Zatista The premier source for original art online

Interested in joining our “Most Needy” art contest on Facebook? Take this simple quiz:

1. Do you own a Velvet Elvis?
2. Do you have a Van Gogh, Picasso, or similar ‘greatest hits’ poster from college still hanging on a wall at home?
3. Are your walls naked and in desperate need of help?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, upload a photo of your dreadful art or explain to us why your wall needs updating. Then, tell all your friends to cast their votes for you on Facebook! Zatista will choose a winner from among the 3 most voted for entries. The winner will win $100 in free art from Zatista.

So, what are you waiting for? Enter today!

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Today is the day; Gagosian Gallery walls burst with Hirst in New York, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rome, Geneva, Athens, and Hong Kong.

Beclometasona, 2008 by Damien Hirst gagosiangallery.com

The Complete Spot Paintings exhibit, opening at all Gagosian Galleries today, offers Hirst-o-files and jet setters alike The Complete Spot Painting Challenge where dedicated dot hunters can visit each of the eleven galleries and receive a signed spot print by British artist Damien Hirst.

The Complete Spot Challenge gagosiangallery.com

Spot seekers may supplement the hunt by referencing Gagosian Gallery’s free iPad app which provides an overview of exhibitions and projects at Gagosian Gallery and includes a Damien Hirst “art board” for exploring over ninety spot paintings.

DL-P-Chlorophenylalanine Methyl Ester, 1998 by Damien Hirst gagosiangallery.com

A body of work spanning 25 years, Mr. Hirst’s spot paintings are controversial for a variety of reasons, one of which is, according to the New York Times, “Of the hundreds of spot canvases, Mr. Hirst painted only five himself”.

"Controlled Substance Key Painting," by the British artist Damien Hirst, dates from 1994, an earlier "spot painting" period.

Will this global exhibit be as “fantastically boring” as Richard Dorment, art critic for The Daily Telegraph in London, called the spot paintings? When asked about the premise of the Gagosian shows, he replied: “The accumulation of scores of them in one place like the Tate’s Turbine Hall could make a visual impact, but I can’t see the point of filling all of Gagosian’s galleries around the world. What purpose will it serve?”

Prochlorperazine, 2009 by Damien Hirst gagosiangallery.com

After today, the world (aka the critics) will decide. Meanwhile, let’s go and see for ourselves!

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photo: Goeril Saetre for The New York Times

I came across this house recently in The New York Times.

photo: Goeril Saetre for The New York Times

Not surprisingly, the carefully furnished (aka, sparse interior) caught my eye. I couldn’t help but wonder: is there any artwork on the walls?

photo: Goeril Saetre for The New York Times

With each photo, the notion became less and less likely. Granted, in a house that doesn’t have running water, I’m not entirely surprised.

photo: Goeril Saetre for The New York Times

Clearly, there is an intention of simplicity in this home. Yet for conversation’s sake, my question to you is: If this was your house, would you hang art? If not, so be it. But if so, what kind of art and where?

photo: Goeril Saetre for The New York Times

Or, is the view of the dense forest outside the windows framed by the clean lines of the house, art in itself?

photo: Goeril Saetre for The New York Times

I must admit, I’d love to spend a weekend away in a place like this. Would you?

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A Walk In The Park by Dana Cooper on Zatista.com

Living in a large city or town has many advantages. Most often, there is unlimited access to just about anything you could desire such as food and shopping options, and cultural and social events in great number and variety. With all of this available, one thing lacking between the walls of brick and mortar is a commodity crucial to our well being – vast green spaces.

In The Park by Emily Farmer on Zatista.com

Luckily, most major cities and even the majority of small towns have dedicated public gardens or parks. From New York City’s Central Park to the great gardens of Europe, these sanctuaries provide the city dweller an escape from the hustle and bustle of urban living into something more simple and serene.

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat on wikipedia.org

As long as there have been public parks, there have been artists present to immortalize them in works of art. Georges Seurat’s 1884 painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” taking over two years to complete and known for its detailed depiction of both natural beauty and human nature, may be the most famous of his studies of park life. Seurat, however, returned to the theme again and again during his career.

Bare City 02 by Doninique James on Zatista.com

A quick keyword search of the word “park” on Zatista proves that artists today are no less fascinated by this setting, accommodating as it does such a wide range of styles and subject choices from portraits, to leisure activities, to the architecture of bridges and fountains, to simple green lawns and colorful flowers.

Central Park Limbs by Jennifer Childs on Zatista.com

Fortunately for us, these artists continue to capture outdoor scenes and bring them indoors for us to enjoy wherever we live, at any time of year. With a long cold winter ahead, it’s nice to know that thanks to these talented artists, we don’t have to wait until spring to take a walk in the park.

Brian Sylvester is a guest blogger on WallSpin, and an artist on Zatista.

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New Year's Eve Ball, 1978. Photo credit: The New York Times.

What did you do to celebrate the New Year? If you haven’t ever been to Times Square on New Year’s Eve, odds are you’ve at least watched the ball drop on TV from a party or two. That moment when we collectively count backwards and sing “Auld Lang Syne” is one of those times when art fuses seamlessly into our existence, a cherished tradition.

Over the years, the ball itself – a fanciful amalgam of sculpture, craft and technology – has changed from time to time. The materials used in its construction relate directly to the era, so the ball is a beautiful physical manifestation of the passage of time and our status as a nation.

Millennial Ball | Image: TimesSquareNYC.com

Here’s a little time line, courtesy of Wikipedia:

• 1907 – Walter F. Palmer, chief electrician for The New York Times, creates the first New Year’s Eve Ball with iron and wood materials with 100 25-watt bulbs weighing 700 pounds (320 kg) and measuring 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter.
• 1920 – The Ball was replaced with an iron material Ball and weighing less than the original, only 400 pounds (180 kg).
• 1942 – 1943 – During World War II, the descending of the Ball was stopped due to wartime lighting restrictions in case of enemy attack.
• 1955-1980 – The Ball gets replaced with a lighter version made from aluminum weighing 150 pounds (68 kg).
• 1981-1988 – Due to the I Love New York campaign, there are red light bulbs and green stem in a design of an apple.
• 1989-1994 – The traditional white bulbs again get put on the Ball, except for 1991 and 1992, as a symbol to salute the troops in Operation Desert Shield, the ball is covered with red, white and blue light bulbs.
• 1995-1998– The Ball gets computerized, aluminum coated, rhinestone, and has a strobe light system.
• 1999 – The aluminum Ball gets replaced.
• 2000-2007 – The Ball gets an overhaul for the new millennium celebrations with a design from Waterford Crystal and new technology. It weighed 1,070 pounds (490 kg) measured 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter and installed with 504 crystal triangles, illuminated externally with 168 halogen light bulbs and internally with 432 light bulbs of clear, red, blue, green and yellow colors.
• 2008 – For New Year’s Eve 2008, the ball gets a makeover in honor of its 100th Anniversary. Brand new state of the art LED lighting provided by Philips is featured instead of the less efficient halogen bulbs. The new LED fixtures produce over 16.7 million colors and can be programmed to create special effects.
• 2009 – The 2008 design is maintained, but its diameter is doubled, and it is 20% more energy efficient than the previous one.
• 2011 – Energy-efficient LEDs are again used to light the ball. 32,256 little Luxeon LED bulbs, to be exact. According to Philips who manufactures an ever expanding line of LED bulbs, they are commercially available and they consume 80 percent less energy when compared to traditional incandescent lightbulbs.

The Kaleidescopic 2009 Design: Image: ArtDiamondBlog.com

Sadly, photos of the actual balls are hard to find online. Perhaps they became scarce when MTV announced last year that it would be putting Snooki from the cast of Jersey Shore inside a ball. Notice they said “a ball”, not “the ball” – very tricky none the less!

Zatista wishes all of our WallSpin readers a very Happy New Year!

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