Congratulations, you’ve got your shiny degree in curating, art history, or critical theory. Now, how will you make your way in the notoriously cutthroat art world? Sophie Macpherson is the right person to ask. Her company, Sophie Macpherson Ltd, is the leading art recruitment agency, with a London office and representatives in Paris, New York, and soon, East Asia.

It all started a decade ago when Macpherson, languishing in a gallery assistant job in Mayfair, tried to find a new position. Recruiters had no understanding of the kind of career move she was after. They told her she had “no future in the art world” and advised her to “go be a secretary.” Realizing that there was a gaping hole in the recruitment industry, she sent 100 self-addressed envelopes asking museums and galleries if they would welcome a service helping them finding staff.

“The response was incredible,” she told LLB. “Practically all of them got back saying that they were struggling to find good people. Many were just hiring relatives and friends of friends and would always find it very awkward when things didn’t work out.”

Macpherson’s clients have included Christie’s, Frieze, Gagosian Gallery, White Cube, Lisson Gallery, Alison Jacques, and ArtReview, to name but a few. She regularly lectures in institutions such as the Courtauld Institute, Oxford University, and the Royal College of Art, and in 2008 launched her own Art Market Academy.

Recently, she shared 10 no-nonsense tips for art job hunters with ARTINFO UK.

1. Research. Any job, whether in contemporary art or working with Old Master paintings, requires a great deal of research. To be able to show you can research works of art or the market itself is very useful and will make you a more desirable candidate. We recommend keeping a portfolio of work you have done, reporting on exhibitions you visit and conducting small market research projects in your own time. Taking this with you to interview will impress any employer, showing you work hard in your spare time and have a keen interest in your chosen field.

2. Social Media. Being able to navigate social media platforms is an increasingly desired skill. Create a blog where you can publish your own research projects, talk about trips to galleries with photographs of your favorite pieces, post links to other sites of interest and your Twitter account. Showing you can be creative online will really help you move ahead.

3. Internships. It is almost expected that you will take a few internships before being offered a full-time job. The experience can be essential to understanding the mechanisms of the industry whilst building up your CV. It will also help you learn which areas you enjoy and which you don’t, and therefore be able to run a more targeted search when applying for permanent roles.

4. Art Calendar. Know the seasonal art world inside out. Make sure you are aware of all the important monthly auctions, fairs, and exhibitions and try and get to a many of them as you can. Asian Art Week in London in November, Old Master’s Week in London in June, auctions of Impressionist art in New York in May, and the contemporary auctions and Frieze Art Fair in London in October are must-sees and should be followed from afar even if you cannot attend them.

5. CV. Keep it to two pages if you can! Employers don’t have time to read through lengthy CVs and will therefore only skim read. Make sure you put only relevant working experience on there and have the most recent at the top.

6. Cover Letter. Make sure you take the time to find the correct person to address it to, and that you fully understand the role and what the employer is looking for. Bring to their attention any language skills, any work experience that you feel is particularly relevant to the role, and even your availability for interview.

7. Languages. This is increasingly important as the art market grows and diversifies. If you have the option of taking extra courses to perfect any basic languages you have, then do. We are often asked to send only candidates with at least one foreign language, so any work you do to brush up your skills would be an asset.

8. Reading. This sounds obvious but there is so much that you are not taught at university about the art market and it is important that you educate yourself. Reading arts newspapers, publications, magazines, blogs, forums, and market reports is highly recommended so you understand all about every aspect of the industry. Gaining an insight into what is showing where, what is being sold to whom, and which shows are doing well will prove very beneficial at interview.

9. Networking. It is an old adage that who you know in the art world really matters, and whilst it is not the only way to get ahead it certainly does help. Attending private views, fairs, talks, and events, and meeting as many people as you can will help you gain further reach when looking for a job. The more people know you are looking, the better.

10. Interviews. There are simple rules to interviewing but it’s amazing how many people get it wrong. The obvious first point is Be On Time. Be sure to really research the person who is be carrying out the interview, as well as the company. Have good questions to ask — an interview should be a two-way dialogue not just a quick-fire question-and-answer session. If you have got to interview stage you have already got far, so keep calm and be yourself.

This article originally appeared at ARTINFO UK.

– Bob Dylan Gets an Encore at Gagosian: The music legend will return to Gagosian tomorrow for his second exhibition following a controversial 2011 debut that included a number of works copied from photographs in the public domain. (At the time, New York Times critic Holland Cotter described the works as "dead on the wall.") For his sophomore outing, the artist is being more up front about his source material: According to the press release, "Revisionist Art: Thirty Works by Bob Dylan" features silkscreens of popular design elements, from "Bondage Magazine" to "Babytalk." [Capital]

– Hirst Market Takes a Hit: After dominating the aughts, YBA extraordinaire Damien Hirst has seen the market for his work shrink, with pieces from 2005-08 reselling for an average of 30 percent less than their original prices and a third of his 1,700 pieces to hit the auction block in the last three years failing to find buyers. "I think Hirst was a very good artist at the beginning but he has been a fabricator of luxury goods for a long time now," said the Art Newspaper editor at large Georgina Adam. "If you have a very early work that will remain valuable, but if you bought a print for £10,000 I don't think you are going to get your money back." [Telegraph]

– Jerry Saltz Buys a Faux Richter: Many months ago, New York Magazine's art critic put out a call on Facebook. He promised to pay anyone $155 plus the cost of materials to make a perfect fake by Gerhard Richter. The winning canvas now comes from Stanley Casselman, a Jersey City painter who made 50 paintings in the style of Richter and hit the right note on two. They now hang in Saltz's home. "I’m not making a comment about the market or smirking that some work can be reproduced," Saltz writes. "These are knockoffs, flints that spark, reminders, whatever." Now he's caught the bug: fake Kara Walkers, Duchamps, and Rothkos are all on the way. (To see another artist's attempt at a Richter, click on our VIDEO OF THE DAY, below.) [NYM]

– Italy Struggles to Recover from Earthquake: In northern Italy, architects and archeologists are racing against time to retrieve and restore treasures damaged in May's earthquake before winter sets in. San Francesco and the Duomo are two of some 2,200 churches and other historic buildings still in need of repair. The estimated cost of recovery is up to $3 billion. "I don't know where the money's going to come from," said architect Andrea Sardo. "The government's promised to help — but we'll need private sponsorship too." [BBC]

– Former Philippine Dictator's Collection Missing: Nearly 150 artworks belonging to former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda — a collection that includes pieces by Picasso, van Gogh, Rembrandt, Cézanne, and Renoir — are still missing, despite the former first lady's one-time secretary and her two nephews being indicted in New York last week for trying to sell a Marcos Monet. "The Marcoses were art aficionados and they spent millions of dollars buying up these paintings," said head of the Presidential Commission on Good Government Andres Bautista, adding that the works "could be anywhere." [Telegraph]

– Portland Passes Tax Increase to Fund Arts Education: Earlier this month, Portland voters passed a $35 addition on income tax for residents above the federal poverty line to restore arts education in the city's schools. The measure won with 62 percent of the vote and will go into effect in July 2013. "For $35 per person, we can fund not only public school programs but also programs generating community involvement among people who are socially and economically marginalized," said Jessica Jarratt Miller of the city's Creative Advocacy Network. [OR Arts Watch]

– Picasso Photographer's Camera Fetches Record Price: A 1955 Leica M3D camera (one of only four ever made) that belonged to Life magazine photographer David Douglas Duncan — who spent many years documenting the work and travels of Pablo Picasso — became the second-most-expensive camera ever when Vienna's Westlicht Gallery sold it for €1.7 million ($2.2 million) on Saturday. Duncan, who is 96 years old, was a close friend of Picasso's and took hundreds of exclusive photographs of the artist, including many of the most iconic. [Guardian]

– What's the Problem With Art Funds?: One of those art investment instruments that are difficult to understand no matter how many times they are explained, art funds have multiplied with great frequency in recent years but remain insignificant in the context of the $67-billion global art market. What's more, the jury is still out on whether art is a viable asset class. Notes Greg Davies, head of behavioral and quantitative investment philosophy for Barclays: "All that you are buying is the hope that someone will want to pay more for it later on." [Forbes]

– Renaissance Prints Reveal Bug History: Penn State professor and Renaissance art collector Blair Hedges has mapped the distribution of beetles in Europe through a study of the traces left by more than 3,000 wormholes on woodblock prints from between 1462 and 1899. "The prints have the date and place of publication," Hedges said. "It’s almost the perfect fossil." [NYT]

– Montreal Museum Returns Mãori Head: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) has returned a Toi Moko — a human head considered an important relic by New Zealand's native Mãori population — to Wellington's Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa following efforts by that country's government to secure the safe return of some 500 mummified and tattooed human remains from museums and private collections around the world. "It’s a relief to know that these remains will now be laid to rest in the land of their ancestors and that they will never again be exposed to public curiosity or stored as artefacts in museum reserves," said MMFA director and chief curator Nathalie Bondil. [ArtDaily]

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Artist Mark Billy draws a Gerhard Richter for Jerry Saltz

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For more breaking art news throughout the day,
check ARTINFO's In the Air blog.

At the beginning of the month, a striking press release by the professional body that represents Canadian artists, Canadian Arists' Representation (CARFAC), informed the public that Inuit artists would “miss out of profits made on their work” at upcoming sales at Joyner Waddington's and Walkers auction houses in the days to follow. The interminable battle for resale rights in Canada was made to sound like urgent news. “The artists will not receive a dime,” the release warned, going on to quote several artists about the grim financial realities they faced. 

Despite these somewhat dubious tactics, CARFAC's press release did note some startling data. Resale-royalties legislation exists in 59 countries worldwide, including the entire European Union and more recently Australia. The group explained that in two years, “Australia has paid more than $600,000 in royalties” to more than 380 artists, “over 60% of whom are Indigenous. The lowest royalty paid in Australia so far has been $50, while the highest amount paid was $40,000.” 

Seeking a response to the press releases, ARTINFO Canada contacted Stephen Ranger, vice president of Waddington's, to discuss the issue. Ranger's evident frustration at the rhetoric employed by CARFAC warranted our getting in touch with April Britski, executive director of CARFAC National.

In the midst of a season punctuated with secondary-market movement, this debate stirs up a great deal of passion on all sides. Here is what they had to say (interviews from the two sides have been interspersed here, to give a sense of the back and forth):

To April Britski: Since there have been no new developments regarding the issue of Canadian artists gaining resale rights lately, why release this statement now, and why distinguish Inuit artists from the rest?

AB: We’ve been looking to get artist resale rights for two to three years, and since the fall of 2010, we’ve been paying close attention to Canadian auctions, trying to get a sense of what they could mean for artists. Usually that involves looking at what artists are being sold at the fall and spring auction, and focusing on them. In this case, we noticed that there were two auctions of Inuit artists, in particular, so we arranged a release shortly thereafter highlighting their issues.

The press release appeared to position the subject as news, and not just a comment on the status quo needing to be changed. Was it CARFAC's intention to sound an alarm?

AB: Our previous releases are very similar. Season to season, we want to educate people about an artist’s relationship to their secondary market. And we want to send a message to government: that every spring and fall, this could have an effect on an artist’s life.

***

To Stephen Ranger: What was your response to this latest CARFAC release on Inuit artists, and what did you perceive its purpose to be when the whole country is still waiting on resale rights?

SR: The Inuit issue being piqued is all about optics, and, in my view, very deceiving and very cynical. They’re bringing that up like Inuit artists are poster children being denied their profits. But it comes around the time that the big Inuit art sales happen every year.

They didn’t mention the Inuit artists last year, they mentioned Canadian art in general. It has to do with timing and auctions. And at this time, last year, I became proactive, and said “you haven’t asked us what we thought, you haven’t engaged us on this. Don’t you think it’s time?”

Tell us a bit about the history of your relationship with CARFAC, on this subject, and what any discussion has amounted to.

SR: CARFAC has traditionally taken a confrontational tack with regards to the issue of the artist's resale rights. It wasn’t until last spring that they had engaged with anyone in the industry, after making noise about it for a long time. I went down to a conference of theirs at that time, and laid out a number of issues that people would be concerned about in the art business.

What are those concerns?

SR: For instance, CARFAC’s most recent press release presupposes that all artwork appreciates, that immense profits are being made off of artists who were forced to sell their work for very little money, and that collectors buy artwork only for investment purposes.

***

To April Britski: Would you agree CARFAC assumes the above in its argumentation for resale rights?

AB: We never said that collectors only buy work for investment purposes. And we do know that not everything appreciates in value. It is possible that some work sells for less than what it initially sold for. This is possible, certainly. But that is the chance that people take when they decide to resell work.

Do you agree with Stephen that CARFAC has taken an aggressive stance towards the auction houses?

AB: Our intent was not to call out the big, bad auction house. Our intent was to illustrate that a lot of work is being sold by Canadian artists, and without this right, we wanted to show how many artists are being affected and how much money they’re missing out on.

We wanted to show the need. For example we illustrate Kenojuak Ashevak, an Inuit artist who has a lot of work selling on the secondary market. She’s an older artist who’s in very poor health, and has told us personally that it would be very beneficial for her to have this right in place.

April, what complications do you see the introduction of an artist's resale right potentially having for artists or the market?

AB: Sixty-seven [sic] countries have the right, so we do have the benefit of seeing how it’s worked elsewhere over the last 80 or 90 years. There have been some instances where it didn’t work very well, and some others where it worked extremely well.

I would say probably the biggest challenge is having collective management of the law. In California, there is no collective management required, so it’s up to the artists to figure out where their work is selling, to call-up their dealers and the auctions houses. Most countries find it much easier to have a collective contact with the galleries and auction houses on their behalf, and on a regular basis. They collect the fees, they find out if the artists are eligible, and they process the payments. I think the smoother the administrative process is, the better.

***

To Stephen Ranger: Is an artist's resale right something you’d like to see instituted in Canada?

SR: In theory, of course artists deserve to be well-paid for their work. Do resale rights work in some jurisdictions? Some would argue yes, some would argue no.

My concern on a number of levels is how would this be fairly administered and rolled-out across the industry. It’s not just auction houses we’re talking about. There’s dealers and collectors who sell their work privately, too, of course. But auction houses seem to be the low-hanging fruit because we conduct our business in public.

Has Joyner Waddinton's been unfairly portrayed in CARFAC’s statements? And separately, what do you see the auction house doing for artists?

SR: The tone of the CARFAC press release implies that we do nothing to promote Canadian art and the careers of artists. But in terms of what Waddingtons does and Concrete Contemporary does, we put our money where our mouth is. And none of that is being taken into consideration. 

If you look at the hundreds of thousands of dollars we’ve spent on promoting the careers of Inuit artists, we’ve created a market. Secondly, [the release] plays upon some very dicey territory, in that it makes us seem like we’re doing something to further the evils that have been brought upon the First Nations people of our country. And nothing could be further from the truth.

You don’t need to portray the auction business like some devil who’s trying to take money away from artists. At Concrete Contemporary, exactly what we’re trying to do is create a market for artists.

***

To April Britski. Do you agree with Stephen that auction houses develop a market for contemporary artists?

AB: Absolutely, they do a lot to promote an artist’s work; even if it doesn’t end up being financial, they do a lot to promote an artist’s career.

However people are misinformed. You don’t necessarily see an artist’s primary market spike after you’ve seen them do well at the secondary level. I’ve seen a lot of artists do well at auction, and their next exhibition doesn’t show any sign of that. So there are certain risks out there for artists on the secondary market, and we’re trying to minimize those.

What we wanted to show is that work is increasing in value at auctions all the time and that people’s personal sale records are being broken quite frequently. When the public sees Joe Fafard sell for $60,000, they think that he’s making some of that money. He’s not. I think a 5 percent royalty is a pretty modest amount. It should go back to the person who created it; it’s a contribution they should be compensated for.

***

To Stephen Ranger: Any final words on this?

SR: I say, let's have a dialogue. But in the future, if you’re going to be confrontational, at least be fair. Let’s sit around a table and try to work this out. 

A version of this article appeared at ARTINFO Canada.

Looking for a unique gift or the perfect stocking stuffer? Check out our roundup of beauty and grooming products for men and women.

Click on the slideshow to see ARTINFO’s Beauty and Grooming Holiday Gift Guide. 

ATLANTIC CITY — With Art BaselMiami Beach nearing its 11th anniversary next week, it may be difficult to look past the glare of Swarovski crystals back to a time when the city was defined less by its jet-set art scene than by its murder rate, persistent mayoral corruption, and cocaine consumption (actually, maybe that last one still applies).

These days, America’s biggest art fair injects the city with an estimated $500-million economic boost each year, making it perhaps the most salient model of how art can nourish a weak economy. Other blighted cities have taken note: Detroit and Buffalo have both invested big in the arts in recent years, and, earlier this month, Atlantic City launched a $3-million public art initiative, part of a larger plan to cultivate arts tourism.

“Atlantic City has already drawn pretty much most of the gamblers out there,” said Elizabeth Cartmell, CEO of the Atlantic City Alliance. “So really the destination is returning back to its original roots as a tourism destination. Culture and art, entertainment options, are drivers of people’s selections and the duration of their stay.”

Funded by the Alliance and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, the project, dubbed “Artlantic,” takes place over the next five years with a series of five public art installations. For the first phase, which debuted unscathed earlier this month despite Hurricane Sandy's impact on the area, curator Lance Fung installed works by Kiki Smith, Robert Barry, John Roloff, and Ilya and Emilia Kabakov on two of the city’s many vacant lots. The sites are currently zoned for casino development, so the installations are temporary, but organizers plan to situate the final three projects on state-owned property instead.

At a press conference, the Kabakovs cited the city’s seedy reputation as inspiration for their project, a 98-foot-long plywood pirate ship parked on the site of the demolished Sands Hotel Casino. “Atlantic City is about greed, dreams, and fantasy — about something you don’t always get but will keep trying,” said Emilia Kabakov. “That’s what a pirate ship is, it’s an adventure. It’s treasure.”

Smith pointed to public art’s power beyond attracting tourism dollars. “I once applied for a public installation permit and they didn’t choose mine because mine wasn’t the best,” she said. “I wanted to make things for the public, but didn’t want to wait until I was dead, so I started putting up sculptures in my neighborhood, and I saw how art changed it. It changes [people’s] care, consideration, and pride in the neighborhood.”

“Artlantic” is only one part of the city’s broader plan to expand its art economy, which includes grooming the neighborhood of Ducktown into an arts district. City officials are already working with Stockton College and the Noyes Museum of Art to convert a local parking garage into gallery and studio spaces.

Will it work? Miami’s legacy has taught us, too, that a commercial art industry has to be built on a solid art infrastructure. Many of the galleries that flocked to Miami to capitalize on the success of Art Basel discovered that the market couldn’t sustain them year-round.

Atlantic City might do well to look to this history. “I believe art can transform a city, but, in my opinion, you can’t carve out an art district on a map and say, ‘that’s where artists are going to hang out,’” Fung said. “That’s not how Soho or Berlin happened. It’s about community. It has to happen organically.”

Instead, Fung said he’d like to see the city focus on funding grants and residency programs for artists. He has also suggested that local agencies invest in building a large-scale exhibition space. From there, the process should start from the ground up: “There is a local art scene — surprisingly more in Atlantic City than I thought for a town that size,” he said. “So the first thing you need to do is talk to artists and, whether you like their art or not, you need to support it.”

The second phase of Artlantic, titled “Glorious,” opens in June of 2013.

Twenty-three years after its last Dalí exhibition, which still holds the record for the museum’s best-attended show ever, the Pompidou Center is doing it again. Two hundred works by the Catalonian painter are on view through March 25, including over a hundred works on paper from Spain’s Museo Reina Sofía and Florida’s Dalí Museum. Curated by Jean-Hubert Martin, the retrospective plumbs all corners of the artist’s work and personality. So the debate is renewed: Dalí, incredible genius or clownish exhibitionist?

Campy, provocative, megalomaniacal, politically ambiguous (e.g., his fascination with Hitler and his “understanding” with Franco), openly avaricious, self-centered to the point of filling his works with his narcissistic obsessions, and promoting a saturated, baroque, overblown aesthetic, Dalí still remains one of the most popular painters of the late 20th century, and the undisputed king of the dorm room poster. He was the champion of interviews and shocking sound bites, and the only person who could make the whole world want to buy Lanvin chocolate. By taking on the entire span of the artist’s career, the Pompidou Center offers several explanations of what we can take away from Dalí today.

A Painter of Instincts

Genitalia, sometimes female but especially male, are omnipresent in the artist’s work, either clearly depicted or disguised as a soft or erectile appendage. Even when you don’t see it, it’s hidden under the hat of Jean-François Millet’s “Angelus.” Dalí’s paintings treat eroticism, but also death (the decapitated head in the study for “Honey is Sweeter Than Blood”), decay (the recurring image of donkeys devoured by ants), the desire to stop time (the watches turned into elastic, elusive mechanisms), family, and childhood. The little boy who looks at the monster on crutches in “Specter of Sex Appeal” (1934) could be one of us, and the “Dreams of Venus” are ours.

A Classical Painter

Underneath its outrageous appearance, Dalí’s painting is reassuring. Even in the heart of his Surrealist period, he never gives up a certain academic style, both in his treatment of figures (such as the female face in “The Great Masturbator”) and his preparatory methods. Dalí thought out his paintings in the classical pictorial tradition, as shown by the numerous studies in this exhibition. He was fascinated by Raphael, Velázquez, and Millet, and the precision and meticulousness of his early works could give Flemish landscape painters a run for their money. His “Geological Future” (1933), depicting two golden skulls mounted on a steed without a rider, measures only eight inches. Other small works, including paintings, ink drawings, and gouaches, are on loan from private collections and reveal Dalí to be a subtle miniaturist, even trying his hand at a copy of Vermeer’s “Lacemaker.”

A Pop Painter

Dalí has often been called the father of Pop Art. His 1979 painting “Dawn, Noon, Afternoon, and Twilight” multiplies the figure in Millet’s “Angelus” in five colorful versions that recall Monet’s haystacks, Seurat’s pointillism, and Warhol’s portraits. Dalí lifted and copied icons. And, starting in 1948, when he theorized his “nuclear mysticism,” science influenced his work. He loaded on the visual effects, played with three dimensions, and created optical illusions (the exhibition completely reconstructs his “Mae West” room, modeled after the actress’s face, from the Dalí museum in the artist’s hometown of Figueres). He explored holography and stereoscopic vision — a whole technological visual register that leads to kitsch as its integrates and entertains the viewer. Dalí also made jewelry (which, unfortunately, is absent from this exhibition), appeared on TV, and made advertisements. He was an exhibitionist. He can certainly be irritating, but you can’t stop watching him.

A Painter In Love

Dalí met his muse, Gala, in 1929, when she was still the wife of poet Paul Eluard, and married her in 1934. Her presence is felt throughout his work; we find her in “Dalí Painting Gala From Behind” or standing next to him in a black-and-white photograph by Brassaï. The woman whom Dalí said he loved “more than his mother, his father, Picasso, and even money” stayed by his side until his death. There is something fascinating  and ideal about this couple, who definitely contributed to the popularity of the artist’s work in the hearts of romantics everywhere.

To see works from the Pompidou Center’s Dalí retrospective, click on the slideshow.

Sorry, easily aroused male readers, but the Pirelli calendar is a modest proposal for 2013. Usually nude, the models in the Italian tire company’s new edition are either clothed, pregnant, or not models at all.

Putting away the T&A is a bold departure for the Cal, as Pirelli calls it. Typically, a photographer (always male, usually straight) travels to a steamy locale with 12 or so models of the voluptuous variety and shoots them in the buff. Think Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, but without the swimsuits. Last year Mario Sorrenti photographed Lara Stone and Kate Moss, among other supes, communing with nature in Corsica and leaving little to the imagination. Previously, Terry Richardson shot models, as naked as they day they were born, frolicking in a rainforest and playing with animals.

But with a new photographer comes a new vision. For 2013, Pirelli commissioned Steve McCurry, not known among fashion circles but well known for his photojournalism, including his Afghan Girl image that appeared on a 1985 cover of National Geographic. With Rio de Janeiro as his location, he lensed models (Karlie Kloss, Isabeli Fontana, Petra Nemcova, and an expecting Adriana Lima), actresses (Elisa Sednaoui, Sonia Braga), and singer Marisa Monte — some of them Brazilian, all of them dressed. The subjects were chosen for their charity work more than anything else. Clearly, nudity would send the wrong message, and in some cases a charity deals specifically with women’s rights in developing countries, where nudity is too taboo a topic to toy with.

McCurry said of the shoot: “I would say I am a street photographer doing ‘found situations.’ You can photograph nudes anywhere. But these models are clothed, and each of them has her own charity. They are purposeful and idealistic people. So I wanted to photograph them in a special place, and Rio was perfect for this… I tried to portray Brazil, its landscape, its economy and its culture, along with the human element.”

Lee Carter is editor-in-chief of Hint Fashion Magazine.

Visit Artinfo.com/fashion for more fashion and style news. 

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– Glenn Beck's Serrano-Style Obama Homage: Though he didn't cite Andres Serrano's famous — and infamously vandalized — photograph "Piss Christ" by name, it's prtty clear where extreme-right pundit Glenn Beck got the inspiration for his artwork "Obama in Pee Pee." The work, which he plans to sell for $25,000, was conceived as a show of support for a Bostonian artist's controversial painting of the U.S. president crucified. "I support his right to do exactly that," Beck said. "I agree with him that people who are upset should not trump his right to be able to do it and be able to hang it wherever he wants — as long as its [sic] wanted there." [Gawker]

– Rauschenberg's Eagle Lands at MoMA: The Museum of Modern Art has prevailed in a contest with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to win Robert Rauschenberg's "Canyon," an iconic 1959 combine featuring a stuffed bald eagle. The children of New York art dealer Ileana Sonnabend donated the artwork to the museum as part of a $41-million settlement with the Internal Revenue Service. (The presence of the eagle — a bird protected by federal laws — means the work could not be legally sold or traded, which led to a dispute about how it should be valued on the dealer's estate tax.) The family will claim no tax deduction on the donation, which will be part of a forthcoming exhibition devoted to the artist's combines and Sonnabend's own collection. [NYT]

– Monumenta 2013 Canceled, 2014 Artists Picked: After much uncertainty over the future of the massive contemporary art commission, France's ministry of culture has opted to cancel next year's edition of Monumenta at the Grand Palais. It also announced that the Russian artist duo Ilya and Emilia Kabakov will take over the sprawling 19th-century beaux-arts palace from May 5 to June 22, 2014. The Kabakovs were rumored to be slated for next year's exhibit, and their 2014 installation "Gorod" will be curated by Jean-Hubert Martin, the man behind the Centre Pompidou's new Salvador Dalí blockbuster. [Libération]

– Demi Moore Dating Vito Schnabel: Today in art-related tabloid news, actress Demi Moore, 50, is reportedly seeing art dealer Vito Schnabel, 26. (Moore recently ended her marriage to Ashton Kutcher. Schnabel — no slouch in the dating department himself — has romanced Liv Tyler and Elle Macpherson.) Meanwhile, Schnabel's father, artist Julian, is newly engaged to former model May Anderson, now a director at New York's Hole Gallery. [Daily Mail]

– Photographers Help to Restore Damaged Family Photos: A group of New York-area photographers and studios are offering to clean, scan, and retouch photographs that were strewn through the streets or otherwise damaged during superstorm Sandy. Until the end of February, the Professional Photographers' Society of New York State will reprint up to 10 damaged photographs per person free of charge, with a reduced rate for any additional images. "I'm a father of a little three year old girl and I treasure my photos … I would want to hold on to my memories as well as I could," said freelance photographer Marc Bushelle. [WSJ] 

– Employee Defrauds Atlanta Arts Center of $1.4M: An employee of Atlanta's Woodruff Arts Center — whose divisions include the High Museum of Art and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra — is suspected of embezzling some $1.44 million from the cultural institution over the course of five years by filing invoices for services that were never rendered. Larry Gellerstedt, chair of the Woodruff board, conceded that though the loss represents "a serious amount of money," it is "not a situation that puts the art or the institution at risk, other than the most important part, which is our credibility with our supporters." [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

– Is Coldplay Taking Up Street Art?: The band is auctioning off three original paintings and a graffiti wall that became the artwork for its "Mylo Xyloto" album to benefit Kids Company, a charity that serves at-risk youth in London. The musicians worked with an artistic collaborator by the name of Paris. "We built a special wall in our studio and sprayed it, wrote on it and threw things at it until it eventually became the artwork for 'Mylo Xyloto,'" said founder Chris Martin. [Independent]

– Giacometti Foundation Launches Web Presence: Paris's Alberto and Annette Giacometti Foundation recently launched a new website, which boasts an impressive online catalogue listing more than 1,000 authenticated works by Alberto Giacometti and offers details of the foundation's 5,000-piece collection. "This new website is a reference point for Giacometti," a foundation spokeswoman said. "It finally makes publicly available research conducted by the foundation team in the past nine years [in areas including] provenance, exhibition history and bibliography." [TAN]

– Oslo Readies a Munch Museum Makeover: After years of prodding, Oslo's city council is considering three proposals for an upgrade to the Munch Museum, which has been criticized for falling into disrepair. (A group of 1,000 marched to support the museum in late October, and let out a collective scream at the end.) The council is expected to announce a plan on December 12, Munch's birthday. Key local leaders, however, are opposed to spending municipal funds on the project and the announcement has been repeatedly delayed. [WSJ]

– Fourth Plinth's Second Place Finishes: A new exhibition at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts, "Fourth Plinth: Contemporary Monument," includes proposals that weren't selected to grace the vacant fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square as part of the temporary public art series there. Selections include Jeremy Deller's maquette of a bombed car, Anish Kapoor's large mirror installation "Sky Plinth," and Tracey Emin's installation of meerkat sculptures "Something for the Future." "I somehow got carried away and brought the meerkats in en masse," Emin said. "A little animal I have loved since childhood — along with the rest of the nation. But as much I loved them and loved doing the proposal, my relief in not getting the commission was a million times greater." [Independent]

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A small boy enjoys the Giacometti Foundation

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Sparkling gems from Van Cleef & Arpels, Tiffany & Co., Cartier, and more will be up for sale in Fortuna Auction’s Fine Jewels sale on November 29. A range of antique and contemporary pieces will be available, including cuff links, objets d’art, colored stones, and diamonds. One of the highlights of the sale is a Van Cleef & Arpels “Mystery Set” ruby ring, estimated at $30,000 to $40,000, which has an invisible setting that takes hundreds of hours to craft. Other pieces include a Shreve, Krump & Low 8.94-carat Edwardian diamond engagement ring and a gold, enamel, pearl, ruby, and diamond Indian bangle. Those who won’t be in New York for the sale need not worry – bids will also be taken by phone, absentee, or online.

Click on the slideshow to preview pieces in Fortuna Auction’s Fine Jewels sale on November 29.

Visit fortunaauction.com for more information.

While elaborate LEGO construction projects are nothing new to art and design, few of even the most painstaking works rival the recent, largest-ever LEGO model of Rome's famous Colosseum created by Australian Ryan 'Vitruvius' McNaught. The model, the centerpiece of an exhibition focused on the legendary monument now on view at Sydney’s Nicholson Museum, was (according to the museum) constructed using more than a quarter of a million bricks and “put together by 10,000 slaves.” 

“Without doubt, [it’s] is one of the hardest things I have ever made, given its shape and detail requirements,” said McNaught, also known as “The Brickman,” who works on commission creating LEGO dioramas and artworks of varying size and complexity. “It’s a hell of a lot of bricks, and rather tedious and time-consuming to build, but it’s critical for the model to have its structure correct (much like the real thing). I can only imagine how skilled the craftsmen that worked on the original were!”

In planning his model of the iconic landmark, McNaught, a LEGO Certified Professional — one of only 13 in the world, and the only one in the Southern Hemisphere — didn’t want to settle for a “simple” reconstruction. Instead, he gave the building his customary cut-away treatment and split it into two time phases: current ruins of today, and from its initial opening in 80 A.D. Using at least 20 pounds of glue and enough LEGO bricks to keep any child entertained for several years, McNaught meticulously pieced together each element of the Roman scene, from the Arch of Constantine to the tiered seating of the arena.

The detailed model even pays homage to the pope, who can be seen riding in his very own LEGO “popemobile” flanked by LEGO security guards – just one of the many whimsical additions that contribute to the awe-inspiring effect of the incredible assemblage.

The monument has proved so overwhelmingly popular that the exhibit has now been extended through March, 2013. 

To see images of the Colosseum, click through the slideshow. 

“This is an homage to the Ball scene; I’m not talking about testicles, even though I love them very much,” joked a svelte, lavender haired Kelly Osbourne, hostess of last night’s inaugural Love Hangover Ball at the W Hotel in Union Square. Bawdy pageantry and exaggerated glamour were the dictates of the evening. What else would you expect from a meeting of the fashion world and the Ballroom community, twain villages of spectacle, sparkle, and the calculated hauteur colloquially known as “fierceness.”

But this was fierceness with a cause. The dapper likes of Jason Wu, Zac Posen, Isaac Mizrahi, Stefano Tonchi, Bryan Boy, and Derek Blasberg packed the room like a can of bespoke sardines in support of the Foundation for AIDS Research. The evening’s proceedings were overseen by Osbourne, Ball scene veteran Jack Mizrahi, and ribald alternative nightlife impresaria Ladyfag. (Ladyfag on Blasberg: “We have so much in common, because nobody has any idea what we do for a fucking living.”) Black Eyed Peas front woman Fergie, Paper Magazine director Mickey “Mr. Mickey” Boardman, choreographer Fatima Robinson, Barney’s creative ambassador Simon Doonan, W style director Edward Enninful, and Ballroom scene legends Grandfather Hector Xtravaganza and Andre Mizrahi judged a series of competitions. Dancers hailing from different historic Voguing houses strutted, posed, contorted, and sashayed across the elevated runway, while — somewhat ironically — supermodels Karlie Kloss, Lily Donaldson, and Nicole Trunfio watched from the sidelines.

The logic behind the different competitions was a tad inscrutable for a Vogueing virgin such as this reporter. The competitions were titled “Butch Queen Realness,” “Sex Siren,” “Face,” and, finally, “Performance.” Genders were slippery and sometimes unknowable. Dancer and choreographer Danielle Polanco’s (pictured, inset) raunchy floor dance earned her the evening’s top prize. After the show, the guests headed downstairs to W’s subterranean bar Lilium, where they did a little grinding of their own into the single digits of the night. Kloss, Donaldson, Wu, and Boy held court on a large banquet in the corner, while the Ballroom contestants and their monster-heeled compadres tore up the dance floor.

Click here to view a slideshow of the W Love Hangover Ball

Gadget geeks are hard to please, so we’ve rounded up some innovative items for all the techies in your life.

Click on ARTINFO’s Gadget Holiday Gift Guide slideshow to see our high-tech picks.