the age of 94. He is credited with elevating the guitar from a lowly bar instrument to one played on classical concert stages around the world, garnering as much respect as the violin or piano. Segovia...

DEMOCRATS running for the U.S. House and Senate this year have latched onto the issue of prescription drug prices like ticks on a bloodhound. If they aren't careful, their reckless feeding frenzy could seriously damage one of their most solid constituencies — artists. The Democratic argument boils down to this: large, greedy pharmaceutical firms are gouging the public by charging indefensibly high prices for prescription drugs. This argument breaks down into two parts, only one of which is on target. The solid argument is that the Hatch-Waxman Act, which governs patents for drugs, contains a flaw that allows big...

For a quarter, the U.S. Mint has bought itself some ill will in Missouri.Five designs Missouri submitted for consideration to grace the state quarter have been redrawn by a mint artist.Radical changes to two of the designs have prompted protests by the artists who created them.To them, the new designs aren't worth a cent, let alone a quarter."I was just like, `Wow,' they really changed it a lot," said Barton Burnell, an Independence resident whose design featured an American Indian on horseback on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River and a pioneer's wagon far below him.The redrawn design removes...