Mark Lugo, the Hoboken resident accused of stealing a Picasso sketch from a San Francisco gallery, must really love art: Police raided his NJ apartment and found 11 stolen artworks, many of them from Manhattan galleries. Among them was a Fernand Léger 1917 drawing, "Composition aux element mecaniques," worth $350,000, and another Picasso, the 1933 etching, "Sculpteur et Deux Tetes," worth $39,000. In fact, "Sculpteur et Deux Tetes" was taken from the William Bennett Gallery in Soho last month! more ›

The De-Fence Project that recently added some flavor to the drab scaffolding lining Water Street in DUMBO has been taken down by state officials. It hadn't even been up for one week, and now the Brooklyn Paper reports that the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation removed the artwork on Monday. John Jeffreys, who funded the project through Exhibitology Inc., told the paper, “I can’t say I’m surprised. We didn’t really get permission to do it. Their reaction is one they have to take, but a bit of an over-reaction, I think.” He also claims to have not asked permission because there wasn't enough time in order to get it up to coincide with the BKLYN Designs event in the neighborhood last weekend. Without permission, the wooden cutouts were viewed as vandalism. Rachel Gordon, regional director of state Parks, said, “Nobody ever called. We have lots and lots of art events, but you just have to ask for permission." And while locals may have loved the piece, Gordon also states that, "it was so unsafe." more ›

The Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim worked out an agreement with a German art collector's heirs right before the case was headed to jury selection. This allow the MoMA to keep "Boy Leading a Horse" (1905-1906) and the Guggenheim "Le Moulin de la Galette” (1900; pictured). Bloomberg News reports, "Both paintings had been in the private collection of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, a German Jewish banker, who died in 1935. The plaintiffs claimed in the suit that the paintings were sold under duress and should be returned to the family." The family had argued the paintings' transfer to Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's second wife was not legal; the museums said they were a gift to her and that they acquired them properly. The settlement was not disclosed, but Judge Jed Rakoff, who allowed the case to move to trial, believes it should be out in the open, "The public surely would want to know now and forever which of those diametrically different views was true, and the great crucible of a trial would have made that known." more ›

This year we're bringing some art into Gothamist House. We'll have oil pastels by Paula DiGioia, photographs from Sam Horine, and painted skateboard decks from Shai Dahan (he even made us a Gothamist one, pictured above). more ›

Every year we're drawn to the Coney Island shoreline by the sirens...or at least, The Village Voice Siren Festival. This year they seem a bit more on top of things, announcing their initial lineup today -- a full two months before the show! more ›

Last night as Gossip Girl returned to the airwaves, it brought some real LIC artists with it. In the fictional Bedford Avenue Gallery, as Blair plots to ruin Jenny Humphrey, she pauses in front of some pieces -- one of which belongs to LIC artist Rene Smith, who told us about how her art landed on Rufus Humphrey's walls.

I heard that Gossip Girl rented art work for their "gallery" and I actually just stopped by Silvercup Studios, which is right across the street from my studio. The security guard was nice enough to let me in and I was able to show my portfolio to art department coordinator. more ›