Cadbury Gorilla

In my local supermarket the other day they were playing Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight. I didn't think Phil Collins. I didn't think tune title. I thought Cadbury's drumming gorilla (2007). That's the power of strong advertising. Most unhealthy! This is the Extended Mix version.

Frozen Top Grosser

Walt Disney Studios' Oscar winning feature film Frozen (2013) has become the top-grossing animated film in box office history, making $1.072 billion (£644.38 million) globally (CLICK). One to watch out for in the Christmas TV schedules. The picture shows Elsa The Snow Queen.

British Printmaking

I must admit the overkill of World War 1 commemorations is already beginning to drain my interest in the subject. However this striking drypoint study of marching troops Returning to the Trenches (1916) by C. R. W. Nevinson is worthy of note. It comes up for grabs in Bonhams New Bond Street auction The Grosvenor School & Avant-Garde British Printmaking on 15 April, estimated at £60,000-£80,000 (CLICK).

RI Show 2014

Next Wednesday 2 April the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours opens its Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London. Demonstrations will be given and this year there is a special section on the theme "Gardens & Gardening". Shown is a detail from Harvest Days 1 The Day is Done by David Poxon RI. There will also be some work by non-members selected for their excellence. The show runs until 19 April. Admission is £3 for adults, £2.50 for silver surfers. All works are for sale (CLICK).

North by Northwest

For weeks BBC Two has been televising an unsung season of Alfred Hitchcock films on weekend afternoons. So far I've managed to catch The Lady Vanishes (far better than the recent BBC version, despite technical improvements), Rear Window, Notorious and Suspicion. Today it's the turn of Hitchcock's spy thriller North by Northwest (1959) starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman, the score by Bernard Herrmann. Graphic designer Saul Bass used groundbreaking kinetic typography in the film's opening credits (CLICK). Shown is a photo from an attempted murder sequence with Cary Grant running from a crop duster plane. The climax of the film is a fight on Mount Rushmore. Legend has it that Hitch wanted one of the villains to drop out of a president's nostril, but was refused permission. The film begins at 3.20pm.

Nazi Loot Update

In a blaze of publicity, a spokesman for Nazi art theft beneficiary Cornelius Gurlitt announced that Henri Matisse's Seated Woman will be returned to the heirs of Paris art collector Paul Rosenberg, from whom it was stolen. At one time the painting was in the collection of Hermann Goering, the founder of the Gestapo secret police. The spokesman said that Cornelius Gurlitt had told his lawyer "Should there be the well-founded suspicion that works are looted art then please give them back to their Jewish owners." Mr Nice Guy! His PR team are working hard to make him seem less like a despicable hoarder of Nazi plunder. Meanwhile, German lawmakers are debating whether to repeal a 30-year statute of limitations that provides cover for people retaining looted works. It is estimated that Gurlitt's hoard contains 458 works stolen or extorted from Jewish owners during the Holocaust and 380 pieces of "degenerate" art removed from public collections (CLICK).

Dame Monica Mason

The National Portrait Gallery in London has unveiled its latest commissioned portrait of a famous person: Dame Monica Mason (2013) by Saied Dai. Her portrait is in Room 32. Former ballerina Dame Monica retired as Director of the Royal Ballet in 2012. She attended the Royal Ballet School from the age of 14 and at 16 became the youngest ever member of the Royal Ballet Company. So, a glittering career; but I don't see that reflected in Saied Dai's portrait. It is overly theatrical to the point of caricature. Her fingers clasping what looks like a death mask are twisted in an unrealistic way, and the three-quarter profile elongates her face and strikes me as far too coy for what should be a commanding figure. CLICK to view a comparison.

EU Helps UK Games

Here's good news for British video games developers. The European Commission has approved tax relief measures worth as much as £188 million over five years for games makers. Games industry body Tiga lobbied for a tax relief policy, which will allow games developers to claim discounts on up to 25% of a game's production costs. Originally the Commissions was dubious of the need for tax relief, but after investigation it has changed its mind. It now believes that without such help British video games would "decline considerably". This huge boost to the UK games industry will help to safeguard more than 4,600 British jobs (CLICK).

Van Dyck Update

The Art Fund and the National Portrait Gallery have announced a modicum of movement in their attempt to save Sir Anthony Van Dyck's magnificent last Self-portrait for the nation. Following discussions between the owner of the painting, Alfred Bader, the art dealer Philip Mould and the collector James Stunt, the NPG now has the opportunity to buy the work for £10 million, instead of the £12.5 million originally sought. However, £10m is still a far cry from the £3.6 million raised so far (CLICK).

Yue Minjun

If you fancy braving Eurostar and Paris smog, you might take a decko at Art Paris Art Fair, which opened at the Grand Palais yesterday. The official website has a dodgy script, so I won't direct you there. Shown is a large 3D painting by Chinese artist Yue Minjun: Blue Sky and White Clouds. The figure has been painted with a loincloth for Paris prudes. CLICK for ArtDaily.

Sutton Hoo

Today, after four years of renovation and refurbishment, The British Museum in London reopens Room 41, the gallery of Early Medieval Europe. Central to the new display are the treasures from the world famous Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo burial ship. Shown is one of these treasures: the Sutton Hoo Purse Lid (7th century) made in gold with cloisonné garnet and millefiori glass, found in Suffolk, England. Admission to Room 41 is free. CLICK for curator Sue Brunning's blog on Sutton Hoo.

Piccadilly Circus Sold

Yesterday evening Christie’s auction house in London flogged the L.S. Lowry collection of the late hotel tycoon Lord Forte for £17.7 million (CLICK). Lowry's painting of Piccadilly Circus (1960) fetched a record £5.6 million, equalling the record set by The Football Match (1949) which was also sold by Christie's to an anonymous buyer.

Design Awards 2014

Tomorrow the Design Museum London opens its Designs of the Year 2014 (CLICK). Many of the shortlisted designs are hi-tech, which is why I found this lo-tech design in the architecture category so outstanding. It's the Makoko Floating School in Nigeria designed by NLÉ and made by Makoko Community Building Team. Admission to the show costs £8.80. CLICK for a Paul Kerley slide show.

Light & Land

The current exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London is Light & Land year of the print, a showcase of landscape photography, which runs until next Saturday 29 March (CLICK). Shown is a detail from Sally Fisher's Dead Vlei, Sossusvlei, Namibia. It looks like a painting, but isn't. Over 65 landscape photographers are represented. Prints are for sale. Admission is free.

Ron in Rio

I intended to post this picture yesterday, but my Dell monitor went phut. Today I'm squinting at an old squarish monitor that produces minuscule fonts on a panoramic screen. Still, I'm back online. I first showed Ron Mueck's Couple under an Umbrella last year (CLICK). It's now in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the Museum of Modern Art, together with eight other sculptures by Ron, until 1 June. This photo gives a good idea of the scale of Couple under an Umbrella.

Royal Mail Latest

Tomorrow, Royal Mail issues a new set of 10 stamps featuring famous Brits who were born in 1914 (CLICK). Shown is stage and film actor Kenneth More (1914 - 1982) one of the UK's most popular British stars in the 1950s.

Thief Owns Up

Two Days ago I reported that French police had recovered Rembrandt's The Child and the Soap Bubble, stolen 15 years ago. The two men trying to sell the painting were arrested. In a surprising development on Wednesday night, a man who claims he actually stole the picture handed himself into the police on the advice of his lawyer. He was released after making a statement. The French Central Office for the Fight against Traffic in Cultural Goods (OCBC) has launched an investigation into the theft (CLICK).

Kelpies in USA

While numerous vested interests argue the toss over Scottish Independence, Scotland is selling itself to the USA as a tourist destination and a place to do business. Leading the way is Andy Scott's The Kelpies. Yesterday, as part of the launch of Scotland Week in New York City, these original 15-foot-high steel 1:10 scale design models of The Kelpies were unveiled in Bryant Park, central Manhattan (CLICK). The models began their US tour last year at Chicago and then visited Indiana. CLICK for The Kelpies website.

Outward Bound

Yesterday, while googling for a picture of Rembrandt's The Child and the Soap Bubble, which I found on my own blog, I chanced upon this beautiful oil painting by Sir Edward John Poynter I didn't know existed: Outward Bound (1886). The title refers to the toy boat made of half a shell with a feather for a sail which one of the two girls has launched toward the cave entrance. They look like tomboys. They've been swimming in the nude and fishing and might have had a picnic in their secret cave. The painting is in the Tate collection, but isn't currently on display. Why not? CLICK for a larger graphic.

British Renaissance

For those of us wishing to escape the tedium of BBC One's Sport Relief - three hours of celebrities doing daft and sometimes dangerous things for charity - BBC Two is offering a new 3-part arts series A Very British Renaissance at 9pm this evening (CLICK). Art historian Dr James Fox, looking like a BBC newsreader in his suit and tie, presents his rather obvious thesis that the Renaissance didn't just happen in Italy; it spread throughout Western Europe, especially to Germany, and arrived on British shores with a handful of foreign artists in the early part of the 16th century. Of course the Renaissance wasn't merely an improvement in art. It shrugged off the medieval yoke and brought in fresh ideas to architecture, literature and science. Shown is Holbien's superb drawing of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, when he was about 15 years old. Henry got the chop a few years later. This is one of a collection of Holbien's preparatory drawings kept in Windsor Castle.

Simon Weston OBE

The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) has unveiled this portrait of Falklands War veteran Simon Weston OBE, who suffered 46% burns to his face and body when the Sir Galahad was attacked in 1982. He underwent more than 70 operations to rebuild his face! He has since raised millions of pounds for charity to support people living with disfigurement. Viewers of BBC's The One Show chose Weston from a shortlist of 12 public figures who they felt most deserved to have their image hung at the gallery. This is the first joint commission between the NPG and BBC. In April Fiona Bruce - the glamorous face of Fake Or Fortune? - will present a BBC documentary on the painting of the portrait and Weston's life (CLICK). One to look out for.

Chicken from Hell

Newly discovered species of dinosaur are coming thick and fast lately. This is an artist's impression of the latest find: Anzu wyliei, nicknamed "the chicken from Hell". The partial remains of three specimens were found in a geological formation known as Hell Creek in Dakota, USA, and identified by the department of palaeobiology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC. The size of a small car, Anzu wyliei had feathers and claws on its upper arms, a reptilian tail, a toothless beak and a hollow, bony crest. It's another link between dinosaurs and birds (CLICK).

Rembrandt's Bubble

French police have recovered Rembrandt's The Child and the Soap Bubble, which was stolen from the Municipal Museum of Draguignan - a former convent in southeastern France - 15 years ago. Two men were caught in Nice trying to sell the painting, worth millions (CLICK).

Budget Bingo!

Chancellor George Osborne finally makes it clear that paying taxes is a bit like playing Bingo! You might win some peanuts now and then, but the House wins every time, the House of Commons, that is. Cynical? Me? I recently filled out a questionnaire about encouraging more people to vote. The best idea occurred to me today while watching clips of the budget "debate" on BBC News: stop televising Parliament. Gangs of opposing toffs yelling "Ya boo, sucks to you." isn't my idea of sane governance (CLICK).

New £1 Coin

The Royal Mint has released this image of the New £1 Coin set to be introduced in 2017 (CLICK). The older generation will recognize the 12-sided shape as a threepenny bit or "thruppence", taken out of circulation in 1971. The Royal Mint believes there are now more than 30 million fake £1 coins in circulation and hopes the new £1 coin will be the "most secure in the world". Famous last words! To find out how to tell a fake £1 coin from a real one, CLICK.

Veronese Opens

I previewed Veronese: Magnificence in Renaissance Venice back in February (CLICK). Today this truly monumental exhibition opened at The National Gallery in London (CLICK). It runs until 15 June. Shown is Persius and Andromeda (c. 1575-80) by Paolo Veronese.

Sony World Photos

BBC News has posted the winners of the open and youth categories in the Sony World Photography Awards 2014 (CLICK). If you want to see real poverty, take a close look at Turjoy Chowdhury's photo of two barefoot urchins in Bangladesh. He won first place in the youth environment category with this shot. The winning photos will be on display at Somerset House in London from 1-18 May.

Alex Katz

Tomorrow the Timothy Taylor Gallery at 15 Carlos Place, London, opens Alex Katz: 70s / 80s / 90s, a retrospective of the art of American artist Alex Katz. Shown are two figures from his Black Stockings series. The exhibition runs until 17 April (CLICK).

Painter-Stainers 2

Update: the winner of the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2014 is Catherine Davidson with this en plein air painting The Craggs at Dawn (from Carlton Hill). She wins the £15,000 first prize and an engraved gold medal. CLICK for the names of the other winners.

Painter-Stainers

Yesterday the Mall Galleries in London opened two exhibitions: 1) Lynn Painter-Stainers in the Main Gallery and 2) Transcending Boundaries 2014 in the North Gallery and Threadneedle Space (CLICK). The latter is the leading platform for contemporary West African art. The Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize, worth £25,000 overall, was created in 2005 by the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers and the Lynn Foundation. First prize is £15,000. The winners were announced yesterday by art dealer and historian Philip Mould OBE, but the website hasn't caught up with this news at the time of writing; it's still showing last year's winner (CLICK). Shown is James Lloyd's Red Studio. Look carefully and you'll see the artist and his studio reflected in the red balloon. Cleverly done. Admission to this show is free. Both shows run until Saturday 22 March.

Pandas on Tour

What a lot of pandas! There are around 1,600 of them, together with 200 Formosan black bears. They are all made of paper to designs by French artist Paulo Grangeon. His exhibition Pandas on Tour (2014) is currently in Liberty Square, backed by the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei. Where to next? Could his cute paper pandas prove as popular as giant rubber ducks?

New Dino-era Lizard

I admire artists' impressions of long-extinct species of dinosaur-era reptiles imagined out of unearthed bones. These are Sphenodontines by an anonymous artist. Argentinean paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new species from this family: Priosphenodon minimus, so named because it is only about 20 centimetres long (8 inches to you and me). How do they know that this ancient lizard found in Chubut was adult, not a baby? By the wear on its teeth. CLICK for more information.

Comics Unmasked 2

Back in January I previewed the British Library's exhibition Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK (CLICK). The Library has now released this comics-style caped girl graphic by Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett. It will be used to advertise the show and will also appear as a six-metre-high installation thingy at the Library. The show opens on 2 May and runs over the summer. Parental warnings for under 16s seem almost obligatory lately. There will be an X-rated separate section examining sexual themes, which kiddies can be dragged past. Oo-er. Tickets cost £9.50 for adults, £7.50 for silver surfers (CLICK).

Renaissance Woodcuts

Yesterday, in the The Sackler Wing, Burlington House, London, the Royal Academy of Arts opened Renaissance Impressions: Chiaroscuro woodcuts from the Collections of Georg Baselitz and the Albertina, Vienna. The RA has brought together 150 of the rarest and most exquisite examples of this forgotten art form, which began in the 16th century. These are the very first colour prints, showing Renaissance masterpieces to a wider public, mainly in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Shown is Hendrick Goltzius' chiaroscuro woodcut printed from three blocks depicting Hercules Killing Cacus (1588). The exhibition runs until 8 June. Tickets cost £10 for adults, £9 for silver surfers. CLICK for further details.

Viking Art

Why pay £16.50 to visit the British Museum's Vikings: Life and Legend when you can curl up in your armchair this evening and watch Viking Art: A Culture Show Special on BBC Two at 8.30pm (CLICK)? The one drawback is that you have to tolerate smug presenter Andrew Graham-Dixon as your tour guide to the exhibition, but maybe it will be worth it. Shown is a Viking Bracelet (CLICK).

Welcome to Iraq

Today the South London Gallery in Peckham Road opened Welcome to Iraq, a restaging of the group exhibition originally shown as part of the National Pavilion of Iraq in the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. Works in a variety of media by eleven contemporary artists were selected to highlight the breadth of artistic practice in Iraq, from cartoons to photos. They were commissioned by RUYA Foundation for Contemporary Culture in Iraq. The show runs until 1 June, admission free (CLICK).

Survival Photos

Survival International is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year by launching its first ever photographic competition. It wants striking photos of tribal and indigenous peoples from every corner of the planet. Winning entries will be published in Survival’s 2015 calendar and be exhibited at The Little Black Gallery in London. The outright winner will receive an Olympus camera E-PM2, worth about £300, donated by Olympus. CLICK to read the rules and enter the competition. The closing date for entries is 31 March. Shown is a Hadza child in Tanzania eating honey, photographed by Joanna Eede for Survival. Hadza hunters use the song of an African bird to guide them to bees’ nests in baobab trees. Honey is a treat for their kids.

Secret Sale

The Royal College of Art Secret 2014 art exhibition opened in London today, venue Dyson Building, 1 Hester Road, Battersea, SW11 4AN. This annual show features postcard-sized works of art by anonymous artists. Only when bought can you see the signature of the artist on the back. It might be by a student or someone famous. You pay £50 to find out. This year's show boasts 2900 works by 1124 artists. Admission is free. The sale opens on Saturday 22 March at 8am (CLICK). Fans queue.

Serpentine Pavilion 2014

Images for the Serpentine Galleries Pavilion 2014, designed by Chilean architect Smiljan Radic, have been unveiled, and here is Smiljan Radic Studio's External Indicative CGI of the creation, which will infest Kensington Gardens in London from 26 June to 19 October (CLICK). It looks like a giant slug to me. If you're a non-tech person wondering what a CGI is, it's Computer Generated Imagery. You feed in the coordinates and whatever and software does the rest. I had great fun on my old Atari ST with a fractal landscape generator yonks ago. Once you have the CGI you want, you can add other images to it.

BAFTA Winners

Naughty Dog's zombie thriller video game The Last of Us has won Best Game at the BAFTA awards ceremony in London, as well as four other awards: Best Story, Audio Achievement and Best Performer for Ashley Johnson as Ellie. CLICK to see the full list of winners.

Banksy Projections

If you're in Trafalgar Square tomorrow evening, you'll see Banksy's latest graffito projected onto Nelson's Column. His reworking of Balloon Girl (2002) wearing a headscarf (2014) will also be shown on the Eiffel Tower in Paris and on landmarks around the world. It's in aid of #withsyria, a campaign to support victims of the conflict (CLICK). On his website Banksy explains it thus:

"On the 6th March 2011 in the Syrian town of Daraa, fifteen children were arrested and tortured for painting anti-authoritarian graffiti. The protests that followed their detention led to an outbreak of violence across the country that would see a domestic uprising transform into a civil war displacing 9.3 million people from their homes." (CLICK)

Johan Zoffany

Here's another painting saved for the nation by the Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) scheme administered by Arts Council England: Johan Zoffany's magnificent David Garrick and Mary Bradshaw in David Garrick’s The Farmer’s Return, commissioned by Garrick to commemorate another successful play with him in the starring role, of course. CLICK to view a larger picture. ACE has sent this painting up north to The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle, County Durham, thanks to an application by its Keeper of Fine Art, Emma House (CLICK). Zoffany led a surprisingly adventurous life for an artist. Shipwrecked and starving, he and his fellows drew lots to see which of them would be eaten! A young sailor lost and was killed and eaten. How's that for sacrificing yourself for Art?

Mail Rail

Islington Council has approved The London Post Office Railway - known as "Mail Rail" - as a tourist attraction. The British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA) plans to open a new postal museum at Mount Pleasant in 2016, but still needs to raise funds. Shown is an artist's impression of Mount Pleasant as it will look with a tourist train. Originally driverless trains carried post underground from Whitechapel to Paddington. Royal Mail mothballed this "secret railway" in 2003. CLICK for more information and photos.

Kenwood House Daffs

Spring appears to have sprung. Now is the time to visit Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath. Its banks of naturalised daffodils should be in bloom and the midges haven't emerged yet. The interior boasts the Robert Adam Library and the Iveagh Bequest of fine art (CLICK).

Pandora For Sale

Rossetti's magnificent portrait of his muse Jane Morris, née Burden, as Pandora (1871), wreathed in the red smoke of evils escaping from her box, comes up for grabs in Sotheby's London auction of British & Irish Art on 22 May. This is the first time in nearly 50 years that it will be on public display. Its estimated price tag is £5-7 million, a far cry from its commission price of 750 guineas generously paid by John Graham. So this is probably our last chance to see it before it vanishes into another private collection for half a century (CLICK). A British work of this quality should be on display in the National Gallery.

First Georgians

On 11 April The Queen's Gallery in Buckingham Palace opens The First Georgians: Art & Monarchy 1714-1760. This exhibition celebrates the 300th anniversary of George I ascending the throne as the first British monarch of the German House of Hanover. It brings together over 300 works in the Royal Collection from royal residences across the UK. Shown is Guido Reni's Cleopatra with the Asp (c. 1628). Admission is £9.50 adult, £8.75 silver surfer, which isn't bad for a show of this quality (CLICK).

Mystère Acquired

The British Library has announced that it has acquired the medieval manuscript Mystère de la Vengeance by Eustache Marcadé, previously part of the collections at Chatsworth House, under HM Government's in lieu of Inheritance Tax under the Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) Scheme. The manuscript was commissioned in around 1465 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, an avid book collector and patron of the arts, and is the only surviving complete text for the play. The manuscript contains 20 superb large miniatures by Loyset Liédet. It is on display in the Sir John Ritblat Treasures Gallery. CLICK for details.

Sand Art Prayer

The BBC has posted this picture in its news on the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 without giving the artist a credit. That's him in the photo: Indian sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik with his artwork on a beach in Puri, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha: Pray God Miracles Do Happen (2014). India has some very fine sand artists. Sudarshan Patnaik set up the Golden Institute of Sand Art (CLICK). Forlorn prayer, I'm afraid: the latest news is that some wreckage has been spotted (CLICK).

Gun Offends Italy

US arms manufacturer ArmaLite Inc. has caused a storm of protest in Italy with its advertisement for the AR-50A1: A Work Of Art (2014) which it magicked into the hands of Michelangelo's famous masterpiece David (1501-1504). Various officials have thrown a wobbler over ArmaLite's cavalier abuse of David, not only because the advertisement is offensive, but also because it is illegal. The copyright of David is protected under Italian law. ArmaLite faces legal action if it doesn't withdraw the ad. (CLICK).

BAA Awards

Of all the award ceremonies that splash across the media at this time of year, the only one with a sense of humour is the British Animation Awards, known as BAA, which is the sound a sheep makes. The BAA Awards 2014 took place at the BFI, Southbank, London, yesterday. Winners received an artwork featuring a sheep. This is a biennial event, so some of the entries have been hanging around for up to two years. Magic Light Pictures' Room on the Broom - based on the Julia Donaldson story illustrated by Axel Scheffler - was awarded the best long-form prize, beating Aardman Animations' Pirates! On an Adventure with Scientists and The Snowman and the Snowdog. Other winners included Peppa Pig, Baby Jake and Cartoon Network series The Amazing World of Gumball (CLICK). For the official Room on the Broom website CLICK.

BAFTA Games 2014

The British Academy Games Awards 2014 take place on Wednesday 12 March at Tobacco Dock in London. Rockstar Games, creators of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, will receive an Academy Fellowship. For those of you who are dismissive of the value of computer games, note that on the day of its release last September Grand Theft Auto V made $800 million worldwide and was the fastest ever game to gross $1 billion. CLICK for more information. Watch the YouTube video.



Countdown to British Academy Games Awards 2014.