The New York Times has published an interview with Christie’s auctioneer Jussi Pylkkanen, discussing the continued growth of the contemporary market, the atmosphere of the auction, and some of the tricks in working a room.  “Someone might have collected 40 or 50 good paintings, and when the one work that he wants more than anything else comes up for auction, the auctioneer has to be very sensitive to that,” he says. (more…)

A selection of authentic works by Egon Schiele have been discovered  in Austria.  The portfolio of works were discovered in the attic of a recently deceased man’s home, when his son was cleaning.  “When I saw Schiele’s signature on one of the pics I thought it was probably a copy. I never dreamed it might be genuine,”  he told local news. (more…)

Filmmaker and Video Artist Steve McQueen is profiled in The Guardian this week, talking about his inspirations, his childhood dyslexia, and his personal reflections on the history of slavery.  “All I remember feeling was a real sense of shame and embarrassment about it,” he says. “We can deal with the second world war and the Holocaust and so forth and what not, but this side of history, maybe because it was so hideous, people just do not want to see. People do not want to engage.” (more…)

New research is indicating that most artists make their best, most valuable work at the age of 42.  Studying the work of 200 of the most prominent artists around the world, researchers found that the average age at which they produced their highest valued work at auction was usually made at two thirds into their life.  The number fits startlingly well with Fibonacci’s “golden ratio” of 0.6180, which has long been seen to guarantee proper proportions in the arts. (more…)

The Financial Times continues its ongoing “Breakfast with the FT” series with Nicholas Penny, director of the National Gallery, talking about the challenges of public interest, his opinions on contemporary art, and the role he sees the National Gallery taking in education and advocacy.  “I don’t believe art up to the present should be taught at university,” he says. “Because of consumer demand, the explosion of teaching of contemporary art now is colossal – and it is achieved at the expense of older art. We at the National Gallery should do more to become a magnet for scholarship.” (more…)

As the investigation surrounding the Knoedler Gallery continues, The Art Newspaper traces a number of fake works that are still out in the market.  Two fraudulent pieces are currently held in the storage of The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, and others have continued to circulate through various resales.  “I unloaded my victimhood,” says Bernard Kruger, a doctor who purchased a fake Richard Diebenkorn from the gallery, and who later resold it. (more…)

Peter Doig, I Think it’s Time (1982-83), via Michael Werner

Currently on view at Michael Werner Gallery in New York is an exhibition of works by Scottish artist Peter Doig, meant to be indicative of his formative years, including several works that have never been on public display before.  Displaying the artist’s signature, boundary-breaking approach, the show is a fitting complement for anyone interested in the painter.

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Sculptor Antony Gormley was honored with knighthood this New Year’s Day.  “I’m really very humbled and delighted.  I think Britain has this extraordinary history of people who think through making things that live in our world and are to be shared.” (more…)

Elmgreen and Dragset, Tomorrow (Installation View) via Art Observed

Snaking through the hallways of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s London space is an immersive, illusory installation by Danish artists Elmgreen and Dragset, a multi-room piece realizing the home and studio of a fictional, disillusioned architect named Norman Swann.

Elmgreen and Dragset, Tomorrow (Installation View) Courtesy the Artists and Victoria Miro, London. © Elmgreen & Dragset. Photography: Anders Sune Berg (more…)

W Magazine profiles the sprawling rural estate of two anonymous New York City collectors in the Hudson Valley region, a site which formerly served as the working farm of the James Cagney estate.  Featuring works by Sol LeWitt, Monika Sosnowska, Franz West and Jeppe Hein, the site is a new adventure for the couple.  “We’d see people pack up their cars on a Friday night and laugh,” they say. “But we always considered ourselves sculpture collectors—and in a New York City apartment that’s a hard thing to do.” (more…)

A New York Times article analyzes the work of artist Pei-Shen Qian, the painter behind the multi-million dollar counterfeiting ring that included the Knoedler Gallery.  Mr. Pei-Shen is well-regarded as a painter in China, but moved to New York in the early 1980’s.  Analyzing the artist’s early work in comparison with his more recent fakes, the article goes on to examine the interplay of supply and demand in the contemporary market as a potential cause of the artist’s shift to fraudulent works. (more…)

A painting purchased by a British priest for €478 has turned out to be an authentic work by Anthony Van Dyck, worth €478,000.  The work, which was initially discovered on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, was proven to be authentic after several months of research by Dr. Christopher Brown, a Van Dyck expert.  “It’s everyone’s dream to spot a hidden masterpiece, I’m thrilled that my hunch paid off, to discover a genuine Van Dyck is incredibly exciting,”  said Fiona Bruce, presenter of Antiques Roadshow. (more…)

An Alphabet City apartment building slated for demolition has become the site for a number of murals and installations.  The building will be torn down in late January, but the owner has, in the meantime, opened the space up for artists to create their own murals and sculptures inside the space.   (more…)

The first episode of Ambiance Man, a project by artist Alix Lambert for MocaTV, has gone up on the Museum’s YouTube page, starring Fred Armisen as the titular superhero, with Jack Black and Jibz Cameron taking on the role of his nemeses “Unidentified Odor” and “Buzz Kill.” (more…)

A questionably offensive sculpture at Queens’ Socrates Sculpture Park has merited a fence installed around the work.  The piece, Bear Eats Man by Thordis Adalsteinsdottir, depicts a wooden bear gripping a man from behind and biting into his neck, but a closer look reveals that the victim may in fact have an erection.  A wooden enclosure has been placed around the piece, with a warning notifying visitors about the subject material.  “We are presenting it and showing it,” John Hatfield, the park’s executive director, said. “It’s an interesting and engaging piece.” (more…)

Michael Werner Gallery is currently embroiled in a $1.35 million lawsuit with South Korea’s Gwangju Biennale Foundation over damage to three sculptures by James Lee Byars.  The works were chipped on the return trip, and attempts to collect insurance through a South Korean insurance company have proved futile.  “Unfortunately, risks are inherent in any loan, and it is devastating and embarrassing when anything like this happens,” said Massimo Gioni, who curated the 2010 event and went on to curate this year’s Venice Biennale. (more…)

A number of deals and arrangements made this month have signaled that the centuries-old artistic bastion of Paris may have begun its rise to the highest levels of the international art market.  A classic Modigliani has sold for over €6.5 million, the highest price paid for a painting in France this year, and comes alongside news of a record €44 million tally for sales in France by Sotheby’s in 2013, while Christie’s showed similar success and a €56 million sales total for the year. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on a lost painting by Magritte, which researchers claim was cut up into separate pieces and painted over.  While the practice is relatively common, the work in question, The Enchanted Pose, was exhibited on its own in 1927 before being reused.  Several parts of the piece have already been located, and museums around the world are searching for other missing pieces. (more…)

The Financial Times looks at the enormous final sale prices achieved this year at auction, and questions where the art market is headed in the future. Deep pockets and an increasingly deep market pool have led to growing sales, and a number of art fairs springing up to meet the demand. “In sheer defiance of other global economic trends, or perhaps because of such trends, there is an unprecedented flow of money into the art market. For some, this could represent a flight of capital from other conceivably more unstable harbours to comfortably park one’s wealth,” says dealer Edward Tyler Nahem.  (more…)

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Accelerated Buddha, exhibition view, all images courtesy Fondation Pierre Bergé

Currently on view at Fondation Pierre Bergé Yves Saint Laurent is an exhibition of work by Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, exploring the historical/cultural emergence and relevance of Buddhism in Japanese culture. Entitled Accelerated Buddha, the exhibition is the gallery’s 20th exhibition, which opened on October 10th and will run through January 26th 2013.

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Sotheby’s is currently searching for a new headquarters in New York City, but any move or purchase still hinges on the auction house’s ability to sell its current location at 1334 York Avenue on the Upper East Side, and for which it is still accepting bids. “We continue to explore options as we determine what’s best for Sotheby’s now and in the future, but no decisions have been made,” says Andrew Gully, Sotheby’s worldwide director of communications. (more…)

The fraud lawsuit filed by the estate of Alexander Calder against the late artist’s longtime friend and dealer Klaus Perls has been rejected by New York State Supreme Court.  The ruling, announced this week, cited many of the claims in the case as “an incoherent stew of irrelevance and innuendo,” and Justice Shirley Kornreich went so far as to state that: “these allegations are so patently inadequate that the court can only conclude that they were brought solely for the purpose of harassment or embarrassment.”  (more…)

The New York Times has profiled Sheikha al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the head of the Qatar Museums Authority in its year-end look at the art world, calling the young sheikha a “power player” on the global stage.  “It’s most important to allow young artists today to see what’s happening,” she says. “Seventy percent of our population is under the age of 30.” (more…)

The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, Photo: Joan Marcus Courtesy Park Ave Armory

As the story goes, when artist Marina Abramovic came to legendary stage director Robert Wilson about helping him to stage her funeral onstage, the director only replied, “only if I can stage your life as well.”  So begins the mythology behind The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, the nearly three-hour long performance that just completed its first run of U.S. dates at the Park Avenue Armory in New York.

The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, Photo: Joan Marcus Courtesy Park Ave Armory (more…)