Even Damien Hirst Says It's Out Of Control "[J]ust months after the success of a ground-breaking sale at Sotheby's that brought him nearly £100m, Hirst has described the art market as over-priced, and welcomed the prospect of selling his work at cheaper rates in the present climate of recession." The Independent (UK) 11/17/08

email this story | Posted 11/19/08@09:20PM

Canadian Auctions Start Tonight; More Carnage Ahead? Canada's art auction houses are bracing for the worst in the wake of disappointing fall auction sales in the US and Europe. "Artprice predicts values will drop 40 per cent by year's end." But some have hope that the market for Canadian art will not fall as far or as hard. Toronto Star 11/19/08

email this story | Posted 11/19/08@06:50AM

Eli Broad To Build His Own Museum "Less than a year after the Los Angeles County Museum of Art opened a $56 million museum for contemporary art named for Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist who is its largest benefactor, Mr. Broad has decided to build his own museum and is considering a site just down the street." The New York Times 11/19/08

email this story | Posted 11/19/08@06:45AM

UN Unveils New Painting "An intricate ceiling painting worth 18m euros [$23m] has been unveiled at the United Nations offices in Geneva. The coloured dome took Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo more than a year to produce, using 100 tons of paint with pigments from all over the world... However, the Spanish opposition party has criticised the country's government for spending some public money on it." BBC 11/19/08

email this story | Posted 11/19/08@06:40AM

UK Heritage Fund Chips In To Help Keep Titian In Country "The campaign to keep Titian's masterpiece Diana and Actaeon on public display [in the UK] has been given a £10m boost. The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) announced it would donate the sum to The National Galleries of Scotland and the National Gallery. The two institutions are hoping to raise £50m to jointly buy the painting." BBC 11/19/08

email this story | Posted 11/19/08@06:37AM

LA's MOCA In Deep Trouble "Los Angeles' prestigious but chronically underfunded Museum of Contemporary Art has fallen into crisis... The museum has burned through $20 million in unrestricted funds and borrowed $7.5 million from other accounts. Cash from donors is being sought. A merger has not been ruled out." Los Angeles Times 11/19/08

email this story | Posted 11/19/08@06:32AM

Kimbell Art Museum Plans Extension By Renzo Piano - "The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth will unveil preliminary plans today for a $70 million addition designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. The plans call for a separate two-level building west of the original 1972 structure, a revered design by the late Louis Kahn. Final blueprints should be in hand by late 2009 or early 2010, with construction to begin shortly after and opening expected in 2012." Dallas Morning News 11/18/08

email this story | Posted 11/18/08@09:22PM

- And It's Going In Front of Louis Kahn's Original "As anticipated, or dreaded, the Renzo Piano-designed facility is going to be built on the west lawn, directly in front of the existing building." But he's leaving 180 feet between them - and creating the sort of entrance Kahn wanted. "Kahn did not understand Texans' desire to park as closely as possible to a door, so almost all of the Kimbell's visitors enter by way of the parking lot and through what is ostensibly the garage door of the museum. Piano is going to fix that." Fort Worth Star-Telegram 11/18/08

email this story | Posted 11/18/08@09:21PM

Manchester Gets £1.7M In Settlement Over Failed Sculpture "Mancunians nicknamed it Kerplunk after the well-known 1970s children's game -- an apt description for a £1.42 million sculpture of giant spikes that began to fall off soon after it was completed. Now, the creator of B of the Bang has agreed with subcontractors to pay £1.7 million in damages to Manchester City Council over the failure of what was supposed to be one of the country's most exciting pieces of public art." The Times (UK) 11/18/08

email this story | Posted 11/18/08@07:39AM

Kulik Photos Seized As Porn In Paris "French police seized a number of works by the Ukrainian performance artist Oleg Kulik on the stand of Moscow's XL gallery during Fiac (Foire international d'art contemporain).... The police were acting on a complaint of pornography brought by the French customs against photographs from the 1990s depicting Kulik performances, sometimes naked and sometimes simulating sexual acts with animals." The Art Newspaper 11/17/08

email this story | Posted 11/17/08@05:07PM

The World's First Superscraper (Final Height Unknown) "When you stand under the Burj Tower it doesn't look that tall at all. Bizarre. Alone on the flat desert landscape of Dubai, apart from the generic glitzy towers of the Sheikh Zayed Road, it seems slightly abstract, with nothing for your eye to compare it with." Nonetheless: "This is literally a step change in the future of skyscrapers. Welcome to the world's first superscraper." The Times (UK) 11/18/08

email this story | Posted 11/17/08@04:39PM

Gormley's Maquette Isn't Actually An Antique, But ... "Anthony Gormley's design model for his Angel of the North sculpture has become the first £1m object to be valued on BBC One's Antiques Roadshow. The model was one of a number Gormley made to win over sceptical councillors ahead of the statue's commissioning." BBC 11/16/08

email this story | Posted 11/17/08@03:10PM

With Jobs Scarce, Architects Will Tone Down The Glamour Work for architects dries up in recessions; in the last one, 40 percent of architects lost their jobs. As for what does get built, it won't be the sort of thing we've seen in recent years. "Indeed, what we may see is a swing towards a less showy architecture, with invention squeezed into pint pots. " The Guardian (UK) 11/17/08

email this story | Posted 11/17/08@02:29PM

On Darwin £10 Note, A Bit Too Much Artistic License "It is the ultimate, infallible tribute to a Briton: placing their portrait on a banknote alongside images of their life and work. But now a leading UK biologist has announced that pictures on the £10 note, which commemorates the achievements of Charles Darwin, are 'little better than fiction'." The problem is the hummingbird.... The Observer (UK) 11/16/08

email this story | Posted 11/17/08@02:25PM

Losses Pile Up For Art Auction Houses "Each time the hammer fell, it seemed to signal a new era in sales, one that featured the return of the seasoned collector and more-sober business practices. Still, given the depth of the global economic crisis, auction house experts were expecting worse. Late Friday afternoon Sotheby's reported that it had lost $28.2 million from guarantees at its contemporary art auctions last week. That brought its total losses to about $52 million this fall, all from guarantees." The New York Times 11/17/08

email this story | Posted 11/17/08@05:43AM

Chicago Art Institute Gets A New Home For The New "With its north-facing view of Millennium Park and a stack of roof-level sunshades that will filter the daylight entering the Modern Wing's third-floor galleries, Piano's design opens up a type of building that is typically an introverted treasure box. While that may satisfy Piano's desire to make the Modern Wing transparent and contemporary, as opposed to the museum's original Beaux-Arts building, it has necessitated... a 'healthy conversation' among [architect Renzo] Piano, his staff and the museum's curators." Chicago Tribune 11/16/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@08:37PM

Are Art Auction Prices Even Worse Than Reported? Yup. Prices announced by the auction houses don't make across-the-board comparisons. "They almost invariably compare the estimate of hammer price to a figure arrived at by adding hammer price to the commission that the auction house charges the buyer. The result is an apples-to-oranges comparison that makes the sale results look better than they actually are." Wall Street Journal 11/16/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@08:08PM

The Coming Asian Art Shift "Of the world's 20 top-selling artists, 13 are from Asia, with 11 coming from China. Asian artists make up six of the top 10 biggest sellers at auction, five of which are Chinese. Experts predict that within a decade, the term 'Asian art' will be as widely used as 'Western art' and will be responsible for most global sales." The Independent (UK) 11/16/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@11:25AM

What To Do With Your Old Wal-Mart Architecturally speaking, big box retailers are a blight on the American landscape. So when they fail, should the shells simply be left to rot? Maybe not - a new book argues that "those who gaze at the big-box stores...and fail to see future cathedrals, museums or artists' communities have no sense of history. Or imagination." Washington Post 11/16/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@11:10AM

A Reawakening In Toronto? Is the new Art Gallery of Ontario teaching Toronto's leaders a valuable lesson about the power of architecture? "Chances are this sense of engagement alone will be enough to win over sceptics, those modern architecture haters who believe the 20th century was the worst thing that ever happened. They may be right, but let's not forget, this is the 21st century. Things have changed." Toronto Star 11/15/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@10:10AM

Saving Buffalo Buffalo is a city with problems. But it's also a city filled with architectural treasures, many of which are at risk of demolition or decay. "Now the city is reaching a crossroads. Just as local preservationists are completing restorations on some of the city's most important landmarks, the federal government is considering a plan that could wipe out part of a historic neighborhood." The New York Times 11/15/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@10:01AM

Pointing Out What Was Always There Estrellita Brodsky, a graduate student and well-known New York philanthropist, is leading a movement to "raise the profile of Latin American art in museums, the academy and the international art market... Only in the last 15 years have scholars fully embraced the contributions of Latin American artists to 20th-century abstract movements, particularly in the areas of installation and performance." The New York Times 11/15/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@09:57AM

The Softer Side Of Gehry Nicolai Ouroussoff says that Frank Gehry's reimagining of the Art Gallery of Ontario "may catch some fans of the architect off guard. Rather than a tumultuous creation, this may be one of Mr. Gehry's most gentle and self-possessed designs. It is not a perfect building, yet its billowing glass facade, which evokes a crystal ship drifting through the city, is a masterly example of how to breathe life into a staid old structure." The New York Times 11/15/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@09:54AM

Reviving A National Treasure "When a fire ripped through Deyrolle, the beloved taxidermy establishment here, early one morning last February, it was as if a dagger had been plunged into the heart of Paris... Deyrolle has been a natural history emporium with the look and feel of a museum, except that just about everything was for sale." Now, the difficult task of restoring the shop has begun, and all of Paris seems to be involved. The New York Times 11/15/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@09:48AM

Protests Over Giant Ads In Venice's St. Mark's Square "Plakativ is paying E3.5m to restore the Correr Museum side of the Square in exchange for a 240-sq. m advertising space (half the size of an Olympic swimming pool) on the scaffolding of the façade. Near the bell tower there will shortly be a 60,000 sq. m ad, which has already been let out, and for which the asking price was E165,000 a month." The Art Newspaper 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/14/08@07:51AM

Want Funding? Before You Work With Our Kids, There Are These Conditions... "Visual artists who want to work with children and who apply for government funding for their projects will have to sign a contract agreeing to a raft of conditions, according to the Australia Council's draft protocols for working with children." The Australian 11/14/08

email this story | Posted 11/14/08@07:37AM

Philips Auction Disaster - 40 Percent Unsold, And Prices Slide "The sales totaled just $9.6 million, less than half of the low estimate of $23 million. Yet the diehards came -- collectors and dealers who hung in after a tough two days and nights of auctions." The New York Times 11/14/08

email this story | Posted 11/14/08@07:12AM

Ukraine Unlikely To Return Paintings Taken In War "Ukraine is unlikely to return more than a dozen paintings by Western European artists brought here from a German museum as Soviet war trophies during World War II, an official said Thursday… Ukrainian law prohibits the return of World War II trophy art, she noted, adding that many Ukrainian paintings seized during the war have been exhibited in Germany but 'nobody is returning them to us.'" Boston Globe (AP) 11/13/08

email this story | Posted 11/13/08@08:57PM

V&A's Medieval and Renaissance Wing To Open In 2009 "The Victoria & Albert museum in London will open its £30 million Medieval and Renaissance galleries as planned next year, its director has announced. Ten galleries, occupying an entire wing of the South Kensington landmark, will open in November 2009, said Mark Jones." BBC 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/13/08@06:27AM

SoHo Mural Needs Restoration (And Maybe A Cat Upgrade) "Using only oil paint, the artist Richard J. Haas created an entire cast-iron facade in SoHo more than 30 years ago. Ever since, his five-story trompe l'oeil mural at 114 Prince Street, near Greene Street, has beguiled so many people that it might be thought of as New York's first big two-dimensional architectural landmark. ... Today, however, ... Mr. Haas's mural stands defaced, its entire second-story base covered by tags." The New York Times 11/13/08

email this story | Posted 11/13/08@04:14AM

A Bacon Goes Unsold As Art Market Shows Flickers Of Life "In a bumpy sale of contemporary art at Christie's on Wednesday, some paintings, drawings and sculptures were eagerly sought, but there were also big disappointments as the art market struggled to adjust to today's financial climate. What was expected to be the star -- a 1964 self-portrait by Francis Bacon that was estimated at $40 million -- went unsold without so much as a bid. But other works brought prices that surprised even Christie's executives." The New York Times 11/13/08

email this story | Posted 11/13/08@03:42AM

Damien Hirst's Latest Bloody Carcass: Sienna Miller In a new music video art-directed by Hirst - for "See the Light," a single by the indie-rock duo The Hours - the English film actress "dons a hospital gown, gets trapped in a glass case in a bag shop, smokes, talks about suicide, cries a lot, undergoes an MRI scan, and smears herself in cow's blood in front of four eviscerated, wall-mounted bovine carcasses." The Guardian (UK) 11/12/08 (with video)

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@09:07PM

Gehry's Beachfront Project In Brighton Is Killed Funding for Frank Gehry's £290 million King Alfred Leisure Center in the English seaside resort town has collapsed. The architect's design plan, which featured a pair of wavy towers, is being scrapped. The Architects' Journal (UK) 11/10/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@09:02PM

Botero Scrutinized For Tax Evasion In Italy "Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero is being investigated on suspicion of tax evasion, Italian authorities said Tuesday. CBC 11/11/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@08:51PM

How Malcolm Rogers Completely Shook Up The Boston Museum Of Fine Arts In which a mild-mannered administrator from London's National Portrait Gallery turned into a "maverick with the Midas touch," perpetrated a "Boston Massacre," and is massively expanding the MFA's fundraising, programs and even physical space. The Independent (UK) 10/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@08:49PM

Settling Old Scores In AGO Revamp "Emerging from the debris of decades of squabbles and hundreds of pages of legal documents, Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario unveils its revamped and redesigned home this week in a state of happy detente with neighbourhood residents who once voiced fierce opposition to its transformational plans." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@06:56AM

Should Pittsburgh Fest Drop Visual Art? "One of the decisions that the principals deciding the future of the Three Rivers Arts Festival will have to make is what role the visual arts will play, and perhaps it's time to consider whether they should be included at all... The event is as popular as ever," but with no admission charge, it's become harder and harder to pay for, and tough decisions may have to be made. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@06:45AM

Gehry On Gehry: The AGO Redesign The starchitect speaks: "Putting things on a pedestal hurts the art and I didn't want to do that. It's a miracle, but the galleries for [Ken Thomson's] Canadian collection are the best I've ever done. Even with white cubic spaces we managed to give them soul... We did the best thing we could do on our budget; a very complicated way of interweaving things within a structure that had been remade many times." Toronto Star 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@06:37AM

Philly Children's Museum Quadruples Its Space "To the adult eye, [the Please Touch Museum's] $88 million new home in [Philadelphia's Memorial Hall,] a Beaux-Arts-style granite palace built for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Fairmount Park, is super-size in every way... The reborn children's museum, which reopened last month, offers 38,000 square feet of exhibit space, almost four times that of its previous location." Washington Post 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@06:31AM

Manhattan Artists' Club Selling Off Its Studio Space The Pen & Brush, "a century-old former club in Greenwich Village devoted to female artists and writers," is selling its longtime home after concluding that it can no longer afford to maintain the space. "Those who rent the artist studios on the upper floors, are distressed by the prospect of losing work and exhibition spaces to which they have grown attached." The New York Times 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@06:13AM

The Recession Comes To Sotheby's "In a salesroom overflowing with collectors like the actor Steve Martin, the financier Eli Broad and the fashion designer Valentino, Sotheby's barely managed to sell $125.1 million worth of contemporary art on Tuesday night, well below the low estimate of $202.4 million." The New York Times 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@06:10AM

"New" Caravaggios Make Their Debut "Two newly discovered paintings by the Italian artist Caravaggio will go on display in Scotland for the first time... the pieces were verified as Caravaggio originals during the cleaning process, when specialists were able to carry out detailed examinations of several paintings and assess their status with scholars in the field." BBC 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@06:04AM