Following two costly lawsuits against the Foundation by collectors Joe Simon and Susan Shaer in 2007 after their Warhol works were deemed “fake” by the Foundation’s Authentication Board, its insurance firm, Philadelphia Indemnity, refused to pay its share of legal fees. “Philadelphia Indemnity said it was not liable to pay for the Warhol Foundation’s defence because the organisation had “failed to notify them—as [its] insurance policy required—of ‘any specific wrongful act’ committed by one of the foundation’s members, including the publication of material ‘with knowledge of its falsity’”, according to a 20 June article in the New York Review of Books.“ This derived in an over two year-long legal dispute between the two organizations, which was finally settled last week, in favor of the Foundation, which has already processed the insurance company’s payment. (more…)

Gursky Sells at Sotheby’s, via Sotheby’s

The final auction hammers have fallen for the first half of 2013, concluding June’s London auction weeks. While the results of this week’s Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s were solid, final sales events before the summer break showed a marked tapering off in both sales prices and quantities. With the bountiful auctions, events and fairs, including the $1.1 billion New York auctions, Frieze New York, Art Basel Hong Kong, and the Venice Biennale with its record 86,000 attendance count.

Francis Bacon, Three Studies for Isabel Rawsthorne (1966) via Sotheby’s (more…)

Volunteers are needed as extras for a film collaboration between artist Matthew Barney and composer Jonathon Bepler, entitled River of Fundamental. The filming will take place on Saturday, June 29^th at the Brooklyn Navy Yards, and volunteers will be needed for a 10-hour period. Requirements for the position include a willingness to get your feet wet, enclosed shoes and vocal participation. In return for involvement, volunteers will receive a box lunch and a limited-edition, signed, and numbered t-shirt. (more…)

Yoshitomo Nara, Missed Autumn Rendez-Vous (2013), via PACE Gallery

The images of Japanese kawaii have become, at this stage of the contemporary arts dialogue, something of a trope, an analytical signifier earmarking a work for commentary on Japan’s encounters with global pop culture.  Creeping into press releases, catalogues and countless reviews as a convenient sounding point for Japan’s obsession with the bizarre and the cartoonish, the use of the word often leaves something to be desired, doing little to quantify the aspects or implications it actually carries.

Yoshitomo Nara, (Installation View), via PACE Gallery (more…)

Marc Quinn, All the Time in the World (Installation View), via Mary Boone

Mary Boone Gallery in Chelsea is currently exhibiting four new bronze sculptures and one oil painting, which together make up an exhibition by Marc Quinn entitled All the Time in the World. The display was opened to the public on May 4th, during the busy weeks around Frieze New York, and will remain on view through June 29th, 2013.   The exhibition also corresponds with Quinn’s major retrospective of works currently on view at the Fondation Giorgio Cini in Venice this summer. (more…)

Artist Ed Ruscha is profiled in the most recent issue of the New Yorker, discussing his life in Los Angeles, his practice, and the inspiration for some of his most iconic works, including his famous painting Oof.  “It had one foot in the world of cartooning,” he says. “You get punched in the stomach, and that’s ‘Oof.’ It was so obvious, and so much a part of my growing up in the U.S.A. I felt like it was almost a patriotic word.” (more…)

During a recent visit to London, David Zwirner spoke with Spear’s about the current state of the art market, offering his perspective and opinion on the current struggle that small and mid-size galleries are currently facing.  “ Those [mid-size] galleries have to be strong. That’s a little bit on the local communities to support them.”  He said.  “When I was a mid-size gallery and a small gallery, I really got my support from New York. It seems that the audience seems to gravitate towards the galleries that have a little glory attached to their name. That’s too bad.” (more…)

Americans for the Arts, an arts advocacy nonprofit, announced on Monday that the Arts Require Timely Service (ARTS) Act in the Obama-endorsed immigration bill is anticipated to pass in the Senate. The brief argues that the current visa scheme has cultural and economic disadvantages for the American public, in particular artists. The new legislation would reduce the total processing required by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for O and P visa petitions filed for nonprofit arts-related matters. (more…)

Russian Marat Guelman has been fired from his post as the director of the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art, and is currently under investigation for his financial practices.  The firing comes days after Guelman’s exhibition Welcome! Sochi 2014 (a protest against the upcoming winter olympics as a Kremlin publicity project) was raided by authorities.  “All of this looks like they received an order from Moscow. To find something at any cost,” he said. “And this is even though I’m not in any way part of the opposition, but simply a person who openly speaks what I think.” (more…)

Blinky Palermo II Gelber Fluß, (1976), via David Zwirner

David Zwirner is currently presenting an exhibition of German artist Blinky Palermo’s works on paper from the years 1976-1977, on view at the gallery’s 20th Street exhibition space in New York. The exhibition was organized by the Palermo archive to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the artist’s birth, and the selection of works on display are culled from both museum and private collections, made mostly in New York City where he lived from 1973-1976, shortly before his death in the Maldives in 1977.

Blinky Palermo, Works on Paper (Installation View), via David Zwirner (more…)

The Bruce High Quality Foundation, which opens its first ever museum retrospective tonight at the Brooklyn Museum, is profiled in the most recent issue of the Village Voice.  Speaking with two members of the amorphous collective, the interview covers the group’s history of art world subversions, their efforts towards a more populist art world, and their take on the economic value of art.  “Art’s most radical quality is that it’s useless,” says one member. “People have used art for lots of purposes throughout history, but artists have to protect its uselessness—it serves as a shield against corruption.”  (more…)

The sale of Pablo Picasso’s 1909 work Compotier et tasse has been blocked by U.S. authorities at the request of the Italian government.  The painting’s current owners, Gabriella Amati and her late husband, Angelo Maj, are being charged with embezzling $44 million from the city of Naples, and the work is suspected to have been purchased with the stolen money.  Immigration and Custons Enforcement director John Morton said: “Restraining this valuable artwork is an effort to help recover some of the estimated $44 million that this couple stole from the tax-paying citizens of Naples.” (more…)

The Divine Comedy, Ai Weiwei’s heavy metal album has been released this week, and is also available for streaming at his website.  Turning to music to continue his active dissent against Chinese political oppression, the album includes tracks documenting his abuse at the hands of the police and political confrontation, inspired by his 2011 detention at the hands of the government. (more…)

Wim Delvoye, Suppo, (2010), via Sperone Westwater

Belgian artist Wim Delvoye has continually pushed his signature brand of surrealist social critique over the past 30 years, creating works that subvert societal norms with a trenchantly humorous twist.  Often using the forms of classical art and architecture, Delvoye twists and bends these forms to create new dialogues with his medium, his subjects, and his own era. Cultivating a number of recent laser-cut works in steel and bronze, Sperone Westwater is currently presenting a minimal, yet potent review of Delvoye’s current work, examining his ongoing explorations of gothic architecture, religious symbolism, and modern psychology. (more…)

Jean Michel Basquiat, Untitled (1982), via Christie’s

The “solid” and “exceptional” results of last week’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sales have set the tone for the auctions to come over the next two days, as a number of high-profile Contemporary and Post-War works are expected to hit the auction stand in London. Christie’s is reporting estimated total sales of £69 million to £90 million for its Post-War and Contemporary evening sale on July 25th, while Sotheby’s has a total sales estimate of £83.4 million to £119.2 million for its Contemporary Evening Sale the next night, July 26th. This week will also see a June 27th auction at Phillips, with estimates upwards of £20,000,000.  The coming auctions are predicted to follow the trends set by last week’s auction, in which Sotheby’s higher priced lots and greater quantity will look to close the gap with its rival Christie’s.

Frances Bacon, Three Studies of Isabel Rawsthorne, (1966), via Sotheby’s (more…)

Details are emerging about a major exhibition of work by Damien Hirst, billed as the largest exhibition of work by the artist yet to be assembled, slated to open later this year in Doha, Qatar.  The show, titled Relics, will cull work from the full range of the artist’s work, and will include a number of the artist’s diamond-encrusted work. (more…)

A museum show intended to heal relations between the United States and Italy over claims of looted work has encountered turbulence, after Sicilian officials have refused to ship several works over concerns over tourism.  When asked about the region’s refusal to cooperate, Sicilian official Mariarita Sgarlata noted:  “How would an American tourist react who, trusting his Frommer’s travel guide,  has gone out of his way to visit the island of Mozia to admire this work of art in its original setting, only to discover that the statue is in Tokyo or St. Petersburg?” (more…)

Brian Ramnarine, currently out on bail on the charges of forging a work by Jasper Johns, was arraigned on Friday for allegedly attempting a similar fraud with works by Robert Indiana and Saint Clair Cemin.  “He knows it’s illegal and he keeps on doing it,” Prosecutor  Zachary Feingold said. “He knows what he did was wrong. He knew he couldn’t do it and he did it anyway.” (more…)

Fashion designer L’Wren Scott has announced the completion of her fall line, inspired by painter Gustav Klimt.  Speaking at a press conference last week, Scott discussed the artist’s inspiration on her work, and the inspiration he took from the fashion and culture of his era. “He was very avant garde and scandalous, in more ways than the children.” Ms. Scott said.  “It was a movement coming from something very strict to loosening up, but as you see, Klimt was a man who missed the waistline. He painted it in everyone of his portraits. He wanted to see the female form.” (more…)

With the Syrian civil war raging around them, a group of artists have smuggled their works out of the country for a survey exhibition in London, risking life and limb to get their works abroad for a show at P21 Gallery in Euston, opening this week.  “I travelled to Lebanon and Jordan twice to take work smuggled over the border,” said Fadi Haddad of support group Mosaic Syria. “The artists are worried that they could be traced if the work is stopped at a checkpoint. Some haven’t signed their work. The security police wouldn’t understand their message but they’d still see it as a danger. One artist went to Lebanon to remake her work just to avoid trouble from the authorities.”   (more…)

The billionaire Leon Black, who previously made headlines after buying Edvard Munch‘s “The Scream” for $120 million in Sotheby’s New York, has been identified as the mysterious buyer of Raphael’s “Head of a Young Apostle,” sold last December at Sotheby’s London for $47.9 million. Regardless of his winning bid, Mr. Black will have to wait until the Old Master’s drawing is released by the British government, as authorities have issued a export-deferral, in order to facilitate its acquisition by national collectors or institutions. “The waiting game for Mr. Black will end on July 3 if no serious offers are made, but may be extended until January 3, 2014,” reports Mary M. Lane. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

Doug Aitken will be joined by a group of artists in a train ride from New York to Los Angeles, making stops in various cities for site-specific performances. The artist has envisioned the Amtrak train–outfitted with LED lights–as a cultural studio for prominent experimental artists, including Kenneth Anger, Olaf Breuning, Peter Coffin, Urs Fischer, Meschac Gaba, Liz Glynn, Christian Jankowski, Carsten Holler, Aaron Koblin, Ernesto Neto, Jack Pierson, Stephen Shore, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Lawrence Weiner; as well as musicians: Fiery Furnaces, Nite Jewel, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Dan Deacon, No Age, Ariel Pink and Beck. Read more at Los Angeles Times.

Paul McCarthy, WS (2013), via Park Avenue Armory

There’s a lot that can be said about Paul McCarthy’s WS installation, which opened this week at the Park Avenue Armory in upper Manhattan.  One could note the full spectrum of sexual atrocities committed on-screen during his numerous filmic works, or the bizarre references to Walt Disney and his fantastic empire of entertainment, or even to the prosthetic noses he seems to put on all his characters of late.  No matter the line of discussion, McCarthy’s show, presented by curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and Armory artistic director Alex Poots, is a dizzying and difficult immersion into McCarthy’s powerful body of work.

Paul McCarthy, WS (2013), via Park Avenue Armory”

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