Founded as Blum and Poe in 1994 in Santa Monica, Calif., by Tim Blum and Jeff Poe, the gallery represents some of the most high profile, and expensive, artists working today, including Yoshitomo Nara and Mark Grotjahn, whose artworks have traded for more than $10 million. - Artnet
The Netherlands turned over 119 objects to the Nigerian government, while the MFA Boston gave their two directly to the Oba of Benin. “As these two repatriations underscore, questions linger about who should rightfully receive them — the state or the Oba — as well as what restitution looks like in practice.” - Artnet
“He became one of the originators of the British Pop art movement in the 1950s and ’60s. … Phillips layered mundane images of consumer culture and mass entertainment into his vibrantly colored paintings, often with a playful twist.” - ARTnews
“Four pro-Tibetan groups in France have filed a legal complaint against Paris’s state-run Musée Guimet, accusing it of attempting to erase Tibet’s cultural identity by renaming its Nepal-Tibet gallery to ‘Himalayan world’ and removing references to ‘Tibetan art.’” - Artnet
“A decadelong project to clean and restore the largest of the four … spectacularly frescoed reception rooms of the Apostolic Palace … uncovered a novel mural painting technique that the superstar Renaissance painter and architect began but never completed.” - AP
Hélio Menezes is no longer the director of the Museu Afro Brasil, a key São Paulo institution founded by sculptor Emanoel Araújo that is known for its support of Afro-Brazilian artists, who have long been neglected by mainstream institutions in the country. - ARTnews
The prophylactic in question, on view as part of an exhibition titled “Safe Sex?”, is printed with a pornographic illustration of three priests and a nun. The foundation Civitas Christiana wants the object removed, calling it “a grotesque insult to God, the Catholic Church and the entire Dutch nation.” - Artnet
Facing a growing deficit, the Brooklyn Museum announced its intent to cut around 47 full- and part-time workers — more than 10% of its staff — back in February, a plan that was immediately met with backlash from its unions and community supporters. - Hyperallergic
The museum, which allegedly cost $1 billion dollars, funded largely through Japanese loans and contributions from the Egyptian government, was first proposed by Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s longtime authoritarian president who announced plans for the museum in 1992. - Artnet
For many residents, visiting every local Smithsonian museum is a bucket list item. Kathryn Jones’s journey takes that challenge to the extreme. The 33-year-old is on a mission not only to visit every museum, but to engage with all the text, videos and interactive displays in each of the institutions. - Washington Post (MSN)
The winner of the international contest will be selected in October by a 21-person jury of experts from around the world and announced early next year. - Artnet
There is a growing international momentum behind Greece’s campaign, as U.K. negotiations inch closer to a possible resolution and global public opinion continues to shift in favor of restitution. - Artnet
On Thursday morning, a life-size, gold-painted television set appeared near Third Street NW, pointed squarely at the Capitol, the Washington Post reported. Its screen played a silent 15-second loop of Donald Trump performing his now-infamous slow-motion dance moves. - ARTnews
“Relooted (is) a side-scrolling puzzle platformer — think early Tomb Raider or Prince of Persia games — where players join a crew of Robin Hood-esque thieves staging elaborate heists to take back stolen artifacts from Western museums and repatriate them to the peoples from whom they were taken.” - ARTnews
“The Netherlands (has) returned 119 artifacts looted from Nigeria, including human and animal figures, plaques, royal regalia and a bell. … During the handover ceremony in Edo State, Oba Ewuare II, the monarch and custodian of Benin culture, described the return of the artifacts as a ‘divine intervention.’” - AP
