Bob Dylan Embraces Appropriation at Gagosian, Hirst's Market Wilts, and More

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by ARTINFO

Published: November 27, 2012

– 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