16 h. ago Balomania review – those magnificent Brazilians and their flying balloons

Documentary follows the baloeiros, who illegally build and release huge decorated balloons in cities, from where they can travel hundreds of milesAn intriguing film set in Brazil, first shown last year at the CPH:DOX documentary festival in Copenhagen, in which expatriate Danish film-maker Sissel Morell Dargis takes a look at a unique grassroots cultural phenomenon: the baloeiros, the ballooners. These are groups of young men, as secretive and loyal to each other as Freemasons, who (illegally) build and release huge decorated balloons in cities, from where they can travel hundreds of miles. Why? As kind of graffiti, or a community self-expression, or situationist artform, or just a subversive gesture of pure joie de vivre that does not need or admit of any explanation.The baloeiros are harassed by the police, on the ostensible grounds that they are part of gang culture, and the authorities encourage local people to inform on those they suspect of building and transporting a balloon....

Politics

28 h. ago Neuroscientist explains how to remove 'brain waste' and prevent dementia as you age

You know when you're working on an arts and crafts project, and by the time you're done, there's a bunch of leftover construction paper and paint marks?

Politics

58 h. ago Wilko: homeware, garden furniture, paint retailer makes UK return with Deliveroo service

The retailer is back and expanding across the UK, offering home essentials 🏡

Society

59 h. ago New Mexico Republicans appear to blame Democrats following vandalism and arson attack on HQ

As well as damage to the front entrance and smoke damage inside, spray paint comparing ICE to the Ku Klux Klan is seen on the building

Politics

62 h. ago March design news: Maurzio Cattelan goes Greek, art teapots and house paint that changes colour

Exhibitions at this year’s Milan Furniture Fair, a guide to green wood carving and funeral urns by AlessiThis is the final monthly design news round-up, so we’ve made it a bumper edition. As well as previewing some shows that will be this year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan, there’s pyjamas from Grayson Perry and Greek mythology reinterpreted by conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan. Enjoy. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Republican Party offices set on fire in protest after 48 'disappear' in immigration raids

The Republican Party in New Mexico said it was subjected to an alleged arson attack while graffiti about immigration officials was written on the side of the building

Events

3 d. ago Notes on chocolate: more Easter eggs, because these are quite special

Sometimes you just want to splash out on something a little more luxuriousI really think this has to be my last column on Easter eggs, don’t you? One egg had sat on my sideboard for a few weeks. I didn’t hold out much hope for it, but it was wolfed down in two sittings (not just by me) with a strong recommend from my testers to ‘write how good it is’, so here you go: Coco Chemistry’s Large Milk Honeycomb Crunch egg, £25. (A dark chocolate version is also available.) This is not a craft-chocolate egg by any stretch, but maybe that’s not what people need all the time.Melt has two cute eggs, one is just milk and in very simple packaging with a cardboard bunny cut out. The idea is that you paint it and it comes in two sizes, from £14.50. The Breton eggs are beautiful to look at yet expensive at £69.99 each – but they are a hefty 700g and would easily satisfy a large group. We tested the pistachio and kataifi one – milk chocolate, pistachio, caramel blond chocolate and caramelised kataif...

Politics

4 d. ago Hockney says he did not offer to paint King Charles during royal visit

British artist, 87, who was visited by the king in his London home, said he did not know him well enough to paint himRenowned artist David Hockney has said he did not offer to paint King Charles when the monarch visited his London home on Monday because he doesn’t know him well enough.This is not the first time that Hockney has shied away from painting royalty. The 87-year-old also refused a number of offers to paint the late Queen Elizabeth II because he only paints people he knows. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Artist David Hockney says he did not offer to paint King after house visit

Hockney said he does not paint pictures of people he does not know.

Politics

5 d. ago This viral £1 hack Is the fastest way to paint your garden fence this spring

Painting a fence can be a tiring task, but this viral £1 “sponge method” promises a faster, cheaper, and hassle-free solution

Economics

5 d. ago The Chinese gang turf war behind red paint 'brothel' attacks: CCTV captures Mandarin

Properties across England have been vandalised and spray-painted with the word 'brothel' as part of a series of mysterious nighttime attacks over the last year and a half.

Events

6 d. ago Chappell Roan 'spread cheeks' for green body paint look with disastrous results

Singer Chappell Roan recently revealed that her Statue of Liberty costume, which she wore to perform at the Governor's Ball 2024, had a serious impact on her nether regions

Events

6 d. ago Two pensioners arrested following damage and graffiti at Trump Turnberry

A 75-year-old man and a 66-year-old woman were arrested following enquiries in Oban on Wednesday, 26 March, 2025.

Events

6 d. ago Shameless flytipper dumps huge mess next to £50k fine warning

The waste included a bath, plasterboard, paint buckets, tiles, black bags and rubble

Events

7 d. ago Organised crime gangs blamed for red paint and graffiti attacks on homes in London

Organised crime gangs blamed for red paint and graffiti attacks on homes in London  The Guardian

Events

8 d. ago DIY gardeners full of praise for fence painting machine that 'saves so much time'

With the Wagner Fence and Decking Paint Sprayer, fence painting just got a whole lot easier. It's suitable for all standard solvent or water-based fence paint, oil, stain, varnish, wood preservatives, and treatment-so there's no need to buy specialist paint

Politics

8 d. ago Iconic Glasgow subway carriages targeted by graffiti vandals who disabled CCTV

Joe Mullholland, 84, owns the much loved Hidden Lane which acts as a hub for creatives and artists in Glasgow’s Finnieston district.

Events

8 d. ago ‘Making art made me feel free’: the prison paintings of Myanmar’s Htein Lin

The artist, who has an exhibition at Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery, created a unique body of work from jail uniforms, soap and lids while detained by Myanmar’s regimeThe Burmese painter Htein Lin’s art bears the imprint of his years in a Myanmar jail, where he created hundreds of paintings using prison uniforms as his canvases and makeshift tools including syringes, soap blocks and cigarette lighters.“I had no canvas, no brushes, no paint. But I had to make art,” says Htein Lin from his home in Myanmar’s Shan state. “I befriended the prison guards to smuggle in paint, scavenging for materials wherever I could. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago Journalists arrested in Turkey as protests grow over jailing of president’s main rival

Authorities accused of attacking ‘people’s right to learn the truth’ as president Erdogan seeks to paint protests as ‘movement of violence’

Events

9 d. ago War Paint – Women at War review – female conflict artists get their moment in the spotlight

From quilting in Japanese prisoner camps to graffiti in Sudan via Rachel Whiteread, Maggi Hambling and Lee Miller, this documentary covers myriad artistic responses to warMargy Kinmonth’s latest feature documentary represents the third in a trilogy of films about artists and war, following Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War, which focused on the second world war artist of the title, and the more first world war-skewed War Art with Eddie Redmayne, which showed on ITV. This time the focus is on female artists and war – as the title suggests with its cringe-inducing pun on a slang term for makeup.It’s a perfectly valid and potentially fruitful subject, but the analysis here is often frustratingly superficial. Kinmonth puts herself front and centre as the onscreen interviewer and narrator, so one has to blame her directly for the daftness of some her questions. For instance, she asks sculptor Rachel Whiteread: “I’m wondering, is there a difference in the perception of female artists to men, a...

Events