• Another day at the office: Workers paint George Washington Bridge 330 feet above water

    John Munson / The Star-Ledger

    Painting supervisor Kevin McSweeney walks out onto one of the cables on the George Washington Bridge to inspect the painting operations in Fort Lee, NJ, on July 10.

    John Munson / The Star-Ledger

    Obed Gonzalez paints one of the large cables on the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, NJ, on July 10.

    By Natalia Jimenez, NBC News

    It was as he was selecting his harness that New Jersey Star-Ledger photographer John Munson realized that he, too, would be joining the George Washington Bridge painters high above rush-hour traffic on the cables suspending the bridge over the Hudson River. As he and reporter Steve Strunsky headed to the span's midpoint, Munson focused on shooting the Port Authority workers and tuning out the vibrations from morning commuters heading into New York City below them.

    For the painters, it is just another day at the office. They work on maintaining the bridge year-round, completing a full paint job in approximately 18 months. The Star-Ledger's Steve Strunsky reports:

    Kevin McSweeney stood 330 feet above the Hudson River on one of four 36-inch diameter cables strung between the twin towers of the George Washington Bridge.

    Manhattan-bound cars and trucks whooshed 100 feet below him as his crew of five bridge painters worked on a narrow platform. Clipped to safety wires, they used rollers to coat the cables with an aluminum-based protective layer.

    It was 9 a.m. and already hot under a blazing July sun. But the small gang of adrenaline junkies applied the silvery coating with amazing speed and coordination, seemingly oblivious to the dizzying height.

    Read the complete story.

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    John Munson / The Star-Ledger

    Keith Schmitt paints the top of the south cable on the George Washington Bridge. Fort Lee, NJ, on July 10.

  • 'Magic art' collection of murals invites posing in China

    Getty Images

    People pose with a 3D painting during the 2012 Magic Art Special Exhibition Of China at Hangzhou Peace International Exhibition and Conference Center on July 3, 2012 in Hangzhou, China. The exhibition will run from July 1 to August 6 in Hangzhou.

    Getty Images

    A child poses with a 3D painting during the 2012 Magic Art Special Exhibition Of China.

    Getty Images

    People pose with a 3D painting during the 2012 Magic Art Special Exhibition Of China.

    Chinafotopress / Getty Images Contributor

    A man poses with a 3D painting during the 2012 Magic Art Special Exhibition Of China.

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  • Painting without hands at Singapore convention for artists with disabilities

    Edgar Su / Reuters

    Ng Ah Kwai, 50, of Penang, Malaysia, who was born with deformed arms, paints with his foot during the Mouth and Foot Painting Convention in Singapore May 1, 2012. Over 70 handicapped artists are showcasing 200 artworks at the exhibition which takes place from May 1 to May 6.

    Stephen Morrison / EPA

    People watch Aw Kwai Ng (L) from Malaysia give a demonstration on foot painting techniques.

    Stephen Morrison / EPA

    A delegate views artwork on dispay at an exhibition during the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA) Convention.

    Stephen Morrison / EPA

    Tan Kok Leong from Singapore gives a demonstration of mouth painting techniques.

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  • Stefan Wermuth / Reuters

    Sotheby's employees pose with Edvard Munch's painting "The scream" at Sotheby's auction in London on April 12.

    $80 million for a painting makes me want to 'Scream'

    Sotheby's will offer the only privately owned version of Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream" at an auction in New York on May 2, and expects it to fetch more than $80 million.

    There are only four versions of "The Scream"; this pastel version dates from 1895.

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  • 100 years of Jackson Pollock

    Morteza Nikoubazl / Reuters

    A Tehran Art University student looks at a painting by 20th century U.S. artist Jackson Pollock at Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art on June 19, 2010. Artists like Monet, Picasso and Warhol were considered revolutionary in their day, but their works were not much appreciated by the leaders of Iran's Islamic revolution and many were kept out of view for decades. Now, one of the greatest collections of contemporary Western art -- put together under a Western-leaning monarchy in pre-revolutionary Iran -- is open to the public, with some works on display for the first time in more than 30 years.

    Martha Holmes / Time Life Pictures via Getty Images

    Jackson Pollock drops paint onto canvas.

    By Natalia Jimenez, NBC News

    Jackson Pollock is considered a revolutionary painter who helped bring recognition to the American art world through Abstract Expressionism in the 1940s. On January 28, Pollock would have turned 100 years old. He is most well known for his 'drip' paintings, that involved pouring paint onto large raw canvases on the floor. Pollock currently holds the title for the world's most expensive painting ever sold, when David Geffen sold his "No.5, 1948" for $140 million through Sotheby's in 2006.

    His battle with alcoholism lead him to undergo psychiatric treatment and in 1938 he spent four months in a hospital, according to a MOMA biography:

    As a result he worked with two Jungian analysts, who used his drawings in the therapeutic process until 1941. This resulted in an obsessive exploration of his unconscious symbolism, mediated through the stylistic influence of Picasso, Orozco, Joan Miró and the theories of John Graham. The works he created parallel to his psychotherapy contain the elements of what became a personal iconography.

    Martha Holmes / Time Life Pictures via Getty Images

    Husband & wife artists Jason Pollock and Lee Krasner walking outside on Long Island with their dog in 1949.

    Nature was a huge influence in his work. When he married artist Lee Krasner in 1945 and moved to a farmhouse in East Hampton, the surrounding nature provided constant inspiration. According to the National Gallery of Art:

    Walking the meadows and woods near Accabonac Creek, which stood at the back of their property, Pollock found a kinship with nature that defines his great, classic work.

    Today, one has only to step into the meadow behind Pollock's house to understand the overwhelming presence of nature in the dense, interwoven surfaces of his work. Pollock once defended the source of his imagery saying, "I am nature."

     

    National Gallery of Australia via Reuters

    An undated handout photograph shows Jackson Pollock's "Blue Poles, Number 11, 1952" in the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra which was purchased a quarter of century ago for A$1.3 million ($975,000) and is now estimated to be worth A$115 million ($86.25 million).

    Tony Vaccaro / Getty Images, file

    Lee Krasner and her husband Jackson Pollock and a couple stand around a dog and smoke in Pollock's studio at 'The Springs,' in East Hampton, New York, on August 23, 1953.

    Though Pollock died tragically in a car crash in 1956 and has been gone for over 50 years, his paintings continue to spread his legacy. London's The Telegraph writes about his influence:

    Before Pollock, paintings were created on easels, conceived, executed and seen from one direction only, as they had been for centuries. Not even Picasso changed that. But Pollock, wrestling with the problems of Surrealism, of how to get deeper into the internal subject of the work, began to work on the floor on unstretched canvas with very liquid paint, leaving the idea of a pre-meditated subject far behind.

    Alfred Eisenstaedt / Time Life Pictures via Getty Images

    Painter Jackson Pollock (seated R) sitting on the steps of painter Thomas Hart Benton's summer home with Rita Benton (sitting, in white hat) and author Coburn Gilman (standing) in 1937.

     

  • Oli Scarff / Getty Images

    Dr. Christopher Brown, the Director of the Ashmolean Museum, adjusts the painting "Young Woman Seated at a Virginal" by Vermeer, in the Ashmolean Museum on Jan. 23, 2012 in Oxford, England. The painting, which dates from around 1670, is on loan from a private collection in America and will go on display in the Ashmolean's Dutch art galley until September 2012.

    Mirror, mirror on the wall, is this Vermeer the fairest of them all?

    Experts believe that this painting is an authentic Vermeer. It is also the only one in a private collection. Sotheby's spent ten years analyzing the painting over concerns that it was a fake, before finally auctioning it off in 2004 for $30million. There is a larger, more complicated version on view at the National Gallery in London. The smaller version was recentlly on view in Norfolk, Va. If it is a real Vermeer, it would be number 36 of only 35 known to exist.

    More about the Museum of Art and Archeology on their website, The Ashmolean Musuem.

  • David Dawson / Centre Pompidou via EPA

    Painter Lucian Freud in his studio in an undated photograph entitled Working at Night. Freud died at the age of 88 on July 21.

    Lucian Freud: The painter at work

    The AP reports from LONDON:

    Lucian Freud, a towering and uncompromising figure in the art world for more than 50 years, has died, his New York-based art dealer said Thursday. He was 88.

    Freud was known for his intense realist portraits, particularly of nudes. In recent years his paintings commanded staggering prices at auction, including one of an overweight nude woman sleeping on a couch that sold in 2008 for $33.6 million. Continue reading.

    The photo above shows Freud working at night in his studio. It was taken by his long time assistant David Dawson. In 2004, Dawson was interviewed by The Observer about life with Lucian.

  • Paul Hackett / Reuters

    An artwork by American artist Mark Jenkins ,'Kicked Paintings series no 2" is seen on display at Bonhams auction house in London, January 6, 2011. The piece is expected to sell for between $1,500 to $2,300 at Bonhams forthcoming 'Urban Art' auction.

    'Kicked Painting' on display at Bonhams

    By Mish Whalen

    Interesting 3D artwork. Not sure if I like it or hate it. What do you think? See more on his work, here.

  • Tom Lea / National Constitution Center via Reuters

    "That 2,000 Yard Stare" painted by Tom Lea, World War Two, 1944. The painting is among about 300 paintings by U.S. servicemen and women that will be unveiled to the public for the first time at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center in September. The paintings have been selected from about 15,000 collected by the U.S. Army since the 1840s. Most have never been on public display. "Art of the American Soldier" focuses on the duties, sacrifices, and everyday lives of troops, and covers every conflict from the World War One to Afghanistan.

    Haunting expression

    The painter had some insight to render this expression, which suggests a lot of emotions at the same time. You can read more about the exhibition of soldiers' paintings here.