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The Galleries of Justice Museum in Nottingham attracts around 70,000 visitors a year. Dedicated to prisoner art, the museum displays works and artifacts from prisoners. From a shirt worn by one of the Kray twins to artwork from Long Kesh by IRA inmates, the collection spans the British penal system. There is a noose and trapdoor from Wandsworth prison along with a list of executed prisoners to represent capital punishment. Visitors will also find Oscar Wilde’s cell door from Reading jail.

Tim Desmond, the chief executive of the museum, which was founded 15 years ago and won the first Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries, says that the aim of the exhibition is not to “create a folklore around any one prisoner” but to illuminate prison life. However the notoriety of some prisoners cannot be ignored. This may be why the museum has displayed a piece by the infamous moors murderer, Myra Hindley.

The porcelain pig entitled “China Pig” has a plaque alongside it, simply stating that the piece was made during a prisoner art session. In fact it was made by Hindley and has been on display since 2005. The piece was originally bought by the governor of Durham prison and donated to the museum four years ago.

Bev Cooper, a curator at the museum says “We don’t want to sensationalise or glamourise this. He bought it and donated it to us, to the relief of his wife who had hated it. I don’t know if it was because she thought it was ugly or because of its associations, but she was glad to see the back of it.”

So should the moral character of the artist be taken into account when viewing a piece of art? Inevitably it will be and now that the  artist behind “China Pig” has been made public, people will stare at it trying to gain an insight into the psyche of a notorious murderer.

This year’s Eigse Carlow arts festival confirms its reputation for attracting the broadest range of painting, photography and sculpture. Held at three locations in Carlow town, St Patrick’s College, the Carlow Institute of Technology and the unfinished Shamrock Plaza,it pulls the crowds in from near and afar. Visual Coordinator, Paddy McGovern, has assembled an enthralling and eclectic programme. The diversity means there is something for everyone and seals the festival’s reputation for bringing art to the people.

There are a number of excellent solo painting exhibitions. These include Stephen McKenna’s series of international ports. The painting featured above is one of his and features his vision of Alcantara.  Cheerful in character, the artist simplifies the visual detail of his subjects, lending them a fresh populist perspective. “It’s reality, but not quite as we know it; cleaner, more clearly defined, more generally inviting. You’d like to be there.”

Marie Hanlon delights the eye with her colourful abstracts and Sinead Alderidge displays works with toned down colours and interlocking forms that recall the works of the great St Ives painter, Peter Lanyon.

Nick Evans displays a series of sculptures that evoke bodily parts. The style is brash with an in your face quality that instantly engages the viewer.

The above is just a small sample of the visual delights which make up the exhibition. If you can make the trip, you will find it well worth it.

Éigse Carlow exhibitions are at St Patrick’s College, Carlow Institute of Technology and Shamrock Plaza, 12 noon to 6pm daily, until Sunday.

Later this month, London’s Hayward Gallery will display an exhibit entitled “Walking in my Mind”. Ten artists will be showcased, each putting forward works which are designed to give the viewer an insight into the psyche of the artist. Perhaps the darkest amongst them will be the work of Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara.

Nara became famous in the Japanese pop art scene of the 1960s. Born in 1959, he had a very lonely and impoverished childhood and had sought escape in the barrage of Western culture which post war Japan was awash with. Comic books, which had arrived with the first American GIs, were a firm favourite.

Billed as a homage to the memories, triggered every time Nara puts pen to paper, darkness counterpoints with light to produce compelling yet  disturbing images, such as an innocent child brandishing a hunting knife. Described as a physical manifestation of his mental landscape, the images are windows to a psyche formed during his childhood. They are also a good example of how Japanese art developed post war as it came to terms with a large influx of western culture.

“Nara has intrigued, delighted and disturbed with his curious cast of wide-eyed, balloon-headed characters. These cutesy, cartoon-like creatures at first appear full of innocence and wonder, but on closer inspection reveal what could well be expressions of fearful malevolence. The overall effect is more than a little unnerving.”It is this sense of dark and light in counterpoint that is central to his work.

The Tate Gallery’s Turner Prize is no stranger to controversy and let’s face it that’s the way they like it. Every year since 1984 their shortlist draws the ire of traditionalists who dismiss them as pseudo artists with all the showmanship of a carpet bagger but no substance at all. This year will be no exception and the shortlist is one of the most uncompromising in years. So much so that they have been compared to the Young British Artists of the 90s who launched the Turner Prize as the visual spectacle of the year.

Enrico David has been shortlisted. His work has been described as seductive and degenerate from opposite sides of the fence. In the past he has produced textile figures of bare-buttocked builders, club-wielding harlequins, dandies and masked commedia dell’arte silhouettes.

Next up is Roger Hiorns a sculptor who uses what he calls chemical interventions. A good example of this is his installation of last year calles Seizure. The work involved flooding a condemned London flat with cooper sulphate crystals to produce “a magical cave of blue crystals.” The above photograph is of that piece of work.

Lucy Skaer, has created public artwork which involved taking up a paving stone in Glasgow, placing a diamond and a scorpion on a pavement in Amsterdam, and sneaking a moth and butterfly pupae into a criminal court in the hope they would hatch mid-trial. She is the only female artist to be nominated.

The last nominee, Richard Wright, is the odd one out in that he is a well established mainstream artist. Stephen Deuchar, director of Tate Britain and chair of judges, said that while Wright’s work was “discreet and self-effacing”, the others showed a sense of bold performance and “flamboyance”.

Work by the four shortlisted artists will be shown in an exhibition at Tate Britain, opening 7 October, and the winner of the £25,000 prize will be announced in December.

 An auction of 550 pieces of furniture and works of art from Versace’s Lake Como Villa  will now go ahead without its star attraction lot 72.  The 18th century masterpiece by the German neoclassical artist Johann Zoffany,  was described by Sotheby’s experts as “rare”, “important” and “exciting”. The portrait of a Major Maule was completed by Zoffany in 1783.

The painting was stolen 30 years ago, some 15 years before Versace aquired it. It is believed that Versace did not know the painting was a masterpiece by a celebrated artist. The sale of the items is expected to realise about £ two million with the piece by Zoffany listed for between £40,000 and £60,000 but expected to go for a lot more.

Following pre-auction publicity, relatives of Major Maule contacted the Art Loss Register claiming the painting had been stolen. The Art Loss Register in turn contacted Sotheby’s who were holding the auction. Sotheby’s issued a statement saying “Lot 72 has been withdrawn with the full agreement of Sotheby’s consignor.” The statement didn’t comment on the allegation that the painting was stolen but the fact that lot 72 was withdrawn is a good indication of how seriously they are taking it.

How Versace acquired the painting is not clear but he did so some 15 years after the painting was stolen. There is no suggestion that Versace knew the painting was stolen and as was stated earlier, it seems he did not recognise the significance of the work.

Stolen art work is near impossible for the criminals to sell on; however, very occasionally the issue comes up. Readers may remember this blog covered the story of the bronze figures for sale in France that had been looted from China’s Beijing summer palace during the second Opium War. The piece was titled Art Auction Sabotaged

A family heirloom has emerged as the only painting of the great bard Shakespeare to be painted during his lifetime. Up until now only two paintings have been accepted as genuine representations of the writer and they have been dated to around 1623, some years after the death of the most famous English writer. Since he died in 1616, these portraits had to have been based on recollection. The portrait now emerging was painted in 1610, some six years before the death of Shakespeare, and thus can claim to be the only genuine likeness known to exist.

The painting has been in the Cobbe family for generations. They are related to Shakespeare’s only known literary patron, Henry Wriothesley, the third Earl of Southampton. The owner, Alec Cobbe, first realised the significance of the portrait when he attended the “Searching for Shakespeare” exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery in London in 2006. At the exhibition, he came across a portrait that had at one time been accepted as a life portrait of Shakespeare. He realised that it was a copy of the painting he had inherited.

Cobbe’s intuition has since been backed up by a barrage of modern forensic tests, including x ray and infra red analysis, leading Paul Edmondson of The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to hail the painting as genuine.The portrait differs from the other two paintings in that it portrays Shakespeare with a much fuller head of hair than previously thought.

All of this is very good news for the Cobbe family, who have seen their heirloom transformed into a work of art of huge cash value. I can hear our readers rushing to the attic to check out their own heirlooms. The best of luck to you.

An extraordinary drama was played out in Paris last weekend as Christie’s auctioned off 18th Century bronzes of Chinese origin. The bronze rabbit and Rat heads were part of a collection assembled by the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent but their ownership was contested by the Chinese authorities. They say that the bronze figures were looted from the Imperial Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860 during the second opium war. The Chinese were unsuccessful in a French court bid to block the sale. The auction went ahead and the bronze figures were sold for 15.7 million euro each.

That was not the end of the matter though as the successful bidder announced he had bought the items but would now hold back the money to prevent a sale. Cai Mingchao, a wealthy Chinese art collector had this to say “What I need to stress is that this money cannot be paid. At the time, I was thinking that any Chinese would do this if they could … I only did what I was obliged to.”

Mingchao is an adviser to the non governmental Lost Cultural Relics Recovery Program a Chinese organisation which seeks to repatriate important Chinese works of art. Niu Xianfeng, the assistant director of the cultural recovery programme, told a press conference in Beijing that it was he and Mr Cai who had devised a plan to block the sale. The Chinese Government denied any role in the sabotage of the auction.

Mingchao was an anonymous telephone bidder and his act of sabotage has caused red faces at Christie’s. They are responsible for assessing the bona fides of all telephone bidders. In a straight forward world they could re-auction the pieces, obliging Mingchao to make up any shortfall in the price got for them. This is not a straight forward situation though and any new bid to auction the bronzes is sure to attract fresh legal efforts to stop it and the bigger the controversy the less prospective buyers will be attracted.

That said however a repeat auction is quite likely, albeit fraught with difficulties and controversy.

“Statues stand: they represent upstanding values but they also stand for values of bravery, altruism and power and the achievement of those individuals who represent them. If you ask people who usually stand on the street to stand on a plinth, putting the citizen in the elevated position of the statue, what happens? My project for the Fourth Plinth commission, “One and Other”, is an attempt to find out.”

“The fourth plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square is high enough (the height of a house) to make the ability to stand on it an achievement in itself. What we consider normal for a statue is not normal for a man. This exposure of life on the ideal or idealised plane of the statue allows the viewer to be the viewed: a reversal of usual roles. The statue, being placed higher than life, suggests higher values deserving of a place above the ordinary: the street. The statue knows its place and, by implication, we know ours. I would like to challenge that. ”

The above quote is from the conceptual artist Antony Gormley. If you still haven’t had your Andy Warhol fifteen minutes of fame, he will quadruple it and give you one full hour in the limelight. He is seeking to recruit 2,400 people to spend an hour each on the plinth. He is opposed to the notion that people cannot see beyond appearance, put forward by artists like Gerhard Richter.

“I think that attitude, body posture and the way we are, as opposed to what we do, expresses feeling in a way that is far more potent than words. Internal condition can be read irrespective of the attributes of the individual – fashion, rank, or uniform. It is this, for me, that lies at the core of “One and Other”.

One and Other is the name he has given to the proposed work. It is sure to attract peoples attention although the artist’s stated aims call for a level of engagement from the public that may not be forthcoming. People are more likely to give it a passing glance as they get on with their busy lives. That said, it is sure to provide a dramatic spectacle as a diversity of people take their turn on the plinth.

Glen Brown is an artist who is no stranger to controversy. His entry to the 2000 Turner prise, “The Loves of the Shepard” caused uproar when it was discovered to be taken from the cover of a novel from a book jacket by the illustrator Anthony Roberts for the 1974 Robert A. Heinlein novel Double Star. His detractors missed the point as the piece was rendered in classical old masters style.

“It was not amusing at the time. For two years afterwords it was very miserable,” he recalls. “It was an extraordinarily expensive thing. I had just bought a house and I nearly lost it because of it. It gave me a great deal of cynicism for lawyers. They were the only ones that profited. The illustrator involved did not profit out of it but the lawyers had a fun time,” he says.

His detractors missed the point. Brown’s work is all about appropriating existing works and painting them in an other style from both high art and popular culture  for a different and alluring take on them. Favourite subjects remain the work of Frank Auerbach, but also Salvador Dali, Rembrandt and the apocalyptic Northumberland painter John Martin.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m painting things from real life. Like a painter going out and painting the landscape and the buildings, these paintings that I use do already exist and they are part of my life, my education and my way of understanding the world is through art.”

Sixty of his paintings and sculptures will go on display shortly at the Tate Liverpool.

The comic strip, an often unrecognised art form, has evolved. The transformation is of course due to the internet. More and more comic fans are accessing their favourite strips online. Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, two American comic strip producers, are a good example of what is going on in the comic world. Their online strip Penny Arcade ,which they started as a hobby ten years ago, has grown at a phenomenal rate and today attracts in excess of three million readers. The website provides satirical comment on the computer games industry. It is a success story that would not be possible without the internet.

“Traditionally, when someone wanted to get comics out, they used to have to do a small print run or photocopy them,” says Tim Pilcher, author of Essential Guide to World Comics and Erotic Comics: A Graphic History, “They would put them in the post or try to sell them at fairs and conventions, which meant they were limited to an audience of 200 if they were lucky. The internet means the same artists can reach a global audience automatically. Comics have become a much more egalitarian medium.”

So is this the end of the print comic? It would seem not. Online publications identify reader demands and allow the print form to follow these trends. One good case in point is the work of Irish artist Dan Walsh “Garfield without Garfield”. As the name implies, it is Garfield strips minus all the characters except Jon Arbuckle, the cat’s owner.”It turned a saccharine strip with a cat into a darkly funny, manic-depressive diatribe by a lonely bachelor,” Pilcher says. The online edition was such a hit that they brought a book out too or as Pilcher says “Something that had its genesis in a newspaper was adapted online, became a hit, and then became a book,” He says. “The industry is linking and crossing over and smart publishers are seeing that.”

The two giants of the comic publishing world DC Comics and Marvel Comics have both set up online sections. Although slow to do so, they have both been forced to bow to the inevitable. The future of the online comic is secure.