Francis Bacon, Study for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne and George Dyer (1967), via Christie’s

Another auction come and gone for Christie’s tonight in London, and another set of strong results, as the auction house capped a 76 lot sale to the tune of £95,646,500, meeting expectations, and setting several records for non-blue chip artists along the way, with 10 lots going unsold, including a string of Gerhard Richter works that may signal a downturn in the artist’s market popularity. (more…)

The Guardian has an article this week looking at composer Arvo Pärt and Gerhard Richter’s early careers under communism, and the pair’s respective pieces dedicated to the work of the other, to premiere at this year’s Manchester International Festival this month. (more…)

The Telegraph profiles Christie’s upcoming London sale of works from the Essl Collection, Austria’s largest private collection of contemporary works.  The sale, featuring pieces by Gerhard Richter, Paul McCarthy, Louise Bourgeois, and Alighiero Boetti, is estimated to bring in up to £60 million next month, making it the most valuable sale of a single collection in auction history.   (more…)

Artist Grayson Perry has designed a special holiday home in Essex, part of a special commission by Living Architecture, and developed in collaboration with the FAT architectural firm.  Appropriately titled A House for Essex, the home boasts a golden copper alloy roof, and a secret narrative incorporated into the space by Perry, focused around an imagined previous inhabitant.   (more…)

The New York Times spotlights Phillips new flagship location in London, and the auction house’s renewed efforts to challenge the duopoly between Sotheby’s and Christie’s at the highest end of the secondary market.  “It’s a statement of intent,” says Phillips’s new chair Edward Dolman.  “This gives us the best space for viewing contemporary art in London. It’s potentially a game changer.” (more…)

The Financial Times reports on the newly opened Hauser and Wirth location in the Somerset town of Bruton, and the anticipated boon the space may offer for the area’s arts community and real estate.  “Somerset is a large county but there are not many galleries exhibiting contemporary art,” says director Alice Workman. “So as well as the space being for the local community, we’re confident we’ll attract a national and international art-loving audience who will probably bring new custom to Bruton and have a positive impact on the local economy.” (more…)

Barbara Kruger (Installation View), all images courtesy Modern Art Oxford

On view at Modern Art Oxford through August 31st is a major solo exhibition of recent work by American conceptual artist Barbara Kruger. Kruger, who is best known for her paste-up works, black-and-white photographs with declarative phrases in bold letters laid on top, has created a site-specific architectural wrap of the museum’s Upper gallery space in a similar style.

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The North Devon District Council has approved Damien Hirst‘s plan to build an entire town in the area. Known as the South Extension, the development will include shops, offices, a school, and over 750 residential homes. While the plan’s supporters point to the construction opportunities the development will bring to the area, critics are more focused on the longterm repercussions, expressing concern over the future town’s effect of the environment and calling it “an unemployment black spot”. (more…)

Gallerist Dominique Lévy has announced plans to open a London exhibition space in the Mayfair district, following the opening of her Upper East Side gallery last year.  “We are pleased and proud to announce our new space in London,” says Lévy. “Our gallery’s program and culture represent an ongoing, spirited dialogue between Europe and America. And our team embodies that dialogue, with Europeans working in New York and Americans working in London.”   (more…)

The newest Hauser and Wirth space in Somerset opens its doors this week in the small town of Bruton.  The new gallery is celebrating its opening with a show of works by artist Phyllida Barlow, titled Gig.  But is also showing a number of site-specific installations on its expansive grounds. (more…)

Tracey Emin, My Bed, via Christie’s

The sales have ended on Christie’s Contemporary Evening Auction in London, following a lengthy 75-lot sale that brought in a final sales tally of $170,537,894.  The evening was marked by moderates sales on most lots, often falling within sales estimates, with a few surprises scattered throughout the evening’s offerings. (more…)

The New York Times notes Margate as a growing destination for artists and art lovers on the British Isles, made possible by a new high-speed rail link and thriving artistic community.  “The town has picked up, and that’s the best thing,” said John Cripps of the Dreamland Trust. “We lost our way a little bit, but people are starting to come back.” (more…)

Iwan Wirth is interviewed in the Financial Times this week, discussing his gallery’s newest project space in Somerset, England, and his penchant for unique gallery environments.  “I like art that is less decorative and I like spaces that have some spikes,” he says. (more…)

Hauser and Wirth has opened its newest gallery this spring in an unexpected location, an 18th-century farmhouse in Somerset, England.  Just outside the town of Bruton, the gallery space underlines the gallerists continued commitment to museum-quality spaces, similar to its renovated space on 18^th Street in New York. (more…)

Pablo Picasso’s much-loved painting, Child with Dove (1901), is likely to leave the UK for good this year.  The work recently changed hands, and the anonymous new owner is free to take the work abroad once its current loan ends in May.  “With arts cuts the way they are, it’s going to be increasingly difficult. (The Picasso) is, of course, a catastrophic loss. (But) it’s about being realistic: work is going to leave.”  Said Alan Yentob, creative director at the BBC. (more…)

Alex Turnbull, a musician and filmmaker who once fronted the British punk band 23 Skidoo, is releasing a documentary chronicling the life of his father, sculptor William Turnbull.  Titled Beyond Time, the film details Turnbull’s highly regarded career alongside his family life, as well as his relentless creative drive.  “Bill cared if people didn’t like his work,” Alex says. “But do you change what you do if they don’t? No. That was Bill.” (more…)

In an effort to encourage visitors to enter the Milton Keynes Gallery in Milton Keynes, England; artist Tomas Georgeson has hidden a blank check for £8,000 somewhere inside.  While Georgeson stands by the check as art, he also considers it an investment in the gallery and its visitors.  “It almost doesn’t matter what happens, it’s the fact that it’s there. If somebody chooses to spend it on mortgage payments, then those mortgage payments would become art, which is quite miraculous to me.”  He says. (more…)

A sculpture by the British artist Henry Moore has been stolen from the grounds of his former home, now the Henry Moore Foundation, in Much Hadham, England. Valued at £500,000, Sundial was stolen in between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. Investigators are leading a search for the bronze work, fearing that it may be melted down as scrap metal, a fate that awaited Moore’s Reclining Figure, which was stolen and melted down in 2005.

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