- Creative Capital’s Star Wars themed fundraiser video couldn’t be better timed—the newest Star Wars will screen worldwide next Monday (and this one George Lucas hasn’t been involved with, so it’s supposed be a lot better!). We recommend donating to Creative Capital—they fund the best artists, many of whom make work that is too great a challenge for the commercial gallery system—and seeing Star Wars. We want to discuss the new movie here on the blog! [Creative Capital]
- In 2005, 24 paintings and 70 pieces of silver from the Dutch Golden Age were stolen from Holland’s Westfries Museum. Years later, the collection turned up in the villa of deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. Now, a nationalist militia is holding the paintings and demanding a “finders fee” for their return. No one seems to be able to agree on how much the artwork is worth. [The New York Times]
- The group Historic England is calling on the British public to help locate and preserve the country’s postwar public art. It has become not-uncommon for modernist sculptures to be stolen and sold for scrap metal. [BBC News]
- Woodland, North Carolina needs to invest in education. The town council just voted to reject a rezoning application that would allow a solar farm to be built by Strata Solar Company and put a moratorium on all solar development. One resident, Bobby Mann, expressed fears that the panels would “suck up all the energy up from the sun.” Retired science teacher, Jann Mann, was concerned that the panels would prevent photosynthesis from occurring. [Mashable]
- London-based art critic Adrian Searle offers his top ten exhibition list. Number one on that list is the Whitney’s reopening. Woot! Number six is Juan Muñoz, whose figurative sculptures have always been a bit of a head scratcher for me. Why are a bunch of laughing footless figures in a room supposed to be beguiling? [The Guardian]
- Franklin Sirmans is settling into his new role as director of the Perez Art Museum Miami. The problem? Miamians apparently don’t like giving donations—especially to an institution that was renamed in honor of another private donor. [The New York Times]
- An oddly gripping stream-of-consciousness reflection on Christopher Wool by Richard Prince. [Wool735.com via @gregorg]
- Jeff Koons is being sued by photographer Mitchel Gray for copyright infringement. The case stems from Koons’ 1986 painting “I Could Go For Something Gordon’s” which recreated a scene from an ad Gray shot for Gordon’s Gin earlier that year. [The Telegraph]
- Huh. Upper West Siders who oppose the Museum of Natural History’s expansion plans are planning to protest the opening of Tina Fey’s new film Sisters. Apparently Fey is on the museum’s Board of Trustees and voted in favor of the expansion. [artnet News]
