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...

Before the athletes ever arrive in London, the Arts Council is collecting artwork from around Britain to showcase British culture at the London 2012 Olympics. The show is dubbed "the most ambitious and wide-ranging art prize in the UK" and will feature 12 winning commissions from every region of the country. These pieces range from feature films to 30 ft tall crocheted lions and a "spinning column of cloud and light." Each of the 12 chosen groups will share £5.4m and create their masterpieces between 2010 and 2011 to be ready for the Olympics in 2012. Join discussion...

A texas gold and collectable currency dealer has hired Dzine it Inc. to completely remake their website. The American Eagle Reserve is a company that sells gold and silver and many different types of currency that many collectors search for. Dzine It Inc. is excited about this program and is thakful of the American Eagle Reserve for having chosen them. The website is to be more appealing to the reader and more user friendly, along with an added search box. Join discussion...

Much the the dismay of many of the more conservative museum-goers in Madrid, a new exhibiton is opening with the intention to display artwork that will also be featured on condom packages. One of the most awaited pieces sports a picture of a sleeping David Beckham, sports star and model. The exhibition is called Tears of Eros and will include 119 works. Nothing is finalized yet, but plans are going smoothly thus far. The museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum in Madrid, will be selling the condoms (that is, those with the works of art on them) in the gift shop. Baroness Thyssen is married to the founder of the museum and is supporting the project with all the enthusiasm of a beauty queen winning the grand prize (which she once did). "I don't see why anyone should be scandalised," she said the the press. "It is a way of bringing art and responsibility together." In fact, it is the hope of those in charge of the exhbition that having art on the packages will encourage people to buy, and subsequntly use, condoms. The museum believes that while perhaps it's not the first time condoms have been used in art, they can claim to be the first to use art to sell condoms. It is not certain when, or if, the exhibiton will open, but it promises to study "the close relationship between sexual desire and the death instinct" as well as other themes. Join discussion...

On October 16, almost 2,000 woks by influential Brazilian artist Helio Oiticica (1937-1980) were destroyed in a fire. The paintings were in a storage facility in Oiticica's brother Cesar's home in Rio de Janeiro. The artworks were uninsured and losses have been estimated at $200,000 million. Ninety percent of the collection was lost. Join discussion...

Medieval Islamic art has been found to contain geometric principles that were not established by modern mathematics for several centuries. Quasicrystalline geometry has been used in some 15th century examples found by U.S. researchers (I don't know what this quite means) The research shows an important breakthrough had occurred in Islamic mathematics and design by the year 1200. "It's absolutely stunning," Harvard's Peter Lu said in an interview, "They made tilings that reflect mathematics that were so sophisticated that we didn't figure it out until the last 20 or 30 years." Join discussion...

Recent studies of Islamic art show that by the 1200's, Islamic artists had an understanding of complex mathematics. As time passed, Islamic art began to get more and more sophisticated, using more and more complex mathematical concepts. These concepts are so advanced that they were not discovered by the rest of the world until quite recently. Medieval Islamic art displays concepts of quasicrystalline geometry, allowing a pattern to be extended indefinitely without repetition. Before this discovery it was thought that patterns in Islamic art were created using rulers and compasses. But now it can be seen, that Islamic art has always been advanced beyond the standards of its time. 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...

Three men were arrested on Sunday after being caught for trying to sell stolen artifacts. These arrests were made south of Kirkuk after the men tried to sell one of the objects to an undercover police officer for $160,000. The men had artifacts dating from 2000-4000 B.C, during the Sumerian Period. The plan for the arrests had been ongoing and resulted from a tip-off by local residents. It is still unclear whether the pieces are among those stolen from the National Museum in Baghdad in 2003. Join discussion...

The Aga Khan, some of the richest men in the world known for a horse racing empire, has decided to build an Islamic Art Museum overseas. Their ideal location for the exhibit would be in London, England. The exhibit would include some of the finest Middle Eastern painting from over the centuries. However, the site of the building is under controversy. Aga Khan, the leaders of the Ismaili Shia Muslim sect, wants his museum of Islamic art to be situated in London. Aga Khan believes that England is the crossroads between the East and West, and therefore would be the best place for the Islamic Art exhibit. Join discussion...