Banksy (@thereaIbanksy)

Why We Need to Start Seeing the Classical World in Color Modern technology has revealed an irrefutable, if unpopular, truth: many of the statues, reliefs, and sarcophagi created in the ancient Western world were in fact painted. Marble was a precious material for Greco-Roman artisans, but it was considered a canvas, not the finished product for sculpture. It was carefully selected and then often painted in gold, red, green, black, white, and brown, among other colors. A number of fantastic museum shows throughout Europe and the US in recent years have addressed the issue of ancient polychromy. The Gods in Color exhibit travelled the world between 2003–15, after its initial display at the Glyptothek in Munich. (Many of the photos in this essay come from that exhibit, including the famed Caligula bust and the Alexander Sarcophagus.)

Self-taught designer builds a secret studio under a bridge in Valencia posted Categories: Construction Methods Self-taught designer Fernando Abellanas has installed a covert studio beneath a graffiti-covered bridge in the Spanish city of Valencia, making use of the concrete infrastructure to form a roof and walls for the hideaway. Abellanas, who designs furniture and lighting under the studio name Lebrel, created the small timber- and metal-framed hut in just two weeks. He prefers not to reveal its exact location within the city, but said he is often drawn to design huts for neglected spaces. "I feel a great attraction for this type of place and sometimes I make interventions in them.

Culture - The rare blue the Maya invented In 17th Century Europe, when Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Peter Paul Rubens painted their famous masterworks, ultramarine blue pigment made from the semi-precious lapis lazuli stone was mined far away in Afghanistan and cost more than its weight in gold. Only the most illustrious painters were allowed to use the costly material, while lesser artists were forced to use duller colours that faded under the sun. It wasn’t until the industrial revolution in the 19th Century that a synthetic alternative was invented, and true ultramarine blue finally became widely available. During colonisation Maya blue was exploited along with everything else that had belonged to the people of the New World Across the Atlantic Ocean, colonial Baroque works created by artists like José Juárez, Baltasar de Echave Ibia and Cristóbal de Villalpando in early 17th Century Mexico – New Spain – were full of this beautiful blue. How could this be?

Welcome to Dinovember — Thoughts on creativity Every year, my wife and I devote the month of November to convincing our children that, while they sleep, their plastic dinosaur figures come to life. It began modestly enough. The kids woke up to discover that the dinosaurs had gotten into a box of cereal and made a mess on the kitchen table. The next morning, the dinos had climbed onto the kitchen counter to raid the fruit bowl. The morning after that, they had managed to breach the refrigerator and help themselves to a carton of eggs. The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture Aphrodisias was home to a thriving cadre of high-end artists until the seventh century A.D., when an earthquake caused it to fall into ruin. In 1961, archeologists began systematically excavating the city, storing thousands of sculptural fragments in depots. When Abbe arrived there, several decades later, he started poking around the depots and was astonished to find that many statues had flecks of color: red pigment on lips, black pigment on coils of hair, mirrorlike gilding on limbs. For centuries, archeologists and museum curators had been scrubbing away these traces of color before presenting statues and architectural reliefs to the public. “Imagine you’ve got an intact lower body of a nude male statue lying there on the depot floor, covered in dust,” Abbe said. “You look at it up close, and you realize the whole thing is covered in bits of gold leaf.

Like Mom Like Dad June 8, 2012 | Leave a Comment The first picture is from 1956, my grandfather Frank Beam was graduating from Wofford College, in Spartanburg, SC. He is standing with his 2 siblings (Sam and Claudia). He was the first in his family to attend college (which was a big feat when his grandfather was a Civil War veteran and living in a time when growing up in rural South Carolina typically meant dropping out of school to farm or work in the mill).54 years later, I graduated from Wofford College as well, and stood with my 2 younger siblings after the ceremony for this picture (My grandfather was also able to make the trip back to Wofford to share this day with me–see attached picture). I continue to be proud to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps, and am lucky to have shared in this experience with him! June 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Carved idol from the Urals shatters expert views on birth of ritual art On 24 January 1894, gold prospectors were digging in the Shigir peat bog, north of the town of Yekaterinburg in the Ural mountains, when they uncovered a strange collection of carved pieces of wood. A total of 10 fragments were found beside each other. When put together, a wooden idol more than five metres high was created, one that had clearly been carved from a single, carefully smoothed plank of larch wood. Its surface was covered with zigzag lines and human faces and hands.

55 incredible examples of photo manipulation We present collection of 55 incredible examples of photo manipulation. Some of them... you may know already, but another ones... could be new for you. What I'm sure about... all of them are simply worth of your attention. Back with the real Beatles: the White Album reviewed - archive, November 1968 Back with the real Beatles19 November 1968 The Beatles have accustomed us to look for clues to the meaning of their work. Everyone can look at the cover design of Sergeant Pepper and play “spot the reference.”