Artists protest looming cuts to UK culture budget (AP)
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:05:45 GMT
AP - Some of Britain's best-known artists launched a campaign Friday to oppose planned government cuts that could slash arts funding by 25 percent.

Surprise Arrest Made in the Corot Theft Mystery: The Bungling Former Art Thief! (ARTINFO)
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:56:48 GMT
ARTINFO - In what seems to be at least a preamble to the denouement of the strangest art mystery of the summer, Thomas A. Doyle, the convicted art thief whose Corot painting was supposedly "lost" by a drunken courier, has been arrested on charges of having defrauded a Japanese investor though shady dealings involving the 19th-century artwork. Even U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara can’t seem to resist the humor of this weird mess of bungled crime, which he somewhat cringe-inducingly calls a case of "inartful fraud."

After a Fire, the Phillips Collection Solicits Text-Message Donations for Repairs (ARTINFO)
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:22:29 GMT
ARTINFO - When the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., is handed lemons, it makes lemonade. Responding to a fire that damaged offices in one of its buildings on September 2, the museum has announced plans to raise money for its repair with an updated fundraising technique: text messaging.

ARTINFO's Guide to Conquering "Fashion's Night Out" (ARTINFO)
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:12:31 GMT
ARTINFO - Anna Wintour's one-woman stimulus package, Fashion's Night Out ? the 24-hour extravaganza of free champagne and all things limited-edition — will take over the city for its second iteration this Friday. Expect boozy fashion addicts to pack the streets, exposing a side of themselves so aggressively cupidinous as to make the mad-eyed shoppers at Barney's "Warehouse Sale" look like sedated puppies. If you're feeling hardy, take a nip of the evening's freely flowing liquid courage and get out there — the evening promises not only fashion fabulousness, but also some of the glitziest artist collaborations this side of Art Basel Miami Beach. ARTINFO suggests a few highlights, to be printed out and Bedazzled onto the couture garment of your choosing.

Manga Royals and French Bureaucrats F? Murakami's Controversial Versailles Show (ARTINFO)
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:58:47 GMT
ARTINFO - There was a striking abundance of smiles at the famed Château de Versailles for the opening of a show that detractors have denounced as speculative neo-vandalism, pornographic provocation, and a blight on France’s prized heritage.

A Sluggish Start at the Korea International Art Fair Leaves Dealers With Low Expectations (ARTINFO)
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:42:42 GMT
ARTINFO - The United Kingdom is the featured country at this year’s Korea International Art Fair, (KIAF) and perhaps that’s why works by Damien Hirst, who surely is Britain’s most famous contemporary artist in Asia, seemed to be everywhere. Even at the booth of the venerable PYO Gallery — whose president, Mi Sun Pyo, is head of the Galleries Association of Korea — a Hirst "Spin" painting has taken pride of place, seeming a little off-key beside the cool minimalism of the paintings by Lee Ufan, which provide the booth’s still center.

Paroled From Riker's Island, a Long-Imprisoned Mural Goes on View (ARTINFO)
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:33:33 GMT
ARTINFO - Though artist Faith Ringgold is perhaps best known for delighting American schoolchildren with her lusciously illustrated 1991 masterwork of a children’s book "Tar Beach," her first public commission was actually designed for another audience: female prisoners eating in the cafeteria of the Rikers Island prison in New York City. Now that incarcerated work, the 1971 "For the Women’s House," is being released after a tumultuous stretch for a show at the Neuberger Museum of Art, in Purchase, New York.

With a Bombed Car, Jeremy Deller Expands Brit Art's Take on the Iraq War (ARTINFO)
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:20:21 GMT
ARTINFO - "Tonight, I’m announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended," President Obama declared last week. Seven years after the United States-led invasion of the country, the war is officially over. In the U.K., however, the debate over Britain's involvement in the conflict is as fractious as ever: the government’s "Iraq Inquiry" has been severely criticized, and former Prime Minister Tony Blair?s newly published autobiography, "A Journey," has triggered angry protests.

Bill T. Jones, Oprah, and a Singing Outlaw Are Named for Kennedy Center Honors (ARTINFO)
Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:16:42 GMT
ARTINFO - A Kennedy Center Honor, which the Kennedy Center?s website likens to a knighthood in Britain, is the ultimate reward for a person’s “lifetime contribution to American culture.” This year those contributions included outlaw country music, "Yesterday," uplifting car giveaways, and scintillatingly vibrant choreography.

U.S. Returns Spoils of War and Archaeological Loot to Iraq (ARTINFO)
Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:35:09 GMT
ARTINFO - As a reminder that the looting of Iraq's heritage has hardly been restricted to the militant thieves who pillaged the Iraqi National Museum after the 2003 American invasion, the United States has repatriated a group of objects, some of which were apparently taken as war booty, and others that reflect the region's history of artifact smuggling. This step, by all accounts, is only a small one in what will have to be a concerted international effort to undo the work of all kinds of opportunistic raiders.