– "Ides of March" Rips Off Shepard Fairey's "Hope" Ripoff: "The Ides of March," George Clooney's new movie about a left-wing presidential candidate, cribs more than just a political platform from real-life president Barack Obama: it also features its own version of Shepard Fairey's famous "Hope" poster. Hung up around the movie's fictional campaign offices and wielded at rallies, the poster, which Fairey did not make, swaps "Hope" for "Believe" and a blue palette for a yellow one. But the candidate's wistful, determined gaze and the poster's saturated colors are clearly inspired by Fairey's handiwork. Ironically, of course, the "Hope" poster itself has been accused of being a ripoff: Fairey settled out of court with the AP in 2011 after the organization accused him of copyright infringement. [LAT]

– Miami Dealer Starts His Own Auction House: Miami dealer Gary Nader is opening his own auction house, Nader's, during December's Art Basel Miami Beach.The house puts a twist on the usual business model: Nader's willpurchase work outright before sales rather than consigning it, takingthe uncertainty out of the process for sellers. The first sale, ofmodern and contemporary art, will feature work by Damien Hirst and Roy Lichtenstein. [Miami Herald] 

– Motherwell Painting Declared a Forgery: Three art galleries and the Dedalus Foundation, which owns the copyrights to Motherwell's works, have reached a settlement over a dispute surrounding a painting from the artist's "Spanish Elegy" series. The work has been officially ruled a forgery, and the two New York dealers, Glafira Rosales and Julian Weissman, will reimburse European gallery Killala Fine Art for the $650,000 it paid for the painting in 2007. They will also reimburse Dedalus for expenses. [NYT] 

– Richard Gere's Guitar Collection Auctioned: Actor and activist Richard Gereauctioned off his collection of 107 vintage guitars and amplifiers atChristie's yesterday. The sale brought in $936,438, just south of the$1 million estimate. "The Joker" singer Steve Miller was not impressed. [ITA] 

– Florida Museum Makes Lemonade From Nazi-Loot Scandal: The Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Sciencein Tallahassee has discovered some fringe benefits of possessing a16th-century painting that might have been stolen by the Nazis. Severalmonths ago, the museum was instructed by a district attorney to holdonto the Girolamo Romano canvas on loan from an Italian gallerywhile an ownership dispute was resolved. In the interim, the paintinghas received nearly 23,000 visitors. "The Barbie's Dream World for mewould have been that the case unfolded while I had the whole exhibitionon the third floor," said director Chucha Barber. [NYT] 

– Is Whiskey the New Wine?: A bottle of Glenlivet Scotch distilled in 1883 and bottled in 1931 sold for £18,750 ($29,530) at Bonhamsin Edinburgh. The estimate was £15,000-20,000. The record for a bottleof whiskey, however, still stands at £29,400 (then $59,400), set in2007 in Glasgow. [Bloomberg]

– Arts Funding Geared Toward White, Wealthy: Here's a shocker — a report from the Washington-based watchdog group National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy shows foundation arts spending in 2009 went largely to white, wealthy organizations, with only a small fraction funneled into institutions serving poorer communities and people of color. [ABC News]

– David Zwirner and Maccarone Co-Represent Carol Bove: Artist Carol Bove will be co-represented by David Zwirner gallery and Maccaronegallery in New York. Zwirner called the arrangement "an innovativemodel in which the two New York galleries will collaborate to help theartist realize future projects." [Press Release]

– Museum Schloss Moyland Redraws Beuys Legacy: Several photographs of a 1960s performance by Joseph Beuys are being kept from display at the Museum Schloss Moyland,which houses the world's largest Beuys collection and recently reopenedafter renovations. In November 2010, a court ruled in favor of widow Eva Beuysin a copyright infringement suit over the museum's right to show thephotographs. The museum could pay a fine up to €250,000; it hasappealed the ruling. [TAN] 

– New White Cube Is U.K.'s "Most Spectacular Commercial Gallery": The FT raves about White Cube's new, 58,000-square-foot Bermondsey space and its inaugural exhibition about contemporary abstraction. Following the recent trend of galleries aping museums, only half of the 14 artists shown are represented by White Cube. Others are weighty figures, including Andreas Gursky, Jeff Wall, and Brice Marden. [FT]

– Wadsworth Atheneum Appoints New Chief Curator: Robin Jaffee Frank has been named the new chief curator of American painting and sculpture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. She will oversee a comprehensive renovation of all five of the museum's buildings. Frank previously served as curator at the Yale University Art Gallery. [Press Release]

– NYT Catches Wind of a Certain Pacific Standard Time: Appropriately for a New York paper, the Times' story on Pacific Standard Time discusses the initiative in the context of L.A. art's inferiority complex about New York. Although it's a little late — PST launched October 1 — the story does manage to get an uncharacteristically negative take from someone about the event. "It's corny," said art critic Dave Hickey. "It's the sort of thing that Denver would do... It is '50s booster-ish, and I would argue largely unnecessary." [NYT]

– Bruce Weber, Interviewed: Artist Bruce Weber chats with Holly Brulach of T Magazine about nudes ("photographing a naked body can be one of the most unsexual things"), the Midwest ("I always loved the nature part of it — that's why I put nature in a lot of my pictures"), and commercial photography ("When somebody asks me to photograph their child or come to their wedding, I am so thrilled"). [The Moment]