The US Commission of Fine Arts has approved the revised design for the 28-foot Martin Luther King Jr national memorial statue. Opponents of the original design said it felt “confrontational” and similar to statues toppled in formerly dictatorial nations.
The new design gives King a less furrowed brown and a mouth tilted ever so slightly into a smile. It’s exactly how the civil rights hero wouldn’t look upon a nation that still has people asking if the White House can be called that with a black president in it.
Click through to see the before and after.
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Look! Bob Dylan’s paintings are half-assed, too. But, as usual, good luck getting anyone in the mainstream media to admit it:
He never does anything - be it his retro-western clothes or those huskily claustrophobic radio programmes - without a powerful sense of style. And surely the fiercely cantankerous intelligence that produced ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ wouldn’t allow anything into the public gaze that would compromise his carefully developed mystique.
He’s the most critically acclaimed Victoria’s Secret spokesman ever.
Last week Queerty editor Andrew Belonsky shared a child’s rendering of his dead hamster, a piece of art that may be the most profound — and adorable! — illustration of death’s mystifying effects. Luckily for us, there were more where that came from, and he graciously captured a few other drawings for public consumption. They’re no “Hamster what?” but magic like that only comes along once in a lifetime.
A new series of portraits by conceptual photographer Sam Taylor-Wood features some of Hollywood’s most sought after leading men – Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Daniel Craig, etc – in tears. According to Taylor-Wood, the idea’s pretty simple: “It’s about the idea of taking these big, masculine men and showing a different side.” Yay, straightforward, unpretentious art.
I’m a crier myself, so I say more power to Taylor-Wood and her subjects. And special kudos to Jude Law, who went above and beyond by not just crying, but doing so in a corner in the fetal position.
Because everyone loves elementary art, the front window of Queerty editor Andrew Belonsky’s neighborhood vet currently features some childrens’ renderings of their pets.
As you can see, one local child recently lost their hamster and, like so many people, has a hard time grappling the concept of death.
Robert Rauschenberg, a “brash, garrulous, hard-drinking, open-faced Southerner,” according to The New York Times, and an important link between abstract expressionism and pop art, according to everyone, died of heart failure last night. He was 82.
• Alexyss K Tylor is back! And oh, God, is she NSFW. [DListed]
• “10 Tips to Rule Your Kitchen for a Girl On-the-Go“? Tip number one: stop calling yourself a “girl” before you’re old enough to have a kitchen of your own. [INO]
• Michael Lohan on ex-wife Dina’s Top Mom award: “Are you kidding! Top celebrity mom? Look at her off-screen antics, her lack of morals and how she conducts herself.” [ICYDK]
• Miley Cyrus‘ ratings are actually down after that whole Vanity Fair fiasco. Because, oddly enough, many people are boobs scared of boobs. [Yeeeah]
• Murakami’s at the Brooklyn Museum. Go if you’re in Brooklyn, not epileptic and interested in crazy, sexual, Japanese Manga characters. [CityRag]
• Clooney failed big and your mom and girlfriend still love him. Deal with it. [PS]
That creepy portrait Heath Ledger sat for just one month before passing away has won some art award. Said someone in our office more insensitive than ourselves: “It’s just ’cause he died.”
Heard about Aliza Shvarts, the Yalie senior who, over the course of nine months, induced multiple miscarriages in the name of art? Check it: ” … she will showcase the stomach-turning display next week — complete with her own blood samples and videos from the terminated possible pregnancies.” My goodness, can you imagine what kind of spoiled, pretentious, ignorant kid would do such a thing? Perhaps you can, but don’t, because after the jump we’ve posted video footage of this Shvarts simpleton. And get this: she’s literally atop a soapbox saying things like, “So, empowerment: it’s important.” Ha!
Lost hobbit Dominic Monaghan is exhibiting some of his photography at a gallery in West Hollywood. Do stop by if you’re in the area for a glimpse at the pictures, which range from blurry photos of buildings to blurry photos of celebrities to computer-manipulated photos of the sky. And all taken with a point-n-shoot. It’s what you would take pictures of if you were drunk and famous.
Conclusion: Once you’re a celebrity, that’s your career. Feel free to vacillate between callings at will; nobody will have the balls to tell you you’re bad.
The photos, in all their fuzzy glory, after the jump.
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Besides being a tiny heiress to a second-rate fashion line, you’ll recall that Ally Hilfiger is also a budding artiste, the profession of choice for aimless rich people looking to have loads of both free time and room for interpretation.
Last night was the opening of the small wonder’s weird show, which focused heavily on the number eight. Ironically, we don’t believe any of the work we’ve seen is anywhere near an eight out of 10. Let us know your thoughts, amateur art critics.
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• Had you forgotten that jerks everywhere are making sure “art” looks stupid? Check out this video for a reminder. We just got that professor an A in his own stupid stupidy stupid class for stupids. [Pop17]
• Cord Jefferson is now also an editor-at-large at Stereohyped. Check in over there once in a while, y’hear? [SH]
• The Olsen twins are releasing a book about their influences. It’s going to be called Influence, and it’s going to be a lie because it’s not going to include cocaine. [DListed]
• Jakey G likes crossword puzzles. Swoon, nerd girls (and boys). [PS]
• Leonardo DiCaprio rocks out to Elton John, and that’s more than fine with us. [INO]
• One of Snoop’s sons is named “Corde.” This is upsetting to us here at Mollygood. Very upsetting, actually. [ICYDK]
• LOLbritneys! [CityRag]
Heath Ledger sat for this haunting portrait only weeks before his death last month. The painting, which portrays the late actor as sallow and depressed, also incorporates some very simple symbolism that artist Vincent Fantauzzo feels the need to explain to death: “…it was about how we all have different consciences and voices in our head that tell us what to do and how to react. They’re not good or bad, they’re just voices that we hear, telling us how to behave. That’s what the other figures are in the painting.”
• Angelina Jolie is in Iraq! No, not fighting. [Jossip]
• Aretha Franklin’s R-E-S-P-E-C-T-I-N-G her body with a new fitness program. [DListed]
• Vince Vaughn takes some time off of drinking, smoking and whoring to work. God bless him. [PS]
• Lindsay Lohan says “fuck you.” [HT]
• Javier Bardem went crazy because of a weird haircut. Maybe he’s not as cool as we thought he was. [ICYDK]
• Jennifer Love Hewitt’s fiancé doesn’t care if you think she’s fat. [INO]
• “Shiloh Jolie-Pitt Kidnapping Scare” [Yeeeah]
• Street art. Enjoy. [CityRag]
Ally Hilfiger, famous for her dad’s unquestionably hit-or-miss clothing and for once saying, “I’m so brain-dead,” is now proving said brain death.
She’s an artist (collaboratively so), and her partner, a slouchy DJ named Francesco, describes their work as such: “Warhol-esque Lichtenstein with a slight case of Basquiat.” (Translation: I am a spoiled turd who name-drops, and my art isn’t worth a fuck.) Hilfiger says she’s been focusing her efforts on painting variations on the number 8.
Asked to explain our generation’s creatives, Hilfiger said this: “Our parents’ generation, they were really all about really focusing on one thing…Our generation is into more of a multi-thing. It’s kind of like we’re our parents’ generation, but with ADD.” So, like our parents’ generation, but inattentive and lethargic? We were right about you, Ally!
[Source]
If you like Georgia O’Keeffe, there’s a good chance you’ll like these photos of a still-gestating Christina Aguilera. (In case you’re not into art jokes, these pics are NSFW.)
Despite the aging and the mustache that accompanies it, our drinking buddies at Queerty have rekindled their flame for Sean Connery, this after a semi-nude portrait of him was chosen to be featured in a major exhibition in Scotland. Above is a shirtless Connery, who was reportedly a bodybuilder at the time. And if this is what a bodybuilder looked like back then, we think today’s turgid freaks have a lot to learn from their forefathers.
• Look where a career forged on the shoulders of a famous murderer gets a person. You’re at the big dance, Shapiro. [Queerty]
• If poverty explains ugly, why is everyone in the favelas of Brazil at least an eight? Maybe just poor Americans are ugly. Or maybe wealthy Americans are just very ugly on the inside of their brains. [Gawker]
• David Copperfield’s allegedly meticulous rape technique is unfathomably creepy. You don’t trust magicians, people. [DListed]
• The Hills is soooooooooo fake. Stop watching it. [PITNB]
• Dick in a bag? [PS]
• It’s not hot when she’s been more naked on the job. That’s a fact. [HT]
• Johnny Depp’s a painter, also. Swoon, ladies. [ICYDK]
• Wait, did rehab actually work? Rehab never works. [INO]
• Grandmother Spears: “If they’re boycotting your album, sweetie, they’re not your real friends.” [Yeeeah]
• Seriously, is everyone sure she didn’t fall and hit her face? [CityRag]
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