Fine Art Shippers are pleased to share with you the latest talk-worthy news from the world of art! So what’s happened in the world lately?
The heaviest fine art object will be shown in the UK. This year, from September, 19 to December, 13, a large-scale retrospective of Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei will be opened at the London Royal Academy of Arts. This art installation called “Straight” is neither more nor less than 90 tons of steel rebar that will be delivered to London from China on the eve of the exhibition. Therefore, it can be considered the heaviest fine art object in the history of the Royal Academy of Arts not only in figurative but also in the direct sense of this word. “Straight” was created by Ai Weiwei after the terrible earthquake that struck Sichuan province in 2008. The artist decided to use metal bars from the damaged buildings as the main material for his art installation. Warped metal was straightened and laid out in waves of different lengths. Thus, the Chinese artist honored the memory of more than 5000 children killed in the earthquake and at the same time drew attention to the fact that the main reasons for building collapses were shoddy construction and corruption. It is also worth noting that the original “Straight” art installation reaches the weight of more than 150 tons, but only 90 tons will be delivered to the UK. However, this does not affect the overall impression produced by this large-scale composition.
The renowned contemporary artist has created the art installation made of his own tweets. Once again about Ai Weiwei… This time, the world-famous Chinese artist decided to transform Twitter timelines into a fine art object by creating the unusual work called “An Archive.” This art installation is represented by a huge amount of printed on rice paper Ai’s tweets and blogs previously translated into Chinese. Why has the artist decided to choose his own tweets? Probably, the answer is that he relates everything connected with him, even his spoken and written words, to the world of art. The confirmation of this can be found in the artist’s Twitter writings between 2009 and 2013 that now are laid out in the style of a traditional Chinese textbook. “An Archive” art installation is open to visitors as part of the Go East exhibition opened at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia.
14 watercolor paintings by Adolf Hitler have gone under the hammer. According to the representative of the Nuremberg auction house Auktionshaus Weidler, Catherine Vidler, 14 watercolor paintings and drawings by Adolf Hitler were sold on June, 20. The image of Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria has become the most expensive lot – it was sold for €100,000 to Asia. “Flower still life” was bought for €73,000 also by the buyer from Asia. The rest of the watercolor paintings were sold for far less money: “Church in Vienna” and the image of the Hofburg Palace – each for €20,000, “The Minorite Church in Vienna” – for €16,000, “St. Charles’ Church in Vienna” – for €14,000, “Prague in the fog” and portrait of a girl, drawing Nude – each for €9,000. It should be also noted that last year the watercolor “Old city hall” with A. Hitler’s signature painted in 1916 was sold for $160,000. Such trades are conducted in accordance with German law that prohibits the sale of paintings with Nazi symbols. However, watercolor paintings by Adolf Hitler don’t contain any illegal characters.