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Category: contemporary art
National Portrait Gallery Unveils New Sculpture of Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web
ArtfixDaily / May 31st, 2015
A newly commissioned portrait of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has been unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery, London, and is now on view. A painted bronze sculpture, by artist Sean Henry, shows Berners-Lee standing at two-thirds life-size on a tall plinth, ...
Andrew Wyeth's Iconic Image Remade with Oil Spill by UK Artists in Shell Protest
Guardian / May 26th, 2015
The open field and quaint house depicted in Andrew Wyeth's famous painting "Christina's World" have been replaced with the dirty gloom of an oil spill by a group of UK artists. The figure's pink dress appears in stark contrast to dark and smoky oil fields. British art collective ...
Artist Tania Bruguera Among 163 Detained in Cuba's Weekend Crackdown
PanAmPost / May 25th, 2015
Artist Tania Bruguera and over 160 others were arrested in Cuba over the weekend as part of the most recent government crackdown. Politcal protests resulted in 70 people detained in Havana, and another 93 arrested in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba. Brugeura was detained for an ...
Speculation Swirls Around Buyer of Record $179 Million Picasso
Page Six / May 21st, 2015
“Les Femmes d’Alger,” the Pablo Picasso painting sold at Christie’s this month for a world record auction price of $179 million, went to an anonymous telephone bidder. The buyer's identity has been kept private since the May 11 sale. Now sources have told Page Six that former Qatari Prime ...
Christie's Achieves First-Ever $1 Billion Week; Artist Auction Records Smashed at Sotheby's
NYT / May 13th, 2015
Demand for instantly recognizable works by blue-chip artists with investment value is driving a record-shattering week at New York's series of art auctions. By this Wednesday, Christie's had achieved the art world's first $1-billion week by a single firm, reports the New York Times. ...
Chris Burden, Pioneering Performance Artist, Remembered
wsj / May 10th, 2015
Known as a pioneer in performance art, and later sculpture, Chris Burden died in Los Angeles on Sunday at age 69. In the 1970s, Burden shocked with his groundbreaking performance pieces that had him shot in the arm, crucified, eletrocuted, and secured in a locker for five days. Later, Burden ...
A Mosque, the NSA and Small Batch Tequila Feature in Venice Biennale Art
Guardian / May 7th, 2015
Some talked-about installations among the 89 pavilions at the 2015 Venice Biennale (May 9-Nov. 22) include: A 10th-century church converted into a mosque by Christoph Büchel for Iceland's pavilion has caused Italian police to deem the installation a security risk. The artist collaborated ...
Auction Series Could Hit $2.5 Billion Estimate
Telegraph / May 5th, 2015
Impressionist, modern and contemporary art hitting New York auction blocks could bring a record $2.5 billion for the sale series. The record for the series is $2.26 billion achieved just last fall. This May, big-ticket artworks and hefty guarantees on offered lots are boosting the sale total ...
Protesters Shut Down Guggenheim During May Day Occupation
Hyperallergic / May 3rd, 2015
A group of protesters occupied the Guggenheim Museum in New York City on Friday, causing the institution to shut down as they spread their message through flyers, a parachute and demands for talks with a board member. Some of the activists were from Gulf Ultra Luxury Faction (known as ...
Former Assistant to Jasper Johns Sentenced to Prison
NY Daily News / April 23rd, 2015
The ex-assistant to famed abstract expressionist Jasper Johns was sentenced to 18 months in prison Thursday for swindling the artist. James Meyer, of Salisbury, Conn., stole 22 paintings from Johns and sold them out of a Lower Manhattan studio for a profit of $4 million between 2006 and 2011. ...
Shepard Fairey Set Design Debuts in Justin Peck's Heatscape at Miami City Ballet
ArtfixDaily / April 1st, 2015
Miami City Ballet (MCB) is closing out its season with a world-premiere by choreography’s current wunderkind, Justin Peck, who collaborated on set deisgns with iconic street artist Shepard Fairey, well-known for his 2008 Barack Obama "Hope" poster. Part of Points of Departure, the ...
Michael Rush, Director of Broad Art Museum and Former Director of Rose Art Museum, Remembered
Lansing State Journal / March 30th, 2015
A writer, curator, and museum director, Michael Rush started out in the 1970s as a Jesuit priest and psychologist. He then became an actor, with roles on "Law and Order" and "Spenser: For Hire," before switching to art criticism. Rush died Friday of pancreatic cancer at age 66. He began ...
Picasso Estimated to Bring Auction Record $140 Million in May
Christie's / March 25th, 2015
A masterpiece by Pablo Picasso could fetch an auction record price this spring at Christie's. The auction house is banking on "Les femmes d'Alger (Version “O”) to fetch $140 million, or more, and with a buyers premium added in the final price could exceed $155 million. Christie's ...
Andy Warhol Museum Abandons Plans for New York Outpost
Post Gazette / March 22nd, 2015
Pittsburgh's Andy Warhol Museum has dropped plans for a satellite location in New York City. A new 10,000-square-foot space was to showcase works from the museum's collection as part of a 6-acre development on the Lower East Side in Seward Park. “The Andy Warhol Museum, which had been ...
Surreal Attractions at Art Basel Hong Kong
CNN / March 17th, 2015
Crowds thronged an eerily life-like nude sculpture by Australian artist Sam Jinks at Art Basel Hong Kong, which ended March 17. Tens of thousands of visitors came to browse the booths of 233 worldwide galleries, half hailing from Asia. Other works blurring the lines of real and unreal ...
German Art Advisor Achenbach Gets 6-Year Prison Term
DW / March 16th, 2015
A district court in Essen has found the once-prominent German art advisor Helge Achenbach guilty on 18 counts of fraud. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison for overcharging his wealthy clients millions of euros for artwork. Known as a gregarious networker and for his lavish lifestyle, ...
Kanye West to Receive Honorary Doctorate from School of the Art Institute of Chicago
billboard / March 15th, 2015
Rapper, music producer, songwriter, film director, fashion designer, entrepreneur and husband to Kim Kardashian -- Kanye West is about to acquire a another title. He's a visual artist who newly boasts a doctorate. West told France's Clique TV that he will soon receive an honorary degree from ...
Artists Stage Unauthorized 'Die-in' at Armory Show
NYT / March 8th, 2015
A group of artists staged an unauthroized performance piece about the death of Eric Garner during the Armory Show's busy Saturday run in New York. Voices echoing Garner's last words, "i can't breathe," were heard around the show floor. Garner died after being put in a chokehold by a ...
Dubai Plans $136 Million Museum of the Future
Gulf News / March 8th, 2015
Museum of the Future, a planned exhibition space and research center, has been announced by Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. To be built near the Emirates Towers skyscrapers, the $136 million museum is designed to look like a giant contemporary water pitcher. ”The ...
Tire Mogul Behind $23 Million Gift to Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland / March 5th, 2015
Cleveland Museum of Art is close to reaching its $320 million capital campaign goal for an expansion and renovation. On Wednesday, the identity of one of its biggest donors was made public in an effort to increse awareness of the fundraiser before year's end. Since 2002, $297.1 million has ...