Catsup 613

History Rewritten

John Lichfield writes from Paris for The Indepenent…

“The history of art, and the history of ears, may never be the same again. According to a new book, the painter Vincent van Gogh did not slice off his left ear in a fit of madness and drunkenness in Arles in December 1888. His ear was severed by a sword wielded by his friend, the painter, Paul Gauguin, in a drunken row over a woman called Rachel and the true nature of art.

Gauguin lied about the incident and fled, two German art historians now believe. Van Gogh covered up to protect his friend and was placed in a mental institution. He committed suicide seven months later…”

Scary Thing

from The Smoking Gun… i know it’s bad form to diss a 68 year old granny, but the scary thing about this project is the art work. use the pdf link in the article to scope it out for yourself.

“APRIL 29—The Federal Emergency Management Agency has removed a children’s coloring book from its web site following criticism over its inclusion of drawings of the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The coloring book, titled “A Scary Thing Happened,” is geared towards helping kids “cope with disasters,” and was prepared by a Minnesota crisis response team. Until yesterday, the coloring book could be downloaded from the FEMA web site. As seen below, the coloring book’s cover montage includes a drawing of one of the Twin Towers on fire as a plane approaches the second building. A similar image, which children could color in, appears on page 12 of the book. If you’d like a copy of the entire 25-page coloring book, click here to download a PDF. The coloring book was created in 2003 for the Freeborn County Crisis Response Team and was illustrated by Marlys Jentoft, a 68-year-old grandmother of 10. In an interview, Jentoft… told TSG she was unaware of the recent criticism of the coloring book, but would redo the drawings if asked. Jentoft, who volunteers for the Red Cross and church and crime victims groups, said that she did not give much thought to including the 9/11 images since, “I feel like it was happening in the world and kids saw it. It is life.”“

Hull announces mural project

Laura Peyton writes in the Ottawa Citizen…

“Those who look at a blank concrete wall as just another canvas have scored a victory in Gatineau with a city hall-sanctioned graffiti mural planned for a 71-metre-long wall in Hull. The city’s youth organization, Commission Jeunesse, is leading the project to add some artistry to a downtown wall otherwise prey to gang tags* and ugly spray-painted scrawls.

Staff unveiled the concept poster for the proposed mural at Tuesday’s council meeting and introduced some of the artists involved. “The goal of the wall is first of all to show people that graffiti is not a disturbance. It’s something that can enrich the quadrant instead of destroy it,” said Jocelyn Galipeau, a Gatineau muralist hired to oversee the project.

The mural will go on a wall at the corner of St-Rédempteur and Hôtel-de-Ville streets, just a few blocks from city hall. It’s expected to be painted in May and unveiled June 3…”

full article here…

Anyone who has visited the “Hullwalls” knows that they are currently dominated by Ottawa writers. Traditionally, Hull has been more about street art than graffiti. thus the occasional writing projects mounted by the Hullies on their own turf can be huge and spectacular, seeming to explode out of nowhere. Lukaz Bober (mentioned in Ms. Peyton’s article) probably did more than any other artist to define last season’s Hull flavour, with his arresting contributions to the Soundcheck, Flower and Bug-wall productions.

*Hull has gang tags?

sorry dudes and dudettes,

i fell into a very deep, non-artistic hole.

still here, no really, i think… will get back.