Christie's Art Sale Set's Post War Contemporary Record

Christie's New York art sale sets post-war contemporary record

Tulip is part of a series of works created by Koons over nine years

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The US art season ended with a record-breaking sales total of $412m (£259.9m) for Christie's, with records set for works by 11 artists.

Jeff Koons sculpture Tulip, which graced New York's Rockefeller Center plaza, achieved an artist record of $33.7m (£21.2m).

New records were also set for Franz Kline and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Christie's claimed the $412m figure was the most successful sale of post-war and contemporary art in history.

"This truly was an extraordinary sale," said Jussi Pylkkanen, president of Christie's Europe, Middle East and Russia.

"Clearly there's an enormous amount of energy in the post-war and contemporary market. It's highly likely that we'll see a continuation of records being broken."

Smashing record

The previous day, rival auction house Sotheby's had staged its most successful auction in its history, taking $375m (£236m).

Koons' Tulip became the second highest figure paid for a living artist, following on from Gerhard Richter's 1994 painting Abstraktes Bild, which sold in October.

Tulip was created between 1995-2004 and is one of five versions of the work.

Kline's canvas, featuring broad black strokes, sold for $40.4m (£25.4m), smashing the previous $9.3m (£5.8m) record for his work.

The Christie's sale also included Andy Warhol's Statue of Liberty, which sold for $43.7m (£27.5m).

Basquiat's untitled work from 1981 sold for $26.4m (£16.6m), beating the artist's previous record of $20.1m (£12.6m), which was only set in June.

Basquiat started out as a graffiti artist before finding fame as a contemporary artist. He died of a heroin overdose in 1988 at the age of 27.

Rothko's Red Strip sold for $23.4m (£14.7m), just a day after large-scale masterpiece No 1 (Royal Red and Blue) sold for $75.1m (£47.2m) at Sotheby's.

Village Properties is a Christie's Real Estate Affiliate!

CAMA presents Philharmonia Orchestra of London

Philharmonia Orchestra of London

Friday, 16 November 2012 8:00 PM

Presented By: CAMA 

at the beautiful 

for details and tickets, click here

805 899-2222

Monday's Veteran's Day Parada

Veteran's Day Parade

The Pierré Claeyssens Military Museum & Library will be conducting their Veteran's Day Parade on Sunday, November 11, 2012. The parade, consisting of 15 - 20  military vehicles, and approximately 175 - 200 Veterans, will form in the 1400 block of State Street and the 00 block of East and West Sola Street beginning at approximately 1000 hours. The parade will start at 12:30pm and precede South on State Street and West on Cabrillo Boulevard. The parade will terminate and disband in the area of the Santa Barbara Veterans Memorial Building 112 West Cabrillo Boulevard. This will be the 8th Annual Veteran's Day Parade held in downtown Santa Barbara.  There will also be a Fly-over at 12:25pm  above State Street and they will travel South to North. A rolling barricade will allow for the parade to travel South on State Street. Click here for the parade map route.

Santa Barbara Downtown Music Festival November 8-11th

The New Noise Music Festival takes places in numerous venues around downtown Santa Barbara, click on the "Event Website below to get details and a schedule of events.

NEW NOISE MUSIC FOUNDATION:

Established in 2009, the 501 (c)3 non profit New Noise Music Foundation creates a participatory creative culture through producing the annual New Noise Santa Barbara Music Conference & Festival (Fall), consistent concerts, workshops, lectures, and volunteer/mentoring programs for all ages, especially young people. In 2012, New Noise will establish a permanent home for a 300+ capacity, all ages, drug and alcohol free music venue in the Santa Barbara region (“The Living Room”).

New Noise Music Festival

Date: Thu, November 8th 2012 - Sun, November 11th 2012
Additional Time Info: Daily
External Link: Event Website

New Noise is a four-day non profit music and digital tech festival that showcases emerging and established bands, hosts panels on the music industry’s most important topics (New Noise Digital Summit), presents esteemed experts from all walks of the business, and serves as a place for the musicians, industry workers and companies to connect and plot the future of sound. New Noise is equal parts classroom and playground, blending each day’s intelligent discussion and all-important networking with entertainment offered during the evening at venues large and small.

New Noise encourages collaboration and a fun atmosphere where relationships and connections extend beyond the life of the Festival. Putting much of its focus on technology, the New Noise Digital Summit assists musicians explore ways they can promote, market and sustain their careers.

Opera Santa Barbara presents Madame Butterfly

Opera Santa Barbara  Presents:  MADAME BUTTERFLY FRI. NOV. 2, 7:30PM SUN. NOV. 4, 2:30PM

One of the world's most beloved operas, Madame Butterfly is a story of 
romance, tradition, and sacrifice. Cio-cio-san, known as Butterfly, is a 
geisha who catches the fancy of a U.S. Naval officer. They wed, but when 
his tour is over, he blithely abandons his Japanese bride. Butterfly faithfully 
awaits his return;  when he at last appears, she realizes she has been
 betrayed and resolves to restore her honor. Returning to Santa Barbara 
for the first time since 2003, Butterfly never fails to wring the tears and win 
the hearts of audiences everywhere with its powerful, achingly beautiful 
music: this is Puccini at his finest! 

tickets and information, click here

Santa Barbara celebrates both Halloween and Dia de los Muertos

Halloween (Hallowed Eve)

Halloween began as the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, when the Celts believed spirits of the dead returned to earth. 

History of the Jack-O-Lantern

Every October, carved pumpkins peer out from porches and doorsteps in the United States and other parts of the world. Gourd-like orange fruits inscribed with ghoulish faces and illuminated by candles are a sure sign of the Halloween season. The practice of decorating “jack-o’-lanterns”—the name comes from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack—originated in Ireland, where large turnips and potatoes served as an early canvas. Irish immigrants brought the tradition to America, home of the pumpkin, and it became an integral part of Halloween festivities.

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

November 1st

Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it is a national holiday, and all banks are closed. The celebration takes place on November 1, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (November 2). Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. They also leave possessions of the deceased.

Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. The holiday has spread throughout the world: In Brazil, Dia de Finados is a public holiday that many Brazilians celebrate by visiting cemeteries and churches. In Spain, there are festivals and parades, and, at the end of the day, people gather at cemeteries and pray for their dead loved ones. Similar observances occur elsewhere in Europe, and similarly themed celebrations appear in many Asian and African cultures.

(information and photos from Wikipedia)

As a child growing up in the Netherlands, we celebrated All Saints Day and All Souls Day by visiting the family's grave sites.  Children would create shadow boxes and go around to neighbors to show them off and collect candy.   Our costume dress up days were held during carnival time just before the beginning of lent and fasting.  I still have great memories of those times!

It seems that every culture  enjoys a time for dressing up in costumes to celebrate a local holiday.  Kids and adults alike enjoy "dressing up" in costumes and Halloween is a fun time to do it. I have 3 big boxes of Halloween decorations!  I remember when my husband and I went as "little Red Riding Hood" and the "Big Bad Wolf"...but that's for another post!

Dia de los Muertos Free Family Day Sunday October 28th

Day of the Dead Celebration

Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Día de los Muertos 

Free Family Day 

Sunday, October 28, 1 – 4pm

For the 23rd year, the Museum honors the
Mexican tradition of remembering the dead
with a variety of family festivities in the galleries
and back plaza including music and dance
performances, art-making activities, bilingual
storytelling, a special display of altars created 

by school and community groups, and
traditional refreshments.

Free

Click Here For More Information

Click here to download the Kids and Families 
Fall/Winter Programs Brochure
Click here for a listing of all upcoming programs 
for Kids & Families.

Free Family Days and all other Family Programs are 
made possible through the generosity of the Schlosser Family Trust.
Additional support for Dia de los Muertos Free Family Day
is provided by Wells Fargo.