AlfonZo Rachel, Toilet Economics & the Success of Failure

AlfonZo Rachel is the founder of Macho Sauce Productions. He was born on Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana in 1972, but has lived in Southern California most of his life. A musician and martial artist, Mr. Rachel is a self-described Christian conservative republican. In his Zonation video, he uses a toilet as a metaphor for [...]

Damien Hirst, Dead Cows and Cradles of Hope

“I have a really good business manager,” said Damien Hirst. “He told me a long time ago ‘You’d better make sure that you’re using the money to chase your art ideas rather than the art to chase your money ideas.’ Which is a very important thing to never forget.” That is sound advice coming from [...]

Going Green with Wombat Poo Paper

In the city of Burnie, Australia, in Northwest Tasmania, a handmade-paper company is putting some very unusual material in the paper pulp: marsupial droppings. Read about it in Art Right’s sister site, CritterBlog: CritterBlog » Blog Archive » Going Green with Wombat Poo Paper.

Hazel McCallion- Hot Child in the City

Hazel McCallion, the 88-year old 11-term mayor mayor of the financially solvent Canadian city of Mississauga, easily won her last election with 92% of the vote. A former hockey player, who is still called upon to drop the puck, has been described as a “small-c” conservative. She runs the government of Canada’s sixth-largest city on [...]

Rose Family to Brandeis U: “We Object”

In January 2009, Brandeis University announced it would be closing the Rose Art Museum and selling off works from its collection, due to the University’s budget problems. The museum was founded in 1961, with a gift of $1 million from the Rose Family, which funded construction of the building. Brandeis president Jehuda Reinharz has said [...]

Art Imitates Economic Meltdown

Danish artist Jan Egesborg, 46, is no stranger to controversy. He was arrested in Vienna in 2007, and his six-member art group, Surrend, nearly wound up in court after putting up posters depicting Russia’s then-President Vladimir Putin in a target’s bull’s eye. “We found that this satirical political art was getting too much for us,” [...]

Bogus Bidder Sabotages Sale of Rabbit and Rat

The late designer Yves Saint Laurent’s collection of art and antiquities, sold by Christie’s Fine Art last week in Paris, brought in more than $484 million, setting a record for the most valuable private collection sold at auction. Two bronze animal heads, a rabbit and a rat, looted from a summer palace outside Beijing in [...]

Las Vegas Art Museum to Close

The Las Vegas Art Museum is shutting down on February 28, 2009. “We’ve tried everything to keep this afloat. It’s just a challenging time,” said Patrick Duffy, president of the museum’s board. “The economic climate has eliminated several of our donations or reduced them significantly.” The museum got its start in 1950 as the Las [...]

Armani Arts Institute

The glitterati must have thrown away the memo from the doom-and-gloom leader of the Free World, President Barack Obama, advising them of the global economic crisis. They showed up Tuesday night for the opening of Giorgio Armani’s new 43,000 square-foot flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The celebration was a scaled back affair. (Maybe [...]

Traditional Art in an Economic Downturn

There were signs this week that the commodity value of traditional art may be adversely affected by the struggling economy. That’s what the early indicators show, even though a bronze version of Edgar Degas’ sculpture “Little Dancer” (Petite danseuse de quatorze ans) sold at Sotheby’s in London on Tuesday night for a record £13.3 million [...]