Caught My Eye

Someone tracks the origin of the Shepard Fairey HOPE poster photo and the world (in unison) says…who cares.

In 1552, the broken-hearted Prince Pier Francesco Orsini, of the Italian province of Viterbo, commissioned close to a dozen Mannerist garden sculptures to mourn the death of his beloved wife, Giulia Farnese. The works are quite stunning.

More images from the "Manifest Hope" show in DC.

The art show that coincides with Inauguration activities.

Over 1,200 schools were represented by the undergrad & grad entries. The winning undergraduate students will split $8000 in cash scholarships.

First Place Winner: Sara Susin (Stanford University)
Second Place Winner: Jessica Brown (University of Alaska)
Third Place Winner: Zach Stein (University of Kentucky)

Grad awards forthcoming.

I'm not sure what this will for the Venice Biennale but the Vatican has issued a press statement announcing that it will be participating this summer.

I think it's safe to assume that Andres Serrano, Martin Kippenberger or Chris Ofili will not be representing the Holy See.

Looks like a great line up…among those featured to appear are David Salle, Phyllis Tuchman, Joyce Pensato, Karen Wilkin, Donald Kuspit, Philippe de Montebello and Jerry Saltz.

An interesting thought: "…why should not Obama, in a similarly Globish spirit, invite an English language poet from somewhere else in the world to read at his inauguration…"