A glimpse of the Sol LeWitt mural, ‘Swirls and Whirls,’ being constructed in the Columbus Circle subway station, via NY Times

A mural designed for the Columbus Circle subway station in New York by Sol LeWitt in 2007, just before his death, is nearly complete [NY Times]

In related, Turner Prize winner Richard Long designs the cover for the London Tube Map [FAD]
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid has seen visitor numbers quadruple since the opening of its Henri Matisse exhibit [Art Daily]
Following the success of earlier Beyond Limits exhibitions, Sotheby’s announces its fourth contemporary sculpture exhibit at Chatsworth including works by Henry Moore, Marc Quinn, Zhan Wang, among others [Auction Publicity]

Jeff Koons via the Telegraph UK

Jeff Koons sits for lunch with the Financial Times and discusses his love of inflatables and how the custody battle for his son has affected his work [Financial Times]
MoMA’s PS1 in Queens will soon reprise its Greater New York exhibit, which will be its 3rd [LindsayPollack]
On Miuccia Prada and her still to be built €25 million, 20,500 square meter Prada Foundation in a south Milan industrial complex [ArtNewspaper]
Sotheby’s CEO William Ruprecht sells 5% of his equity holdings; he retains a 1% stake in the company [Barron’s via Art Market Monitor]

The Starns Brothers’ cover for the fifth anniversary of T Magazine, via NY Times

T Magazine celebrates its fifth anniversary with specially designed covers by Mike and Doug Starns, Jeff Koons, Francesco Vezzoli, Jenny Holzer, and Frank Gehry [NYTimes T Magazine]
Christie’s abandons its plan to establish an art-investment fund and a lending division [Bloomberg]
In related, Leibovitz creditor Goldman Sachs has stepped in to help negotiate the photographer’s financial troubles with Art Capital Group [Artforum]
The recession in the art world has not stopped bartering of valuable works between contemporaries [TimesUK]

Creative Time’s short shorts for sale at Creative Time

Creative Time is selling limited edition short shorts, and the campy video is here [CreativeTime via Artnet on Twitter]
On collecting phenomenon Herb and Dorthy Vogel’s gift of 50 works to 50 US States [Wall Street Journal]
Interpol allows online access to its 34,000 work database of stolen art [ArtDaily]
In related, roughly 1,000 Alberto Giacometti counterfeit sculptures seized in Germany [GlobeandMail]

Dasha Zhukova via Style.com

Dasha Zhukova, rumored pregnant with 2008 top collector Roman Abramovich’s child, as new editor of Pop magazine has a Damien Hirst work on the cover [NYMag]
Russian oligarchs invest enough money in the Constructivist and Suprematist art of the beginning of 20th century to provoke forgeries, more than half of items bought of these movements are reported to be inauthentic [The Independent]
In related, as Princeton Architectural Press claims to have discovered Frida Kahlo’s lost archive, scholars involved with the artist’s work refute the possibility of it being authentic [GuardianUK]
A new high intensity x-ray developed by Cornell University has already revealed a lost NC Wyeth illustration [ArtInfo]

Stephen Power’s Hold My Own Iverson’s Arm

2007 Fulbright Scholar Stephen Powers, known as ESPO, is completing his Love Letter project, comprised of murals by multiple artists stretching across his home town of Philadelphia that can be seen from one train [A Love Letter For You]
Shepard Fairey calls his decision to graffiti-proof the brick walls of his studio personal preference and rebutts claims of hypocrisy [Street Level] and separately he is to unveil a large scale mural produced by the gallery Country Club at Art Basel Miami Beach [ArtDaily]
Are Museums crossing the line by granting curatorship to corporations? [The New York Times]

Terence Koh’s window display at Opening Ceremony which reads “The Whole Family” via this hearts on fire

Terence Koh sends a very Terence Koh letter regarding his latest project with Opening Ceremony, a window installation [Hint]
On the relatively accessible yet potentially financially rewarding decision to invest in the works of MA students [The Guardian]
The Bortolami Gallery building is up for sale at $6.1 million by collector Adam Lindemann as Stefania Bortolami prepares to move to another location in Chelsea [Lindsay Pollack]
Matthew Barney and Bjork buy a four bedroom townhouse in Brooklyn Heights listed for $4.2 million [NYMag]

Eli Broad via Los Angeles Times

Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad for a while unwilling to shed details on his plan of building a new museum, speaks about its possible location in Beverly Hills and progress [Los Angeles Times]
A portrait and history of art–hotels, some of which today offer accommodations with works by artists such as Damien Hirst or Cy Twombly [Guardian]

Neo Rauch via Incident

Neo Rauch resigns as professor of painting at Leipzig School and is having is first solo show in London as part of “Leipzig week” [Art Review]
“Art in Empty Spaces” a program funded by Arts Council England’s grants, believes art can play a role in economic regeneration, hence helps artists transform vacant spaces into artistic ones [Art Daily]
Highly curated Hong Kong Sotheby’s sales will include works from Contemporary Chinese art, modern Chinese ink paintings and others and are estimated at $100 million [Auction Publicity]

Miuccia Prada and Germano Celant- an Italian curator and the director of her art initiatives via Photobucket

On Miuccia Prada’s significant art patronage, with her Milan Gallery exhibiting works of internationally acclaimed artists and discovering the unknown ones [This is London via Art Market Monitor]
Elizabeth Andrews- a Tate employee has lost her legal battle after having claimed her health has been made poor by the temperature in the gallery [BBC]

Computer rendering of new plan by for Parrish Art Museum via New York Times

In deference to today’s economy, the Parrish Art Museum’s upcoming Southampton home is to be a cheaper architectural alternative [New York Times]
Whitney is the latest major museum affected by recession to lay off staff members [Crain’s New York]
An insight into loaning artwork for exhibitions: the bureaucracy, negotiation and trust that go into the process of enabling art travel [Guardian]
Los Angeles Times publishes an open letter from Martin Scorsese addressing LACMA and their decision to stop the weekend film program- a tradition that goes back 40 years [Los Angeles Times]

Pablo Picasso, Les Deux Femmes Nues via Auction Publicity

A detailed review of Christie’s bi-annual sale to be held in September, including works by Ernst, Picasso, Warhol among others [Auction Publicity]
12 artists’ plans from a pool of over 2,000 proposals will have a chance to be realized in London, the competition is currently down to 59 [Art Daily]
Works by Kandinsky- inspired Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and The Blue Rider in Performance are commissioned by Guggenheim to show during the Vasily Kandinsky exhibit [Guggenheim]

A phone camera photo of Ai Weiwei posted on Twitter of police in his hotel’s hallways via Trunc

Ai Weiwei among those experiencing problems with the Chinese authorities for attempting to testify on a trial against a civil rights advocate [The New York Times]
The Independent attributes the recent higher sales of works by Old Masters versus contemporary artists in Christie’s and Sotheby’s to the recession [Independent]

Michael Jackson by Andy Warhol via BBC

Andy Warhol Painting of Michael Jackson commissioned by Times magazine dates back to 1984 and is being auctioned at a starting bid of $800,000 in Vered Gallery in LA [Los Angeles Times]
Mysterious art dealer receives $26.5 million for enabling the transaction of Rothko sale for a self-proclaimed victim of Bernard Madoff’s scheme [Bloomberg]
Yet another Gagosian Gallery will open, this time in Greece, 3 Merlin Street in Athens will now house the gallery with its inaugural show titled “Leaving Paphos Ringed With Waves” [Lindsay Pollock via Culture Monster]

Food Fight staged by Duke Riley on the reflecting pool in Queens on Thursday via The New York Times

“Those About to Die Salute You” an unscripted art event organized by Duke Riley took place in Queens on Thursday night [The New York Times] more here [New York Magazine]
Antony Gormley’s fourth plinth art project had a nude man as a participant, but he was asked to cover up in order to avoid arrest [Guardian]
Géricault’s “The Raft of the Medusa” examined in its sculptural, architectural and historical influences by Spiegelman [The Wall Street Journal]
25 Year old Kate Levant’s art is shown at Zach Feuer Gallery in New York, after Yale dean refuses to showcase her idea of Red cross conducting a Blood Drive inside the gallery space [New York Magazine]

Portrait of Pastor Swalmius, Rembrandt via BBC

Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp restores the “Portrait of Pastor Swalmius” and discovers it is Rembrandt’s creation, as such, the value of the work increases from $1.4 million to $28 million [BBC]
Russian Minister of Culture, looking for $100m to fund the development of a museum of contemporary art in Moscow, turns both to governmental support and private investors [Art Info]
The destruction in fire of Peggy Cafritz’ Collection mourned not only by her, but also by museums and galleries that recognized its value [The New York Times]
This Thursday night, Artist Duke Riley planning a naval battle for Queens Museum of Art gets support from volunteers, the event titled “Those About To Die Salute You” promises to be the city’s art party of the summer [Wall Street Journal]
A major site-specific sculpture installation by Anish Kapoor will be at Guggenheim for the Museum’s 50th anniversary [Guggenheim]
An $150,000 Philadelphia art prize announces finalists and boasts being the largest prize given for visual arts in a juried competition [Art Review]
In related, The Kandinsky Prize, the most important Contemporary art prize in Russia, will be showing works in London and will coincide with the Frieze Art Fair [Art Daily]

Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa via Louvre

A woman threw a tea cup at Mona Lisa in Louvre, as the painting hangs behind a bullet proof glass it is not damaged, the woman is taken to a psychiatric word [CNN]
Rocco Landesman’s pending appointment as the head of National Endowment for the Arts has been confirmed by US Senate [Los Angeles Times]
Elizabeth Andrews, a gallery supervisor, intends to file a lawsuit against the Tate Modern regarding its cold temperature contributing to her deteriorating health as she is forced to move there from Tate Britain [Art Review]

Bruce Nauman via Sperone Westwater

A plane will perform Bruce Nauman’s Skywriting Project on September 12 in Pasadena, 40 years after the idea’s conception [Artforum]
3 months after its inauguration, MoCA China runs out of money and Mr. Aranita, its founder flees to Hawaii leaving his ex-girlfriend and only legal partner to deal with his many debts [Art Newspaper]
After Ryan McGinley spent two months in caves of North America for photo shoots, his Manhattan food choices are documented by New York Magazine [Grub Street]

Unicorn The Child’s Dream, Damien Hirst via Guardian

Damien Hirst’s vitrine “The Child’s Dream” will become a part of Tate St Ives exhibition titled “The Dark Monarch” starting 10 October [Art Daily]
After Sotheby’s profit declines 87%, William Sheridan, its Financial Officer, claims that art prices and sales have bottomed [Bloomberg]
Due in part to failed relationship with Sotheby’s, Stephen Ranger resigns as president of Toronto auction house Ritchies, as the auction house lays off its entire staff of 25 people [CBC]

Presidio, San Francisco – a historical site where Fisher planned to build a museum via LAT

Gap founder Donald Fisher’s immense collection of art may not be available to public in San Francisco, since his plan of building a museum in Presidio has been opposed by the preservationists [Los Angeles Times]
With rent prices dropping almost to half of what they used to be, art dealers open galleries in the Hamptons where their clients spend Summers [The Art Newspaper]
To stop graffiti artists, Rome’s Mayor tries to pass a new law which assumes not only fines but also mandates cleaning up the defaced walls [Life in Italy]
In reaction to decline of art donations, senator Charles Schumer tries to pass a bill making donating tax-advantageous [Wall Street Journal]
Christie’s in collaboration with Pierre Bergé and Associates announce the second Yves Saint Laurent auction estimated to raise $3-4 million for H.I.V research and in related Sotheby’s 4 November, 2009 sale will include seven Impressionist paintings from the Durand-Ruel collection [Auction Publicity]

Newport Mill transformed into an exhibition space via The Moment

Enormous old mill in New Hampshire is transformed by William Ruger into an exhibition space where an inaugural show “H2O Film on Water” will be held [The Moment]
Ryan McGinness is commissioned to create his first site-specific work to celebrate the opening of a new wing in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts [Art Info]
The 5 star Hotel Marienbad in Berlin accepts artwork as a form of payment as long as artists are not local [Guardian]
Glenn D. Lowry, the director of MoMA took a voluntary pay cut and yet managed to be the highest paid Museum Director in the six US museums with biggest budgets, landing $1.32 million for the fiscal year [The New York Times]
Funded by team owners, 14 site-specific works are created by prominent contemporary artists including Olafur Eliasson for the Dallas Cowboys Stadium [The Art Newspaper]

A Jeff Koons sculpture causing consternation to the owner’s neighbors, via Curbed

A hedge-fund king adorns his Upper East Side penthouse terrace with a huge sculpture of a diamond by Jeff Koons [NY Post]
In related: Two interviews where Jeff Koons speaks about his work, financial troubles due to custody battle after divorce and art market [Art Market Monitor]

At the Ace Hotel via New York Magazine

The new ACE Hotel in New York has commissioned a mural of 4,000 graffiti stickers collected in New York by the Bronx-born artist, Michael Anderson [New York Magazine]
Lehman Brothers selling its corporate art collection to contribute to the bankrupt company coffers [Bloomberg]

Terence Koh in in a wedding dress via Supreme Management

Terence Koh gets married to Garrick Gott in a wedding dress like his mother once wore [Supreme Management]

T-shirt, Terence Koh’s design via Pipeline

In related, “Hand-finished” limited edition T-shirts with a bullet scar by Terence Koh are now in sale at the Opening Ceremony [Pipeline]
Robert Stevens’ film depicting animal cruelty starts a lawsuit resulting in a debate around free speech in art community [Artinfo]

Nate Lowman at the Hydra Workshop via C-Monster

The artsy jet-set on the Greek Isle at the Hydra Workshop presenting works by New York “bad boy,” Nate Lowman [Hydra Workshop via C-Monster]
Auction Houses face a dilemma as the previously bullish market reduced the supply of quality works to a growing market [NY Times]
The Tate Britain is looking for a director [e-flux]

A rendering of Pier 57 via Hudson River Park River Trust

Youngwoo’s proposal will bring in the Phillips auction house to turn part of Pier 57  into contemporary art galleries, the Tribeca Film Festival will program a movie theater and a two-acre park will be built on the pier’s roof [The New York Observer]
Reduced rents, spurred by a difficult economic climate, cause such galleries in L.A. as Gagosian, Blum & Poe, Susanna Vielmetter, and Cherry and Martin Roberts & Tilton to expand in Culver City [Art Review]

Zhang Huan to design Semele via Art Knowledge News

KT Wong Foundation commissions Chinese artist Zhang Huan to design and direct Semele opera in Belgium’s leading Opera House [Art Knowledge News]
French street artist, known as Zevs, arrested for painting a dripping Chanel logo above Armani boutique in Hong Kong; prosecutors ask for $861,000 to replace the affected facade [South China Morning Post]
Buyers battered by a credit crisis look for bargains in contemporary art, works by artists born post-1945 may be a smart investment [The Wall Street Journal]

The Fifer, Manet via Artinfo

While Musée D’Orsay is partially closed, de Young Museum in San Francisco will host two landmark exhibitions of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art from the vast collection of the French museum [Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco]
The Palm Springs Art Museum’s contemporary art collection grows with a gift of 116 works by 66 artists including Donald Judd, Louise Bourgeois and Gary Hume [Los Angeles Times]

Cindy Sherman on cover of Men’s Vogue via Art is Alive

Cindy Sherman, on the cover of L’Uomo Vogue [Art is Alive]
An interesting editorial on the issue of London’s National Portrait Gallery battling Wikipedia for uploading the copyrighted reproductions of their collection [The Wall Street Journal]
Sam Taylor-Wood’s debut film, a John Lennon biopic, to close the London film festival [TimesUK]

Louvre, FIAC hosted at Louvre, Cour Carree and Grand Palais via Erco

In Paris the 36th edition of FIAC brings together 196 modern art and contemporary galleries from 21 countries [Art Daily]
In related, the Musée du Louvre launches the English version of its online collections database [NY Times]
Rocco Landesman awaits confirmation for his position as a chairman-designate to National Endowment for the Arts and is likely to start the job on firmer ground than any of his recent predecessors [The New York Times]

The Wassaic Project via The New York Times

The Wassaic Project, an elevator grain converted into an art gallery, attracts art and young curators to the small town Northeast of New York [The New York Times]
The Downtown branch of the Whitney museum designed by Renzo Piano should be ready in 2012 [The Villager]

Exhibition View, Chapman Brothers faux show Good News! at Orel Art. Via Times Online

British Art Brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman’s fake identities, art movement, and exhibition as Russian artists is on view after a quiet opening [TimesUK]
Gallery owners reveal the difficulties of running their business in times of the economic crisis [Forbes], yet some of L.A.’s resilient galleries find opportunities in the crisis: such as reduced rent [Los Angeles Times]

Wassily Kandinsky’s ‘Dramatic and Mild,’ estimated to sell between $6-8 million at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Fall Auction via ArtDaily

Part of the Arthur Sackler Collection is to be auctioned this fall by Sotheby’s, including a rare Kandinsky painting [ArtDaily]
Christie’s sales fell 35% in the first half of the year, though the auction house accounts for 61% of all global auction sales [Bloomberg] and a breakdown of Christie’s first half results [Art Market Monitor]

Cindy Sherman’s self-portait for Vogue

Cindy Sherman takes a self-portrait for Vogue in couture, parodying the magazine’s many domestic fashion spreads [Vogue via Economist]

Basquiat Reeboks via Solediction

Reebok releases a line of high tops featuring the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat [Solediction]
A charity auction in September to raise funds for orphans in Africa will featureworks by prominent YBAs such as Tracey Emin and Antony Gormley, as well as David Bowie, while also including work by South African artists like Marlene Dumas as well as emerging artists [Independent]

The bike Damien Hirst designed for Lance Armstrong to ride in the last stage of the Tour de France via Daily Mail

PETA outraged over Damien Hirst’s use of dead butterfly wings on Lance Armstrong’s bike [Daily Mail]
Richard Prince buys a townhouse on the Upper East Side for $11.5 million [NY Observer]
The pop-up Lola Gallery opens in Southampton [Vanity Fair]

Bill Viola’s ‘Ocean Without a Shore,’ which premiered at the church of San Gallo at the 2007 Venice Biennale via FAD

Bill Viola has been commissioned to create two altarpieces for permanent display in St Paul’s Cathedralin London [FAD]
A new program offers a master’s degree in international art crime [NY Times]
Chelsea art dealers predict that the presence of the High Line will kill the art scene there [Artnet]

Billionaire art collector Eli Broad via Forbes

Forbes names the top ten billionaire art collectors, including François Pinault, Eli Broad, and David Geffen [Forbes]
In related, Vice Chairman of Forbes, Christopher “Kip” Forbes, selling 36 works through private transactions [Bloomberg]
In further related, a growing number of collectors prefer private transactions, the publicity can come after the deal is made [Bloomberg]

Carsten Höller at the Double Club, Via Guardian

Carsten Höller’s Double Club  “modern day Studio 54” moving to Paris from London [Guardian]
As visitors wait in line for up to 3 hours, the Banksy show in Bristol extends its visiting hours into the evening [Evening Standard]

Will Cotton’s studio via Whitewall

A look inside Will Cotton’s studio [Whitewall]
Tracey Emin tells in her interview the difficulties she had to face: from tapeworm to family troubles [Times Online]
An interview with Eric Fischl on 9/11 and bull fighting in his Soho studio [Artnet]
An almost conclusively thorough article on Dash Snow [NY Times]

Dash Snow and his daughter Secret via TinyVices

Following Dash Snow’s untimely death early last Tuesday morning, articles such as this one from The Guardian labeled Snow as an “art icon.”   The Independent cited the artist as “a mythical hero of an artistic underworld.”   There was a cynical editorial on Dash Snow from Canada [Toronto Star via Art Market Monitor]   And within 48 hours of Dash Snow’s death, New York Magazine speculated on the market for his work, and later that that his work might be pulled from an charity auction in Watermill next weekend. Terence Koh dedicated a performance in the UK [The Moment] and Brazilian street art duo OS Gemeos dedicated their Houston and Bowery mural to the artist [NYMag] There was an extensive image collection of the artist and his work from Tiny Vices. and finally a eulogy from the artist’s friend Glenn O’Brien [Purple-Diary]

A work by John Baldessari via the Tate

The Tate Modern will launch a major John Baldessari retrospective, his first in the UK, on October 13th [Tate]
Bob and Roberta Smith and Wolfgang Tillmans will be Tate trustees [FAD]

Zevs bombing the Armani store with his dripping Chanel Trademark via SlamXHype

Graffitti artist Zevs arrested in Hong Kong before a major gallery show [SlamXHype]
In related, 3 are arrested for conducting a counterfeit Banksy printing operation [The Art Collectors]

A mockup of London’s Playing the Building installation via David Byrne.com

David Byrne reprises his downtown New York Playing The Building sound in architecture installation at London’s Roundhouse August 8th through the 31st [Roundhouse.org]

The video for Madonna’s ‘Candyshop,’ featuring video by Marilyn Minter via YouTube

Marilyn Minter’s Green Pink Caviar is used as a video backdrop for Madonna’s song “Candyshop” [Artnet]

A rendering of Herzog de Meuron’s expansion to the Tate Modern via World Architecture News

Much publicized plans to expand the British Museum and the Tate could be tabled as funds come into question [TimesUK]
A look at some of the recent graduates and potential YBA’s at Goldmith’s degree show in London [GuardianUK]

Olafur Eliasson speaks about using space and light via Ted

An engaging video of Olafur Eliason speaking about perception [Ted]
The Wall Street Journal has an excerpt from the book Provenance, which documents one of the greatest cons in the history of art forgery [Wall Street Journal]

Lawrence Salander via Bloomberg

Lawrence B. Salander was arrested for the 2nd time for what the Manhattan District Attorney called the biggest art fraud in New York history [Bloomberg]
A video interview with American painter Ellsworth Kelly [The Art Newspaper]

Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova via Fashion Week Daily

According to rumors, Moscow curator Dasha Zhukova and 2008 mega-collector Roman Abramovich have split [Fashion Week Daily]
Christie’s has an iPhone app, offering access to its calendar and catalogs, and soon a live-bidding component [Guardian]

Simon de Pury via Harpers Bazaar

Simon de Pury, chairman of the auction house Phillips de Pury revealed as Judge on the upcoming Bravo/Sara Jessica Parker art-world reality show [NY Times] and video of the around-the-block line in New York to apply to be on the show recently [NYArtBeat]

Os Gemeos at work on their mural in at Houston and Elizabeth via The Art Collectors

Brazilian street art duo Os Gemeos are completing a mural on the corner of Houston and Bowery in New York on the site of the Keith Haring tribute memorial [The Art Collectors]
A rare interview with Bruce Nauman after he was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale [The Art Newspaper]
The British Museum has raised 2/3 of the $200 million for its new Herzog & de Meuron-designed wing [Bloomberg]

Hirst’s recurring butterfly imagery adorns Lance Armstrong’s bike frame via Designweek

With perhaps one of the more thought provoking of the Livestrong bike creations, Damien Hirst has designed the bike Lance Armstrong will use during the final stage of the Tour de France with his recurring mortality metaphor of butterflies [Galerie Perrotin]
A breakdown of ArtNews’s Top 200 Collectors: 81% collect contemporary, 34% collect modern, 9% collect Impressionist, and 9% collect Old Masters [ArtNews]

Digital rendering of Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne’s menagerie on New York’s Park Avenue via NY Times

From Sept. 13 through Nov. 20, Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne’s animal menagerie will adorn the medians between 52nd and 57th Streets in Midtown Manhattan [NY Times]

Franz West’s The Ego and the Id via the The Public Art Fund

In related, Franz West’s 20 foot ‘The Ego and the Id’ will be installed Central Park at 5th Ave & 60th tomorrow, on loan from Amalia Dayan and Adam Lindemann through March [PublicArtFund]
BBC1 announces a four-part documentary focusing on Picasso, Dali, Matisse and Warhol, airing next year [BBC]
The Castlestone art fund is buying Post War art from deceased and non-producing artists such as Picasso and Warhol as it posits that pricing has dropped 20-40% from last year [International Advisor via ArtMarketMonitor] and a related email gaffe from Castlestone [ArtNewspaper]

Performance view of Anselm Kiefer’s ‘Am Anfang’ via Opera de Paris

German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer directed and designed, ‘Am Anfang,’ or ‘At the Beginning,’ for the Opera de Bastille in Paris, is currently running [TheGuardian]
In related, contemporary artist Zhang Huan will design and direct a 250 year anniversary production of Handel’s Semele in Brussels for the 2009/10 season [ArtDaily]

A new Banksy mural in Africa via SlamxHype

A number of Banksy murals in Africa have popped up, possibly in Mali [World’s Best Ever] and related, 120,000 have visited the artist’s exhibition in his hometown of Bristol [BBC Bristol via FAD]
Charles Saatchi has replaced his Abstract America show his Kings Road gallery for an installation promoting the Jaguar XJ [Vogue]

John Morton at the site of his sound installation in Central Park via NY Times

A pedestrian tunnel in Central Park is the site of an immersive sound installation by John Morton [NY Times]
A brush fire near Getty Center caused Getty museum officials to evacuate 1,600 visitors and 800 employees [LA Times]

Michael Jackson series by Andy Warhol via ArtDaily

A portrait of Michael Jackson by Andy Warhol is dropped from a NY auction after overwhelming inquiries [ArtDaily]
Phillips de Pury & Company is launching a series of new theme auctions, including 21st century art and “New York, New York” [Artdaily]
Abu Dhabi Art, a new art fair, will debut in November [Artinfo]

A “plinther” participant in Antony Gormley’s One & Other via The Guardian

Antony Gormley’s ‘One&Other’ continues its 100-day run on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square in London [One & Other (livefeed)]
In related participatory British art, 23 museum visitors sufferred minor injuries during Robert Morris’s recent Bodyspacemotionthings reprisal at the Tate Modern [ArtInfo]
The Tate announces the judges of the 2010 Turner Prize [The Art Newspaper]

A sculpture of horses and a carriage at Versailles by Xavier Veilhan via artcollc

On September 13, Xavier Veilhan will follow in Jeff Koons’s footsteps by bringing contemporary sculpture to the Chateau de Versailles [ArtCoLLC]
On the lack of transparency in the art market reflected in this year’s Art Basel [Economist]
An interview with Chuck Close in which he discusses how his perceptive disabilities are reflected in his work [Wall Street Journal]

A still from Deadpan by Steve McQueen via the GuardianUK

Beginning July 1st, Creative Time will present Turner Prize winner and current UK Venice Biennale representative Steve McQueen’s Deadpan on the MTV screen in Times Square [Creative Time]
Parkett Art magazine marks 25 years this June 25th in Chelsea, NY [EFlux]
Conceptual artist Dan Graham is speaking at 192 Books in Chelsea, New York on Wednesday, July 1 [192Books.com]

Trafalgar Square’s empty fourth plinth, which will host Antony Gormley’s ‘One & Other’ via Guardian UK

The first round of participants have been announced for Antony Gormley’s living statue project: ‘One & Other,’ on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth in ondon [BBC]

A previous installation of Terracotta Army via VisitStHelens

In related, Anthony Gormley sets up his 40,000 figure “Terracotta Army” in a Devon, UK barn [TelegraphUK]
Dartmouth receives a $50 million donation to support the visual arts [Dartmouth]
Architect Richard Meier is designing major expansion for the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills [LA Times]

Picasso’s ‘Le Moulin de la Galette’ owned by the Guggenheim, allegedly sold under Nazi duress, via Artnet

Judge issues written memo chastizing MoMA and Guggenheim and heirs of Nazi victim for secret settlement over two Picasso paintings in restitution case [Bloomberg]
The Whitney kept it festive this week for its annual Art Party and auction in West Soho, New York [Park Avenue Peerage]
Behind the scenes shots of the making of Banksy’s Bristol exhibition [The WorldsBestEver]

‘Screentest’ for designer Adam Kimmel’s new campaign via Hint

Black and white films and stills by Andy Warhol’s long-time assistant Gerard Malanga from Designer Adam Kimmel’s look book, exhibited at Thaddeus Ropac gallery, feature art world figures Matthew Barney, Francesco Clemente, Ryan McGinley, Dan Colen, Aaron Young and Nate Lowman [AdamKimmel]

Still from Brett Gorvy’s interview with Andy Warhol’s assistant, Gerard Malanga, via Christie’s

In related (to the Kimmel story), Christie’s Brett Gorvy speaks Gerard Malanga on Warhol’s ‘Death and Disaster’ series [Christie’s via Art Market Monitor]

Moody’s, which currently has Sotheby’s bonds below investment grade placed its debt on review for a possible downgrade [Bloomberg] More on the damage to Sotheby’s profits here [ArtNewspaper]
Guy Bennett, co-head of Christie’s Impressionist and Modern art department worldwide, resigns [NY Times]
Christie’s begins more salary cuts [Bloomberg]
Citing financial difficulties, Bellwether Gallery closes after a ten year run [Art Fag City]
the Art Institute of Chicago lays off 20 staff members [Chicago Tribune via Artsjournal]
With its endowment down by 18%, the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum will lay off 25 full-time staff [CrainsNewYork]
Art museum attendance in the US is down 23%-26% [ArtReview]
And a summary on the methods New York galleries are using to deal with the recession [NYTimes]

Damien Hirst’s ‘For the Love of God’ via Artinfo

Ukrainian collector Viktor Pinchuk, who is currently hosting Damien Hirst’s retrospective in Kiev, is revealed as the fourth stakeholder in the artist’s platinum, diamond-encrusted skull, which has yet to sell despite a £35 million offer from Alberto Mugrabi [The Art Newspaper]
in related, Fiats decorated by Hirst have had little problem selling at a London charity auction [Art Review]
Two proposed tax-free ports in Paris and Singapore aim to revolutionize international art handling [NY Times]

Roxy Paine with one of his ‘Dendroid’ sculptures via Artinfo

National Gallery of Art commissions a Roxy Paine ‘Dendroid’ sculpture [National Gallery of Art via Artnet]
Art Basel’s Marc Spiegler says that now is an essential time for collectors to buy work from galleries to support artists and local art scenes [ArtInfo]
In conjunction with Saatchi, the Times lists top 200 artists of the 20th century with Picasso and early Modernists at the front [TimesUK]
Three arts professionals describe how they collect for their own homes [Financial Times]

Sam Francis, Grey, the subject of an auction dispute at Christie’s

Shipping magnate Gregory Callimanopulos appealing court decision in auction dispute with Christie’s and Broad Art Foundation over Sam Francis’ ‘Grey’ [ArtForum]
Art during the Nazi regime: Van Meegeren and Göring, forgery and thievery [New York Times]
Unusual Renoir painting recovered in Venice 25 years after it was stolen [Artinfo]

Edward Hopper, Rooms by the Sea, recently acquired by Yale University. via ArtDaily

Yale University counter-sued over Van Gogh painting ‘The Night Café,’ seized during the Communist takeover of Russia [Bloomberg.com].
In related, Yale University Art Gallery acquires Edward Hopper preparatory drawings ‘Rooms by the Sea’ and ‘Western Motel and the Study’ [ArtDaily]
Young collectors pooling resources and sharing art [Financial Times]

Pablo Picasso’s Homme à l’épée for sale in London. via The Telegraph.

€7 – 10 millionv notebook of Picasso sketches discovered stolen from the Picasso museum in Paris [ArtDaily]
and in related, two ‘Musketeer’ paintings by the artist to be auctioned at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, respectively [The TelegraphUK]
As early as 2010, the Louvre may be at risk financially, despite a wave of acquisitions totaling an estimated  €38 million [NYTimes]

Andreas Gursky’s ‘James Bond Island III’ via FOTO8

An interview of Andreas Gursky in which he speaks of scaling down his monumental prints, the influence Bernd and Hilla Becher, and working with North Korea [FOTO8]
Vito Acconci closes his studio, citing cash flow troubles [The Architect’s Newspaper via ArtInfo]

Massimiliano Gioni navigates Venice during the Biennale opening via NY Times

Following curator and critic Massimiliano Gioni and his various party obligations at the Venice Biennale [NY Times]
Points on whether or not the recession is indeed good for art [GuardianUK]
Gagosian has hired Richard Meier to double the space in his Los Angeles Gallery [The Art Newspaper]

62 Imlay Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, recently leased by Christie’s for storage

Christie’s leases a building for storage in Red Hook, in what is likely one of the largest real estate deals in Brooklyn this year [Brownstoner]
A guide to investing in contemporary art in current market conditions [NY Times]
Sotheby’s London Russian Art Evening Sale totals £7.9m with 17 of 28 lots sold [Art Market Monitor]

Video of Banksy’s exhibition in Bristol via BBC

Banksy secretly sets up exhibition in Bristol museum [BBC]
Beginning June 16, 2009 the Metropolitan Museum of Art will display ‘The Torment of Saint Anthony,’ now widely believed to be Michelangelo’s first painting, before it goes to its new home at Kimball Museum in Texas [ArtDaily]

Picasso’s Château de Vauvenargues via Artinfo

Picasso’s Château will open to the public this summer [Artinfo]
Billionaire collector Eli broad contends that the downturn in the art market has bottomed [Bloomberg]
Christie’s similarly calls a leveling off of the art market’s downshift [Reuters]

Tracey Emin’s ‘Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1996’ via The Independent

In an act that summons issues of appropriation of artistic works, the Chapman brothers, just before Tracey Emin’s White Cube show in London,  announce an unauthorized rebuild of Emin’s infamous tent which was destroyed by the same 2004 art storage warehouse fire that burned their work as well [The Independent]
Damien Hirst is looking for identical twins to sit in front of his spot paintings for 100 days in the Tate Modern [Boing Boing]
A Q&A with Michael Moses, co-creator of the Mei Moses Fine Art Index [Monocle]

Video from the opening of Museum Brandhorst in Munich via Vernissage TV

Video: The Museum Brandhorst, home of the Udo and Anette Brandhorst Collection, opens in Munich [Vernissage TV]
A couple volunteers to move their house into Miami MOCA for a Fritz Haeg work [Tuscaloosa News via Art in America]

Sanyu’s ‘Cat and Birds’ via Christie’s set a record at auction for Chinese oils

Hong Kong auctions small but strong [Bloomberg]
and in related, ART HK 09 successful despite market jitters and swine flu fears [Artforum]

Takeshi Murakami’s ‘The Emergence of God at the Reversal of Fate’ via SLAMXHYPE

A piece from Murakami that is 5 years in the making will be unveiled in Venice on the eve of the Biennale’s opening [Slamxhype]
Warhol authentication battle moves closer to trial [Art Newspaper]

Rendering of Jean Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi via LA Times

Construction begins on Jean Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi, expected to be completed in 2012 or 2013 [LA Times]

Edouard Manet’s ‘The Bohemian’ at Louvre Abu Dhabi via NY Times

In related, Carol Vogel gives a preview of what is to be exhibited the Louvre Abu Dhabi [NY Times] 
and in further related, some of the works in the collection were bought in this spring’s Yves St. Laurent auction at Christie’s [Financial Times]

Kehinde Wiley’s ‘Jerry Valdes, After Titian’s (Tiziano Vecellio)’ via WSJ

Kehinde Wiley releases his first book of photographs [WallSreetJournal]
Indicted old masters dealer Larry Salander takes a job at an upstate NY gallery, selling his own paintings for $100 [Bloomberg]

Richard Serra, out-of-the-round X (1999). Album cover for Sunn O))), Monoliths & Dimensions (2009) via Frieze

Richard Serra’s work used for cover of SunnO)))’s new album Monoliths & Dimensions [Frieze]
and in related, Serra receives an honorary degree from alma mater Yale [AP]
and in further related, Yale is involved in a lawsuit over Van Gogh’s ‘The Night Café,’ allegedly stolen by the Soviet government in the 1920s [Hartford Courant via Art Market Monitor]

James Turrell’s ‘Unseen Blue’ at the James Turrell Museum via WSJ

A look at the newly-opened James Turrell Museum in Colomé, Argentina [WSJ]
A look at outsized artworks at this year’s Art Basel, featuring Sigmar Polke, Nan Goldin, Banks Violette and others [Artdaily]
and related, Frieze Art Fair announces it program for this October [Frieze]

David Zwirner via Art Info

An interview with power gallerist David Zwirner [WSJ] and more here [WSJ]
Jerry Saltz on the controversial Adel Abdessemed video of animals killing animals on display at David Zwirner [NYMag]
The Turner Prize Shortlist is announced [ArtDaily]
ArtPrize out of Grand Rapids, Michigan will award nearly $1/2 million to its winners [ArtPrize]
Art Basel announces eight works for its public art projects [ArtDaily]
A walk through Peter Brant’s new contemporary exhibition space in Greenwich, complete with a Jeff Koons sighting [NewYorker]

An annotated view of Roxy Paine’s ‘Maelstrom’ at the Met’s Roof Garden [NYMagazine]

A self portrait of Vincent Van Gogh

Book asserts that Paul Gauguin and his sword were the cause of Van Gogh’s lost ear[NYTimes] and more here’ [TelegraphUK]

A self-portrait of Paul Gauguin

And a refute of the assertion here [Bloomberg] and another non-believer here [GuardianUK]

Art Collector Nicolas Berggruen

Nicolas Berggruen to open private museum in Berlin [ArtNewspaper]
The Getty Museum will cut 205 people from its work force [NYTimes]
Sotheby’s cuts its dividends and plans to cut more jobs [Bloomberg]
Art + Auction publisher Louise T. Blouin MacBain cuts executive salaries [NYPost]

A work by Nam June Paik via  albrightknox.org

The Smithsonian receives the complete Nam June Paik archives [ArtInfo]

‘Burn, Baby, Burn’ by Roberto Matta

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has acquired a 10′ x 30′ work by Roberto Matta [CultureMonster]

JR in Brazil

JR shows up in Brazil with more installations [WoosterCollective]
California Judge dismisses suit against MOCA regarding Takashi Murakami prints [LATimes]
NYTimes has an article on the resurgence of private sales amidst high profile failures at auctions [NYTimes]
New York Magazine on opportunities to be had in the art world [NYMag]
And an anonymous forecast on artists by their contemporaries [NYMag]
Impressionist works and their value [Economist]

The James Turrell Museum of the Hess Art Collection in Argentina

James Turrell Museum of the Hess Art Collection opens its 18,000 sf space in Argentina, almost 8,000 sf above sea level [Reuters]
The Tate galleries issue over 400 video and audio lectures, talks, debates for free on iTunes [Apple]
A video look inside the studio of Jeff Koons [Tate]
Bruce Nauman in his studio, in anticipation of his representing the US in Venice [NYTimes]

Portrait of Nicholas Roerich via Reuters

Despite the above portrait of Nicholas Roerich by his son fetching $2.9M, close to 3x its high estimate of $1.1 million, sales of Russian art in New York by Sotheby’s and Christie’s clear an unsubstantial $27 million versus last year’s $64 million [Reuters]
Is the value of the work of Richard Prince particularly at risk in this recession? [Portfolio]
Angus Murray launches Castlestone’s $50M Modern Art Fund [Portfolio Advisor]

Damien Hirst with The Hours and the painting he created for their album cover via The GuardianUK

Win the £125,000 orignal painting Damien Hirst made for The Hours’ new album cover [GuardianUK]
MoMA sued by heirs of George Grosz over three works the artist left behind when fleeing Nazi Germany [NY Times]
In related, Austrian city of Linz may return $15 million Gustav Klimt to Holocaust victim [Bloomberg]

A shot of the scene sans Mona Lisa via Vanity Fair

A excerpt from a new book on the famous theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911 [Vanity Fair]
A summary of how dramatically US Museums have been hit by the economic slowdown [ArtNewspaper]
In directly related, a timeline of Museums and the recession [ArtInfo]
The “hottest” art exhibitions of summer 2009 according to Times UK [TimesUK]
London usurps New York as top auction location for 2008, bolstered mainly by Damien Hirst’s Sotheby’s sale [ArtInfo via ArtFagCity]
The low profile nature of private sales causes them to rise in popularity due to the impact of public failure of sales at auction [NYTimes]

Saatchi-online’s billboard partnership with Clearchannel via ArtDaily

Clearchannel partners with Saatchi’s to promote through its billboards Saatchi-online’s commission-free online art sales [ArtDaily]
In related, The 10 winners of the Guardian/Saatchi art competition are announced [Guardian UK]
The world’s largest art prize, decided by vote, launches in Grand Rapids, Michigan [artprize.org]
The Park Avenue Armory in New York announces an annual commission for it’s Drill Hall, on May 14th its inaugural exhibition will be Ernesto Neto [ParkAvenueArmory]
Christie’s auction house creates a specific unit to divest of corporate art works [Crain’sNY]
On its 5th anniversary, the UK’s Art Council Initiative interest free loan program has supported a total of £10.5 million worth of arts purchases involving 12,500 people [Artscouncil]

Damien Hirst’s custom Harley-Davidson motorcycle via Motorcycle News

Damien Hirst creates a custom Harley Davidson for charity [Motorcycle News]
Lawsuit alleges fraud from Louis Vuitton in Murakami 2007-08 LA MOCA exhibition due to prints being merely “factory leftovers from handbag production” [LATimes]
In related, Murakami protege Mr. collaborates on a Lucien Pellat-Finet clothing collection [Hypebeast]
Following the National Portrait Gallery in London announcing its shortlist of three artists for the 2009 BP Portrait Award, an in-depth article on craft [IndependentUK]
Vacant retail locations as exhibition space in London [GuardianUK]

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Marc Drier

Marc Dreier, the powerful attorney indicted on fraud charges totaling nearly $700 million, revealed as a substantial client of Larry Gagosian [ArtLovesMoney]
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and in related: Chris Burden on his exhibition at Gagosian Los Angeles that became entangled in the Allen Stanford fraud case [New Yorker]
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Spurred by a spate of deaccessionings, New York State looks at a bill aimed at limiting museums’ art sales [NY Times]
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Yvon Lambert closes fledgling London branch [Bloomberg]
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in in other recession-related: facing a shrunken endowment, Getty cuts its budget by a quarter [LA Times]

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via Traileraddict.com

Steve McQueen’s first feature film, ‘Hunger,’ opens in New York at the IFC Film Center [IFC film Center]
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London sees a number of Russian women as a force in the contemporary art scene [Financial Times]

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Curators of ‘New Deal’ at the Art Production Fund gallery, Matthew Moravec, left, and Kyle Thurman via NY Times

In their early 20s, two curators present an exhibition of artists 19 to 26 years old for Yvonne Force Villareal’s Art Production Fund [NY Times]
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Christian Holstad’s installation at X Initiative via NY Magazine

Jerry Saltz reviews two new energetic galleries: The Boiler in Williamsburg and X Iniatiative in the old Dia space [NY Magazine]
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The European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht displays trust in Old Masters [The Art Newspaper]
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Hirst, Serra, Koons and others bring in exceed estimates and bring in $6 million at Paris charity auction [Bloomberg]
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Asian Art Week actions sell robustly at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s [Crain’s]
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Artprice publishes its top 10 ranking of artists based on auction revenue in 2008 [ArtPrice]

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A portrait of Yves Saint Laurent by Andy Warhol via artnet

Pierre Bergé withdraws four portraits of his partner, the late Yves Saint Laurent, from an Andy Warhol exhibition in Paris four days the opening [Artinfo]
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Fashion designer contextualized art is again resilient: Sotheby’s Gianni Versace sale greatly exceeds its estimates [Artdaily]
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Yale University files suit to claim ownership of Van Gogh, after self-proclaimed descendent of previous owner lay claim to the work [Associated Press]
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Director of SFMoMA sets example on how to tackle economic difficulty [NY Times]
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Jackie Wullschlager looks at three new books that explore Darwin’s influence on Modern art [Financial Times]
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Beacon in upstate New York is an art destination [NYTimes]

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Levi’s collaborates with Stefan Sagmeister on art series featuring its iconic 501 [PaperMag]
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and in related Lucien Pellat-Finet and Marc Quinn collaborate [Vogue]
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The Chapman Brothers direct new video for PJ Harvey and John Parish [NME]
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Michael Visocchi has won the 2009 Jerwood Sculpture Park Prize [BBC]
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and in related, Pipilotti Rist has been awarded the 2009 Joan Miro Prize [Artdaily]
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A work by Andrei Molodkin via artsblog.it

Andrei Molodkin, to represent Russia in the Venice Biennial, creates sculptures using human corpses rendered into crude oil [The Independent]
At the beginning of Asian week in New York, a case for the relative value of traditional Japanese art [Forbes]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art cuts more jobs [New York Times]

Neues Museum in Berlin via London Festival of Architecture

The Neues Museum in Berlin opens dramatic space designed by London architect David Chipperfield [New York Times]
Richard Prince denies reports that he is to donate his rare book and publications collection to the Morgan Library in New York [ArtInfo]

Rembrandt, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee one of the works stolen in the Gardner heist, via the Boston Globe

A new plea (with video) for leads leading to the return of  the $500 million worth of art stolen in Boston’s 1990 Gardner Museum  heist, which was the largest in history [Boston Globe via ArtsJournal]
Mary Boone is suing a collector and trustee of the Columbus Museum of Art to complete the sale of a Will Cotton work [Artnet News]

Anthony d’Offay via the GuardianUK

Anthony d’Offay interviewed, whose Artists Rooms tour begins in Edinburgh and was made possible from the selling of his vast collection for £26.5 million, an estimated 5th of its value [TheScotsman]
The balance of power between London vs Paris as art capitals altered perhaps by the recession [TimesUK]

Larry Gagosian via Askmen

An aggressive attempt to get the story behind Larry Gagosian, possibly the most influential yet enigmatic figure in the art world [NYTimes]

A Donald Judd installation in Marfa, TX via Drexel, University

On the stark, quirky, top art pilgrimage destination of Marfa, TX [Chicago Tribune]
Art is moving out of the hands corporations [FT]

After the Tate, New York on the Bowery, and a slum in Kenya, street artist JR appears in Cambodia [WoosterCollective via the World’s Best Ever]
Nick Cohen’s critique of Nicolas Bourriaud’s curated vision of a “globalised cultural state” at the Tate’s ‘Ultramodern’ [ObserverUK]

Initial work on Raven’s Row in London via RavensRow

Alex Sainsbury opens non-profit exhibition space Raven Row’s in London [FT]

Richard Prince via Interview

Richard Prince donates “one of the most valuable and distinctive modern libraries in private hands” [TimesUK]
The Museum of Modern Art has relaunched a decidedly more interactive website [FastCompany]

Bruce Nauman via National Gallery of Australia

Bruce Nauman will represent the United States [ArtDaily] and John Baldessari (and Yoko Ono) to be awarded the Golden Lions at the 53rd Venice Biennale this year [ArtInfo]

Charles Saatchi via the Times UK

Charles Saatchi grants a rare interview: “art is my only extravagance” and another interview from Turner Prize winning Film director Steve McQueen [TimesUK]

David Zwirner with Simon de Pury via the Swiss Institute

On the resilient and very active power dealer David Zwirner: “Many people have cash on hand and they are waiting for first-rate objects” [Bloomberg]

Maria Baibakova via the Guardian UK

On Maria Baibakova, young Russian heiress addition to the art world (not Daria “Dasha” Zhukova) [TheIndependent]
Will Gompertz on Joseph Beuys, his Duchampian influence and other noteworthy points such as the myth of the inception of his art at the hands of Tartars in the Crimean War [GuardianUK]

Richard Serra’s Equal Parallel: Guernica-Bengasi, 1986, returned to El Museo Nacional Centro de Art Reina Sofia, Madrid via Art Daily

Missing Sculptures by Richard Serra are replaced at El Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia [ArtDaily]
How Art Capital Group is providing liquidity backed by significant fine art [The New York Times]
A new book on the world’s largest unsolved art theft, the Gardner Museum Heist [Wall Street Journal]
A new Julian Schnabel-designed steak house back room? [NYMag]
The Moscow Art Fair has been postponed [Bloomberg]

A still from the Marcel Dzama video via Pitchfork

Animated Marcel Dzama for NASA’s video [TheWorldsBestEver]
The Prado’s conclusion that Colossus is not a Goya is brought into question [Wall Street Journal]
How the Brooklyn Museum’s Shelly Bernstein expands the institutions presence via internet outreach [New York Observer]
Francis Bacon, and a new exhbition in the unlikely city of his death [New York Times]
An agreement reached with further clarifies the collection boundaries between the UK’s National Gallery and the Tate [Guardian UK]

Assume Vivid Astro focus via the TheMoment

Assume Vivid Astro focus collaborates with the New York Times [TheMoment]
The last days of Soho’s Guild and Greyshkul gallery [New York Times]
A detailed new report on the growing impact of China, Russia, India and the Middle East in the global art market [ArtDaily]
How the fall of the art boom is useful to trim the movement of blockbuster art to the only fleetingly interested masses [Newsweek]
Mega dealer David Nahmad on the market’s rise and fall: “It’s almost a fraud. I would never advise my clients to buy contemporary art.” [IndependentUK]

Lucian Freud has painted a wine label for Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2006 [Forbes]
Sotheby’s reports $2.8 billion in sales in 2008 [ArtDaily]
UK Government cuts VAT taxes after court rules that video and light art is sculpture in a case involving Dan Flavin and Bill Viola works imported by Haunch of Venison [The Art Newspaper]
How the Whitney recently benefited from the weakness of the corporate system [NYTimes]
The Times UK and Saatchi Gallery begin a top 200 artist survey with results to be announced in May [TimesUK]

Antony Gormley photographed at White Cube last year, via the Independent

New Antony Gormley sculpture unveiled in Oxford city centre, atop Exeter College [BBC]
6 Vice video interviews with artist Vito Acconci [VBS]
KAWS interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning News [The World’s Best Ever]
Sarah Lucas and Oliver Garbay produce a provocative 750 page alphabet book [Times UK]

For the Love of Gold by Eugenio Merino, via Supertouch

Damien Hirst suicide sculpture ‘For the love of Gold’ causes a stir at Madrid art fair [Supertouch]
Rita Ackermann’s 10-year old daughter opens first solo art show at Half Gallery in NYC [The Moment]
ArtTactic Survey indicates declining confidence in Chinese contemporary artists and value of their works [Bloomberg]
Park Avenue Armory launches commission within by its Drill Hall, Ernesto Neto will be the first [ArtDaily]

A JR work last year at the Tate Modern via the Worlds Best Ever

A profile of JR, a street artist of ambitious scale, hailed as ‘hippest street artist since Banksy’ and, who is according to Sotheby’s Contemporary head is currently “unbelievably hot” [Times UK]
The Economist examines the quirks of the contemporary art market under the current economic conditions [Economist]
The Journal recaps the London Auctions [Wall Street Journal]
The New York Times examines the effect of recessions and price corrections on the quality of art [NYTimes]

The New Museum – which is to soon launch its new Triennial via WorldArchitectureNews

The New Museum announces its list of  fifty artists for “The Generational” aka “Younger than Jesus” [ArtDaily]
Sam Taylor-Wood on herself, rats, and her newest work [GuardianUK]
After this week’s auctions, the FT declares the art auction market still has a pulse [Financial Times]
A thoughtful look into Elizabeth Peyton’s enigmatic portraits [Wall Street Journal]

Shepard Fairey via LATaco

Shepard Fairey encounters copyright issues concerning his iconic campaign imagery [BBC] and, separately, is arrested in Boston for outstanding tagging violations while en route to DJ the opening party for his exhibit [Boston Globe]
Though Gladstone Gallery’s pension was on the list of Madoff clients, funds were pulled before major losses were sustained [Bloomberg]
A few of the lady’s at Christie’s stay optimistic amidst the new austerity [NYTimes]

Pablo Picasso’s Boy Leading a Horse” (1905 to 1906)  via the MoMA

Guggenheim and MoMA keep two works by Picasso after settlement with heirs alleging works were sold under Nazi duress [Bloomberg]
The austerity of Christie’s and Sotheby’s during leaner times in the art market [NYimes]
In related, how major London galleries are cutting staff and shuttering spaces [TheArtNewspaper]

Railcars and rooftops bear JR’s imagery in Kibera, Kenya via WoosterCollective

Street artist JR wheatpastes his art on 2,000 square meters of rooftops and railcars in a Kenyan slum [WoosterCollective]
On the practice of hypothecating fine art as collateral for loans [Financial Times]

Damien Hirst’s “Human skull in space” (oil on canvas), cover art for the 150th anniversary edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species – via the The GuardianUK

Damien Hirst does cover design for the 150 year anniversary of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species [GuardianUK]
The rise of Nicola Vassell, from gallerina to Director at Deitch Projects in New York [NYTimes]

The Colossus, historically attributed to Goya, via Reuters

Chief conservator of the Prado announces that their Colossus was probably created by Goya’s apprentice [Reuters]
The Dallas Museum of Art is in acquisition mode [Artdaily]
A profile of artist Walton Ford, creator of dramatic naturalist canvases [NewYorker via C-Monster]

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s ‘Strazzenszene (Street Scene)’ via Artdaily

Claude Monet’s ‘Dans La Prairie’ via Daylife

Sotheby’s London to sell rare work by Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner tomorrow night [Artdaily]
and Monet’s ‘Dans la Prairie’ headlines Christie’s Auction of Impressionist and Modern Art, the night after [Artdaily]
Jeff Koons honored at National Arts Club in New York [NY Observer]
and more on the artist’s multimillion dollar townhouse acquisition woes [NY Times]
An excerpt from Philip Hook’s upcoming book on how in the 50’s, Impressionist works became blue-chip investments through the auction frenzy of nouveau-riche [Financial Times]

Glenn O’Brien for Adam Kimmel via The World’s Best Ever

Interview’s Glenn O’Brien models for Adam Kimmel’s Fall 2009 Collection along with Nate Lowman, Aaron Young, Dan Colen and other downtown art world denizens [The World’s Best Ever]
Jenny Holzer talks about her solo exhibition at MoCA, Chicago [Art21]
The legal ambiguities behind the copyright dispute regarding Richard Prince’s recent Canal Zone show [Wall Street Journal]

The winning design of P.S. 1’s Young Architects Program via NY Times

P.S.1 announces the winning design of its Young Architects Program, described as an ‘afterparty’ of the market boom and bust [NY Times]
The BBC will put 200,000 of the UK’s publicly owned oil paintings online [GuardianUK]
The Economist provides a provenance background of the rare Lucio Fontana soon to be up for sale at Sotheby’s [More Intelligent Life]
Damien Hirst is #13 on GQ’s list of Britain’s 100 most powerful men [Daily Mail]

New view of the planned Tate Modern Extension via Londonist

New renderings released of upcoming Tate Modern extension [Londonist]
Value of Warhol sales have gone down more than 50% in the past 18 months [Artnet]
After the success of Jeff Koons, Versailles is set to exhibit the work of contemporary French artist Xavier Veilhan [Artforum]
Several London Old Master dealers consort to attempt to de-leverage art fairs in favor of a gallery week held in conjunction with Christie’s and Sotheby’s [The Art Newspaper]

Francis Bacon – Man in Blue VI via TimesUK

Francis Bacon’s ‘Man in Blue VI’ highlights Christie’s February 11th sale [BBC]
Museums cut budgets as endowments shrink [Art Newspaper]

Art Dealer and White Cube Gallery owner Jay Jopling and Artist Sam Taylor-Wood via the DailyMail

On the fractious Jay Jopling and Sam Taylor-Wood “£100m divorce” and a brief history of the couple [DailyMail]
Art galleries Guild & Greyshkul, Cohan and Leslie, and Roebling Hall are the latest to close [Artnet]
The Guggenheim museum sets record attendance [Cranes] as does The Louvre [ArtInfo]
Fashion brand Lucien Pellat-Finet to collaborate with artist Marc Quinn [Vogue]

Lucio Fontana – Concetto spaziale, 1961 via ArtDaily

Sotheby’s February 5 London Contemporary Art Evening auction to sell
Lucio Fontana’s rediscovered Concetto spaziale (1961) at at estimate of £5-7 million [Reuters]
The total value of London’s art auctions in February are a mere 23% of 2008 levels [Bloomberg]
Scores of artists settle in Sunset Park, Brooklyn’s “Industry City” [NYMag]
Art colleges as hype machines? [GuardianUK]

Hiroshi Sugimoto’s cover for U2 via Blitz.pt

Hiroshi Sugimoto is the cover art for U2 new album [Rolling Stone]
Edward Winkleman offers tactics for art galleries to weather a recession [ArtworldSalon]

Erasmus portrait purported to be by Holbein the Younger, via The Art News

Experts speculate that new portrait of Erasmus is by Holbein the Younger [ArtInfo]
Art auction houses have always been touted as the most transparent transactions in the system, but they are  far more complex and secretive, and in recent years, much more is at stake [Financial Times]
Review of critic Michael Fried’s latest book: Why Photography Matters… [Artforum]

Shepard Fairey’s ‘Hope’ portrait of Barack Obama, via AP

Smithsonian acquires Shepard Fairey’s ‘Hope’ portrait of Obama [ArtInfo]
White Cube’s Jay Jopling’s rise to power and the current pressure from a failing market, gossip tabloids [The Times UK]

Brad Pitt portrait in daguerreotype by Chuck Close, via W Magazine

Chuck Close’s daguerreotype portrait of Brad Pitt is W Magazine’s new cover [W Magazine]
The Vatican aims to exhibit art in a ‘national pavilion’ during the Venice Biennale as a counbterpoint to “blasphemous” modern art [Times UK]

Black on Maroon (1959) by Mark Rothko, part of the Seagram mural series, via Tate Modern; studies for the Seagram series are owned by Ezra Merkin, who lost billions to Bernie Madoff ‘s investment scheme.

Assailed Madoff victim has 12 Rothkos; collectors salivate [Bloomberg]
The Art Newspaper explores the changing emerging art markets of China, and Russia here, and India here [Art Newspaper]

Alanna Heiss via ArtNet

Alanna Heiss has retired after 37 years of curating MoMA’s PS1; an article on her final show [NYTimes]
$250,000 worth of prints including those by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse stolen in Berlin [AssociatedPress]
A chronicle of the rise of auction prices before the fall, and a rumor that 2/3 of the bidders for Hirst’s monumental September auction may not actually pay for the works, and part 2 here [Bloomberg]
A video of  Eric Fischl at Mary Boone [Newarttv]

Egon Schiele’s Portrait of Wally via the ArtNewspaper

US lawsuit filed to confiscate Egon Schiele’s Portrait of Wally from the Leopold Museum in Vienna is suspended [ArtNewspaper]
Art dealers as paparazzi fodder?  White Cube owner Jay Jopling garners attention with singer Lily Allen in St. Barths [TheMirror]
also on the island, dealer Larry Gagosian and the band Kings of Leon fete collectors Roman Abramovich, Dasha Zhukova and Aby Rosen, designer Marc Jacobs, hip hop mogul Russell Simmons, musician Jon Bon Jovi and actor Daniel Craig among others [IndependentUK]
In other art world vacation news, Damien Hirst hires 4 guards formerly in the British Special Forces to protect him during his Mexico holidays [MercoPress]

The Chanel Mobile Art Pavilion via architecturelist

The Zaha Hadid-designed Chanel Mobile Art tour is stopped; London, Moscow, and Paris canceled [ArtInfo]
Emmanuel Perrotin on three current Parisian exhibitions [The Moment – NYTimes]
MoMA to launch two-year series of live performance works [NYMag]
Collector Ronald Lauder interviewed at his Klimt-rich Neue Galerie in New York [Financial Times]
Damien Hirst bans a documentary film of his Statuephilia work [TelegraphUK]
The Velvet Underground’s John Cale will represent Wales at Venice Biennale of Art next year [BBC]
The controversial act of State museums deaccessioning works [NYTimes]
The Getty endowment has declined 25% [LATimes]
Art Info’s Top 5 art world figures of 2008 [ArtInfo]

Zhan Wang – Ornamental Rock No. 71, on view at Saatchi Gallery, London – The Revolution Continues: New Chinese Art via Saatchi Gallery

When the new Saatchi Gallery’s inaugural show closes it will have drawn over half a million visitors [GuardianUK]
How artists are replacing some aspects of the role of dealers [TheArtNewspaper]
Christie’s lowers estimates  by more than 10% also stating “It’s not our intention to offer any guarantees until we have a better idea of where the markets are” [ArtInfo]
MOCA agrees to Eli Broad’s $15 million match contribution [LATimes]

‘the Farm’ by Joan Miró (1893-1983) via the Wall Street Journal

A detailed look into Joan Miró’s ‘the Farm” [WallStreetJournal]
Boston Lawyer hiding stolen art including a $26 million Cezanne sentenced to 7 years [ArtDaily]
Top ten outstanding moments in the art market for 2008 [TelegraphUK]