Guggenheim's Vegas Gallery Craps Out

Kippenberger work damaged beyond repair: museum

(NEWSER) - She thought she was just doing her job; instead, she was forever altering a $1.1 million artwork. A cleaner in a German museum spotted what she thought was an unintended stain on a sculpture and decided to wash it off. The piece by the late Martin Kippenberger, “When It Starts Dripping from the Ceilings,” is a wooden structure with a bowl underneath. More»

Mafia threats spark plea for museum and staff

(NEWSER) - The director of a Naples museum is urging Germany to grant asylum to the museum and its staff seeking to flee the mob. Antonio Manfredi says the contemporary art museum has been plagued by vandalism and threats from the local Mafia. The museum has put on exhibitions dealing with social issues, including the prevalence of organized crime, Der Spiegel reports. More»

Pablo Picasso's 'The Actor' is hardly the first expensive accident

(NEWSER) - The art student who tripped and tore a hole in a Picasso painting is probably fairly embarrassed—but will, perhaps, feel better knowing others can sympathize. The Independent lists nine other art catastrophes, some accidental and some not:

• Cy Twombly: A woman kissed one of his paintings, leaving it smeared with lipstick—she said she was “just trying to warm up” the white canvas.
• Qing vase: A Cambridge museum visitor slipped down the stairs, possibly thanks to an untied shoelace, and smashed a set of 300-year-old vases.

Suspect killed, marshal seriously wounded

(AP) - A gunman opened fire in the lobby of a federal building in downtown Las Vegas today, killing a court officer and wounding a second before he was shot to death. The victims included a 65-year-old court security officer, who was killed, and a 48-year-old deputy US marshal, who is in stable condition after undergoing surgery. Gunfire erupted moments after 8am at the start of the workweek and lasted several minutes. Shots echoed around tall buildings in the area, more than a mile north of the Las Vegas Strip. More»

Landmark neon creation defaced by man in makeshift barrel

(NEWSER) - A 69-year-old Nevada man was arrested this morning after splashing paint on the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign in what he said was an attempt to get the government's attention. Joe Pepitone—apparently not the retired baseball player—was wearing a Santa hat, shorts, and a barrel crafted out of cardboard, but no shoes, when he hurled glass balls filled with red and black paint at the landmark sign. More»