Damien Hirst has installed his large-scale work, Charity, outside of the Gherkin tower in London this week, a nearly 25-foot high statue of a young girl in a leg brace, holding a vandalized collection tin.  “Charity is an iconic piece of art. It is also a symbol of changing attitudes to disability over the past 50 years, since collection boxes like the one depicted in this sculpture were seen on high streets across the country,” says Alan Gosschalk, fundraising director at Scope, the British disability charity that once used the collection tins depicted in Hirst’s work. (more…)

Coloring Book, a monumental new sculpture by Jeff Koons, has sold for €12 million euros at a Cannes charity auction that ultimately brought in more than €33 million to fund AIDS research through amFAR.    (more…)

Jeff Koons was on hand last night at Simon de Pury’s benefit auction for collector Svetlana Uspenskaya’s Project Perpetual, offering a series of Hermès Birkin bags (previously owned by stars like Sofia Coppola, Marc Jacobs, and others) turned into readymade artworks, as well as a sculpture paying homage to Picasso’s La Soupe.   “You look into the gazing ball and it’s very immediate,” Koons said.  “You see your reflection. You’re affirmed, your senses are stimulated…and if you move the abstraction changes. But the piece also becomes affirmed. It becomes reflected into the gazing ball, and when that happens, you go from that Dionysian type of velocity into Platonism.” (more…)

French artist Bernar Venet has launched a new non-profit organization, The Venet Foundation will exhibit a collection of works the artist collected from close friends like Donald Judd, Yves Klein and Sol LeWitt under conditions that Vernet felt were ideal for exhibiting their works, including a subjective element to the foundation that fits quite well alongside the artist’s conceptual practice. (more…)

Lord Jacob Rothschild has been awarded with the J. Paul Getty Award for his contributions to British arts and culture.  Rothschild has long been a supporter of the arts, and has served as a board chair at the National Gallery in London, the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund.  “No one embodies the ideals of the Getty medal more than Lord Rothschild,” Cuno said in a statement, adding that “he is without question the most influential volunteer cultural leader in the English-speaking world.” Says Getty President and CEO James Cuno. (more…)

Artist Bridget Riley has revealed a special painting commission for the Imperial College Healthcare Charity Art Collection, painting the 10th floor hallways of the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital building in London with her signature parallel lines and bright colors.   “It reminds patients that theirs is a transitory state,” Riley says. “That they are there to recover and rejoin life – that life goes on, and life is outside, and they feel reassured.” (more…)

A minimalist portrait of Disney icon Mickey Mouse, done by Damien Hirst, is up for sale next month at Christie’s in London to benefit the Kids Company charity.  Created using Hirst’s signature “dot” technique, the portrait plays on a long history of pop art appropriation of the character.  “Mickey Mouse represents happiness and the joy of being a kid and I have reduced his shape down to the basic elements of a few simple spots. I hope people love it, because it is still instantly recognizable – Mickey Mouse is such a universal and powerful icon.”  Hirst says. (more…)

Concluding his October residency on the streets of New York, street artist Banksy has unveiled his last work, the donation of a painted canvas to the Housing Works thrift store in Gramercy Park.  Titled The Banality of the Banality of Evil, the canvas features a man in a Nazi uniform viewing a classically rendered mountain vista, and is being auctioned off to benefit the Housing Works organization.  So far, bids have already reached over $200,000.  “Most New Yorkers have been watching pretty closely what he’s been doing for the past 30 days,” said Housing Works director of PR Rebecca Edmondson. “There has been controversy. But it’s great to end on such a high note by giving back to the New York community.” (more…)

From Cy Twombly to Robert Rauschenberg, artist foundations have been seeing a high number of internal turmoil, as trustees and advisors lob claims of unpaid compensation, outlandish salaries, and nepotism that place the foundations’ ostensibly noble missions into question.  “The private foundation world is a wild, wild west,” said Trent Stamp, founding president of Charity Navigator, which evaluates nonprofits. “There’s an opportunity for great abuse.” (more…)

Madonna has announced plans to auction off a painting from her personal collection, Fernand Léger’s Trois Femmes à la Table Rouge, and to donate the resulting proceeds education projects for young girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The piece will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York on May 7th, and is estimated to sell for $5-7 million. “I have a great passion for art and a great passion for education,’’ Madonna said in a statement. “I cannot accept a world where women or girls are wounded, shot or killed for either going to school or teaching in girls’ schools.’’ (more…)