Surfboard artist/designer Phillip George has created surfboards bearing intricate Islamic art for the Basil Sellers Art Prize. The contest urges contemporary artists to incorporate sport into their works of art. A few of the boards have the words "Insallah" inscribed upon them, which means "God willing". It would be a sin to place these boards in water or even step on them so they will never be used. They are displayed above the ground in a sanctified site with the boards facing Mecca. George, who is a veteran surfer from Bondi figured that designing the boards "Was a way of bringing the Middle East to Australia, and Australia to the Middle East". Join discussion...

In the Detroit Institute of Art, a 12-year-old boy stuck a wad of chewed gum on an abstract painting by Helen Frankenthaler. The painting, called "The Bay" has been left with a small stain, but according to the curator of the Detroit Institute of Art, it will not be permanently damaged. Join discussion...

A portrait, painted around 1560 is believed to be the oldest painting featuring a depiction of a modern watch. The painting has the Medici coat of arms on the back, and the subject is thought to be of Cosimo I de Medici, Duke of Florence. The painting was sent to the Uffizi to undergo a thorough inspection. Join discussion...

This article is about a man, Edward Longo, who converted and old studio into his own studio. He is holding an auction there and has over 100 peices. One of his pieces hasnamed Au Natural (#108) was submitted to the Christiania Art Competition, which had been viewed displayed at the Christinaked website www.christinaked.com. Join discussion...

In Mumbai, India, the Guild Art Gallery is presenting works from one of India's top contemporary artists, T. V. Santhosh. His unique paintings are photographic in the style he uses. They are supposed to look as detailed and real as a photograph. His paintings involve many levels of irony in different ways through the symbolic representations of the subjects in his works. His painting is supposed to be separated into two ironies, each with their own distinct meaning. Another ironic aspect of his art is the external realism of his works in that they feel like a photograph. Each image he depicts can have many different levels of meaning because of their symbolic and metaphorical complexity. His distinct and interesting style of ironic and metaphorical realism is why he is such a popular and respected contemporary artist. Join discussion...

In the Museum of Jurassic Technology, there is an exhibit honoring the dogs that were sent up into space by the Soviet Union. There are portraits of five dogs, all of whom survived the trip up to space and back except for one, Laika, a mutt found in Moscow. The middle of the exhibit is left for Laika, who died in the heat on the way to space. She was sent up in the satellite Sputnik 2, and she was the first living creature sent. There will be a monument in Moscow honoring Laika that will be revealed this week. Join discussion...

Artist Sol LeWitt designed hundreds a wall drawings that are now being installed at three-storey building on the campus of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). Most of the retrospective, which spans 1968 to 2007, comes from the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut. The director of this gallery thought of this project with the artist in 2004. LeWitt gave a number of drawings to Yale. They used a building they renovated for the project, that the artist helped design before his death in 2007. A team of 65 artists and students spent six months executing the wall drawings. Before they started all they had were sheets of left behind instructions. Their efforts produced a walk-through timeline of LeWitt’s eye- and brain-teasing murals. Join discussion...

Apparently, the Mona Lisa had left the Louvre for America and first arrived in the National Gallery of Art in 1963. Then, it had arrived in New York in the Metropolitan Museum. Dr. Hoving, a curator, had one day noticed the people in charge of the Mona Lisa running around the place with towels, and later that night it had been found that the sprinklers on the ceiling had managed to break the glass barrier and reach the painting. The museum declined to comment regarding the incident. Join discussion...

The Yale Center for British Art will put up an exhibit on the Venetian Secret fiasco of 1796. Benjamin West, at the time President of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, had met Thomas Provis and his daughter who claimed they had a manuscript with detailed information on the techniques and materials of the Renaissance painters. He painted Cicero Discovering the Tomb of Archimedes (1796–97) using the information they gave him. In the end West found out the Provis's manuscript was fraud and West painted a new painting with his own techniques. This exhibiton will show the story of the Venetian Secret, including the two West paintings and fake manuscript. Join discussion...

Peter Macdonald received this year's John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize. His painting, called Fontana, depicts A man slashing a canvas with a knife. The painting is loosely based on a series of works by Lucio Fontana of slashed canvases. The Judges were very impressed with MacDonald's painting, finding it innovative and relevant. Join discussion...