Gallery gathers artists to reinterpret 'Mona Lisa'

"Mona Lisa," perhaps the most famous picture in art history, is celebrating its 500th birthday and will get a hand from Salem's Mary Lou Zeek Gallery this month. Zeek is reprising last year's "Face the Public" event in which 16 artists painted a section of Grant Wood's "American Gothic," using their own style and medium. This year, they will take on Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting, created in oil on poplar in 1503. The painting is best known for its subject's enigmatic smile and also is known as "La Gioconda (La Joconde)." The work shows a woman, arms folded, looking at the viewer, with a landscape in the background. This year, a dozen artists will take on the task, each painting on a different day, generally in the morning, in the gallery, with the public invited to view the work.

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Gauguin's 'hidden' painting goes on block

PARIS, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- An early painting by Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin, accidentally discovered a half-century ago, has gone on sale in Paris for $8.8 million. The Independent reported Saturday that the work, "Prairie Martiniquaise," was painted during Gauguin's Impressionism period, prior to the former French stockbroker's self-imposed exile to Tahiti, where he reportedly fled to escape Western cultural values. The canvas was discovered hidden under another painting about 50 years ago when Norwegian collectors took the artwork to be restored. Gauguin's son, Paul, confirmed it was his father's work from his brief time period spent in Martinique in 1887. The work, offered by the Maastricht-based dealers Noortman Master Paintings, is reported to be generating a lot of "buzz" in the usually staid art world.

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Aboriginal artist finds second painting

ABORIGINAL artist Gordon Syron has described as life-changing the return of the second of his two paintings that were lost after falling off a car roof rack in central Sydney. The paintings are together worth $1.5 million and Mr Syron's favourite piece, Judgment of his Peers, was returned late yesterday after it was found by the side of the road. He didn't think he'd see the other work, titled The Immortalisation of David Gulpilil, again, until he was contacted by police early today. "A guy picked up the painting after it flew off my car and took it home without really looking at it, I think he liked the frame," Mr Syron said. "When he was looking at the news that night he thought, right, well I better call the police." Mr Syron had placed the paintings on the roof rack of his car outside Sydney's Town Hall about 4.20pm (AEST) on Friday.

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Filipino artists attempt world record for longest painting

Art enthusiasts from all over the country are making a go at breaking the Guinness World Records for the longest painting by completing a 5-kilometer long continuous canvas on the third level of SM City North EDSA. Spearheaded by the On The Spot Artists Association (OTSAA), the activity is supported by Brand Partner Inc. and SM Supermalls. With the theme "Fishes of the Ocean," the paintings depict various representation artworks of fish and other sea animals living in the ocean coexisting with each other. The pieces also aim to unify various participating artists, and promote world peace and environmental concerns. The bid to break the Guinness World Records for the longest painting on continuous canvas is a gift offering of the Philippines to commemorate the mid-decade celebration of the 2001 to 2010 International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World.

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