MORE NAKED PERFORMANCE ART 

Naked performance art once again, with more crazy, provocative art from the female performance artist who was refused entry into Art Basel in Basel last June. See our update on her antics, Art Basel Nude Performance Artist Strikes Again, as Swiss artist Milo Moiré took her kit off, this time walking around naked and holding a baby at the closing party for The Naked Life, an exhibition at LWL Museum of Art and Culture in Münster, Germany.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR’S JEWELS ARE BACK IN THE NEWS

Elizabeth Taylor jewels are back in the news. Trustees for Taylor’s Southern Trust have sued Christie’s in federal court over the house’s alleged handling of the sale of the actress’ so-called “Taj Mahal” diamond, a 17th-century necklace that was given to her by then-husband Richard Burton for her 40th birthday. At the December 13, 2011 sale, the price of the necklace skyrocketed to $8.8 million but the buyer returned the jewel, questioning its provenance. Christies gave the money back to the buyer and refused to pay the Trustees who say the sale should never have been cancelled. Elizabeth Taylor’s Trust Sues Christie’s.

IS PHOTOGRAPHER PETER LIK RUNNING AN ART PONZI SCHEME?

Just as market insiders suspected upon hearing the news of Peter Lik’s alleged $6.5 million sale, the “Thomas Kinkade of photography” is artificially driving up his market, and we now have the facts to prove it. By selling his work out of 15 of his own branded galleries in limited editions of 995 that rise in cost as their supply dwindles, he’s essentially able to ignore the fact that his work has little secondary market value. At auction, a Lik has never sold for more than $15,860, and most go for considerably less than that. So how did he swindle someone into paying $6.5 million for a work? Did the “private” and “anonymous” sale even happen? See New York Times Exposes Peter Lik Photography Scheme for more.

ISIS LUNATICS DESTROY PRECIOUS ASSYRIAN SCULPTURES ON VIDEO 

ISIS militants have destroyed Assyrian sculptures at the Nineveh Museum in Mosul, Iraq, using hammers, power tools, and pickaxes, and posted video of the destruction online. See ISIS Militants Storm Museum and Smash 3,000 Year Old Assyrian Sculptures on Video.

GEORGE W. BUSH’S SISTER-IN-LAW IS ALSO A PAINTER

A recent New York Times profile of Columba Bush, wife of presidential hopeful Jeb and sister-in-law of artistically inclined former president George W., revealed that Mrs. Bush has some arty habits of her own. She’s a close friend of Pop painter Romero Britto, in whose studio she can occasionally be found producing amateur paintings of her own. Britto has already produced a portrait of Columba (with stars and stripes in the background, no less), but is there any chance we’ll get to see the rest of the Bush clan in his garish, Technicolor style? Find out: Columba Bush, Wife of Jeb, Hangs Out With Pop Painter Romero Britto.

DUMB GOYA FAKERS WERE PAID IN FAKE CASH

What happens when one con artist dupes another? This crazy story: two Spanish brothers were arrested this week for selling a fake Francisco Goya painting to a purported sheikh. The catch? The sheikh payed them in fake bills! For the full story behind this stranger-than-fiction series of events, read Police Arrest Brothers Who Sold a Fake Goya … and Were Paid with Fake Cash.

ART AT THE OSCARS

Oscar winner Patricia Arquette made headlines around the globe for her rousing speech calling for equal wages for women. But our curiosity was piqued when she thanked her “favorite painter in the world, Eric White, for the inspiration of living with a genius.” Turns out, the figurative, often cinema-inspired painter is Arquette’s boyfriend! For more tidbits we picked up at the season’s biggest award show, check out Oscar Winner Patricia Arquette Thanks Artist Boyfriend Eric White, Thrills Feminists with Call for Wage Equality.

MONEY MATTERS

Twenty-six-year-old painter Dean Levin has sued Upper East Side art dealer Robert Blumenthal for $200,000, claiming that Blumenthal failed to pay him for his sold-out solo show in May, 2014. “Dean Levin: 1X1” included ten 66-by-44-inch paintings priced at $8,500 each, and twenty 40-by-30-inch works tagged at $6,500, with the total sales for the show coming in at $215,000. Apart from a check he received in the amount of $18,500, which was delivered in June, Levin claims he hasn’t been paid. For the full details of the suit, see Dean Levin Sues Robert Blumenthal for $200,000 Unpaid After Sold-Out Show.

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

8,000 Books Burned by ISIS in Massive Iraqi Libricide

Photographer Peter Lik Lists Maui Home for $19.8 Million, More Than Twice What He Paid

Does Ex-Dealer Elda Oreto Fantasize About Killing Petra Cortright?

Claimants to $276 Million Guelph Treasure Once Gifted to Hitler Sue German State

MFA Boston Acquires What’s Left of Legendary Rothschild Collection

The Cultural Boycott of Israel Isn’t Solidarity, It’s Condescension