The rural home of Pablo Picasso in Mougins, France, where the artist spent the last 12 years of his life, is up for sale, with a momentous asking price of $220 million.  Originally purchased for $13 to $16 million by a Belgian art dealer, the asking price stands at well over 8 times its previous sale price. (more…)

Following the news that a painting sold as a Caravaggio copy may have in fact created by the artist, Sotheby’s is facing a lawsuit from the past owner.  William Glossop Thwaytes is suing the auction house, maintaining that he believed the work authentic, while auction experts sold it as a copy, reportedly lowering the price considerably.  The work was ultimately purchased by the late scholar and collector Denis Mahon, who immediately declared the piece an original valued at £10 million, after a sale price of £42,000.  “Caravaggio is a particularly difficult artist,” Charles Beddington, a former head of Christie’s International Old Masters division. “The quality of his execution is variable, and so he’s easy to copy.” (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on the burgeoning contemporary gallery scene, and the numerous large-scale shows foregoing museum exhibitions in favor of names like Gagosian, Zwirner and Hauser and Wirth, many of which are opening museum-sized spaces of their open.  However, these new spaces aren’t only about space to exhibit.  “The mega spaces project what they need to—a level of power and gravitas.”  Says collector Dennis Scholl. (more…)

Carol Bove, Monel (2013), via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

There’s a certain intangible spiritualism to the work of Carol Bove, located somewhere between the phenomenological minimalism of Donald Judd, and a more abstract, natural focus on the intersections of urban and rural ecologies.  Divine symbolism intersects with locational meditations, found objects with architectural forms, and rigid industrial materials with looping, whimsical forms.  Fitting then, that the artist would present a pair of shows, both including seven new works, one at the Museum of Modern Art, and one at The Highline Railyards, where construction is currently underway to convert the last untrammeled part of the elevated railway into park space.  Both created specially for their respective spaces of exhibition, the pair of exhibitions currently on view feel like two parts of a potent whole.

Carol Bove, Equinox (Installation View), via Museum of Modern Art (more…)

The New York Times reports on the arrival of Ona, a new sculpture by Polish artist Ursula von Rydingsvard at the Barclays Center.  Installed Thursday night, the 12,000 pound bronze work consists of over 100 parts which were welded together shortly before the work’s final placement.  “You don’t have to pay a fee or enter a museum, and no guard will tell you not to touch it,’ the artist said of the sculpture. “I would actually love people to touch it. The acid from fingers polishes it, like the Buddhas getting their bellies rubbed.” (more…)

The burial site of Russian avant-garde painter Kazimir Malevich has been covered in concrete, paved over by a real estate company in the process of building a new luxury housing development.  The site, outside of Moscow, was the focus of commemoration plans, before the government made a sudden turnaround.  “Developers have already talked to the bureaucrats who are making the decisions,” said Malevich enthusiast Aleksander Matveev. “They’ve already put concrete blocks on the site of the grave.” (more…)

A recent exhibition of work featuring a portrait of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wearing women’s underwear has been shut down by state authorities in St.Petersburg this week, with the offending artist fleeing the country for asylum in France.  “We are powerless facing the despotism of authorities,” says Tatiana Titova, director of the Museum of Power, where the exhibition was held. “The museum was closed for no reason.”  (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on Museum Hack, an effort by founder Mark Rosen to breathe new life into the guided museum tour.  For $39, guests are treated to a two-hour tour through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, focusing on more unconventional works and infrequently discussed histories of some of the museum’s more interesting pieces.  “You typically don’t go to a fancy restaurant, study the menu for three seconds, order everything, gorge yourself and roll out the door,” Mr. Rosen said to his Sunday-morning charges. “Yet almost everybody comes here, tries to see everything in four hours or less, Instagrams the hell out of the place and leaves, remembering nothing.”  (more…)

Peter Coffin, Untitled (Dog), 2012. Courtesy Hirshhorn Museum.

Now through October 6, the work of Peter Coffin is on view throughout the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC. Here and There presents this collection of work through an installation that demands the viewer engage in the play of a hunt, or the happenstance of casual encounter.  Photography, sculpture, video installation and lithography are a few of Coffin’s mediums  scattered through both the museum and its online site.  A checklist that serves as a guide to the exhibition can be found on the museum’s website.

Peter Coffin, Untitled (Design for Colby Poster Company) (2008),  Courtesy Hirshhorn Museum. (more…)