A first for India: A museum of contemporary art

India is bursting with commercial art galleries, but Devi is poised to be what the Poddars' home has been for many years: a noncommercial, nonprofit exhibition space for contemporary art from India and the subcontinent. Yamini Mehta, director of modern and contemporary Indian art at Christie's auction house in London, described it as "a truly groundbreaking first for India."

Read the Herald Trib story here.

One expensive photography book

A podiatrist in New Jersey by day, Jonathan Singer spends his free time photographing rare flowers. His pièce de résistance -- "Botanica Magnifica," of which there will be 10 copies -- is a five-volume, double-elephant folio with 250 exquisite, intensely colored images. The first copy, which the photographer donated to the Smithsonian, is on display in the National Museum of Natural History until October; he says he has sold the second for $2.5 million.

Read the WaPo story here.

Offensive Art

A while back comedian Eddie Griffin was removed from the stage in the middle of his act in front of a crowd in Miami for his repeated use of a very offensive word which is part of his usual routine.

Leads me to think, whatever happened to the gimmicky pursuit of creating offensive "high" art in order to attract attention?

Offili's "Madonna," Serrano's "Piss Christ," Maurizio Cattelan's "The Ninth Hour," mmm... I see a trend here.

Update: Not so fast Campello! See this story about a crucified frog, the Pope, and so on...