The week in art news: Inigo Philbrick out of prison, Kim K sued over Judd dupes, Jesus blowjob painting attacked and more…

Inigo Philbrick released from prison: the disgraced art dealer served four years of a seven year sentence at a low-security prison in Pennsylvania after he was convicted of wire fraud estimated to have cost his victims at least $86M. Philbrick’s fiancée, former Made in Chelsea star Victoria Baker-Harber, celebrated his release on Instagram, posting a picture of Philbrick, herself and their three-year-old child, captioned “A long stretch, but here we are!”

Indie warblers Vampire Weekend name new song after gallerist Mary Boone. The track, on their upcoming album Only God Was Above Us, recalls the New York of the mid-2000s, and features the chorus, “Mary Boone, Mary Boone. I’m on the dark side of your moon. Mary Boone, Mary Boone, well, I hope you feel like loving someone soon.” Boone’s eponymous gallery was founded in 1977, and boosted the careers of Ai Weiwei, Barbara Kruger and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The gallery closed in 2019, following Boone’s conviction for tax evasion.

British Museum hires new director and sues former curator. Nicholas Cullinan currently leads the National Portrait Gallery, he’ll take on his new role this summer. His £275,000 job won’t be easy, he’ll have to answer questions about repatriation and BP’s sponsorship, while working out where the museum’s 1,800 missing artefacts ended up. Meanwhile, Peter Higgs, the former curator believed to have stolen hundreds of ancient gems and jewellery, has been ordered by the High Court to return any items in his possession.

Masked man attacks Jesus ‘blowjob’ painting and artist. The decidedly PG painting, INRI (2024), by Italian artist Andrea Saltini, simply shows one man kneeling over another nude man – any action is in the eyes of the beholder. It was on exhibition in Carpi, Italy when it was slashed and covered in black paint. Saltini was injured as he tried to fight off the attacker. The controversy continues: a petition calling the exhibition “blasphemous” and demanding its closure has been signed by 30,000 people.

Sussex conmen sentenced for $3.2M Picasso scam. Behrad Kazemi and Raj Nasta sold artworks allegedly by Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso to 125 victims, claiming they were low-cost investment pieces. Their scam was uncovered by Sussex Police in 2018. Last week, Kazemi was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison, while Nasta received a three-year sentence.

The Judd Foundation is suing Kim Kardashian and her interior designers for claiming that her “unauthorised knockoffs” of Donald Judd’s minimalist furniture were the real deal. Kim picked up the dupe Judds from California-based interior designers Clements Design. She might have gotten away with it, if she hadn’t made a video tour of her Skkn by Kim office, in which she claimed the unmistakable wooden tables were genuine.

Whitney Biennial faces the critics… and it’s not pretty. The survey of American art opened on the 20th March, and the reviews are in. The New Yorker’s Jackson Arn wrote that “Some inevitable combination of bureaucracy, human fallibility, and mathematical law keeps things bland.” Artnet News’ Ben Davies criticised the narrow scope of the biennial, saying it “robs even good works in this vein of the contrast they need to connect.” Speaking to Nate Freeman and Benjamin Godsill on Nota Bene, Dean Kissick dismissed it as “very polite and pleasing”, while Godsill summed it up as a “visually pleasing non-event.” While Hyperallergic put out a satirical swipe on April Fools Day, joking that the museum made an “Open Call for ‘Controversial’ Artwork” to help its flagging visitor numbers.

German court rules art centre is not antisemitic. The Oyoun arts centre was accused by the national newspaper Tagesspiegel of hosting antisemitic events and receiving preferential treatment from the Berlin Senate. The paper eventually ended up in court, where its claims were dismissed as baseless. Meanwhile, the arts centre has taken the Senate to court to recover funds cancelled due to the accusations.

Moroccan Pavilion cancelled. It would have been the first time the north African country would have participate in the biennale. However, it was plagued with problems. In November 2023, the curator and three featured artists were dropped. Now, the pavilion itself has been cancelled. No explanation has been given by the curators or the Moroccan Ministry of Culture.

Cambridge Council orders removal of Prince Philip “eyesore”. The four-metre-tall painted bronze statue representing the late prince in academic robes was installed to commemorate his 35 years as chancellor of Cambridge University. Critics savaged the £150,000 work, named The Don, and no artist ever admitted to making it. In 2014, it was refused planning permission, but was installed anyway.

Major loss to American art as Richard Serra and Marian Zazeela die. Serra, whose monumental rusted steel sculptures can be found across the world, died aged 85 at his Long Island home on the 28th March. Marian Zazeela died in her sleep the same day, aged 83. Zazeela described her own art as “borderline,” between light works, calligraphic drawings and musical collaborations.

News updates: The $30M collection of Rosa de la Cruz, the Miami-based Cuban collector who died in late February, will be sold at Christie’s. De la Cruz is credited with building Miami’s contemporary art scene. The collection, formerly housed in a 30,000 sqft private museum, includes works by Christopher Wool, Mark Bradford and Ana Mendieta. Karl Lagerfeld’s Parisian apartment sells for $10.8M, nearly double its asking price. The late fashion designer bought the 7th arrondissement apartment in 2006, and lived there until his death in 2019. The 260 sq m, third-floor residence on Paris’ Quai Voltaire was originally on the market for $5.7M.

That’s everything this week, and here today to play us out, it’s Vampire Weekend with Mary Boone.