Art Expert "Chimped"

A German art expert was duped into believing a painting done by a chimpanzee was actually painted by a respected artist. Dr Katja Schneider, director of the State Art Museum in Moritzburg, Saxony-Anhalt, suggested the painting was by Guggenheim Prize winning artist Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Dr Schneider said: "It looks like an Ernst Wilhelm Nay. He was famous for using such blotches of colour." But in reality, the painting was made by female chimpanzee Banghi, from Halle Zoo. According to zoo workers, painting is one of the favourite pastimes of the 31-year-old ape, but her works are often destroyed by mate Satscho. After the real artist was revealed by the Bild newspaper, Dr Schneider said: "I did think it looked a bit rushed."
Irish Art

Erotic Orgasm Art

A video of a woman masturbating is going on display at the Tate Modern art gallery. Berlin-based artist Dorothy Iannone is said to "celebrate erotic love" in her work. She is the first artist selected for a new one-metre square art space at the flagship gallery. The video, entitled I Was Thinking of You, shows the face of the American-born artist masturbating. The Wrong Gallery, in which the video is being shown, is a tiny exhibition space which can only been seen through a locked glass door. Until recently the art gallery was sandwiched between two doors in 20th Street, New York. Iannone's work, which is mostly autobiographical, has been censored in the past.
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Irish Art

Mona Lisa Smile De-coded

It's kept art lovers amazed for five centuries, but the secrets of Mona Lisa's famous smile have finally been decoded - by a computer. The painting, by Leonardo Da Vinci, was analysed at the University of Amsterdam using "emotion recognition" software.

It found that the woman in the picture was 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% fearful and 2% angry. The computer looked at features like the way her lips curved and crinkles around her eyes. The famous art work, which is on public display in the Louvre in Paris, was painted between 1503-1506. It's thought it's named after the person in the painting, who possibly is a woman from Florence, the wife of a man called Francesco del Giocondo.
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Irish Art

Biggest Art Fraud of 20th Century

Between 1986 and 1994, Myatt churned out more than 200 new works by surrealists, cubists and impressionists, passing them off as originals with the help of an accomplice, John Drewe, an expert at generating false provenances. Despite the fact that many of Myatt's paintings were laughably amateurish (they were executed in emulsion, not oil), they fooled the experts and were auctioned for hundreds of thousands of pounds by Christie's and Sotheby's. It was, said Scotland Yard's art and antiques squad when they finally caught up with Myatt in 1995, bursting into his Staffordshire studio at the crack of dawn, 'the biggest art fraud of the 20th century'. Now his story is being turned into a Hollywood movie starring Michael Douglas - and a prestigious gallery is showing his 'genuine fakes'.
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Irish Art

Saatchi Art Swarms To Chelsea

Art collector Charles Saatchi's new gallery, at The Duke of York's Building in Chelsea, opens in April with a Tessa Farmer collection entitled 'Swarm'. The appropriately named Farmer has harvested the wing parts from countless little beasties, and glued them to delicate twig skeletons to form 'evil fairies'. After being kicked out of County Hall a few months back, Saatchi has remained tight-lipped on possible new locations until recently announcing a move to Chelsea. Continuing his tradition for picking out fresh British-based artists, 'Swarm' will be the inaugural presentation.
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Irish Art

Irish Art Auction Records

No one can doubt the continuing strength of Northern Irish art in the market place. Certainly not after Ross's, Belfast last art sale of the year. Top price at sale was £19,000 paid for a Basil Blackshaw while a small Wm Conor went under the hammer at £11,000. George Campbell, £7,000 and Colin Davidson (our top tip for collectors to buy in 2006) fetched £6,800.
World record prices were achieved at James Adams' Irish Art auction in Dublin this week totalling £2.2million. Of particular note were the prices achieved for post-war NI artists including a world record for a work by Colin Middleton. The highest price of the evening - £165,000 - was bid for 'Three Traders of Dublin' (1927) by Jack B Yeats, followed by Colin Middleton at £115,000. Other top prices included: Daniel O'Neill, £71,000; £54,000; Tony O'Malley, £48,600; Wm Scott, £67,000 and Tony O'Malley, £44,500
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Irish Art