The highly anticipated Frieze art fair opened in London this morning, featuring 151 international galleries with several New York notables such as Marianne Boesky, Marion Goodman, Gagosian, Metro Pictures, Rivington Arms, and Salon 94, among others.  And it’s only the beginning of the arts events the upcoming week.  The prestigious fair coincides with several other art fairs as well as Phillips de Pury’s contemporary sale in their Victoria new location. (more…)

Monet vandals were young drunk revelers [AFP]
Abu Dhabi Louvre branch approved by French Gov’t [NYPost]
Visitors falling into $600k large crack in Tate [Daily Mail]
A closer look at Dennison’s Guggenheim departure [NYMag]

Chuck Close‘s exhibit at White Cube Mason’s Yard opened yesterday. The show includes a 7 x 9′ painting of former US President Bill Clinton, pictured above. According Men’s Vogue, the portrait is Close’s first work of a political figure and will eventually be shown at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

(more…)

Richard Prince, the American appropriation artist, collaborated with Louis Vuitton design head Marc Jacobs for LV’s Spring/Summer 2008 handbag line. The show opened with 12 models, including Naomi Campbell and Stephanie Seymour, dressed in identical nurse uniforms holding the bags. (more…)

On Friday afternoon, four vandals ran through the Kulturen Gallery in Lund, Sweden and destroyed seven 50 x 60″ photographs by New York-based artist Andres Serrano. The reason? The vandals were members of the Nationalist Socialist Front, Sweden’s largest neo-Nazi political party and the exhibit was Serrano’s “History of Sex”, which featured photographs of various sex acts. A video was posted on YouTube and a description was detailed on their website. (more…)

Assignment #9: Draw a constellation from someone’s freckles.

Assignment #18: Re-create a poster you had as a teenager.

Assignment #58: Record the sound that’s keeping you awake.

These are just some of the 65 assignments that artists Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July put up on their website learningtoloveyoumore.com.
(more…)

“CREATIVE TIME PRESENTS: MIKE NELSON/A PSYCHIC VACUUM,” the sign so boldly read above the information table. The crumbly-looking alcove of the building served as Creative Time’s makeshift office, where each entrant was required to sign a piece of paper. This paper ended up being a waiver, freeing the city from any lawsuits I may want to file in case something happened to me inside the exhibit or as a result of being there, I started to panic and wonder if it was really worth risking my uninsured body to write this story. My (insured) cousin convinced me it was, and by “convinced” I mean pushed my dragging feet to the Creative Time employee collecting our tickets. (more…)

The New York Times reports that the Altria Group, formerly named Phillip Morris Companies Inc., will be cutting the funding that they provide to various arts organizations in New York City as a result of a decision to move their non-U.S. cigarette production to Europe. For the 200+ organizations in the city, the loss of almost $7 million in support that they receive annually is a hard blow. (more…)

On October 1st, PAWNSHOP, a project organized by artists Julieta Aranda, Liz Linden and Anton Vidokle took over e-Flux’s storefront on Ludlow Street to host a different kind of art exhibition – a literal pawnshop where artworks are submitted by artists for cash, and if not reclaimed after 30 days, placed for sale exclusively by the shop. Questioning both the value of a work of art and the worth of money, PAWNSHOP poses an alternative venue to the traditional gallery setting.

(more…)

Damien Hirst‘s diamond-studded skull, “For the Love of God”, which sold to a private investment group earlier this year, will make an appearance at Russia’s State Hermitage Museum as part of a contemporary arts exhibit which will open later this month. According to an article in Bloomberg, this is not part of the planned museum tour, but it is a possibility that they may start in Russia. (more…)

Hole punched in Monet painting at Musee d’Orsay [NYTimes]
Louise Bourgeois’ “Maman” spider in London [NYTimes]
“Basquiat” writer/director Schnabel’s new film opens [ReverseShot]

Wilcox’s solo show at Metro Pictures features large photographs and collages, that are derived from subject matter conveyed in two powerful films, “A Fair Tale” and another that features Jackie Onassis. Wilcox takes specific, often overlooked, moments of historical significance and weaves them into a story. His poignant, poetic narratives are conveyed via subtitles at the bottom of the screen. While each story describes a loss of innocence, they are also connected by their “idea of beauty in a variety of guises confronting adversity and becoming greater for the challenge” (artist’s statement). The films and photographs, are in fact, extremely beautiful in their dreamy representation of forgotten moments in history. (more…)

The 10,000 square foot, two-floor space with an outdoor sculpture terrace will open tomorrow, Thursday October 4th. Their 19th Street Chelsea closed in June of 2006 to prepare for their new location in the Chelsea Arts Tower, on 545 West 25th Street. They’ll be joining PaceWildenstein, Yossi Milo, Cheim & Read, and Moti Hasson, among many, many others.

(more…)

Caravaggio priced at $100m, Contemporary is “junk” [PageSix]
Conrad Black can keep one portrait by Warhol, sell others [G&M]
Audio: Rare Richard Prince interview with WNYC [WNYC]
First Shanghai art fair had no mainland buyers [ArtNewspaper]
n+1 angry spinoff Paper Monument hits bookstores [NYO]
Much-publicized Koons finally gets to guest-edit [Wallpaper]