June 18, 2013, 1:07 pm
Billionaire art collector Charles Saatchi has been officially “cautioned” by Scotland Yard after photographic evidence of him manhandling his wife, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, surfaced in the British tabloid, The Sunday People. The photos — partially obstructed by the shrubbery at the posh seafood restaurant Scotts in Mayfair — show Saatchi’s gripping Lawson’s neck. She looks patently distressed as he clutches her throat, alternating from his left to his right hand. Photographs of her leaving the restaurant show her crying. Continue Reading
June 18, 2013, 8:49 am
Publisher Artbook/D.A.P. has launched a new online interactive guide to upcoming exhibitions at American museums on its website, with links to the books it publishes or distributes. The feature functions similarly to Artcards, but for museums, allowing users to sort information about shows according to region — MidAtlantic, Midwest, West, Southwest, New England, and New York City, but no Los Angeles — date, or institution. Continue Reading
June 18, 2013, 8:18 am
Art dealer and retired Verizon worker Carolyn Stanford represents seven self-taught artists, all of whom are inmates in federal prisons serving time for non-violent crimes. Through her non-profit Inside Out Art, she sells their work as postcards and limited edition prints, returning all the profits to the inmates while covering the operation’s costs herself — Stanford recently took a part-time job. “They are very appreciative to have someone say, ‘That’s an awesome painting,’” she told DNAinfo. “To have someone say that, ‘When you come home, we’re going to do something positive.’” Continue Reading
June 18, 2013, 7:37 am
On June 4 Chicago’s latest public art project was completed with the installation of the city’s 100th partial Buddha head — created by artist Indira Johnson to appear as if it is sinking into or emerging from the ground — outside the Amor de Dios United Methodist Church in the city’s Little Village neighborhood. The outdoor sculpture campaign, dubbed Ten Thousand Ripples, aims to foster better quality of life in the city’s communities by sparking contemplation, conversation, and understanding. Continue Reading
June 17, 2013, 2:21 pm
Citizens of West Lafayette, Indiana, want a new mural of a giant banana to split. Stuart Gutwein, a lawyer for Granite Management, the real estate company that manages the building that has been festooned with the offending painting, told ABC News that the home needed to be painted. If the resulting mural is deemed art, the argument goes, it is protected as free speech. However, the banana also happens to be Granite Management’s logo, and therefore locals say that it qualifies as advertising. Continue Reading
June 17, 2013, 12:34 pm
Demand for tickets to tour Carol Bove’s exhibition on the northernmost stretch of the High Line have been in high demand since the seven-piece show opened on the elevated park’s still-wild section last month, so much so that its organizers are adding 20 tickets to every tour of the site between June 20 and August 2, and August 8 and September 28. Continue Reading
June 17, 2013, 7:55 am
BASEL – Occupiers at Art Basel had a rough encounter with the local police force on Friday night. After having taken over Tadashi Kawamata’s Art Favela, a village of concession shacks installed in front of the fair’s main entrance, a group of about 100 partying protesters were evicted by armored Basel police (see video below). According to a spokesperson, the group, which included a donkey, wanted to underline the decadence of including a slum setting as part of one the world’s biggest art fairs. Continue Reading
June 14, 2013, 5:38 pm
Turning his attention away from overbearing Chinese censorship, Ai Weiwei did not equivocate in his criticism of the American government, published in the Guardian earlier this week. Responding to the fallout over former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden’s divulgence of the breadth of American intelligence operations, Ai opens the piece stating that he “was shocked by the US surveillance operation, Prism.” Continue Reading
June 14, 2013, 4:46 pm
French artist Orlan is suing Lady Gaga and the French subsidiary of Universal Music for plagiarism in a Paris court. In the lawsuit, the artist accuses the singer of stealing from her to construct the visual universe of her third album, “Born This Way.” According to Le Quotidien de l’Art, which broke the story, Orlan is demanding $31.7 million or 7.5 percent of the profits from the album and video.
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June 14, 2013, 3:31 pm
Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria Thomas, the popular New York yoga instructor, are set to co-chair “Some Enlightened Evening,” a gala event on October 17 in support of “Yoga: The Art of Transformation,” the Smithsonian’s first exhibition on the visual history of Yoga. Continue Reading
