Someone still has francs

A painting by Henri Matisse sold Monday for $41.1 million — a record auction price for a work by the artist — at an art sale from the estate of Yves Saint Laurent, Christie's said.

The sale came at the start of a three-day Paris auction of art from the collection of the late French fashion designer that some are calling "the sale of the century."

Details here.

Airborne

Heading to beautiful Sedona, Arizona... art galleries, red rocks, vortexes...

Note to airport designers: The fact that in Philly Airport gate A-11 is right across gate A-2, but gate A-9 is nowhere near gate A-8 may make sense to you, but to the rest of the planet it is a perplexing design silliness.

Wanna be in a PostSecret book?

My good friend Frank Warren is the genius whose worldwide art project, PostSecret, is easily the world's largest public art project by a googleplex of factors.

And Frank just told me about the new PostSecret book that will be released later this year - PostSecret Confessions on Life, Death and God.

This book has been two years in the making, but there is still time to contribute your postcards.


Use this link to watch a personal message from Warren about this special fifth PostSecret book and learn how to mail in your deepest secrets today.

Airborne


I know that I just flew back from California last night, but tomorrow morning, really early I am leaving again and heading out West again for a week in Sedona, Arizona.

Loads to come...

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: March 27, 2009 (postmark).

The Fine Arts League of Cary is seeking entries for its 15th Annual Juried Art Exhibition to be held from May 8th to June 27th, 2009 in Cary/Raleigh, NC. Show awards and purchase awards will total over $5,000. Entries can only be mailed via CD. The postmark deadline for the mail-in registration is March 27, 2009. I will be the juror for this show.

Full details and a printable prospectus are available
on the web here or call Kathryn Cook at 919-345-0681.

Best burrito in the world?

The massive carnitas burro in San Diego's Santana drive through?

There used to be only one Santana - on Rosecrans - but now I think that the little drive through has grown into a chain.

No matter, the food is still great and cooked just as you order it, not pre-cooked, and the carnitas are just amazing.

New Hirshhorn Museum director

Richard Koshalek has been named director of the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, effective April 13.

Koshalek, 67, was president of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., from 1999 until January 2009. Before that, he served as director of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles for nearly 20 years.

"Richard Koshalek has vast experience in both the education and museum worlds," said Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough. "His creativity brought modern and contemporary art to bear on issues of the day and will help the museum and the Institution reach broad audiences in technologically and aesthetically exciting new ways."

"I am immensely excited to come to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden," said Koshalek. "This institution, more than most, is at the perfect time and place to make a unique contribution not only to the history of modern and contemporary art, but to the larger appreciation of the role of the arts in society. Given its place in the nation's capital, as well as its proximity to a peerless range of cultural, diplomatic and civic resources, the Hirshhorn can be a catalyst for new creative and collaborative energy in many arenas."

We are also hoping that Koshalek discovers the museum's proximity to a large number of world class art galleries and an immense number of DC area artists, both of which, with a few and notable rare exceptions, have been largely ignored by the Hirshhorn in the past.

"In the past it seemed that Hirshhorn curators found it easier to visit Berlin or New York, or any place for that matter, rather than their own city, when looking for emerging artists or new innovative work in commercial galleries," Campello Vulcan-melded into Koshalek's mind. "Not anymore," he added, "there's a new sheriff in town."