– THE BIG STORY –

Is the lost Leonardo close at hand? The dogged art investigators led by Maurizio Seracini have uncovered some tantalizing evidence in their improbable search for Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari in the gap behind a Florentine fresco by Georgio Vasari, finding black pigment on the inner wall that match materials used in the Mona Lisa. The controversial effort to drill through the existing mural—located in the city’s Salone dei Cinquecento—has been guided by Seracini’s almost religious faith that a few words that Vasari painted on a banner in his work, “cerca trova” (“seek and you shall find”), indicate that the Lives of the Artists author had gone to extraordinary lengths to protect Leonardo’s unfinished masterpiece, which Vasari’s Medici patrons asked him to paint over.

– QUOTE OF THE DAY –

“At one point, Bowie says, ‘So what about a big Tate gallery show, then?’ And I say, ‘No way. Museums are for dead artists. I’d never show my work in the Tate. You’d never get me in that place.’” – Damien Hirst, whose massive Tate Modern retrospective is opening on April 4, recalling some counterfactual words he once told David Bowie in 1996

– MUST READ –

“The Emperor of Inhotim” — Meet Bernardo Paz, the enormously wealthy Brazilian mining tycoon whose Inhotim art center in remote Brumadinho is one of the great wonders of the contemporary art world, with a collection of some 500 indoor and outdoor works that he has assembled with the help of art advisor Allan Schwartzman. (NYT)

The Rock Has Landed on Them – Michael Heizer’s 340-ton Levitated Mass boulder sculpture has arrived at LACMA after its epic journey from a quarry 105 miles away. (LAT)

Reading Tea Leaves at the Getty – Christopher Knight gives some thought to what Fitzwilliam Museum director Timothy Potts‘s appointment to the directorship of the Getty Museum portends for that fabulously wealthy institution’s future acquisitions. (LAT)

The Art World Gets Appy – The Wall Street Journal takes a somewhat belated look at how galleries and museums have been embracing the iPad in growing numbers to entice, inform, and guide their constituencies. (WSJ)

Should Spiral Jetty Be Cleaned? – Some in Utah contend that Robert Smithson may have actually approved of the garbage that now clings to the seminal earthwork on the basis that it underscores the giant sculpture’s interrelation with the degrading environment. (Salt Lake Tribune)

When Art Attacks – Five people were injured when artworks hanging on the walls at a Canberra, Australia, exhibition fell on them. (ABC)

– ART MARKET –

ADAA Art Show Finishes Strong – The blue-chip fair at the Park Avenue Armory drew nearly 20,000 people over its five-day run, and raised over $1.2 million for the Henry Street Settlement through its ticket sales and print sales, which benefited the charity. (Press Release)

David Zwirner Goes Global – The highly respected blue-chip purveyor of Donald Judd, Neo Rauch, and many other brainy artists has announced that it is going to open a sizable gallery in London’s Mayfair neighborhood—its first outside the United States—as well as a  humongous new five-floor space at 537 West 20th Street, designed by Gagosian stalwart Annabelle Selldorf. (NYT)

The $10 Million Chinese Bowl – A small, incredibly rare flower-shaped ceramic “Ru” bowl that was made during the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) may make that much when it sells at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on April 4. (AFP)

Sonnabend Takes U.S. to Court Over Absurdity – The historic gallery is objecting to the fact that U.S. law dictates that its Robert Rauschenberg Canyon—a famous 1959 combine featuring a stuffed bald eagle—can’t be legally sold because of the endangered animal, yet the government still wants to tax it as if it were worth $65 million. (FT)

Sotheby’s London to Sell Gunter Sachs Collection – The auction house will be bringing about 300 lots from the collection of the German playboy and photographer, who was once married to Brigitte Bardot.  (Press Release)

The Week that Was – Artinfo looks back on the art at Armory Week with a slide show presenting 100 works from the assorted fairs. (Artinfo)

“Art Will Go on” – Jonathan Jones thinks a bit about the incursions digital art sales are making on the art market, and he concludes that “the high-priced work of art… is not in any danger of being replaced by a virtual substitute.” (Guardian)

– IN & OUT –

The world-renowned comic book artist Moebius (born Jean Giraud), who also contributed art direction to movies like Willow and The Fifth Element, has passed away at the age of 73. (LAT)

London is getting a new art fair called Art12 London, which the Art Fairs London is launching in March of next year in the Olympia Grand Hall under the direction of Stephanie Dieckvoss, who helped launch both the Frieze Art Fair and Art HK. (Press Release)

– VIDEO –

Watch Armory Show commissioned artist Theaster Gates explain his intervention/social sculpture artwork at this year’s edition of the fair. (Artinfo)

Posted on: March 12th, 2012 by Andrew
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