Banksy has created a mural in the French town of Calais that depicts Apple (AAPL) co-founder Steve Jobs carrying a sack and an early Macintosh computer, in reference to the Syrian refugee crisis and Jobs’ own father, a Syrian migrant who came to the U.S. after WWII. The artist said the following via a spokeswoman: “We’re often led to believe migration is a drain on the country’s resources, but Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian migrant. Apple is the world’s most profitable company, it pays over $7 billion a year in taxes—and it only exists because they allowed in a young man from Homs.”
A show at The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. offers a rare opportunity to see what is perhaps one of the largest displays of Greek bronze statues from the Hellenistic and Classical ages. The Washington Posts’ Philip Kennicott points out that there are less than 200 known bronzes left from that era, and a quarter of them will be on view in “Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World.”
Ed Ruscha has donated 18 recent prints to the Tate, and promised an additional print from each new work he creates going forward. The museum’s director, Nicholas Serota, calls the gift “a wonderful Christmas present to the whole nation.”
Here’s a behind the scenes look at the planning (and artistry) that goes into department store Christmas windows.
The Los Angeles Times’ Christopher Knight looks to the origins of propaganda, 17th century Rome, and draws comparisons to ISIL’s use of the medium today. Mr. Knight hopes that a museum might be willing to take on the subject someday soon.
