A lot went down this week in the weird and wild world of Art. Some things were more scandalous than others, some were just plain wacky—but all of them are worth knowing about. Without further ado:
+ One of the publishing editors of the Harry Potter series, Barry Cunningham, is selling a rare, handwritten, and illustrated manuscript by J. K. Rowling entitled The Tales of Beedle the Bard. The Harry Potter spin off was written nearly 20 years after the franchise first hit the shelves and is conservatively estimated to bring in a whopping $620,000. [The Telegraph]
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+ The city of Helsinki announced a new proposal to fund the construction of the Guggenheim Museum. The new proposal says $90 million of the project’s estimated $156 million cost will be paid for by the state. [Art Forum]
+ Mr. Robot’s Rami Malek has been chosen to play Freddie Mercury in upcoming Queen biopic. [Variety]
+ Chile’s first state run contemporary art museum will open in 2017 inside what was once an abandoned airport. [The Art Newspaper]
+ Christie’s looks to China for help with the art market bubble. The auction has plans to take $250 million worth of Western Art in the coming months. [Bloomberg]
Matthew Barney’s hyperrealistic bull sculpture. Via
+ Artist Matthew Barney left the bloody remains of a dead bull in front of his Fort Greene apartment in a macabre bullfighter sculpture installation. [Mass Appeal]
+ Israel’s Culture Minister Miri Regev declared war on Israeli artists this Thursday, calling them “tight-assed, hypocritical and ungrateful” people who “think they know everything.” [The Times of Israel]
+ A string of art galleries in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of LA were vandalized last week in what the police are calling a series of hate crimes due to increased gentrification. [ABC 7]
+ Facebook temporarily suspended the account of self-proclaimed international art promoter Hamilton Moura Filho after he posted a photo of Caravaggio’s Amor Vincit Omnia, a painting that features a fully nude cupid. [The Local]
Picasso’s electrician becomes a key witness in a trial over a hidden collection of his works. Via
+ Picasso’s electrician, a man who held 300 works by the late artist in his garage, suggested in court this week that the artist’s widow, Jacqueline Picasso, may have wanted to hide the works from his family. [The Guardian]
+ The Cy Twombly estate donated five sculptures by the late artist to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. [The New York Times]
+ Writer and producer Dan Harmon, one of the creators of Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty, hosted an Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Reddit this week where he talked about some of the new projects he’s working on. [Reddit]
+ The first contemporary art museum in Greece opened in Athens this week. [Aljazeera]
+ An archive of manuscripts and personal letters penned by Alexander Hamilton is going on sale at Sotheby’s. [Playbill]
A painting by Julio de Sosa was forcibly taken down by Uruguayan law enforcement. Via
+ Uruguayan police took a painting off a gallery wall last week by artist Julio de Sosa without serving a warrant. The painting of Adam and Eve was allegedly removed because of its likeness to the country’s former president Jose “Pepe” Mujica and his wife. [BBC]
+ A Supreme Court judge signed off on the case against David Zwirner approving the $6 million lawsuit over a Jeff Koons sculpture to proceed. [The Art Newspaper]
+ The Royal Academy of Arts in London announced their first 3D printed virtual reality exhibition, scheduled to open in January of next year. [ArtNet News]
We finally get to see what a controversial restoration by da Vinci looks like. Via
+ The Louvre announced that it will reveal its controversial restoration of Leonardo da Vinci’s St. John the Baptist this Wednesday in Paris. [Le Figaro via ArtNet News]
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