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Supersized: Flag’s Shaq Show

Chelsea’s Flag Art Foundation hosted a party for the Shaquille O’Neal curated Size Does Matter exhibition on March 2, including a cameo from the big man himself. Shaq was a good sport, coming despite an injured hand (note the bandage) and posing for photos with throngs of hoop and art fans.

Left to right: John Phelan, Shaq, Amy Phelan, Flag founder Glenn Fuhrman

Painter Richard Phillips with a work selected by Shaq for "Size Does Matter"

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ADAA Art Show

The 22nd annual ADAA Art Show attracted a record 15,000 visitors during the fair’s March 3-7 run.

Among my personal favorites were small abstract graphite landscapes by Roland Flexner, temptingly tagged $6,000 apiece at D’Emilio Terras. Flexner also has a wall of pseudo-Surrealistic works at the Whitney Biennial. Of course I forgot to take a photo of them but the artist’s website has plenty of visuals.

Here are a few photos from show floor at the Park Avenue Armory.

Nancy Spera at Galerie Lelong "Sheela Na Gig at Home"

Nancy Spero at Galerie Lelong "Sheela Na Gig at Home"

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Sotheby’s CEO Salary Bumped Back Up

Sotheby's CEO William Ruprecht, via UVM

Bloomberg’s Philip Boroff has dug into Sotheby’s SEC filings, reporting that that CEO William Ruprecht’s voluntary $100,000 pay cut has been restored. Read Boroff’s story on Bloomberg here.

Ruprecht took a pay cut in May 2009 on the heels of plunging auction revenues, according to Boroff. His salary has been restored to $700,000, plus other benefits.

The CEO’s pay rose following a period of drastic cost cuts which helped Sotheby’s post a $73.6 million profit in the fourth quarter of 2009. The company fired twenty…

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African ‘Walking Man’ Giacometti’s Muse?

Bronze African 'Walking Man' and 'Walking Woman' figures

A reader sent me this jpeg depicting a pair of West African bronze statues he had acquired and was re-considering in the wake of Sotheby’s sale of Alberto Giacometti’s $104.3 million Walking Man I. (Read more on that sale here.)

Alberto Giacometti with a `Walking Man,' photo: Henri Cartier-Bresson

The collector tells me his African statues are over 100 years old and hail from Mali. They do bear an uncanny resemblance to Giacometti’s 1960 attenuated figure.

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