A New York Times article analyzes the work of artist Pei-Shen Qian, the painter behind the multi-million dollar counterfeiting ring that included the Knoedler Gallery.  Mr. Pei-Shen is well-regarded as a painter in China, but moved to New York in the early 1980’s.  Analyzing the artist’s early work in comparison with his more recent fakes, the article goes on to examine the interplay of supply and demand in the contemporary market as a potential cause of the artist’s shift to fraudulent works. (more…)

A painting purchased by a British priest for €478 has turned out to be an authentic work by Anthony Van Dyck, worth €478,000.  The work, which was initially discovered on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, was proven to be authentic after several months of research by Dr. Christopher Brown, a Van Dyck expert.  “It’s everyone’s dream to spot a hidden masterpiece, I’m thrilled that my hunch paid off, to discover a genuine Van Dyck is incredibly exciting,”  said Fiona Bruce, presenter of Antiques Roadshow. (more…)

An Alphabet City apartment building slated for demolition has become the site for a number of murals and installations.  The building will be torn down in late January, but the owner has, in the meantime, opened the space up for artists to create their own murals and sculptures inside the space.   (more…)

The first episode of Ambiance Man, a project by artist Alix Lambert for MocaTV, has gone up on the Museum’s YouTube page, starring Fred Armisen as the titular superhero, with Jack Black and Jibz Cameron taking on the role of his nemeses “Unidentified Odor” and “Buzz Kill.” (more…)

A questionably offensive sculpture at Queens’ Socrates Sculpture Park has merited a fence installed around the work.  The piece, Bear Eats Man by Thordis Adalsteinsdottir, depicts a wooden bear gripping a man from behind and biting into his neck, but a closer look reveals that the victim may in fact have an erection.  A wooden enclosure has been placed around the piece, with a warning notifying visitors about the subject material.  “We are presenting it and showing it,” John Hatfield, the park’s executive director, said. “It’s an interesting and engaging piece.” (more…)

Michael Werner Gallery is currently embroiled in a $1.35 million lawsuit with South Korea’s Gwangju Biennale Foundation over damage to three sculptures by James Lee Byars.  The works were chipped on the return trip, and attempts to collect insurance through a South Korean insurance company have proved futile.  “Unfortunately, risks are inherent in any loan, and it is devastating and embarrassing when anything like this happens,” said Massimo Gioni, who curated the 2010 event and went on to curate this year’s Venice Biennale. (more…)

A number of deals and arrangements made this month have signaled that the centuries-old artistic bastion of Paris may have begun its rise to the highest levels of the international art market.  A classic Modigliani has sold for over €6.5 million, the highest price paid for a painting in France this year, and comes alongside news of a record €44 million tally for sales in France by Sotheby’s in 2013, while Christie’s showed similar success and a €56 million sales total for the year. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on a lost painting by Magritte, which researchers claim was cut up into separate pieces and painted over.  While the practice is relatively common, the work in question, The Enchanted Pose, was exhibited on its own in 1927 before being reused.  Several parts of the piece have already been located, and museums around the world are searching for other missing pieces. (more…)

The Financial Times looks at the enormous final sale prices achieved this year at auction, and questions where the art market is headed in the future. Deep pockets and an increasingly deep market pool have led to growing sales, and a number of art fairs springing up to meet the demand. “In sheer defiance of other global economic trends, or perhaps because of such trends, there is an unprecedented flow of money into the art market. For some, this could represent a flight of capital from other conceivably more unstable harbours to comfortably park one’s wealth,” says dealer Edward Tyler Nahem.  (more…)

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Accelerated Buddha, exhibition view, all images courtesy Fondation Pierre Bergé

Currently on view at Fondation Pierre Bergé Yves Saint Laurent is an exhibition of work by Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, exploring the historical/cultural emergence and relevance of Buddhism in Japanese culture. Entitled Accelerated Buddha, the exhibition is the gallery’s 20th exhibition, which opened on October 10th and will run through January 26th 2013.

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Sotheby’s is currently searching for a new headquarters in New York City, but any move or purchase still hinges on the auction house’s ability to sell its current location at 1334 York Avenue on the Upper East Side, and for which it is still accepting bids. “We continue to explore options as we determine what’s best for Sotheby’s now and in the future, but no decisions have been made,” says Andrew Gully, Sotheby’s worldwide director of communications. (more…)

The fraud lawsuit filed by the estate of Alexander Calder against the late artist’s longtime friend and dealer Klaus Perls has been rejected by New York State Supreme Court.  The ruling, announced this week, cited many of the claims in the case as “an incoherent stew of irrelevance and innuendo,” and Justice Shirley Kornreich went so far as to state that: “these allegations are so patently inadequate that the court can only conclude that they were brought solely for the purpose of harassment or embarrassment.”  (more…)

The New York Times has profiled Sheikha al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the head of the Qatar Museums Authority in its year-end look at the art world, calling the young sheikha a “power player” on the global stage.  “It’s most important to allow young artists today to see what’s happening,” she says. “Seventy percent of our population is under the age of 30.” (more…)

The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, Photo: Joan Marcus Courtesy Park Ave Armory

As the story goes, when artist Marina Abramovic came to legendary stage director Robert Wilson about helping him to stage her funeral onstage, the director only replied, “only if I can stage your life as well.”  So begins the mythology behind The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, the nearly three-hour long performance that just completed its first run of U.S. dates at the Park Avenue Armory in New York.

The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, Photo: Joan Marcus Courtesy Park Ave Armory (more…)

With counterfeit dealer Glafira Rosales cooperating with federal authorities, the investigation into the sale of a number of counterfeit artworks has shifted towards Rosales’s partner Jose Carlos Bergantiños Diaz, the Spanish dealer who may have served as a key figure in the creation of the counterfeit art ring around the Knoedler Gallery.  Diaz, who has not been reached in several months, has yet to be charged. (more…)

Google has opened the doors to its Google Cultural Institute in Paris this month, welcoming a first look at the virtual umbrella space for a number of the company’s art-focused ventures.  The space will feature artist residencies and exhibitions, as well as talks and panel discussions. (more…)

Cyprien Gaillard, Today Diggers, Tomorrow Dickens (Installation View), via Art Observed

Coming off his impeccable retrospective at MoMA PS1 earlier this year, Cyprien Gaillard returns to New York with two series of works that continue his fascination with the complexly layered experience of history, and the forces that keep this process constantly in flux.  Moving towards a more active exploration of these phenomena, Gaillard’s show feels as if the artist is taking a more active role in his creative inquiries.

Cyprien Gaillard, Today Diggers, Tomorrow Dickens (Installation View), via Gladstone Gallery (more…)

Philanthropist and longtime Los Angeles arts supporter Eli Broad is currently developing his contemporary art museum, The Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles, and has offered a first look at the space.  Costing over $130 million, the 120,000-square-foot museum is set to open late next year. (more…)

The Exhibitors List has been announced for the 2014 edition of the Frieze New York art fair, which will return to Randall’s Island from May 9-12 with 190 galleries in tow.  “We want the fair to make a positive contribution to New York and the response from New York galleries this year, from the smallest to the most established, has been better than ever,” reads the statement from directors Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal notes the increasing popularity of posting photographs from art shows and openings on social media platforms like Instagram.  The article comes after a number of major immersive installations that encourage first-rate photo opportunities, like Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room at David Zwirner and The Whitney, or MoMA’s popular Rain Room installation.  “When you have an experience like that—especially after any wait—it lends itself to an assumption of accomplishment,” says David Graver, a 29-year-old who writes for Coolhunting.com. (more…)

The long-disputed valuation of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ collection has finally been completed, with a final valuation that falls somewhere between $454 million to $867 million.  This valuation factors in a Van Gogh self-portrait valued at $150 million on its own, as well as a Bruegel the Elder painting that could sell for anywhere between $100 and $200 million.  (more…)

Roni Horn, Untitled (“My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the…)(detail) (2013), via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

The glass globules dotting the floor of Roni Horn’s current exhibition at Hauser and Wirth give off a remarkable sense of tension: frosted exteriors play off against the the crystal-clear center of the pieces, giving off an illusion of liquid depth, ready to overflow its container.  Rather than staring at a solid object, one struggles to remember that these are not, in fact, vessels in the traditional sense, but enormous glass molds, poured and cooled over the course of several years.  If they are vessels, the fluid material of it holds is that of light, flowing with the passage of the sun, and the gradual progression of time that it implies.

Roni Horn, Untitled (“A dream dreamt in a dreaming world is not really a dream…but a dream not dreamt is.”) (2013), via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed (more…)

A court ruling by the New York State Supreme Court has maintained a seller’s ability to remain anonymous during the proceedings of an art auction, The New York Times reports.  The ruling preserves the current state of auction dealings, and was a unanimous decision. (more…)

A recent article by the Telegraph examines the theft of iconic artworks, and their fate on the black market.  Often, journalist Alaistair Sooke notes, the works have a black market value of about 3% to 10% of their real market value, and are often used as collateral in dangerous illegal activities like drug trading and/or gun-running. (more…)