– How Cute: Just in time for Christmas, Damien Hirst has followed up his
infamous "For the Love of God" diamond-encrusted skull with a new
death's head, this time an infant's skull made from platinum and coated
with pink and white diamonds. It will have pride of place in the first
show at Gagosian's new Hong Kong gallery, to be held next month. [TAN]

– Patti Smith Speaks Against Wojnarowicz Censorship at NPG: The punk legend, whose National Book Award-winning
memoir and elegy for her longtime friend and lover Robert Mapplethorpe,
like the film in question, deals with the sweeping tragedy of the AIDS
crisis, gave a talk at the National Portait Gallery. While commending
the "Hide/Seek" exhibition, Smith expressed her outrage that the show
was now overshadowed by "a silly religious overreaction." She did not,
however, agree that there was a comparison to be made between the Smithsonian's removal of the Wojnarowicz film and the censorship of Mapplethorpe's exhibition at the Cincinnati Museum.
How did she respond to the contentious film? "I imagine Jesus coming
back and embracing the ants and being appalled by the crucifix," she
said. [Hyperallergic]

View Slideshow:

– Ms. Gund Goes to Washington: President Obama has cast out
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell," reached a new arms treaty with Russia, passed
the 9/11 first-responders bill, and, now, named MoMA  president emeritus
Agnes Gund to sit on the National Council on the Arts — showing that
the commander-in-chief likes to save his best presents for Christmas.
Gund, a longtime art collector and major art philanthropist, seems a
perfect choice to assist the advisory board to the National Endowment
for the Arts. [CultureGrrl] 

– The Message Sent by Destroying Art: Filmmaker Robert Greenwald, whose documentaries include "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" and "Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers," attacks MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch's recent whitewashing of a mural by Italian street artist Blu, which the Los Angeles museum had commissioned. Greenwald accuses Deitch — who justified his actions by saying he did not want to offend those in the nearby veterans hospital with images of coffins draped in dollar bills — of a "deep ignorance about the veterans community in the United States," adding that, "at some point we're going to have to show our veterans some true respect rather than assuming they're thin-skinned war-mongers who would be offended by opposition to war." In response to Deitch's inflammatory metaphor that, "out of respect for someone who is suffering from lung cancer, you don't sit in front of them and start chain smoking," Greenwald writes, "If Deitch stopped and thought about it, he'd realize that the mural wasn't a cigarette smoked in the face of the lung cancer victim, but rather the surgeon general's warning on the side of the cigarette pack." [HuffPo]

– Weiwei Goof: It appears that Lisson Gallery may have overstated things
a bit when it declared earlier this month that it was the first Western
gallery to represent the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei worldwide — at least
that's the contention of Galerie Urs Meile Beijing-Lucerne, which has
worked with the artist since 1997. According to a gallery statement,
Weiwei has explained that "different sources stated that Lisson is the
first western gallery to represent Ai Weiwei, which was a mistake and
they have apologized for this wrong statement." [Galerie Urs Meile]

– L'Chaim!: An oil-on-panel artwork by Yaakov Agam sold for $698,000 at Sotheby's
in New York recently, notching the highest price ever achieved at
auction by an Israeli artist's work. [Haaretz]

–
Tora Bora Has Nice Cave Art, Too: How great an art critic is Roberta
Smith? She ventures into the wilds of the Williamsburg art scene… and
finds Osama Bin Laden. [NYT]

–
Dig It: What could museums do to ensure that the antiquities in their
collections have been taken legally and responsibly from archeological
sites? "Excavate archaeological sites themselves," says Bernard
Frischer, director of UVA's Virtual World Heritage Laboratory, in a New
York Times op-ed. "Today this might seem a strange idea, but it's
exactly what museums like the Louvre and the British Museum did in the
19th century," he writes, arguing that such museum-led digs, done in
collaboration with governments around the world, would have the funds
and wherewithal to unearth countless treasures that ill-funded scholars
cannot reach — while making sure that archeological concerns of
preserving an object's historical context are addressed. [NYT]

– Salt of the Earth Destroying Priceless Art:
The de-icing salt that art lovers are tracking into museums each winter has initiated a chemical reaction that could
lead to permanent damage of masterpieces. Up to 15 percent of
paintings — especially those with vermilion pigment — in London's National Gallery
may already be harmed. Generic snow-melting salts near British museums
will have to be replaced by chloride-free grit to protect the Titians, Cézannes, Michelangelos, and Monets.
[Telegraph]

– Dealer Sues Gallery Director in New York Supreme Court: Postwar art peddler (and producer of Broadway hit "Fela!") Edward Tyler Nahem has filed a suit against his ex-gallery director Lance Goldsmith,
accusing him of stealing "trade secrets," mailing lists, and clients.
Nahem alleges that Goldsmith inflicted "tortuous interference" on his
ties with his clients, while Goldsmith's lawyer has rebutted that the
"complaint is utter fabrication." [Lindsay Pollock]

– Jonathan Jones Asks Big, Confusing Question: "This
year real life was radicalized and that will become even more true in
2011. So where does this leave modern art?" the British firebrand asks.
What he's trying to ask, it seems, is how can artists respond to
government funding cuts in a way that is as explosive as the student
protests, as it is the students (along with their teachers and the poor,
according to Jones) that will bear the brunt of the budget-cutting
burden? His remedy is that artists spend more time talking about the
"bigger picture," whatever that is. [Guardian]

– Also, Take Jones's Art Quiz: Hint: think British. And dress Yiddish. [Guardian]

–
Building Up Speed: The Speed Art Museum in Kentucky has received $1
million toward its planned $79 million renovation and expansion capital
campaign from Thorntons Inc. [Courier-Journal] 

–
Step Lively: The popular Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk has hired Joe
Moller, who has worked with Dr. Dre and others, to be its first paid
workaday director. [LAT] 

– VIDEO OF THE DAY: Fledgling art curator Shaquille O'Neal further branched out his cultural pursuits, leading the Boston Pops in a rousing rendition of the holiday classic "Sleigh Ride." Merry Christmas!