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]

From “Domain Field,” a show by Antony Gormley at Moscow’s Garage

Through September 2, Moscow’s Garage is hosting 287 sculptures by Antony Gormley.  Corresponding with “One & Other,” a vastly different show by which participants took over the Fourth Plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square, Gormley presents works molded after the human form.  “Domain Field” was first shown in 2003, at the UK’s Baltic Art Centre, which commissioned it.

Related links:
Garage Center for Contemporary Culture: Domain Field
Antony Gormley [artist homepage]
One & Other on The Fourth Plinth by Antony Gormley [Art Observed]

From “Domain Field,” a show by Antony Gormley at Moscow’s Garage. Via The Art Newspaper.

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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]

Antony Gormley’s and the Fourth Plinth via The Telegraph.

This summer sculptor Antony Gormley invites the public to celebrate a living monument by asking the British people to occupy the empty Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London. Once a place reserved for statues of Kings and Generals, the spot will now serve as a way to represent the public and the whole of humanity.

For 24 hours per day for 100 days without a break, different people from all walks of life will inhabit the Plinth to make it their own. Those who have been selected are  able to use the Plinth as they like, to perform or even simply to reflect and meditate.  They have become participants in one of the most publicized works of public art in London in recent memory.

Antony Gormley One & Other
Antony Gormley will ask Trafalgar Square volunteers to climb plinth for art [The Times]
Antony Gormley’s Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square [The Telegraph]
Who’s Who on the fourth plinth [The Guardian]
Man Scales Plinth Ahead of Launch [BBC]

One and Other participant Kate Forshaw dances during a rainshower on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square via The Guardian

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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]

Anish Kapoor’s ‘Shooting into the Corner’ via The Independent

Britain’s Royal Academy opens its galleries in September to Anish Kapoor for the first single artist exhibition there since 1988 [Independent] and Kapoor’s commission for the Deutsche Guggenheim, ‘Memory,’ opens in October [Guggenheim]

Gilbert and George in Hong Kong via Financial Times

Gilbert and George describe their trip to Hong Kong for the opening of ‘Louis Vuitton: A Passion For Creation’ at the Hong Kong Museum of Art [Financial Times]
Oreg0n art dealer indicted for running gallery as a Ponzi scheme [Artinfo]

Glenn Brown’s ‘Christina of Denmark’ via Art in America

Lynn MacRitchie visits painter Glenn Brown’s studio [Art in America]
Predictions about the future of auction houses following the burst of the art market bubble [CNBC via Art Market Monitor]

Aerial view of Governors Island via Governors Island

Creative Time announces Plot, a public art quadrennial, to take place on Governors Island this summer, with 19 international artists showing in 5 buildings previously closed to the public [Creative Time]

Pablo Picasso’s ‘Homme à l’épée’ via Philippe Sollers estimated to sell for £5-7 million at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Sale later this month

Christie’s announces its Impressionist and Modern Art Sale, with important works by Monet, Duchamp, and Picasso as highlights [Auction Publicity] and in other auction news, Latin American sales follow the downward trend [Artinfo]

Terence Koh and Tom Sachs celebrate the release of Koh’s new book at Julian Schnabel’s house via Style

Vito Schnabel holds a dinner party at Palazzo Chupi in honor of Terence Koh’s new book, ‘Flowers for Baudelaire’ [Style]
Eric Fischl is organizing a touring exhibition aimed at involving artists in the evolution of American identity in the wake of post-9/11 politics [LA Times]

Takashi Murakami signing posters for the Vogue Nippon launch via Hint

Comme des Garçons x Vogue Nippon concept shop opens, featuring Takashi Murakami collaborations [Hint]
Controversial modern museum, the Ara Pacis, in the heart of historical Rome, is vandalized [BBC]

Jenny Holzer’s ‘Monument’ via Economist

Daniel Arizona looks at how Jenny Holzer’s early aphorisms stand up now and how her new ‘Redaction Paintings’ capture today’s anxiety [Economist]
Antony Gormley and Sir Peter Blake among judges of Saatchi Gallery-Sunday Telegraph Art Prize for schoolchildren [TelegraphUK]

Antony Gormley’s ‘Clutch II’ via Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac

Currently on view at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac’s Salzburg location is Antony Gormley’s exhibition of new drawing and sculptures, ‘ATAXIA II.’ Ataxia, a Greek word meaning ‘lack of order,’ is a neurological condition that results in the loss of coordination and bodily control. A series of seven sculptures composed of iron blocks shows the body in varying physical states representing a a loss of control. The works’ titles, Turn, Splice, Shrive, Shy, List, Clutch, and Haft, correspond to different pathologies and movements.  Also on view are several small black and white drawings exploring the idea that our bodies are heavily influenced by outside forces, both social and physical.

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
Antony Gormley
Body Art [Artinfo]

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Installation view of Rothko’s ‘Seagram Murals’ via MSNBC

Tate Liverpool exhibits Rothko’s Seagram Murals after a 20-year absence [Artdaily]
Rochelle Steiner, under whose tenure Olafur Eliasson’s “New York City Waterfalls” was sponsored, leaves the Public Art Fund [NY Times] and in related, Sotheby’s CEO takes big paycuts in the wake of the market downturn [Bloomberg]

Alex James, bassist of Blur via The Mirror

Blur’s Alex James to judge Charles Saatchi’s art-star reality TV show [The Mirror]
Jonathan Jones on how consumerism spawned Warhol and Pop art and thus the shallowness of contemporary art [Guardian]
Vanity Fair’s imagined conversations overheard at a MoMA party [VanityFair]
A new show at Paris’s Musee d’Art Moderne acknowledges how Italian Surrealist Giorgio de Chirico sold backdated copies of his own work [Bloomberg]

Patti Smith via The Art Newspaper

Patti Smith, whose Polaroids are showing at Robert Miller gallery, on her early career as an artist and why she feels Jeff Koons’s work is “just litter upon the earth” [The Art Newspaper]

Andy Warhol’s BMW Art Car via W Magazine

The BMW Art Car series by artists such as Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg to appear at New York’s Grand Central Terminal starting March 24 [W Magazine]
Chinese art dealer who sabotaged Christie’s sale of bronzes during the Yves Saint Laurent sale weeps at his shattered credibility [Bloomberg]

Steve McQueen modeling for T Magazine

A brief profile of Turner prize winning film artist Steve McQueen’s fashion aesthetic [The Moment]
The Las Vegas Sun does a post-mortem on the Las Vegas Art Museum, which closed last month [Las Vegas sun via ArtsJournal]

Trailer for ‘Guest of Cindy Sherman’ via Entertainment Weekly

Soon to open in New York, an art world outsider chronicles his relationship with an art world insider in the film ‘Guest of Cindy Sherman’ [Entertainment Weekly]
Susan Moore looks at the recent emergence of a homegrown art scene in the United Arab Emirates [Financial Times]

Collectors Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant.  Image courtesy Mary Barone via Artnet

Art in America and Interview Magazine owner Peter Brant opens his private collection to the public, by appointment only, at the Brant Foundation Art Study Center [NY Times]
How the former CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland was unable to secure an immense 16,000 piece art collection obtained during a takeover of ABN Amro as that bank’s CEO deftly transferred ownership to a foundation before the merger [TimesUK]
Turner Prize winning sculptor Antony Gormley announces first public art installation for Scotland [TheScotsman]

Laura Hoptman, Massimiliano Gioni and Lauren Cornell, curators at the New Museum of Contemporary Art via NY Times

A preview of the New Museum’s inaugural triennial, “The Generational: Younger Than Jesus” [NY Times]
Hans Ulrich Obrist’s book “The Conversation Series” includes interviews with artist such as Wolfgang Tillmans and Gilbert and George [ArtInfo]

A peek at Pierogi Gallery’s new annex, the Boiler via NY Times

Williamsburg’s Pierogi Gallery opens new annex, The Boiler [NY Times]
Chelsea galleries, including Andrea Rosen, Barbara Gladstone, Mary Boone and Matthew Marks, to show work at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana, Cuba [The Art Newspaper]

Anish Kapoor’s ‘Temenos’ via AnishKapoor

Construction begins on first of five of Anish Kapoor outdoor sculptures in the UK: the ‘world’s biggest art project’ [DesignWeek]

Portrait of Pope Benedict XIV by Pierre Subleyras via NY Mag

Old masters prove to be a bellwether in the market downturn [Financial Times] as such, The Metropolitan Museum acquires a Renaissance portrait of Pope Benedict XIV for nearly $1 million amidst financial woes [NY Mag] and this painting also is featured here in a separate video discussion on the resilience of old master paintings [Sotheby’s]

PR photo of Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth, via the Guardian UK.

Noted British sculptor and Turner Prize winner Antony Gormley is seeking to recruit up to 2,400 volunteers to participate in his latest work, One & Other, atop Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth.

Participants will have an entire hour atop the plinth, and are free to do anything legal. Gormley has commented that he expects there to be “naked riots,” and that he would be “upset if at least one person did not take their clothes off.” The only requirements for partake in One and Other are that participants are over 16 years of age and are residents of the UK while the show is on display. Applications will be accepted through a website designed for that purpose, and Sky Arts will broadcast coverage of the plinth. Video coverage of the plinth will also be streaming live at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The website will notify participants in three tranches starting in April.

On the motivation and objective behind the ‘sculpture,’ Gormley had this to say:

“The idea behind One & Other is a simple one. Through elevation onto the plinth and removal from the common ground, the body becomes a metaphor, symbol, emblem – a point of reference, focus and thought. In the context of Trafalgar Square with its military, valedictory and male historical statues to specific individuals, this elevation of everyday life to the position formerly occupied by monumental art allows us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability and particularity of the individual in contemporary society. It could be tragic but it could also be funny.” — via the Guardian UK

Gormley won the opportunity to display One and Other through a process run by the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group. Other artists who have exhibited on the plinth include Marc Quinn, Rachel Whiteread and Thomas Schutte.

Sculpture site: One and Other
Antony Gormley’s Fourth Plinth: make an exhibition of yourself [Times UK]
Antony Gormley wants you for the fourth plinth [Guardian UK]
Trafalgar Square fourth plinth art ‘will cause arrests’ [Telegraph UK]
Gormley on his plinth: ‘I would be very upset if nobody took their clothes off’ [Independent]
Gormley Invites Brits to Lord Over Trafalgar Square [ArtInfo]
Volunteer plea for plinth artwork [BBC]
Gormley puts public on pedestal [BBC]

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]

Diana and Actaeon (1556-1559), by Titian, via The Guardian.

Titian’s masterpiece painting Diana and Acteon (1556-1559) has finally been secured. The five-month campaign to raise £50 million has succeeded.  The National Galleries of Scotland and London’s National Gallery made a joint effort to raise the funds.  The Scottish government pledged £2.5 million, £.4 million came from public donations, and £2.5 million came from the National Galleries in London. The rest of the money came from the National Heritage Memorial Fund which gave £10 million; the Monument Trust which pledged £2 million; £.6 million came from the National Galleries of Scotland and £1 million was taken from the Art Fund.  Such a joint venture outweighs the previous fundraising record of £22 million in 2004 for Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks.

The fundraising campaign had the backing of 40 leading contemporary artists such as Lucien Freud, David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, and Antony Gormley.

Museum page: National Galleries of Scotland
Funds Secured for Titian Painting [BBC]
UK Buys Titian Diana Painting for 50 million Pounds [Bloomberg]
Titian’s Diana and Actaeon Saved for Nation as Art Galleries Hit £50 million Target [TimesUK]
Artists Jubilant as £50 million Titian Saved for Nation [The Independent]
Titian’s Diana and Actaeon Saved for the Nation [The Guardian]
Is Titian’s Diana and Actaeon worth £50 million? Definitely [The Telegraph]
National UK Galleries mobilize to secure Titian masterworks [ArtObserved]

More detail on the story after the jump…

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New York and Berlin gallerist Javier Peres, much a part of the success of Dan Colen, Assume Vivid Astro Focus, and Terrence Koh, opines on the “new, new school’ and the ways of the market [NYObserver]
The “serene mastery” of Italian painter Giorgio Morandi [WallStreetJournal] now at showing at the Met [ArtObserved]
In art market layoffs: Damien Hirst cuts up to 17 of the 22 in his studio [GuardianUK] and Pace Wildenstein cuts as well [Blackbook]

The highest priced “antique” on UK’s Antiques Roadshow is a £1m model of Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North [GuardianUK] more here [BBC]
The Museum of Modern Art is armed with a Twitter account [ArtFagCity]
On the heels of his recent no-sale at Phillips, [Art Observed] Damien Hirst is sanguine on the art market: “What goes up must come down” [ArtInfo]
Over 1/2 of the best selling artists of last year were Asian [Independent]
Global art dealer Jan Krugier dies at the age of 80 [ArtForum]

Duane Hanson’s “Flea Market Lady” staffs Emmanuel Perrotin’s booth at Frieze via New York Magazine

In the midst of perhaps the most spectacular global financial and credit market cave-ins ever experienced, The Frieze Art Fair in London, one of the three largest contemporary art fairs, felt a slowdown in some attendance indicators, sales volume and pricing; a harbinger of similar buyer sentiment reflected in anemic sales totals from all of the three major contemporary art auctions that followed in London over the weekend from Sotheby’s, Phillips and Christie’s respectively. In light of the true magnitude of the global wealth disrupted in recent weeks, overall, the output of the Frieze art fair and the concurrent contemporary art auctions likely could have been worse. The following is a roundup of the news and images looking back from the close of the Frieze fair as well as detailed summaries of each auction.

Takashi Murakami’s “Tongari-Kun” 2004. Though it was headliner of the Phillips Auction on Saturday, it failed to sell. Image via Phillips

Newslinks, images and more on the Frieze Art Fair and on the Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips auctions after the jump…

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Marc Quinn, Siren, 2008, Gold – via Telegraph

Today, The British Museum opened Statuephilia – a show of five major contemporary sculptures by five leading British artists – Damien Hirst, Marc Quinn, Ron Mueck, Antony Gormley, and Noble and Webster. The works are placed separately throughout the museum’s permanent collection in their respective relevant historical contexts. The exhibition includes Siren, Marc Quinn’s life size solid 18 carat gold statue of Kate Moss in a Yoga position which is set in the museum’s Nereid Room among ancient statues of Greek goddesses which was previously covered by AO here.

Images from Statuephilia [Telegraph]
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Statuephilia Opens [Art Daily]
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Kate Moss: The Muse [Independent]
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Marc Quinn Immortalizes Kate Moss [TimesUK]
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Solid gold Moss statue revealed [BBC]
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Statuephilia at The British Museum Website

More images and links after the jump.
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Gold Kate Moss sculpture (left), Kate Moss (Right) via Telegraph

British sculptor Marc Quinn is about to unveil the golden sculpture of celebrity, Kate Moss, 34, as part of the  Statuephilia exhibit at the British Museum.  Entitled Siren, it is reportedly the largest golden sculpture created since ancient Egypt.  However, the ‘solid’ gold sculpture is actually hollow, weighing exactly110 pounds (50kgs). Moss’s modern ideal beauty is immortalized and will be on display among statue of ancient goddesses like naked Aphrodite and Venus.  Quinn remarked, “I thought the next thing to do would be to make a sculpture of the person who’s the ideal beauty of the moment, but even Kate Moss doesn’t live up to the image.” At the moment, the British Museum has revealed only a teaser image, therefore only a glimpse of the statue’s face is publicized.  Following the similar theme of his previous Kate Moss-series Sphinx show, held in New York last year, covered by Art Observed, Moss will be captured in a seemingly uncomfortable yogic pose.

Kate Moss gets the golden touch as she’s immortalised in gold [Daily Mail]
Statuephilia – Contemporary Sculptors at the British Museum [Art Daily]
Solid gold statue of Kate Moss unveiled at British Museum [Telegraph]
Kate Moss Joins Gild: Mega-Statue Museum-Bound [E Online]
A model who’s worth her weight in gold (50kg, to be precise) [The Independent]
Marc Quinn’s 18 Carat Gold Kate Moss [The World’s Best Ever]
Marc Quinn to Unveil Gold Kate Moss “Sphinx” Sculpture [Supertouch]
The British Museum
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Critical Mass II, “Between Me and You”, Antony Gormley (1995) via Artdaily

Kunsthal Rotterdam presents a touring solo exhibition for the work of Antony Gormley. The exhibition, called ‘Between Me and You’, is shown in accordance with a citywide installation, ‘Event Horizon’, which consists of 21 molds of the artist’s body distributed across 15 Rotterdam rooftops throughout the city. ‘Between Me and You’ stays with the theme of the human being, and also marks the purchase of a permanent installation Another Time II, to be put in on the park side of the Kunstal Rotterdam. The touring show, ‘Between Me and You’ will stay at Kunsthal Rotterdam until September 14, and will stop at the Musee d’Art Moderne St Etienne in France from October 11 to January 25, and will then be at the Artium Museum in Spain from March 18 to September 13, 2009.

Antony Gormley at Rotterdam Kunsthal [Kunsthal]
Antony Gormley at Kunsthal Rotterdam [White Box]
Kunsthal Presents Exhibition Devoted to Antony Gormley [Artdaily]

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Image via Telegraph UK

Award-winning sculptor Antony Gormley will present his work “One And Other” in Trafalgar Square, London as he was recently chosen for the Fourth Plinth commission. His piece will occupy the Fourth Plinth for 100 consecutive days, for 24 hours, by members of the public who volunteered to stand for an hour. This will allow 2,400 people to participate in this piece.

Next on the Trafalgar Square plinth: the public [Times Online]
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London Mayor Offers to Be Living Artwork for Gormley [Bloomberg]
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Gormley’s human exhibit wins battle of Trafalgar [Independent]
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Antony Gormley will ask Trafalgar Square volunteers to climb plinth for art [Telegraph UK]
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Public art — literally — for London’s Trafalgar Square [AFP]
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Trafalgar Square: The People’s Plinth – A Portrait of our Time [Independent]

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Study for Head of George Dyer, Francis Bacon (1967) via NYTimes

Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Sale in London took place yesterday on July 1st and brought in an encouraging total of $188.8 million.  Francis Bacon’s painting of the profile of his lover and companion, George Dyer, was a highlight of the auction. This intimate portrait based on a photograph by John Deakin, was originally predicted to collect $15.5 million, but sold at a much higher $27.4 million to an anonymous collector. Although the sellers of the Bacon painting were kept anonymous, the New York Tims reported that experts speculate that it was sold by Ian and Mercedes Stouker, London Philanthropists.  Other impressive results of the sale achieved records for 11 different artists, and included the high profile sale of a Basquiat painting from seller U2, and an Andy Warhol from seller John McEnroe. The sold-out collection from the German industrialist, Walther Lauffs, which included work from Yves Klein, was another highlight of the show.

Sotheby’s July 2008 Contemporary Art Evening Sale Triumphs [Artdaily]
U2’s Jean-Michel Basquiat work on Sotheby’s block for $17.7M [Art Observed]
Bacon Stars, 10 Records Set at Sotheby’s; U2 Sell Art [Bloomberg]
Anish Kapoor sculpture attracts $3.87 mn at Sotheby’s sale [Economic Times]
Ten Works Set Records at Sotheby’s Contemporary Auctions [NYSun]
Sotheby’s contemporary art sale reaches £94.7 million [International Herald Tribune]
Contemporary Art Evening Auction Results [Sotheby’s]
Bacon Is Again a Top Draw at Auction [NYTimes]

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Marlene Dumas fromThe New York Times

Marlene Dumas, most expensive living woman artist at auction (until recently exceeded by Bourgeois) coming to MOMA in December [NYTimes Mag]
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How the proliferation of private museums affects the buyer/dealer system [The Independent]
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A reduced-size Antony Gormley ‘Angel of the North’ a Bacon, a Basquiat, a Richter coming on the block at Sotheby’s [Artinfo]
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Profile of Lauren Cornell, director of New Museum website: Rhizome [TimeoutNY]
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Herzog & de Meuron to design new museum of modern art in Calcutta [The Arts Newspaper]
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The art works Jeff Koons collects [NYTimes]
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Update: New York Mag covers the Shafrazi show,[NYMag] covered by AO here [AO]
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FT’s Jackie Wullschlager reviews Royal Academy Exhibition in London [Financial Times]

Los Angeles County Museum Via Bloomberg

Review: Eli Broad gives $50mm, loans his foundation’s and personal collections to LACMA [Bloomberg]
Jeff Koons chats with Katy Siegel at 92nd Street Y Exhibition [Art Fag City]
Julian Schnabel claims he will “bring peace to Israel” in June [New York Mag]
Ad agency accuses Tracey Emin of plagiarizing Antony Gromley’s E.ON 2007 campaign [Art Fag City]
New Award for Top Swiss Contemporary Art, courtesy of Julius Bär Foundation [Swiss Info]
ARCO8, 27th Madrid International Contemporary Art Fair, opens today [Art Daily]

The Fourth Plinth via The National Gallery

The Fourth Plinth, built in 1851, remained unused for 147 years, until the National Gallery began a rolling program to display select artists’ works on it. Jeremy Deller, Tracy Emin, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Yinka Shinibare, and Bob & Roberta Smith are currently competing for the spot. Artists such as Marc Quinn have been on the Plinth.

Competing for the Plinth [The National Gallery]