The Guardian today runs a piece on highlights of the Liverpool capital of culture year revealing plans for a major exhibition of work by Gustav Klimt.

This will be the first exhibition in the UK devoted to Klimt and comprises over 100 works including “paintings, erotic drawings, jewellery and architectural models”

The exhibition is called, Gustav Klimt: Painting, Design and Modern Life in Vienna 1900 - it will run for three months at Tate Liverpool.

Guardian piece here

Klimt images here

The Guardian runs a story this morning that the New York Times reports that a Jackson Pollock picture, Number 5, was sold at auction by Sotheby’s for $140m this week. This amount sets a new world record breaking the previous record of $135m paid for Klimt’s portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.

But the Guardian points out that “The prices all have to be heavily qualified because sales of fine art masters between private owners are among the most tightly controlled and secretive deals around.”

The painting of one of Pollock’s first drip paintings is a large 4′ x 8′ abstract piece in reds, yellows, blues and greys.

Guardian article here

Jackson Pollock pictures here

Two pieces struck m as I cruised the Telegraph online today, the first a lovely personal view of the new Carsten Holler artwork at Tate Modern by Richard Dorment, the second a feeble waffle by Tom Horan on the new Carsten Holler artwork at Tate Modern.

Essentially five tubular slides, the artwork is the latest attempt to make meaning of the Tate’s Turbine Hall, the vast space that has previously housed art by, amongst others, Anish Kapoor, Rachael Whiteread, Louise Bourgeois and Olafur Eliasson.

In his inimitable style, Dorment brings a sense of wonderment to this latest project by Holler, with all the detail and opinion required to inform and entertain the reader, his prose is a delight. Unlike Horan whose pretentious little blog entry seems to be more in keeping with an old fashioned society gossip page than artistic comment.

Dormant’s delight here

Horan’s horror here

Pictures here

I see from their website that the Stuckists’ show, Go West, has opened at Spectrum London - funny how all the major newspapers’ arts pages seem to have missed this… Famous for their media manipulation, have the Stuckists brought it on themselves? Are critics petty minded enough to ignore them on purpose? I think the latter - those often pretentious wankers are mostly a bunch of smug gits who just happen to move in the right circles.

Good news, also from the Stuckist’s website, is that artist Michael Dickinson who was jailed in Turkey for a collage, is now free.

Whilst I do not subscribe to some of their philosophies, I do like a lot of their work and I wish them well with the show.

Don’t forget the Triumph of Stuckism symposium and exhibition starting this week in Liverpool.

Go West show here

Stuckism website here

Triumph of Stuckism here

Good news for people in the Norwich area, an exhibition of 50 paintings by Francis Bacon is being held at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia, writes Lorna Marsh on the Eastern Daily Press site.

The exhibition, which include some pictures never seen before, is entitled Francis Bacon: Paintings from the 1950s and is guest curated by Michael Peppiatt, Bacon’s biographer and on site by Sara Cooper.

Apparently this is a first for Bacon’s paintings and eventually the exhibition will be going to America. I loved the quote from Cooper when she says, “It is very exciting to be unwrapping these major works of art, it is like Christmas with butterflies in your stomach as you open them.”

Runs from 26th September to 10th December 2006.

Article here

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts website here

This week sees the opening of an outdoor exhibition of modern sculpture in Chatsworth Park in Derbyshire - Richard Dorment writes an excellent piece in the Telegraph.

Mounted by Sotheby’s, “Beyond Limits” is a selling exhibition that runs until October 17 and includes works by Hirst, Dali, Moore and Kapoor with all but one piece, Duane Hanson’s sunbather, displayed in the magnificent grounds of Chatsworth House.

Dorment is a delight to read, his enthusiasm is infectious and echos the feeling I get whenever I go to a good sculpture park. I do however, take exception to Dorment’s comment “The placement of Hanson’s suntanned babe in a gallery full of cold, white marbles is an excellent joke…” - to describe the “Veiled Lady” as cold makes me wonder whether he has actually seen it. It is a personal favourite of mine and cold it is not, it is serene, it is beautiful, it is stunning - if I had to choose which sculpture I could take home from Chatsworth, Hirst, Dali, Moore, Hanson, et al wouldn’t stand a chance.

Read Dorment’s report here

Pictures here

Chatsworth website here

Good news today on the artdaily.com website, the Hayward Gallery is to present “How to Improve the World: 60 years of British Art” a collection of 150 works of art from 100 British artists including, Francis Bacon, Patrick Caulfield, Jeremy Deller, Lucian Freud, Gilbert & George, Liam Gillick, Mona Hatoum, Barbara Hepworth, Susan Hiller, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Anish Kapoor, Richard Long, Sarah Lucas, Henry Moore, Chris Ofili, Bridget Riley, Mark Titchner and Cerith Wyn Evans.

The art is taken from the Arts Council collection and features the highlights of 60 years of modern and contemporary art and is curated by Michael Archer and Roger Malbert. Definitely one I must see despite being rubbished by Martin Gayford on the Bloomberg site as “…one of the most dismal installations I have ever seen.”

The exhibition runs until 19th November.

Story here

Hayward Gallery website here

Bloomberg website here

I note that the Guardian mentions the Stuckists twice this week. Jane Morris does a piece announcing the Go West Stuckist show at Spectrum London in October with a little background on their running battle with Sir Nicholas Serota and the Chris Ofili scandal.

The other mention is a few broad paragraphs about the Stuckists and a little slideshow featuring some of their work - very nice.

Morris article here

Slideshow here

Stuckism website here

More Stuckist pictures here

With lots to read after my holiday absence from the scene, I was so disappointed in the Guardian’s Jonathan Jones’ mean-spirited, tawdry little blog dated July 19.

After months of sitting on the fence/hiding his head in the sand (delete where applicable), Jones finally says what he ought to have said eons ago about the Ofili scandal at Tate Modern. So why does he have to refer to the Stuckists as “know-nothings”? Jonathan, they aren’t know-nothings they are the ones who campaigned to get this scandal out in the open - they are the know-lots! And, after reporting that the “Tate broke the law”, why did you down-play this as an “anomaly”? Yeah, burglars et al are committing anomalies all over the place too!

Jones states, “it is absurd that the Tate management has played into the hands (of the Stuckists)’ - err, no, no playing into hands here - more like caught with their hands in the cookie jar…

I have followed Jones’ work for a long time now and wonder if he was having the bad-hair day of all time as he goes on to attack Damien Hirst for losing “his special something since he quit drinking” …

One line that stood out for me was “But the fact is that an inward-looking arrogance has come to light, and anyone who has had dealings with Tate knows it reflects something real.” - the know-nothings, and in my own little way, I too, have been saying this for nine months or more.

Come on Jones - keep up at the back there!

Well now, I go on holiday for a few weeks and find my friends the Stuckists back in the headlines. Following an article in the Times reporting the reprimand delivered by the Charity Commission criticising the Tate’s £600,000 purchase of Chris Ofili’s Upper Room whilst he was a serving trustee (interesting word), Tim Adams does a piece “The were Ofili naughty” in the Guardian.

Speaking with Charles Thomson, co-founder of the Stuckists, Adams asks if they “had been out on the town celebrating their victory” - to which Thomson replied, “‘No, there was just the odd phone call…The news has a bitter-sweet quality. We think of the Tate as our gallery, too.’ Exactly my feelings! I have stated on several occasions that Sir Nicholas Serota has tainted the reputation of one of our greatest modern art assets, by allowing the Tate Modern to be dragged into this sordid little scandal. I personally was especially exasperated by Serota’s cavalier rejection of Gerald Laing’s Iraq works back in January.

Where it will all end, who knows, Serota seems to have teflon skin - or is it that the powers that be are all bark and no bite?

“Tate’s Ofili purchase broke charity law” - Times article by Dalya Alberg here

“The were Ofili naughty” - Guardian article by Tim Adams here

Gerald Laing snub article here

Stuckist site here

Upper Room pictures here

PS Anyone in need of a good laugh - go here