From The New York Times:

Dan Flavin, the minimalist sculptor who died in 1996, spent his life producing graceful light sculptures. But what happens when a bulb breaks? And how easy are they for collectors to install?

The Chelsea dealer David Zwirner has just begun to represent the artist’s estate. On Friday he is starting a website (davidzwirner.com/danflavin) that is intended as a practical resource for Flavin aficionados, covering issues of conservation and installation as well as the artist’s exhibition history and examples of his work.

In November his gallery will present “Dan Flavin: Series and Progressions,” a show that includes work from Flavin’s four-decade career, including his earliest pieces from 1964, “Nominal III,” and a series that was originally shown in the 1970s at the German art dealer Heiner Friedrich’s gallery in Munich.

Enticed by my affection for Paula Deen and John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, I spent the long weekend in Savannah, Georgia, and it was simply charming.  Besides eating grits (delicious when served with fish, who knew?), drinking mint juleps and chatting with strangers, I checked out some of the the lovely ladies in the city:

Felix de Weldon captured the Savannah legend, Florence Martus, who for forty years welcomed ships entering the port.  It’s said she was waiting for a sailor with whom she’d fallen in love, but who never returned.  Sculpted in 1972, the piece sits on River Street, allowing Florence to still greet ships entering the harbor.  Pictured above.

The haunting Bird Girl sculpture created by Sylvia Shaw Judson in 1936 was made infamous by the Midnight book cover (photograph by Jack Leigh) and film adaptation directed by Clint Eastwood.  So many tourists flocked to Bonaventure Cemetery to see the piece that the constant traffic became a concern for the family on whose burial plot the sculpture stood; it was subsequently moved to the Telfair Academy at the Telfair Museum of Art.  No photography is allowed in the Museum, unfortunately.

I miss cornbread.

Total bummer: Gawker reports that Dash Snow, quintessential downtown NYC artist, has died of a heroine overdose.  He was 27.  Snow’s popularity- and marketability- derived from his renegade lifestyle, elusive persona and controversial works.  A substantial New York Magazine article from two years ago titled “Chasing Dash Snow” is worth the read; the article is cited by the New York Times as being influential in his gaining prominence.

Pictured above is a sculpture by Snow, Untitled (Diaper Pile), currently in the inventory of Maureen Paley Gallery in London.

No more celebrity deaths for like a month, please, God.

Remember the pain that came with accidentally stepping on LEGO pieces in your childhood?  Well, imagine the shoeless nightmare that must be the studio of New York-based artist Nathan Sawaya who creates fine art sculpture out of the some 1.5 million LEGO blocks he typically has on hand.

He’s created a number of human form sculptures- like Yellow pictured above- that I particularly enjoy; there’s something about using a childhood toy to create large-scale anthropomorphic works that’s decidedly eerie (even if they’re not violently hemorrhaging).

Sawaya’s work is currently touring museums in an exhibit dubbed the “Art of the Brick” that runs through late 2010.  Many of the pieces pictured on his website are for sale and he does custom works!  Clearly a twelve foot tall self-portrait in LEGOs is the best birthday present that one can give to one’s self.

Our friend Paige of Art Addict blog is once again curating this year’s West Prize.  Even if you don’t have an artist friend to encourage to apply, perusing the competition’s website is a great way to find innovative, young artists.

Pictured above is the badass work “Ice Cream Truck Tank” by the 2008 grand prize winners, the Dufala Brothers.  I’ve never seen this piece in person…but it begs the question, does it play Pop Goes the Weasel?

I stumbled upon a way to get free tickets (they’re usually $20/ticket) to this year’s International Fine Art Fair, being held at The Park Avenue Armory in New York from May 1st-9th.

Okay, so go to the NYTimes website.  Scroll down and click on the Arts section.  Click on any slideshow in that section (underneath the one sentence descriptions of the listed articles).  As you click through the images in the slideshow, you’ll see different advertisements in the lower right-hand corner…generally for broadway shows.  If you keep going, at least as of a couple hours ago, you’ll eventually see an ad for this Art Fair…click it and it will take you to a site that allows you to print out a complimentary ticket for two!

I’d like to think they’re just being generous, but it’s probably a sign that they’re worried about low attendance due to the economy. 

While not the hottest show that comes to the city each year, it’s still a good chance to see some great work all in one spot– like the Alexander Calder piece pictured above being presented by Vincent Vallarino Fine Art Ltd.

An awesome “emerging” talent, Liz Hickok, has just announced the completion of her newest project: “First 100 Days: The White House in Jell-O.”

Her labor-intensive process yields highly detailed architectural models.  What’s really special about the video and photography that’s produced, though, is that it’s the only remaining evidence of her work; the Jell-O sculptures are perishable and eventually decompose.

She’s also giving back 5% of net proceeds from this new series to charity…very cool.  Definitely check out her previous San Francisco series, too, if you dig the White House image above.  They’re absolutely gorgeous.

A new article from Dow Jones Financial News Online finds that a record high 40% of contemporary works for sale at major auctions went unsold in the first quarter of 2009.  Only three pieces, including the Anish Kapoor scultpure pictured above, sold for over $1 million (the Kapoor sold for approximately $1.2 million, including the buyer’s premium, at Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Sale in London last February).  Check out the full article here.

One can assume that similar results are occurring in the non-six/seven/eight figure art market, too.

Speaking of Anish Kapoor, one of my favorite pieces of public sculpture is his “Cloud Gate” in Millennium Park, Chicago.  I found this article in the Chicago Tribune about a battle brewing over raising admission cost to the Art Institute of Chicago for city residents.