THE MAG - News

Sir Elton John Will Open His Own Art Gallery
Sir Elton John will demolish part of his US$16 million (8 million pound) mansion in Old Windsor, Berks, UK to build a huge art gallery with hi-tech security in its place. He is planning to knock downa a garage block where he can display his entire art collection. The singer has an extensive collection worth tens of millions of pounds.
(view more...)

Record Price For Banksy
A spray paint on steel titled "Space Girl and Bird" by the elusive artist Banksy, soared twenty times its estimate to create a new auction world record of £288,000 at Bonhams last week. The previous auction record for Banksy’s work – "Bombing Middle England" sold at Sothebys for £102,000 earlier this year. After intense bidding in the saleroom room and nine telephone bidders, the final bid was relayed on the phone to the auctioneer of the Vision 21 sale, Pippa Stockdale. The work sold to a US buyer.
(view more...)

Paris Hilton Autopsy
Paris Hilton's naked "corpse" could provide an invaluable service to students preparing for prom this season. An interactive Public Service Announcement featuring the graphic display of a tiara-wearing, autopsied Paris Hilton with removable innards is designed to warn teenagers of the hazards of underage drinking. The display also features Tinkerbell, Hilton's forlorn pet Chihuahua with matching tiara, and debuts in the trendy Williamsburg, Brooklyn neighborhood where prom-goers frequently dine, courtesy of Capla Kesting Fine Art.
(view more...)

MUSAC Wins Mies Van Der Rohe Award 2007
Spanish architects Luis Mansilla and Emilio Tunon have been granted the Mies van der Rohe Award for the Contemporary Art Museum of Castile and Leon. The jury praised the "tectonic clarity and intelligent materialization" of the building known as the MUSAC, which was inaugurated in 2004 in Leon, northern Spain.
(view more...)

The Renaissance Of Art Miami
The New Art Miami is taking a spirited turn this year, re-inventing itself in a spectacular tent in the Wynwood Gallery District with its debut on December 6th. The new show will launch in the heart of what has become the most fervent art scene in the US: Miami.
(view more...)

First Major Survey Exhibition of American Art To Be Presented In Shanghai
"Art in America: Three Hundred Years of Innovation", the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of American art to come to China and the first to fully reflect the entire history of art in the United States will be on view at the Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art from May 1, 2007, through June 30, 2007.
(view more...)

A Cultural Event With A Difference
From June 01 to September 01 2007, one of the world’s most astonishing contemporary art exhibitions will be revealed on the River Loire, featuring over 40 installations by internationally renowned artists such as Anish Kapoor, Daniel Buren and Atelier Van Lieshout.
(view more...)

London Cleaners Paint Over Famed Banksy Mural
Mural painted by London artist Banksy, depicting John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Quentin Tarantino´s "Pulp Fiction", has been painted over by cleaners believed to be working for Transports for London. The company said graffiti created an atmosphere of neglect and social decay which encourages crime. The cleaning company also affirm that their staff are professional cleaners and not professional art critics.
(view more...)

Bonhams opens office in Dubai
Bonhams, the international fine art auction house, is to open a sales office in Dubai with a first auction sale scheduled for early November 2007. Bonhams Dubai will be a joint venture with the Al Tajir family. His Excellency, Mohammed Mahdi Al Tajir, was the former United Arab Emirates Ambassador to Great Britain and Western Europe and is currently an advisor to the President of the United Arab Emirates. He is a prominent collector across a wide variety of the arts.
(view more...)

After 210 Years Paolo Veronese’s "The Wedding at Cana" ‘Returns’ To Venice
In September, to coincide with the opening of the "Dialoghi di San Giorgio" - this year on the theme Inheriting the past. Traditions, shifts, betrayals and innovations - a remarkable event will be held in Venice. Organised in collaboration with the Louvre, the event concerns the large work entitled "The Wedding at Cana" - now in Paris - painted by Paolo Veronese for the refectory of the Benedictine monastery. After an absence of 210 years, "The Wedding at Cana" ‘will return’ to its original setting in the Palladian Refectory on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, thanks to the creation of a ‘second original’, i.e. a facsimile on a one-to-one scale, created thanks to the most sophisticated reproduction techniques.
(view more...)

New Greek And Roman Antiques Gallery At The MET
The Metropolitan Museum of Art inaugurated its new Greek and Roman Galleries with a dedication and ribbon-cutting with the presence of the Director of the museum, Mr. Philippe de Montebello, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor Eliot Spitzer. The new two-story gallery took five years of construction and will display more than 5,000 artifacts and works of classical art that was previously in storage. The new wing is known as a "museum within a museum" where the most extensive collection of Roman art outside of Italy will be housed. The gallery will be open to the public on Friday.
(view more...)

Israeli Institutions Battling For Looted Art
Unbelievable but true. Two Israeli institutions are battling for custody of an acclaimed collection of artwork pludered by the Nazis. The Israel Museum has ocntrol of the collection and is fighting against a company headed by a Holocaust survivor that is legally entrusted with locating the property of victims. This kind of disputes have been very common since the Holocaust ended.
(view more...)

Sotheby´s Will Launch Premium Credit Cards This Spring
Sotheby´s Auction House announced today that it will launch premium credit cards this spring (June exactly) that will offer cardholders extraordinary access to the art world: the Sotheby´s World Elite Mastercard and Sotheby´s World MasterCard, from GE Money in the USA. Partnerships with prestigious museums and a suite of luxury experiential rewards make this program unlike any existing premium credit card offerings in the marketplace today.
(view more...)

Russia: We Want A Compensation From Germany
Russia expects a compensation to send a collection of trophy art back to Germany according to Culture and Press Minister Alexander Sokolov. The artworks were brought from Germany soon after the end of World War II by Soviet Army Captain Viktor Baldin. The 362 drawings by masters such as Titian, Rembrandt, Delacroix and Van Gogh ended up at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
(view more...)

Thieves Target Aboriginal Art Galleries
Thieves smashed the front doors of the Kimberly Art Gallery in Flinders Lane, Australia, stealing Aboriginal art worth US$80,000. Once inside the gallery, the thieves selected 10 artworks which demonstrates that they went in the gallery with specific target. Art dealers are warned to be on the lookout for anyone trying to sell Aboriginal paintings.
(view more...)

Record Sale Prices Reached At Artparis
Between March 28 and April 2, artparis brought in not just its faithful clients but managed to win over a number of new French and foreign art collectors during this, its second year at the Grand Palais. Under the direction of its organizer, France Conventions, the fair filled 5000 m2 of exhibition space under the prestigious glass roof. With 30% of its participants first-time exhibitors this year -- most of whom specializing in contemporary art -- artparis decidedly took on a more up-to-date appearance.
(view more...)

American Master, Sol LeWitt, Dies In New York
Sol LeWitt, an artist known for his dynamic wall paintings and as a founder of minimal and conceptual art styles, died Sunday in New York. The 78-year-old artist, who was born in Hartford and lived for the last two decades in Chester, Connecticut, died from complications from cancer.
(view more...)

Man Puts Foot Through Old Master Painting
The Milwaukee Art Museum suffered a tremendous attack to one of its paintings by a 22 year old man who start kicking a painting and didn´t stop until his foot went through the masterpiece. The painting that suffered the attack was "The Triumph of David" by Ottavio Vannini, worth US$300,000.
(view more...)

The Gulbenkian Prize Fantastic 4 Finalists
The Gulbenkian Prize shortlist of galleries and museums in the running for one of the UK´s biggest art awards has been reduced to four. The winner of the £100,000 will be announced on May 24. Contenders are Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Kew Palace in London, Pallant House in Chichester and Weston Park Museum in Sheffield.
(view more...)

$10 Million Donation Makes Museum Change Its Name
The Naples Museum of Art will receive during the next five years, US$10 million dollars thanks to Collier County (Florida, USA) philanthropists Jay and Patty Baker. In return, the museum´s title will change to the Baker Museum of Art (the exact wording hasn´t been determined).
(view more...)

Another Attack Against Christianity?
It seems that Christianity is being under attack lately by the art world. A new piece of art showing Illinois Senator Barack Obama as Jesus Christ is now on display at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibit is titled "Blessing" and shows Obama in white and red robes with a neon halo.
(view more...)