Guillermo CT has been sentenced to four years in jail for selling fakes through Madrid’s Stedtart auction house. CT sold 16 works from artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Edvard Munch, 15 out of which he forged himself. Though the crime was committed in 2018, the consequences have only been revealed with the opening of Spanish art fair ARCO.
The Joan Mitchell Foundation has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Louis Vuitton for using the painter’s works in an advertisement. The Mitchell Foundation previously declined all requests that would grant LV permission to do such a thing. It’s unclear how much the company would have to pay the Mitchell Foundation as reparations for the whole ordeal.
Last Thursday, one of Koons’ blue balloon sculptures fell to the ground, instantaneously breaking into hundreds of small pieces. The incident took place at the Bel-Air Fine Art booth, where a collector accidentally knocked over the sculpture’s pedestal. The piece is covered by insurance, which means that the responsible will not be charged.
Chagall’s “The Father” is on display at New York City’s Jewish Museum, and will remain there for an entire year. Though David Cender purchased the painting in 1928, man and painting were forcefully separated upon his deportation to Auschwitz. “The Father” eventually returned to the Cender Family through lawful efforts, which allowed them to loan it for public display.
After their robbing, Salvador Dalí’s charcoal drawings have finally returned to their Barcelona-based owners. The famed painter made the pieces at the green age of 18, making them all the more valuable. Aside from the works of Dalí, the thieves looted several Joan Miro drawings, though they have yet to be authenticated.
Five Greek museums have temporarily closed in protest of the law that would allow them to operate semi-autonomously, overseen by government-appointed boards. Some argue the museums would become more independent, as they would escape the control of Greece’s culture ministry. Nevertheless, for critics, this is merely a way of handing control of cultural heritage to the elites.
Frieze Los Angeles opened earlier this week, to increased attendance, presumably due to prioritization of social media influencers. Coincidentally, Spain’s international contemporary art fair, ARCO Madrid, opens next week. The highly anticipated curated section, “The Mediterranean: A Round Sea,” will focus on the diverse art of the Mediterranean.
If you’re going to Art Dubai, get your tickets online—half of sales will go to Turkish and Syrian disaster victims. But if you want to purchase art from your laptop, Open Space Contemporary is organizing a fundraising drive, where artworks are available for purchase with the buyer’s proof of donation to organizations such as the Red Cross. While several artists are already participating in this initiative (Özge Topçu, Jen Nieuwland, Radek Brousil, Jaime Gili, Anna Perach, and Lucia Pizzani) the organization continues to solicit donations for this drive.