Sotheby’s shareholders voted in approval of the acquisition of the auction house by Patrick Drahi, with 91 percent of voting shares counting in favor. “This is an historic moment for Sotheby’s and we are very pleased to have the validation of the company’s shareholders,” says CEO Tad Smith. (more…)

The LA Times reports on the recent discovery of a series of works stolen from homes on the West Side of the city during the 1990’s, and the LAPD’s efforts to catalog the works. “We are in the process of identifying the specific art, artists and how much it might be worth,” says Capt. Lillian Carranza. (more…)

The New Yorker has a piece on Georgia O’Keefe’s sister, Ida, and the artists’ impacts on each other. “She was the queen. . . . and we all loved her,” another sister, Catherine, said of Georgia. (more…)

Berta Fischer (Installation View), via James Fuentes

Marking his second exhibition with the Berlin-based painter, James Fuentes’s current exhibition of works by Berta Fischer brings a summery energy to downtown, a selection of brightly-colored, technically impressive arrangements that underscore the artist’s abilities in the sculptural medium. (more…)

Filmmaker and painter Rosalind Nashashibi will become the first artist in residence at the National Gallery in London . “Over the course of the year [beginning this month], she will work in the National Gallery’s on-site artist’s studio, benefitting from the close proximity to the gallery’s collection, research and teams,” a statement says. (more…)

Marina Abramovic will re-create her famed performance Imponderabilia at London’s Royal Academy of Arts next year, Art Newspaper reports. The work requires visitors to a show to squeeze between the naked bodies of performers to see the rest of the work on view. “If there were no artists, there would be no museums, so we are living doors,” the original project statement said. (more…)

Artist Betye Saar gets a profile in the NYT this week, as she prepares to open a pair of major museum shows this fall, and reflects on her career. “I consider myself a recycler,” she says “I’ve been that way since I was a kid, going through trash to see what people left behind. Good stuff.” (more…)

A piece in the NYT looks at storage conditions at Humboldt Forum in Berlin, and asks if long argued claims about African artifacts being safer in European collections really holds water. “They complain that they do not have enough money to do research on these objects to take proper care of them,” said Tahir Della, a postcolonial activist based in Berlin, “but they had enough money to build a castle in the middle of Berlin.” (more…)

Michael Rakowitz is the winner of the 2020 Nasher Prize for Sculpture for his incisive critiques of current social and political landscapes. “Michael’s work deals with migrant populations and homeless populations, and some of it deals with works of art and books that have been destroyed, in Germany, Afghanistan and Iraq, where his family is from,” says Nasher director Jeremy Strick. “As a result, he harbors an intense interest “in people who have suffered through wars or genocide or political violence.” (more…)

Hong Kong artists speak with Art News this week, as protests continue to roil the city. “In the last couple of years, we have witnessed a systemic erosion of the values that make this city unique,” says artist Samson Young. (more…)

Pace Gallery will represent artist Nina Katchadourian, as it prepares to open its new flagship in Chelsea.  “I’m incredibly happy,” Katchadourian says. “I’ve never worked with a gallery that operates on this scale, and there are going to be great things about their reach.” (more…)

Mariner Kemper, CEO and chairman of UMB Financial Corp (UMB Bank) and a trustee of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri is facing pressure to resign over connections to President Trump’s controversial immigration policies.  UMB Bank represents the bondholders for the publicly owned and privately operated Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, Rhode Island, which houses detained immigrants. (more…)

Alex Prager’s new work is profiled in the New Yorker, as the artist turns her camera lens on the landscapes and people of Los Angeles.  The works explore new perspectives and frames for the artist, expanding on her intriguing body of crowd-based photography. (more…)

John Currin gets a profile in GQ this week, with the artist holding court on a range of topics from his taste in cars to his style of painting.  “I sometimes think I’m trying to paint like I am Sean Connery,” he says, “but the closest I’ll ever get is Clint Eastwood.” (more…)

Amy Sadao is stepping as director of the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, Art News reports.  “I fulfilled and surpassed all of my goals, so this is the perfect time to think about my next step,” she says. “This is the right time for me to be able to write, research, and conduct interviews with people I admire, and it’s the right time for the ICA. I’m excited to see where ICA goes from here.” (more…)

Elizabeth Murray, DuckWabbit (1992), via Pace Gallery

The work of American painter Elizabeth Murray gets its first UK exhibition this summer in London, with Camden Arts Centre showcasing an impressive selection of the artist’s work from across her multifaceted career. Documenting Murray’s continued engagement with the languages of abstraction and conceptualism, the artist’s work delves into various iterations of painterly expression, from studies in violent action to nuanced investigations of the canvas as a form and medium in and of itself. (more…)

The altarpiece of Saint Catherine by Jacopo Tintoretto, formerly owned by David Bowie, has been returned to Venice, after Belgian collector Marnix Neerman purchased the work and loaned it to the Palazzo Ducale. (more…)

Brazil’s National Museum, which was ravaged by fire last year, is aiming to reopen a wing in 2022 for the bicentennial of Brazilian independence. “The Louvre’s director should visit the museum next year, when we will seek to deepen conversations around possible donations,” says Denise Pires de Carvalho, the dean of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). (more…)

Olafur Eliasson is interviewed on CNN this week, as he discusses his views on climate change and his vision of how artists might be able to help increase the speed of response. “I’m afraid we can’t wait for them to do the work for us. Because they are not going fast enough,” he says of politicians working on the crisis. (more…)

Peter Saville, Blue Monday (1983), via Sprueth Magers

Culling together a selection of works that chart the landscape of British art as it moved through the landscape of industrial collapse through the neoliberal ascendancy of the 1980’s and into the 1990’s, Sprüth Magers is currently presenting New Order: Art, Product, Image 1976 – 1995 at its London exhibition space. The exhibition originates from a discussion about the cultural status and art historical positioning of one of Peter Saville’s best-known works for Factory Records made in the early 1980s, an object that helped in blurring the boundaries between art, design, pop and product. (more…)

Over $8 billion was spent last year to build a total of 148 new museums worldwide, according to the third yearly Cultural Infrastructure Index published by AEA Consulting this past week.  “We have been looking for indicators that suggest peak cultural infrastructure investment has been reached,” the report notes, “but the number of announced projects has remained remarkably stable over the past three years and the number of completed projects has increased each year over the same period.” (more…)

LA’s loved Ooga Booga Store has closed up shop, and will operate online, as well as through a pop-up at The Hammer  Museum through the end of the year.  The closure was announced on Instagram yesterday. (more…)

Sterling Ruby’s work in fashion gets a New Yorker profile this week, as he recaps his recent work and the encouragement he’s felt during his venture into making clothes. “The dealers were so mad at me,” he says, going on to describe his show with Raf Simons. “Everybody was standing up, cheering. At that moment, I thought, Fuck being an artist—this is wonderful.” (more…)

The New York Times celebrated Labor Day yesterday with a piece documenting the work and contributions of various creative laborers, including dancers, performers and frame manufacturers. “The frame sort of needs to disappear,” says Bill Schunk, who makes frames with his wife Rose Pappalardo at Frames New York. “If you’re noticing the frame, maybe something is wrong.” (more…)