Category: By Amara Shorts

  • Amara Andrew

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    Want a $100 million mini painting?!

    Want a miniature version of the famous painting, “Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte?” Well, it can be yours for just $100 million…

    Transcript

    There are a series of paintings that are going to be auctioned at Christie’s in November from the Paul G. Allen collection.

    I, personally, am most intrigued by a painting by Georges Seurat called “Le Poseuses Ensemble (petite version).” In this painting, you have 3 nude ladies, blah, blah, blah. It’s pointillism, beautiful, wonderful, whatever.

    There is a miniature version of “Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte” in the background! I live in Chicago, currently, and at the Art Institute of Chicago, “La Grande Jatte” is sort of like our “Mona Lisa.”

    Seeing “La Grande Jatte” in here is very cute. I don’t know why I very much love seeing it in this context.

    And, get this! Apparently this piece is estimated to sell for over $100 million!

    🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

    Read More: Want a $100 million mini painting?!

  • Amara Andrew

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    A $1 BILLION art collection is for sale!

    This week on the podcast, we’re talking about a $1 BILLION ART COLLECTION that’s being sold at Christie’s this November!

    If you had a billion dollars, what art would you buy?

    Transcript

    There are a series of paintings that are going to be auctioned at Christie’s in November. These are all from the Paul G. Allen collection.

    Allen was the co-founder of Microsoft, so he has buckoo bucks, like money galore. He died in 2018, so now his massive art collection is being auctioned off.

    His collection spans 500 years of art. Artists included are: Jan Brueghel the Younger, Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Gustav Klimt, Jasper Johns, Georgia O’Keefe, Louise Bourgeois, and many, many others.

    This collection is also very interesting because it’s slated to sell for over $1 billion…a billion with a “b.” There are 150 artworks that will be sold.

    Allegedly, all the proceeds will be donated to philanthropy. That’s what Paul G. Allen had in his will, I guess, that he wanted all the proceeds to go to philanthropy.

    🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

    Read More: A $1 BILLION art collection is for sale!

  • Amara Andrew

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    $3.2 Million Keith Haring Wall Found in an Art History Professor’s Office

    This week, we’re talking about a $3.2 million piece of Keith Haring wall that was found in an art history professor’s office…

    Transcript

    Our “Something Borrowed” this week is, yet again, another piece of Keith Haring wall art.

    So, I covered a piece of wall art that was being taken from his childhood home that he drew right before he passed away in Episode 1, so go check it out.

    So, again, we’re looking at a series of “Radiant Babies,” which is his quintessential piece, like you know that that’s Keith Haring. So, he drew 5 of them on this piece of wall in 1981 when he went to Bard College.

    He was invited to Bard to speak about the merits of graffiti, or the ethics of graffiti. Not the merits, the ethics. So, he drew on the wall with Magic Marker.

    Apparently, an art history professor named Tom Wolf removed that section of wall from the building and had it in his office for almost 50 years. So, Wolf is retiring now, so plans are underway to find this section of wall a new home.

    And, according to Bard College, it’s going to be permanently on view at the school’s Center for Curatorial Studies thanks to a $3.2 million donation.

    🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

    Read More: $3.2 Million Keith Haring Wall Found in an Art History Professor’s Office

  • Amara Andrew

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    Legendary Punk Haven, CBGB, has been turned into an art gallery…

    How do you feel about CBGB turning into an art gallery?

    Transcript

    If you are, at all, an original punk afficianado, or just give a shit about punk history, or even the history of New York City, you will have heard of CBGB.

    Amazing acts, like The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Sex Pistols, Blondie, like all these amazing acts passed through CBGB.

    The venue actually closed down in 2006 and it became, I think, like a John Varvatos shop or something weird like that, but now it’s becoming an art gallery.

    It’s going to be called Amanita. They’ll have their first gallery showing starting September 29th. Their first exhibition is going to be Leonardo Meoni. He does these really beautiful illustrations or paintings on velvet.

    They’re really beautiful and amazing, so if you’re in the New York City area, go check ’em out. Let me know how it is in the comments below. I’ll live vicariously through you until I can get there myself.

    🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

    Read More: Legendary Punk Haven, CBGB, has been turned into an art gallery…

  • Amara Andrew

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    Ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti’s hidden tomb (and mummy!) may have just been found!

    Was Nefertiti’s tomb just found?! A noted Egyptologist believes so!

    Transcript

    If you’ve watched any sort of documentaries about Ancient Egypt within the last 5, 10, maybe 20 years, you would have seen Zahi Hawass.

    He claims to have solved the mystery of where Nefertiti’s tomb is.

    So, according to Hawass, he and his team have DNA from 18th dynasty mummies. They also have 2 unnamed mummies in their care, right now, that they hope to be able to announce in October 2022 as the wife of King Tutankhamun and her mom, Nefertiti.

    Among many other reasons, there’s one primary reason why it’s been so difficult to locate Nefertiti. So, when her husband, Amenhotep IV, ascended to power, he, basically, did away with the entire traditional schema of what Egyptian society was like.

    Once he died, though, the traditional culture was brought back. The memory of Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti was, essentially, just erased. There was no evidence left of where they were laid to rest.

    🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

    Read More: Ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti’s hidden tomb (and mummy!) may have just been found!