1. Expatriate Iranian Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller acts as an exclusive liaison between the West and the Iranian art world. A new wave of demand and recognition for Iranian art is indicative of her determination to introduce New Yorkers to the artistic side of Iran with her Manhattan-based art gallery.
2. An intricate painting depicting Osama bin Laden holding a gun to an infant’s head has been the subject of mixed reviews since it opened in 2/20 Gallery, New York, until it was recently deemed “metaphysical” rather than simply “provocative.”
3. Ambiguity surfaces in the distribution of fees after Ezra Merkin, a billion dollar investor with Bernard Madoff, sells his art collection (Mark Rothko works included).
4. In response to the recent natural disaster witnessed in Sichuan, China, it comes as no surprise that artists would use the Beijing Biennale to showcase its significance. To the artists’ dismay, the art show reopened today after all content that could upset the public was removed. Works banned included a tribute to a 12-year-old victim of the earthquake.
5. Over 60,000 Polaroid photographs are awaiting permission from the U.S Bankruptcy Court to be auctioned off by Sotheby’s Inc. After Polaroid’s instant photographs became anachronistic in the face of the point-and-shoot, it tried unsuccessfully to bid its repertoire on its own and now seeks the help of the auction house.
