Iranian artist Atena Farghadani has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for her works depicting national politicians as monkeys and goats as protest over plans to outlaw voluntary sterilisation and restrict access to contraception.  “Atena Farghadani has effectively been punished for her cartoons with a sentence that is itself a gross caricature of justice,” says Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for  Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa. (more…)

Ai Weiwei, Blossom (2014) (Detail) photo by Jan Stürmann, courtesy of FOR-SITE foundation

After much anticipation, Ai Weiwei has opened his new project at Alcatraz, the former island prison in the San Francisco Bay.  The project, which brings seven large-scale installations incorporating photography, installation, sound and video, is a fitting continuation of Ai’s projects examination of incarceration following his own imprisonment in 2011.

Ai Weiwei, Yours Truly (2014) (Detail) photo by Jan Stürmann, courtesy of FOR-SITE foundation

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Ai Weiwei is preparing to open his newest exhibition of work at the former Alcatraz Prison this week, made possible through the efforts of dealer Cheryl Haines and her For-Site Foundation, a project that seeks to install specially focused works in unique environments.  “We are addressing issues of human rights, freedom of expression, the role of creative individuals in addressing these issues, and the role that communication plays in creating a just society,” Haines says. (more…)

Helly Nahmad was sentenced Wednesday to a year in prison for his role in an illegal gambling ring, the New York Post reports.  “The record here before me reveals that the defendant has contempt for the law — and that he believes the rules apply to everyone else,” Judge Jesse Furman said. (more…)

The sentencing for art dealer Helly Nahmad is scheduled for this Wednesday in Manhattan, with prosecutors pushing for a one year to 18 month prison sentence, while Nahmad’s defense attorney’s have proposed a program for bringing homeless youth in the Bronx to the Metropolitan Museum.  “I do not have a great education in other subjects,”  Nahmad said in a letter to Judge Jesse M. Furman. “But I really do know a lot about art, and I think I could really teach young people in a good way and hopefully introduce them to a world they might otherwise never visit.” (more…)

The collaboration between Ai Weiwei and Alcatraz National Park has been officially announced, with the Chinese artist installing a number of site-specific works that respond to the former prison’s long history.  “The misconception of totalitarianism is that freedom can be imprisoned,” Ai said in a statement. “This is not the case. When you constrain freedom, freedom will take flight and land on a windowsill.”  The show will run September 27, 2014 to April 26, 2015. (more…)

Artist Ai Weiwei has announced plans for a show of work at the former prison island Alcatraz in the San Francisco bay.  Weiwei is currently working on obtaining approval from the National Park Service, and if approved, would look to open the show in February of next year.  Little other information has been released. (more…)

Artist Ai Weiwei, whose scale model recreations of his 2011 incarceration at this year’s Venice Biennale won him critical accolades, has spoken on his ordeal in a recent interview with Salon.  Recounting his experiences with his interrogators, Weiwei recounts conversations in which he began to teach his captors about conceptual art, Dadaism and protest.   “I explained art to them and then many times they said to me, ‘Weiwei, why whenever we talk about art and concepts do you get so excited that you keep talking? And why when we talk about facts, you say, ‘I don’t know’?’ But I say, ‘You know, I like to talk about art, and it makes me joyful and when I get to talk about art and explain I get very high spirits.’”  He says.

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Youssef Abdelke, a notable Syrian painter who has repeatedly spoken out against the Assad regime in his home country, has been released from a two month-long imprisonment by government authorities.  The 62 year old artist and former Syrian Communist Party Member had previously posted on his Facebook page that he “is healthy and in anticipation of leaving the palace of justice, free as [he] has always been.” (more…)

Scott Campbell, Things Get Better, (Installation View), courtesy OHWOW Los Angeles

A solo exhibition of work by artist Scott Campbell is currently on view  at OHWOW Los Angeles, featuring a series of large-scale ink wash paintings on paper, depicting invented objects, particularly makeshift tools, textual subversions, and intriguing figurations found in the world of underground and prison tattoo culture.

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Uriel Landeros, the University of Houston student who spray-painted over Picasso’s Woman in a Red Armchair at Houston’s Menil Collection, has been sentenced to two years behind bars for vandalism.  Landeros was facing up to 10 years in prison for felony vandalism, but pleaded guilty for a reduced sentence.  “We are heartened and grateful that the judicial process has come to completion,” said Menil spokesperson Gretchen Bock Sammons. “As for the Picasso, the restoration is complete and successful and the painting will eventually go on view — as works from the collection do, in rotation.” (more…)

Michelangelo’s unfinished sculpture, La Pietà Rondanini, is being temporarily installed in a Milanese prison while its original home undergoes some much-needed renovations.  The work’s temporary home at Carcere di San Vittore has raised both criticism and praise from art historians, and is being applauded by foreign prison officials.  “It is welcome to see an example of high culture being moved into a prison. There is a long tradition of art projects aiding the journey of long-term prisoners as they serve their sentence.”  Says Andrew Nelson, of the Howard League for Penal Reform. (more…)