James Meyer, an assistant to Jasper Johns, who worked for the artist for over 27 years, was arrested on Wednesday, accused of stealing at least 22 unfinished works from his employer, and selling them through an unnamed New York gallery for over $6 million. Meyers was arraigned in a Hartford courtroom, and pleaded not guilty to the charges.  He was released on an unsecured $250,000 bond.  “Jasper has taught me to think about what I’m making before I make it.” Meyer once said of his employer and mentor. (more…)

Ellsworth Kelly,  Chatham I White Black (1971), Courtesy of MoMA

Coming off the wide success of his early experiments in shaped canvases, pure color fields and architectural investigations in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, artist Ellsworth Kelly withdrew from the New York City art world that had helped him attain such a high degree of success, settling in the upstate villa of Spencertown.  It was here, painting at a rented studio in nearby Chatham, that the artist would begin a new series of works that would help develop and refine his artistic practice to a fine point.

Ellsworth Kelly,  Chatham XII Yellow Black (1971), Courtesy of MoMA (more…)

The Denver Art Museum has received a donation of 50 paintings and sculptures from the collection of Henry Roath, a former Denver lawyer and banker.  The donation, which includes works by Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, Frederic Remington and Ernest L. Blumenschein, is helping to bolster the Denver institution’s already impressive collection of Western Art.  “As my finances got better, my collection got better.” Roath said, but “it seemed that artwork of that quality should be seen by people other than just its owners.” (more…)

German artist Jonathan Meese has been acquitted of making a Nazi salute gesture during a performance last year, winning out with a defense claiming constitutional protection for artistic freedom.  The accusations stemmed from a performance Meese gave at “Megalomania in the Art World” last year at Kassel University.  “Art has triumphed,” Meese said. “Now I am free.” (more…)

Artist Lia Chavez and Surrealist-attired guests at A Surrealism Salon

On Monday July 29th, Performa presented A Surrealism Salon at the downtown loft of artist Lia Chavez, who presided over the event and moderated the eclectic panel discussion with speakers Dr. Megan Fleming, therapist Heide Banks, Performa 13 artist Shana Lutker, Peforma assistant curator Summer Guthery, and Marc Arthur, Performa research and archives. Modeled on the salon discussions among André Breton, Max Ernst and other early surrealists which helped to develop and continually reshape the 20th century artistic movement, the panel endeavored to “explore dreams and desires.” Addressing a diverse range of topics, the panel used their art historical subject as an unexpected but welcome entry point into more current subjects surrounding the “digital revolution,” such as Facebook and the dating app Tinder.

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London’s Frieze Art Fair has announced its program of talks for the 2013 edition of the fair.  Leading the names on the list are appearances by Jérôme Bel, Meredith Monk and Stephen Shore, among many others at the October art fair in Regent’s Park. (more…)

Both Christie’s and Sotheby’s are planning exhibitions of smaller works by Andy Warhol in the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong, respectively.  The exhibitions, which are set to open next month, will include a number of the artist’s lower-priced works, intended to encourage private sales.  “In our first online Warhol sale in February, 8 percent of bidders were Chinese, a higher percentage than we have previously seen,” says Amelia Manderscheid, associate specialist on e-commerce for Christie’s. (more…)

“Art Within One Mile,” a new project by artist Bundith Phunsombatlert, has made its debut on New York City Streets.  Aiming to increase New Yorker’s awareness of art around the city, the series of taxicab yellow signs directs pedestrian’s attention to nearby sculptures and murals.  “It’s a form of generosity, a gesture toward an environment, like New York, that’s rich in a way that sometimes we take for granted,” says Prerana Reddy of the Queens Museum. “It’s a way of recuperating our hidden heritage, our hidden richness.” (more…)

Paul Klee, New Harmony (Neue Harmonie) (1936), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 71.1960. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

On view at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, is a unique exhibition of abstract works taken from the museum’s 20th century collection, intended to show the trends present between the years of 1919 and 1939, during which time a variety of abstract artists flourished, pioneering new techniques and creative philosophies across the mediums of painting, sculpture and drawing.

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Announced this week, the Getty Museum has launched the beginnings of the Open Content Program, a fully catalogued library of over 4,600 hi-resolution images from its personal collection, allowing site visitors to use, modify and publish these images in any capacity.  “Artists, students, teachers, writers, and countless others rely on artwork images to learn, tell stories, exchange ideas, and feed their own creativity. In its discussion of open content, the most recent Horizon Report, Museum Edition stated that ‘it is now the mark—and social responsibility—of world-class institutions to develop and share free cultural and educational resources.’ I agree wholeheartedly.”  Said J. Paul Getty trust President James Cuno on the Museum’s blog. (more…)

The Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas has announced that it will soon welcome its one millionth visitor since opening in 2011.  Founded by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton, the museum has exceeded all visitor estimates, seeing annual attendance well over 500,000 annually.  “Reaching one million visitors just 21 months after our opening is a huge milestone for us,” said Executive Director Rod Bigelow. “From the day we opened our doors, our goal has been to welcome visitors to experience the power of art and the beauty of nature, and we’re thankful to have been able to create these connections with such a vast audience.”  (more…)

As the trial for the suspects in the 2012 theft from the Kunsthal Rotterdam looks to begin, Romanian director Tudor Giurgiu has begun work on a feature film about the suspected thieves, an action adventure that documents their rise to art world infamy.  “The subject sells itself, it is an excellent pretext for an action movie.”  Giurgiu said. (more…)

The value of art exports exported from the United Kingdom has reached the highest level since the 2008 financial crash, the BBC reports.  In a report by Sweet and Maxwell, exports were charted at £2 billion in 2012, an impressive number that defied a new law entitling artists and their heirs 4% of the resale price on any work.  “Art experts and dealers were concerned that London’s position in the art world could suffer compared to New York or Hong Kong, which haven’t introduced any such levy on the resale of modern and contemporary art,” said editor Massimo Sterpi of Sweet & Maxwell. (more…)

Artists Sarah Lucas and Tracey Emin are profiled in The Guardianthis week, recounting their early exploits running “The Shop,” a small East London gallery and boutique that served as a launching pad for the pair’s artistic ambitions.  “It was just an idea we had at an Indian restaurant on Brick Lane, but we were excited about it right away. We both had an anti-art slant, and this was always more than just a shop: it was a social thing. I remember we wanted it to be in the Brick Lane area mainly because of its bagel shop! But both of us were marketgoers and had sold stuff there when we needed a few bob.”  Lucas says.

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Dealer Glafira Rosales, who was being held without bail in New York in connection with the sale of dozens of forged and fake paintings claimed to be works by Rothko, Pollack and Motherwell, was released from prison Monday under new bail terms.  A federal court in Manhattan set the new terms at $2.5 million, with $250,000 cash and four properties, which were promptly paid by the dealer.  Under the terms, Rosales is also prohibited from leaving the state, and will be monitored electronically. (more…)

Anish Kapoor, The Death of Leviathan (2011-2013), via Martin-Gropius-Bau

Covering more than 3,000 square feet in the Martin-Gropius Bau, Kapoor in Berlin is one of the Berliner Festspiele’s tentpole events this summer, examining the pioneering work of Anish Kapoor’s sculptural practice against the backdrop of his German contemporaries and influences.  Composed of almost 70 works, the exhibition serves as an examination of the Turner Prize winner’s work of the past 30 years.

Anish Kapoor, Shooting Into the Corner (2008-2009), via The Guardian (more…)

The Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles is nearing completion on a yearlong restoration of Jackson Pollack’s Mural.  Using new technologies and approaches on the $140 million work, the work has been analyzed by a series of noninvasive x-rays and other approaches to determine not only the original composition of the work, but also other efforts in doctoring or restoring the work in the past.  “From the chemical composition and buildup of paints, we are unlocking evidence of Pollock’s creative process, his choice of materials, and any alterations through time,” says conservation analyst Alan Phenix. (more…)

The final selection of 57 works for the United Kingdom’s ambitious Art Everywhere project have been announced, covering a broad spectrum of British art that includes works by Peter Blake, Edward Burra, Francis Bacon, Peter Doig and John Constable.  The Guardian has published a photo gallery of the works, allowing interested parties a sneak peak at the works before they appear on billboards across the country. (more…)

For the first time in 25 years, MoMA’s PS1 campus will play host to a full-building retrospective, focusing on the work of the late Mike Kelley this October.  The retrospective first debuted at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam last year, featuring over 200 works from Kelley’s body of work. (more…)

The suspects currently on trial for the theft of seven paintings from a Rotterdam Museum have pledged to return five of the works if their trial is moved from Romania to the Netherlands, the BBC reports.  Including works by Monet and Picasso, the total value of the works has been estimated at €18 million, and were feared destroyed by the mother of one of the thieves.  “It is more likely the paintings are intact. My client says they can be handed over to the Dutch authorities. In exchange, they want to go on trial in the Netherlands.”  Said lawyer Maria Varsii. (more…)

Allan Sekula, the multimedia artist and former recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, has passed away at the age of 62.  Working across disciplines, Sekula produced a diverse and challenging body of work that included film, installation and photography (his most recognized work), often generating texts alongside the work that helped to further investigations into the media he utilized.  His work has shown at the Tate Modern, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and MoMA, among others.  His death comes just days after MoMA announced the acquisition of his seminal Fish Story series. (more…)

New York’s popular Performa biennial has announced the commissions for this year’s edition of the festival, including new works by Jake and Dinos Chapman, Subodh Gupta, Marianne Vitale, Raqs Media Collective, Ryan McNamara, and Pawel Althamer, among many others.  Centered around a loose theme of “citizenship,” the festival will also feature a special segment on black performance at the Studio Museum in Harlem, as well as the Grey Art Gallery at NYU.  “We have a thrilling line-up of new work this year,” said Director and Curator, RoseLee Goldberg, “showing that more and more visual artists consider performance an important medium for expressing their ideas, and that cultural institutions now appreciate performance for its communicability to a broad public and as essential to their programs.”  (more…)

A victim of convicted defrauder Marc Dreier has been awarded 18 artworks, valued at over $33 million, from Dreier’s collection, among them works by Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko and Roy Lichtenstein.  Dreier had given the victim a security interest in the works several years prior, in order to get their signature on forged promissory notes, which held a face value of over $110 million.  Other works from Dreier’s collection have already been sold at auction to help pay off his debts to other defrauded investors. (more…)

In conjunction with the late Richard Artschwager’s ongoing retrospective at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the museum has partnered with the Los Angeles Nomadic Division and the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas to install a series of the artist’s blps pieces across the cities of LA and Las Vegas.  The museum is also hosting a contest around the blps installation, entering any viewer who posts an image of one on Twitter or Instagram for a drawing to win an Artschwager prize pack.    (more…)