Hong Kong artists at Sotheby's auction

This past Spring auction of contemporary Asian art at Sotheby's was the very first time that an auction house had a series dedicated specifically to Hong Kong artists.

From Art Radar Asia:

"The artworks are concerned with significant historical Hong Kong events including the 1997 Handover of the British colony to China, the 2003 SARS epidemic and the annual July 1st protests as well as the experience of living in Hong Kong’s cramped urban cityscape.

All of the lots were sold at estimate or more. Kum Chi Keung, Kevin Fung and the Kowloon Emperor achieved sale prices which were double or several multiples of the estimate."

Kum Chi Keung

John Fung, Kin Chung

Herb and Dorothy

Last night I saw an amazing film - Herb & Dorothy - at Cinema Village. I must say that I was in tears for much of it - so sweet!

Anyway, the movie documents the married couple Herb and Dorothy Vogel - unlikely but very prolific art collectors. Living on goverment incomes, they amassed an amazing and significant art collection that they housed in their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment for years, until donating most of it to the National Gallery of Art. Because they were willing to schlep downtown to "dangerous" neighborhoods, they often got work for very cheap from emerging artists and developed relationships with artists - they traded with Sol LeWitt for one of his first geometric works. Their story is moving and beautiful - a love story - they loved each other and loved art - unlovable art. Whether you are an artist, a collector, or just are an interested person, definitely go see this movie. Click here for theatres and showtimes.

HERB & DOROTHY Trailer from Herb & Dorothy on Vimeo.

Ross Bleckner - UN Goodwill Ambassador

(Photo: Anna Rosario Kennedy/United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)

This year Ross Bleckner was named the first fine artist to be a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. Long known for his abstract paintings and work about AIDS, Bleckner recently went on an official trip to the Uganda district of Gulu, where abduction and human trafficking has traumatized the people.

Using supplies shipped over from New York Central Art Supply, Bleckner worked with 25 children to create over 200 paintings. The work was exhibited and sold at a UN exhibition. Bleckner plans to return to Uganda and continue the project next year.

Click here to see the NY Times slideshow featuring the children's work

Below is an excerpt from the very moving speech given by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at the opening of the exhibition:

I imagine many of you are invited to more fabulous parties in more glamorous locations. But you are here this evening because you care about the issue of human trafficking. And you understand the profound contribution that Ross Bleckner is making through his work.

Today, Ross Bleckner will make history by becoming the first fine artist to be named as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. I welcome him to our family and I hope many others follow.

His tremendously powerful exhibition, “Welcome to Gulu”, proves that art has a unique and important mission in advancing peace and human rights. With his eye, Mr. Bleckner has been able to show the world a side of human trafficking that a diplomat never could. I have my role to play in fighting the horrendous abuse of children we see in northern Uganda and elsewhere. But only an artist as visionary and compassionate as Mr. Bleckner could allow the victims to express themselves so eloquently.

Their paintings show that, although they have endured terrible forms of abuse, these children retain a purity and love of life that are the birthright of all youth. Only art -- the kind of empowering art that Mr. Bleckner has facilitated through this life-changing project -- can offer such a profound perspective.

It is vital that we shine a harsh light on the terrible trade in humans. I recently reported to the Security Council on the extent of this problem. I listed parties that are recruiting children to fight in conflicts, and abusing girls as sexual slaves. We call this “name and shame”. I urged the Security Council to take action against those guilty of these atrocities.

At the same time, I am all-too-aware of the limits of my office. Naming and shaming are critical to confronting perpetrators. Punishing them is essential to fighting the culture of impunity. But none of that will truly heal the boy who has been forced not only to witness killings but to commit them, or the girl who has suffered multiple rapes.

That is why I so deeply appreciate Mr. Bleckner’s contributions. He has done more than just expose a problem -- he has taken steps towards solving it. For him, the victims are not just poster children trotted out to show the devastation caused by human trafficking. They are people with full rights, talents and aspirations. They are speaking in their own voices, painting their own images and healing in the process.

I was delighted to learn that proceeds from the sale of these powerful paintings, and from Mr. Bleckner’s compelling portraits, will benefit former child soldiers and abducted girls.

Two years ago, my wife opened another exhibition sponsored by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC] here at United Nations Headquarters, called “Human Trafficking: Images of Vulnerability”. She decried the trade in people, and she said, “Thanks to this exhibit, it is staring us in the face.”

Then she called for action. “Let us not just look at these pictures and walk away”, she said. “Let us be moved to act.”

There was an artist in the audience that day who took those words to heart. His name is Ross Bleckner, and we see today the results of his passionate activism.

So I repeat the words my wife spoke then: Let us be moved to act. You may not have the same painting skills as Mr. Bleckner, but each and every one of you can make a difference in your own sphere of influence.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is showing the way through its invaluable activities. By supporting UNODC, we can stop human trafficking so that the people who are today in shackles can tomorrow be free to contribute to a better world for all.

NASA's first (and maybe last) artist-in-residence

I recently wrote about our first "space artist", and so I was really excited to come across this NY Times article about Laurie Anderson's stint as NASA's first artist-in-residence...



Your new one-woman show, ''The End of the Moon,'' is based on your stint as an artist in residence at NASA. Why would a performance artist known for her iconoclasm want to visit mission control in Houston?

As sad as I am about being in the United States these days, NASA is genuinely exciting. I keep thinking what it would be like to be a kid in this country. I think it would be really depressing, except for NASA.

Did you want to be an astronaut when you were growing up?

No. Although I could definitely imagine myself floating in space, I didn't want to become an astronaut. Driving those golf carts around on the moon seems a little geeky. Also, astronauts are constantly busy, and I didn't want to have that much to do.

Most other people see astronauts as figures of smoldering romance who rank right up there with cowboys and other American pioneers. Did you get to spend any time with astronauts?

I met many astronauts, and they seemed so out of place. They were given jobs around mission control, but they were living to be in space, and all their conversations were about the next time maybe they were going to go.

Since you don't identify with astronauts, what moved you to spend a year at NASA?

I like the scale of space. I like thinking about human beings and what worms we are. We are really worms and specks. I find a certain comfort in that.

You were NASA's first artist in residence and perhaps its last.

I think there is a lot of animosity between Congress and NASA right now. I heard that someone in Congress was looking through the budget, and the artist-in-residence program got scratched out.

An Historical First

The 81-year-old artist Artis Lane made history several months ago when a sculpture she made debuted at the U.S. Capitol. The bust of Sojourner Truth, a former slave and activist, is the first sculpture of a black woman at the Capitol.

From the LA Times:

"The world's coming around to seeing black as beautiful," Lane said in an interview at her home in Los Angeles' Fairfax district. "When I came up, they were laughing at darker people."

The campaign to memorialize Truth in the nation's Capitol began more than a decade ago. A self-educated abolitionist who changed her name from Isabella Baumfree, Truth played a large role in the women's suffrage movement and in 1851 delivered the famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at a women's rights convention in Ohio.

Truth, who died in 1883, "encompassed all aspects of a truly free woman," Lane said. "She personified women's rights, equal rights . . . the struggling and understanding that was taken away from us because of slavery."

E. Faye Williams, chair of the nonprofit National Congress of Black Women, which commissioned the work, said many believed that Truth should stand alongside women's rights figures Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott in a portrait monument that was placed in the Capitol Rotunda in 1997.

Congressional legislation to include Truth in that group failed, Williams said. But Congress approved a bill in 2006 to memorialize the black suffragist in a stand-alone sculpture. Williams said Lane was the first choice to produce the work.