art & design
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How terrible statues are ruining art‘Scary Lucy’, a terrifying bust of Lucille Ball, is the latest in a long line of sculptures to offend good taste. We can only hope a young artist somewhere is vowing quietly to restore the craft to its former glory -
When Prince Harry calls time on a craze, you know it's well and truly deadThe selfie was the great silliness of our time, the trainspotting of the techno age. So take them if you dare – the world is laughing at you -
Dazzling vintage neonsBrighten up your day with this glowing gallery, in which you can time travel to 1955 and ring in the New Year in luminous London, grab a slice of pizza for 15 cents, or enjoy the razzle-dazzle of Broadway in the 70s
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I can worship religious art without believing in GodFor centuries, religious artists like Zurbarán and Caravaggio have created ecstatic, hallucinatory work that can move even a staunch atheist like me -
Photographer Roger Ballen: ‘I can live with myself’Roger Ballen caused a storm with his portraits of marginalised and mentally unstable South Africans. Is he merely reflecting a broken society – or exploiting his subjects? Sean O’Hagan meets the controversial photographer -
100 Great Children's Picture Books – highlights from 1922-2011From the Russian revolution to the British high street, Martin Salisbury’s collection of the greatest picture books is a visual feast
in pictures
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Beyond the mask: Roger Ballen's outsider portraits – in pictures‘I don’t see my work as extreme. I don’t really believe in traditional definitions of beauty,’ says photographer Roger Ballen, who charts the deprivation and creativity in the lives of some of South Africa’s most shunned inhabitants
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talking points
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Tracey Emin is still the real thing – and that's why we love herWith an exhibition of works inspired by her hero Egon Schiele opening in Vienna, the artist talks about ‘mad Tracey from Margate’, conceptual art and sex
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Waiting for a star to fall: meteorites caught on cameraFrom the founder of the Mormons to one unlucky Alabama woman struck in her sleep, Regine Petersen has traced an artistic timeline of close encounters of the meteorite kind. The result is a fascinating project called Find a Fallen Star
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reviews
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Ravilious – exhilarating, enthralling and outstandingly beautifulThe familiar genius of English graphic art, Eric Ravilious is revealed as far more complex and mysterious in this unmissable show
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The V&A;’s election show is ‘the artistic equivalent of a hung parliament’All of This Belongs to You was supposed to be a timely defence of free, publicly funded museums for voters to consider. Instead, a number of weak exhibits turn its message into a shaggy dog story
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Defining Beauty – Greek sculpture alive and kickingAre these the greatest works of art in the world? From an attacking centaur to a broken river god, Jonathan Jones finds the Elgin Marbles are the highlight of the British Museum’s astonishing new exhibition of Greek sculpture
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Roger Ballen: 'Welcome to the Outland' – WARNING: this video contains disturbing images
Is Roger Ballen's work a faithful chronicle of strange lives in South Africa's outsider communities, or a journey into his own troubled psyche? Here, he takes us inside an unfamiliar world
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That’s me in the picture: Justin Semmens at an Adam And The Ants gig at the Marquee Club, London, 1977‘Someone asked whether it was children’s night, but the truth is no one bothered to check your age back then’
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Mario Testino: 'I was always better at photographing men'The fashion and portrait photographer became world famous for his photographs of Kate Moss and Diana, Princess of Wales – now his new book focuses on men
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He's Barack Obama's favourite artist. But is Britain ready for Glenn Ligon?He put lipstick on Malcolm X and breathed new life into Mapplethorpe’s nudes. As Glenn Ligon brings ‘his own personal museum’ to the UK, we meet the artist Obama handpicked for the White House
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Hiroji Kubota’s best photograph: Black Panthers give the power salute in the Chicago snow‘There weren’t many Asian guys in America in the 1960s. If I smiled and looked harmless, I got access to things ... ’
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Rhapsody in blue – or pink? Share your artworks about musicWhen you hear music, do the sounds evoke images for you? Here’s a chance to connect your senses and share your art inspired by music
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David Norrish obituaryOther lives: Farmer with great rural skills including in rare old building techniques
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The Royal Exhibition building of 'Marvellous Melbourne': a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 10
The Royal Exhibition building of 'Marvellous Melbourne': a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 10
Is there a more glorious symbol of Melbourne’s transition from sleepy provincial town to world-focused metropolis ... and of its historic rivalry with Sydney? -
10 of the best ancient ruins … that you’ve probably never heard ofDone Pompeii, Ephesus and Angkor and still thirsting after archeological marvels? Here are 10 less well-known sites that can usually be savoured without the crowds
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From the Observer archive, 8 April 1962: are top ‘hats’ on towers still the height of fashion?More architects are following the LCC’s lead and hiding lift shafts and water tanks when designing buildings
the big picture
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The 10 best British political postersWith the general election officially under way, we celebrate the finest pre-election propaganda
you may have missed
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Yayoi Kusama named world's most popular artist in 2014The Japanese artist drew over 2 million viewers to her work – but a survey shows female artists are still less likely to be chosen for solo shows by American galleries
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Artist brings giant slides back to London's South BankVisitors to Carsten Höller retrospective at Hayward gallery will be able to descend in 15-metre spiral slides commissioned for the exhibition
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Skinny-dipping in the void: the day I toured James Turrell's art show nakedA nude tour of the artist’s light sculptures is more than a gimmick, discovers Monica Tan, as she joins the naturists and curious art students in Canberra
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Crustacean invasion and London under water: your visions of the future – in picturesFrom rusting cities to a tenants’ revolution, here are your artworks that show the shape of things to come
video
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Palestinian man wants his 'Banksy door' back – video
A Palestinian man says he only sold the door to his destroyed home for US$175 because he didn't know the graffiti on it was by the UK artist Banksy
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Tracey Emin: 'Bed shows the absolute mess and decay of my life' – video
After a breakdown in 1998, Emin spent four days near unconscious in bed surrounded by the detritus of youth: vodka, condoms, cigarettes and tiny-waisted belts. As her now-notorious artwork Bed goes on public show at Tate Britain, she reflects on this time capsule of her 'complete, absolute' collapse
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Adelaide Blinc light show unites 'best digital artists in the world' - video
Adelaide festival 2015 welcomes Blinc, an open-air exhibition of supersized light installations by international artists
