Koons Wins Legal Case

Artnet reports that Jeff Koons has won a legal art dispute over the usage of a fashion photo in his piece Niagara, 2000. The neo-Pop artist, who famously appealed his 1988 String of Puppies copyright-infringement case all the way to the Supreme Court—and lost—has been dragged into court once again for copying another artist's work. For a seven-painting commission for the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin, Koons drew on part of a photograph taken by Andrea Blanch titled Silk Sandals by Gucci and published in Allure magazine. In his decision, judge Louis L. Stanton of US District Court found that Niagara was indeed a "transformative use" of Blanch's photograph. Blanch, a twenty-year veteran of the photo world, has filed to appeal the ruling.
Irish Art

Art Makes MP's Furious

Gilbert and George are the finest dressed, and quite possibly most courteous, artists in London. But their new series of works is anything but polite. Even before going on display today at London's White Cube gallery, the 21 new artworks - collectively titled Sonofagod Pictures: Was Jesus Heterosexual? - have aroused the fury of the Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, who has called them "blasphemous in the extreme, as they will find out when finally they stand before the Son of God". But the Bishop of Stepney, according to George, has been "very polite and very nice, and requested a studio visit".
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Irish Art

Museum Loses 38 Ton Art

Spanish museum officials have "misplaced" a 38-ton steel statue by a U.S. artist valued at $220,000, ABC newspaper reported Wednesday. The work by Richard Serra was commissioned in 1986 then displayed a year later. It remained a fixture at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid until 1990, when it was put into storage. However the company holding the massive artwork went under in 1998. The Reina Sofia decided a few months ago that they wanted to display the work again. However, the statue is nowhere to be found. Museum officials have yet to comment on the work's disappearance.
Irish Art

Damien & Tracey - Latest Art

The Art Newspaper reports that Damien Hirst's plans for a large gallery, restaurant, and shop in his studio space in Newport Street in the south London area are a step closer to completion. The British artist says that he has just received planning permission for his new complex, scheduled to open in "two years time probably."
Then there is Tracey. Passionate potter - not a label normally associated with enfant terrible artist Tracey Emin. But now Emin, better known for exhibiting her slept-in bed complete with intimate trappings, has made six cream glazed clay pots for a charity auction to be held in London on Tuesday. No stranger to exposing her life and body in the name of art, the 42-year-old took a less upfront approach with her pottery - she scratched "secret love messages", yet to be unveiled, into the pots before glazing them.
Irish Art

$100m Nazi Art Loot Shock

A court has ordered Austria to return five paintings by Gustav Klimt to the heir of a Jewish family that fled the country during the Nazi era. The paintings, which are worth at least $100m (£59.6m), have been the subject of a legal battle between Austria and the heir, Maria Altmann, since 1998. The Austrian government has not yet commented on the decision to return the Klimt paintings. But a lawyer for Mrs Altmann told the BBC the ruling was binding and final.
In April 2005, Mrs Altmann was part of a group which received $21.9m (£11.9m) from a Swiss bank fund set up to compensate heirs of Nazi victims. Her family, major shareholders in an Austrian sugar refinery before World War II, had their savings plundered from a Swiss bank by the Nazis.
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Irish Art

25.000 Euro Art UK Prizewinner

Painter Susan Gunn has beaten 30 shortlisted competitors from 22 countries to win 25,000 euros (£17,000) in the inaugural Sovereign Art Prize. Gunn, wife of former Norwich City and Scotland goalkeeper Bryan Gunn, won with an 8ft, by 10ft red painting. More than 300 European artists submitted work for the prize. "This is a beginning for me... I'm not represented by a gallery yet and that's the next step," said Gunn, who went back to art school six years ago. Sir Peter Blake, famous for designing the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover, was chairman of the judges. The prize was set up to celebrate the best in contemporary European painting and raise funds for the arts.
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Irish Art

Van Gogh Art For Edinburgh

The biggest collection of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh to be seen in Scotland for 50 years is to go on show in Edinburgh. A total of 30 Van Goghs, gathered from collections across the world, will be on display at the Dean Gallery in the summer. The curators expect record crowds to queue to see some of the Dutch master's most important work. The exhibition - to be called Van Gogh and Britain: Pioneer Collectors - features work bought by UK art collectors before Van Gogh achieved posthumous fame and world-record prices. The paintings will be on display between July and September and the Belford Road gallery is expecting crowds bigger than the 65,000 who queued to see a Scottish Colourists exhibition more than five years ago. Works on show will include three bought for £1 each by the publisher Fisher Unwin shortly after Van Gogh's death.
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Irish Art