30,000 Pounds For a Lot Of Balls

In a sector constantly screaming for funding, conceptual artist Martin Creed must be laughing all the way to the bank - he's just sold a load of old balls, literally, to the National Gallery of Modern Art for 30,000 pounds. But then, this piece of "art" is by the same man who won the 2001 Turner Prize for his work entitled The Lights Going On And Off - a room containing nothing more than a light being switched on and off repeatedly.
The gallery's latest acquisition entitled, oddly enough, Balls - lots of creativity there then - consists of 800 footballs and inflatable beach balls in different colours and sizes strewn across the gallery floor. And when the piece goes on display to the public next year, visitors will be invited to wander among the balls, kicking them as they go.
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Irish Art

Renoir Stolen from Auction

A painting by the French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, valued at about 200,000 euros has been stolen from the famous auction house Tajan in Paris. The theft of the artwork, entitled Tete de fillette (Head of a little girl), happened while it was displayed in a room of the auction house. The painting, which belongs to a lawyer, was supposed to be sold today in Paris.
Irish Art

562 Missing Picassos

There are more than 160,000 missing works of art, according to the Art Loss Register that tracks stolen and recovered art. The global trade in stolen art is at least $5 billion a year, according to the Progressive Policy Institute, which reports by comparison that the legitimate art market is said to be about $25 billion annually.

The Art Loss Register says the 160,000 missing include: 562 Picassos, 356 Miros, 309 Chagalls, 209 Renoirs, 174 Rembrandts and 108 Matisses.
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Irish Art