This week's Art Collecting and Investment News

Sunday, 10th August 2008

Prada sets fashion for new art movies
GLOBAL - It is time, they believe, to forget all about brazenly pushing their commercial pitches out to potential consumers who have learnt to switch off mentally during the ad break. In the future the dividing line between entertainment and selling is not only to be blurred but totally irrelevant.
                                                                                                          guardian.co.uk - UK

Saturday, 9th August 2008

Opting For The Arts
ASIA - It's no coincidence that 17 of 25 Chinese Politburo members are engineers by training. But the boom they've created is granting a growing number of students (at least among the elite) the luxury to explore arts and design courses long taught in the West but relatively neglected in Asia.
                                                                                                         Newsweek - USA

Friday, 8^th August 2008

Julie Joyce Named New Curator of Contemporary Art at Santa Barbara ...
US - Comings and Goings: The Santa Barbara Museum of Art has announced that Julie Joyce will be the new curator of contemporary art.
                                                                                          ARTINFO - New York,NY,USA

Artists to be paid for every sale, forever more
AUSTRALIA - It is determined to introduce a resale royalty scheme this year giving artists a percentage of the sale price whenever their work is sold.
                                                       Sydney Morning Herald New South Wales Australia

33rd Edition of Art Nocturne Knocke Opens in Belgian Coast
BELGIUM- From 9 till 17 August, you will be spoilt at the CC Scharpoord in Knokke-Heist with 33rd edition of Art Nocturne Knocke and the 15th Sculpture Link Knokke.
                                                                                                                    Art Daily - USA

Museums turning backs on American art
AUSTRALIA - Michael Brand said that major galleries such as the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of NSW had focused on Pacific and Asian art at the expense of a thriving North American contemporary art scene.
                                                                                       The Australian - Sydney,Australia

Thursday, 7^th August 2008

Chinese contemporary art reaping rewards
ASIA - Some big names are just about affordable: in June, Marlborough held an exhibition of Zhang Qikai's work, with prices from £40,000 to £80,000.
                                                                                                              Times Online - UK


Blake Judge Resigns Over Controversial Painting by Adam Cullen
AUSTRALIA - At the centre of the debate was a work entered by controversial artist Adam Cullen, whose depiction of the crucifixion saw the judges divided over its inclusion.
                                                                                                                  Art Daily - USA

U-TURN Quadrennial for Contemporary Art
DENMARK - U-TURN Quadrennial for Contemporary Art opens in autumn 2008. U-TURN is Denmark's first festival for contemporary art, offering an extensive program of exhibitions, performances, conferences, etc.
                                                                                      Artfacts.Net - London,England,UK

IVAM and Iberia Center for Contemporary Art Present Plusmarca: Art ...
CHINA - On the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing ´08, Iberia Center for Contemporary Art will host the exhibition World Record: Art & Sport .
                                                                                                                Art Daily - USA

Brazil police recover 2 more works from art heist
BRAZIL - Brazilian police have arrested a second suspect and recovered two more artworks that were stolen with two Picasso prints from Sao Paulo's Pinacoteca Museum.
                                                                                                                Reuters - USA

A Fund's New Dawn
RUSSIA - Over the past three years, Aurora Fine Art Investments has reportedly spent more than $100 million on extraordinary Russian artworks and objects. In September, Russia's only art-investment fund will begin to shed its holdings.
                                                                                           ARTINFO - New York,NY,USA

Elizabeth Peyton's Portraits of Pretty Things
US - Most of her paintings, drawings, and prints are suffused with sensuous color: throbbing reds, luminous blues, and dusky purples that she juxtaposes against warm skin tones and feverish red lips.
                                                                                            New York Sun - United States

New Acquisitions and Old Favorites Featured in Miami Art Museums ...
US -  Included works are Nancy Graves' Evergrowing Mobility, Fernand Léger's Femme au Fauteuil (Woman and Armchair), Francesca DiMattio's Untitled (Bed I) and Nela Ochoa's Donde Midas se Lava las Manos (Where Midas Washes His Hands).
                                                                                                                 Art Daily - USA

Li Zhanyang in Beijing
CHINA - "Rent" the title and inspiration for the show come from one of the best-known examples of Chinese communist art -- the Rent Collection Courtyard.
                                                                                          ARTINFO - New York,NY,USA

Mystery of the unknown artist who 'painted with Andy Warhol'
NEW YORK - Pietro Psaier apparently spent much time collaborating with the pioneer of Pop Art and according to a British auctioneer, he was integral to the success of the studio, but chose to maintain a dignified distance from the limelight.
                                                                                                             Times Online - UK

Wednesday 6^th August 2008

ADAA Pledging 50 Artworks for 50 States
NEW YORK--The Art Dealers Association of America has announced a drive to collect pledges for 50 works of art -- one for each state -- in support of the Art Museum Partnership Act currently before the Senate.
                                                                                          ARTINFO - New York,NY,USA

Strong Sales at Sotheby's Show Art Market's Stamina
NEW YORK - Sotheby's said it sold $3.4 billion of fine and decorative art in the first half of this year, up 4.9% from a year earlier, indicating that the art market remains resilient despite economic woes.
                                                                                                 Wall Street Journal - USA

Tuesday, 5^th August 2008

Art forgeries The computer says no
GLOBAL - One of the most comprehensive studies using such methods involves analysing the paintings of Vincent van Gogh and was carried out by James Wang of Penn State University and his colleagues from other universities.
                                                                                                                Economist - UK

UPDATE 1-Sotheby's second-quarter profit falls
NEW YORK - The company estimated a stronger third quarter than last year, boosted by July's Contemporary and Old Master sales and an estimated $130 million from the sale of works by Damien Hirst.
                                                                                                                 Reuters - USA

Museo Alameda Opens Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art from ...
US- More than 1,300 people descended on the Museo Alameda, the nation's largest Latino museum and first formal affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and the largest and most comprehensive collection of contemporary Mexican art ever shown in San Antonio.
                                                                                                               Art Daily - USA

Venice Biennale invites Iranian artists
ITALY - The International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale has invited Iran to take part in the 53rd edition of the prestigious exhibit.
                                                                                                           PRESS TV - Tehran,Iran

New Thyssen Museum will also House International Works of Art
SPAIN - Baroness Carmen Thyssen has announced today that the future museum, set to open in Malaga bearing her name, will also include international works of art in its permanent collection.
                                                                                                                 Art Daily - USA

You Can't Take It With You
US - Advise them to do some thoughtful estate planning to maximize tax benefits and ensure that their art collections end up in the right hands. Here are several approaches to estate tax planning used by collectors today.
                                                                                            ARTINFO - New York,NY,USA

Tracey Emin - dirty sheets and all
Emin's faltering gestures are central to her art. The form of her work reflects the content of her life's project, examining the neuroses of a fractured and highly conflicted self.
                                                                                       Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom

Monday, 4^th August 2008

Fake Chinese ceramics cast shadow over art boom
CHINA - A small link in an increasingly global chain of top fakers, dealers and collectors who've extended the reach of the secretive multi-million dollar fake ceramics trade in recent years, riding the crest of China's art market boom.
                                                                                                                    Reuters - USA

20/21 British Art Fair 2008
UK - The 20/21 BRITISH ART FAIR, the only fair specialising exclusively in modern and contemporary British art, will take place at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 from 10 to 14 September.
                                                                                     Artfacts.Net - London,England,UK

Buzz of success is reason to smile for John Leighton
UK - Leighton, the director-general of the National Galleries of Scotland, had, he admits, suffered some qualms about the Tracey Emin retrospective which has just opened. But the exhibition is a triumph.
                                                                                                          Times Online - UK

An Art Powerhouse Opens in Beijing
CHINA - China has pushed to the cutting edge of the world's modern art scene, overtaking New York and other Western art centers, the owners of a top American gallery declared as they opened a cavernous new space here this weekend in advance of the Olympics.
                                                                                          New York Sun - United States