Happy Birthday, Ai Weiwei! 

“This tragic and appalling story emerges well from this volume. It is a most important contribution to a little-known aspect of the genocide of the Jewish people during the Second World War and will become the standard work on the subject, illustrating clearly the whole character of the Romanian genocide.”

World, blown Holocaust. Old Poland, Market Day in Shtetl Zabludoff. Based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem and Bashevis Zinger. In Memory of the burned, destroyed Jewish Shtetls, do not give me no rest … 120х80cm. oil on canvas. 5000$

Mandalas and things are starting to fall together for the next open studios. A new series of work will be on view October 3 & 4 at the Los Angeles Brewery Art Walk! (at Brewery Art Los Angeles)

Curator Daniel Palmer at the Whitney Museum speaking about artist Ben Shahn

Picture titled ‘Algerian Jew’ from the Jewish Encyclopedia.

Algeria’s Jewish community dates from the Roman invasion and the destruction of the Second Temple.  Read more about the Algerian Jewish community here.

And see synagogues of the Algerian Jewish community here.

Fiddler on the roof - 1968 by Baruch Elron

Alex Levin, Art Levin Studio

Frank W. Benson - Summer of 1909

The company that makes Legos has landed at the center of a social-media firestorm after Chinese artist Ai Weiwei complained that it refused to supply a bulk order of the toy bricks for his art.

Ai said he wanted to use the bricks for an exhibition on free speech at Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria. The museum attempted to place an order but was told by the company that it “cannot approve the use of Legos for political works."A post on Ai’s Instagram account said:

"As a powerful corporation, Lego is an influential cultural and political actor in the globalized economy with questionable values. Lego’s refusal to sell its product to the artist is an act of censorship and discrimination.”

A free-speech advocate who was imprisoned by the Chinese government, Ai suggested that Lego was acting under pressure from authorities. The privately held Danish company recently announced that a Legoland theme park will open in Shanghai. 

In response, fans of the artist flooded Twitter and Instagram with offers of Legos, and Ai said he was setting up drop-off points for donations. He also posted a picture of Legos that had been left inside a car on a street in Berlin, where he is serving as a visiting professor at the University of the Arts.

Fans Flood Artist Ai Weiwei With Offers Of Legos

Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Pablo Picasso - Woman sitting in an armchair 

July 14th 1862: Gustav Klimt born

On this day in 1862, the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt was born in Baumgarten. Raised in poverty, the young artist entered art school in Vienna when he was fourteen years old. Klimt was successful in his studies and his highly symbolic art quickly received attention, leading to his earning commissions for theatres and churches. In 1897 he founded the Secession Movement, which intended to promote the work of young artists and introduce alternative art forms to Austria. His work was well received, even being presented at the Paris World Fair. However, his erotic art drew disdain from his contemporaries who criticised its graphic depiction of the human form. Klimt fought such censorship of his work, and his ‘golden phase’ produced masterpieces like The Kiss (1907) and The Tree of Life (1905), which were widely praised. During this time, Klimt employed the distinctive gold leaf in his art, which was not an accident, as Klimt’s father was a gold engraver. Klimt died from pneumonia in 1918, and his art has become increasingly appreciated since his death, often fetching record-breaking prices at auction.

“Enough of censorship. I want to break free“