A recent article by The Independent uncovers the extensive network of government funding, support and propaganda around American contemporary art during the 1950’s and 60’s as an economic and political weapon against the Communist bloc.  Part of the original scope of the CIA when it was founded in 1947, a program called the Congress for Cultural Freedom was used to promote and disseminate the works of American artists as a symbol of outright cultural freedom of expression.  Says former agent Donald Jameson: “It was recognised that Abstract Expression- ism was the kind of art that made Socialist Realism look even more stylised and more rigid and confined than it was. And that relationship was exploited in some of the exhibitions.” (more…)

The newest issue of Garage Magazine is featuring a diptych cover, created in a collaboration between fashion photographers Inez and Vinoodh, and artist John Baldessari.  Photographing supermodel Adriana Lima, Inez and Vinoodh then turned the image over to Baldessari, who abstracted the image in his signature color overlays.  The issue also features an interview with Baldessari, whose solo show at the Garage Center in Moscow opens this fall. (more…)

The burial site of Russian avant-garde painter Kazimir Malevich has been covered in concrete, paved over by a real estate company in the process of building a new luxury housing development.  The site, outside of Moscow, was the focus of commemoration plans, before the government made a sudden turnaround.  “Developers have already talked to the bureaucrats who are making the decisions,” said Malevich enthusiast Aleksander Matveev. “They’ve already put concrete blocks on the site of the grave.” (more…)

A recent exhibition of work featuring a portrait of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wearing women’s underwear has been shut down by state authorities in St.Petersburg this week, with the offending artist fleeing the country for asylum in France.  “We are powerless facing the despotism of authorities,” says Tatiana Titova, director of the Museum of Power, where the exhibition was held. “The museum was closed for no reason.”  (more…)

British architect Norman Foster has resigned from the proposed expansion of the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, a projected $670 million project that had seen numerous delays over disputes and arguments between officials and preservationists. “Foster & Partners took this action because the museum, for the last three years, has not involved us in the development of the project, which was being carried out by others.” Foster’s firm said in a statement. (more…)

Europe’s Manifesta Art Biennial has named the Berlin-based Kasper Konig as its curator for next year’s edition of the fair, which opens next June in St. Petersburg.  Konig’s active role in defending artistic statements in the face of conservative criticism in Germany will make for an interesting counterpoint to Russia’s current political climate, where Putin has just passed the Homosexuality Propaganda law.  “Contemporary art and exhibits from the State Hermitage should dance side by side.”  Konig said in a statement. (more…)

The Russian government has refused to reunite the collections Ivan Morozov and Sergei Shchukin, which has stood as a point of contention between the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg over the past months. Both institutions currently own parts of the collection, which was divided in half after Stalin shuttered the Museum of New Western Art in 1948.  Former director of the Pushkin Museum Irina Antonova spoke out on the decision last week on Moscow television, stating a hope that the works would be reunited.  “I believe that in the end common sense must triumph,” she said. “We will have a state that will understand what it is to have the kind of museum that we don’t have in Moscow, a top museum of world art in the capital.” (more…)

Russian Marat Guelman has been fired from his post as the director of the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art, and is currently under investigation for his financial practices.  The firing comes days after Guelman’s exhibition Welcome! Sochi 2014 (a protest against the upcoming winter olympics as a Kremlin publicity project) was raided by authorities.  “All of this looks like they received an order from Moscow. To find something at any cost,” he said. “And this is even though I’m not in any way part of the opposition, but simply a person who openly speaks what I think.” (more…)

Two of Russia’s most prominent museums, the Hermitage Museum and the Pushkin Museum, are currently embroiled in a dispute over the collections of Ivan Morozov and Sergei Shchukin, which had been distributed between two institutions when Stalin shut down the State Museum in 1948.  The debate was brought to light this year, when the Pushkin’s director, Irina Antonova, appealed to President Vladimir Putin on live television, asking him to recreate the institution in Moscow, raising ire over the rightful home of the works, which include pieces by Picasso and Matisse.  “The expert advice seems to be all on the Hermitage side—but you never know,” says Geraldine Norman, an advisor at The Hermitage. (more…)

St. Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum has been announced as the location for next year’s Manifesta 10 exhibition.  The biennial exhibition of contemporary European art will see mark its 20th anniversary, as well as its first version of the event in Russia.  “With the arrival of Manifesta, the Hermitage will highlight its traditions: its roots within the epoch of Catherine the Great and her passion for the contemporary art of her time, and the role that the museum’s collections and exhibitions have always played in the artistic life of Russia. We see contemporary art is a natural, albeit intricate, development of these age-old traditions.”  Says Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky. (more…)

Billionaire Roman Abramovich has purchased a collection of works by Ilya Kabakov, Russia’s most expensive living artist.  The collection of over 40 works ranges from early installations and albums to paintings, and is estimated to have totaled over $60 million.  “It’s one of the largest Kabakov collections in the world,” said Emilia Kabakov, the artist’s wife and collaborator since 1989. (more…)

Jake and Dinos Chapman, The End of Fun (2010), via White Cube Gallery

Since their graduation from the Royal College of Art in 1990, brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman have continually pushed the envelope with their iconoclastic, ambitious sculptures.  Frequently incorporating what they call “bankrupt” imagery, so frequently used by contemporary that it has lost much of its original meaning, the artists create large-scale sculptural works that have frequently drawn fierce reactions from critics and gallery visitors.

Jake and Dinos Chapman, The End of Fun (2010), via State Hermitage Museum (more…)