WICHITA, Kansas—How do you measure an artwork's success? By its price on the auction block? Its placement in the museum? By how much it moves people, or makes them think? By how many college kids hang it on their dorm-room walls?
According to Overstockart.com, a company headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, that sells hand-painted reproductions of masterpieces for 3-figure prices, rather than the 6- or even 10-figure prices they might command at auction, the most popular work of the decade is Van Gogh's Starry Night, and Impressionist and modern works by European painters are the most coveted.
The top 10 are:
1. Starry Night – Vincent van Gogh
2. Café Terrace at Night – Vincent van Gogh
3. The Kiss – Gustav Klimt
4. Poppy Field at Argenteuil – Claude Monet
5. The Mona Lisa – Da Vinci
6. Le Rêve – Pablo Picasso
7. Luncheon of the Boating Party – Pierre August Renoir
8. The Scream – Edvard Munch
9. Red Cannas – Georgia O’Keeffe
10. Persistence of Memory – Salvador Dali
According to a statement, Overstockart.com has sold over a million oil paintings in the past decade, but has not necessarily noticed a change in what sort of things people buy. “Our numbers indicate that as the years turn and our world evolves some things remain consistent,” said CEO David Sasson. “People are still captivated by the elegance and beauty that the classic artists bring to their home. It will be interesting to see when, if ever, this trend begins to fade.”
http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/33609/starry-night-most-popular-work-of-the-decade/
MOTHER AND SON FIND SOLACE IN PAINTING
by Molly Snyder Edler
If 8-year-old Malachi Schmidt has a tough day, his mom, Nina, sits him in front of his watercolors and his frustrations seem to wash away.
Malachi struggles with articulation and social skills, and at age 5 was diagnosed with autism. Nina, who is a painter, noticed that her son was always interested in her work, so she introduced him to the world of painting at a young age.
"Art is an outlet for Malachi to express himself without having to use words," says Nina, 32, of Fond du Lac.
Malachi instantly loved painting, and his mother found that it calmed him and, over time, gave him confidence. Malachi paints a lot of original pieces, but he also likes to copy famous paintings.
"Van Gogh is his favorite artist and he enjoys replicating his work," says Nina. "After painting 'Starry Night' he said proudly, 'I want to show this to Van Gogh.' It broke my heart to tell him Van Gogh was no longer living. He cried."
When Nina was asked to donate a painting to an auction for a children's charity, she decided to create a painting with Malachi. Nina started the painting, and then suggested to Malachi that he add owls and leaves.
"I did not give him any other direction. I respect his vision with his art and try not to influence him," says Nina. "We had such a wonderful time doing it and there will be many more to come."
Now, the mother and son create paintings together all the time, and this collaborative experience has been extremely valuable for both of them. It allows them to have a creative and intellectual connection, and to share something special between just the two of them. Plus, when Nina and Malachi are painting, autism no longer exists.
Nina and her husband, Jesse, have two other children, Ivan, age 5, and Violet, 19 months.
The couple struggled with their oldest child's behaviors from infancy. From practically day one, Malachi was extraordinarily fussy, needed constant body-to-body connection and he rarely slept. Then, his speech didn't progress and his inability to communicate created frustration that led to intense tantrums. Friends told Nina that his behavior was normal, especially for a boy, but deep down she knew something wasn't quite right.
When Malachi was three, Nina enrolled him in speech therapy to help with his verbal skills and occupational therapy to assist with his behavioral issues, but by the age of 5, she took him to a neurologist who diagnosed him with autism and "mental retardation." The first diagnoses was not a surprise, but the second was a complete shock.
For weeks, the couple did not contact friends or family. They grieved and struggled with the new labels assigned to their son. Finally, Nina accepted the autism, but did not believe her son was cognitively challenged.
Nina and Jesse took Malachi to a second neurologist, who agreed Malachi had autism, but said he definitely was not cognitively disabled. Suddenly, the label of autism didn't seem as scary to Nina, and she knew it was something they would learn to live with, fully and successfully.
"Malachi has autism and it's part of him, but it doesn't define who he is," says Nina. "I don't want his childhood to be overshadowed by his autism, as something we are trying to constantly defeat. We all have our struggles and limitations, but it shouldn't take away from the joys that are there."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions, about 1 in 110 children have autism. It is uncertain what causes autism, and there is not a test that determines whether or not a child is autistic. The diagnosis is based on behavior, verbal abilities and social skills.
For Malachi, art is a therapeutic tool and a hobby, but someday, it might be much more.
"It's clear that Malachi wants to do something big with his artwork. Really big. I don't know what that is yet, but I believe in him," says Nina.
http://onmilwaukee.com/family/articles/malachipaints.html?21364
WHY IS IT OKAY TO TAKE PHOTOS OF SOME ART AT MoMA AND NOT OTHERS?
Last month, we braved the holiday crowds at New York's Museum of Modern Art for our first visit to the museum, post-renovation. (Yeah, we're about five years behind.)
Getting there at 3pm on a Sunday meant we had to wait in a long line (which moved fairly fast) and that we were shut out from the current Tim Burton exhibit which had sold-out earlier. Boo. (Tip: MOMA members can get in whenever.)
Despite the crowds, we found ourselves going through every floor of the museum all the while keeping a watchful eye out for the nearest EXIT. In maneuvering through such a crowded space, we couldn't help but engage in some serious people-watching. Sure, we observed the art but sometimes, people are just more fascinating. Especially when they are trying to take photos.
In the current exhibit about Bauhaus, the German design school of the early 1900s, we saw a woman get scolded by security for taking a photograph with her iPhone. NEIN! The woman even put up a fight and said something to the effect of "I'm not leaving. Have your supervisor come to talk to me." Interesting.
But then when we wandered into the permanent collections, everyone was taking pictures left and right—some even with flash!—as security guards stood by, doing nothing. One guard was even falling asleep standing up. Meanwhile, an excited couple held up their year-old baby for about 10 minutes in front of Van Gogh's "Starry Night," having a family friend take and retake "the perfect picture."
So what gives?
It turns out that you can take pictures in the museum's Permanent Collections (minus flash) but not in the visiting exhibitions. You can even do some videotaping in the lobby. But leave your tripods at home.
In regards to sketching, know that it is allowed...sans easels. But no sketching while sitting on the floor! If the museum is ultra-crowded (like during the Free Fridays from 4 to 8pm), you can be asked to stop sketching. See the full list of guidelines here.
We're guessing the museum must have thought that anyone with a computer can Google Image a Van Gogh or Picasso, but that Bauhaus and more contemporary work still needs to be protected. Maybe in another 100 years a couple with a baby can hold up their spawn in front of Bauhaus wallpaper to take the perfect picture but for now, no cameras in the visiting exhibitions.
SYMPHONY TO FEATURE SIX TRING VIOLIN
Friendship is at the heart of most musical collaborations. Add strong doses of trust, respect and admiration and you've got conductor Andrew Sewell and electric violinist Tracy Silverman.
They'll be center stage with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra next weekend, performing groundbreaking music from the present and the past.
First up on the symphony's classics program will be new works composed by Silverman — one of them is "Between the Kiss and the Chaos," written especially for these concerts and heard here for the first time...
...Silverman's latest concerto, "Between the Kiss and the Chaos," was composed for Sewell and the Wichita Symphony. The piece is in five movements; the first three will debut next weekend. Each movement is inspired by a famous artwork — Michelangelo's "David," Matisse's "Dance," Van Gogh's "Starry Night" — and each showcases the unique qualities of the electric violin.
http://www.kansas.com/entertainment/music/story/1130427.html#ixzz0cQjQAwT5
STATEN ISLAND CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OPENS FREE TO THE PUBLIC
January 16 - 2 p.m.
Blue Painting Paint Like Van Gogh - The Starry Night Workshops aspiring artists learn to paint like the famous Dutch Painter - paint dark blue swirls and then fill in the rest. January 16 & 17 - Saturday & Sunday at 1, 2 & 3 p.m.
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