Lighting Up The Art Market

An exhibition consisting almost entirely of fluorescent light tubes is sending viewers scurrying home to see if the light fittings in their bathrooms could be passed for six-figure artworks. At the Haunch of Venison gallery off Bond Street, light sculptures by American minimalist artist Dan Flavin are priced between 130,000 and 600,000 pounds, and most have been sold. But how long will they last? When the parts wear out, they can be replaced, says the gallery. What's important is that there is a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist. However, Flavin, who died in 1996, rejected the idea of permanence. He said the works were destined to become "rust and broken glass. I did my certificates on pulp paper because I knew they would disintegrate."
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Irish Art

Art Collector Hid $450 million

A US businessman alleged to have hidden nearly half a billion dollars in earnings in offshore accounts has been arrested and charged with tax evasion and fraud. It is the biggest criminal tax fraud prosecution in US history. Walter Anderson, a telecommunications entrepreneur used the pseudonym Mark Roth but was arrested and charged with evading more than $200m dollars in taxes over five years and faces up to 80 years in prison if found guilty.
An art collector who frequented Christie's in New York and London, Mr Anderson allegedly hid more than $450m in profits from federal and local authorities by creating an elaborate network of offshore investment companies. Mr Anderson is also claimed to have failed to file tax forms on two paintings he purchased. One was a $1.2m dollar Magritte painting he bought at Christie's in New York in 1998, and a $516,618 painting by Salvador Dali he bought at Christie's.
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Irish Art

"Art" Magazine Launched in China

"Art," a specialized magazine thatis aimed to guide China's booming art market, was launched in Beijing recently. The magazine will carry articles on art and art-related economic issues. The articles will be neutral and objective on the assessment ofart works, while closely monitoring the movements of art market, adopting a simple and vivid style.
Irish Art

30 Million In Art Missing

British police say they have smashed a multi-million pound organised art theft ring that has been plundering stately homes and galleries around the country. Two men and a woman had been arrested and half a million pounds worth of stolen art recovered - but art worth some 30 million pounds taken in thefts over the past two years was still missing.
Art theft to order is a world-wide problem involving ancient artefacts to modern masterpieces - some of which is known to transit through Britain. Interpol has on its Web site 415 items stolen recently and only 181 recently discovered.
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Irish Art

Corpse Art Factory

Controversial German artist Gunther von Hagens, known for his displays of preserved human corpses stripped of skin, wants to build a factory in Poland to mass-produce his art. Von Hagens, whose exhibitions made out of human and animal remains have attracted millions of visitors around the world, has already bought land and industrial buildings in the western Polish town of Sieniawa Zarska, near the German border. The "plastination" process is a craft of preserving human bodies by replacing the natural body fluids with solid plastic. The process both preserves tissues and gives rigidity, enabling the corpse and the organs to be displayed in exhibitions. The artist, who once put on display the corpse of a pregnant woman, complete with a dissection of her womb, has faced probes over dealing with corpses in several countries where authorities have tried but failed to stop his displays.
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Irish Art

Art Dealer Who Hated Selling

The sight of red "sold" spots usually brings a smile to the face of even the most lugubrious art dealer. But Peter Cochrane was never one to observe conventions. "He was rather the opposite of the normal art dealer," recalls Martin Summers, who worked for Cochrane as a young London gallery assistant in the early '60s. "Sometimes I would wag my tail like a puppy and say 'I have just sold an Antoni Tapies' and he would reply, 'Oh, I was rather hoping to take that one home.' He loved buying and hated selling." Cochrane built up a collection - valued at about 5 million pounds - of paintings by Appel, Jones, Hodgkin, Dubuffet and Stella and others.
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Irish Art

Affordable Art In London

The Affordable Art Fair returns to Battersea Park bringing around 130 galleries and dealers from across the UK and abroad. With thousands of paintings, drawings, original prints, photography and sculpture all available under a ceiling price of 3,000 pounds , the AAF presents itself as a "must-visit" event for anyone wishing to make owning original artwork a reality.
Irish Art

Chinese Love Impressionists

An exhibition of France's leading impressionist paintings at the Hong Kong Museum of Art has attracted record crowds - 77,800 people visited it in its first 20 days. This surpasses the previous record of 68,725 people who turned out to view the "Masterpieces -- the origin of Modern Art in France" exhibition over a three-month period in 1999. In light of the public interest in western art, the museum is negotiating with the British Museum to hold an exhibition showcasing global treasures as part of a world exhibition tour.
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Irish Art

World's Most Popular Exhibition

The world's most popular art event last year was Treasures of a Sacred Mountain at the Tokyo National Museum, which was seen by 7,638 visitors a day. British exhibitions were more intimate affairs. Only one London art exhibition made it into the global top 20 - Tate Modern's Edward Hopper retrospective which attracted 4,215 people a day.
El Greco was the UK's second most popular show with 2,126 visitors a day during its run at the National Gallery between February and May. However, the same art exhibition attracted 6,897 a day when staged at New York's Museum of Metropolitan Art.
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Irish Art