This coming fall, Sotheby’s will auction off a seminal work by pre-Raphaelite Dante Rosetti, a chalk drawing depicting Rosetti’s muse Janey Burden as the Greek Goddess Prosperine.  Described by the auction house as “one of the defining images of European art – instantly recognisable and representing the artist at the height of his originality,” the work will sell at auction this November in London, and is expected to command a sales price between £1.2 and £1.8 million. (more…)

President Barack Obama’s administration has announced the winners of the 2012 National Medal of Arts, including Ellsworth Kelly on the list of recipients.  Kelly, who turned 90 this year, is currently in the spotlight for a trio of New York shows this spring and summer, spanning the range of his career, and will accept the award tonight in Washington, DC.  Other recipients include landscape architect Laurie Olin. (more…)

Nick van Woert, Haruspex (Installation View), Courtesy Yvon Lambert Gallery

The work of American artist Nick van Woert is currently on view at the Yvon Lambert Gallery in Paris.  Taking its name from a 2010 work, Haruspex refers to the practice of divination in Etruscan or Roman religious practice, called Haruspicy involving the interpretation of mens or predicting the future based on the entrails of animals. Inspired by the images of divination and dismemberment, the artist has constructed a series of pieces that approach modern economic and social conditions of the world through the deconstruction and application of material runoff.

Nick van Woert, Untitled (2013), courtesy of the Artist (more…)

The Bruce High Quality Foundation, Con te Partiro (2009), via Brooklyn Museum

Shrouded in anonymity, the Bruce High Quality Foundation has made a career for themselves out of playful irreverence.  Rising out of the post-9/11 New York art scene, the anonymous collective has launched a campaign of physical aggression against public installations (Public Art Tackle), initiated their own free education classes, staged socio-politically charged morality plays on gentrification, all under the guise of a production of the Broadway musical Cats, all alongside a number of pieces and installations that embrace the juxtaposition of art history, pop culture and contemporary society to “invest the experience of public space with wonder.”

The Bruce High Quality Foundation, Ode to Joy (2001–2013) (Installation View), via Brooklyn Museum (more…)

Rapper Jay-Z appeared at New York’s Pace Gallery today, performing his song Picasso Baby for 6 hours straight.  The marathon performance was part of the artist’s “Docu-music” video for the song, and featured a moment where the rapper danced with Marina Abramovic.  Other notable attendees included Marilyn Minter, Laurence Weiner, Klaus Biesenbach, Aaron Young, among many more. (more…)

Artist James Turrell appeared last week on Charlie Rose’s talk show, in promotion of his blockbuster exhibitions at the Guggenheim, LACMA, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.  Speaking on his installation at the Guggenheim, his practice and his view on the creating and execution of his work. “Ideas and thoughts are cheap, you can have many of them, but it’s actually pulling these things off and realizing them.  As an artist, you don’t get to count the things you haven’t done.”  He says. (more…)

Antony Gormley, Meter (Installation View), via Thaddeus Ropac

Antony Gormley’s sculptures continually revisit the human form, using a variety of principles in measurement, position, space and density to chart the human body through sharp angles and jutting lines. Taking this jutting, architectural approach to figuration, the artist’s work poses intriguing questions of how humanity recreates its own inherent forms, and the dissonances that occasionally enter the dialogue between subject and object. (more…)

ARTNews’ annual list of the world’s top art collectors has been released, detailing the most prolific and high-spending patrons from around the world.  Among the top 10 are a number of recognizable names, including Eli Broad,  Steven A. Cohen, and François Pinault.  Also of note is a brief article stating the number of collectors willing to spend high dollar amounts for desired works. “I’d say the figure for those going over $20 million is about 150. There are about 100 who would go over $50 million.” Says Sotheby’s Executive Vice President Charles Moffett.   (more…)

Multimedia arts publication DIS Magazine has announced a new partnership with 89plus, the young artist program co-founded by Simon Castets and Hans Ulrich Obrist, for the arts grant competition Younger Than Rihanna, aimed at offering money for young artists and their creative proposals.  Hosted on the DIS website, the competition welcomes young artists born in 1989 or later to upload their work and statement, placing them in contention for over $19,000 in grant money, and a gallery exhibition this fall. (more…)

The Design Musuem announced on Tuesday that it has sold its Thames-side home to Zaha Hadid architects. The revenue of the £10 million sale will be added to the £80 fund necessary to move the museum to the Commonwealth Institute on Kensington High Street. The former banana-ripening warehouse will now become the offices of the practice, as well as a space for architecture exhibtions.

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The Telegraph

Laurel Nakadate, Portland, Oregon #1 (2012), via Leslie Tonkonow

Strangers and Relations is a two-part project by American photographer and filmmaker Laurel Nakadate, in which the artist photographs strangers she connected with through the Internet, and arranged to meet in 31 different states within the US. and parts of Europe. The exhibition is being held at Leslie Tonkonow in New York City. (more…)

Robert Irwin, Black Rectangle – Scrim Veil – Natural Light (1977), via The Whitney

The immediate effect upon entering Robert Irwin’s full-room installation at The Whitney Museum is one of disorientation.  A single black runs along the outskirts of the room, interrupted by the enormous window at one end of the space.  Through the middle of the room runs an even larger black line, seemingly suspended in mid-air.  The eye swims around this phenomenon, unsure of the depth of the room, or the origin of the line until one notices the large veil bisecting the room, leaving about 6 feet of clearance for viewers to walk under.

Robert Irwin sets up his installation at the Whitney in 1977, via New York Times (more…)

In celebration of its first broadcast of a national televised awards show from Brooklyn, MTV has recruited artist KAWS to redesign the Video Music Awards statue for its August 25th broadcast from the Barclays Center.  The one off design translates the iconic image of Buzz Aldrin planting a flag on the moon (affectionately referred to as “The Moonman”), replacing Aldrin with the artist’s “Companion” character.  “The connection to Brooklyn, it felt like it was the perfect time to reinvent an iconic image,” said MTV President Stephen Friedman. “Consistent with our DNA of creative reinvention and constant reinvention, this felt like a perfect marriage.” (more…)

With the opening of Richard Artschwager! (previously at the Whitney Museum) at the Hammer Museum this month, the institution welcomed Richard Artschwager’s contemporaries, John Baldessari and Ed Ruscha to sit down and discuss his influential practice, output, and creative legacy. “Whether he’s well known or not is not important because he’s seen widely, and if you’re interested in art you’re going to be familiar with his work.” Ruscha said. (more…)

Bill Viola, Chapel of Frustrated Actions and Futile Gestures (Detail) (2013), via Blain Southern

Several new works by American video artist Bill Viola are currently being hosted by the Blain Southern gallery in London through July 27. Viola is considered a leading voice in the field of New Media, and is known for the existential and essentialist themes that surface in his work. Drawing from Buddhist, Zen, and mystical tradition, Viola approaches human mortality and spirit through video, sound and digital installation.  (more…)

The New York Times reports on the growing contemporary arts scene in Bangkok, Thailand, increasingly bolstered by expats and foreigners.  Referred to as “farangs” in Thai, many have opened galleries, nonprofits and other organizations promoting the city’s artists and institutions.  “Farangs play a very important role in the image of what goes on here,” says curator Pier Luigi Tazzi.  “They are still connected to their own countries so these links are still very attractive in terms of communication.” (more…)

Artist Giuseppe Penone will bring a trio of monumental bronze tree sculptures to Madison Square Park this fall and winter, exploring the relationships between humanity and nature through art.  Meticulous reproductions of 40 foot high trees, Ideas of Stone marks Madison Square Park’s 26th exhibition of outdoor sculpture.  “A tree summarizes in an exemplary way the contrast between two forces: the force of gravity and the weight of life we are part of. The need and the search for balance, which exists in every living being to counteract the force of gravity, is evident in every step and in every small action of our lives.” Penone said in a statement. (more…)

Empire State (Installation View), via Palazzo Delle Esposizioni

“Empire State,” a classic nickname denoting New York’s central position in the art world, takes a new spin in Rome this summer, thanks to the curatorial talents of Alex Gartenfeld and Norman Rosenthal. (more…)

This fall, The Tate Britain will present an exhibition exploring iconoclasm in British art.  Art under Attack: Histories of British Iconoclasm opens this October, and will include a number of works that have been damaged, defaced or otherwise physically attacked as part of an ideological agenda, including the Statue of the Dead Christ, a 16th Century statue that survived the purgations of religious reformers.  “We wanted to look at things that had gathered significance over time and not something that happened to be topical.” Penelope Curtis, director of Tate Britain, said.  (more…)

Artist Miranda July has launched her email project We Think Alone, a curated series of quotidian emails from celebrities, artists, and other public figures on a variety of themes.  Including emails from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lena Dunham, Kristen Dunst, Etgar Keret and more, the piece welcomes an intimate peek into the sender’s day to day life.  “Privacy, the art of it, is evolving. Radical self-exposure and classically manicured discretion can both be powerful, both be elegant. And email itself is changing, none of us use it exactly the same way we did ten years ago; in another ten years we might not use it at all.”  Says July. (more…)

The controversial installation of a neon Playboy logo and cement sculpture by curator Neville Wakefield and Richard Phillips in Marfa, TX has been ordered to be removed.  After complaints from a local resident, the Texas Department of Transportation found that the installation was in fact corporate advertising, which requires a permit for installation. The Texas Department of Transportation has ordered the property owner to remove this sign because the owner does not have a Texas License for Outdoor Advertising and a specific permit application for the sign was not submitted,” explained Veronica Beyer, the director of media relations for the Texas DOT, in a statement. (more…)

Gerald Lee Jones, a former supervisor in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s admissions department, has filed an affidavit detailing the museum’s policy towards rewarding higher cashier receipts.  In his statement, Jones claims that museum employees who brought in lower admissions receipts, regardless of the museum’s “suggested” admission price, were rebuked for their performance, while cashiers who aggressively pushed for higher admission prices were rewarded.  “Cashiers are not only trained to avoid disclosing the truth about the museum’s admission prices; their compensation and their continued employment may largely depend on them not revealing it,” He says in court papers. (more…)

Artist Dustin Yellin is profiled in The New York Times, detailing the artist’s continued practice, his recently reopened Pioneer Works space in Red Hook, and his ongoing fascination with collecting and antiques.  “My father had the bug,” said Mr. Yellin, who grew up in Aspen, Colo. “Ever since I can remember walking, he was waking me up at 5 in the morning to go to flea markets. As a kid, I couldn’t really stand it, but as I grew up, I became that guy, and when I have kids, I am going to be doing the same thing.” (more…)

Paul McCarthy’s WS has become the Park Avenue Armory’s second most well-attended show at the venue’s history, having already drawn 11,000 visitors since its opening last month.  The work, already gaining major press for its challenging subject matter, runs until August 4th.  “There’s a much narrower potential audience for this than for most things we’ve done before,” says Armory President Rebecca Robertson, “so I think the attendance we’re seeing is very strong.” (more…)