Jake and Dinos Chapman have left London’s White Cube gallery after nearly 20 years to join Blain|Southern.  “We are both proud of the work we have done collectively and wish each other the best for the future,” a spokesperson for White Cube said. (more…)

Art Basel has announced the exhibitor list for the 2017 edition of its flagship fair in Basel, Switzerland, including 17 new galleries, and a group of new galleries moving into the premiere section of the fair, including Campoli Presti and Luxembourg & Dayan.   (more…)

The New York Times looks at an exhibition currently on view at the Denver Museum of Art, exploring the personal life and practice of Jean-Michel Basquiat, centered around the photographs of his former girlfriend, Alexis Adler.  “Basquiat’s time with Alexis was an important transitional moment because he was still exploring many creative outlets with equal passion, including playing music, performance, drawing and writing,” says Nora Abrams, the show’s curator. (more…)

Controversy over the allegedly unauthorized Anselm Kiefer exhibition at the Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum (CAFAM) in Beijing has escalated this week, after curators blasted the artist’s dealers for limiting curatorial freedom.  “Curators must respect the artist but also be able to work for the wider public’s benefit,” says Beate Reifenscheid, the show’s chief curator and president of the German national committee of Icom (International Council of Museums).  “If all artists and their art dealers could control when, where and why their art is displayed in museums after it’s sold, the public interest would not be fully served.” (more…)

The UK is reviewing plans to turn the Thames Estuary into a massive arts hub, with studios, foundries and other institutional resources for artists.  “London leads the way across the creative economy — from fashion to film, design to gaming, performing arts to the visual arts. It’s only right that we build on this success and transform the Thames Estuary into a world-class centre for creative production — leading global innovation, developing the talent of the future and cultivating world-changing ideas,” London mayor Sadiq Khan states. (more…)

Whitney Museum curator Jay Sanders will take the helm at Artists Space, Art News reports, taking over as the institution searches for new exhibition space in the city.  “Jay Sanders has the vision, energy, and sense of adventure that Artists Space demands, combined with great depth of critical insight and a wide-ranging knowledge of contemporary art,” David Joselit and Eleanor Cayre, the co-chairs of Artists Space’s executive search committee, said in a joint statement. “We could not have hoped to recruit a more brilliant executive director to carry forward this essential institution.” (more…)

The Hammer Museum has tapped Anne Ellegood and Erin Christovale as curators for the 2018 edition of Made in LA.  “Anne Ellegood and Erin Christovale are both fierce champions for artists, and we are excited to see the fresh perspectives and discoveries these two will bring forward in Made in L.A. 2018,” museum director Ann Philbin said in a statement. “Our biennial changes with each iteration, and the combined talents of Anne and Erin promise to reveal new dimensions of both Made in L.A. and Los Angeles.” (more…)

A group of masked men attacked Kiev’s Visual Culture Research Center exhibition space this past week, hammering holes in the walls and defacing the work of anarchist artist Davyd Chychkan’s The Lost Opportunity show, which reflected on the country’s 2014 Maidan Revolution.  “According to the artist, Maidan is a lost opportunity for the Ukrainian society to accomplish a social revolution, which would mean not only to defend dignity, but rather finally gain dignified living conditions,” a text regarding the exhibition read. (more…)

Andrew Goldstein, former editor-in-chief at Artspace, will take over as editor-in-chief of artnet News.  “We are very excited for Andrew to be taking the helm at artnet News,” Jacob Pabst, CEO of artnet, said in a statement. “With Andrew’s exceptional experience as both a journalist and leader in the world of art and fast-paced digital media, he is the perfect fit to further develop this key aspect of artnet and keep us on the cutting edge of a rapidly changing international landscape.” (more…)

The Garage Museum has announced the artist list for its first Triennial of Russian contemporary art.  The list, compiled by museum’s chief curator, Kate Fowle, features 68 artists working across Russia.   (more…)

The Art Newspaper has a piece on the increased focus on forensic science employed by auction houses, and its potential to improve authentication for works on sale.  “There is a hole that hopefully someone will fill, but it takes entrepreneurial nerve to leave a museum job and do this… it’s not for the faint of heart,” says John Cahill, a lawyer who represented two plaintiffs in suits against the Knoedler gallery. (more…)

The New York Times has a piece this week reflecting on the work of the Pictures Generation, bringing together a group of the artists from the 1980’s for a photo shoot, and tracing their technological interests into the pervasive visual media formats of today.  “Such works created a nervous sense of how representation operates in the everyday world — almost subliminally much of the time,” writes Gary Indiana, reflecting on the era, “tapping into myths and illusions sunk deep in our brains, influencing the way we act, how we dress, behave in public, occupy space, choose and attract sexual partners, spend money, make friends and enemies.” (more…)

Raf Simons has collaborated with artist Sterling Ruby once again for the designer’s first show at the helm of Calvin Klein, inviting the artist to design a permanent installation in the brand’s New York offices consisting of hanging quilts and other ephemera echoing Simons’s collage of fashion signifiers. (more…)

The Guardian notes an increased market emphasis on German post-war art in recent months, and the impressive number of works by German artists hitting the auction block in the coming weeks.  “There is an unprecedented interest being shown in German contemporary art,” says a Sotheby’s spokesman. “To have such a representation from one country is remarkable given today’s globalized art world.” (more…)

Wolfgang Tillmans is profiled in The Guardian this week, as the artist reflects on the cultural fallout of the Brexit vote, and the critical reception of his work over the course of his career.  For a long time in Britain,” he says, “there was a deep suspicion of my work. People saw me as a commercial artist trying to get into the art world, and the work was dismissed as shallow or somehow lightweight. There are still many misconceptions about what I do – that my images are random and everyday, when they are actually neither. They are, in fact, the opposite. They are calls to attentiveness.” (more…)

The UK has placed a temporary export bar on the sale of a Parmigianino work recently sold for £24.5 million.  “It is in pristine condition, has a very distinguished ownership history and, unusually for the period, has the additional fascination of being painted on paper, which opens up new avenues for scholarly research and technical investigation,” says Aidan Weston-Lewis, a member of the reviewing committee on the export of works of art and objects of cultural interest (RCEWA).  “Its permanent export overseas would be a major loss.” (more…)

MCH Group, the Swiss Conglomerate that owns Art Basel, has announced its purchase of a 25% stake in Art Düsseldorf.  “MCH Group’s participation in Art Düsseldorf constitutes a further step in the implementation of our strategic initiative for the worldwide expansion of a new portfolio of regional art fairs in important art locations,” says Marco Fazzone, MCH Group’s managing director of design and regional art fairs. “We are convinced that Art Düsseldorf will be a success. Art Düsseldorf in the Areal Böhler will become the leading regional art fair in Germany, the Benelux region, and the Rhineland—and thus also have an international radiance.” (more…)

A painting discovered in a storeroom at Holburne Museum in Bath has been confirmed as a work by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, following analysis that uncovered an elaborate underdrawing that echoed the artist’s techniques.  “It has a liveliness and sureness of touch,” Holborne director Jennifer Scott said.  (more…)

Theaster Gates is interviewed in the LA Times this week, while the artist’s current exhibition of work is on view at Regen Projects, and looks at his position as a black artist working on the South Side of Chicago.  “I cannot afford to just be an artist in this moment,” he says. “I have to use my art and my brain to try to imagine solutions.” (more…)

A group of right-wing protestors took to the streets in Dresden this week in protest over a work by Syrian-born artist Manaf Halbouni, a massive barricade formed by three buses, alluding to similar barricades created in war-torn Aleppo.  “We have hit a nerve with this project—an important nerve,” says Christian Mennicke-Schwarz, artistic director of the Dresden Kunsthaus. “It shows how important it is to focus on this subject. We have to be open to the suffering of others.” (more…)

Oprah Winfrey has reportedly sold a Gustav Klimt portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer for $150 million, Bloomberg reports, netting the media executive an impressive return on the $87.9 million she paid for the work in 2006.  The work was sold to an unnamed Chinese buyer.   (more…)

Laurel Ptak, current director of the New York nonprofit Triangle, will take up the executive director position at Art in General, filling the position left by Anne Barlow.  “Artists, now more than ever, have an important role to play in our ongoing public discourse, helping to pave the way for common ground and mutual understanding,” Ptak says.  “I am thrilled to be joining the team, and I look forward to working with the board and staff to extend opportunities to an even broader scope of voices, to engage our audiences on the issues most relevant to art and contemporary life.” (more…)

Christie’s has announced a new flagship location in Los Angeles, a 5,400-square-foot, two-story space in the center of Beverly Hills.  “The expansion of our West Coast footprint is a key growth initiative for Christie’s in 2017,” says Guillaume Cerutti, Chief Executive Officer. “With its vibrant community of major collectors, artists, tastemakers and cultural institutions, southern California has been an important market for Christie’s for nearly four decades and is now one of our most active regions for new buyers.” (more…)

Hauser & Wirth are now representing the estate of August Sander, one of the most influential photographers of the 20th Century.  “Sander’s medium was photography, and he was a bona fide pioneer,” says Gallery VP Marc Payot said. “But we view Sander much more broadly—not as the exemplar of a single medium but as an artist whose formal innovations, humanism, and conceptual bearings have exerted enormous influence on other artists in a lot of other mediums.” (more…)