Arts News

'Land of Fire': Azerbaijan's history and culture

By AFP

Bakou - Azerbaijan holds a snap presidential election on Wednesday boycotted by the opposition and expected to extend the autocratic rule of President Ilham Aliyev.Here are five points on the culture and history of the Caspian Sea nation.

Brazil museum selling prized Jackson Pollock to stay afloat

By AFP

Rio De Janeiro - Rio de Janeiro's Modern Art Museum is selling one of its most prized works, a Jackson Pollock painting, to help stay afloat.

Beyond belief: From strict ultra-Orthodox roots to street artist

By AFP

Telavi - With her nose piercing, jeans and sweatshirt, rising street artist Sara Erenthal looks nothing like what she was 20 years ago -- a member of an extreme ultra-Orthodox Jewish group.

$1bn painting 'only matter of time' as art prices surge

By AFP

Paris - The fine art market is going through such a boom that it is only a matter of time before a painting sells for $1 billion (818 million euros), according to a new report seen by AFP Wednesday.

Madrid art fair pulls Catalan 'political prisoners' installation

By AFP

Madrid - An installation by a controversial Spanish artist which refers to Catalan separatist leaders as "political prisoners" was removed Wednesday from a major Madrid art fair at the request of the venue's operator.

Malaysian artist jailed for clown caricature of PM

By AFP

Kuala Lumpur - A Malaysian artist was jailed for a month Tuesday for publishing a caricature of scandal-plagued Prime Minister Najib Razak looking like a clown, the latest government critic to be imprisoned.

The Clairvoyants talk 2018 tour, NYCB Theatre at Westbury show Special

By Markos Papadatos

Westbury - The Clairvoyants chatted with Digital Journal about their upcoming show at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury on March 16, 2018.

Robin Bell, artist and anti-Trump activist

By AFP

Washington - Robin Bell, multimedia artist and Donald Trump foe, regularly projects messages onto the facade of Trump International Hotel in Washington to "visually" denounce the American president's policies.

Delayed Bolshoi 'Nureyev' to premiere with director under arrest

By AFP

Moscow - A Bolshoi Theatre ballet based on the life of Russian dance legend Rudolf Nureyev that was abruptly pulled in the summer will premiere Saturday, despite its director remaining under house arrest.

Lubaina Himid becomes oldest winner of UK's Turner Prize

By AFP

London - Lubaina Himid, 63, on Tuesday became the oldest winner of the Turner Prize, Britain's most prestigious yet controversial visual art award, for her works celebrating black creativity.

Artist donates faeces to gut-busting research

By AFP

Wellington - Faeces appears to be as unique as fingerprints, according to New Zealand research released Sunday which could impact on the growing push towards personalised medicine and tailored treatments.

Indian art market back in the black

By AFP

New Delhi - India's art market has emerged from a blue period with a flourish, as prices rise and the world starts to take note of its modern treasures.

Exiled Parisian Impressionists reunite in London show

By AFP

London - Nearly 150 years after the Franco-Prussian War prompted artists to flee Paris, the works of Claude Monet and other Impressionists in London are to go on display in the British capital.

Russian theatre director placed under house arrest

By AFP

Moscow - A Russian court placed the head of a Moscow youth theatre under house arrest on Friday in connection to a controversial fraud case linked to the acclaimed director Kirill Serebrennikov.

The forgotten history of Rodin's Napoleon, found in New Jersey

By AFP

Washington - Napoleon Bonaparte and Auguste Rodin are both household names in their own right. But a bust of the French emperor created by the master sculptor faded into oblivion in an American town, only to be discovered by chance.

Writing's on the wall for Trump, Zuckerberg in West Bank

By AFP

Bethlehem - Newly daubed graffiti on the Israeli wall cutting off the occupied West Bank lambasts US President Donald Trump and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Baryshnikov, Youssou N'Dour among top art prize winners

By AFP

Paris - The Russian ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov and Senegalese music star Youssou N'Dour were among the winners of one of the art world's richest prizes Tuesday.

Big names flock to Cuba's first contemporary art space

By AFP

Havana - For decades, Cubans have been used to the revolutionary slogan "La lucha continua," or "the struggle goes on.

Alien Trump descends on Mexico in artist's billboard

By AFP

Mexico - His skin is blue, his face contorted and his eyes bulge from his head, but the hair is unmistakable: that alien in the giant billboard over one of Mexico City's busiest roads is Donald Trump.

'Fighting for their fate': Chinese kids adopted by MMA club

By AFP

Chengdu - The 13-year-old fighter in training starts his day at 8 a.m.

S. Korea former presidential aide jailed over artist blacklist

By AFP

Seoul - A top aide close to South Korea's disgraced former president was sentenced to three years Thursday for blacklisting nearly 10,000 artists seen as critical of Park Geun-Hye's government.

Art seeks to heal wounds in divided Cyprus

By AFP

Paphos - Inside an art gallery on the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Selma Bolayir draws a large yellow sun on a black-and-white picture of a South Vietnamese soldier who appears to be crying.

'Parthenon of Books' — monumental artwork protests censorship

By AFP

Kassel - It looks like the monumental temple standing imposingly at the Acropolis in Athens. But this replica in central Germany is not built with marble, but books that have been or remain banned.

Austria's fantastical factory of 'raw art'

By AFP

Vienna - Nestled in the hills of Austria sits Gugging, an artists' colony with a difference where the worlds of psychiatry and art collide -- with spectacular success.

Israel minister says state won't fund shows with nudity

By AFP

Jerusalem - Israel's outspoken culture minister is threatening to withhold funding from two productions showing at a top festival because they contain nudity, provoking mockery and claims of censorship.

Arts figures condemn raid on top Moscow theatre in fraud probe

By AFP

Moscow - Prominent Russian arts figures including the Bolshoi theatre chief on Wednesday condemned investigators for raiding a top Moscow theatre and the home of its outspoken director in a fraud probe.

Visual artists demand 'fair' share of sales

By AFP

Geneva - When Canadian Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak sold her print "Enchanted Owl" in 1960, she pocketed $24, but when the piece was resold at auction in 2001 for nearly $59,000, she received nothing.

Opera troupe tours rural China defending a dying art

By AFP

- For the 50-year-old Chinese opera performer, every aspect of the dimly-lit backstage room was a reminder that things had changed.

Ancient sacred art resurrected in city of Jesus' birth

By AFP

Bethlehem - Down a Bethlehem alleyway, sunlight illuminates a golden icon of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, signalling the revival of an ancient art being practised in the workshop inside.

Taggers' delight: Vietnam city turns into graffiti canvas

By AFP

Ho Chi Minh - Shrouded by fumes and surrounded by spray cans, Vietnamese graffiti artist Kong conjures his latest masterpiece, a monkey clutching an aerosol, a colour-splashed act of rebellion in a communist country where the youth are expected to follow strict soci...