The Biggest Art News Stories of 2013

This is all the news you missed this year.

Complex Original

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Big things happened at opposite ends of the spectrum in the art world this year. Street artists like Banksy and KAWS made headlines with high profile projects while established creatives like Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol broke records at auctions. If 2013 told us anything, it's that the art world is booming.

This year marked an increasing blend between art and pop culture where big names in the art world collaborated with the likes Kanye West and Lady Gaga. Marina Abramovic seemed to lead the charge in this new collision of worlds, starting with her infamous dance with Jay Z during his "Picasso Baby" performance piece at Pace Gallery.

From star-studded collaborations to wild art heists, here are The Biggest Art News Stories of 2013. This recap will get you up to speed on everything you missed this year.

5 Pointz Closes

Location: Long Island City, New York
Date: Nov. 19

Any fan of street art or graffiti understands the importance of 5 Pointz in the global art narrative. The space was first established as the Phun Phactory in 1993 by Pat DiLillo to discourage graffiti vandalism and allow street artists to show their work in a more formal setting.

Despite the cultural popularity of the self-proclaimed "graffiti mecca" 5 Pointz, the New York City Planning Commission unanimously voted on August 21 to build condos on the site. Developers David Wolkoff and Jerry Wolkoff, plan to demolish 5 Pointz by the end of 2013, and they started the process by whitewashing the spray painted building.

5 Pointz has played a significant role in the culture of street art, hip-hop, and New York City as a whole, and the heated reactions to the whitewashing across the Internet prove its lasting influence.

"Les Ballets de Faile" at the New York City Ballet

Location: David H. Koch Theater, New York
Dates: Feb. 1 and May 29 (performances)

The New York City Ballet is no stranger to collaborations with the likes of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. This year they j oined forces with Patrick Miller and Patrick McNeil, the Brooklyn-based street artists that make up FAILE, for a project called "Les Ballets de Faile." The street art duo installed a giant tower of decorated blocks featuring ballet imagery for the first set of performances. During the second phase of their collaboration, FAILE created hand-painted structures inspired by Tibetan prayer wheels.

Kanye West's Collaborations With Artists

Location: London, New York, Miami, etc.

2013 is the year that Kanye West demanded we see him as not only a rapper, but as a multi-media artist. Having always been a collaborator, West got together with artistic masterminds for impressive projects. In September he announced that Peter Saville will be designing him a new logo, and during Art Basel Miami Beach, he worked on a performance piece with Vanessa Beecroft.

During his Yeezus Tour, Kanye again worked with Beecroft to create a performance inspired by Alejandro Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain. His tour merch was designed by artist Wes Lang.

All year Kanye has been name-dropping artists and architects who have inspired him, crediting a Le Corbusier lamp as the inspiration for Yeezus and calling himself a performance artist like Marina Abramovic in the context of his "Bound 2" video. Kanye is currently working on his own version of The Jetsons.

Jean-Michel Basquiat's Record-Breaking Sale and Blockbuster Gagosian Exhibition

Location: Gagosian Gallery, New York
Dates: Feb. 7 - April 6 (Gagosian exhibition), May 15 (Dustheads sale)

In the 1980s, New York graffiti artist Basquiat turned from the street to the canvas, creating powerful Expressionist works and collaborating with huge pop artists, up until his premature death at age 27. When Gagosian Galleryopened their doors for their Basquiat show this year, lines formed around the block. After the Gagosian show, Basquiat's painting Dustheads sold for a record-breaking price of $48.8 million at Christie's in May.

Barbara Kruger vs. Supreme

Date: May 2

American conceptual artist Barbara Kruger is famous for her text-based works that rely on red, white, and black. Her typeface is so ubiquitous that its re-appropriation in branding seems to pull right from Kruger works, something that the artist has been pretty quiet about—up until this year.

When Supreme filed a lawsuit against Leah McSweeney and James Jebbia for copying the brand's logo, we reached out to Kruger to get her take on the debacle. On May 2, Kruger responded to us in the form of a blank email with the attachment above. We couldn't think of a more succinct way to shade a brand with one's artistic prowess. It really was an important moment for art and streetwear in 2013.

Jeff Koons Becomes the Most Expensive Living Artist

Location: Christie's, New York
Date: Nov. 12

From his various collaborations with Lady Gaga to his new friendship with Kim Kardashian, Jeff Koons has been a hot topic of conversation in 2013. This year, Koons set a new World Auction Record for a Living Artist with his sale of Balloon Dog (Orange), raking in an astronomical $58,405,000. He has now joined the ranks of the richest living artists alongside Damien Hirst and Jasper Johns. Why pay so much for a giant poodle? For the sake of art, of course.

Random International's Rain Room at MoMA

Location: Museum of Modern Art, New York
Dates: May 12 - July 28 (exhibition at MoMA)

We can't tell you what has been Instagrammed more, Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Room or the Rain Room that was installed at MoMA this summer by Random International. This piece lives in the intersection between technology and art, including an interactive element that has become so popular in contemporary art. Although some might say it was overrated, with unbelievably long lines, Random International's work features a raining ceiling covered in sensors that would halt the rain wherever a person stood. Pretty magical.

Marina Abramovic Funds the MAI on Kickstarter

Dates: July 26 (project launched on Kickstarter), August 25 (goal reached on Kickstarter)

In an effort to promote the Marina Abramovic Institution, a museum for performance art, Marina Abramovic created a Kickstarter. The funding campaign included the promise of a hug from Queen Marina herself and a video where the performance artist tires to tell a joke about a light bulb. Abramovic also drummed up enthusiasm for the project by enlisting Lady Gaga to read from Solarisand walk around naked in the woods.

Phillips and Tumblr Host the First Digital Art Auction

Dates: Oct. 1 - Oct. 10 (online auction)

The first digital art auction, titled Paddles ON!, took place in October. The sale was the result of a partnership between Phillips and Tumblr and was curated by Lindsay Howard, the curatorial director at 319 Scholes. Paddles ON! included 20 varied works of digital art valued at as much as $16,000. The sale also featured the first website ever to be auctioned, digital artist Rafaël Rozendall's ifnoyes.com project. The work sold for $3,500 with a contract stipulating that the buyer is responsible for keeping the website "online and completely accessible to the public."

Andy Warhol's "Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)" Sets a New Record

Location: Sotheby's, New York
Date: Nov. 13 (Sotheby's sale)

In November at the Sotheby's Contemporary Art Evening Sale, Andy Warhol's Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) sold for a record-breaking $105 million, making it the most expensive Warhol ever sold. Up until that night, Silver Car Crash had only been seen by the public once in the past 26 years. The same night that Andy Warhol shattered his record, Sotheby's sale became their highest-grossing auction in history.

Ai Weiwei Announces Alcatraz Exhibition

Location: Alcatraz Island, San Francisco
Date: Dec. 2

Ai Weiwei hinted at the end of October that, despite still being forbidden to leave China, he wanted to stage a major exhibition at former high-security prison Alcatraz Island. In an effort to expose the irony of imprisoning those who fight for justice, the 56-year-old artist decided that Alcatraz was the perfect venue. According to the New York Times, the exhibition is due to premiere in September 2014.

Banksy's "Better Out Than In" New York Residency

Location: New York
Dates: Oct 1 - Oct. 31

In an effort to "make some art without the price tag attached," the anonymous street artist Banksy staged a month-long residency on the streets of New York in October called "Better Out Than In." From the Bronx to the Lower East Side, New Yorkers and tourists alike scrambled all over the city to find the next Banksy piece. The residency included roving truck installations, various stencils, and multimedia sculptures that relied on cars, cinderblocks, and balloons. The residency demonstrated the viral implications of street art in the digital age.

Postmodern Art Critic Arthur C. Danto Dies

Location: New York
Date: Oct. 25

Arthur C. Danto, one of history's most thought provoking art critics and philosophers, died as a result of heart failure on October 25, 2013. The author of Beyond the Brillo Box and After the End of Art, among others, Danto was a leading figure in exploring the emergence of pop artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

Jeffrey Deitch Resigns From MOCA

Location: Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Los Angeles
Date: July 24 (official resignation)

On July 24, MOCA confirmed rumors of Jeffrey Deitch's resignation as director of the contemporary art museum after three tumultuous years. Deitch's departure followed the mass exodus of all the artists on MOCA's board, a group who has since been asked to help select the new director for the museum. For his part, Deitch has plans to return to New York, with rumors of starting up Deitch Projects once again.

Continued Developments in the Rotterdam Art Heist

Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Date: Oct. 16, 2012 (paintings stolen)

Back in 2012, a group of Romanians walked into The Kunsthal, located in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and swiped seven paintings off the museum walls. The collection of stolen pieces includes works by Monet, Matisse, Gauguin, Picasso, Lucian Freud, and Meyer de Haan. As of October 2013, three of the suspects have stepped forward and pleaded guilty for their crimes. Although arrests were made in January, the missing art has yet to be found. What's more concerning is the fact that Olga Doragu, mother of one of the suspects, came forth in July, claiming she had burned the stolen works but later retracted her statement.

Three Studies of Lucian Freud by Francis Bacon Becomes the Most Expensive Art Work Ever Sold

Location: Christie's, New York
Date: Nov. 12 (Christie's sale)

On Nov. 12, 2013, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, by abstract painter Francis Bacon, sold at Christie's in New York for $142.4 million. It broke the record for the highest auction price of a piece of art previously held by Edvard Munch's The Scream, which sold for $120 million.

Nazi-Seized Art Work Discovered in Munich Apartment

Location: Dresden, Germany
Date: Nov. 4

In November, German investigators stepped forward and announced their 2011 finding of over 1,400 pieces of art, which had been seized by Nazis during World War II. The trove of stolen works includes paintings, sketches, and prints, some of them by Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. German authorities discovered the stolen art inside the crammed and cluttered apartment of Hildebrand Gurlitt, the son of a German, Nazi-authorized art dealer who stole and sold what Nazis considered "degenerate" art, or works of art that contained any Jewish associations. Authorities are still on the fence about what to do with the found works.

KAWS Designs the Set and Moonman for the MTV VMAs

Location: Barclays Center, Brooklyn
Date: Aug. 25 (2013 MTV VMAs)

MTV's Moonman has been an iconic representation of one of the most anticipated award shows since the very first one in 1984. For the 2013 MTV VMAs, Brooklyn-based visual artist KAWS re-imagined MTV's famous astronaut as his signature character, Companion. KAWS was also called upon to design the striking set pieces for the awards show.

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Jeff Koons Designs the Album Cover for Lady Gaga's ARTPOP

Date: Oct. 7 (album cover revealed in Times Square)

In November, Lady Gaga blew up the media with collaborations with artists like Marina Abramovic, Inez and Vinoodh, Robert Wilson, and, of course, Jeff Koons. The pop star teamed up with the modern day king of pop art to create the ARTPOP album cover. On it, Lady Gaga is depicted as both the artist and the work of art itself, birthing one of Koons' Gazing Balls. She is seated in front of imagery from Botticelli's The Birth of Venus.

Jay Z's "Picasso Baby" Performance Piece at Pace Gallery

Location: Pace Gallery, New York
Date: July 10

Six days after the release of Magna Carta Holy Grail, Jay Z made Pace Gallery the site of his "Picasso Baby" music video and his first stint in performance art. For six hours, Jay Z rapped and cajoled spectators to join him on the platform—eventually drawing out the legendary Marina Abramovic, grandmother of performance art. Many saw Jay Z's piece as a defining moment when hip-hop and art became one while others saw it as a marketing ploy.