– Hirst's Olympic-Sized UK Flag: While the crowd at yesterday's closing ceremony for the London Olympics cheered for the Spice Girls, Madness, Monty Python, and the rest of the event's hyperbolically eclectic hodgepodge of pop culture hallmarks, the evening's biggest star in terms of stage presence was Damien Hirst, who showed his patriotic side with a stadium-filling spin-painting take on the Union Jack. [ITA]

– Bribery and False Records Abound at Poly: Journalist Abigail Esman provides a refresher on the wild and woolly ways Chinese auction house goliath Poly has contrived to inflate the value of Chinese art. Among these: Sellers bid on guaranteed amounts for their own works of art, establishing false but new recorded values. Now, she argues, reputable houses like Sotheby's and Christie's are falling into the trap, estimating Chinese antiquities in accordance with inflated records set at Poly. [Forbes]

– Public Figures Take Sides Over Pussy Riot: The trial of Russian anti-Putin punk rock band Pussy Riot may be over — garnering rousing closing statements from all three members — but debate over the band's controversial performance in a Russian church and the state of freedom of expression in Russia continues, with Icelandic pop star Björk pledging her support for the band, while deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin criticized Madonna on Twitter for her show of solidarity during a Moscow concert last week. Another Russian notable, celebrity ballet dancer Anastasia Volochkova, called for the three members of the band to apologize publicly and suggested they be forced to clean public toilets as punishment. [Björk, Moscow Times]

– Fitzwilliam Courts Transformative Acquisition: The Fitzwilliam Museum is working to raise almost  £4 million towards acquiring Nicolas Poussin's  £14 million "Extreme Unction." The 17th-century painting would be "the most significant Old Master painting acquired by the museum in nearly a century," according to director Timothy Potts. But they don't have much time: The Museum must raise the money by November in order for the owner to qualify for a tax break. [BBC]

– Italian-Americans Divided Over Columbus Circle Art Project: New York's Italian-American community is split on the virtues of Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi's latest project, which involves building a living room six stories up in the air wrapped around a historic statue of Christopher Columbus in New York City. The secretary of the National Italian American Foundation, John Cavelli, believes it is "a wonderful way of bringing people closer to Columbus." Frank Vernuccio, a board member of the Enrico Fermi Cultural Committee, disagrees. "The plans seem to hide the Columbus statue for no reason whatsoever," he said. [NYT]

– Connecticut Art Dealer Indicted: David J. Crespo, owner of the Brandon Art Gallery in Hartford, has been indicted for fraud after allegedly selling $225,000 worth of fake Picassos and Chagalls between 2001 and 2005. Crespo was nabbed by the FBI when he attempted to sell one of the fraudulent works of art to an undercover agent. [Hartford Courant via AMM]

– Cleanup Artist Parses Hoarder's Art Treasures: While cleaning out the West Village apartment of reclusive photographer and former Yves Klein collaborator Harry Shunk, who died in 2006 amid piles of objects and artworks collected over a lifetime, "cleanup specialist" Darryl Kelly came across works by Christo, Andy Warhol, and Paul Jenkins, among others, as well as photographs of Klein, and plans to sell part of his collection at auction this fall. "I’m going to let it go," he said. “It’s the only way to get on top. I can’t go to my grave with it." [NYT]

– Cleveland Museum Acquires Antiquities and Courts Controversy: The Cleveland Museum is stirring ethics debates with its recent acquisition of two high-profile ancient artifacts without ironclad provenance records before 1970. (The Louvre withdrew a request to borrow one of the works after the officials claimed it belonged to Italy.) "Museums should still be buying antiquities," said director David Franklin. "I think it’s almost an ethical responsibility.... We don't want to drive these kinds of objects into private collections forever." [NYT] 

– Latin American Art Collector Jorge Pérez Turns to Contemporary: The Miami-based developer and collector, who recently made a donation worth $35 million — $15 million in Latin American art, $20 million cash — to the Miami Art Museum (soon to be the Pérez Art Museum Miami) has begun to look beyond Botero, Matta, and the like, to focus on collecting work by living artists. "Lately, I've discovered that the art can have even more meaning when the artists are still alive because you can discuss the creative process with the painter," he said. "I can't do that with Diego Rivera. He's done." [WSJ]

– RIP Polish-American Artist and Architect Jan Sawka: The surrealist painter, printmaker, and architect died last week at 65 after suffering a heart attack in his home studio in High Falls, New York, having recently completed a multimedia stage design for former Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart's upcoming tour. Sawka moved to New York in 1977 after being exiled from Poland — where he had risen to the forefront of the Polish Poster School — for his involvement in local and international avant-garde movements; his surreal and futuristic images will be the subject of a memorial exhibition at ACA Galleries in New York. [LAT]

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