Lawsuits

Suing for Turrell's Grey Matter: The relationship between artist and dealer can be tense, but it has just gotten tenser in the New York Supreme Court case between American artist James Turrell and dealer Michael Hue-Williams — owner of the now-bankrupt gallery, Albion — whose purported “distress” is apparently worth $2 million. [The Art Newspaper]

Criticism

Jesus Christ: South Park has come under fire again — this time, from Citizens Against Religious Bigotry. The group is outraged by a new show in development, entitled JC (you can guess whose initials those are, no doubt). Their attack has been deemed premature by Comedy Central, which advises that the group untwist their panties. [NYT]

Starchitects” Make Sore Losers: Richard Meier, prize-winning architect of the Getty Center, feels resentment after losing the commission for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center to fellow architect (and former student) Daniel Libeskind, whom he “loves,” but evidently doesn’t respect. [NYT]

Art Crime

Odd Couple: Blogger and would-be criminal Turbo Paul of Art Hostage and Stolen Vermeer, communicates with the New York Times' Virginia Heffernan — employing all kinds of social media you didn't think the New York Times knew how to use — touting the possibilities of a union between art-crime bloggers and federal investigators. [NYT]

How To Catch a Thief: Before the release of his book, Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures, FBI art crime investigator Robert K. Wittman recovered $225 million in stolen artifacts. What did he learn in the process? If a couple named “Vanilla” and “Chocolate” invite you to lunch, you should politely decline. [NYT]

Controversy

Art World Bromance: Jonathan Jones defends art historian and writer Simon Schama, deeming him a trailblazing scholar, responsible for “beautiful work” in English prose. [Guardian]

BP in Sheep’s Clothing: Charlie Finch of artnet accuses BP of implementing propagandistic TV commercials starring deceivingly unthreatening cartoon characters. [artnet]

Good News

Picasso, Still Great: London's Gagosian Gallery has outdone itself with a show of playful Picasso works that Adrian Searle considers “exemplary.” [Guardian]

At Last, Fall into the Gap: 160 pieces from the collection of the notoriously private founders of the Gap, Don and Doris Fisher, will finally debut at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art . [NYT]

Call a Babysitter: There's a baby on the loose, Baby Ikki — 59-year-old performance artist, Michael Smith — who can be seen roaming around Burning Man with his usual diaper, bonnet, and pacifier, in videos at an installation in the Farley Storage Building in Southern California. [LAT]

VIDEO OF THE DAY: David Mamet wrote and directed a Web video called "Lost Masterpieces of Pornography":