News
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08/18/2011
According to a lawsuit filed last week, a former lead artist on the cartoon “SpongeBob Squarepants” hired accomplices to attack his art dealer and take over her gallery in order to gain control of the sale of his work– claims the artist denies.
from the New York Times: "The artist, Todd White, was a character designer on “SpongeBob Squarepants” until 2005 and has since developed a fine art career. The lawsuit, which was brought by Margaret Howell, the owner of The Gallery HB at the Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach, asserts that agents of Mr. White arranged to meet her at her gallery on the evening of August 2, where they proceeded to assault her and imprison her for several hours while they stole $1 million worth of artwork by Mr. White as well as business documents, including confidential customer lists. The suit claims that they also forced her to take them to her home, where they stole an additional several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of art by Mr. White."
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08/16/2011
The Rembrandt sketch stolen from the Ritz-Carlton has been found and returned.
from NBC Los Angeles: "A late-night tip to Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies led to the return of a very expensive piece of art. Rembrandt's "The Judgment" was found in Encino Monday night after being stolen from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey. The drawing was found in a building at an Encino church, according to investigators...[The sketch] was part of a private exhibit in the lobby of the hotel. Investigators believe someone may have swiped it during a 15-minute window, while the curator was distracted by a hotel guest who appeared to want to make a purchase."
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08/15/2011
A Rembrandt valued at $250,000 has been stolen from a private art exhibit at the Ritz Carlson Marina del Rey.
from the Los Angeles Times: "Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators are reviewing hotel surveillance footage after a work by Rembrandt was stolen Saturday evening from a private art exhibit at the Ritz Carlton Marina del Rey, officials said. The theft occurred when a curator was distracted by another person, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. The pen-and-ink artwork, valued at $250,000 or more, vanished from the exclusive hotel between 10:20 and 10:35 p.m. 'Our detectives are reviewing the hotel security video for information identifying those involved,' he said."
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08/14/2011
Ai Weiwei has begun to disclose details surrounding the conditions of his detention this spring.
from the New York Times: "Ai Weiwei, a prominent Chinese artist and dissident, said on Friday that he had been kept in a tiny room throughout his nearly three-month detention last spring and watched 24 hours a day by shifts of two uniformed military police sergeants who never left his side. During a brief telephone interview, Mr. Ai confirmed and elaborated on a description of his captivity provided by an associate. The sergeants were never more than 30 inches from his side, and sometimes just four inches away, and stayed there as he slept, showered and used the bathroom, Mr. Ai said. 'It is designed as a kind of mental torture, and it works well,' he added."
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08/11/2011
The visual arts director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines who had approved the controversial exhibit that sparked outrage among politicians and religious activists has resigned.
from the Philippine Daily Inquirer: "Karen Flores announced her decision at a forum at the University of the Philippines on Wednesday on the political debate generated by “Kulo,” the exhibit which was closed down on Tuesday following threats to CCP officials and acts of vandalism. The show included an installation by artist Mideo Cruz which featured the controversial image of Jesus Christ with a wooden penis on his face, that became the target of politicians and religious clerics and activists who found it obscene and offensive."
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08/10/2011
London theatres have cancelled tonight’s performances in response to ongoing riots.
from The Stage News: Some theaters in London, including Landor, Arcola, Union and King’s Head Theatres, have cancelled shows to protect staff and patrons from the ongoing riots. No theaters in the West End have closed.
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08/09/2011
The Alliance for the Arts, which has served New York’s cultural world through research and advocacy for 35 years, has dissolved.
from the New York Times: "The Alliance for the Arts, which has served New York’s cultural world through research and advocacy for 35 years, is transferring its primary activities to the Municipal Art Society and to WNET, two deals in the process of being completed that illustrate how arts advocacy and service groups in New York are struggling to sustain themselves at a time of scarce resources. The advocacy groups find themselves competing for financing against the very cultural organizations they were created to support, which in turn can no longer afford the dues required by some of the groups that advocate for them."
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08/09/2011
Michael Jackson's art has been donated to Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
from the Associated Press: "Sketches by Michael Jackson as well as a signed portrait of the entertainer will decorate the walls of Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Jackson's three children — Prince, Paris and Blanket — were on hand Monday to unveil the donated artwork. They include a dozen sketches drawn and signed by Jackson and a photographed portrait of him. The works depicting Mickey Mouse, furniture and other objects were donated by Brett Livingstone-Strong, an artist and friend of Jackson's."
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08/08/2011
This September, Untitled (12th Istanbul Biennial), 2011 will bring together artworks that connect political and social subjects with aesthetic and formal concerns.
from the press release: "The 12th Istanbul Biennial will be composed of five group exhibitions, around which more than 50 solo presentations will be installed. Each of the five group shows will feature a large number of artists' works brought together under a particular argument. These group shows—Untitled (Abstraction), "Untitled" (Ross),"Untitled" (Passport), Untitled (History) and "Untitled" (Death by Gun)—depart from specific works by Gonzalez-Torres that will be reproduced in the Biennial Companion publication. The group displays will have the character of cabinet exhibitions, each occupying a distinct space. Together they will function as thematic anchors for the five biennial sections. Each solo presentation will be linked to the subjects of the group shows, but will push the themes further, exploring the subjects the group exhibitions have introduced."
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08/04/2011
Alfred Hitchcock's lost first feature film has been discovered in New Zealand.
from Artinfo: The National Film Preservation Foundation and the New Zealand Film Archive announced yesterday the discovery of a long lost 1923 feature, "The White Shadow," the oldest film in which Alfred Hitchcock is credited, reports the Los Angeles Times. Hitchcock, who was only 24 at the time, took on the roles of writer, assistant director, editor, and production designer. Clive Brook starred opposite Betty Compson, who played dual roles as twin sisters — one good, one evil. There's one catch, adding to the discovery's intrigue: only the first 30 minutes of the film were found.
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08/03/2011
El Museo del Barrio in New York has named Margarita Aguilar its new director.
from the Associated Press, via the Wall Street Journal: "Aguilar worked as a curator at the Manhattan museum from 1998 to 2006 and is currently vice president and senior specialist in Latin American art at Christie's. She succeeds Julian Zugazagoitia, who left to become the director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo. El Museo focuses on Latino, Caribbean and Latin American art. Aguilar is of Cuban descent. She has received degrees from New York University and Hunter College, and is currently a doctoral student in art history."
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08/03/2011
Art handlers at Sotheby's picketed outside the company's New York headquarters after being locked out over a contract dispute.
from the Wall Street Journal: "Art handlers at Sotheby's picketed outside the company's Upper East Side headquarters on Monday after being locked out by the auction house over a contract dispute. On Friday, Sotheby's notified its 43 art handlers that they couldn't return to work after 5:30 p.m., and hired temporary employees to take their place. The contract between the handlers' union, Teamsters Local 814, and the auction house expired at the start of July."
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08/02/2011
A new report details the art and historical documents destroyed on 9/11.
from the Associated Press: "Besides ending nearly 3,000 lives, destroying planes and reducing buildings to tons of rubble and ash, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks destroyed tens of thousands of records, irreplaceable historical documents and art. In some cases, the inventories were destroyed along with the records. And the loss of human life at the time overshadowed the search for lost paper. A decade later, agencies and archivists say they're still not completely sure what they lost or found, leaving them without much of a guide to piece together missing history."
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08/01/2011
The Afro-Peruvian folk singer Susana Baca has been named minister of culture in Peru for the new populist government of President Ollanta Humala, who took office last week.
from the New York Times: "Ms. Baca, whose CD “Lamento Negro” won a Latin Grammy award in 2002, is the first black Peruvian to be named a cabinet minister in that country since it gained its independence from Spain in 1821, and she provides another example of a recent South American trend to put artists in charge of government cultural policy. Previously, for example, the pop singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil served as culture minister in Brazil, and the actress-director Paulina Urrutia in Chile."
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08/01/2011
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will return nineteen artifacts to Egypt next week.
from the Associated Press: "Nineteen artifacts taken from the tomb of the famed boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun will be returned to Egypt next week after more than half a century at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Egypt's antiquities authority said Saturday. The trove includes a miniature bronze dog and a sphinx-shaped bracelet ornament, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said in a statement. The move, scheduled for Tuesday, is the result of an agreement between the two institutions last year to return the objects to Egypt."
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07/29/2011
The Crystal Bridges Museum of Art will offer free admission to all thanks to a $20-million grant from Wal-Mart.
from Arkansas Business: "Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art on Thursday announced that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was giving the Bentonville museum a $20 million grant to cover admission fees for all visitors. The grant is intended to make admission to the museum free in perpetuity. A $10 admission fee for adults had been under consideration before the grant announcement, the museum said."
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07/28/2011
London's National Gallery and The Louvre in Paris have announced plans to unite both versions of Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin Of The Rocks.
From the BBC: "The Louvre is to lend its version to the London gallery where it will be displayed as part of a new exhibition. In return, the gallery will lend the French institution its cartoon called The Virgin And Child With Saint Anne And John The Baptist...The Louvre's director Henri Loyrette said the 'exceptional collaboration' between the two galleries will provide the 'historical juxtaposition long desired by art historians.'"
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07/28/2011
A Polish painting has been returned to Warsaw after 67 years on the missing list.
from the The Guardian: "A valuable 19th century Polish painting missing since the second world war has been returned to Poland after being removed from auction in Germany. Aleksander Gierymski's Jewish Woman Selling Oranges was unveiled in Poland on Wednesday by culture minister Bogdan Zdrojewski, who said the return came after many months of negotiations with lawyers representing a German who had possessed it for more than 30 years."
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07/27/2011
The owner of an art store was arrested and charged with smuggling and conspiracy for illegally importing and selling African elephant ivory.
from CNN: "Federal agents seized approximately 1 ton of ivory from Victor Gordon's African art store–one of the largest government seizures of ivory on record...Gordon allegedly paid a co-conspirator to travel to Africa to buy raw elephant ivory, according to the 10-count felony indictment against him. He provided his co-conspirators with pictures of ivory carvings and asked that the ivory be designed by African carvers according to his designs, court documents said. Gordon also asked that the ivory be dyed to give it an antique, older look."
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07/27/2011
A long-planned exhibition of nearly 70 pieces of Buddhist art from Pakistan will finally open after political intrigue in Pakistan and a breakdown in American-Pakistani relations delayed it for six months.
from the New York Times: "Anti-Americanism, which soared in the aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden, helped put the show in jeopardy, said Melissa Chiu, the director of Asia Society Museum...The obstacles became so intense that at times the exhibition, devoted to the splendors of the ancient Buddhist civilization of Gandhara that flourished in northern Pakistan 2,000 years ago, almost foundered. Ms. Chiu said her argument to Pakistani authorities — that showing the antiquities in New York could help counterbalance the image of Pakistan as the world’s most dangerous place — was a tough sell."
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