Reports confirm that David Walsh has made a most curious purchase for his Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), scheduled to open at Walsh's Moorilla Estate outside Hobart in 2011.  He has acquired the 'remaining' life work of 65 year old French artist Christian Boltanski. 

It certainly wasn't a feeding frenzy, but the bidding was persistent and determined at Christies November 29th Hong Kong auction of C20th Chinese and Contemporary Asian art.  Lots by masters such as Chu The-Chun and Zao Wou-ki were heavily contested.  A beautiful oil on canvas depicting falling snow Vertige Neigeux, 1990-1999 (lot 1020) by Paris-based Chu The-Chun amazed the 400 strong audience to achieve a hammer price of HK$40million (US$5.15m) off an opening bid of HK$13million.  It was chased by at least 3 buyers on the phones and 2 bidders in th

Let's face it, there is not a lot of arts philanthropy in Australia.  So when someone builds a four storey art gallery filled to the brim with artworks that they have purchased over the past decade, opens the doors to invite the public in for free and says 'this is my gift to Sydney', one has to take note.  This is exactly what Judith Neilson has done at White Rabbit Collection, her recently opened art gallery in inner suburban Sydney that part houses (along with a couple of other warehouses) the results of her buying spree on Chinese contemporary art since 2000.

The highly reputable Frieze Art Fair (London, 14-17th October) closed on Saturday night amid reports of increased collector interest and purchases.  Numerous sales were reported by established and emerging galleries including a number above the US$1 million mark.  Last year the Fair suffered dramatically, opening exactly one month after the September collapse of Lehman Brothers.  This was in line with the concurrent 70-80% slump in volume of auction sales (Art Tactic - Sept 09).

Concrete Forest, an artwork comprising 36 concrete human busts each incised with a delicate foliage design created by Beijing born artist Ah Xian, has won the $50,000 Clemenger 2009 Art Award.

This highly prestigious exhibition and prize was established by Joan and Peter Clemenger in 1991 through a generous gift to the National Gallery of Victoria.  Presented as a series of triennials, this is the sixth and final award in the series.