Climate Activists have struck again this week, as a pair of climate protestors covered a Claude Monet in mashed potatoes during an action at the Museum Barberini. “Monet loved nature and captured its unique and fragile beauty in his works. How is it that so many are more afraid of damaging one of these images of reality than of the destruction of our world itself, the magic of which Monet admired so much?” says Aimée van Baalen, a spokesperson for the group.  (more…)

The Guardian has a piece on the challenges arts venues are facing in the UK as the country battles its way through a cost of living crisis. “I don’t want to manage decline. I’m ambitious for what we can achieve for our communities, and we know there is huge demand for what we do,” says Sarah Munro director of one of Britain’s biggest art galleries, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.  (more…)

Peter Schjeldahl, the long-running art critic for the New Yorker and a major voice in American arts criticism, has died aged 80. “Criticism joins poetry, for me, in having a civic duty to limber up the common word stock, keeping good words in play,” he said in an interview in Artforum. “My sidekick is the Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary.“ (more…)

A woman claiming to be a former girlfriend of Banksy is loaning unseen and early art allegedly by the artist to an upcoming show in Salford. (more…)

Dealer Wendy Beard, head of Halsted Gallery, is alleged to have run a $1.6 million fraud swindling valuable art photographs and prints from their owners, the FBI alleges. Beard is thought to have sold a number of works and kept the money, making excuses as to why the works could not be returned to their consigners. (more…)

Art News profiles new artist studios popping up in the Parisian suburbs, thanks to government grants supporting new studio space.  “At first, the landlords were skeptical,” says Hervé Digne, who has spearheaded several studio projects. “Artists in an abandoned building? They didn’t think it would go well.”  (more…)

The British Museum is testing the waters on a “Parthenon partnership” that could send the Elgin Marbles back to Greece, Bloomberg reports. “What we are calling for is an active ‘Parthenon partnership’ with our friends and colleagues in Greece,” says deputy director Jonathan Williams, noting that the move seeks to “change the temperature of the debate” around the disputed works. (more…)

Harold Ancart has joined the roster at Gagosian after leaving David Zwirner, the gallery announced this week. (more…)

A group of armed men broke into TEFAF Maastricht this week in an attempted robbery, causing an evacuation of the fair.  “TEFAF has robust procedures in the event of a security breach,” a spokesperson for the fair said. “These were precisely followed, and all visitors, exhibitors and staff were safely evacuated. The fair has now reopened.” (more…)

Veit Laurent Kurz at Weiss Falk, all images via Art Observed

Returning to its recently transplanted site in another hall of the Messe Basel, the Liste Art Fair makes its voice felt on the landscape and layout of Basel Art Week this season with another edition of its event showcasing works by a range of galleries presenting the latest and newest voices in contemporary art. Running in conjunction with the Art Basel fair just a few minutes away in another hall of the expansive exhibition center, Liste welcomes 82 galleries, each centering on younger artists, new concepts and exploratory work. For gallerists, participating at LISTE, the fair is an opportunity to network globally and present their program to professionals and art lovers that gather in Basel during this important week on the international art calendar.

Tomas Diaz Cedeño at Peana

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A recently unearthed Michelangelo sketch, considered to be the artist’s first nude, has sold  at Christie’s Paris for a record 23 million euros ($24 million). “Michelangelo has decided to make the figure into something that corresponded more to his aesthetic by making him much more robust and monumental, while at the same time keeping the fragility of the figure, who is exposed and shivering” as he awaits baptism,” says Christie’s Old Masters expert Stijn Alsteens. (more…)

The Jean-Michel Basquiat work from the collection of Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa had a strong return to auction last night at Phillips, where it achieved $85 Million, part of a total sale of  $224.9 million, the highest in the company’s history.  (more…)

The Independent Art Fair will launch a new fair in September this year that will focus on 20th Century Works. “Over the years, there has been a shift, with next-generation dealers showing a more diverse group of artists and territories, geographically, socially, politically,” says Independent director Elizabeth Dee. “They are looking forward and looking back, saying, ‘We need to have a canon that looks like our program.’” (more…)

The second leg of Sotheby’s sale of works from the collection of real estate magnate Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife Linda Macklowe has netted $246.1 million, bringing the total sale price for the collection to a record $922 million, with fees. “Either art is one of the few assets that seem to have a good immunological protection against recession, or inflation is much stronger than we think,” says specialist Loic Gouzer. “The art market feels very close to the spare parts market — good works are hard to find and very expensive.” (more…)

An Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe sold for $195 Million last night at a Christie’s charity auction, making it the most expensive American work of art to sell at auction. “We did sell the most expensive painting of the 20th century,” says Christie’s specialist Alex Rotter. “This is a big achievement.” (more…)

The artist Matthew Wong gets a profile in the New Yorker this week, reviewing his work and untimely death at the age of 35.  “Something in me was pushed by an urge to visually reproduce the uncalculated, almost accidental slice of poetry in front of me,” the article quotes him. (more…)

Cornelia Parker has an interview in The Guardian this week, discussing her work, vision, and thoughts on changing her citizenship to Germany. “ I’m thinking of applying for German citizenship because I’m half German. I don’t like feeling not part of Europe,” she says. “I don’t want to be a little Englander.” (more…)

Police are searching for a group of 5 people who stole a portfolio of photographs from Fergus McCafferty Gallery in Manhattan.  (more…)

The Art Gallery of Ontario has contracted Selldorf Architects, Diamond Schmitt and Two Row Architect to lead the design phase of AGO Global Contemporary, the museum’s proposed expansion project. “A project with global impact requires an international perspective, grounded in this land and this city,” says Director and CEO Stephan Jost.  (more…)

Japanese multimillionaire Yusaku Maezawa will sell the Basquiat piece he purchased six years ago for the estimated price of $70 million this May at Phillips. “I believe that art collections are something that should always continue to grow and evolve as the owner does,” he said in a statement.

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Russian artists Kirill Savchenkov and Alexandra Sukhareva will withdraw from the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale this year, leaving the national pavilion closed during the exhibition this year. “There is no place for art when civilians are dying under the fire of missiles, when citizens of Ukraine are hiding in shelters, when Russian protesters are getting silenced,” they wrote in a statement. (more…)

Sohrab Mohebbi will take over as director of SculptureCenter, where he previously served as curator. “We look forward to working with Sohrab to achieve a dynamic vision for SculptureCenter that we saw emerging in his curatorial work with our institution. He brings an energy, perspective, and deep understanding of global cultural movements from his extensive collegial relationships with artists and institutions worldwide. Mohebbi is uniquely qualified to lead us into an exciting new phase as we deliver on our mission to lead the conversation on contemporary art,” said SculptureCenter board chair Carol Bove. (more…)

A hotly anticipated program offering New York artists $1000 a month in guaranteed income has opened applications. “There are guaranteed income programs that have been launching across the country, many of them pilots to understand if this work has been working,” says Sarah Calderon, the executive director of the program Creatives Rebuild New York, which is driving the project. (more…)

The Hole has opened a new space in LA, just in time for Frieze, and will stage a “live” first installation this Tuesday, opening and hanging the works in the gallery during the scheduled opening reception of its first show. (more…)