The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is currently hosting the exhibit “Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156-1868." This exhibit is the decade-long project of Morihiro Ogawa, the Met's consultant for Japanese arms and armor. Most of the pieces included in the exhibit are designated National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties. Several, such as the 12th century cavalry armor, will only be on display for two weeks of the months long show. The show includes every piece of Japanese arms and armor: the helmet, the body armor, the sword, and the sheath. Some designs are simple and elegant; others are pure ostentatious and showy. The exhibit emphasizes the cultural and aesthetic extremes of Japanese culture, permitting the public access to a rare artistic treat. The exhibit runs through January 10. Join discussion...

Three Iraqi men have been arrested for stealing eight artifacts, including the bust of a Sumerian king. Each piece dated from around 2000 to 4000 BCE. It remains unclear from which museums the items were stolen, since the theft of such relics and works of art is becoming more and more common in Iraq. The men were arrested after trying to sell one of these artifacts for $160,000 to an undercover intelligence officer. Join discussion...

Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism had a contest for Islamic Art in many different fields. 361 Islamic artists entered the competition. The categories were Islamic calligraphy, Ebru, illumination, miniature, and tile pattern. 116 of the 361 pieces will be on display. The awards ceremony and exhibit were at the Ankara State Painting and Sculpture Museum on September 17, 2009. Join discussion...

In the past, the men and women chosen to act as the UN goodwill ambassador have been big shots such as Audrey Hepburn and George Clooney. However, the latest appointment to the post is not a famed actor but instead a (semi-famed) fine artist. Ross Bleckner, whose work is mainly abstract, has been chosen by Simone Monasebien, chief of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, to represent the "ceremonial post". Earlier this year, Bleckner, 59, packed thousands of dollars worth of paint, brushes, and paper to bring to Gulu, an area of Uganda. There, he worked with former child soldiers and other abductees of the Lord's Resistance Army. The children (aged 11 to 19) created over 200 paintings that will be soon be sold at a benefit. Bleckner plans to return to the area next year to enlarge the project. He hopes to bring increasing attention to the huge problem of child enslavement and trafficking. Bleckner has said that he believes the project is another way to begin to restore their "dignity and sense of self-worth". Join discussion...

In a move meant to help emend US-Cuban relations, a comprehensive group of US artists from New York have opened an exhibition of their work in Havana, Cuba. Titled "Chelsea visits Havana," the exhibit took about two and a half years to organize. It contains a wide variety of art, and is the largest exhibition of US art in Cuba since the momentous revolution of 1959. Sadly, due to continuing travel restrictions, many US artists exhibiting in Havana, including a relative of Yoko Ono, are unable to attend the event. Join discussion...

Rindy Sam kissed American artist Cy Twombly's pure white canvas out of love. She was then fined 1,500 euros (that's $2,200) for leaving a lipstick mark on it! Ms. Sam was also required to pay a "symbolic one euro in damages to the 79-year-old artist." Join discussion...

The Bristish government is planning on making a museum of a well known palace, the one that belonged to Sadam Hussein. The British army has named the operation, Oper­ation Bell, after Gertrude Bell, the archaeologist who helped establish the Baghdad Museum in 1926. If all goes as planned, the museum will open in two years Join discussion...

The Piazza San Marco is one of the most popular spots in the city of Venice. But when sections of the centuries-old buildings around the square began to crumble, the superintendent of Venice, Renata Codello, was faced with a tough decision. Venice is respected as a city with very few advertisements; but she knew that the government could not pay for repairs. Now, hanging from the scaffolds covering the buildings under reconstruction, fly several huge banners urging us to buy watches and cars. The city of Venice has signed a deal with a large advertising company, Plakativ, which is funding the repairs in exchange for control of this prominent ad space. Of course a lot of people are upset at this encroachment upon historic space, but the superintendent says she had "no choice," what with her liability for injuries to tourists and all. Join discussion...

The Yi School is showing thirty years of abstract Chinese art that has never been seen before. There are forty eight chinese artists included in the show of eighty two pieces that begin from the mid sixities (during the Cultural Revolution) to the late ninties (Maximilism). There are three stages represented through this timeline of artwork, starting with Yi xiang (meaning "mental image") to Yi li ("mental principle") and finally Yi change ("mental environment"). Join discussion...

Several works of Ukrainian performance artist Oleg Kulik were impounded recently by French police for the depiction of "pornographic images" in his work. The majority of paintings done by this artist contain images of him with assorted animals and other scarily inappropriate things. However, the part of this I find the creepiest of all is that the paintings were impounded not for the images of "zoophilia," but for the violent way in which it was done and shown to the public during assorted exhibitions throughout France. Join discussion...