A new Banksy mural that recently popped up in New Orleans via Supertouch

Banksy has chosen New Orleans for the location of his most recent work. Throughout the city, Banksy has created more than 12 murals that depict Abraham Lincoln as a homeless man, a marching band wearing gas masks, and a boy flying a refrigerator kite. The New York Times reports that in a statement released by Banksy, the murals were created in response to Fred Radtke, an antigraffiti campaigner also known as the Gray Ghost, who uses gray paint to cover up graffiti. The statement released by Banksy also said, “Three years after Katrina I wanted to make a statement about the state of the clean up operation.”

Banksy Tags the Big Easy [ArtInfo]
Banksy Hits New Orleans [NYTimes]
Banksy Does New Orleans [Gawker]
Banksy Paints New Orleans as Katrina Memorial [Supertouch]
Stencil artist Banksy visits New Orleans [TheAustralian]

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Kanye West and his new music video “Good Morning” via Chicago Sun Times

The hip-hop artist Kanye West ‘s video for Good Morning directed by Takashi Murakami is now released and available to be purchased on Itunes. Depicting Kanye as an animated bear, the video follows a narrative of Kanye’s eventful trip to his graduation ceremony.  Japanese contemporary pop artist Murakami created the video in his signature style of animated graphics: characters portrayed as cute cartoons in a surreal environment.  Murakami has collaborated with Kanye West in the past and is the cover artist for the Kanye West album, Graduation.   Murakami is aggressive in his collaboration with fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton, but the relationship of Kanye and Murakami is an interesting fusion of two streams of pop culture that may perhaps be even more pervasive globally in the end.

Kanye West’s new video, “Good Morning” [SunTimes]
Video Premiere: Kanye West’s ‘Good Morning’ [Aceshowbiz]
Kanye West Gets All Cute and Cuddly [Eonline]
Kanye West Meets Takashi Murakami [New York Magazine]
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Painting of Myra Handley by artist Marcus Harvey via Time

At a promotional event in Beijing for the London 2012 Olympics, a video montage produced by Visit London has sparked controversy when a photo of a painting by British artist Marcus Harvey came across the screen. The painting depicts the British child murderer, Myra Hindley; as an unintentional representation of British Heritage. The video was intended to promote London and the coming 2012 Olympics, but the quick glimpse one of London’s most prominent murderers was likely done in accidentally rather than in “poor taste”. The painting is very recognizable as a major fixture in Charles Saatchi’s famous 1997 Sensation shown in London and the Brooklyn Museum.

Myra Hindley casts Olympic shadow [Telegraph]
2012 Hindley image use condemned, view footage of the event here [BBC]
Olympics: London tourism body attacked over murderer portrait in promo [AFP]
Monster Movie [Times]
Censoring provocative art is the worst advert for 2012 [GuardianUK]

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Damien Hirst – “The Kingdom” 2008 via The Wall Street Journal

The Art Newspaper has this weekend disclosed the extent of unsold inventory, over 200 works, that are held at Damien Hirst’s gallery in London, White Cube, run by Jay Jopling. The article illuminates a situation for the artist, one of the most successful in the world, but also one of the most prolific, in which his traditional market may be less able to absorb the works at the pace at which he is aiming to produce them. This evolving landscape has presumably led Hirst to explore, through the landmark and controversial upcoming September 15th Sotheby’s London sale, new sales portals and new pools of buyers. The Art Newspaper disclosure however, could perhaps have some ramifications for the Sotheby’s sale itself, as sophisticated buyers may take into account this newly exposed trove of similar work to that being auctioned, and simple supply and demand economics might as a result negatively affect pricing.

Revealed: the art Damien Hirst failed to sell [The Art Newspaper]
200 unsold Damien Hirst works looking for an owner at Sotheby’s [TimesOnlineUK]
Hirst’s Marketing End Run [Wall Street Journal]
Auction, Damien Hirst ‘New Inside My Head Forever’ [Sotheby’s]
Several Lucrative Art Series To End, Says Damien Hirst [ArtObserved]
Update: Damien Hirst goes to Auction at Sotheby’s, September 15-16, 2008 [ArtObserved]
Hirst’s ‘Golden Calf’ could sell for $16-$24 million at Sotheby’s London [ArtObserved]

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Triptych, 1976 via Sotheby’s.

Beginning September 11th, Tate Britain will be hosting an exhibition of the work of Francis Bacon (1909-1992) in anticipation of the artist’s upcoming centenary in 2009.  World-renowned for his figure paintings and studies of the human body, the exhibition will contain works of this nature as well as Bacon’s signature landscapes and animal representations. The Tate display will contain about 60 works which will reflect the development and output of Bacon’s career, which began in 1928 after a brief stint as an interior decorator. Although little of his work survived his proclivity to destroy it prior to his notable achievement of the Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion in 1945, he was fittingly recognized as one of the most significant artists of his generation. Today, he is widely acknowledged as one of the most prominent artists of 20th-century art, with works such as his Triptych, 1976 selling for $86 million at auction, which is a record-breaking figure for a post-war work of art.

Tate: Press Release [Tate]
Francis Bacon: behind the myth [Telegraph]
Francis Bacon at Tate Britain: a hidden interest in women [Telegraph]
The power and the passion [Guardian]
Francis Bacon comes to Tate Britain [DigitalArts]

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Blakeley White-McGuire, in front of Jeff Koons’s Red Flower sculpture via LMCC

This week in lower Manhattan, two sculptures in the Financial District were integrated into a series of performances entitled “Hostile Takeover”, by Richard Move’s Moveopolis! dance company. On Tuesday, “Mariko Mori Drawings”, a piece based on Japanese anime, was held at William Tarr’s Rejected Skin sculpture on Water Street. Then on Wednesday, Blakeley White-McGuire, a former Martha Graham dancer performed “Red Cicciolina” in front of the 7 World Trade Center site of Jeff Koons’ sculpture. White-McGuire portrays La Cicciolina, former Italian cabinet member and porn star, as well as ex-wife of artist Koons.

Move In and Around Manhattan [NYSun]
Lady Talk [TimeOut]
Richard Move’s MoveOpolis! [LMCC]

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Richard Serra via Art Inf

A documentary, Thinking on Your Feet, directed by Maria Anna Tappeiner on the contemporary sculpting giant Richard Serra is on screen at Film Forum in New York until September 2nd.  Screening of the movie created hype among the Serra enthusiasts well before its premiere yesterday, drawing attention from media. The documentary enables spectators to follow the production process of the artist’s major grand scale sculpture ‘The Matter of Time,’ which was commissioned by Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain for $20 million. In the film, a breathtaking scene where 40 ton solid steel plates are put together manually was included to highlight the on going dynamic tension between human labor, mathematics, and gravity that Serra persistently communicates through his sculptural works. It is the tale of a contemporary sculptural legend condensed into 94 minutes that Serra fans should not miss.

Richard Serra, Man of Steel [The Sun]
Watching as Richard Serra Thinks Big and Does Big [NYT]
Richard Serra at Film Forum [Art 21]
Man of Steel [Art Info]
Richard Serra: Thinking On Your Feet [Film Forum]
Listen to a podcast by Lynne Cook [Film Forum]

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Skaters on the mini ramp at the opening reception of Cannibal Carnival via SuperTouch

Neckface opened his show “Cannibal Carnival” (previous coverage of this show on AO here) with an eventful ceremony. The wall space New Image Art was covered in spray paint graffiti, otherwise painted in black and white and red. Though relatively new the art scene, Neckface maintains very strong press and web coverage and extremely high attendance for his events. His reputation as very prolific tagger in many cities cements his position within street art, which is growing in acceptance as an artistic medium worthy of investment as exemplified by the street artist Banksy selling works in the six figures, auction houses setting aside entire auctions for street art and the Tate Modern mounting very significant street art exhibitions. On the opening night of Saturday August 16th, the venue accommodated over 1,000 mixed crowd of art lovers, skaters, and alike. During the reception, pro skaters rode boards on the mini ramp/cage specially built for this occasion.

Hollywood: Nasty Neck Face’s “Cannibal Carnival” bloodbath at New Image Art [Super Touch]
Neck Face’s Opening Reception [GrindTV]
Neckface “Cannibal Carnival” Art Show Slideshow [Transworld Skateboarding]
The skate ramp at the Neckface show at New Image Gallery in L.A. [C-Monster]
Video Clip of the opening here, and here [Youtube]

more pictures after the jump…

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Blood Moon Ausar performing at Matthew Barney’s party via Super Touch

Last Saturday, infamous artist Matthew Barney held an out of the ordinary party at his studio in Queens, NY. His party featured free performances by death metal bands such as Inquisition, Dagon, Krallice, Copremeis, and S.M.E.S, expressing the artist’s passion for black metal. To add to the provoking ambiance, several Hawaiian style pigs on skewers, hand roasted and carved by Barney himself, served the hungry guests.

NYC: Matthew Barney’s Black Metal Pig Roast [Super Touch]
Matthew Barney Hosts Black Metal Pig Roast [Cremaster Fanatic]
View more pictures from the event by Jae Saam Trio on Flickr

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Larry Gagosian at the opening of Center of Contemporary Culture Moscow (CCCM) via Style.com

Moscow is anticipating a worthy contemporary art scene brought by Larry Gagosian. Building upon the strong review from last year’s first show, Gagosian Gallery is making its presence in Russia. “For what you are about to receive” is Gagosian’s a second exhibition will be held at Red October Chocolate Factory, opening on September 18th until Ocober 25th. Artist Aaron Young will be presenting a motorcycle performance Arc Light for the opening of the show (AO has exclusive video from Aaron Young’s motorcycle show in New York here). This show will exhibit works by well-known contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons, Willen de Kooning, Richard Serra and Takashi Murakami. Curated to explore the conceptual relationship between commercial production and artistic abstraction, the show is intended to engage the viewers with modern materialism.

Gagosian Gallery in Moscow [Artnet News]
Gagosian Gallery
Read more about the exhibition at the Russian art blog IZO here and here.

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Tulips, Jeff Koons, 1995-2004 on loan to the embassy for the next decade, via artinthepicture

The second largest U.S. Embassy building has opened in Beijing at 600,000 square feet, with a reported $550M in building expenses by the San Francisco firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. On its grounds are works by notable American and Chinese contemporary artists including Jeff Koons, Cai Guo-Qiang, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Rauschenberg, Betty Woodman, Martin Puryear, Maya Lin, Yun-Fei Ji, and Hai Bo.

New Embassy Is a Firm U.S. Flag in China [NYSun]
Beijing US Embassy Opened August 7th [CNReviews]
U.S. Embassy in Beijing [Art 21]
U.S. Shortchanges Artists [Portfolio]
‘The Pyrotechnic Imagination’, watch Cai-Guo-Qiang create the gunpowder work inside the U.S. Embassy [NYTimes]
The US Embassy in Beijing Highlights Jeff Koons’s Art [Art Market Monitor]

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Tete de Diego, Giacometti sculpture found in apartment, via FBI

On Monday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation posted 137 artworks on their homepage as part of a two year long effort to track down their rightful owners. In 2006, a Manhattan eccentric who went by the alias William Milliken Vanderbilt Kingsland passed away, leaving behind an extensive collection of art piled inside his one bedroom East 72nd Street apartment. Christie’s has valued the higher-end works at around $2.4M.

Looks for owners of Stolen Paintings [Artdaily]
NY Art World Shock: Stolen Paintings in Famous Collection [New York Post]
Two Years Later, the F.B.I. Still Seeks the Owners of a Trove of Artworks [NYtimes]
Stolen Art Uncovered: Is it yours? [FBI] and a gallery on the website of the recovered works here

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Neck Face “Cannibal Carnival” image via GQ

American graffiti artist Neckface is showing his third solo exhibition ‘Cannibal Carnival’ in LA at New Image art gallery from tomorrow, August 16th until September 20th. The show will exhibit the artist’s signature horrifyingly morbid images among likely other assorted installations. Neckface, an underground, anonymous artist, is often associated with taggers and skateboarding but has recently broken into commercial success at auction. Due what can be called a cult following, the show should be well attended and if nothing else interesting. From the press release:

“friends of the artist and professional skaters Sammy Baca and Lizard King will be skating in a caged off mini-ramp filled with objects they encounter every day: knives, spray paint, and booze of course. “They are both satanic,” Neckface says. “Sammy once carved Satan into Lizard King’s chest with a knife.” ”

Neck Face eats his own [GQ]
Neck Face in LA: Cannibal Carnival [The Worlds Best Ever]
Sneek Peek: Nasty Neck Face at New Image Art [Super Touch]
Neck Face “Cannibal Carnival [Hypebeast]
A Neck Face Halloween [Art Observed]
Neck Face opening at Dactyl Foundation Wednesday 10.31 [Art Observed]
Newimage Art Gallery

more pictures after the jump…

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Superstition, Damien Hirst, 2007 Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills via ABC News

In a video interview from July recently posted on Sotheby’s website, Damien Hirst casually revealed that several of his highest earning series would be coming to an end in 2008. These include his spin and butterfly paintings and conceptual medicine cabinets. Hirst also speculated that production of his dot paintings would significantly slow, and that his formaldehyde works of animals are growing numbered as well.

Damien Hirst: An Interview with Tim Marlow [Sotheby’s]
Damien Hirst Says He’ll End High-earning Series [Artinfo]
Hirst Will Stop Making Spin, Butterfly Paintings, Drug Cabinets [Bloomberg]

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“Beautiful Losers” via Ctrlshift

The documentary film “Beautiful Losers” directed by filmmaker and curator, Aaron Rose and co-directed by Joshua Leonard, had it’s theatrical premier on August 8 at the IFC Center in New York City. The film documents the artistic careers of the young American, Do-It-Yourself artists of the 1990s. This particular group of artists, that includes Margaret Kilgallen, Mike Mills, Barry McGee, Phil Frost, Chris Johanson, Harmony Korine, and Ed Templeton, made their mark in the art world solely because it was something they loved to do. These underground artists were brought together under the roof of Alleged Gallery in the Lower East Side, and grew out of the 1990s street subcultures of New York City.

‘Beautiful Losers’ theatrical trailer [Beautiful Losers]
Now Screening | ‘Beautiful Losers’ [The Moment, NYTimes]
Beautiful Losers [Village Voice]
‘Beautiful Losers’ on the Lower East Side [NYSun]
Interview with Director Aaron Rose [indieWIRE]
Movie Review: Beautiful Losers [NYTimes]
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Museum of Islamic Art, via slickrockfilms

The 337,000 sq ft Museum of Islamic Art is designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei and is reportedly his last project at the age of 91. The “MIA” will open November 22 in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Surrounding the tiny country is Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, UAE commerce hub Dubai, and Abu Dhabi, where branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim will open in 2013. The Museum of Islamic Art is to preserve, study, and exhibit masterpieces spanning three continents and 13 centuries.

I.M. Pei designed Islamic Museum of Art opens; run by 25 year old Qatar royalty [Wmagazine]
In separate events, Qatar’s ruling family buys 72.8M Rothko, $52.7M Bacon, $19M Hirst [ArtObserved]
Art and Architecture in the Middle East [TimesUK]
Middle East museum a tasteful alternative to flashy development [SmartBrief]
Museum of Islamic Art: an international centre for dialogue [MuslimNews]

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Photomontage of Lobster, Jeff Koons, set in “Salon de Mars” at Versailles via MSNBC

In September, one of the worlds highest-paid living artist, Jeff Koons, will invade the Palace of Versaille and (controversially) install up some of his best-known works around the chateau and gardens. The 52-year-old artist will exhibit 12 to 15 of his works, including Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold), which sold in 2007 for $23.7 million, his highly recognizable Balloon Dog (Magenta), and his 1986 chrome steel Rabbit. Versaille’s President Jean-Jacques Aillagon, who previously managed the Palazzo Grassi, Pinault’s contemporary-art museum in Venice, has announced that the show will go from September 10 until December 14.

Koons Goes to Versailles [Artinfo]
Koons brings kitsch to Versailles [Guardian]
Jeff Koons to Exhibit at Palace of Versailles Next September [Bloomberg]

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Sotheby’s, the global auction house, showed a decline in profit by 11% in the second-quarter: net income marked $95.3 million ($1.49 per share). This is a drop from $107.3 million ($1.64 per share) versus the same time last year, however it is a net profit versus a net loss from last quarter. According to Sotheby’s, the decline is due to recent change to auction schedule. Chief Executive William Ruprecht assured that while wealthy customers with continues to drive the business, Sotheby’s is less likely to be affected by economic woes. Despite the profit drop the news was seen by some analysts as positive in its show of resilience. According to one analyst quoted by Bloomberg: “The demand side is very strong. It’s driven by commodity wealth, particularly in oil.”

Sotheby’s corporate site
Sotheby’s Says Rich Still Buying [Forbes]
Sotheby’s second-quarter profit falls [Reuters UK]
Sotheby’s Profit Falls 11 Percent After Sale Change [Bloomberg]

Untitled, Yue Minjun (2005) via Saatchi Gallery

The Saatchi Gallery will open its new London site on October 9th in the Duke of York’s Headquarters building on King’s Road. The gallery, founded by advertising executive Charles Saatchi, will feature contemporary Chinese artists in its inaugural exhibition: “The Revolution Continues: New Art from China.” According to the gallery’s publicists, Freud Communications, the show will feature works from 30 leading painters, sculptors, and installation artists, such as Yue Minjun, Feng Zhengjie, Zhang Xiaogang, Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Dali, Zhang Haiying, Qiu Jie, and many more.

Saatchi’s pledge for new art gallery [Guardian]
The Revolution Continues: New Chinese Art [Saatchi Gallery]
Saatchi Gallery to Open at New London Site With Chinese Artists [Bloomberg]
Saatchi Gallery to Open at New London Site With Chinese Artists [GG-Art]
View a virtual tour of the gallery here [Saatchi Gallery]

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Tracey Emin in front of Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez’s sculptures via Guardian

After a slew of traffic-heavy evenings at the Tracy Emin curated “Summer Exhibition 2008” at the Royal Academy of Art, it was on an uneventful Saturday afternoon that a visitor knocked over “Christina”, a 9 ft tall sculpture by Costa Rican artist, Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez. Though the piece wasn’t of major magnitude in cost and is valued at $12K it was described by Tracey Emin as the star of the show.

Art: Smashed sculpture proves show-stopper [Guardian]
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Visitor shatters £6,000 art work [BBC]
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Summer Exhibition 2008 [The Royal Academy]

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Louvre’s glass-roofed Islamic wing via Guardian

The Louvre Museum in Paris has commenced the construction of its new Islamic art wing with plans to finish it in 2010. The new wing, which is being called “The Veil”, has been described by its Italian architect, Mario Bellini, as a Muslim “headscarf blown in the wind.” The $100 to $135 million project will provide 33,000 square feet of space to exhibit the Louvre expansive Islamic Art collection. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has claimed that the wing is more than a space to exhibit Islamic art but also a symbol of the friendship that exists between France and the Arab world. The Saudi prince, Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world’s wealthiest men, is contributing $20.5 million to the project, other funding is coming from oil giant Total and Lafarge, as well as the French government.

Louvre draws a veil over artistic neglect with bold new Islamic wing [Guardian]
Prince funds Louvre Islamic wing [BBC]
First stone laid for Louvre’s Islamic art gallery [Associated Press]
Sarkozy lauds Islam at Louvre ceremony with Saudi prince [AFP]
Islamic Art [The Louvre]

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Drawing of Archangel Gabriel announcing the birth of Christ, Lucas van Leyden (c.1520) via NYTimes

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has recently acquired a rare drawing from Netherlandish artist Lucas van Leyden. It is one of only 28 existing drawings from the artist, and is the sole Lucas van Leyden drawing to reside in the United States. The sixteenth century drawing depicts the Archangel Gabriel announcing the birth of Christ, and will be apart of the fall exhibit honoring Met director Philippe de Montebello’s tenure at the museum. The drawing was discovered by a lucky collector, who found it unreferenced and tucked into the back of an auction catalogue.

Angels Appear, and Museums Rejoice [NYTimes]
Met Acquires Rare Lucas Van Leyden Drawing [Artinfo]
Metropolitan Museum Acquires Lucas van Leyden Drawing [Artdaily]
Overlooked at Christie’s [NYSun]
Press Release: Metropolitan Museum Acquires Lucas van Leyden Drawing [Designtaxi]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met]

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Hume, Four Doors I, (1989-90) via ArtBistro

Almost two decades after Gary Hume emerged onto the British art scene with his famous “Door Paintings”, the Modern Art Oxford will present the first survey of his work. The exhibition will go through August 31 and was curated by Suzanne Cotter. The first of his “Door Paintings” was inspired by an ad for a British private health insurance company, which featured an image of waiting in a dismal hospital waiting area. Since then, the style of his doors have evolved and the series has provided Hume with great success. His works are large scale, monochrome, painted with household gloss paint.

Garry Hume: Door Paintings [Modern Art Oxford]
Gary Hume at Modern Art Oxford [Artbistro]
Gary Hume: the doors that unhinged the establishment [Telegraph]
Gary Hume: Door Paintings [Artrabbit] (more…)

Hirst and McLaren via the Daily News

Damien Hirst buys vintage clothing by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, which turns out to be fake and more here [NY Daily News] [Vogue]
Parisian show of works without owners, once collected for Hitler’s super-museum [Bloomberg]
Beijing’s Dashanzi arts district is booming [NYTimes]
Review of Harvard economist-written “best book on the economics of the contemporary art market” [Portfolio]
Jackie Wullschlager on Communist artist Fernand Léger: Picasso’s “tubist” [Financial Times]