– Fun With Killing Bin Laden: Coloring books are meant to inspire children's creativity, but the new "We Shall Never Forget 9/11: The Kids' Book of Freedom" channels that impulse in a shocking direction. Published by Really Big Coloring Book Inc. and intended as a "learning tool" to help teachers explain the terrorist attacks, the book features a page showing a SEAL firing a bullet straight at Bin Laden, who is shown (inaccurately, as it turns out) using a woman as a human shield — more or less challenging tot artists to fill in their own splatter and gore. Publisher Wayne Bell defends the page as being "mild compared to the graphic video games children play," but since when is a coloring book judged by those standards? [Chicago Tribune] 

– Koons Shoots Bazaar Editorial: After snapping an un-banal spread on gayanimals for the New York Times Magazine, Jeff Koons has once againturned his hand to magazine photography, this time doing a fashionshoot for the September issue of Harper's Bazaar — complete with someof his newest sculptures, inspired by Venuses of antiquity, asbackground props. The artist shot a six-page package featuring modelAnna Jagodzinska that was inspired by a 1966 photograph of Twiggy."When Bazaar invited me to do a photo shoot, I wanted to do it in aminimal and open way," Koons told rapper and producer PharrellWilliams, who interviewed him about the experience for the magazine.We've got to say, it's a daring choice for the magazine, consideringsome of the artist's previous photorealistic work. [Bazaar]

– MoMA Re-Aims the Canon: The Times's Roberta Smith gives a mixed review to MoMA painting and sculpture curator Ann Temkin's recent rehang of the museum's fourth and fifth floors, which incorporates many more works by female artists and an L.A. "finish fetish" room, more conceptual art, and other rejiggerings. Smith praises Temkin's job overall but points out that "while female artists are gratifying plentiful, black ones are all but absent," and suggests that choices such as the excessive space given to post-painter Daniel Buren indicate the curator to be overinfluenced by such conceptual-art-boosting writings as Douglas Crimp's "The End of Painting." "This conclusion is something of a downer because it feels more homogeneous and exclusive than much of what came before," Smith writes. [NYT]  

– Murdoch Dragged into Sotheby's Labor Dispute: The disgruntled art handlers union Teamsters 814, which has been in a contract dispute with Sotheby's all summer, has capitalized on what it views as a weak link: James Murdoch, a Sotheby's board member and the son of embattled News Corp head Rupert Murdoch. "Risk management is clearly not a priority for Sotheby's executives or board of directors," said George Miranda, president of Teamsters Joint Council 16. Sotheby's stood behind its most junior director, calling Murdoch "a valued member" of the board. [TAN]

– Meet Wall Street's Financier-Turned-Artist "Left Bankers": A former COO at Merrill Lynch and a VP at Citibank are among a growing group of finance professionals — cheekily dubbed "the left bankers" — trying their hands at fine art. One banker-turned-artist, Jonty Hurwitz, creates his sculptures with the same algorithmic calculations he uses to assess loan applications. To what do they owe their success? "They have lots of contacts and know how to deal with people who have got money," said Ivan Macquisten, editor of the Antiques Trade Gazette. [FT]  

– Milwaukee Art Museum Gets $7.6 Million as a Present: A Milwaukee business owner and his wife, Leonard and Bebe LeVine, have given MAM $7.6 million, its biggest gift ever (and more than double its previous record donation). The money will be used for future acquisitions and a gallery space will be named in the LeVines' honor. [AP] 

– Sotheby's Expects $26 Million from China Sale: Sotheby's estimates a sale of Chinese paintings in Hong Kong will fetch $26 million. Over 360 works, including canvases by Zhang Daqian and Fu Baoshi, will go under the hammer on October 4. "In the past two years, mainland Chinese have become richer and... more likely to spend. Their taste is getting more sophisticated," said specialist Carmen Ip. [AFP] 

– Van Gogh's Letters to Be Translated into Chinese: More than 900 letters by and to Vincent van Gogh— considered by many to be some of the greatest artist-on-art writingever — will be translated into Chinese. The six-volume publication willbe released in 2013. [Press Release]  

– Pope Benedict Likes Expressionism?: Pope Benedict XVIrecently offered up some art criticism at a speech from his summerresidence. "Art is capable of making visible our need to go beyond whatwe see and it reveals our thirst for infinite beauty, for God," he toldover 5,000 visitors. The Pope recalled attending a performance of J.S. Bach conducted by Leonard Bernsteinin Munich, where he was so moved he turned to the bishop next to himand exclaimed, "Hearing this we understand: it is true, true faith isso strong." The Pope is also, apparently, a fan of the 20th century(Jewish) expressionist Marc Chagall. Who knew? [Catholic News] 

– Video Art Debuts at Venice Film Festival: Marco Brambilla's "Evolution (Megaplex)," a 3D video collage sourced from genre film that creates a trippy, 3-minute-long history of mankind, will be the first work of video art to be featured at the 68th Venice International Film Festival as an "Official Selection." "I'll be interested to see how it is received by a film audience, especially the actors and directors whose films are featured in the work," said Brambilla (who, we should mention, once directed the Sylvester Stallone film "Demolition Man.") [Press Release] 

– Frieze Talks Announced: The lineup for Frieze Talks, a daily program of keynote lectures, panels, and discussions at Frieze Contemporary Art Fair, has been announced. Topics include a conversation between artist John Bock and his former teacher, Franz Erhard Walther, as well as presentations by  Alison Knowles, Daniel Buren, and Adam Curtis. [Press Release]

– New Director of MAK Vienna: Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, the former head of New York's Austrian Cultural Forum, will lead Austria's Museum of Applied Arts and Contemporary Art. Most recently, he has served as managing director of "departure," Vienna's creative agency. [Press Release] 

– Credit Card Death Art: After being tricked by a credit card company that sent him a cash advance and then charged him interest, L.A.-based artist Cain Motter decided to get his revenge. He now crafts pendants and necklaces using melted-down credit cards. Click through for images of a credit card transformed into a guillotine and a creepy, ghoulish face. [IB]  

–New Curator of Exhibitions at Laumeier Sculpture Park: Dana Turkovic is the new curator of exhibitions at Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis. She is currently an adjunct professor in the art department at Webster University in St. Louis. [Press Release]

– Goshka Macuga Wins Arnold Bode Prize: The Polish artist has won the €10,000 Documenta-affiliated award, which will be bestowed on October 25 at the Kassel Kunstverein. [Press Release] 

– Marina Abramovic Featured on Cover of POP: Art's favorite cover girl posed for the British magazine — with a doll of herself slung over her shoulder. [ITA]