Knitted bunny from space
A giant knitted pink rabbit, which for the sake of this blog I shall call public art, can be spotted from space via Google Earth. Hmm, I wonder what our extra terrestrial buddies will think of us now? The knitted bunny was created by the Viennese art collective Gelatin in Italy’s Piedmont region. The pink rabbit was created for people to climb, sleep or walk on. Far too many people with far too much time on their hands, me thinks!
Hmm, if you are going to damage a statue in a sacred temple make sure no elephant is watching, alright! Ten people alleged to be involved in the the vandalism of the temple of elephant-headed god Ganesha situated in Mahudi hills of Hazaribagh, India, got a nasty surprise when an elephant rampaged their homes. It seems the elephant picked up the scent of these culprits who vandalized the temple and statue on the 16th of August and decided to dish out some justice of its own. Gosh, here is hoping the elephant was right, because all ten people were arrested by the police. Elephants obviously carry a lot of weight in India. Can’t wait for the trial, I wonder if the elephant will take the stand?
Say it aint so ! It seems Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s 2,200 year old terracotta warriors have foot fungi. Good god! Since being unearthed in 1974 and exposed to heat and humidity, tiny spores of tinea pedis have had a field day attacking the clay statues. Yep,it seems good old fungi excrete acid just loves ancient Chinese clay men (who knew?).Scientists examining the statues identified 60 different fungi growing on them, including a variation of athlete’s foot.But before you start checking between your own toes for spores, Johnson and Johnson (of baby powder fame) have found the cure. Bless. J&J invested years and big bucks researching molds on clay tiles and flowerpots before finally developing an assortment of successful fungicides. So, next time you are at Terracotta Warrior exhibition and are tempted to touch one just think ‘tinea pedis’!
When WIlliam M.V. Kingsland died in 2006, he left behind over 300 works of art squeezed into his one bedroom apartment in New York. So what is so wacky about this story is that many of the pieces have subsequently been found to be stolen. Good god, the man was an art thief, hobnobbing with Manhattan’s upper crust. Hmm and guess what? Yep, Kingsland wasn’t his real name either, he once went by the name Melvyn Kohn. All came to light when New York Public Administrator, Ethel Griffin, hired two auction houses to sell the art. Imagine their surprise when they discovered many pieces were reported stolen in the 1960’s and 70’s. Included in the collection are sketches by Picasso (which a mover tried to steal during in the discovery). Now it is the FBI handling the case and they have posted a page of goodies believed to be stolen. They are hoping the public will be able to assist in identifying the paintings. Click here if you want to have a sticky beak… FBI art theft… By the way no pieces of Public Art were found in the apartment!
It seems the bureaucrats are at it again, yes it has just been announced
that the Kings Park Board have rejected an application for a statue to be erected in the War Memorial precinct of the park. Now, one would assume that the application was for some horrific eyesore. But alas no, the application was from the Perth Legacy group to have a statue, not unlike the one that so proudly stands next the Melbourne’s shrine of Remembrance, to be placed near the main War Memorial. A small statue of a widow women with her two small children doesn’t seem like too much to ask, considering the role Legacy plays in helping the widows, widowers and children of deceased members of our armed services. Presently the organisation is looking after 7,500 thousand widows/widowers and their children. Legacy provides financial & medical support and accommodation if needed and have been helping families in Western Australia since the 1920’s.
Now wait for it, the boards reasoning was that the statue wasn’t suitable for the designated area. I think the Government should take a long hard look at all these boards who are supposedly representing the people of Perth!
Is everyone familiar with CowParade? If not let me fill you in. CowParade is a charity event, boasting to be the “largest Public Art event in the world”. The general gist is if comes to your city, you get hundreds of 60kg fibre glass cows to decorate and then auction off for charity. Usually the city invites celebrities and artists to decorate the beasts as that usually raises more money (and interest). Now this event is nothing to be sneezed at, it raises millions of dollars and travels all over the world. But the event also has its fair share of controversy, David “Twin Peaks” Lynch’s cow was rejected in the New York cow parade, deemed too gruesome. It had knives and forks in its back and no head.
However the biggest controversy happened in Stockholm, Sweden when one of the cows was kidnapped. A Swedish organization calling themselves The Militant Graffiti Artists of Stockholm claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and sent a video to the local new station. The militants appeared in the footage with the “hooded” cow, demanding that the organizers of the Cow Parade declare the event “non art”. Evidently the group were none too impressed with the blatant advertising sprawled all over the fibreglass cows. Needless to say their demands were ignored and the cow was decapitated. I told you I couldn’t make this up! Nobody was ever charged with this brutally funny crime.
If you spot one of these CowParade cows in your neighborhood let me know. There has got to be thousands of them around the world, but where are they ? I spotted one old cow in Denver.
