Ai Weiwei is accusing the Lego Company of censorship after the company refused to fill an order he made for the toy building blocks, which he was intending to use in a new project.  “We refrain — on a global level — from actively engaging in or endorsing the use of Lego bricks in projects or contexts of a political agenda,” the company responded. (more…)

Art Info looks at the increasingly high rents and other challenges mid-size, single-venue galleries are currently facing worldwide, and asks if the business model is capable of surviving in the current market.  “It was very hard for my type of gallery to become a big one,” says former gallery owner Nicole Klagsbrun, who closed her space in 2013 and shifted to an independent, curating-focused approach.  “Obviously, I’m happy to be outside because I have the freedom to really choose what I want to do and when to do it and really focus on projects.” (more…)

The New York Times profiles the chosen artworks hung at the White House by the Obama family, and the recent addition of a selection of abstract works.  “There was discussion about the president and first lady liking more abstract art,” says William Allman, the longtime curator of the White House art collection. “Our collection doesn’t really have any of that.” (more…)

A historic deal between Germany and Iran will lead to an exhibition of contemporary art works from the collection of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in Berlin.  “That a succession of Iranian museum curators and administrators have worked to put together the collection and maintain it over decades is a testament to a fundamental respect for the arts,” says Shiva Balaghi, a visiting scholar at Brown University.  “That this collection now serves as a foundation for greater collaboration between Iranian art institutions and those abroad is another indication of art’s ability to create alternative contexts for mutual understanding and appreciation.” (more…)

The shortlist for the 2016 Hugo Boss Prize has been announced, with Tania Bruguera, Mark Leckey, Ralph Lemon, Laura Owens, Wael Shawky and Anicka Yi making the list of honorees.  The winner announcement and ceremony will take place in October of 2016, and will give the winning artist an exhibition at the Guggenheim. (more…)

Loic Gouzer has been promoted as Christie’s Deputy Chairman, Post-War and Contemporary at Christie’s, Art News reports.  “I’m not really impressed by people’s titles, I’m impressed by what they do. I guess in Europe there isn’t really the culture of titles,” Gouzer says, ”but it is in America, so I’m happy.” (more…)

Bank of America has given 13 Conservation Grants to Museums and Institutions around the globe, giving more than $1 million in funding to museums including the Guggenheim in New York, the British Museum, the OCA Museum in Sao Paulo, and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar.  The Guggenheim will use the funds to restore Manet’s “Woman in Evening Dress.”  “We hope to remove a discolored varnish that is obscuring the brushwork and flattening the painting and really not presenting Manet in his best light,” said Carol Stringari, the museum’s deputy director and chief conservator. (more…)

Dealers Iwan and Manuela Wirth have topped ArtReview’s annual power rankings as the most powerful figures in the art world, primarily for “what they have done to change the model of selling and promoting art.”  “The Wirths’ increased influence stems in part from what they have done to change the model of selling and promoting art,” the website reads.  “As big art dealers are becoming ever better at selling art for high prices, and as collectors want to see themselves as more than just anonymous purchasers, the husband-and-wife-team understand that selling art objects isn’t the whole story – the well-off want to be sold a lifestyle.” (more…)

The New York Times follows the story of dealer Andrew Butterfield’s purchase of a small wooden believed to be by Donatello, and the dealer’s push to have the work authenticated.  “It felt so much like the embodiment of the early Renaissance,” he says. (more…)

Artist Christo has unveiled his newest project, and the first piece conceived after the death of his longtime partner, Jeanne-Claude, a series of floating walkways at Lake Iseo in Northern Italy, which will allow viewers to walk out over the water on tightly woven nylon panels.  “They will feel the movement of the water under foot,” Christo said. “It will be very sexy, a bit like walking on a water bed.” (more…)

Billionaire Steve Wynn has taken out a loan against his massive art collection, which helped the casino mogul to secure an interest rate of less than 1%.  “This is a great time to be poised with ample cash,” Wynn said. (more…)

Arts Council England is warning against a “severe and imminent” threat of attack on UK museums, the Art Newspaper reports.  Additional information has been provided by the Scottish Council on Archives: “The National Crime Agency are aware of an imminent threat of theft of collections across the UK. They are aware of a group who has made reconnaissance visits to a number of museums and other venues across the UK. It is thought that smaller, more portable items will be targeted rather than items such as large paintings.” (more…)

Former fashion marketing executive Giorgio Pace has been appointed as commercial adviser for Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, and publisher at large for Garage magazine, which will see him planning new ventures and projects to finance both institutions.  “I am looking forward to creating some fantastic new partnerships and raising funds to enhance the unique programs each venture has already established,” Pace says. (more…)

Jamie Kenyon, formerly of Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, is joining 47 Canal as that gallery director.  “My move to 47 Canal feels very natural, having grown friends with both Margaret and Oliver, and many of the artists since moving to New York three years ago,” Kenyon says. (more…)

The New York Times profiles ColorSearch, a new application developed by former Gavin Brown’s staffer and founder of ArtBinder Alexandra Chemla, which is developed to archive and catalog works based on color.  “It prioritizes based on proximity to the actual shade of that color you’ve chosen and the percentage of the piece that’s made up of that color,” Chemla says. “You can highlight as many colors as you want, and then ColorSearch prioritizes those that have, say, four of the four, three of the four and so on.” (more…)

The Picasso Museum in Paris has opened the doors on a major rehang, with announced plans to begin working with contemporary artists alongside its historical mission, and a new space that seeks to recreate the artist’s working methods.  “We want to have the audience enter his studio and glimpse his intimacy, his daily life,” President Laurent Le Bon says. (more…)

Artist and architect Maya Lin is profiled in the Wall Street Journal this week, as she prepares to complete a series of projects, and reflects on her work over the past several decades.  “There’s a very strong environmental aspect to all my structures,” she says, and notes her work in both architecture and fine art, comparing architecture to writing a novel, while comparing a piece of art to a poem.  “They’re both incredibly difficult and challenging, but sometimes that poem is harder…because I’m stripping it bare.” (more…)

Adam Lindemann is reportedly in contract to buy a Montauk estate formerly owned by Andy Warhol.  “I knew Andy in the early 1980s as a very young man, and I’m a collector of his work . . . I’m very lucky to have this opportunity to live out this dream. It’s a work of art.” (more…)

The New Yorker profiles Fox Television’s Empire, and the collection of contemporary African-American art that the show has consistently used on-screen, including works by Kehinde Wiley, Mickalene Thomas, and Kerry James Marshall.  “I’ve been doing this twenty-six years, and I was really excited because rarely do I get a director who includes the art within the shot,” says set decorator Caroline Perzan. “The art has become one of the main focal points of the set design.” (more…)

The Guardian profiles artist Sam Gilliam, whose work during the 1960’s and 70’s was considered among the best working in abstraction, and who, at 81, is experiencing another moment in the limelight after L.A. gallerist David Kordansky rallied to bring the artist’s work to wider attention.  “Sam stayed constant – it was the world that turned,” says Laura Hoptman, MoMA’s curator for painting and sculpture. “Finally, he popped back into focus.” (more…)

Christie’s has announced another of its highlight lots for its November auctions in New York, this time pointing to Roy Lichtenstein’s Nurse, from 1964.  “He’s completely concentrated the image, taken away the words,” says Brett Gorvy. “There’s fear in her face — you’re not quite sure what the narrative is. You bring your own narrative.” (more…)

Larry Gagosian and Jeffrey Deitch are teaming together for an exhibition during Art Basel Miami Beach this year, bearing the title Unrealism and taking place in the historic Moore Building in the Miami Design District.  “Larry and I have wanted to do a project together for some time,” Mr. Deitch said. “Everything came together.” (more…)

Ai Weiwei has announced that his memoirs will be released in 2017, published by Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House.  “The history of totalitarianism is one characterized by the state’s continuous attempts to destroy individual memories,” the artist says. (more…)

Zero Group founder Enrico Castellani will launch a rare exhibition of his works at Dominique Lévy in London, the first solo showing of the artist’s work in the city.  “He thinks things over very deliberately. There has to be a reason,” says Emilio Steinberger, one of the gallery’s senior partners. (more…)