Artist Gary Hume is profiled in the New York Times this week, as the artist reflects on his recent work, which features a tribute to his mother. “I just wanted to paint a picture of my mum, and I wanted to do it to honor her,” he says. (more…)

A series of Barbara Kruger designed MetroCards are set to spread throughout the city of New York, bearing a variation on the artist’s famous 1992 work Whose Values? “These issues of power and control and physical damage and death and predation are ages old,” Ms. Kruger says. “I wish some of these issues would become archaic.” (more…)

A former assistant of painter Sean Scully was arrested this week, after trying to sell a piece he allegedly stole from the artist at Bonhams Auction House, the New York Post reports.  Scully was contacted when his employee, Arturo Rucci, showed up with the work, and promptly called police. (more…)

The Dia Art Foundation has had its directorship endowed for the future thanks to a donation by Nathalie and Charles de Gunzburg, the Art News reports. “She has increased the collection, incorporated women artists, reopened the program in Chelsea, organized programs in Beacon—she has made Dia alive and moving forward in the right direction while staying true to the mission,” de Gunzburg says of current director Jessica Morgan. “It’s clear she has an understanding of the institution, not only its history but also where it should go.” (more…)

The Wall Street Journal follows a major offering of works from the collection of Brazilian banker and convicted money-launderer Edemar Cid Ferreira (including Jean Michel-Basquiat’s work Hannibal), which were returned to the Brazilian government after uncovering a massive laudering scheme including the works. Joon Kim, the Acting U.S. Attorney in the case, described Ferreira’s buying as “used to mask an audacious criminal scheme.”  The works are set to go on sale at Sotheby’s next month. (more…)

The New York Times has a piece this week looking at the recent string of works removed from exhibition after protest, and questions what the best way to dispose of these works might be. “For one thing, the work of exhibition-making no longer ends when the show opens. Instead, it continues as a process of listening, a public performance that goes on for months,” says David Xu Borgonjon. (more…)

The Art Newspaper profiles the new Bloomberg offices in London, and the impressive Olafur Eliasson work No future is possible without a past, installed in in the foyer. It’s not just about the money… I’m impressed by [Bloomberg’s] commitment to the environment and green funding,” Eliasson says. (more…)

A painting in the Gurlitt horde, Thomas Couture’s Portrait de jeune femme assise, has been identified as Nazi loot after conservators identified a tiny repair hole in the surface of the piece. “The fact that the researchers managed to identify this painting as Nazi loot with scholarly meticulousness and persistence shows how important it is to persevere with provenance research,” says the German culture minister Monika Grütters in a statement. (more…)

Art Basel Hong Kong has announced its exhibitor list, featuring 249 galleries from around the globe, and special projects from artists including Timur Si-Qin, Carlos Motta, and Morgan Wong. (more…)

In a uniquely ironic twist, a group of artists and squatters are being forcibly removed from a train station in Lagos, Nigeria as the Nigerian Railway Company pushes to stage an art exhibition in the building about the precarious lives about so many of Nigeria’s residents. “It’s called Living on the Edge, and then you just push them off the cliff,” says Folakunle Oshun, the biennial’s founder, who worked against the evictions. (more…)

Artist Tehching Hsieh is profiled in The Guardian this week, after representing Taiwan at the Venice Biennale. “My impression of the Venice Bienniale is that it is the Olympic Games of the arts,” he says. “I’m in the category of marathon.” (more…)

Russian artists Pussy Riot staged a protest at Trump Tower this week, calling for the release of Ukranian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov. “We came to occupy Trump Tower to call attention to political prisoners,”the group said in a statement. “We believe that political prisoners and their protection are more important than the sexist bullshit that people have been focused on.” (more…)

A Francis Bacon triptych depicting his lover and muse George Dyer will be shown in public for the first time in 50 years this week, before it heads to the auction block at Sotheby’s New York next month. “This is Bacon at his most spontaneous and intense,” Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s European head of contemporary art, says. “His stated aim was always to bring his observers closer to the nervous system of his sitters.” (more…)

Judy Chicago is profiled in W Magazine this week, as she prepares to open an exhibition this fall at Salon 94, and reflects on her famous work The Dinner Party. “One of the reasons I included Sojourner Truth is because she’s probably the first example of intersectionality—she spoke in the 19th century about the intersection between race and gender,” she says, calling this aspect of modern feminism “an incredible advance that we’ve begun to understand the complexity of identities.” (more…)

The Mugrabi Family is currently suing the Mana Contemporary Art Storage Company over a series of Andy Warhol works they claim are being “held hostage” in its New Jersey storage center, Bloomberg reports. Mana’s “reprehensible and intentional misconduct” is “destroying the business,” according to the filing. (more…)

The family of Pierre Matisse, the youngest son of Henri Matisse, has won a battle against a French dealer over a series of cut-outs by the artist, claiming them as the rightful owners. French expert and dealer Jérôme Le Blay was found to have not acted “in good faith” over a sale of the works at Sotheby’s. (more…)

A group of artists and institutions in Qatar are protesting the ongoing blockade of the country with a body of public works and installations, Art Newspaper reports. “Selected artists will get the chance to produce a mural on a bridge, tunnel or wall within the country,” according to the Qatar Museums Authority. (more…)

The New Yorker has a profile in the Sackler family this week, the reclusive family who has donated to many of the world’s most prestigious arts institutions, and whose fortune stems at least in part from the current proliferation of opioid pain medication currently causing widespread addiction problems in the United States and around the globe. “Their name has been pushed forward as the epitome of good works and of the fruits of the capitalist system,”Allen Frances, the former chair of psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine says. “But, when it comes down to it, they’ve earned this fortune at the expense of millions of people who are addicted. It’s shocking how they have gotten away with it.” (more…)

David Zwirner is preparing to open a massive exhibition of new works by Yayoi Kusama at its New York locations, including a body of paintings, and an Infinity Mirror Room. Kusama’s work is currently part of a retrospective show on view at The Broad. (more…)

Antony Gormley is profiled in the Financial Times this week, as the artist prepares to release a biography on his life and work, while reflecting on his early years training as an artist. “I thought this was an incredibly precious time, and I had to use every minute of it,” he says of his time in school.

The New York Times has a piece on the increased demand that both Frieze and FIAC are placing on collectors, often forcing them to choose between one or the other. “Frieze is very established at this point and is the second big name after Art Basel,” says advisor Chrissie Shearman. “FIAC is nevertheless the grande dame of art fairs in all the right ways and attracts the most discerning collectors.” (more…)

Artist Ai Weiwei was prevented from boarding a plane from New York to Sao Paolo this week, after ground staff claimed his Brazilian visa had expired. “They apologized but gave excuses such as unclear visa descriptions, reversed European date stamps, oversight in checking the dates, and blaming the construction noise for affecting the mood of the crew,” the artist said. (more…)

Christie’s has announced works from the Bass Collection will come to auction next month in New York, including a marquee lot, van Gogh’s Farmer in a Field, Saint Rémy, which carries a $50 million estimate. “They’re looking at the market, seeing good prices and feeling like it’s the right time to make a move,” Jussi Pylkkanen said of the sale. (more…)

A pair of vases looted from Greece went on sale at Frieze earlier this month, with authorities allowing the sale to take place as legal.  “The people involved in the transaction are all known to have previously been involved in other antiquities cases,” says Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis, a lecturer at the Association for Research into Crimes against Art (Arca) and the American Center for Archaeology at Mycenae. “It’s the usual pattern that I have identified in trafficking of antiquities internationally several times during my career.” (more…)