Churchill Art Uproar

A mental health charity has defended a statue it commissioned of Sir Winston Churchill in a straitjacket. The statue has been criticised as "absurd and pathetic" by his grandson, Tory MP Nicholas Soames. Charity Rethink commissioned the 9ft high sculpture, unveiled in Norwich, to highlight the stigma of mental health. Rethink said the image of Churchill - who suffered bouts of depression - was designed to "portray a more positive image of people with mental illness". The glass fibre and bronze sculpture has been erected in Norwich city centre and will remain until the end of March.
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Irish Art

The Mermaid and The Dildo

Denmark's national symbol, the Little Mermaid sculpture perched on a rock overlooking the Copenhagen port, was splattered with green paint by vandals and adorned with a dildo. The attackers scrawled "8 marts" across the rock on which the Little Mermaid sits, marking the date in Danish of International Women's Day which was celebrated around the world on Wednesday. On Thursday, the statue was cleaned up and the sex toy removed. The Little Mermaid, one of Denmark's biggest tourist attractions, is based on the character created by Hans Christian Andersen in an 1837 fairytale. In the past 40 years, she has been decapitated twice, most recently in January 1998 after a 1990 attempt failed. She has had a bra and knickers painted on her, has been entirely covered in paint on more than one occasion, and has had her right arm cut off.
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Irish Art

Dictator Was A Secret Artist

Oil paintings that reveal a softer side to former dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain for nearly four decades, will be auctioned next month. The landscapes were a gift from the general`s wife to the father of an art gallery owner in Seville. "These are three paintings by an amateur but there are certain quality elements, and they have an undeniable historical value," the gallery`s said director Ramon Garcia Ramo. All these characteristics make these art works attractive to the collector." The paintings, signed with the pseudonym Girones, have an opening price of 9,000 euros.
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Irish Art

The Whitney Art Cliche?

We're told that artists in this year's Whitney Biennial are "challenging concepts," "transgressing boundaries," "blurring lines" and "investigating relationships." But Ariella Budick has some news for the curators: "There are no boundaries left to transgress. Art can't be liminal in the absence of the thresholds. How can you challenge conventions that have already been burned beyond recognition? There's something almost quaint about the use of these cliches. Where have the curators been for the past 20 years?
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Irish Art

Vettriano Art Nets £290,000

One of Jack Vettriano's paintings, Dance Me To The End Of Love, sold at auction in Edinburgh to an unidentified bidder. The image shows a couple waltzing in the mist. The print is one of the world's best-selling art posters, but the original has rarely been seen. It was bought by a Scots art collector in 1998 and remained in the woman's private possession until now. It was snapped up by a buyer at £290,000. Self-taught Vettriano has been largely shunned by the traditional art world, with major UK art galleries refusing to acquire his works. The Singing Butler sold for almost £750,000 in 2004, the highest price ever paid for a Scottish painting at auction. The artist last year denied claims that he privately copied characters from The Singing Butler and other paintings from a 1987 illustrators' guide.
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Irish Art


Celeb Art Auction for NI Victims

A striking self-portrait by the actor John Hurt is among more than 50 works of art by celebrities who, in the name of charity, were simply handed a canvas and told to give their imaginations free rein. Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Marc Quinn, Robbie Williams, Jude Law, Chris Evans, Billie Piper, Joan Rivers and Rio Ferdinand are among professional and amateur artists whose works will be auctioned to raise funds for Wave, a charity dedicated to supporting people bereaved or traumatised by violence in Northern Ireland. Hurt's self-portrait took two weeks and is valued at £20,000.
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Irish Art