Michelangelo art turned into an NFT; climate change destroys ancient cave art

A SUMMARY OF THE MOST EXCITING ART NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

While we focus on Indian art, we can’t obviously function in a vacuum. It’s a small world and everything is connected, especially on the web. So, let’s train our spotlight across the world map to see what’s going on — from art trends to socio-political issues to everything that affects the great aesthetic global consciousness. Or, let’s just travel the world and have some fun!

World’s oldest cave art falls prey to global warming

Climate change has caused irreparable damage to ancient cave paintings on the Maros-Pangkep site on Sulawesi island in Indonesia, some of which date back up to 45,000 years. The limestone cave walls are adorned with hand stencils of red and mulberry tint and paintings of native mammals and human-animal hybrids, believed by scientists to be the earliest examples of cave art in the world. Their deterioration is now irreversible, say archaeologists, and the creations are fading fast. The National elaborates on the tragedy.

Michelangelo NFT sold for $170,000

Cashing in on the NFT trend, the famed Uffizi Gallery of Florence is now turning some of its most prized artworks into nonfungible tokens and selling them to raise funds after a year impacted badly by the pandemic. In this vein, it started with a bang, selling an encrypted Michelangelo painting of the holy family, Doni Tondo (1505-06), sold for €140,000 ($170,000) this week. A dozen other major artworks on the list for similar treatment include Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, Raphael’s Madonna del Granduca, Caravaggio’s Bacchus, and Titian’s Venus of Urbino. Artnet News elaborates on how.

Ancient Japanese battle painting comes to life

An ancient artwork has been transformed into an animation that now looks like something from a video game — all thanks to the inspiration of Japanese videographer Yusuke Shigeta. His work is titled Sekigahara-Sansui-zu-Byobu (Folding Screen of Painted Sekigahara Landscapes), and is based on a 17th-century multi-panel screen that depicts the Battle of Sekigahara. Shigeta based his artwork on an ancient, multi-panel screen that depicts the battle, but turned it into a digitally animated loop. My Modern Met has the details.

Bengaluru artists on a walking mission

Thirteen artists are taking part in the street art project underway titled Malleshwaram Hogona, or Let’s go to Malleshwaram, underway in the ancient locality of Bengaluru. They have around a dozen murals underway in the neighbourhood, constructing a complex, multi-layered, visual narrative about Malleshwaram. It is part of the broader Bengaluru Moving campaign that attempts to address the city’s traffic congestion and see a reduction in vehicular emissions by advocating for and campaigning on public transport and non-motorised transport solutions. Mint Lounge checks out the development.