the awl

Good Morning, Readers!

Like you, we can’t wait for this slush to melt away. Until then, we found a way to stay sane: bears.

• A Tumblr full of bears in art. We send this with good wishes to the Awl. [House of Rats via Heart as Arena]
• More on Carnegie Mellon University’s dismissal of curator Astria Suparak. The CMU student paper The Tartan, has come out with their report, and they found one art history professor who admits that Suparak was too focused on “social critique” and a student who thinks she had a good “work ethic.” [The Tartan]
• U.K. copyright law will change April 6th. A new exception will allow artists to use copyrighted material for the purpose of parody. [The Art Newspaper]
• The 67th wealthiest billionaire in the world is suing Larry Gagosian and Gagosian Gallery for fraud. That billionaire, Ronald Perelman, is claiming fraud over a Jeff Koons “Popeye” sculpture he purchased for $4 million. He’s an unhappy customer to say the least; the plaintiffs allege that Gagosian manipulates prices for the artists he represents. “The court has affirmed that we have a valid fraud claim against Mr. Gagosian based on his unfair dominance of the art market,” Christine Taylor, a spokeswoman for Perelman, said in an e-mail. [Bloomberg Businessweek]
• It’s official: Our nation’s capital will get a new museum, the Institute for Contemporary Expression. Let’s hope someone decides to brainstorm a few more names before the museum actually opens. [Washington City Paper]
• A Qing Dynasty temple in ruins has been transformed into a luxury hotel filled with art. This includes eight luxury rooms, a gallery, a restaurant, a courtyard with sculptures, and a James Turrell Skyspace. Rich people, you have a new destination. [The Wall Street Journal]
• Sharks are coming to Brooklyn! Over 45 different types of them, in fact. They’re part of a $157 million aquarium exhibition in Coney Island set to debut in 2016. [Gowanus Lounge]