The end of the year is here. Looking back at the list of ARTINFO's 100 most popular stories, it's clear that we covered a lot of ground, from the creative ferment accompanying the Mideast's uprisings to the major developments in the contemporary art world. But are there any lessons to be learned from what our readers responded to the most?
Well, one lesson is this: a big story is a big story. And whether it was Marina Abramovic's controversial L.A. MOCA gala (#1 and #4) or Bob Dylan's strange plagiarism of a random Flickr account (#6 and #25), one big story begat another.
As for specific names, the ones that come back again and again are pretty much the ones you would expect: Ai Weiwei, for his zodiac heads installation (#49), his post-detention foray into Google Plus (#85), and for his general righteousness (#98); Damien Hirst, for his yet-to-launch global spot-painting show (#52 and #56); Jeff Koons, for his copyright woes (#51) and his sensationally porny "Made in Heaven" works (#57); and Banksy, for his offer to fund free admission to "Art in the Streets" in L.A. (#28) and his advocacy for the Russian anarchists in Voina (#91), whose antics also make repeat appearances on our list (#36). Marina Abramovic has clearly ascended to the first ranks of newsmakers — in addition to the uproar over her dubious MOCA gala, her name drew people to an article about a video game based on her "The Artist Is Present" staring contest performance (#58).
Besides these artists, other names recur. Multitasking actor and artist wannabe James Franco was the subject of some musings on how his love of contemporary art "ruined" the Oscars (#35), as well as news stories about his aborted attempt to participate in the Venice Biennale (#37) and his show at artist Terence Koh's ASS space (#99). More dubiously, Lindsay Lohan was one of the big draws, seeking attention via some gory fashion photos by Tyler Shields (#32) and in a weird film by the painter Richard Phillips (#86).
Gagosian was the most-talked-about gallery by far, naturally. In addition to the dealer's Dylan and Hirst shows, his London gallery's Murakami exhibition drew a lot of eyeballs (#8), while he faced lawsuits over Richard Prince's appropriation of rasta works by Patrick Cariou (#20) and some fallout from a weird act of police brutality last year at an Anselm Kiefer show (#61). He was also just put under general scrutiny by a profile that unearthed some gossipy details of his now-global empire (#34). Also drawing lots of attention was art maven Dasha Zhukova, interviewed about her new Garage magazine (#68), mobbed for her wild Venice Biennale party (#78), and also just generally scrutinized in a substantial Art + Auction profile (#47).
It's clear that what matters our readers was, above all, business as usual. That is, by far the largest number of stories on the list are nuts-and-bolts reports of the big-tent global art events. These include the major auctions (#2, #48, #77, #84), the big art fairs like the Armory Show (#22), Art Basel (#44), Art Basel Miami Beach (#42 and #69), or Frieze (#76 and #90), and of course this year's Venice Biennale (#14, #19, #40).
As it turns out, what people found fascinating on ARTINFO often had some relation to what people on the Internet find fascinating in general. The big draw of multiple stories proved to be animals — be they dogs (#9), cats (#10), or monkeys (#60) — and sex, in such stories as adult actress Sasha Grey's attempt to make herself over as a conceptual photographer (#11), controversy over porn art on the Lower East Side (#30), and the attempted auction of a clip of of Marilyn Monroe in flagrante delicto (#65). (But then again, you never know what the Internet will like. We're not certain why a crazy watch was our fifth biggest story of the year — although it is quite a watch!) Monroe, incidentally, was up there with Abramovic as one of the year's big newsmakers: she also featured in another of our big stories, about Seward Johnson's towering and awful Chicago sculpture of the actress with her dress flying up (#13).
Yet in the end, it is also just heartening to see that there is room at the top for smart things or quirky items. Among ARTINFO's big hits of the year were a look at the Willem de Kooning retrospective at MoMA (#26) and a wide-ranging interview with Richard Serra (#75), as well as think pieces about the rise of online galleries (#50), the "ascent of the art advisor" (#70), and the state of contemporary art criticism (#67). Also up there were our goofy Valentine's Day "Love List" of art power couples (#15) and our round-up of "great pranks in art history" for April Fool's Day (#63).
For your reading pleasure, here is the complete list of our top 100 stories of the year. Enjoy the memories!
1) An Open Letter From a Dancer Who Refused to Participate in Marina Abramovic’s MOCA Performance, by Sarah Wookey, November 23, 2011
2) Ben Stiller and David Zwirner Exult as Christie's Star-Packed "Artists for Haiti" Sale Tops $13 Million, by Judd Tully, September 25, 2011
3) Think Different: Why Steve Jobs Doesn't Deserve Your Tears, by Ben Davis, October 11, 2011
4) Yvonne Rainer Denounces Marina Abramovic's Planned MOCA Gala Performance as "Grotesque," by Julia Halperin, November 11, 2011
5) Is This the World's Most Incomprehensible Watch?, Janelle Zara, November 7, 2011
6) Did Bob Dylan Rip Off Classic Photos for His Gagosian Show? See the Evidence, by Ann Binlot, September 28, 2011
7) Carlos Slim's Museo Soumaya: Money Can't Buy Taste, by Benjamin Genocchio, April 12, 2011
8) Oversized and Oversexed, Murakami Mines the Past With Racy New Gagosian Show in London, by Coline Milliard, July 6, 2011
9) Photographer Charlotte Dumas Tells the Story Behind Her Portraits of 9/11 Rescue Dogs, by Michael Slenske, September 14, 2011
10) Is This Cat a Great Photographer?: Meet Cooper, the Seattle Art Scene's Feline Phenomenon, by Emma Allen, May 18, 2011
11) Porn As Performance Art?: Sasha Grey Releases "Neu Sex," Her First Book of Art Photography, by Scott Indrisek, March 29, 2011
12) The Purloined Warhol?: Missing $30 Million Farrah Fawcett Portrait Discovered on Ryan O'Neal's Wall... On His Reality Show, by Julia Halperin, June 27, 2011
13) What's Wrong With Chicago's Giant New Marilyn Monroe Sculpture? Pretty Much Everything, by Ben Davis, July 19, 2011
14) Venice Biennale Releases Artist List for 2011 "ILLUMInations" Exhibition, by Ben Davis, May 27, 2011
15) The Love List: Power Couples of the Art World, by ARTINFO, February 15, 2011
16) Space Invader Becomes First Artist Arrested for MOCA's "Art in the Streets," by Ben Davis, April 22, 2011
17) No Friend of the Nude: A Blushing Facebook Wages a Campaign Against Courbet and Au Naturale Art, by Ben Davis, February 24, 2011
18) Spooky Long-Lost Da Vinci Painting Hailed as $200 Million Masterpiece, by Andrew M. Goldstein, July 1, 2011
19) ARTINFO's Comprehensive Guide to the 2011 Venice Biennale National Pavilions, by ARTINFO, August 2, 2011
20) French Photographer Patrick Cariou on His Copyright Suit Victory Against Richard Prince and Gagosian, by Andrew M. Goldstein, March 22, 2011
21) Hmm, These Planned Korean Skyscrapers Look a Lot Like the Twin Towers Exploding, by Janelle Zara, December 12, 2011
22) The Nine Best (and Five Worst) Booths of Armory Show 2011, by ARTINFO, March 4, 2011
23) EU Plans Largest-Ever Arts Funding Program, Pinning Economic Hopes on Culture Industry, by Alexander Forbes, November 23, 2011
24) A Virtual Mega-Museum: Google Art Project Launches With Masterpieces from the Tate, MoMA, and Beyond, by ARTINFO, February 10, 2011
25) Bob Dylan Shanghaied My Flickr!: Meet the Rare Asian Photo Collector Whose Pictures Are Now on Gagosian's Walls, by Ann Binlot, October 14, 2011
26) Take a Virtual Tour of MoMA's Radical De Kooning Retrospective, by Kyle Chayka, September 19, 2011
27) Vagina Art Veiled at Azerbaijan's Venice Biennale Pavilion, Causing Some to Cry Censorship, by Kate Deimling, June 8, 2011
28) Banksy's Latest Surprise Move: Free Tickets for All to L.A. MOCA's "Art in the Streets," by Ben Davis, June 10, 2011
29) The 10 Craziest Things About the $900 Million Michael Jackson Art Feud, by Ashton Cooper, July 12, 2011
30) No Nudes, Nu?: Orthodox Community Clashes With LES Gallerist Over XXX Art, by Julia Halperin, March 11, 2011
31) Michael Jackson's Sprawling Artist Studio and Art Collection Revealed in an L.A. Airport Hangar, by Ann Binlot, August 18, 2011
32) What's Lindsay Lohan Doing With That Knife?: A Q&A With Tyler Shields, Young Hollywood's Hottest and Most Twisted Photographer, by Ann Binlot, August 12, 2011
33) Capitalism, Unclothed: Art Provocateur Zefrey Throwell on Overthrowing Wall Street With His "Naked Army," by Kyle Chayka, August 2, 2011
34) The Gagosian Explosion: A Critical Breakdown of the Wall Street Journal's Opus on the Controversial Megadealer's Global Dominance, by Andrew M. Goldstein, April 4, 2011
35) James Franco's Erased Oscar Hosting Gig, by Ben Davis, March 10, 2011
36) Police-Baiting Penis Graffiti by Radical Voina Collective Wins $14K Russian "Innovation" Prize, by ARTINFO, April 8, 2011
37) James Franco to Bring His Obsession With James Dean to the Venice Biennale, by Emma Allen, May 13, 2011
38) Polish Contemporary Art Shows Off Its Fantastic Side at Brussels' Palais des Beaux-Arts, by Nicolai Hartvig (ARTINFO France), July 2011
39) Did Ryan McGinley Rip Off Photographer Janine "Jah Jah" Gordon? See the Evidence and Decide for Yourself, Kyle Chayka, July 15, 2011
40) The Nine Best National Pavilions at the Venice Biennale, by ARTINFO, June 6, 2011
41) "Design Is a Process of Rebirth": Michael Arad on the Making of the 9/11 Memorial, by Andrew M. Goldstein, September 13, 2011
42) 10 Parties You Wish You Could Get Into During Art Basel Miami Beach, by Ann Binlot, November 22, 2011
43) Blast Off! Norman Foster Unveils His Launchpad for Richard Branson's $200,000-a-Flight Virgin Galactic Spaceline, by Janelle Zara, October 20, 2011
45) The Many Faces of Cindy Sherman: The Self-Portrait Artist Launches Makeup Line With MAC Cosmetics, by Ann Binlot, August 3, 2011
46) As MOCA Gears Up for "Art in the Streets," L.A. Smears Street Art With War on Graffiti Star, by Ben Davis, March 23, 2011
47) All Eyes on Her, by Sarah Douglas, June 1, 2011
48) A Chinese Vase Estimated at $800 Sells for a Staggering $18 Million at Sotheby's, by Judd Tully, March 24, 2011
49) Ai Weiwei Unleashes Animals of the Zodiac on Central Park for His First Public Art Project, by ARTINFO, March 12, 2011
50) Forget Chelsea The Most Cutting-Edge Gallery Spaces Are Opening Online, by Kyle Chayka, September 19, 2011
51) Copyrights and Copy Wrongs: Learning from the Legal Precedents Set by Jeff Koons, Shepard Fairey, and Others, by Emma Allen, March 23, 2011
52) Connecting the Dots: Details Emerge About Damien Hirst's Insane Global "Spot" Painting Show, by Julia Halperin, December 12, 2011
53) Stealing the Mona Lisa: A Minute-by-Minute Account of the World's Most Famous Art Theft, A Century After the Fact, by Noah Charney, August 19, 2011
54) The Da Vinci of Design: 7 Ways Steve Jobs Changed the Visual Arts Forever (And One Way He Didn't), by ARTINFO, October 6, 2011
55) Wipeout!: Denim Company Must Pay Photographer $100,000 For Appropriating Sexy Surfer Pic, by ARTINFO, August 30, 2011
56) To Kick Off the Year of Damien Hirst, Gagosian Will Blanket the World With the Artist's Spot Paintings, by Shane Ferro, August 5, 2011
57) Jeff Koons and the Crisis of the Sexual Object, by Ben Davis, January 21, 20011
58) Marina Abramovic's "The Artist is Present" Performance Becomes an Infuriating Video Game, by Kyle Chayka, September 19, 2011
59) Meet Anne Sinclair, the Art-World Scion by Dominique Strauss-Kahn's Side, by Kate Deimling, May 20, 2011
60) Could the Cindy Sherman of Monkeys Accidentally Revolutionize Copyright Law for Artists?, Ben Davis, July 15, 2011
61) Woman Drags Gagosian to Court in Police Brutality Suit on Eve of James Franco Show, by Andrew M. Goldstein, February 24, 2011
62) The New Egyptian Government Can't Fire Zahi Hawass — Because He Quits, by ARTINFO, March 4, 2011
63) The 8 Greatest Pranks in Art History, by ARTINFO, April 1, 2011
64) The Local Element: Inside the Seattle Home of Art Collectors John and Shari Behnke, by Meghan Dailey, August 16, 2011
65) The 8mm Itch? Alleged Marilyn Monroe Sex Tape to be Auctioned in Argentina, Shane Ferro, July 22, 2011
66) $20 Million Walmart Gift Makes Crystal Bridges Museum Free for Visitors, Forever, by Kyle Chayka, August 2, 2011
67) Total Eclipse of the Art: The Rise of Art News and the Crisis of Art Criticism, by Ben Davis, January 5, 2011
68) The Girl With the Butterfly Tattoo Cover: Dasha Zhukova on Her New Garage Magazine, by Andrew M. Goldstein, September 6, 2011
69) The Best and Worst of Art Basel Miami Beach 2011, by ARTINFO, December 2, 2011
70) The Ascent of the Art Advisor: 5 Things to Know About the Growing Taste-for-Hire Industry, by Shane Ferro, August 2, 2011
71) Attack of the Royal Wedding Art!: The Sexiest, Strangest, and Most Sickening Works Captivating the U.K., by Coline Milliard, April 25, 2011
72) 19 Questions for Art Critic and "Work of Art" Judge Jerry Saltz, by ARTINFO, November 4, 2011
73) Multimillion-Dollar Hoard of Renaissance and Modern Art Found in Polish Outhouse, by Kyle Chayka, September 28, 2011
74) Hans Ulrich Obrist on His New Art Movement, "Posthastism," by Coline Milliard, November 11, 2011
75) Draw It Black: A Q&A With Richard Serra on His Daring New Retrospective at the Met, by Andrew M. Goldstein, April 18, 2011
76) Big Sales Are Sparse at the Frieze Art Fair as Collectors Opt to Socialize and Window Shop, by Coline Milliard, October 20, 2011
77) At Sotheby's London, Richter, Warhol, and Munoz Fetch Millions in "Orgy of the Rich," by Judd Tully, February 16, 2011
78) Stampede of the Glitterati: Stars Swarm Dasha Zhukova's "Commercial Break" Party at the Bauer Hotel, by ARTINFO, June 3, 2011
79) Did Art Dealer Guy Wildenstein Gather a Multimillion-Dollar Cache of Stolen Art?, by ARTINFO, February 4, 2011
80) Lucian Freud, Painter of Radical Realism, Dies at 88, by ARTINFO, July 21, 2011
81) The Wild and Woolly World of Yarn Bombing, Street Art's Soft Sensation, by Ashton Cooper, June 10, 2011
82) Cy Twombly, Reclusive Legend of Modernist Painting, Dies at 83, by Julia Halperin, July 8, 2011
83) Graffiti Brawl: Kenny Scharf Fights Back After His Houston Street Mural Is Defaced, by Judd Tully, January 10, 2011
84) Art School Exercise Mistaken for Classic Chinese Painting Sells for $11.4 Million at Auction, by Madeleine O’Dea (ARTINFO China), September 19, 2011
85) Ai Weiwei Breaks Social Media Silence With New Google Plus Account, But Will it Last?, by Kyle Chayka, July 25, 2011
86) Lindsay Lohan Seeks Redemption at the Venice Biennale, by Ben Davis, June 4, 2011
87) Cash Is Auctioned as Art in Australia and Everyone Loses Money, by Shane Ferro, September 1, 2011
88) From the Palettes of Babes: 5 Prodigious Child Artists to Watch, by Julia Halperin, January 28, 2011
89) "Most of the Art World Wants Me to Commit Suicide": Photographer Nan Goldin on Her New Work and the Imposition of Being a Living Artist, by Coline Milliard (ARTINFO UK), June 24, 2011
90) The Ten Best (and One Worst) Booths at Frieze, by ARTINFO, October 13, 2011
91) Judge Rejects Banksy's Offer to Post Bail for Russian Activists, Citing the Artist's Anonymity, by Ben Davis, January 19, 2011
92) Chugging for Art's Sake: The Drunken Insanity of Scope's Frat-in-a-Box Performance, By the Numbers, by Julia Halperin, March 4, 2011
93) How Do Performance Artists Make Any Money? A Market Inquiry, by Shane Ferro, November 22, 2011
94) Bin Laden Group Plans to Build the World's Tallest Super Skyscraper in Jeddah, by Janelle Zara, August 5, 2011
95) WikiLeaks' Unrealized Project: What We Learned From Hans Ulrich Obrist's Epic Interview With Julian Assange, by Ben Davis, July 1, 2011
96) "I Want to Add Something Different to the Equation": Pilar Ordovas on Leaving Gagosian to Open a New London Gallery for "Classic Contemporary" Art, by Coline Milliard, July 27, 2011
97) Reclusive Art Maven Huguette Clark Emerges From the Shadows in Death, Finally Revealing Her Renoirs and Monets to the Public, by Julia Halperin, June 24, 2011
98) Ai Weiwei's Path From Cultural Prankster to Enemy of the State, by Ben Davis, May 2, 2011
99) James Franco Holds a Low-Key Art Opening in Terence Koh's ASS, by Ann Binlot, August 11, 2011
100) Walker on the Wild Side: Dan Bejar on His Musical Collaboration With Artist Kara Walker, by David Berkovits, January 14, 2011