– Oscar Bait: If there's one thing Jeffrey Deitch understands, its how to harness star wattage. This weekend, timed to Natalie Portman's whirl at the Academy Awards as a best-actress nominee, MOCA will have six tutus she wore in "Black Swan" on display as part of a tease for its "Rodarte: States of Matter" exhibition, which opens next week. Designed by the Mulleavy sisters, the outfits will pirouette for their starstruck onlookers courtesy of hidden motors in the display. [AP]

– Hamptons Art Thefts: At a time when many of the Long Island region's wealthy residents are wintering in balmier climes, art thieves there are having a holiday. Over the past month burglars have stolen over a dozen artworks from two Southampton mansions, with the latest heist taking place on tony Gin Lane, a favored address of hedge funders. Details remain sketchy, but more are sure to emerge in this tabloid-catnip story. [NYP]

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– A Prelude to the Pieta?: In the latest case of dubious Michelangelo finds, art detective Roy Doliner claims that "a garish terra-cotta statue found in a moldy cardboard box" is a model the Renaissance master used in making his Pieta. "I knew at once it was an original Michelangelo," the American art sleuth says of the work uncovered in an Italian antiques shop. Let's see. [AFP]

– Black Street Art Spotlighted: For Black History Month, Oakland's Bay Area Aerosol Heritage Society
is touting "AeroSoul 2," highlighting the African-American roots of
street art, via a formidable selection of work, from old-school New York
subway writers Stan 153 and Chain 3, to "new-schoolers" like Ace Born and MadHatter, with stop offs at the Black Panther art of Emory Douglas.
"This is the first time in history the Pan-African Diaspora has come
together in unity [around street art]," claims co-curator Refa One. "This is something that hasn't happened anywhere." [Bay Citizen] 

– Jack the Ripper Heads to the Block?: A long-lost painting by Walter Sickert, the grimly disturbing artist who many are convinced moonlighted as the infamous London murderer, is scheduled to go under the hammer at Bonhams next month. Titled "The Blind Sea Captain," the circa 1914 work shows a sentimental side of the artist, who received an exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery in 2008. [Telegraph]

– Art of Healing: Can art help people overcome eating disorders? Such is the belief of Park Nicollet Melrose Institute art therapist Nicola Demonte, who has just unveiled an exhibition of artworks made by her patients. "Art gives them a nonverbal approach to communicate the difficulties that they're struggling with," she says, adding "I feel like art has been overlooked" as a therapeutic remedy. [Minneapolis Daily]

– See Terence Koh Uncut: The best thing about "Great Deitch Hope," the New York Press's awkwardly titled profile of art dealer Kathy Grayson as the art dealer's heir apparent? Well, it points us to Grayson's great and "potentially scandalous photo blog," titled "Art From Behind." [New York Press]

– Avoiding the Knife: For those looking for a little good news amid the continuing waves of cuts to art programs across the country, cast your eyes to Chattanooga, Tennessee. After initially debating nixing funds for public art, city council voted 7-1 Tuesday okayed the $40,000 in grant money. [Chattanooga Times Free Press]

– Award for Wael Shawky: The Egyptian artist, whose multimedia
installations and performances deal with cultural hybridization and
societies in transition, has been awarded the Ernst Schering Foundation Art Award, which comes with a prize of 10,000 euros and a solo show at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin. [Press Release]