Jeffrey Deitch will be reopening his famed Deitch Projects gallery space at its former 18 Wooster Street location, Art News reports, with current resident Swiss Institute relocating at the conclusion of its lease.  Deitch is the owner of the building that houses the gallery.  “Swiss Institute has been a fixture of the NYC art community since our founding almost 30 years ago, and we will continue to present exhibitions at our location at 18 Wooster Street until our lease ends,” says director Simon Castets. “We will soon be announcing details about our future plans.” (more…)

British Petroleum is withdrawing its controversial sponsorship of the Tate next year, citing an “extremely challenging business environment,” rather than the ongoing protests over its contributions to the museums.  “They are free to express their points of view but our decision wasn’t influenced by that. It was a business decision,” says Peter Mather, head of BP in the UK. (more…)

Pelham Holdings, which represents the legal interests of the Qatari royal family, has filed a new legal complaint in Manhattan federal court, providing a detailed chronology of the sale of the disputed Picasso bust.  The filing states that Maya Widmaier-Picasso’s daughter Diana received a lucrative contract for the work’s $106 million sale to Larry Gagosian, shortly after the original sale to the Qatari family was canceled.  (more…)

The New Yorker has published a selection of photos by Bill Jacobsen, documenting the transitional period between the Whitney’s departure and the Met’s arrival in the Breuer building.  The photos, showing the space’s stripped bare architecture, welcomes both a familiarity with the Whitney’s former home, and an appreciation for the unique architecture its original designer had embraced. (more…)

The New York Times takes a tour of Tom Sach’s studio this week, as the artist prepares for an upcoming installation of a ceremonial tea house at the Isamu Noguchi Museum in Queens.  “It’s a way of creating an armature for ritualized activity, where we overcome our differences,” the artist says. “Within the act of preparing and serving a bowl of tea, we have the opening to investigate human relationships and the human condition.” (more…)

The New York Times interviews artist Maria Hassabi this week, as her piece Plastic gains increasing attention at MoMA this month for its placement of shifting, gradually moving bodies across the floors and stairwells of the institution.  “It was really important for me, while making the work, to keep thinking of the three-dimensionality,” says Ms. Hassabi, “to know there would be people everywhere around us, that people were going to ignore us, and that somewhere in there, somebody would stay and pay attention to us.” (more…)

The FT profiles Andrew Butterfield this week, a dealer known for his impressive work in researching and rediscovering lost Old Masters works.  In the story, Butterfield discusses some of his greatest finds, like a rare Donatello sculpture, and how these works can go overlooked for so long.  “Often what you’re looking at is literally covered in paint from later periods,” he says. “Varnish is a very common mode of second-tier restorers. It’s an easy and a cheap way of solving problems. You’re getting rid of any imperfections. But you’re also getting rid of the perfections.” (more…)

A Francis Bacon painting has been discovered on the back of two paintings by Irish artist Tony O’Malley.  O’Malley seems to have divided the wooden board backing his works, on which Bacon’s piece, Figure, is painted, to create two other paintings, but the pair have recently been reunited, and are being sold at Christie’s in London as a set, estimated at £20,000- £30,000.  “Now these paintings, and the lost Bacon study, will be reunited and viewed together for the first time in almost 60 years,” the auction house said in a statement. (more…)

The Kunsthaus in Zurich is facing criticism over its construction over a 14th Century Jewish cemetary, and its inclusion of works from the collection of Nazi arms dealer Emil Georg Bührle.  “We were playing with open cards about the past when the vote took place in 2012,” said Björn Quellenberg, a spokesman for the Kunsthaus. “That was the time to discuss it.”  (more…)

The Annual sales reports from TEFAF (The European Fine Art Fair) this year have 2015’s total sales figure at $63.8 billion, a 7% decline from 2014.  “The main reason for the negative growth is that the bigger the market gets, the harder it is to keep growing at as fast a pace,” says economist Clare McAndrew, who presented the report. (more…)

Gagosian Gallery has announced plans to open a gallery in San Francisco, across the street from the newly renovated SFMoMA.  “This makes sense with the new museum opening and with the emerging collector base in Silicon Valley,” Larry Gagosian said. (more…)

The New York Times notes Hauser Wirth & Schimmel’s efforts to preserve the original graffiti and murals painted on its new Los Angeles home.  “You can walk in this neighborhood, which you can’t in a lot of other parts of L.A., and we wanted to integrate that and open it up, so people can cut through,” says senior director Stacen Berg. “Maybe they never go into the galleries, but they still interact with something, even if they’re just on their way to get coffee.” (more…)

An article in The Guardian this week sees a group of Iranian artists living abroad discussing what their national heritage means for their art, both in terms of their own practice, and the expectations that many have for their work’s content as a result, often dealing with subtle demands to acquiesce towards ideological expectations.  “The problem now about working in the US is that you are faced with this duality, with this dilemma,” says artist Nicky Nodjoumi.  “Either you are truly an artist without the notion of being from Iran; but at the same time if you are Iranian you have to show some symbol of identity in order to be accepted in the art scene. Not as a universal artist but as an Iranian artist.” (more…)

Despite military oppression and censorship in Thailand, Reuters reports on an increasingly strong art scene developing in the nation’s capital, Bangkok.  “It’s because they can’t talk about it that they’re creating,” says Gili Back, a cafe and gallery owner.  “You’ll see a lot more graffiti and street art where people are having their say on walls.” (more…)

Emmanuel Perrotin is opening a gallery space in Seoul, South Korea, the Art Newspaper reports.  “The space will be inaugurated with an exhibition of French artist Laurent Grasso’s work on 28 April, followed by a solo show dedicated to Kaws in June,” a gallery spokeswoman told the publication. (more…)

Yayoi Kusama is debuting new work at the Honolulu Biennial, a series of snail sculptures adorned with her signature dot patterns.  “Hawaii is the place I have been admiring at a distance,” the artist says. “I have never visited, but I think it dynamically stimulates my dreams, and I am eager to absorb Hawaii’s beauty fully into my mind.” (more…)

As the Moscow Subway system opens its 200th Station, Deutsch Welle takes a look at the impressive architecture and art exhibitions installed within its expansive, efficient structure, including a massive tribute to artist Piet Mondrian in the newly completed Rumyantsevo station. (more…)

Vanity Fair has an expansive article on the issues at the heart of the Picasso estate, noting the massive body of work the artist left behind (all without a will), the frequent conflicts among family members to maintain and manage his works, and the lack of proper authentication resources over the artist’s work.  “The heirs have decided not to publish for the time being a catalogue raisonné as objects surface still which were not catalogued,” says one dealer, nothing that authentication requests “are very often not professionally formulated. On the average 900 requests are filed yearly. Verifications of the information provided sometimes can be labor-intensive. Artworks need often to be examined in the flesh.” (more…)

For the 9th consecutive year, the British Museum has topped the list of the UK’s most visited attractions, the BBC reports.  “More people visited the V&A, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, combined, than visited Venice,” claims Bernard Donoghue, director of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions. (more…)

Tomás Saraceno is featured in the Financial Times this week, detailing his work with the minuscule movements and actions of spiders that he magnifies through scanning and amplification techniques, including a recent project where he created amplified “jam sessions” between spiders and human participants.  “When spiders pluck the strings of their webs and beat on leaves, they make tiny vibrations. You have percussion, strings, an entire orchestra,” he writes.  “I invited musicians and writers to perform their work in the studio to see how the spiders communicated with them. Sometimes the spiders were shy and made little sound in response but sometimes they got very excited by what was going on around them.” (more…)

Mikhail Piotrovsky, the director of the State Hermitage Museum, has expressed his desire to help rebuild the historical site of Palmyra, destroyed by ISIL rebels last year, using museum artifacts and working in conjunction with other museums to help restore the site.  “Ancient culture was destroyed by Christians—it took the Renaissance to gather it up piece by piece,” he says. “Right now, this understanding of the sacredness of culture is eroding everywhere.” (more…)

The New York Times notes increased pressure on galleries to help fund museum exhibitions of their artists.  “It’s really gotten out of hand,” says Lawrence Luhring of Luhring Augustine gallery. “It’s the brazenness of it — just the expectation of ‘How are you going to contribute?’” (more…)

Christie’s and the Mugrabi family have announced a settlement to their pending lawsuit, resolving the issue before their dispute over a recently purchased Basquiat went to court.  “Christie’s, Jombihis Corporation and the Mugrabi family are very pleased to have reached an agreement in principle to resolve the litigation,” a joint statement reads.  “We all look forward to continuing our long and fruitful relationship together.” (more…)

The Art Newspaper looks at Sherrie Levine’s recent move to David Zwirner, and speculates if the artist’s market is due to mature.  “Sherrie Levine is one of the leading artists of her generation and has considerable museum support for her work,” says Zwirner partner Chris D’Amelio. “Her prices, relative to her importance, are attractive to collectors.” (more…)