Better Living One TV Feature July 2011

Ai Weiwei's Ted Film

From ted.com

The news that Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been detained by authorities has prompted significant concern here at TED HQ. We had shown a film of him at last month’s conference, an unexpected and courageous statement about his treatment by the government, social change, the power of the web, and his hope for the future of China.

Amazingly, he is active on Google+. if you want to add him to your circles just click HERE

Projectnews Feature

Projectnews Feature on Gmiel il-Hrafa

Portrait of Nadia

Acrylic on canvas - 60x50cm

Goodbye Lucian

One of my all time favourite painters, Lucian Freud died aged 88.

Freud, a grandson of the psycho-analyst Sigmund Freud, was born in Berlin in 1922 and fled to Britain with his Jewish family in 1933, when he was 10. Freud - particularly known for his paintings of nudes - became a British citizen in 1939. His works have been increasingly sought after at recent auctions and his portrayal of an overweight nude woman sleeping on a couch sold in 2008 for $33.6m (£20.6m) - a world record for a work by a living artist.

In an art world dominated by the abstract, the conceptual and the installation, Freud's almost brutal portraits managed to keep the flag of  the human form flying high.

Thank You Lucian, and Goodbye.

Count Anton Wolfgang Von Faber-Castell

Count Anton Wolfgang Von Faber-Castell (centre)
together with Anna Ferris (right) and Paul Debono of Faber-Castell  - the concept (malta)

Lately I have been asked to paint a portrait of Count Anton Wolfgang Von Faber-Castell, owner of Faber-Castell. The painting was presented to him by Anna Ferris and Paul Debono of Faber-Castell - the concept (malta) during an event held earlier this month celebrating Faber-Castell's 250th Anniversary.

Royalties? What Royalties?

Way back in November 2007 I had written a blog post on artists' royalties. This is the post http://rupertcefaiblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/of-royalties.html. In a nut shell, in 2006 the government issued a legal notice  (LN174 of 2006), to implement European Directive 2001/84/EC which gives artists the right to royalties when their art is re-sold from art galleries or the like. Next year, this right should be extended to the artist's heirs.

I tried to make some research on how the system is being regulated and implemented but no one seems to know what's going on. Maybe I have just asked the wrong people but those I asked don't even know of the legal notice let alone how its working. There should also be some 'collecting society' in operation but until now, I talked to no one that knows that it exists. I find this so depressing.

So, if any of you out there, heard anything about it, know if auction houses are collecting royalties and if there is someone regulating all this, please let me know.

Art and Nepotism

You will always find artists involved in some revolution or other. Form artists like Alsature who spent most of his life 'fighting' Gaddafi from London with his cartoons to others like Kais al-Hilali who was shot dead a few minutes after painting one of the political street murals for which he was locally famous. But even the establishment uses art, artists, art critics and curators to promote their regime. The art world, like everything else, is made up of everything. 

I came across this article on Dr. Zahi Hawass on the New York Times, his ties with the Mubaraks and the National Geographic and protests wanting him to resign his post. All this made me think. How many governments, even those elected democratically, are free from nepotism when it comes to art, artists and the art world? Maybe we just have to look a bit around us and we find the answer staring at us in the face. 

Artibus 020

Human Image, 1996

Contrary to a generally held view, I think that painting is not in any direct sense a means of communication or a means of self-expression. When you are painting you are trying to discover, to uncover, to reveal. I sometimes think of the activity of painting as a kind of archaeology - an archaeology of the spirit. - Louis le Brocquy

Artibus 019

The Disquieting Muses

To become truly immortal, a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and common sense will only interfere. But once these barriers are broken, it will enter the realms of childhood visions and dreams. - Giorgio de Chirico 

Artibus 018

There's no retirement for an artist, it's your way of living so there's no end to it.
Henry Moore

Dak li l-Lejl Iħallik Tgħid

Dak li l-lejl semgħani ngħid dan l-aħħar ftit ġranet kien dejjem l-istess...'qallec kemm sar ħin!' Il-kotba ta Pierre Mejlak għandhom effett ikrah fuqi, la darba naqbad ktieb, difficli nitilqu minn idi.

L-aħħar ġabra ta stejjer qosra ta Pierre,  'Dak li l-Lejl Iħallik Tgħid' huma verzjoni agħar ta dan. Din il-ġabra, li nhoss li hi l-aħjar mill-kitbiet ta Pierre sa issa, laqtitni fil-laħam il-ħaj. Wisq stejjer laqtuli xi korda jew oħra mill-memorji ta' ħajti. Kien hemm mumenti fejn ħlift li kien qed jinkini. U kelli nieqaf u l-paragrafu kelli naqrah mill-ġdid, ha nara jekk qbiztx ismi x'imkien.

Jekk tħobb taqra bil-Malti, mela probabbli diġa qrajtu. Jekk ma tħobbx, aqrah xorta, ma jiddispjacikx.