The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has been given ownership of architect John Lautner’s masterpiece home above Beverly Hills.  The home’s slanted angles and glass facade is most memorable for its appearance in the 1998 film The Big Lebowski, and will be part of an expansion project including an installation by James Turrell.  “For me it ranks as one of the most important houses in all of L.A.,” LACMA head Michael Govan says. “And as one of the most L.A. houses, because of its connection to the view, that long view toward the ocean.” (more…)

Despite initial reports that it had reopened, Cairo’s Townhouse Gallery is still shuttered, awaiting official permission to open its doors.  “Staff are currently working on future programming but will not be able to open doors officially until permission is granted by the appropriate authorities,” says Director William Wells. (more…)

Catherine Opie is interviewed in the New York Times this week, on the heels of opening a number of shows in both New York and Los Angeles.  “I realized for me that non-space was the subconscious, and for the figure to emerge from it, while kind of having a conversation with Renaissance lighting in painting,” she says of her recent portraits.  “I could create a portrait that has presence as well as functions from a potential dream state in my mind.” (more…)

Photographer Dennis Morris is considering a lawsuit against painter Elizabeth Peyton, who he claims infringed on the copyright for his photographic of the Sex Pistols’ John Lydon in her work John Lydon, Destroyed (1994).  The work was removed from Sotheby’s Contemporary Day Sale on February 11th. (more…)

The National Court of Spain has decided to extradite Jesús Ángel Bergantiños Díaz, one of the dealers fingered in the Knoedler Gallery Art Fraud case.  His brother, José Carlos, is also awaiting a decision on extradition. (more…)

Pace Gallery is opening another space in Chelsea, taking over the building at 537 West 24th Street, part of its continued expansion plan that will see a new flagship location open in 2018.  The new space will be inaugurated with a show of work by Tim Hawkinson. (more…)

The WSJ again trumpets a cooling art market following last week’s auctions in London, noting a decreased interest in mid-priced lots, and a greater focus on reliable bets.  “It’s a correction we’ve all been waiting for,” says Nazy Vassegh, CEO of London art fair Masterpiece. “There’s been no frenzied bidding in the sales room. The market seems to be highly price sensitive and really selective.” (more…)

Continuing his work around the Syrian refugee crisis, Ai Weiwei has installed 14,000 lifejackets around the columns of Berlin’s Konzerthaus.  The project coincides with the annual Cinema for Peace gala, which was held last evening in the venue.   (more…)

The Museo del Prado in Madrid has cancelled a pair of loans for a retrospective of Hieronymous Bosch, following dissatisfaction with research that claimed the works were not in fact painted by the artist himself.  The museum criticized researchers for basing their decision on “extremely subjective stylistic aspects.”
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Reed Exhibitions France, the company behind both FIAC and Paris Photo, has withdrawn its plans for Los Angeles editions of both fairs, pointing at what it calls an “absence of a mature market.” “We are extremely grateful for the support that we have received since the launch of Paris Photo in Los Angeles, and during the research and development phases of FIAC LA,” the company said in a statement. (more…)

The Art Market Monitor takes an interesting approach in analyzing the auctions of the past few weeks, noting a continued surge in Chinese buyers, and paralleling that with a recent New York Times article charting continued efforts by wealthy Chinese citizens to move their money out of the national currency.  “Individuals can move $50,000 a year across China’s borders,” the article quotes from Keith Bradsher’s original piece. “Companies and sophisticated investors have more freedom to send out money legally for big-ticket purchases and investments.” (more…)

American Airlines, alongside a group of art handling companies, are the subject of a lawsuit by art insurers Lloyd’s of London, following damages to a Lucio Fontana work in transit to the Armory Show in New York last year.  Lloyd’s is seeking $116,000 in damages and legal fees. (more…)

An article in the Telegraph this week continues the tale of differing positions on the health of the Contemporary market, emphasizing that while auction prices are in adjustment, private sales are still booming, often obscured by alarmist headlines.  “Yes, the auctions were not the same as last year,” says dealer Thaddaeus Ropac. “But I had a sense the market was ok. I can’t understand why the press has been discussing a crash in the art market. I’ve had the best January ever in my galleries.”  (more…)

Marc Quinn is parting ways with White Cube Gallery after more than 20 years.  Quinn was the first artist Jay Jopling worked with at the gallery, and just recently closed an exhibition late last year with the space.  “We are not representing him anymore,” says a gallery spokeswoman.  “We wish him every continued success with his future projects.” (more…)

The New York Times notes the thriving scene in Downtown Los Angeles, where a number of galleries and spaces have seen success in cultivated a connected community of talented young artists.  “It’s very similar to what I was doing at my spaces in New York,” Jeffrey Deitch says. “The social aspect is essential for artistic innovation. Artists working in isolation rarely have the same achievement.” (more…)

The New York Times reports that Sotheby’s is quite eager to hire top talent from Christie’s, noting that the auction house has offered waive standing noncompete obligations for former employees in order to hire former executives from Christie’s.  The proposal centered around former Christie’s America head Marc Porter, whom Sotheby’s had recruited as chairman of its new Fine Arts Division. (more…)

Creative Time has appointed Katie Hollander, longtime deputy head of the organization, to take over for Anne Pasternak as its director.  “The thing I’m most committed to,” Hollander syas, “is thinking about new platforms to help amplify artists’ voices.” (more…)

The New Yorker looks inside the personal art log of Hermann Göring, which catalogs many of the actions in seizing Nazi war loot, and the collectors they were taken from.  “For many people, wartime looting is a rather abstract concept,” says archivist Isabelle Richefort. “Here we can see how it happened, day by day.” (more…)

The Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam is planning a public art storage service for itself, which will allow the museum to rent space to collectors for storing works, while making the pieces available for public viewing.  “For the museum, this concept kills many birds with one stone. It provides private funding for a public initiative, it allows it to share the costs of its collection management services, and it brings private collectors closer to the museum,” says collector Alain Servais, “which should encourage donations. Storage is becoming a serious problem for collectors, with no easy or reasonably priced solutions.”    (more…)

An entry in Wall Street Journal’s technology blog notes the success Pace Gallery has had in selling works to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, often by telling them that the works are not available.   Its recent show of works by Japanese collective TeamLab, which had a series of works listed as “not for sale,” have already sold a selection of works for up to $450,000. (more…)

The UK is initiating a project in which art films and experimental will run before films at mainstream movie theatres, often without the audience’s prior knowledge.  The project launched this week, headed by the Independent Cinema Office and Lux, and funded by Arts Council England.  “I’m excited to share the work with wider audiences. It’s a wonderful opportunity to, however briefly, stimulate a dialogue about cinematic devices—camera, edit, sound, narration—and to both celebrate and deconstruct the ways in which we engage with and depict wild spaces and subjects in film,” says Margaret Salmon, one of the selected artists. (more…)

Bjarke Ingels has been announced as the commissioned architect for the 2016 Serpentine Pavilion, but the star Danish architect is also joined by an additional four designers this year, each of whom will initiate a design in a different location around the Kensington Gardens lawns.   (more…)

Following Ann Freedman’s settlement with the De Sole family earlier this week, the Knoedler Gallery itself has also settled its case for $8.4 million, bringing the collector’s claims against the gallery and its team to a close.  “I think our clients are extremely satisfied by this settlement,” says Gregory Clarick, a lawyer for the De Soles. “And they are also satisfied to get the truth out and tell their story.” (more…)

The Broad Museum has announced a major exhibition on Cindy Sherman, drawing heavily from the museum’s own collection of the artist’s works (Eli Broad was one of her early collectors).  The show is curated by Philipp Kaiser, formerly of LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art and a guest curator at Cologne’s Museum Ludwig. (more…)