White Cube Gallery will close its São Paulo exhibition space this August, when its three year lease ends, The Art Newspaper reports. The gallery told the paper that it will focus on “special projects” in Brazil,“as was the impetus when the gallery was first introduced to the region.”   (more…)

The Independent Art Fair has announced its plans to move downtown, and will open the 2016 edition of the popular Armory Week art fair at Spring Studios in TriBeCa March 3rd.  “We’re excited about the Spring/Independent partnership, as it will allow us to take the fair to a new and exciting dimension by hosting it in an extraordinary environment that the art world has yet to experience,” says fair Co-Founder, Elizabeth Dee In our new home at Spring, Independent will be even more adventurous in support of galleries’ and artists’ projects with the flexibility the space allows.” (more…)

Continuing her fundraising quest through the sale of her grandfather Pablo Picasso‘s estate, Marina Picasso is selling her inherited villa in Cannes, La Califnornie, a space she has already seen a €150 Million offer for. “Of course I’m selling,” she says. “But it’s also a way to share.” (more…)

The trial over the alleged art fraud committed by San Francisco real estate developer Luke Brugnara took a strange turn this week, as Brugnara was sentenced to 21 days in jail for contempt of court and bullying witnesses.  Brugnara reportedly screamed for a mistrial during court proceedings, and accused dealer Rose Long, who testified that Brugnara took over $11 million in art and refused to pay for it, of being a “liar.”  “I think she’s probably got post-traumatic stress disorder now,” said presiding judge William Alsup. “I’m afraid it’s done mental damage, the way she’s been treated.” (more…)

Downtown non-profit Art in General has decided not to renew its lease for the Soho/Tribeca space it has occupied for the last 34 years.  “We’ve occupied the space for quite some time,” board president Robert Ferguson says. “Our lease is now coming to an end in December of this year, and we’ve decided to embark on the process of finding a new space.” (more…)

Karl Holmqvist, Here’s Good Looking @U Kid (Installation View), via Art Observed

The current exhibition at Gavin Brown’s West Village exhibition space is abrasive, to say the least.  Focused around the life and work of Karl Holmqvist, the three room exhibition is adorned with the artist’s goading vitriol towards New York real estate, gay culture, social media, the art world “star machine,” and what seems to be anything else that crosses his mind, combined with immense, industrial sculptures composed from the letters in words like “Fuck,” “Punk” and “Like.” (more…)

The Wall Street Journal evaluates the trend towards galleries moving into Manhattan’s flower district, as many dealers tire of the rapidly increasing rents and steady stream of towering condos.  “The spirit of the neighborhood is dramatically changing,” says Casey Kaplan. “A lot of the conversations I’ve had with artists have been about wanting to break out of the art mall and have a different experience.” (more…)

The Cour de Rohan that once was the home of the artist Balthus is currently on the market in Paris, the Wall Street Journal reports.  The four bedroom, four bathroom apartment with a secluded courtyard is being offered for about $9 million. (more…)

The Wildenstein & Company art gallery is suing the nation of Qatar, after the nation reneged on its agreement to purchase the gallery’s Upper East Side location for the record price of $90 million.  “The purchase of the property, and its record price, came under review in Doha, where there was a reluctance to be seen as profligate,” the lawsuit states. (more…)

Alberto Mugrabi is selling his Gramercy Park North home, an $8 million, 2,729-square-foot three-bedroom apartment.  The listing, currently posted online, shows Mugrabi’s storied collection of art currently on the walls, including works by Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and Richard Prince. (more…)

Michael Anthony, the executive chef of Gramercy Tavern, has been named as the head chef for the Whitney’s new Meatpacking District location.  The museum will include two restaurants: Untitled, a fine dining establishment run out of the museum’s ground floor, and the Studio Cafe, which will be located on the Museum’s 8th Floor. (more…)

Mass MOCA has announced a series of important collaborations with James Turrell, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Laurie Anderson and Jenny Holzer, among others, each of which will be included in the museum’s newly constructed exhibition spaces, which will be completed in 2017.  “We’re teaming up with people who have great bodies of artworks that we are hosting,” says Director Joseph C. Thompson. (more…)

Center548, the current home of Zach Feuer Gallery and the Independent Art Fair, as well as the former location for the Dia Foundation, has been purchased by Property Markets Group, a real-estate development group.  The galleries are seeking new exhibition space outside the building. (more…)

London’s Herald Street Gallery has announced plans to open a temporary space in Golden Square, the Soho area that has received notable attention from a number of galleries in the past several months.  Sadie Coles and Marian Goodman have both open spaces nearby in recent months, and this new exhibition space seems to have intentions on staying for some time.   “Programming will run into 2015,” says a gallery spokesman.

(more…)

Lehmann Maupin New York has filed a $10 million Wrongful Eviction lawsuit against its Chelsea landlord, 293 Tenth Ave. Corp., run by Michael Silvermintz.  The suit claims that Silvermintz’s firm sent an eviction notice late last year, but failed to produce the demolition permit required by the lease.  Since then, the gallery claims that the landlord has “engaged in a systematic pattern of conduct that unreasonably interferes with and obstructs plaintiff’s use and occupancy of the subject premises.”  (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…)

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is preparing to undergo a major expansion project, doubling its North Adams, MA exhibition space to 260,000 square feet. “The expansion is unquestionably good for the region and the community; the challenge is to pull it off,” said Stephen C. Sheppard, director of nearby Williams College’s Center for Creative Community Development. “They will need to connect with people who share their vision and who’ll support it.” (more…)

Billionaire Leon Black, the owner of Phaidon Press and the recent buyer of Artspace, has purchased the $50 million former home of the Knoedler Gallery on the Upper East Side, a 17,000-square-foot Italian Renaissance-style home at 19 East 70th Street that was last inhabited by London developer Christian Candy.  (more…)

Damien Hirst has purchased one of London’s most impressive examples of Regency architecture, a five story mansion built in 1811 by John Nash and overlooking Regent’s Park.  The home was previously owned by Anne Van Lanschot, a Dutch banking magnate who lived there for over 50 years.  The home was put on the market last year for £34 million, but some speculate that the artist paid more. (more…)

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…)

L.A.’s Arts District, a 52-block neighborhood in downtown L.A., was once derelict and cheap, the perfect home for struggling artists who began moving to the area in the 1970s. The past 10 years have changed the once “bohemian” neighborhood, attracting a new wave of residents and developers that have driven rents up and forced artists and longtime residents to consider a future elsewhere. (more…)

A recent Financial Times article notes the continually shifting state of the contemporary art market, and the changes in gallery representation, points of sale, and dominant art buying countries that are currently shaking up the art world and in correlation, notes the skyrocketing rents felt by many galleries in hot art neighborhoods like New York’s Chelsea and Mayfair in London.  (more…)

After several years of petitioning, Jeff Koons has been granted approval to gut a pair of houses the artist purchased at 11 and 13 E. 67th St, and to combine them into a colossal mansion.  “It must be nice to not only be an artist but to be your own Medici,” comments one local renter. (more…)

The New York Times takes a look at the fading presence of art galleries in the Central London neighborhoods of Mayfair and St. James’s, as increasing rents push dealers from an area they have traditionally occupied for decades.  The article also cites the challenges associated with the state of the current market.  “Modern art is not 500 weeks old — it’s 500 years old,” says dealer James Mayor. “London’s pre-eminence in art dealing and connoisseurship comes from that fact. The perception is that the only art that exists is new art sold in supermarket-type galleries. That doesn’t give the public a chance to develop a taste for anything that’s not force-fed them by the supermarkets. We need diversity.” (more…)