Not all the Art masterworks are exhibited in the great museums of the world. Some of them belong to private Art collectors, one of the most expensive and exclusive “hobbies” reserved only to billionaires. From the secular collections of the European noblemen to the modern gurus of the contemporary Art world,  this article has  the top 10 of the best private Art collections in the world. 10 private museums that only a few can admire Read more »

More about: Biggest Art Collectors, Casa de Alba, Francois Pinault, Munch, Van Gogh, Velazquez, World Best Art Collection

Galleries shouldn’t automatically own the work that they produce, say Tyson and Turk.

LONDON. Artists are taking an increasingly independent role in the management of their work, taking back some of the control from their dealers. Just a few years ago, when the art market was a less complicated place, the artist-dealer relationship was relatively straightforward. Only the extremely successful worked with more than one gallery and overall it was left to an artist’s dealer to handle the business side of things. But in today’s increasingly complex art scene, where many artists are represented by several galleries worldwide and where production costs can spiral, artists say that they are having to ensure they are at the centre of the decision-making process by employing independent agents or setting up their own companies. Read more »

More about: Artist Control Back, Artist Independency, Artist Versus Dealers

For the first time in nearly four years, snow fell across the New Orleans region this morning, with flurries reported on the north shore and in the city, Metairie, Kenner, LaPlace and other parts of the south shore. By around 10 a.m., the snow had mostly stopped, replaced by freezing rain in many places, making driving treacherous. By noon, the precipitation had mostly ceased altogether.

By mid-morning, enough snow had accumulated on the ground in some areas to lure Read more »

More about: consequences of global warming, sapporo art festival, Snow in new orleans

Columbus Art Museum

Columbus— A collection of employees who spend a good part of their time safeguarding the precious assets of the Columbus Art Museum will soon know first hand what it feels like to protect their own treasure!

That’s because the group of sixteen comprised mostly of current and retired Museum security employees, represents the Ohio Lottery’s latest winners in the new Mega Millions lotto game. The group matched all five white balls in this past Friday’s $72 million Mega Millions drawing, and will split prize winnings of $175,000 for their efforts. Read more »

More about: Columbus Art Museum Winners, megamillions, megamillions win

Exclusive: Work that had been removed from display in 2005 was back on market

LONDON. Sotheby’s has withdrawn an important “13th century” belt buckle from its 2 December old master sculpture and works of art sale after questions were raised by The Art Newspaper. The intricately-designed silver and enamel buckle had recently been owned by Paul Ruddock, now chairman of the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum. Read more »

More about: Sotherby's Fake Bucle

The curator “didn’t intend to create a stink”, but wanted to distance himself from the expectations of the art establishment.

VENICE. Curator, writer and critic Francesco Bonami is running into trouble. His current exhibition at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, “Italics: Italian art between Tradition and Revolution, 1968-2008”—running until 22 March, and from 11 July to 25 October at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago—is causing something of a stir among artists and critics alike. Read more »

More about: Francesco Bonami, Italian Curator Bonami

Russian gallery directors handcuffed by police, but case dropped

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 leading contemporary art fair, held in the Grand Palais, Paris, on 23-26 October.

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. Kulik is well known for his performances as a dog, notably I Bite America and America Bites Me in 1997 at Deitch Projects in New York, when he spent two weeks living in a heavily secured dog cage in the gallery. Read more »

More about: Fiac, Kulik At Fiac, Kulik Oleg

Bound for Shanghai?

COPENHAGEN. Plans to send Copenhagen’s iconic waterfront sculpture, The Little Mermaid, to China are causing a political row in Denmark. Edvard Eriksen’s sculpture, based on a Hans Christian Andersen story and one of Copenhagen’s principal tourist attractions, has been proposed as the centrepiece of the Danish Pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai. The proposal comes from Copenhagen-based BIG architects who won the competition to design the pavilion.

Denmark’s right-wing, populist Dansk Folkeparti, which supports the governing two-party coalition, has opposed the plans, as have the heirs of the sculpture’s creator. Read more »

More about: Copenhagen Art, Little Mermaid Sculpture, Sculture

Perrotin also has plans to coordinate new works backed by other galleries

Fabrication: artist Piotr Uklanski had collector financing for his 1996 Untitled (Floor Dance). ©Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.

PARIS. Dealer Emmanuel Perrotin has set up a company to fund the production of new works, into which collectors can now invest. The idea to create a separate business—called Artists’ Dreams—has been emerging over several years as the Paris and Miami dealer has successfully asked collectors to help finance the production of major works, including an electrical installation by artist Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (Floor Dance), 1996, which was exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2007. Read more »

More about: Company to fund artist

Dates: 20 Nov 08 - 15 Mar 09
Categories: Modern (1900-1945) Post-War (1945-70) Contemporary (1970-present)
Address: Untere Weissgerberstrasse 13 Vienna A-1030
Tel: +43 (0)1 712 0495

The Death of the Mannequin, 1966

To celebrate what would have been his 80th birthday, the KunstHausWien is showing a selection of Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s paintings, mostly from private collections rarely seen in public, as well as pictures of architectural projects that have been realised since his death in 2000, multi-media works and unfinished designs. A catalogue is published by Prestel Verlag.

More about: Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Friedensreich Hundertwasser's in Viena, Friedensreich Hundertwasser's paintings, KunstHausWien, Prestel Verlag