Headlines on the Seen — Aug. 19

(ARTINFO) Marc Chagall Window Vandalized; Seven Indicted in International Art-Fraud Schemes; Basel Rejects Claim from Heirs of Persecuted Art Dealer; Permit for Oil Drilling Near Spiral Jetty Denied; (NYTIMES) Russian and Rich: Art’s New Tastemaker; (ARTFORUM) Sugar Rush — Terence Koh’s Asia Song Society opening reception; Cory Arcangel live and the opening of the new […]

Tom Otterness Lands in DUMBO

Tom Otterness, perhaps best known to New Yorkers as the artist behind the cartoonish brass creatures all over the A/C/E/L station at 14th Street and 8th Avenue, will be celebrating his latest public art piece today in DUMBO. “Large Covered Wagon” depicts a Lego-like man with a pipe and a yoked ox that happens to […]

Jeff Koons sued for child support

Reporting on one of the more bizarre domestic disputes because of the parties involved, the NYPost printed today:
The notorious Italian actress and former member of Parliament has filed suit demanding that her controversial artist ex-husband pay her $2.3 million in back child support for the son she kidnapped from him a decade ago.
Cicciolina - […]

Update: The Verdict is in for Twombly Kisser

Rindy Sam, the French artist who was arrested for planting a crimson kiss on an all-white Cy Twombly canvas, has been ordered to pay 1,500 euros to the painting’s owner, as well as a symbolic £1 to Twombly himself.
The painting is worth about $2.8 million and the prosecution claimed that 30 different products have been […]

Kara Walker at the Whitney

Kara Walker’s traveling retrospective is on view at the Whitney through February 3, 2008.
Titled “My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppresor, My Love,” this comprehensive show should interest those with a passing interest in her work as well as longtime followers of her bracing, unapologetic silhouettes that tackle race and America’s history head-on.
Not yet 40 years […]

Spotted in the wild: Banksy at work

Less than two weeks after a successful showing at auction, Banksy once again explodes onto headlines, allegedly unmasked, working, and on camera. The Times Online (UK) reports that a passerby was able to take a camera-phone snapshot of the man who had extended the street’s double yellow line into the flower you see pictured, as […]

Prankster Banksy’s Work Breaks Records At Auction

Eleven originals created by the cheeky, sneaky graffiti artist Banksy sold for over £540,000 at Bonham’s auction house in London last Wednesday. The Bristol-born artist, who has managed to keep his identity a secret despite worldwide notoriety, is a divisive figure in the art world, at once infuriating the establishment with his bold stunts and […]

Kissing a Twombly: Veneration or Vandalism?

Rindy Sam claims that planting a luscious lipstick kiss on an all-white Cy Twombly painting was “an artistic act provoked by the power of art.” As her case goes to trial, the 30-year-old French artist will have to defend her swoon against a prosecution that wants her to pay a fine of 4500 euros (about […]

Hirst’s skull goes for $100 million in dubious sale

Since Bloomberg first reported the news that Damien Hirst’s diamond-studded, platinum skull piece, For the Love of God, had sold for the asking price of £50 million, there has been a flurry of scepticism surrounding the purchase.
The ‘consortium of businessmen,’ or, “unnamed investor group,” includes Hirst, and why that raised eyebrows was dissected by […]

Mark McGowan - Artist Eats a Corgi (2007)

From MSNBC.com:
Mark McGowan, 37, said he ate “about three bites” of the dog meat, cooked with apples, onions and seasoning, to highlight what he called Prince Philip’s mistreatment of a fox during a hunt by the queen’s husband in January.
“It was pretty disgusting,” McGowan said of the meal, which he ate while appearing on a […]