Framed

This week Steph takes the wheel with an unsolved art heist involving a white van, more than 50 stolen artworks and a museum with absolutely no security. (what's new?)We head to Sarasota, Florida in 1969 and the Museum of the Cross, created by artist and illustrator Ben Stoll.The museum was home to 15 huge Stations of the Cross paintings. Then one night, four thieves broke in what happens next? Well you'll have to listen to find out. Was it an inside job? A wealthy collector? A little skittish priest?

This week Steph takes the wheel with a question: what is the most consequential Seth Rogen movie ever made?But before we get into it, we have a Timbaland minute and review RuPaul’s new movie Stop That Train. Then we jump into The Interview, a movie that seemed unassuming but may have been that cause of the 2014 Sony hack. In 2014, a dumb Seth Rogen and James Franco comedy about assassinating Kim Jong Un became the centre of an international incident. North Korea called the film an act of war, Sony Pictures was hit by a massive cyberattack, private emails and employee information were leaked, unreleased movies appeared online and cinemas were threatened if they screened the film.How did The Interview become connected to the Sony hack? Why did Sony make the movie in the first place? And how did a film that really wasn’t good enough for all this become an argument about North Korea, Hollywood and freedom of speech?Of all films. This film.Speak it. Forget it. Write it. Regret it.

The office is still flooded, so welcome back to Joel’s couch.Before we get into the story, Steph reviews The Invite, Joel reviews Pretty Woman: The Musical and we discuss the current state of Melbourne theatre, Scary Movie 6 and why some things should be left alone!We go down the road of Pam the Bird Melbourne’s little graffiti bird that started popping up around the city before suddenly appearing on buildings, road signs, Flinders Street Station and places no normal person should be able to get to.But who was actually behind Pam? How did a grade three drawing become one of Melbourne’s most recognisable pieces of street art? And how do we get from a little bird in Collingwood to a nine-hour police standoff on top of the Bolte BridgeIs it art? Is it vandalism?

Our studio flooded, so this week’s episode is coming to you criss cross apple sauce from Joel’s couch. Before we get into the story, we discuss Widow’s Bay — spoiler alert — Joel’s trip to the Cartier exhibition at the NGV.Then Joel takes the wheel and throws us into the ballroom world of 1990s New York and the extraordinary life of Paris Is Burning icon Dorian Corey. After Dorian’s death, friends clearing out her Harlem apartment discovered a mummified body hidden inside a trunk. It had been there for more than 20 years.Who was the man in the trunk? What happened between them? And how did one of New York’s most beloved house mothers keep such an enormous secret for so long?It’s queer history, drag and ballroom culture, an unsolved murder mystery and, as always, mummy dust.

This week on Framed, we’re taking a little trip to hell. After a more personal start talking about grief, death and saying goodbye, we head straight into Dante’s Inferno, Botticelli’s illustrations of the Divine Comedy, and the increasingly unhinged circles of hell. A weirdly kismet planned episode, considering. Sit back and relax while we discuss eternal damnation. Weekly whimsy: honestly, not a very whimsical week but Joel does mention Hoppers if you need a cry, and there’s also a side note that Hunt for the Wilderpeople is very good if you want funny, then not funny, then funny again.

This week on Framed, we’re diving into one of the strangest little art-crime stories ever: the tale of Portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III, the tiny Rembrandt that became known as the Takeaway Rembrandt after being stolen four different times from the same gallery. We get into the absurd heists, the bizarre ways the painting kept disappearing and reappearing, the criminals who realized it was easier to steal than to sell, and why this one small portrait became legendary in the art world. 

This week on Framed, we go from the invention of the flushing toilet to the real-life theft of a solid gold artwork toilet from an English palace. We unpack the story of Sir John Harington, Queen Elizabeth I, the origins of the loo, and then dive into the ridiculous, very British heist of Maurizio Cattelan’s America.

Want to send us a question? We are waiting by the phones to take your call! email us at hello@cheersthanxalot.comIn this episode of Framed, we unravel the captivating story of the Salvator Mundi, a painting that has shaken the art world with its mystery, controversy, and record-breaking price tag. Once dismissed as a cheap auction find, this supposed Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece was bought for just $1,100—only to later sell for $450 million. But the journey from a dusty auction house to the world’s most expensive painting is anything but straightforward. We dive into the murky dealings of art dealers, fake negotiations, and the international tug-of-war between France and Saudi Arabia. Did the Salvator Mundi truly deserve its da Vinci label, or is this history’s most lucrative art scam? And why did it vanish from the Louvre’s Da Vinci exhibition at the last minute? Join us as we explore the twists, turns, and high-stakes drama behind the Salvator Mundi—a mystery that’s still baffling the art world today.