Top ART News: Week In Review | Nov. 29 - Dec. 6

■ A Day With(out) Art | World AIDS Day 2009 | NEW YORK (11/29/09) — Tuesday, December 1 is World AIDS Day, dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. The theme for 2009 is "Universal Access and Human Rights" and people everywhere will be wearing red to show their support. Raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice, and improving education are just some of the ways to observe the day; those in the art community will honor the annual A Day With(out) Art. More >

■ Medieval Times and Renaissance at a London Museum | LONDON (12/2/09) — A major unveiling took place in London on Wednesday as the Victoria and Albert Museum opened its doors to a new $53 million wing of remarkable treasures. Ten new galleries at the V&A feature more than 1,800 objects spanning the Middle Ages to the Renaissance eras. One of the collection highlights is five of Leonardo da Vinci's small notebooks (1487-1505) on permanent display for the first time. More >

■ Art Basel Miami Beach: Comfy Shoes Required | MIAMI BEACH (12/3/09) — An estimated 40,000 art enthusiasts, art collectors, artists, dealers, curators and critics will attend the eighth annual Art Basel Miami Beach, America's preeminent contemporary art fair. From December 3-6, the fair, held at Miami Beach Convention Center, will offer contemporary art and rare museum-caliber artworks. In the city known for its all-night parties, Art Basel Miami Beach always attracts its share of celebrities. So far, early sightings include Lenny Kravitz, Sylvester Stallone, Calvin Klein, Naomi Campbell and John McEnroe. More >

■ The Ten Most Popular Oil Paintings of 2009 | WICHITA, KS (12/5/09) — Quick! Think of an artist, any artist. Who did you think of? Pablo Picasso? Vincent van Gogh? Claude Monet? Many of you probably did. So it's not too surprising, then, that those three artists, along with Gustav Klimt, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georgia O'Keefe and Wassily Kandinsky, were all listed in Overstock Art's Top 10 Oil Paintings rankings for 2009. More >

■ Mysterious Letters: Art Project or Mail Fraud? | PITTSBURGH (12/5/09) — "We intend to write to everyone in the world..." say artists Lenka Clayton and Michael Crowe on their website, Mysterious Letters. Last week, 620 residents of the Polish Hill community in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania received letters from Clayton and Crowe. But while some think the art project is an inspiration, others aren't so excited by it. More >

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Top ART News: Week In Review | Nov. 29 - Dec. 6

Mysterious Letters: Art Project or Mail Fraud?

PITTSBURGH — "We intend to write to everyone in the world..." say artists Lenka Clayton and Michael Crowe on their website, Mysterious Letters.

Last week, 620 residents of the Polish Hill community in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania received letters from Clayton and Crowe. Some were written on standard lined paper, some were on colorful postcards, and others were on materials like stickers, name tags and even a small saucer. But no matter what materials were used, each letter was hand-written and personally addressed by the artistic pair.

In April 2009, each of the 467 households in the small Irish village of Cushendall received similar letters.

But while some Polish Hill residents think the art project is an inspiration, others aren't so excited by it. One woman received a letter saying how nice she and her husband were, but the man had died and that made her uncomfortable. A local sculptor describe the project as "artsy-goofy" and "mysteriously pretentious." Some recipients were just plain confused by it all.

Crowe and Clayton spent about 10 hours a day over two weeks writing 70 letters each day. Their website explains, "We hoped these unsolicited letters would prompt neighborly discussion, spreading across the town, promoting community curiosity."

Like the reactions from the residents of Polish Hill, comments on the Mysterious Letters website vary from praise to accusations of mail fraud. All of the letters were photographed prior to their mailing and can be viewed at mysteriousletters.blogspot.com.

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Read More - Pittsburgh Mystery Letters Revealed as Art Project | AP

[Photo: Example of a letter sent to Polish Hill residents in Nov. 2009 by Lenka Clayton and Michael Crowe, courtesy mysteriousletters.blogspot.com]

Mysterious Letters: Art Project or Mail Fraud?

Van Gogh Letters Exhibit a Method Behind the Madness

"There are so many people, especially  among our pals, who imagine that words are nothing. On the contrary, don’t you think, it’s as interesting and as difficult to say a thing well as to paint a thing."

~Vincent van Gogh to Emile Bernard (April 19, 1888)

The Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, Vincent van Gogh, was largely unknown during his lifetime but is well-regarded today as one of history's greatest painters and contributors to the foundations of modern art. As famous for works like The Starry Night, as for his suffering from mental illness (i.e. that legendary ear-cutting incident), a new exhibition of the artist's letters demonstrates the method behind the madness.

AMSTERDAM /Van Gogh Museum/ -- Vincent van Gogh's letters take center stage in the exhibition Van Gogh's letters: The artist speaks. More than 120 original letters are on show alongside the works that Van Gogh was writing about. These important documents have seldom or never been shown to the public due to their extreme fragility and sensitivity to light.

The combination of more than 300 works from the museum's own rich collection, including paintings, drawings, letters and letter sketches, offers a penetrating and comprehensive insight into Van Gogh as letter writer and as artist.

Van Gogh's correspondence has a special bearing on his art because of the sketches of his own work that he included in his letters. These sketches served no artistic purpose but were made with the sole intention of showing Theo and his other correspondents what the paintings or drawings he was working on or had completed actually looked like. Visitors are able to view a large number of letter sketches and enjoy the unique opportunity of being able to compare them with the paintings and drawings on which they are based.

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Van Gogh's Letters: The Artist Speaks (Oct. 9, 2009 - Jan. 3, 2010) 
Van Gogh Museum | Website
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Van Gogh Letters Exhibit a Method Behind the Madness