Jean-Michel Basquiat, Hannibal (1982), via Sotheby’s

The Sotheby’s Contemporary and Post-War Evening Sale closed out a weekend of unexpectedly strong and enthusiastic sales in London this week, continuing both a solid week of sales at Frieze London as well as a series of impressive sales at both Christie’s and Phillips in the past days.  Adding its own mark to the week’s proceedings, the auction house saw strong results for its first major offering of the fall season, tallying a final result £47,953,000 with 3 of the 34 lots going unsold. (more…)

MoMA PS1 will reopen James Turrell’s permanent installation Meeting on the third floor of its Queens space this Saturday.  The work has been closed for several years for restorations, and the addition of a series of timed LED fixtures that change based on weather and time of year.   (more…)

Photographer Annie Leibovitz is adding to her Women photography project with a new book, continuing the over 15-year venture she started with her late partner, critic Susan Sontag.  “It really resonated,” Ms. Leibovitz said, although “the project was never done.” (more…)

The Art Newspaper charts the attempts of Frieze London to aid young galleries struggling against the ongoing rent hikes in London, and the increased costs of doing business in the contemporary market, including marked discounts for galleries included in the Focus section of the fair.  “The section tends to produce stronger presentations because artists are really thinking about the spaces as a whole,” says curator Jacob Proctor. (more…)

Frieze Artist Award Winner Yuri Pattison is featured in the Art Newspaper this week, as he recaps his work at the fair, and his perspective on the current partnership between Frieze and William Morris.  “I was thinking about art being at this tipping point of possibly becoming content or becoming a new industry,” he says.  “So [the work] is touching upon all of those things and the context it is being shown in, while also using the fair to produce content and produce the work.” (more…)

The Art Market Monitor notes last evening’s sale at Christie’s as something of a “coming out party” for collector Stefan Simchowitz, who bought a number of the sale’s higher priced lots, including a pair of Damien Hirst pieces and Thomas Schütte’s Bronzefrau Nr. 13 (2003). (more…)

Sotheby’s has reimbursed a buyer for a $10 million dollar Old Masters piece recently discovered as a fake.  The piece, attributed to Frans Hals and sold by the auction house five years ago, was recently subject to extensive tests proving that the work was a forgery.  “It’s one of the biggest scandals in my memory,” says dealer Richard Feigen. “It’s going to make people very wary, extremely careful about things they are offered and the sources of those things.” (more…)

Adrian Ghenie, Nickelodeon (2008), via Christie’s

Continuing the week’s unexpectedly strong auction results, Christie’s cinched up its entry in Frieze Week’s series of Contemporary Evening sales tonight in London, capping a 42-lot offering with a sale of brisk and enthusiastic bidding that ultimately pushed the sale to impressively strong results given the glut of sales and works on offer this week.  Only 2 works went unsold over the course of the main sale, with 1 lot withdrawn to bring a final of £34,266,000, followed by a less impressive Italian sale that still managed to achieve £18,680,250 in its own right after a number of passes and underbid lots.

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An article in Bloomberg traces the increasing pace of art fairs worldwide, alongside both the costs and benefits for galleries that the sheer number of fairs on the art world schedule pose each year.  “We’ve come to see the fairs as a wonderful vehicle to develop new clients,” says David Zwirner senior partner Kristine Bell. “It does make a big difference to come to the hometowns of these collectors.” (more…)

A picture book that artist Otto Dix painted for his five-year-old stepdaughter, Hana Koch, is on view in Dusseldorf this month, a rare collection of watercolors that has never been shown.  “Twenty years ago, Hana showed us one page, so we knew it was there,” says Herbert Remmert of the Dusseldorf Galerie Remmert und Barth, where the book is on view. (more…)

Five works from the Dutch Golden Age have been recovered from Ukraine, where they were discovered by Ukrainian militia forces.  The pieces, taken from the collection of the Westfries Museum in Hoorn, Netherlands, were stolen in 2005, and feared lost.  “We are very emotional about this theft,” says museum director Ad Geerdink. “A part of our history was stolen, a part of our cultural heritage. Now five lost sons of Hoorn will return, and it’s going to be a very special day.” (more…)

The ICA Miami is closed this week as it prepares for the potential flooding and damage of Hurricane Matthew.  “I cannot emphasize enough that everyone in our state must prepare now for a direct hit,” Florida Governor Rick Scott said at press conference this week. “That means people have less than twenty-four hours to prepare, evacuate, and shelter. Having a plan in place could mean the difference between life and death.” (more…)

Frieze London, via Art Observed

The doors are open and the 2016 edition of Frieze London is now underway, bringing a wide range of works and artists to bear on the fairgrounds at Regent’s Park in the northern part of the city.  With its VIP Preview concluding today, the fair made its first big push of sales alongside the kick-off for a number of its projects and performance works, which conclude this Sunday.

Samara Golden at Canada Gallery, via Art Observed

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David Shrigley, Really Good at Trafalgar Square, via Art Observed

Towering over London’s Trafalgar Square, David Shrigley’s Really Good has made its appearance atop one of the most coveted spaces for public art in the city of London, bringing with it the artist’s signature brand of irreverent and multivalent humor that leaves any number of interpretive avenues open for the everyday viewer.  Several years in the making, the work, an immense thumbs-up with a comically long thumb jutting up from the base of the sculpture, comes at a time when London’s position of global prominence seems in need of some healthy optimism, a note that Shrigley’s sculpture offers in ample (albeit strangely amplified) doses. (more…)

Vanessa Albury, Arctic, Future Relics (Glacier Ice) (2016), via Art Observed

The 2016 Edition of Bushwick Open Studios took place this weekend, continuing the event’s series of studio tours, special exhibitions and openings in the longtime artistic hotbed of Bushwick, and showcasing the neighborhood’s impressive density of artists spread across its blocks.

Fred Holland, Untitled (2002), via Art Observed

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Andy Warhol, 20 Pink Maos (1979), via Phillips

Complementing the offering of new works across town at Regent’s Park, Phillips London has opened a week of auctions around Frieze Week, closing out its 30-lot sale this evening with a consistent sale, seeing 6 of the evening’s 30 lots go unsold to reach a final tally of £17,867,750. (more…)

McDonald’s is currently facing a lawsuit by Jade Berreau, the former partner of Dash Snow, who alleges that the fast food chain copied the artist’s graffiti tag in a number of its restaurants.  “Mr. Snow’s famous work is so prominently placed, it was the only element singled out and spotlighted in media coverage surrounding McDonald’s display campaign,” the complaint notes.  “Mr. Snow was mentioned by name in at least one such press article, under the false assumption (which resulted from Defendants’ copying) that he authorized the use of his artwork and was therefore affiliated with and endorsed McDonald’s.” (more…)

Bloomberg has a piece this week on proceedings and business behind the multi-million dollar dealings at Frieze London, noting the strategies and time dealers take to sell their works.  “The amount of work to compile work for an art fair or gallery is huge,” says Daniella Luxembourg of Luxembourg and Dayan. “There is a lot of thought and research and digging in order to bring these works together.” (more…)

The Guardian spotlights the work of painter Artemisia Gentileschi, painter of the famed work Judith and Holofernes, and asks why so much of the artist’s career has remained long overlooked by scholars.  The article in particular documents Gentileschi’s work, and its often violent subject matter, in the context of the sexual assault committed against her by a fellow, highly-esteemed artist. (more…)

Art News has a piece this week on the prospects for foreign buyers at Frieze, noting the dollar’s current strength against the British pound as an indicator that American buyers might make a play for works at Frieze.  “The only obvious change is the exchange rate, which makes London less expensive for people coming over,” Frieze founder Victoria Siddall is quoted in the article. (more…)

The National Trust for Scotland has discovered what may well be a work by Italian renaissance artist Raphael in one of its sites in Aberdeenshire, a discovery that would increase the value of the work from roughly £2,000 to £20m.  “I thought, crikey, it looks like a Raphael … It was very dirty under old varnish, which goes yellow,” said historian Bendor Grosvenor, who helped spot the work.  “Being an anorak, I go round houses like this with binoculars and torches. If I hadn’t done that, I’d probably have walked past it.” (more…)

Musician and artist David Byrne is opening a show of work at Pace Gallery in Menlo Park, collaborating with Mala Gaonkar (a London-based hedge fund manager interested in science and public-health), where viewers can participate in dramatized neuroscience experiments.  “We won’t be running these experiments like the labs do, but recreating some of their work in more entertaining or theatrical ways,” Byrne says. (more…)

The Art Newspaper traces a growing trend towards museum heads and curators putting together shows for private collectors and spaces, a note that underscores the increased partnership between wealthy patrons and institutions as public funding for museums decreases.  “There used to be a dyke between private interest and public purpose and now it’s burst,” says an unnamed art world source. “It’s a complete sea change in how museums operate.” (more…)

As the art world converges on London, the Telegraph looks at the current market for Italian post-war art, and notes both weaknesses and strong points in the current offerings in both gallery and auction sales.  Highlights include a rapidly strengthening market for artist Fabio Mauri, as well as several top lots in the auctions for works by Alberto Burri and the ever-present Lucio Fontana. (more…)