New Research: Mystery Snake Revealed in Elizabeth I Portrait

LONDON.- Scientific detective work has revealed a mysterious coiled serpent in the hands of Queen Elizabeth I, which was painted out by the artist shortly afterwards, in a portrait at the National Portrait Gallery. It has also been revealed that this portrait of the queen, which has not been on display at the Gallery since 1921, was painted over an unfinished portrait of an unknown sitter. The revelations about this painting and three others of the Tudor queen will form [...]

Food Art & Design: 39 Extraordinary Examples Of Edible Art

Everybody knows you’re not supposed to play with your food but that doesn’t stop these artists from creating some rather extraordinary edible art. Far from the mountains you used to make with your mashed potatoes, these masterpieces could go on display in a museum. Mixing together a little food and a lot of talent is the perfect recipe for some mouth watering inspiration. Check out these 39 extraordinary examples of edible art to kick start your hunger.
Sakurako Kitsa
Tree Frog made [...]

Hold Your Horses: Name That Painting

Starting out with a loose rendition of The Last Supper (in which Matisse seems to have painted a sky above Leonardo’s iconic fresco), French-American band Hold Your Horses takes viewers on a head trip through art history in their new video for the track “70 Million.” Janson’s this is not; instead we see members of the band playing instruments in reconstructed paintings from the operating table to the boudoir. Watch the video after the jump and then follow along on [...]

Sumptuously Illustrated Medieval Manuscript on View at Metropolitan

NEW YORK, NY.- One of the most beautiful manuscripts in the world is the lavishly illustrated medieval prayer book known as the Belles Heures (Beautiful Hours). It was created by the Limbourg Brothers—three of the greatest illuminators in Europe—for one of the most famous art patrons of all time, Jean de France, duc de Berry (1340–1416). The son, brother, and uncle to three successive kings of France, Jean de France commissioned luxury works in many media—from chalices to castles—without regard [...]

Unbelievably Hilarious Face Painting Art

Remember going to birthday parties or the carnival as a child and getting your face painted? Face painting is fun and magical, and it lets us temporarily transform ourselves. You can be just about anything, from a fierce animal to a dainty fairy to a weird celebrity look-alike. Unfortunately, most of us stop getting our faces painting when we become adults. James Kuhn, however, picked up the habit as an adult – and ran with it.

James Kuhn has considered him [...]

Now Showing on Art in the Loop’s ARTwall: Forever People by Ascot J. Smith

KANSAS CITY, MO.- Art in the Loop is pleased to announce the newest art commission for the ARTwall, Forever People by artist, Ascot J. Smith. The ARTwall is a custom designed billboard structure that exhibits super-sized contemporary art at 13th and Grand Streets in downtown Kansas City.
Forever People by Ascot Smith is set in the year 2200. A nameless couple sends recorded messages into the past hoping to prevent a dystopian future. However, the two begin to use the recording [...]

Camera Hands: Beautifully Realistic Portraits

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Abstract art developed around the turn of the last century as cameras began to take painting and illustration’s place as the primary means of portraiture. But just because technology and the art world had moved beyond portraits doesn’t mean people stopped drawing realistic pictures of each other. The art of realistic portraits is alive and well today and is represented here with a selection of wonderful artists.

Sketches

(image via: Keturah Bobo)

(image via: David Yoon)

(image via: Keturah Bobo)

(image via: Sam [...]

Painted Alive: Boldly Brilliant Body Paintings

Craig Tracy is dedicated to creating surreal moments in time. Without the use of digital manipulation or photographic tricks, he creates dazzling body painting compositions that have elevated this particular type of artistic expression into the realm of fine art. He recently opened a gallery in New Orleans: the first gallery in the world dedicated to fine art body painting images.

Although he’s been an artist his whole life, it took Craig Tracy a number of years to truly find his [...]

Gauguin’s Nevermore Wins Accolade of Most Romantic Artwork in Art Fund Poll

LONDON.- Nevermore, which is on display at The Courtauld Gallery, was chosen by artist and broadcaster Matthew Collings, and was selected from a list of five works chosen by well known public figures.
The other selected artworks were Titian’s “Bacchus and Ariadne”, selected by writer and broadcaster Andrew Graham-Dixon; Jan Van Eyck’s “The Arnolfini Portrait”, chosen by artist Grayson Perry; Nicolas Poussin’s “Rinaldo and Armida”, chosen by writer, critic and professor of literature at University of Essex, Marina Warner; and Peploe’s [...]

Strikingly realistic paintings by Alyssa Monks

Monks’s work explores narrative figuration. Currently she is playing with the tension between abstraction and realism in the same work, using different filters to visually distort and disintegrate the body.
Monks’s work explores narrative figuration. Currently she is playing with the tension between abstraction and realism in the same work, using different filters to visually distort and disintegrate the body. The islands of steam and water droplets on the glass distort the illusion of the face or figure as the flesh [...]

Extraordinary LED Light Paintings by /*synack*/

Part urban explorer and part photographer, the artist named “/*synack*/” is among the elite when it comes to painting with light.
Part of the Melbourne City Drain Painters (MCDP), /*synack*/’s photographs have an eerie and silent sense to them only possible through urban exploration. Part of the group’s covenant is to have the “utmost respect for the locations that we visit to explore and photograph.”
Light painters pride themselves on achieving their effects without manipulation in Photoshop.
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Tibor de Nagy Gallery Shows New Paintings by Richard Baker

NEW YORK, NY.- The Tibor de Nagy Gallery presents new paintings by Richard Baker. The exhibition marks his third with the gallery. It will comprise small to large paintings of still lifes, many of them set before Cape Cod and Long Island landscapes. The paintings are populated with flowers—often tulips, books, old magazines, and photographs of family members and some well-known faces, carefully arranged across tabletops.
Although Baker’s paintings are born out of keen observation and maintain fidelity to the objects [...]

National Portrait Gallery Unveils New Painted Portrait of Writer V. S. Naipaul

LONDON.- A painted portrait of Nobel Prize winning writer V.S. Naipaul has been commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery and unveiled there today.
The artist Paul Emsley won the BP Portrait Award, the National Portrait Gallery’s annual painting competition and exhibition in 2007. It was on the strength of Emsley’s portrait of fellow artist Michael Simpson that the Gallery was able to persuade the Nobel Prize-winning writer to have his portrait painted for the Collection.
Late in 2008, the artist visited the [...]

Artist Conjures Paintings Out of Floppy Disks

Artists frequently turn to technology for inspiration or commentary, utilizing components such as chips, ink cartridges and disk drives to make their art.
Now, London artist Nick Gentry has turned forgotten floppy disk drives into art by using them as a canvas for mixed media paintings.
“The whole world was totally reliant on these physical media formats,” he says. “Now suddenly we are at a time where they are obsolete, replaced by countless intangible data files. Will humans be compatible with our [...]

12-Year-Old Finds Painting and Family Makes Donation to the Gibbes Museum

CHARLESTON, SC.- In early 2009 renowned Southern painter West Fraser initiated a project of personal giving and called it Painting in a Tree. The artist places a Painting in a Tree, an oil on panel, in public places to be found by a passer by. The paintings that hang by string, have strings attached. Fraser writes a personal note on the back of each painting appealing to the finder to give back to their community. Fraser’s motivation is to encourage [...]