Eighteen lots from a sale of contemporary art at Sotheby’s this month have been withdrawn.  The works, sold by the Artist Pension Trust (APT), were contested by the artist’s respective galleries.  “We had conversations with some of the artists, and the closer the auction got, the more the artists and their galleries said that auction was not in their best interests,” says Al Brenner, CEO of MutualArt Group.  “Some of the galleries said they could get better prices.” (more…)

Animal rights protestors in Australia are calling for the cancellation of a Hermann Nitsch performance in Tasmania, which calls for the slaughtering of a bull before the performance.  The protesting group, Animal Liberation Tasmania, says the work “trivializes the slaughter of animals for human usage, and condemns a sentient being to death in the pursuit of artistic endeavors.” (more…)

Sotheby’s has announced a major highlight for its upcoming sale in New York, a Jean-Michel Basquiat piece that is already carrying a $60 million estimate, and a guarantee by the auction house.  The announcement makes for one of the more daring moves in recent months, particularly in the uncertain climate for major sales. (more…)

Adam Pendleton is the subject of a profile in the New York Times this week, as the artist reflects on his early work, and his ideas on finding one’s voice as an artist.  “I began thinking very deeply about what it meant to create space for yourself as an artist from an art historical standpoint,” he said of his decision to move to the Hudson Valley in 2007. “But also, what ideas can you contribute to the world as an artist that matter.” (more…)

The finalists for the UK’s annual BP Portrait Award have been announced, with works by Thomas Ehretsmann, Benjamin Sullivan, and Antony Williams making the final list.  “I am delighted with this year’s shortlist and the final selection of works for the exhibition,” says Nicholas Cullinan, the director of the UK’s National Portrait Gallery, “all of which provoked an immediate response from the judges – whether that be a reaction to the skill displayed by a particular artist or a more visceral connection with the sitter, subject matter or the mood conveyed.” (more…)

Sprüth Magers has announced that it will represent the estate of artist Otto Piene, founder of the ZERO group.  The gallery will mount an exhibition of his work in the coming weeks at its Berlin space, and will unveil a major work by the artist at Art Basel this summer. (more…)

Artist William Kentridge is opening a new exhibition space in Johannesburg called the Centre for the Less Good Idea, and intended as a “safe space for uncertainty, doubt, stupidity and, at times, failure,” the Art Newspaper reports.  The exhibition program is designed to sidestep demands for efficiency and effectiveness often seen in the language of NGOs funding art projects in the country. (more…)

Artist Richard Long is profiled in The Guardian this week, as the artist prepares to open an exhibition at Houghton Hall reviewing a number of his ambitious land art pieces.  “All these coincidences are part of the natural way of things, aren’t they?” he says of his early work.  “When I made my straight line, I didn’t know about the other straight lines – the famous Nazca Lines in Peru, or Alfred Watkins, who wrote The Old Straight Track.”  (more…)

New York Magazine profiles the financial struggles at The Met, recapping the varied financial problems that led to the ouster of Thomas Campbell earlier this year.  “If the Met had been flush,” said one museum expert says, “I don’t think we’d be talking about Tom Campbell today.” (more…)

The Art Newspaper profiles artist Sharon Lockhart’s work for the Venice Biennale, offering a voice to Jewish and Polish orphans through a series of publications and visual works.  “The last few years have been very emotional for me—I take a lot of what’s going on with the girls home with me. But I’ve begun realizing I can’t do all of this alone, and I want to make the education program more sustainable,” Lockhart says. (more…)

W Magazine has a spotlight on a series of art-focused and artist-directed films at the TriBeCa Film Festival, including Laurie Simmons’s full-length directorial debut, and a documentary on artist Julian Schnabel.   (more…)

Artist Gillian Wearing will be the first female to create a sculpture for London’s Parliament Square, The Guardian reports.  Wearing will honor suffragist Millicent Fawcett with a statue.  “Millicent Fawcett was an incredible woman and by honoring her in Parliament Square I believe she will continue to inspire generations to come,” Wearing says. (more…)

Kara Walker is the subject of a lengthy profile in New York Magazine this month, discussing her recent work, her monumental 2014 sculpture A Subtlety, and its reception.  “I am still wrestling with my relationship to what my art might do in the public space,” Walker says. “How I can control it.” (more…)

The New York Times profiles the centenary of Auguste Rodin’s death, and the current exhibitions spotlighting new discoveries and research on the artist’s life and work, including newly discovered sculptures and models for his works, not to mention recent appreciation of his works on the auction market.  “The reason the Rodin market hasn’t gone through the roof is that he produced a lot,” sasy Jérôme Le Blay, a founding member of the Auguste Rodin Committee in Paris.  “He organized his estate to keep casting his works.  The market is divided into segments, and each one is understandable according to rarity value.” (more…)

Painter David Salle is featured in the New York Times this month, as he returns home to Wichita, Kansas, and reflects on the small arts community where he first found his voice, watched over by artists Bill and Betty Dickerson.  “The Dickersons and their teaching style flourished at a time, mostly before the triumph of Abstract Expressionism and the rise of the university art department, when a lot of major American art was regional,” Salle says.  “Good art occurred wherever an artist happened to be, from Maine to Taos. Whatever its new incarnation, the school I had known, its distinctive personality and unlikely influence, could never be repeated.” (more…)

Artist Mat Collishaw is preparing an exhibition for Somerset House in London, re-creating the world’s first photography exhibition from 1839 in virtual reality.  “VR still feels like an unknown and that makes it really compelling,” Collishaw says said. “I think it’s going to have a similar impact on art as photography did, which is why I’ve chosen this specific moment to explore through VR. That show changed how we viewed images for ever and I think VR will bring about the same kind of shift.” (more…)

Lilly Chan, Christie’s global managing director for Asian art, has left the company to join Phillips as managing director of Asia.  “The importance of Asia to our overall international growth strategy cannot be overstated,” says Phillips CEO Edward Dolman.  “A foremost priority for us has been to strengthen our presence in Asia and build relationships with collectors across the region—and a critical component in this ambitious plan is the appointment of an experienced managing director such as Lilly. I look forward to working with her and our entire Asian team to build our reputation as the most innovative auction house in the region.” (more…)

Chris Ofili is profiled in The Guardian this week, as the artist reflects on his recent work, and his move to Trinidad.  “Moving to Trinidad was a great experiment,” Ofili says. “I never knew what it would do to my work. Or even if it would be accepted by people, and not be seen as me just falling off the edge of the earth.” (more…)

The German state has announced that it will be investigating mass plunder of art works by the East German secret police during the Cold War, the Art Newspaper reports.  “It is important to remember that this is a Germany-wide problem,” says Uwe Schneede, an honorary executive board member of the German Lost Art Foundation.  (more…)

The British National Portrait Gallery has purchased Tracey Emin’s Death Mask, a bronze cast of the artist’s face made in 2002. “Drawing on the history of this very particular form of portraiture, Tracey Emin has taken the idea of the death mask to create an innovative work that challenges our perceptions of self-portraiture,” says director Nicholas Cullinan. (more…)

The New York Times profiles Adrián Vilar Rojas’s installation on the rooftop of the Met, which opens this week, and features a bacchanalian reinterpretation of objects from the Met’s collection.  “In some way or another, I wanted to play with the doodles of culture,” he says. (more…)

CNN notes a recent uptick in the Dubai art market of late, as sales continue to rise and a number of new buyers enter the fray.  “The art scene is thriving in the Middle East,” says collector Mohammed Afkhami. “I sense a regional sense of pride when art from the region is discussed and the level of coverage in traditional and social media is making people more aware.” (more…)

New York Times art reporter Randy Kennedy is joining Hauser & Wirth as director of special projects.  Kennedy will “helm a number of new editorial, writing, and documentary initiatives for web and print, including relaunching and expanding the gallery’s magazine Volume, for which he will serve as editor-in-chief,” the gallery said in a statement. (more…)

Arturo DiModica, the sculptor behind the famous “Charging Bull” statue in downtown Manhattan, is asking the city to remove the “Fearless Girl” statue placed in front of the bull as part of an ad campaign for State Street Global Advisors.  The new statue has become something of a phenomenon in recent weeks, with tourists clamoring to take photos and pose with it, all to the dismay of Mr. DiModica, who claims the new piece appropriates his original sculpture.  “The Charging Bull no longer carries a positive, optimistic message. Rather, it has been transformed into a negative force and a threat,” says Di Modica’s attorney, Norman Siegel. “Clearly, a deliberate choice was made to exploit and to appropriate the ‘Charging Bull’ through the placement of the ‘Fearless Girl’.” (more…)