Big, Blue $43.8 million Newman “Zip” Painting On the 8 th of October, a lift technician at a museum in the Netherlands mistakenly threw away a piece of artwork made to look like two empty beer cans. Last year, the infamous artwork consisting of a banana duct-taped to a wall was eaten by a hungry visitor to a gallery in Seoul, South Korea. Last month, I went to an art gallery and convulsed my face in disdain at the random blobs of paint that covered the canvases on the high walls. Modern art can be quite the sore spot for us connoisseurs. The painful abstract paintings, novels of base vocabulary, CGI drowned movies and music made on one beats app with auto-tune or nonsense lyrics physically hurt. I know I sound like your grandmother here, but bear with me when I ask you; how do you feel when you see a plain canvas covered entirely in blue paint? What emotions does a blue rectangle evoke? To me, none. But what if I told you that rectangle sold for almost $44 million? You’d probably a
Thomas Edward Lawrence was born an Englishman on 16th August 1888 and grew up to become an archaeologist, army officer to the rank of Colonel, a diplomat, writer and a brilliant warrior. This spectacular array of his life makes him my favourite figure in history. His role is often unfortunately overlooked. My interest in him began during my continuing study of World War I when I started on the Ottoman Empire, I came across the Arab Revolt and developed the desire to learn all about it. Consequently, I watched the 1962 film 'Lawrence of Arabia'. Enchanted by its depiction of Lawrence's experiences in the Ottoman Empire during the first world war and the charismatic Peter O'Toole playing Lawrence, I knew it was to be good. With the brilliant direction of David Lean, production of Sam Speigel, talented cast including our Zia Moheyuddin and absolutely breath-taking cinematography. It is one of the best and essential films in the world of cinema. Lawrence of Arabia