– Shakedown Street, Beijing: In the latest round of the elaborately choreographed face-saving dance around Ai Weiwei's release, the Chinese government is seeking about $1.9 million in "back taxes" from the artist, who it claims confessed to financial crimes during his 80-day detainment. Officials say the sum stems from $770,000 in unpaid taxes on Ai's company, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd., and about $1.1 million in penalties. Ai, of course, is under a yearlong gag order and can't address the charges in public, but his family continues to protest that, unpaid taxes or not, the artist is not the responsible party for the company's actions — instead it's his wife, since the company is registered in her name. This is going to be a long year for everyone involved. [NYT]

– Barnes Foundation Surpasses Fundraising Goal: The tragic museum, which struggled financially for years and is closing shop in suburban Merion this weekend, seems to have no problem raising money now that it's art is moving to central Philadelphia. The foundation has announced that it has overshot its $200 million target for the construction of its polarizing new home, to be located on Benjamin Franklin Parkway. [Inquirer]

– Smithsonian Pushes Back Controversial Show: The institution has announced that it is postponing "Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds" until at least 2013, following scholars' objections that the exhibition of dubiously sourced Chinese artifacts would encourage poor archeological practices. [NYT]

– Bruce Lee Museum Goes Down Fighting: A museum planned for the late film legend's Hong Kong home has been derailed by disputes between the local government and the owner of the house, who wanted to enlarge it to 20,000-square-foot center containing galleries, a martial arts academy, a screening room, and an archive. Officials declared the footprint would be too large for the neighborhood's building codes. [Hollywood Reporter]

National Arts Club Kidnaps Nymph: In 1983 the Trustees of Gramercy Park entrusted an 18-foot-tall water nymph statue to the National Arts Club for repairs and restoration. Since then the nymph has been spotted only once in 2003 badly damaged in the club's basement. Now, Gramercy Parkwants their nymph back, but apparently she is nowhere to be found. "We're working with the Gramercy Park Trustees and we're all just trying to get to the bottom of this," said Dianne Bernhard, president of The National ArtsClub, in a statement Monday. [DNAinfo]  

72 Reasons to Hate Photographer Jay Maisel: New York Magazine goes inside the six-story, 72-room, 35,000-square-foot home owned by Jay Maisel at 109 Bowery. Copper caged elevator from 1898? Check. Original safe deposit vault? Check. Three floors of gallery space? Check. He bought the former Germania Bank building 42 years ago for $102,000 and it is now estimated to be worth somewhere between $30 and $50 million. "It would be great to take the money and run. But let's face it, where are we going to go? A three-room apartment?" says Maisel. Yeah, wouldn't that be rough. [NYM]

British Art Consultants Woo Russian Money: Art Market Research, a top British art consulting firm, has announced it will now offer its services to Russian financial institutions, investment consultancies, stock market players, private investors ,and individual collectors in addition to current big name clients like Christie's and Sotheby's. [Reuters]

Who Were the Cone Sisters?: Baltimore sisters and art collectors Claribel and Etta Cone have an upcoming show of some of the works from their 3,000 piece collection at the Jewish Museum entitled "Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore." Before they donated it to the Baltimore Museum of Art, theirs was the world's largest Matisse collection. "They found [Picasso's] lifestyle a little more shocking. I think they felt a little more comfortable with Matisse. He was a proper gentleman, married with a family, wore three-piece suits — he was very clean and well put together," explains Katy Rothkopf, senior curator at the BMA. [NPR]

"Horizontal Skyscraper" in Shenzen: The Times cites Steven Holl's Venke Center — a recently built office, hotel and exhibition complex outside Shenzen — as an example of "what can happen when talented architects are allowed to practice their craft uninhibited by creative restrictions." The huge structure, nicknamed the "Horizontal Skyscraper," is built on piers 50 feet high over a tropical park and is called a "a triumph of sustainable design." [NYT]

Cooper-Hewitt Goes Island-Hopping: The Cooper-Hewitt may be closing for a two year renovation, but that's not stopping them from organizing exhibitions at unexpected venues, including the United Nations. The most recently announced is "Graphic Design: Now in Production," an exhibition coordinated with the Walker Art Center that will premiere in Minneapolis in October before it moves to Governors Island next June. [NYT]

Controversial Chuck Berry Statue Approved: An eight foot tall statue of singer/songwriter Chuck Berry has been approved by the University City council in St. Louis despite the protests of local residents that Berry was a "felon and not a friend of women." [Reuters]