Category Archives: Culture

"Naked Girl with Egg" by Lucian Freud in Oporto

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“Naked Girl with Egg” by Lucian Freud in Oporto
until 23 october

“Naked Girl with Egg” by Lucian Freud is on the centre stage of My Choice, an exhibition founded on the now known and tried concept of the artist-curator, with Paula Rego.

Mostly comprised of drawings and etchings, but also photography and painting, the 87 works mirror their creators’ identity. Always individualized, each work seems to have been observed and selected as a unique piece, her selection being unconcerned with the building of a body of related works. What unites each piece is Paula Rego’s way of seeing, which is almost always drawn to works with an intrinsic narrative that becomes manifest in extreme situations, of great tension and drama, and others that develop more universal themes, such as life, death, love and sex.

“I really only chose what I liked. I didn’t choose pictures because of the name of the artist, or because they were considered historically significant. Very often I didn’t know who had done them. Some I had seen before, but others not. I loved the freedom to like by looking”, stated Paula Rego.

“The sadness in the
the woman’s expression” of ” Naked Girl with Egg” was the reason why Paula Rego choose this painting, she explained in the opening of the exhibition, 14 th july, in Oporto, Portugal.

The selection of this work has less to do with plastic expression or empathy with the extraordinary harshness of the painting than with the strong emotions it stirs.

MY Choice is being held on Espaço Fundação EDP, in Oporto, until 23 october, as well as “The Poacher”, an original project, between Fundação EDP and Fundação Paula Rego/Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, with works by Paula Rego – paintings and drawings – produced in 1990, when the artist received the invitation to inaugurate the residency programme of contemporary artists at London’s National Gallery.

Mostly comprised of drawings and etchings, but also photography and painting, the 87 works mirror their creators’ identity. Always individualized, each work seems to have been observed and selected as a unique piece, her selection being unconcerned with the building of a body of related works. What unites each piece is Paula Rego’s way of seeing, which is almost always drawn to works with an intrinsic narrative that becomes manifest in extreme situations, of great tension and drama, and others that develop more universal themes, such as life, death, love and sex.

“I really only chose what I liked. I didn’t choose pictures because of the name of the artist, or because they were considered historically significant. Very often I didn’t know who had done them. Some I had seen before, but others not. I loved the freedom to like by looking”,

stated Paula Rego.

“The sadness in the
the woman’s expression” of ” Naked Girl with Egg” was the reason why Paula Rego choose this painting, she explained in the opening of the exhibition, 14 th july, in Oporto.

The selection of this work has less to do with plastic expression or empathy with the extraordinary harshness of the painting than with the strong emotions it stirs.

MY Choice is being held on Espaço Fundação EDP, in Oporto, until 23 october, as well as The Poacher an original project, between Fundação EDP and Fundação Paula Rego/Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, with works by Paula Rego – paintings and drawings – produced in 1990, when the artist received the invitation to inaugurate the residency programme of contemporary artists at London’s National Gallery.

Espaço Fundação EDP Porto
Rua Ofélia Diogo da Costa, nº 39
4050-009 Porto
Tuesday to Sunday
12 pm – 7 pm
Free entrance

Memorial Service For Lucian Freud As Art World Mourns

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It was the end of an era in the art world when Lucian Freud died aged 88 on the 22nd of July. Freud was art’s greatest living painter, he made such an impression on me that I was incredibly sad when he died, even though I never met him. I remember reading about where he hung out in a magazine and wishing I had the courage to go to the Wolseley and ‘bump’ into him.

He worked obsessively at his studio in London’s Holland Park and fathered many children. He hung out with Kate Moss and when he died, his regular table at the Wolseley was draped in a black cloth. He borrowed money from Jacob Rothschild on the condition that he would never ask again and never pay it back, he also got in trouble with the Krays after racking up gambling debts, and got into a fight when he was in his 80’s.

A memorial service has been set. Freud’s lawyer Diana Rawstron said his funeral would be held in private but a public memorial service would be held at another date.

She told The Daily Telegraph: ‘The funeral will be private and for the family only. There will be a memorial service at a date to be announced.’

He was the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud

Freud’s become incredibly expensive and his Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, that sold in 2008 for $33.6 million – a record for a living artist. The women in the Picture, Sue Tilley, said she cried when she heard he had died.

‘He certainly is considered one of the most important painters of the 20th and 21st centuries,’ added Brett Gorvy, deputy chairman of the postwar art department at Christie’s auction house in New York.

Debt Talks Collapse as Republicans Walk Away

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Debt talks in Washington reached a crisis point today as negotiations collapsed ahead of the August 2nd deadline. House speaker Republican John Boehner walked out of negotiations accusing president Obama of moving the goal posts by demanding bigger tax increases.

An angry Obama has said he and other Republicans are puzzled as to why a deal couldn’t get done. The president was offering to slash a $1 trillion in discretionary spending as well as cutting $650bn from Medicare and other entitlements.

People will be disappointed to hear Boehner just walked away at this time of crisis. Walking out at this stage cannot be constructive. It’s also extremely irresponsible with the spectre of a potentially disastrous US debt downgrade looming, to say nothing of a possible default. Republicans generally are starting to look increasingly rash as they unrealistically refuse to except tax increases.

If US debt were to be downgraded, even slightly, this in itself could have huge consequences. Many pension funds worldwide are required to only hold AAA securities and many currently hold large amounts of US government debt. In the event of a downgrade they would all have to sell this debt which could have a huge impact on the US dollar and the price of US debt, possibly causing a downward spiral, as yields rise and the US has to pay more interest on its debt in the future. The effects on the global economy and jobs could be huge.

A default is of course unthinkable and would lead to a worldwide financial meltdown.

It’s time for the politicians to stop thinking about themselves for once and to start thinking about the man in the street. It’s time to get this thing sorted. Each US taxpayer now owes almost $130,000

 

Rupert Murdoch: This is the most humble day of my life.

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Phone hacking Updates: Sean Hoare Dead, Murdochs, Yates and Stephenson Face committee.

 

In a sad development in the phone hacking juggernaut, Sean Hoare, 47, was found dead amidst ‘unexplained’ circumstances. Hoares, who accused his former editor, Andy Coulson, of illegal activity, was found dead at his home days after he made fresh allegations against executives who he worked for.

Police said they did not at this stage suspect foul play. Before his death he told the Guardian : “There’s more to come. This is not going to go away.” and the New York Times that Coulson’s claim that he knew nothing about the hacking was “simply a lie”.

 

Prime Minister David Cameron has cut short a trip to Africa as the crisis worsens, unlike Elisabeth Murdoch, who had went on holiday with husband Matthew Freud as her father Rupert, and brother James, face the select committee. Mr Cameron will face questions from MPs after Parliament summer recess was delayed so he could make an emergency Commons statement. Mr Cameron will be facing some tough questions over his decision to hire Andy Coulson as his media strategist.

Watch the live hacking commitee and the Murdoch’s being interviewed courtesy of the Telegraph

 

Other developments:

 

John Yates has resigned over his links to Neil Wallis, former deputy editor of the News of the World. Yates twice resisted requests to reopen the investigation into phone hacking.

 

Sir Paul Stephenson, head of the Metropolitan Police, also known as Scotland Yard, Resigned. Stephenson referred to his resignation saying; “It was my decision and my decision only.”

 

Boris Johnson has denied that he personally intervened in the resignation of Sir Paul Stephenson, the Met Commissioner and Mr Yates.

 

Rebekah Brooks was arrested on Sunday. She will still answer questions from the committee.

 

James Murdoch’s future looks uncertain and he will face the same panels of MPs as Brooks and his father.

 

Rupert Murdoch was mobbed by the press as he arrives at the Houses of Parliament. His wife, Wendi Deng, sat behind him as he was being interviewed and touched his arm in comfort a few times.

 

The scandal has rocked Britain and made the Murdochs, who were untouchable just last month, fair game. It is alleged the over 4000 people’s phones were hacked. Rupert Murdoch made an apologyy in newspapers over the weekend and also personallyapologiseded to Milly Dowler’s family after her phone was hacked.

James Murdoch perviously said: “We now have voluntarily given evidence to the police that I believe will prove that this was untrue and those who acted wrongly will have to face the consequences,This was not the only fault. The paper made statements to Parliament without being in the full possession of the facts. This was wrong.”

“I don’t see how he can survive,” Howell Raines, former executive editor of The New York Times told ABCNews.com. “Seems to me that the movement both politically and legally is ominous.”

 

Rupert Murdoch has defended his son by saying; “I think he acted as fast as he could, the moment he could,” he told the Wall Street Journal.

Les Hinton and Rebekah Brooks Resign. Murdoch Latest

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Following on from the last article Frost did on the phone hacking scandal, Rebekah Brooks has finally resigned after Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of the press baron, launched a rant that Brooks had ‘fucked the company’. Les Hinton, who has been at News Corporation for over 50 years has also resigned saying that he ‘had no other choice’. Apparently, Brooks had offered her resignation a week ago.

 

Rupert Murdoch has taken out a full page advert in the national press to say apologise despite saying previously that ‘we only made minor mistakes.’ The FBI have launched an investigation into the claims that the phones of 9/11 victims were hacked.

 

Carl Bernstein, the former Washington Post reporter who exposed Watergate and helped depose a US president, says it is evident that the events of the past week “are the beginning, not the end, of the seismic event”.

 

News Corporation has hired Edelman, a global communications company to manage the crisis on both sides of the Atlantic and it looks like James Murdoch being the heir apparent it now a pipe dream.

 

UK parliamentary hearing start next week and the future is looking grim for Murdoch, he personally met the family of Milly Dowler to apologise to them, but the damage has all been done. It will interesting to see what happens next. It is ironic to see the hounder hounded, a lot of the photographers taking pictures of Murdoch, actually work for him. Tom Mockridge has been appointed to run News International. Will Chase Carey be heading up global corporation soon.

 

News Corp Withdraw BSkyB Bid

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News Corporation have withdrawn their BSkyB bid amid the ‘Hackgate’ scandal.

The move follows further claims as the fallout into phone hacking continues. With news stories about the now defunct News of the World getting worse by the day and spreading to the other Murdoch papers, the media mogul now faces fresh accusations. It would seem News Corp has forgotten the first rule of journalism: Never become the story.

People on the News of the World payroll are said to have illegally accessed Gordon Brown’s son’s medical records and, after hacking Milly Dowler’s voicemail, deleted the messages when her mailbox was full – a move that made her family, and police, believe she was still alive.

News Corporation own 39% of BSkyB and announced last year that it intended to buy the remaining 61%.

Chase Carey, Deputy Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation, commented: “We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies but it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate. News Corporation remains a committed long-term shareholder in BSkyB. We are proud of the success it has achieved and our contribution to it.”

BSKYB chief executive Jeremy Daroch added: “We are delivering on our clear, consistent strategy and are building a larger, more profitable business for the long term. We remain very confident in the broadly based growth opportunity for BSkyB as we continue to add new customers, sell more products, develop our leading position in content and innovation, and expand the contribution from our other businesses.”

The announcement comes as online petitions against News Corporation increase. Actor Hugh Grant got the ball rolling when he wore a wire and in a case of ‘the biter, bit’, taped a former News of the World journalist confessing that their paper “bugged everyone.” The piece was for an edition of the New Statesman which was being guest edited by his ex-girlfriend Jemima Khan.

Hugh Grant for Prime Minister….

The Moratorium: Homeless Veterans

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Not often, but every-so-often subjects are broached and the country unifies in their opinion and it is such that the powers that be have to act accordingly. The problem is, is that it happens so rarely that the people to blame get away with it more often than is actually acknowledged!

The Moratorium is here to air those topics and the first one starts with one that is close to my heart and one that is a hot topic at the moment for kinds of reasons. The Armed Forces! Now it’s not them that is taboo, but aspects of how they are treated, so I think that the treatment of Veterans should be the key point of topic, as they appear to have disappeared from the lives of so many until a scandal hits the headlines and then it’s all up for a week, or two then it disappears from the eyes of the public once more.

Most people know that many of the homeless in London are veterans and as many as 70% of the males that are homeless in London are Vets, or have served in one of the forces. On leaving the forces they either fall by the wayside, or don’t know where to look for help, or even who to ask when they need direction, as many doors are shut when leaving.

The “Us” and “Them” attitude extends further than most people understand, as the mannerisms are very loyal and willing, so when all those realities are shattered on the “outside” it becomes a stigma to trust people, or even comprehend why civilians have little trust and camaraderie amongst themselves. Most of the problems stem from the fact you cannot untrained the trained! It’s that which plays the biggest factor in military veterans becoming a forgotten statistic and considered a nuisance at best.

When you’re representing the country for what it stands for and you get shot at, spat on and are alone in a strange place, the only difference from serving and being homeless is location! I have seen people urinate on people as they sleep in any space they can find and then the same people who do it run off when the victim wakes up! Granted, no person should be submitted to that regardless. This doesn’t detract from the fact that the veteran paid their taxes, accommodation and council tax like any other worker and is left fend without preparation after their service has ended.

There are funds, which people know as charities, that all military people pay into whilst serving. However, trying to get help from them when times are hard is like getting a piggyback ride from a Hippopotamus… Highly unlikely! I know that those that work in the likes of Royal British Legion (RBL), Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA), Benevolent Fund AND whichever service charity is relevant will all have their side of the story to put across, but the stats speak for themselves and the money is still in their accounts whilst Vets are still on the street!

So why are there so many Vets on the streets and not being tended to? The answer is simple! Even more simple than it is to explain. The people that were once security cleared, numbered, monitored and trusted to die for their country get lost in the outside world and the outside system! Once a person comes out of the military, their rights change and they become a different number. No ID and uniform to show who they are, they are swallowed up and left to fend in civilian life.

Many of the Vets that turn to crime are not delinquents, but people who have no focus and are frustrated. They want to be somewhere where they can work, be appreciated and not have to worry where they will be sleeping come night time. A simple thing that eludes many of them and they are considered a profile for police and hostels to look out for. Sadly it’s not to guide them in the right direction, as many of the Veterans do not make it to an ex-military hostel for appropriate help.

The current government put out an announcement for a Covenant for Armed personnel, Veterans and their family, which may take around 2 years to be finalised, let alone implemented. In the time it takes to get that to any kind of working mandate, it may take as long as 10 years. And I wish it was an exaggeration. The amount that will be homeless, dead, or imprisoned after service between now and then will not make for good statistics.
On the fallout of the News Of The World scandal, many service families will be put through the trauma of going through losing their loved ones all over again and many of those families have more than one family member serving; so that will be something that will take its toll in the homeless stakes as many serving/veteran siblings go off the rails and end up being a statistic with all the other homeless. It is considered the tour of duty that no medal is awarded for and none will be relevant for the type of conflicts that are endured.

Hacking Latest: Sunday Times targeted Brown

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According to the BBC, the Sunday Times illegally targeted private personal information of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The Sunday Times is also a member of Rupert Murdoch’s News International.

BBC documents suggest ‘blagging’ was used to obtain private medical and financial information. ‘Blagging’ was made illegal in 1994 and involves, ‘knowingly or recklessly obtaining or disclosing personal data without consent’. News international private investigators are thought to have targeted Brown’s police and tax records.

In one incident, someone said to be acting for the Sunday Times is accused of impersonating Mr Brown and obtaining details from his building society.

The BBC says, the Browns also fear another News International paper, the Sun, may have obtained medical records about their son Fraser. The Sun revealed Fraser had cystic fibrosis in 2006.

According to the Financial Times Gordon Brown is said to be very angry at News International, particularly for the incident relating to his son. He is expected to make a statement accusing other News International corporations of hacking.

Many are now asking how far the scandal goes? Have we only seen the tip of the iceberg so far.

In related news News Corporations bid for BskyB looked all but dead in the water as culture secretary Jeremy Hunt referred the bid to the regulator. Deputy PM Nick Clegg also urged Murdoch to abandon the takeover.