In ArtDaily we read that Phillips de Pury & Company will offer this one-liner by the elusive Banksy (Soup Can (Yellow) with a pre sale estimate of £4,000-6,000). In our view, he’s much better on the street, or in this case, maybe a T-shirt. If you shell out ten grand for this conversation piece, how would the conversation go?

This work, signed “futc 2009″, is a rare late work by Marr Grounds, who is the CEO of the Free University of The Coast, near Tanja in south east New South Wales. There’s a much more salacious translation of FUTC but we don’t want to go down that track, do we? Nevertheless, in this evocative readymade, the author celebrates Slim Barrie’s famous adage: “International Roast is the best coffee to paint with…” Alas, Slim’s best example, a coffee-painted boat, was eaten by rodents the night before it was due to be sent for exhibition. Owners of paintings by Chris Ofili please take note…

Read Christopher Hawthorne in the LA Times on the phenomenon of the crowd: Culture Monster: public space takes center stage. Photograph by Brian Vander Burg/LA Times.

In every sense… But are we the only ones wondering why this image of the Bush farewell is framed by the same old helicopter Nixon said farewell from in 1974? Is this very old technology the best available? It’s even older than the car we drive! This from a great series of behind the scenes photographs of the inauguration by Callie Shell at Time. The Washington Post backstory tells us the replacements will cost $400m each – which is one way to spend your way out of trouble…

Again and again people comment on how relaxed and comfortable these two look. Let’s hope some of it rubs off on their staff (see two posts down). Here they are getting out of The Beast and walking their way to the inauguration. Gotta admire the confidence, plus the trademark hand-holding… From BNN, where you’ll see much more…

So cries the market guru Marcus Padley as he looks over the cliff face of the contemporary global financial crises… Is this a new motto for Christies as it slashes staff in the face of a plunging art market? As this Times article notes “the Russian oligarchs and hedge fund managers who drove up fine art prices are now tightening their belts”… Pulling up their trousers might be a more appropriate figure of speech? Wranglerphiles need not worry, the other end of the market is alive and kicking! Thanks to Breakfastpolitics for the lead…

See how the 52 key members of Obama’s team present themselves to Nadav Kander’s camera in this NYT folio. We wonder how will they look in four years’ time? A little more at ease in the public eye, perhaps…  Go to Obama’s People – The Series (photos by Nadav Kander/NYT Magazine). There’s an interesting audio by the photographer talking about the process. What they don’t talk about is how uncomfortable many of the subjects end up looking… The overwhelming impression is of ordinary people, not dressed like celebs, nor presenting to the camera with anything other than a moment’s distraction from their busy lives. But as a whole, this set of portraits shows people untutored for the real-life West Wing that lies ahead – vacant gazes, eyes all over the place, clothing all awry – and yet the hopes of the world rest on their extra-ordinary future. Was this the photographers intention? Fingers crossed… See BagnewsNotes for further commentary.

Some say all contemporary art’s a swiz: here’s an artist who appears to fully embrace the concept! From ArtDaily.org – go there to read the full story… but can we imagine such a work on the streets of Canberra? I suspect we don’t have a category for his sense of humour…

“The idea was simple but good. So effective that he convinced the presidency of the European Council, which this semester is headed by the Czech Republic, to give its blessing and the 500,000 Euros needed to finance it. Czech artist David Cerný promised the following: a collaboration between 27 artists from the European Community who would put forth their vision from their own countries. France was portrayed as a labor strike, Spain as a slab of concrete and Italy into a soccer field. [and jeepers, go to his website above if only to look at his bus stop!]

The only problem is that behind this work of art, which has caused great controversy reducing Greece to a huge fire, Romania into a Dracula castle, there is only one creative mind, that of David Cerný.

Czech Deputy Prime Minister, Alexandr Vondra, has confessed feeling “surprisingly sorry” after discovering that the only author of Entropa is Cerný and not 27 artists, as had been stipulated in the contract with the artist.

“David Cerný is the only person responsible for not fulfilling his commitment”, said Vondra, who added that the Czech presidency is analyzing what to do with the installation, which has already been placed at the Justus Lipsius builiding of the EU Council building and which was supposed to be inaugurated on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Cerný, known for his sculptures such as Freud hanging in the middle of the streets in Prague or for painting a rose on a Soviet tank, has laughed all along and said that he wanted to prove “that Europe could laugh at itself”.

Cerny, who also invented 26 false names of European artists that had supposedly collaborated with him, recognizes that he knew the truth would come out and says that economic restrictions and lack of time motivated him to do the whole work by himself.”

The 20th century invention of plastic was a boon for the male Satin Bower Bird, who creates the original chick-magnet from blue plastics, in his annual quest for a mate. Here’s two examples: one next to the clothes line at Alan Watt’s Tanja property, the other deep in the forest at Narra Bukulla.