“The goal of the Urban Curators project is to engage the public in the celebration of the decaying urban environment, recognizing its inherent aesthetic qualities as well as the important role that it plays within our cultural habitat. The project achieves its goal by elevating common, overlooked objects and spaces within the city of Providence, Rhode Island to the level of high art.”

“The instinct to create art is completely normal. From our time as little children, we seek to express ourselves. Whether that be by odd verbal utterances, or even a smile, or the drawing on the living room wall, we release our emotions that are bottled up inside and set them free. To claim to be a ‘professional artist’ … is something I find to be an oxymoron.”

“Almost everyone knows at least one painting by Vincent van Gogh, but most likely no one knows them all. With this poster you’ll get a complete overview of van Gogh’s life. The complete 870 paintings are scaled proportionally and listed chronologically. So you’re invited to discover Vincent van Gogh on your own. You can see his changing favourite colour moods, motive series and recurring themes. When did he paint the famous sunflowers? And when the nightcafé?” (Thanks Coudal Partners!)

“For my project I have chosen to curate a collection of art made by professionals in all areas, full-time students, and any individual who may feel that their day-to-day life does not afford them much opportunity for creative output. My request is simple: I am asking for art made with photocopiers, or copy art. It can be anything: your face, memo, political statement, meeting minutes, drawing, family photo, love-letter, etc. Reclaim the 8 1/2 by 11 page.”

“To help compile the definitive list of the 50 works of art to see before you die, we need your suggestions. Here’s a list of 20 to kick it off.”

“Casino mogul Steve Wynn ripped a hole through his $139 million Picasso painting while gesticulating at a cocktail party, reports the New York Post. Nora Ephron gave her own first-person account of the damage: It was ‘a black hole the size of a silver dollar … with two three-inch long rips coming off it in either direction.’ Wynn had just agreed to sell the painting; now, the deal is off. Is there any way to fix the ripped Picasso?”

“I love museums, and I’d like to see them become more like the Web. After ‘living’ on the Web day in and day out for years, any space that isn’t as interactive, customizable, and ‘deep’ as the Web is a bit frustrating to me.”

“Frames evolved from the borders which appeared 3-4,000 years ago on vase and tomb paintings, and later on mosaics, enclosing narrative scenes and decorative panels. Early Christian art adapted these to the carved edgings of ivory book covers and diptychs, and finally of altarpieces. By this time the function of the frame had changed: not merely a decorative boundary, it protected and emphasized the work it held, and might have a strongly symbolic aspect.” (Thanks Coudal Partners!)

“For a 25-year dishwasher at Seattle’s Washington Athletic Club, Gregory Blackstock has an amazing skill set: he speaks 12 languages, has mastered the accordion (and can play just about every instrument he picks up), can do spot-on sound effects of dentist’s drills and airplanes, and chronicles the objects of everyday life with exacting detail using only a Sharpie and gray crayons… While he’s a classic autistic savant, Blackstock’s amazingly intricate drawings, because of their craft and obsessive vision, would surely be considered art by any measure.” (Thanks Design Observer!)

“At the recent Media Lab faculty retreat led by our new director Frank Moss, we had an interesting time discussing our favorite topic here at the Lab — the future. It’s never easy to discuss the future when you’re living in the present of the course, but with the impressive array of colleagues I have here it’s not that difficult. Digital music impresario Tod Machover and the mind of Lego’s Mindstorm Mitch Resnick led a discussion about the future of creativity. It was here that the past collided with the future, or at least in my mind. The timeless question in art arose: What matters more: the process of creating an artwork, or just the artwork alone? There are only a few variants to this answer. My simple mind calculates four total…”

Paint like Jackson Pollock without making a mess: “Jackson Pollock by Miltos Manetas, 2003, original flash animation by Michal Migurski.”

“It is easier for a pickled shark to pass through the eye of a needle than for a multimillionaire to make good art. This week it was revealed that Damien Hirst, at 40, is worth £100m, a stupendous figure unrivalled by any artist his age, ever, even allowing for inflation and the changing nature of wealth.”

Attention St. Louisans — your humble xBlog editor (that would be me, Bill Keaggy) is having an exhibit at the Center of Contemporary Arts in St. Louis, Missouri. The opening is tonight, Friday, April 14 from 6-8 p.m., for Junk Science | Projects by Bill Keaggy: Found objects, trash photography, strange collections and accidental art. If you are able, please stop by and say hi. COCA is at 524 Trinity in the U City area. There will be free wine and you can even enter for a chance to win a free piece from the exhibit, or a cool poster. Hope to see some of you local xBlog readers and friends of XPLANE there!

“Pigments are the basis of all paints, and have been used for millennia. They are ground colored material. Early pigments were simply as ground earth or clay, and were made into paint with spit or fat. Modern pigments are often sophisticated masterpieces of chemical engineering. This exhibit includes most important pigments used through the early 20th century.” (Thanks Coudal Partners!)

“I have no way of actually proving this, but I am convinced that many photographers do not have all that stuff from their statements in their heads and then go out to shoot the photography. I have the suspicion that some of them, after having shot their photos, have a hard time writing something that can pass as a statement, because ‘I just wanted to take beautiful photos of rubble piles’ somehow doesn’t appear to be acceptable.” (Thanks kottke.org!)