General Art news at Art News Blog is a listing of all the posts that have discussed the arts, that don't fit into the other categories.

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• Chinese Oil Painting Reproductions - My spam folder is kept full each day with at least 400 emails.. day after day.. and among the promises of lengthened manhood and pre-approved loans are emails with titles like "Cheap China Wholesale Paintings" and "Oil Paintings from China."
• Biggest, Best, Weirdest, and Most Important Lists of 2007 - I really can't believe that the end of the year is here already, but I can't argue with the calendar. I think the earth might be spinning faster each year as the years seem to keep getting quicker!.
• The Art Newspaper TV - The Art Newspaper is working hard to take advantage of the internet, with a digital edition and an online TV channel about to launch. It looks like it will be a paid subscription model that will give you access to the videos and a full digital version of their publication.
• The Artist's Magazine Online - The Artist's Magazine has started publishing an online edition of their publication here. It's free for now, but I can't see that price lasting.
• ArtReview's Power 100 2007 - The first four influential arts people on the list are the same as last year and Damien Hirst is the first artist to appear (6th), followed by Jeff Koons (13th) and Richard Serra in 19th position.
• Famous Singers that Paint - Lauren Cochrane is thinking about singers and their art. Asking if we would take any notice if they wern't already famous. They include Marilyn Manson, John Mellencamp, Joni Mitchell, John Lennon, and David Bowie.
• Samuel Johnson Quotes - ArtDaily has reported that a portrait by Joshua Reynolds of Samuel Johnson has been attack by a homeless man wielding a hammer at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
• Most Influential Work of Art - Newsweek has asked the question; "Which Is the Most Influential Work of Art Of the Last 100 Years?" Possible answers they offered were..
• Forbes Art Watch Newsletter - Forbes has an interesting little arts newsletter for those that are into all things art, antique and collectible. The Forbes Art Watch newsletter is sent out fortnightly, with a summary of news, reviews, and events from the art world. It's not comprehensive, but it's one of the few newsletters that I always open.
• What Is Art? What is an Artist? - I have been thinking about the word "artist" and what it means to be one. Obviously it's a person that creates art, so why do we have to still get into debates over whether a person is an artist or not? Why do some people still believe that only the chosen few should have the title of "artist" stamped to their forehead?
• Coffee Art in a Mug - I like it when my passions cross over. Like when art meets wine or when nature meets art. I have also recently discovered that art has also met coffee! I wouldn't say that coffee is a great passion of mine, but I can't ctop drinking the stuff, so I must have some kind of connection with it.
• Buddha Art Found in Caves - A team of researchers have found some impressive new Buddha art in a cave in Nepal. There are 55 panels depicting the life of Buddha and they date back to around the 12th century.
• Art News Mondays - I'll link to posts on art blogs and articles from art publications, so feel free to send me any interesting stories. I probably won't link to you if you are just trying to sell something, unless it's a VERY interesting product and you are prepared to send me two truckloads of it (so that I can send them out to readers of ArtNewsBlog of course!! ;-)
• Earth Day 2007 - I know the environment doesn't have much to do with art, but you can't create art without an earth. So here's a poem for Earth Day (April 22) by John McConnell.
• Art Initials Paintings - In the manner of the money series by Anthony White and the One Thousand paintings by Sala, comes the Art Initials series by the artist Mart in Switzerland.
• Interpreting Art - Artist or Critic? - Ana Finel Honigman has asked an interesting question over at the Guardian blog. She asks, Is an artist's idea of what their work means more important than the viewer's interpretation, or are they both valid?
• Top 10 List of Top Tens - Edward Winkleman has finished off his year of blogging with a top ten list of top ten lists. It's a quirky top ten that has something to interest most people.
• Grow Your Own Furniture - Cristopher Cattle in the United Kingdom has come up with a way to train trees / plants to make furniture for you. He has an online guide showing how to make a stool from 3 Sycamores. It's not as convenient as popping into your local furniture store for a few stools, as it takes about five years to grow into a strong enough stool.
• Aboriginal Rock Art Saved? - The Western Australian government has seen the light and will no longer oppose the heritage listing of an area in the Dampier Archipelago, which will save some of the oldest art in the world on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia.
• Animals in the Womb - I found this fascinating little piece of news over at the BoingBoing directory of wonderful things. There's a new documentary from National Geographic that goes inside the womb of animals like never before.
• Quotes from the Global Creative Leadership Summit - In New York recently there was a Global Creative Leadership Summit where leaders from business, technology, government, science and the arts got together to discuss how their disciplines could work together and possibly benefit each other.
• Draw Your Own Furniture - This idea reminds me of that Picasso video/photo where the little Spanish master is drawing a bull's head or a face (I can't remember what it was) in the air with something. Ok, I didn't explain that properly, but those that have seen it will know what I mean!
• ArtReview Magazine's Power 100 - The ArtReview magazine has released its annual list of one hundred powerful people. There has been quite a bit of movement on the list this year with a whole bunch of people moving up, down, on, and off the powerful 100.
• Rent a Saatchi - The advertising man and art collector Charles Saatchi is renting out a selection of 600 works from his collection. Works by contemporary artists like the Chapman Brothers, Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Stella Vine, Tom Hunter, Gary Hume, and Gavin Turk are among the rentals.
• Anatomy, Art, and Life - It's called Anatomy for Beginners, with Dr Gunther von Hagens doing the dissecting of the bodies and pathologist Professor John Lee (nicknamed the "Walt Disney of Death") explaining how we work in health and in disease.
• Starting an Art Gallery - Over at ArtInfo.com they have attempted to outline what it takes to start an art gallery and why you should start an art gallery.
• 27,000 Year Old Portrait - A 27,000 year old portrait drawing has been found in a cave in France, which makes it the oldest ever discovered.
  The Modigliani/Picasso-esque head is from a time where man was much less developed and was probably chasing big Mammoths around, but it wouldn't look out of place sitting a modern art museum.
• 1000 Paintings - I recently asked Anthony White some questions about his money paintings, and have come across an artist in Zürich, Switzerland doing something similar. Maria pointed out the one thousand paintings site, where Sala is creating 1000 numbered works for sale online.
• Milk Art - Martin White from the United Kingdom will soon create an installation called "Spilt Milk". The dairy hygiene inspector is pouring 5,000 liters or 8,800 pints into a dish and will wait for it to go off.
• Guy Goma BBC Interview - A few days ago a guy went into the BBC for a job interview and found himself being interviewed live on a worldwide broadcast. The funny thing is it was the wrong "Guy".
• Lamborghini Art - A man in California liked the look of his Lamborghini Countach so much that he has done a Marcel Duchamp with it. The Californian millionaire Richard Moriarty has bolted his 1974 sports car to a wall in his house and called it art.
• Art-o-mat Art Vending Machine - The more I think about the Art-o-mat, the more I like it! It's a vending machine that sells affordable original art.
• Artists Sue NYC over Anti-Graffiti Law - A group of seven artists and the fashion designer Marc Ecko are suing New York City for being too hard on graffiti artists, claiming that their "constitutional right to free speech" is being violated.
• Painting from Photographs Update - The recent post about painting from photographs created some friendly debate. Some believe it is fine to use photographs as they're just another useful tool for the artist, while others believe it's almost cheating, or certainly taking a shortcut.
• Painting from Photographs - The ARTnews magazine has asked a question that has been around for a while now.. "Why should a painting based on a photograph be considered a less legitimate work of art than one painted from observation or one that is simply abstract?"
• Pro Hart - The art Mafia doesn't like me - This week the Australian artist Pro Hart died, so there has been quite a bit about him the media. Most reports seem to highlight the fact that he was never collected by any important art museums in Australia.
• Photoshop Art Fakes - Over at Worth1000.com there's a competition to make famous works of art look fake. The idea is to use Photoshop to manipulate paintings from any period by changing or adding details to the work.
• Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea - With a bit of a boom going on in the contemporary art market, the Gagosian Gallery is expanding in New York's Chelsea area. Gagosian already has a gallery in Chelsea, so there must plenty of activity in the buyer's room. They also have galleries in London, Beverly Hills, and currently two in New York.
• Helen Frankenthaler Gum Painting Cleaned - The Helen Frankenthaler abstract painting titled "The Bay" has had the piece of gum removed successfully. Alfred Ackerman rated the job a 6 out of 10 for difficulty, and was happy to report that all is now well with the 7 foot high painting.
• Saatchi Gallery Debts - According to this report by the Guardian newspaper, the company that was set up to run the Saatchi Gallery in South Bank, London has has found itself in court for not paying a debt of £1.8 million.
• Helen Frankenthaler with Gum - A 12 year old boy recently decided to discard his gum by sticking it to a painting by the New York abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler.
• Contemporary Art Trends - The new ARTnews magazine for February has an interesting article about the top 10 art trends in contemporary art. It mentions the similarities that contemporary art has with historical movements like Mannerism or the Baroque period (If it’s sweet and sad, sentimental and repulsive, cute and creepy, it must be postmodern mannerism).
• Rupert Murdoch Portrait Painting - The British portrait artist Jonathan Yeo has finished a portrait of one of the most powerful men in the media industry. The Australian born, American adopted media mogul of the News Corporation company (yes, he owns the Simpsons cartoon too!), Rupert Murdoch sat for Yeo in his London studio.
• Marc Quinn to do Kate Moss - The English artist Marc Quinn plans to imortalize the supermodel Kate Moss as the "Aphrodite of our age", with five bronze sculptures.
• Child Prodigies - I've noticed a few child art prodigies popping up on the internet lately. Marla Olmstead has been mentioned before on artnewsblog, as the 4 year old art prodigy, and for being featured on 60 Minutes.
  But there's also Akiane, the 11 year old internationally known child art prodigy. That's her pictured on the left, appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show!
• Putting Your Art Online - Here's an article over at Linkism.com discussing a couple reasons why and how to put your art online.. (I think most artists have already done that, right?)
• Rolf Harris's Portrait of the Queen - Australian expat Rolf Harris, now based in the United Kingdom caused a bit of a stir with his portrait of the Queen.
• Michelangelo's David makes people go Crazy - According to a psychiatrist in Florence by the name of Dr Graziella Magherini, great works of art can make people feel anything from disorientation and queasiness, to temporary panic attacks, and even moments of madness in sensitive or cultured onlookers.
• Hirst no1 on ArtReview List - The ArtReview magazine has released its fourth annual listing of the art worlds most powerful players. British artist Damien Hirst was number 78 on the list of 100 last year, making it quite an impressive jump.
• Wallace and Gromit Studio Fire - The studio home of Wallace and Gromit was burnt to the ground this week. The Aardman Animation studio in Britain was engulfed by fire, losing many sets, plasticine figures and sketches from the popular Wallace and Gromit movies.
• ArtDaily.com, Going, going, staying.. - "Economic fatigue" is troubling the great daily art news site ArtDaily again. Art Daily nearly shut up shop twice before due to finances, or lack of them, and thankfully they're going to keep going again.
• Artist Quotes - After browsing around the internet looking for art news and coming up with nothing much, I decided to just add some favorite art quotes. One can never have too many inspirational artist quotes!
• Spencer Tunick in France - New York photography Spencer Tunick had the French naked with their legs in the air last week. Fifteen hundred French got their threads off in the French town of Lyon to participate in Spencer Tunick's latest nude fest.
• Damien Hirst buys Gothic Manor - The contemporary British artist Damien Hirst will soon become lord of his own Gothic manor after purchasing a 3 million pound Gloucestershire residence.
• Walter Sickert and Jack the Ripper - Crime novelist Patricia Cornwell has pointed the finger at the German born English painter Walter Sickert, claiming that he is Jack the Ripper. Historians have labeled her claims as "far fetched" and "Circumstantial". Sounds like great marketing to me.
• Spencer Tunick Nudes in Belgium - Nearly 2000 people put on their birthday suits in near freezing weather recently in Bruges, Belgium for the photographer Spencer Tunick.
• 7,200 Year Old Sex Scene - Archaeologists have found what could possibly be the oldest depiction of porn in the world. The 8cm high clay figurine of the lower part of a male figure (nicknamed Adonis von Zschernitz) was recently found in Germany.
• Cartoonist Faces Prison for Blasphemy - Austrian cartoonist Gerhard Haderer may be facing prison time in Greece for blasphemy!. Haderer was not even aware that his satirical book was even published in Greece, but has received a summons to appear in an Athens court.
• Blood Art - Art made of blood has been taken off Ebay. The online auctioning mega-portal does not accept the sale of human body parts, and classifies the works in this category.
• Marla Olmstead on 60 Minutes - I did not see the episode on 60 minutes recently, but it's interesting to see what people have to say about it. See the two previous posts on Art News Blog and the comments that people have had.
  
• Artists Resale Rights Levy - Britain's booming contemporary art market may be affected by the new "droit de suite" tax or the artists resale rights levy when it is introduced next year. Artists or their families will receive a percentage of the sale of their work for up to 70 years after his/her death.
• Bomb Barrier Art - Big ugly grey concrete walls in Baghdad, Iraq are beginning to come to life with art. The walls are to protect important buildings from mortars and suicide bombers.
• Artist Offended - An interesting post over at The Art Life blog, where an artist gets nasty over a little criticism. Sure I have been offended, possibly even hurt by criticism before but it was unconstructive and hurtful criticism, certainly nothing as mild as this.
• 4 Year old Marla Olmstead - The so called "Child Prodigy" Marla Olmstead is in the news again, gaining more international exposure than most veteran artists. Her work is now selling for up to $15,000 each.
• More Pain = Better Art - French conceptial artist Amelia Gentleman believes that her best art comes from her lowest times. Particularly bad relationship break-ups have inspired her to create some of her best work.
• Duchamp's Urinal - Marcel Duchamp's ready-made urinal has been voted the most influential work of art of all time by 500 art experts. Pablo Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" and "Guernica" paintings must have felt a little peeved at missing out on the top spot to a toilet.
• Seeing God - It's an interesting theme to tackle for artists.. depicting God. Probably too difficult a task to accomplish with paint.
• Protecting Ancient Paintings - The problem with having such a rich and plentiful source of archeological treasures is that it's so much more difficult to look after every site. I remember in Turkey some of the early Christian paintings in Kapadokya had initials scratched all over them.
• Relative of Vincent van Gogh Killed - I've heard of people being verbally abused or even imprisoned for their art, but being killed for your art is a little extreme.
• The Mona Lisa Smile - It's the most famous painting in the world and a must-see for anyone visiting Paris. But most people fight through the crowds to spend a mere 15 seconds in front of it - just long enough to grab a snapshot. So why do they bother?
• Top40 in the Art World - The ArtReview magazine has released its list of what it considers to be the top 100 people in art. They include gallerists, artists, curators, and art collectors from all parts of the world.
  
• Beheading in Iraq Video - 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.
• 4 year old art prodigy? - A four-year-old girl is wowing the New York art world with paintings that are drawing comparisons with Jackson Pollock and Wassily Kandinsky. Marla Olmstead, from Binghamton, in New York state, has been painting since just before she was two years old.
• You call that art? A chimp could have painted it - It is said that, given enough time, a chimpanzee at a typewriter could produce the works of Shakespeare. So how many years would it take for one with a brush and palette to turn out a Picasso?
  
• How the Laughing Cavalier keeps an eye on everybody - From second-rate horror films to episodes of Scooby-Doo, ominous paintings whose staring eyes follow a character around the room, no matter where they go, have been used to spooky effect. But now a team of scientists believe they have solved the mystery of how they do it.
• Michelangelo's David didnt use Pilates.. - Alan Herdman, who brought the Pilates exercise technique to Britain more than 30 years ago, has chosen the 500th anniversary of the statue's unveiling to pronounce David a prime candidate for the fashionable body-conditioning regime.
  
• Art News Online - Some excellent sources for art news online..