Jeffrey Gonano, the Picasso raffle winner (Image courtesy of the Daily Mail)
- Pussy Riot will definitely soon be free, along with 30 Greenpeace activists who’ve attracted a lot of media attention lately for trying to board a Russian oil rig. Good, but nothing’s fixed. [Reuters, Corey Flintoff]
- Looks like Hyperallergic had a more successful trip to Miami’s new Perez Art Museum than AFC did. (They like). The opening was so packed that AFC’s Paddy Johnson couldn’t get a clear view of anything but the bathroom. [Hyperallergic]
- More momentum for The Contemporary! After reopening recently and appointing a new director, the Baltimore museum has appointed artist and curator Ginevra Shay as its program manager. It has a lot of young leadership, a nomadic format, and a very flexible program. Keep an eye on these guys. [twitter]
- “Why the art world is so loathsome”: a listicle for our times. Simon Doonan primarily lists Art Basel, money, dick art, poop art, and art that looks like a window display at Barney’s. That criticism comes with a little cache since Doonan himself spent years making Barneys window displays. [Slate]
- Pei-Shen Qian, the artist accused of making Knoedler Gallery’s fake paintings, claims he’s innocent. He says he made similar works to Abstract Expressionists but never intended to pass them off as authentic. [Bloomberg]
- Al Goldstein, creator of “Screw” Magazine, has died. His contribution to sex culture, was, according to his lawyer, “utterly tasteless.” [PleaseKillMe]
- The winner of the Picasso raffle is: Jeffrey Gonano, a 25 year old project manager for a fire sprinkler company in Pennsylvania. Also, the war-battered city of Tyre, for which the raffle raised more than $6.8 million. [Artsbeat]
- Come February you can write on the New Museum’s walls, thanks to Pawel Altheimer’s show. Get a sharpie or whatever, and go nuts, but definitely limit that to the temporary walls. [Animal New York]
