Five months ago, the magazine fired David Velasco, its editor in chief, after he signed and published a letter calling for Palestinian liberation shortly after the Israel-Hamas war began. - The New York Times
"Auction sales were down on both sides of the Atlantic and there was a conspicuous lack of marquee estates on the block. Bu, 2023 saw only a 4% decrease in market value to an estimated $65 billion, according to the annual art market report published by Art Basel and UBS." - ARTnews
Richard Hedreen, 88, is gifting his entire collection, comprising more than 200 artworks and estimated to be worth about $300 million, to Seattle University. He’s also donating $25 million in seed funding to develop a museum to house the collection. - Seattle Times
"Ten years after a renovation, the Musée Picasso (in Paris) – which holds the world’s largest collection of Picasso’s work – has installed a new permanent exhibition … in 22 rooms. The Françoise Gilot exhibition in room 17 on the third floor is temporary but expected to be in situ for a year." - The Guardian
How does this practice affect the market? The art market is self-regulating, and since 2010 the practice of offering works at auction with third-party guarantees has seeped into almost every sale category where objects sell above $500,000. - The Critic
"A horde (sic) of jewelry and gold statues ... worth €1.2 million was stolen last week from the Museo d’Annunzio Segreto (near) Lake Garda in northern Italy. A gang of thieves (took) all but one of the exhibits from a show dedicated to the 20th-century Italian sculptor Umberto Mastroianni." - Artnet
"How to keep murals thriving while keeping them from intruding illicitly into neighborhoods, how to keep businesses from simply ginning up wall-sized ads and calling them art, how to distinguish legal from illegal handiwork, and, frankly, good from bad. It’s a seesaw we’re still riding." - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
"Three Belgian climate activists who were previously sentenced to prison for a protest targeting … Girl with a Pearl Earring will no longer face any punishment for their actions, a Dutch court of appeal ruled on Monday. … (Their) protest took place in October 2022 at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague." - CNN
Sara Fenske Bahat’s departure follows weeks of turmoil at the center. After artists Jeffrey Cheung and Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo alleged that YBCA prevented them from advocating for Palestine in additional projects for the Bay Area Now 9 exhibition, eight artists in the show altered their own artworks with pro-Palestine messaging. - Hyperallgeric
Speculation has been absolutely rife online about Catherine, Princess of Wales, and the photo was supposed to calm it down. But "at closer inspection, it appeared the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP’s photo standards." - Los Angeles Times
Sencion "posted his first sheep on the streets of L.A. in March 2013. , the artist has amassed an inventory of thousands of his signature pink sheep, from palm-sized stickers slapped on lamp posts on Melrose Avenue to wheat pastings on walls along Hollywood Boulevard." - Los Angeles Times
Apparently, third-party sellers have sold everything "including prints, cosmetics, beverages, smoking accessories, toys, accessories, cooking ware, cameras, and face masks. These objects reportedly depicted trademarked visuals of Kahlo featuring watermelons, a green ring, palm fronds, and pink and blue flowers. “ - Hyperallergic
Museums are increasingly important buyers at TEFAF Maastricht, as the number of private individuals purchasing old master pictures, sculptures and antiques has declined. - The New York Times
Russian authorities have announced plans to memorialise the destruction of the occupied city in the Donbas—which it blames on Ukraine—with a new “museum of the liberation of Mariupol”, scheduled to open in summer 2024. - The Art Newspaper
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and HNTB designed the planned 33,000-seat arena for the team currently known as the Oakland A's, which is moving to Nevada. Ingels himself describes the structure as a "spherical armadillo." The stadium will be on the Strip, on the current site of the Tropicana. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
