Solid Gold Beauty Unveiled

A £1.5m solid gold sculpture has been made of supermodel Kate Moss as part of a British Museum exhibition.

Entitled Siren, the 50kg statue was made by Marc Quinn, who described Moss as "the ideal beauty of the moment".

His previous work included the marble sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant, which appeared in Trafalgar Square.

The gold artwork will be exhibited with statues by other contemporary artists, including Damien Hirst and Antony Gormley, at the central London museum.

Mr Quinn previously created a bronze sculpture of Moss in a yoga pose, which was painted white and entitled Sphinx.

The museum has only revealed a close-up section of the new statue, which is also thought to depict Moss in a yoga pose.

'Live up to image'

He also made Self, a bust of his own head created from eight pints of his frozen blood.

His statue of Ms Lapper naked, who was born with no arms and shortened legs, was on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth for 20 months.

Describing the gold statue of Moss, Mr Quinn said: "I thought the next thing to do would be to make a sculpture of the person who's the ideal beauty of the moment.

"But even Kate Moss doesn't live up to the image."

The exhibition, entitled Statuephilia, will also feature 200 plastic skulls by Damien Hirst.

Antony Gormley's Case for an Angel 1, a smaller precursor to his Angel of the North sculpture which overlooks the A1 in Gateshead, will also go on display.

Statues by artists Ron Mueck, Tim Noble and Sue Webster will also appear in the exhibition.

Co-curator Waldemar Januszczak said: "The British Museum helped to make these artists what they are. Now they are seeking to return the favour."

The exhibition opens on 4 October.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7585440.stm

Pope labels crucified frog sculpture blasphemous

Italian museum board to decide future of Kippenberger artwork after official went on hunger strike

A sculpture in northern Italy depicting a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg could be soon removed from display after Pope Benedict condemned it as blasphemous.

The board of the Museion museum in the city of Bolzano was meeting today to decide whether to comply with the wishes of the Pope and other opponents of the 1.3m (4ft) wooden sculpture, Reuters reported.

The work by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger is called Zuerst die Füsse (Feet First). The frog with its tongue hanging out is wearing a green loin cloth and is nailed through the hands and feet on a brown cross in the manner of Jesus Christ.

Museum officials in the Alto Adige region near the Austrian border said Kippenberger, who died in 1997, considered it a self-portrait illustrating human angst.

But Franz Pahl, the president of the regional government, was so enraged by the sculpture he went on hunger strike to demand its removal and consequently ended up in hospital during the summer.

"Surely this is not a work of art but a blasphemy and a disgusting piece of trash that upsets many people," he told Reuters before the start of the board meeting.

In a letter of support for Pahl, the Vatican said the sculpture "wounds the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the cross the symbol of God's love".

However, Claudio Strinati, a superintendent for Rome's state museums, told an Italian newspaper today that censoring the work would be wrong.

"Art must always be free and the artist should not have any restrictions on freedom of expression," he said.

Kippenberger's work has been shown at Tate Modern and the Saatchi Gallery in London, and the Venice Biennale. Retrospectives are planned in Los Angeles and New York.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/28/italy?gusrc=rss&feed=artanddesign

In Which No One Gives Anyone the High Hat

So I'm having a cup of coffee at Edgar's Cafe on West 84th Street (Edgar Allen Poe Way), reading Colin Meloy's underwhemling entry into the 33 1/3 series, The Replacements' Let It Be, when I pause and look up to see, sitting opposite just a table away, the actor Gabriel Byrne, a rolled up Times of London in his mitt, in the midst of an intense discussion with a short bald guy in hipster eyeglasses. I could catch enough of the conversation to hear the lilt of Byrne's Irish accent, but not enough to really make out what he was talking about, as the acoustics of Edgar's resemble the cellar in which Montressor bricks up Fortunato in "The Cask of Amontillado."

Not a bad NYC celebrity sighting--it beats seeing a very weary and cranky Alan Alda trudging through Staples. Only later did I realize the literary synchronicity: I finished Fiona McCarthy's exellent biography Byron: Life and Legend two nights before, and had just finished the first canto of Don Juan the previous evening. Bryne of course played Byron in Ken Russell's ill-advised 1986 film Gothic. Odd to have spent two weeks musing on things Byronic and to then bump into an interpreter of George Gordon Noel, 6th Lord Byron.

Plus, Byrne is one of the highlights of Hal Wilner's 1997 tribute to Poe, Closed on Account of Rabies. Byrne reads "The Masque of the Red Death" with chilling efficiency. So it was nearly an NYC celebrity sighting in context.

Sadly, Byrne hasn't been in a particularly good movie since David Cronenberg's Spider (2002) and hasn't had a hit since The Usual Suspects (1995). I wonder if he was in town for the Coen Bros. retrospective at BAM. I think Miller's Crossing (still my favorite gangster film) was playing that very evening.

And here's the other odd connection: I own a poster for Miller's Crossing that's signed by Byrne, but because he signed it in black ballpoint, the signature is completely obscured by the background of autumnal forest that makes up that poster's top half. I was completely unaware of the signature, until one night the light hit that spot on the poster just so, for at least ten years.

Which saved me the trouble of asking for an autograph. Not that I would have asked in any case.

{gc}

Peek-a-boo

Boy Chucker

Adventures in American Capitalism presents...Things I Bought Yesterday:

1 copy of the Daily News: 50 cents
1 packet of extra-strength Excedrin: 75 cents

Total expenditures for Monday, August 11, 2008: $1.25

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Call me a romantic, a traditionalist, even a fool if you'd like, but I prefer my Morrissey songs to be full of melody, grandiose and sweeping melody without shame or restraint. And as much as I enjoy the pulverizing bass of Morrissey's new single, All You Need is Me, his best work--both as a solo musician and with the Smiths--has always taken advantage of pop music's jingle-jangle sensibility and love for restlessness that only melody can provide.

To be fair, though, Morrissey's most recent records have corrected some of the missteps that the singer took in the 90's (Southpaw Grammar, anyone?), which means that there is much delight to be had in tracks like "First of the Gang to Die" and "Irish Blood, English Heart." (The latter also relies upon rock'n'roll bombast.)

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Don't you just hate it when things are just so painfully obvious? To wit:

To treat cyanide poisoning, use nitrites to oxidize hemoglobin methemoglobin, which binds cyanide, allowing cytochrome oxidase to function. Use thiosulfate to bind this cyanide, forming thiocyanate, which is renally excreted.

from First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 2008

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Is it to much to ask for a decent, well-playing baseball team, or at least one that plays up to the expectations of its $200 million payroll?

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