New York Magazine has an article charting the friendship between Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, through the lens of a soon to open play depicting their famous collaborations.  “Andy fulfilled a father figure role for Jean. Jean was very bright and very childlike at the same time. He was a big kid in a way,”  says playwright Calvin Levels. (more…)

The WSJ has an interview with Jeff Koons at the artist’s studio this week, which sees Koons revealing that his balloon animal sculptures were in part a way to communicate with his son, who left for Italy with the artist’s former wife, Ilona Staller, after their divorce.  “It was a way to be communicating with my son,” Koons says.  “I was thinking of him.” (more…)

A recent article in The New York Times reports on the state of photography in the secondary and auction markets, noting that, despite the popularity of the medium, sales for photography account for less than 2% of the global market.  “Many of these new buyers are looking for unique, high-quality trophy art which has been driving prices of postwar and contemporary art to new heights,” says Anders Petterson, the managing director of ArtTactic. “There has definitely been a trickle-down effect of this on the photo market. However, as most photographic works are selling in the lower- to medium-end of the price spectrum and often in larger editions, there isn’t the same allure of this market to many of these buyers.” (more…)

Sterling Ruby will end his representation with Hauser & Wirth this year, the Art Newspaper reports, after three years with the gallery.  Marc Payot, VP of Hauser & Wirth, stated the gallery remains on “very friendly terms” with Ruby. (more…)

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the California Resale Royalties Act is unconstitutional, but has allowed the law to remain on the books if the objectionable portion of the law is removed, keeping the resale royalty provided the sales take place within California.  Some speculate as to wether this may prevent major auctions from happening in the State.   (more…)

The Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow was investigated yesterday after a man with fake provenance was detained attempting to leave the country with a set of works valued at almost $50,000.  Initial reports speculate that Russian security may have discovered a plot in which wealthy collectors abroad are paying to smuggle the works with forged documents.  “The investigators have already left, and while the investigation is ongoing we will not comment further,” a representative of the gallery told The Guardian. (more…)

The New Yorker has a profile on sculptor Charles Ray this week, the Californian sculptor known for his occasionally disturbing and lifelike works, including Huck and Jim a statue based on the inseparable pair of Mark Twin’s classic novel, which was initially intended for the plaza outside the new Whitney before it was declined over fears of controversy.  “I don’t want whatever becomes of it to be less than the original idea, and the original idea was for it to be there,” Ray tells the magazine. “I’m not naïve to the controversies this would generate—I told them that controversies would be a forest we had to navigate through.” (more…)

Tania Brugera is one of the 2015 Herb Alpert Award recipients this year, but is unable to attend the awards ceremony, due to the revocation of her passport by the Cuban government.  “The Alpert Award could not come at a better moment,” the artist wrote in a statement to the organization. “The Cuban government does not like my artworks because I’m proposing that our relationship with politics is one where the script is not written for us, but is something we create with responsibility and honesty out of the desire to engage in our political destiny.” (more…)

A protest last Friday over labor rights at its Abu Dhabi construction site led the Guggenheim Museum to close early last Friday.  Protestors threw pamphlets over the museum’s iconic spiraling walkway, and unfurled a banner saying “Meet Workers’ Demands Now” on the ground floor, forcing the museum to shut its doors. “We share their concerns about worker welfare in the Gulf Region, but these kinds of disruptive activities run counter to our objective of building the cooperation and good will necessary to further change on an extremely complex geopolitical issue,” the museum said in a statement. (more…)

Alex Katz is profiled in the Wall Street Journal this week, looking back on his lengthy career, and the level of success he has achieved in recent years.  “I just love putting it to people who didn’t like me,” Katz says. “There are people from 20, 30, 40 years ago that I love meeting on the street and saying hello. I don’t have to say anything, I just have to say hello, and my presence reminds them of their mistakes.” (more…)

The founders of Frieze, Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, are interviewed in the Wall Street Journal this week as they prepare to open this year’s edition in New York, reflecting on the early days of the fair, and how they first started their coverage of the art world in London during the 1990’s.  “You couldn’t get away from the feeling that something was happening in London, and though we really didn’t know anything about art or magazines, we just knew we had to respond to it,” Sharp says. (more…)

Adrian Ghenie will now be represented by Thaddaeus Ropac, with the news coming shortly before the artist opens his solo exhibition at the Romanian Pavilion.  Ghenie will open his first exhibition at Ropac’s Paris Marais gallery this October. (more…)

Market Watch has an interesting article this week on the tax status of Nazi-looted paintings returned to their rightful owners, noting the tax-free status of reparations payments from the German government, particularly in the case of Maria Altman’s reception of the Gustav Klimt masterwork Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer I, and attorney Randol Schoenberg’s move to get sales proceeds from the work equal status.   (more…)

Antony Gormley has unveiled a new sculptural installation in Florence, featuring more than 100 of the artist’s sculptures arranged in various patterns and lines around the historic Forte di Belvedere.  “They reflect the shadow side of any idea of human progress, confronting the viewer with an image redolent of the conflict of the past century,” Gormley says. (more…)

Lisa Yuskavage is interviewed in The Paris Review this week, shortly after opening a show at David Zwirner earlier this month.  In the interivew, Yuskavage reveals some unconventional aspects behind her new work, including dabbling in online dating networks.  “It’s interesting because in order to make some of these paintings of men, I did something a few years ago—I didn’t realize why I was doing it at the time. I joined Grindr. I had a Grindr persona.”  Yuskavage tells the magazine.  “You didn’t think I was going to say that today, did you?” (more…)

Jeffrey Deitch is preparing to install an exhibition of street art in Coney Island this summer, including work by Mister Cartoon, Swoon, JR, Lee Quiñones, and Icy Signs, among others.  I’ve always loved the energy that comes out of the New York vernacular,” Deitch says, “and I’ve dreamed of doing a show in Coney Island since I first started going there in the ’70s.” (more…)

The trial over the alleged art fraud committed by San Francisco real estate developer Luke Brugnara took a strange turn this week, as Brugnara was sentenced to 21 days in jail for contempt of court and bullying witnesses.  Brugnara reportedly screamed for a mistrial during court proceedings, and accused dealer Rose Long, who testified that Brugnara took over $11 million in art and refused to pay for it, of being a “liar.”  “I think she’s probably got post-traumatic stress disorder now,” said presiding judge William Alsup. “I’m afraid it’s done mental damage, the way she’s been treated.” (more…)

First Lady Michelle Obama was on hand Thursday for the opening ceremonies at the Whitney Museum, which opens to the public today, and made remarks praising the vision of the new space.  “Maybe you can discover the next Carmen Herrera, or Archibald Motley, or Edward Hopper, or maybe even the next Barack Obama. That is the power of institutions like the Whitney. They open their doors as wide as possible both to the artists they embrace and to the young people they seek to uplift.” (more…)

French artist Vincent Lamouroux has completed a new public project in Los Angeles, covering the full exterior of an historic motel at Bates and Sunset Blvd. in white paint.  “It couldn’t have been any other place,” the artist says. “Because it is a motel, a place shared by a lot of people. And this type of architecture, international style, coupled with palm trees, the motel sign and the billboard as well, is a combination of the LA idea that we all have, the California dream.” (more…)

The Art Production Fund has launched another collaboration with luxury retailer Barney’s in an effort to raise funds for additional public arts projects.  Launching May 1st, the collaboration will feature a series of products with designs and illustrations by Alex Katz.  “Working with Alex is a dream come true,” says PF co-founder Doreen Remen.  “His work has long been influenced by pop culture imagery, and he’s passionate about getting his work out there to be enjoyed by everyone. Alex is the quintessential New Yorker and Barneys is such an iconic New York retailer, so the pairing was irresistible.” (more…)

Sara Reisman, director of New York City’s Percent for Art program within the department of Cultural Affairs, has been appointed as the new artistic director of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, where she will curate events and oversee the Foundation’s new “Art and Social Justice initiative.”  (more…)

Uta Werner, cousin of Cornelius Gurlitt, is appealing a Munich court’s decision rejecting her claim to Gurlitt’s trove of works.  The German court system is currently reviewing the appeal before it makes its decision to pass the claim on or reject it again. (more…)

The annual Art Critics Association Awards for 2014 have been announced, with Kara Walker’s Domino Sugar Factory project winning for “Best Exhibition in an Alternative Venue,” and Pierre Huyghe’s LACMA Retrospective winning for “Best National Museum Monograph.” (more…)

For the New Museum and Rhizome’s latest iteration of the Seven on Seven Technology Conference, Ai Weiwei has teamed with Wikileaks and Tor Project activist Jacob Appelbaum for a project dealing with surveillance and international borders, with the collaboration filmed and presented by Laura Poitras, director of the Edward Snowden documentary Citizenfour.  “It was important to bring together these two courageous people who are disseminating their messages using art and technology respectively, and facing similar levels of scrutiny and hardship as a result,” says Heather Corcoran, Senior Executive of Rhizome. (more…)