This marks BLOUIN ARTINFO's last daily checklist of 2012. To keep up with art news throughout the holidays, check our In the Air blog. The checklist will resume January 2.
– Cattelan Courts Controversy — Again: In 2000, Maurizio Cattelan caused a firestorm of controversy in Warsaw when he displayed a sculpture of Pope John Paul II being struck by a meteorite. (Two right-wing MPs ultimately destroyed the work and the gallery's director was forced to step down.) Now, he's at it again, presenting a sculpture of Hitler as a kneeling schoolboy on the site of a former Warsaw ghetto. But times change and Cattelan appears to have been forgiven: The Polish press is now complaining his show isn't big enough. [TAN]
– Louvre Logs Another Record Year: The world's most-frequented museum keeps bringing in bigger crowds, and this year the Louvre has notched its largest attendance figures ever: It's on track for nearly 10 million visitors in 2012, including some 650,000 to its newly expanded Islamic art galleries, and 660,000 for its temporary exhibitions — a 29-percent increase over 2011. Half of the museum's visitors in 2012 were under 30, with Americans, Chinese and Brazilian visitors leading the way. "This new record confirms the Louvre's first place in the world," said Louvre director Henri Loyrette. [AFP]
– L.A. Muralist Takes on Heineken Over Ad: The Los Angeles-based mural artist Annie Sperling is suing international brewer Heineken in federal court over a mural she made in Silver Lake in 1993 titled "Our Lady of the Iguanas," which was recently erased and replaced by a beer ad for Newcastle Brown Ale, one of Heineken's brands. Sperling — who is also suing outdoor ad firm AstraPacific Outdoor and Barry Mason Enterprises, the building's owner — is seeking $250,000 in damages. Her attorney, A. Eric Bjorgum, represented another L.A. muralist, Kent Twitchwell, during a 2006 lawsuit over the erasure of his "Ed Ruscha Monument" mural; Bjorgum is also a board member at the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles. [LAT]
– Frieze Gets Another Satellite: Cutlog, a Paris-based art fair devoted to the work of emerging artists, is coming to the Lower East Side from May 10 to 13, running alongside London import Frieze. The event, which drew 10,000 visitors in Paris this year, will take place at the Clemente Soto Vélez Center, a former public school-turned-cultural center on Suffolk Street. Forty galleries and independent curators from around the world will participate. [DNAinfo]
– Christie's Hawks Renaissance Art in Asia: Christie's is gunning to build a new fan base for brand-name Renaissance artists. The auction house has been promoting Sandro Botticelli's "Madonna and Child With the Young Saint John the Baptist" (est. $5-8 million) in Hong Kong ahead of next month's Old Masters sales in New York. "The painting is one of the first religious Renaissance paintings the auction house has pitched to largely non-Christian Asia," notes Ellen Gamerman. [WSJ]
– Intrepid Museum Reopens Post-Sandy: Nearly two months after Hurricane Sandy slammed into New York, the last of the city's major museums is set to reopen today, though Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum staffers continue to work on the Enterprise space shuttle, which was especially vulnerable due to its location on the U.S.S. Intrepid on the Hudson. That exhibit will not reopen until the spring. [Space.com]
– Sculpture Vandalism Spree in Washington: Striking in the middle of the night from Wednesday to Thursday, vandals destroyed at least 35 pieces in the outdoor sculpture park at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, which features works by artists from throughout the Pacific Northwest and Canada. Officers from the Port Angeles Police Department currently have no leads, and the center's director Robin Anderson guesses the cost of repairing the damage could add up to over $10,000. [Peninsula Daily News]
– New Director for Louisiana Museums: Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne named Mark Tullos as the leader of the Louisiana State Museum system, whose 11 institutions include landmarks like the Cabildo and Presbytere in New Orleans, the Old U.S. Mint, and the state's Sports Hall of Fame — all of whose collections add up to some 450,000 artworks and objects. Tullos, who starts his job on January 21, has been director of the Hilliard University Art Museum at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette since 2005. [Times-Picayune]
– Labor Issues Return to Art: Labor has returned as a theme in art and exhibitions after a long absence. At the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Wolfsonian Museum at Miami's Florida International University, artists and curators have mined the museums' permanent collections to mount shows of labor-centric work. For a recent site-specific commission at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Turner Prize-winner Susan Philipsz recorded an a cappella rendition of a workers' rights anthem from the 1890s. As they say, three's a trend. [WSJ]
– Israel Museum Launches Israeli Art Season: For the first time, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem is devoting an entire season to Israeli artists. Four exhibitions will showcase the work of emerging and established names in a variety of disciplines, from realist painter Israel Hershberg to video artist Nelly Agassi. Other planned shows include a presentation of 58 paintings by Joshua Borkovsky and landscapes from the Romantic era to the present by other Israeli artists. [Press Release]
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