— Koons’s Whitney Show Vandalized: Yesterday, a man who has been identified as performance artist Istvan Kantor vandalized a wall in the Whitney Museum’s Jeff Koons retrospective by splattering his own blood in the shape of an X and signing the name Monty Cantsin underneath. Hyperallergic did some detective work on Kantor and his chosen moniker and found that he is one of the founders of Neoism, as group that previously tried to deface a Koons work in a similar incident in 2004. “I just came out of mental hospital where the police took me after the Whitney I was discharged I am free I’ll put out my Supreme gift manifesto that I handed to the museum after the intervention tomorrow now I go out for a drink in the lower east side thanks for your support,” Kantor said in a Facebook statement included in an update on Hyperallergic’s original post. [Hyperallergic]
— Gwangju Biennial Head Resigns:Gwangju Biennial Foundation president and founding member Lee Yong-woo has resigned after a controversial act of censorship that led several artists to pull their work from a special exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of the biennial at the Gwangju Museum of Art. Yong-woo allowed for an artwork, which depicts “South Korean president Park Geun-hye being assailed by the families of children who died in the country’s MV Sewol ferry disaster” to be removed from the show. “I am taking full responsibility for what happened,” he said. [TAN]
— Amy Winehouse Immortalized in Brass: A life-size Amy Winehouse sculpture is coming to London and will be installed by the late singer’s home near Camden market. Scott Eaton will design it. "I had a meeting with Camden council and they told me they don't usually allow statues until 20 years after someone has died, but in Amy's case they made an exception," said her father, Mitch Winehouse. [The Guardian]
— Smithsonian Names Panda Its “Most Iconic Item”: Results from the Smithsonian Institution’s Summer Showdown competition have named its “most iconic item” to be a baby giant panda at the National Zoo, Bao Bao. [NYT]
— Revised Venice Cruise Ship Route No Good: A revised route for cruise ships into Venice through the Canale Contorta Sant’Angelo could potentially be harmful to its lagoon. What a shocker. [TAN]
— BP Portrait Award to Accept Digital Entries: In 2015, the National Portrait Gallery will begin accepting digital entries for the BP Portrait Award. [Art Daily]
— A professor of astrophysics has determined that Claude Monet’s “Impression, Soleil Levant” was painted at exactly 7:35 A.M. on November 13, 1872. [TAN]
— Dutch conceptualist Ger van Elk has died. [Artforum]
— Filmmaker John Waters will be the special guest at the Cincinnati’s FotoFocus biennial this fall. [TAN]
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