November 30, 2010:
Rock Art Vandalised
Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. Red Rock Canyon is a National Conservation Area just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Archaeologists believe the Paiute Indians made cultural paintings there centuries ago, and as recently as the 1800's.
A total of 3 prehistoric art panels were spray painted with 2 foot tall letters in a maroon paint. They were painted with a taggers name and drug references on the Children's Discovery Trail. The crime was reported to law enforcement on November 14, 2010. BLM (Bureau Of Land Management), and other groups have offered a $2500 reward.
The crime? Violation of the Archaeological Resource Protection Act, a felony, that carries up to $100,000 in fines and 5 years in prison. The Red Rock Conservation group spokeswoman has said that the clean up must be very meticulous and extremely careful not to damage the ancient rock paintings.
What a shame people have no respect for the historical significance and artistic history of these ancient rock paintings, or petroglyphs and hieroglyphs. They must have no idea what they have erased from history!
Wednesday December 8, 2010:
Playboy Art Auctioned
Christie's in New York auctioned 125 pieces offered by Playboy magazine.
Among the pieces was a Salvador Dali (1904 - 1989) watercolor of a reclining nude that hung in Hugh Hefner's bedroom. It was 1 of 11 pieces that was featured in the January 1967 issue, "The Playmate As Fine Art". Playboy had asked several; artists to create Playmate-inspired art. Another piece that was one of the auctions top-draws, was an oil painting of a lipsticked mouth by pop artist Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004).
Hugh Hefner said last month, "Playboy has entertained, titillated and informed with it's commissioned art, (it) has blurred the lines between fine and popular art. Playboy helped to change the very direction of commercial art — breaking down the wall between fine art and commercial art," the 84-year-old Hefner said. "Before Playboy and a few other places, commercial art was essentially Norman Rockwell, very realistic. And we introduced into commercial illustration the whole notion of everything from abstract to semi abstract to stuff that you found on a gallery wall."
This sale represented only a fraction of Playboy's historical art. Playboy - Chicago has an archive of 5,000 contemporary pieces and more than 20 million photographs.
Another of the items offered was a white plaster cast of a pregnant woman seated by George Segal (1924-2000, a National Medal of Arts recipient in 1999).
The Dali painting sold for $266,500, the George Segal cast went for $170,500, while the Tom Wesselmann oil painting sold for over $1.8 million.
Wednesday December 15, 2010
Violent Storm Reveals Ancient Art;
A violent storm wreaked havoc on the coastal town of Ashkelon, Israel. Archaeological excavations were taking place when a violent storm washed away many artifacts that were being studied. The storm caused a section of cliff to collapse revealing half buried in the sand, an ancient Roman statue of a woman dressed in a toga. Experts believe the statue may represent Aphrodite. The statue stands about 4 feet tall and weighs about 440 lbs, and is carved from white marble. Among the items revealed from this storm were several pieces of mosaic tile believed to belong to a Roman Bathhouse.
Yigal Israel, an archaeologist with the Israeli Antiquities Authority said, "the statue was apparently imported from Italy, Greece or Asia Minor, and may have represented the goddess Aphrodite”, and is believed to be from the Roman occupation of what was once Western Judea, between 1,700 and 2,000 years ago.
However, this discovery, or rather the way it was discovered, did not excite everyone. The statue, which is to be placed on museum display, brought little joy to Israeli archaeologists. They say the storm washed away other artifacts from the site, and did serious damage to the ruins of coastal Caesarea. “We don’t see this discovery as such good news,” one of Israel’s colleagues at the antiquities authority told Reuters.
Monday January 31, 2011
Riots In Egypt Destroy Ancient Art:
First off, let me state that I in no way discourage the freedom of any people. Nor do I in any way condone rioting. That being said, there have been events that have taken place in Egypt over this past week that I feel is newsworthy. Several rioters have broken into the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and have vandalized several pieces of ancient history. Namely mummies being beheaded. The mummies in question have been discovered to be the Great-grandparents of King Tutankhamun. Now some may say that mummification is not art...I disagree. Mummifying those of their dead is an art form. Plus, the sheer historical significance of these items is undeniable.
Al Jazeera also reported that wooden statues from King Tut's tomb were also smashed. Mummies aside, statues are indeed art, as atested by many of the classic artists that not only painted, but sculpted as well.
Much destruction appears to have been dealt to a wooden boat that has been identified as coming from the tomb of Meseti at Asyut, dating back to 2000 B.C., making it over 4000 years old.
This is a shame. Not to mention a crime. Why is it that vandals feel compelled to attack art, history, and artifacts? If you feel you have to riot to make your point, well, then do what you feel you have to do. But don't injure or hurt people in the process, and leave the art alone! Do they feel that art and history must be destroyed to get their point across? When this is all over, and the smoke clears......what will they do to replace these pieces of their own history? How do you think they are going to feel knowing that these irreplaceable pieces are gone forever?
For someone to destroy artifacts in the first place, I seriously doubt they would spend time regretting or thinking about their actions. They are brainless. It is a crying shame.
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