David Walsh in front of Fernando Botero's "Leda and the Swan"
• Tasmanian art collector David Walsh plans to open a museum in 2011 on his estate to showcase his uniquely macabre collection of art. Dubbed The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), the 6000 square meter space is entirely underground, situated in an excavated cliff. The works represent three different areas – Antiquities (Egyptian mummies and Roman mosaics), Australian modernists (Sidney Nolan, Charles Blackman, John Brack), and international contemporary art from the likes of Christian Boltanski and Damien Hirst. Check out The Art Newspaper for a full article and interview with Walsh.
• Cleveland’s Museum of Contemporary Art will move to a new building and location near the entrance of the Uptown project, an urban zone being revitalized through government spending on recreation and shopping. The new building will give the institution 11,000 square feet of increased space, and has been described as a “four-story faceted gem clad in tinted and transparent glass and shiny black stainless steel.” Read more here.
Warhol's "Portrait of Dennis Hopper"
• Pieces from the renowned contemporary art collection of late actor Dennis Hopper will hit the auction block at Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary sales in New York on November 10-11. Included will be important works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Claes Oldenburg, and Andy Warhol (Portrait of Dennis Hopper, 1971). Click here to read more about the sale.
Tags: Basquiat, Cleveland, Contemporary Art, David Walsh, Dennis Hopper, Warhol