Genuine oil

We work hard to make this blog relevant to the shifting and ruptures of the global economy. When the US sneezes Overthenet reaches for a tissue. So it was right up our alley when two of our great concerns, the international oil crisis and public sculpture, stepped out hand-in-hand in Vienna. This bronze sculpture from happier times is by the Venezuelan artist Paul del Rio, and is optimistically titled Mano Mineral. It sits outside the OPEC building in Vienna, the city where international oil prices are struck by the lucky ones who own it all.
Having just been through World Cup fever over here (we were in Madrid the day before Spain won the cup and in Germany the day it was defeated by the Spanish) we also interested to find that it was del Rio, wearing his revolutionary cap, and as a member of extremist group, the National Liberation Army Front, who kidnapped Alfredo di Stefano the Argentinean soccer star in 1963. Stefano who was on a South American tour with Real Madrid was taken at gun point, held for two days, and released unharmed.