Announced this week, Sony Pictures Classics plans to release Tim’s Vermeer a documentary exploring the approach and technique of 17th century master Jan Vermeer.  Directed by longtime magician and entertainer Raymond Teller, the film will chronicle a Texas-based inventor named Tim  Jenison as he explores how Vermeer accomplished the impressive verisimilitude of the painter’s works.  “Tim is a genius, but I’m a skeptic. I wanted to see him do it. Teller has been the Penn & Teller de facto director since our beginnings, so we made a movie of Tim’s whole monomaniacal trip.”  Says longtime collaborator Penn Jillette. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on the long, convoluted journey of a 63-year old mural painted by artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.  Originally created outside of Paris by the well-known Austrian, Paradise: Land of Men, of Trees, of Birds and Ships has since moved from Paris to Switzerland to Long Island, before coming to rest in a Brooklyn warehouse.  The work’s long history and current restoration needs illustrate the challenges facing the preservation of such large-scale works, particularly given its 10 x 16 foot size and its weight of over 3,000 pounds.   The move to its current location “took me two days with six guys and heavy equipment and a tow truck,” Says current owner Chris Muth. “If it fell in the process it would have been destroyed, and if it we had been under it we would have been dead.” (more…)

Jake & Dinos Chapman, The Sum of All Evil (Installation View), courtesy White Cube Hong Kong

Currently at Hong Kong’s White Cube, British artists Jake & Dinos Chapman are exhibited The Sum of All Evil, the artists’ first in China, including a group of lurid, bizarre dioramas alongside their familiar series of “reworked paintings.”

Jake & Dinos Chapman, One Day You Will No Longer Be Loved (that it should come to this…) (2010), via White Cube

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Painter Peter Doig is profiled in the New York Times, in advance of his retrospective exhibition at the Scottish National Galleries in Edinburgh.  Speaking from a rented studio in Manhattan, the artist discusses his new paintings, his studio and home in Trinidad, and the start-stop nature of his creative process.  “Sometimes you get so frustrated, you end up washing off or scraping off what you spent hours or days applying,” he said. “By going backward, you see something you could have never achieved by going forward.” (more…)

Per Kirkeby, Untitled (2012), via Michael Werner

A tangible sense of degradation runs through the canvases of artist Per Kirkeby, currently on view at Michael Werner in London.  Walking a fine line between impressionist figuration and pure abstraction, his works seem balanced on a pin, teetering between a fully realized environment and complete structural breakdown, a process the artist acknowledges as “an ongoing process of sedimentation.”  The first exhibition of new work since his 2009 retrospective at Tate Modern, Kirkeby’s new exhibition sees him returning to the same interrogations and explorations of the natural environment, as well as his own interpretation of it.

Per Kirkeby, Recent Paintings (Installation View), via Michael Werner (more…)

A selection of ancient Japanese erotic paintings, titled “shunga” or “spring pictures” are currently on view at Sotheby’s Hong Kong location.  Considered somewhat taboo in Japan, the exhibition of works from the collection of Uragami Mitsuru struggled to find a home for its exhibition before Sotheby’s offered its location.  “The Tokyo National Museum hesitated to show it and so far I haven’t been able to get the Mori Museum to agree apart from a few works. In bookshops you can see these images but why can’t the real exhibit show? It’s nonsense,” Uragami said at the exhibition. (more…)

Gerhard Richter, Abdu (2009),  © Gerhard Richter 2013

Currently on display at Gagosian Gallery’s London space on Davies Street are a series of 4 tapestries, created in 2009 by prominent artist Gerhard Richter, entitled Abdu, Iblan, Musa and Yusuf.  Combining the artist’s signature style with bold new aesthetic forms, the works are based on the artist’s 1990 work, Abstract Painting (724-4).

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The Museum of Modern Art has announced an expansive retrospective for artist Sigmar Polke, set to open on April 19th, 2014.  Pulling from the artist’s broad explorations in painting, film and performance, the exhibition will feature some of Polke’s largest paintings and digitally rendered works, requiring their exhibition on the second floor of the museum, which is generally reserved for special exhibitions.  “Some of the paintings are so big, they can only fit on the second floor,” says MoMA Associate Director Kathy Halbreich. “This is one of the largest shows MoMA has ever done.” (more…)

Diana Widmaier-Picasso, granddaughter of Pablo Picasso by his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter, is currently undertaking an ambitious project: a catalogue raisonné of her grandfather’s sculptures.  Widmaier-Picasso’s ambitious project looks to consolidate the artist’s output in the form, thereby increasing his work’s value in the marketplace.  “Picasso is the greatest sculptor of the 20th century,” Carmen Gimenez of the Guggenheim Museum said. “He practically reinvented modern sculpture. But as soon as you begin working with his sculptures, you realize you need to learn more.” (more…)

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dustheads (1982), via Christie’s

This week, Sotheby’s and Christie’s released their sales reports for the first half of 2013, with both sides announcing record sales figures. Christie’s has achieved a global sales total of £2.4 billion, including buyers’ premiums, a 9% increase on last year’s figure. The total includes the private sales of £465.2 million, an increasingly popular segment of the sales market, which saw a 13% growth from last year. The report also marks the third year in a row that the auction house has set new records for the period in both company and art market history.

Pablo Picasso, Étreinte (1971), via Sotheby’s

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Opening in October, the Tate Modern will present a landmark exhibition of works by German-Swiss painter Paul Klee.  Exhibiting over 100 of the artist’s works, the show will aim to “redress the idea that he was a quirky artist, allowing his cat to paint, but rather show that he was extremely rigorous, with a clear sense of how his work was progressing … and it will give a sense of the extraordinary variety of his production.”  Says Tate curator Matthew Gale. (more…)

Artist Jan Mostaert’s painting Discovery of America, depicting a group of Spanish soldiers aiming cannons at an indigenous group of people, has been purchased by the Rijksmuseum.  Previously owned by Marei von Saher, the work had been taken from her father in law, dealer Jacques Goudstikker, by the Nazis during World War II, and was returned to von Saher in 2006.  “It’s a picture that a lot of people were interested in both in North and South America because of it being such an important historical picture,” said dealer Hugo Nathan, “but Mostaert is arguably the most important early Dutch painter, as opposed to being a Flemish master, and the Rijksmuseum was always hoping to secure it for the Dutch nation.” (more…)

Takashi Murakami (Installation View), via Galerie Perrotin Hong Kong

After 20 years of collaboration, Galerie Perrotin Hong Kong and Takashi Murakami present what will be the artist’s 9th solo show at the gallery, featuring new paintings he created under his alter-ego Mr. Dob, as well as self-portraits of Murakami surrounded by his own characters.

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Painter John Constable’s 1821 canvas The Hay Wain, widely regarded as one of Britain’s most iconic paintings, has been a attacked by a protestor from the group Fathers4Justice.  The alleged protestor, 41 year old Tim Haries, was arrested on charges of attaching a small photograph of a young boy to the work while it was on view at The National Gallery.  “A member of the Gallery’s security team quickly intervened and called for assistance. The photograph was approximately 4 inches wide, and the back had been coated with glue.”  Said a Gallery spokesman. (more…)

Alex Katz, Yellow Seagull (2000), courtesy MdM Mönchsberg

The Museum der Moderne Mönchsberg in Salzburg, Austria has collaborated with the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine to present a comprehensive view of work by Alex Katz. Mostly drawn from the collection of over 700 of Katz’s works held by the Colby College Museum of Art, the exhibition also includes a number of paintings on loan from European museums and private collections.

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Financial Times editor Simon Schama recently sat down with artist Grayson Perry for an interview covering the artist’s new exhibition at the Royal Academy in London.  Discussing his influences and practice, the artist goes on to discuss the broader context of British art in the global community. “We are all so desperate to hunt for Englishness, to try and connect to the European renaissance, that we are missing our own brilliant contribution to world culture, which is to say, “Oh come off it!” That’s what we do, hold complex ideas and manage to be ambiguous in a humane way, to celebrate humanity while at the same time satirising it, that’s what makes us English.” (more…)

Ellsworth Kelly, Curves on White (Four Panels) (2011), via Matthew Marks Gallery

Capping off a trio of New York shows this spring, Ellsworth Kelly has brought a his work to Matthew Marks Gallery, taking up all three of the gallery’s New York City locations with a series of new paintings and sculptures that illustrate the artist’s continued interest in location, color and form.

Ellsworth Kelly, At Ninety (Installation View), via Matthew Marks Gallery (more…)

Following two costly lawsuits against the Foundation by collectors Joe Simon and Susan Shaer in 2007 after their Warhol works were deemed “fake” by the Foundation’s Authentication Board, its insurance firm, Philadelphia Indemnity, refused to pay its share of legal fees. “Philadelphia Indemnity said it was not liable to pay for the Warhol Foundation’s defence because the organisation had “failed to notify them—as [its] insurance policy required—of ‘any specific wrongful act’ committed by one of the foundation’s members, including the publication of material ‘with knowledge of its falsity’”, according to a 20 June article in the New York Review of Books.“ This derived in an over two year-long legal dispute between the two organizations, which was finally settled last week, in favor of the Foundation, which has already processed the insurance company’s payment. (more…)

Yoshitomo Nara, Missed Autumn Rendez-Vous (2013), via PACE Gallery

The images of Japanese kawaii have become, at this stage of the contemporary arts dialogue, something of a trope, an analytical signifier earmarking a work for commentary on Japan’s encounters with global pop culture.  Creeping into press releases, catalogues and countless reviews as a convenient sounding point for Japan’s obsession with the bizarre and the cartoonish, the use of the word often leaves something to be desired, doing little to quantify the aspects or implications it actually carries.

Yoshitomo Nara, (Installation View), via PACE Gallery (more…)

Artist Ed Ruscha is profiled in the most recent issue of the New Yorker, discussing his life in Los Angeles, his practice, and the inspiration for some of his most iconic works, including his famous painting Oof.  “It had one foot in the world of cartooning,” he says. “You get punched in the stomach, and that’s ‘Oof.’ It was so obvious, and so much a part of my growing up in the U.S.A. I felt like it was almost a patriotic word.” (more…)

Blinky Palermo II Gelber Fluß, (1976), via David Zwirner

David Zwirner is currently presenting an exhibition of German artist Blinky Palermo’s works on paper from the years 1976-1977, on view at the gallery’s 20th Street exhibition space in New York. The exhibition was organized by the Palermo archive to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the artist’s birth, and the selection of works on display are culled from both museum and private collections, made mostly in New York City where he lived from 1973-1976, shortly before his death in the Maldives in 1977.

Blinky Palermo, Works on Paper (Installation View), via David Zwirner (more…)

The sale of Pablo Picasso’s 1909 work Compotier et tasse has been blocked by U.S. authorities at the request of the Italian government.  The painting’s current owners, Gabriella Amati and her late husband, Angelo Maj, are being charged with embezzling $44 million from the city of Naples, and the work is suspected to have been purchased with the stolen money.  Immigration and Custons Enforcement director John Morton said: “Restraining this valuable artwork is an effort to help recover some of the estimated $44 million that this couple stole from the tax-paying citizens of Naples.” (more…)

Fashion designer L’Wren Scott has announced the completion of her fall line, inspired by painter Gustav Klimt.  Speaking at a press conference last week, Scott discussed the artist’s inspiration on her work, and the inspiration he took from the fashion and culture of his era. “He was very avant garde and scandalous, in more ways than the children.” Ms. Scott said.  “It was a movement coming from something very strict to loosening up, but as you see, Klimt was a man who missed the waistline. He painted it in everyone of his portraits. He wanted to see the female form.” (more…)

Monet Sells at Sotheby’s, via Sotheby’s

With the closing of this week’s Impressionist and Modern Evening Sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, evidence of a strong art market is not hard to find.  Sotheby’s held a slight edge over its recently successful rival, managing an auction total of $165.9 million, with only 13 of the 71 pieces going unsold.  Two pieces passed the ten million dollar mark, and 29 were sold for more than one-million dollars. The auction also set auction records for Camille Claudel and FrantiÅ¡k Kupka. In contrast, Christie’s achieved a result of $100.4 million over the course of its 44 lot sale. The result lies in between the total pre-sale estimate for the auction house of $82.8 to $118.8 million. Only seven works remained unsold, and two lots were sold for over ten million dollars.

Wassily Kandinsky, Studie zu Improvisation 3 (1909), via Christie’s (more…)