One of three "editions" of the piece, titled Comedian, by prankster conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan (he of the gold toilet titled America) sold five years ago for $120,000. The Sotheby's estimate for the work's upcoming resale is about ten times that. - CNN
"The proposed design is likely to please critics who feared the renowned English firm (Foster + Partners) would build a glass dome, high-rise tower or modern-looking structure that would be out of sync with (Balboa) Park’s historic Spanish Colonial Revival style." - The San Diego Union-Tribune (MSN)
Art made on Paint is often amateurish, but amateurish in a way that celebrates human flaw. Struggling to make something out of nothing — to pull an image from the mind, to represent it externally in a way that is even halfway decent — is as quintessentially human as speaking a language. - The New York Times
Yes, the Met tops the list (by Post art critics Philip Kennicott and Sebastian Smee), and museum aficionados will have heard of the others, but the order of the rankings may surprise you. - The Washington Post (MSN)
Some of these institutions are so famous that a reader may be surprised that they're considered small museums, but they are. And just about all of them are based on the collections of very wealthy individuals with particular ideas about how their art should be displayed. - The Washington Post (MSN)
"With special connections to world-class research programs and academic expertise, college art museums can compete with the best of them. Here are five of The Post's critics’ favorites, based on the quality of their collections and programming." - The Washington Post (MSN)
“It’s just like any small town. So now, even though he is a 19-foot-tall statue of a guy holding a hot dog, he’s our 19-foot-tall statue of a guy holding a hot dog.” - The New York Times
VSO Union members said two-plus years of bargaining is too long, and that the museum hasn’t provided meaningful counters on its economic demands, including a $27/hour starting wage, scaling pay rates, health care expansion for part-time workers, and reinstatement of employer retirement matching. - Seattle Times
The current owner of the building, Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, has sold a few of Wright's interior furnishings to pay for expenses. The Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy claims an easement gives it veto power over such sales; the owner's lawsuit argues the easement is no longer valid. - The New York Times
"Mehretu, who is internationally known for her swirling abstracts that have sold for up to $10.7 million at auction, has contributed $2.25 million to the nearly $5 million initiative, alongside trustee Susan Hess." - The Wall Street Journal (MSN)
From its origins (as the Anti-Graffiti Network) in 1984, working with graffiti artists to engage them in public art, the organization has evolved. ... Mural Arts has placed thousands of murals across the city, giving Philadelphia the unofficial moniker 'mural capital of the world.'" - The New York Times
Critics argue that the new museum, which would be spread across two sites – one in Guernica and one in Urdaibai – will ruin the 22,068-hectare biosphere reserve by bringing at least 140,000 visitors a year into the protected natural space. - The Guardian
"Last month, fluid dynamics researchers from China and France published a research article in the Physics of Fluids journal indicating that van Gogh’s signature swirls throughout the night sky composition reveal that the artist was innately attuned to hidden atmospheric turbulence." - Hyperallergic
"Oscar seems to like interacting with the art, and his way of interacting seems ideal to me—kinetic, bodied, hyperpresent to the granular details of scent and texture.” - Paris Review
