The Whitney Museum of American Art is selling five townhouses by its Upper East Side museum, Crain's is reporting. The sale of the buildings, which are on 74th and 75th streets, come after the museum scuttled plans for an expansion in the area, and settled on building a new museum at the base of the High Line in the meatpacking district.

Expected price for the quintet? Around $60 million, says Crain's.  read more »

Nearly 30 years after the original Germs lead singer died of a drug overdose at the age of 21, the Los Angeles snot-punks have a new lead-singer: actor Shane West. That's right, the former E.R. star is the new Darby Crash—he of the infamous appetite for peanut butter (spread on his chest) and heroin (injected squarely into his veins). Apparently, bassist Lorna Doom and guitarist Pat Smear (the remaining original members) were so impressed with West's recent turn as Crash in the biopic, What We Do Is Secret, that they invited him along on their reunion tour. Dr. Barnett—er, West and company will infect the Blender Theater on Aug.  read more »

After 14 years as head honcho, Leonard A. Lauder stepped down on yesterday as chairman of the board of trustees at the Whitney Museum of American Art, according to the New York Times. He remains a trustee and the chairman emeritus, with full voting rights.  read more »

Leonard A. Lauder, the Estée Lauder Companies executive and chairman of the Whitney Museum of American Art, said on Tuesday that his art foundation would give the museum $131 million, the biggest donation in the Whitney’s 77-year history, Carol Vogel reports in the New York Times.  read more »

Somewhere there’s an art history graduate student sitting in Starbucks, laptop and venti decaf latte on hand, writing a thesis on the Whitney Biennial. It’s bound to be a history of arrant egos, frustrated reputations, political intrigue, curatorial missteps and temporary fame.

Part of the narrative will be an inventory of reviews. Given the negative and sometimes vitriolic criticism the Biennial has engendered over the years, it should be an entertaining and maybe hilarious roundup.  read more »

Parisian-born sculptor Louise Bourgeois’ life and career have been remarkable. Born in 1911, four years after Picasso painted Les Demoiselles D’Avignon, Bourgeois came of age during a time when “avant-garde” had yet to become the empty boast of PR men. Influenced by the murkier tangents of Surrealism, Ms. Bourgeois, who studied at the École du Louvre and was Fernand Léger’s assistant before coming to the United States in 1938, pursues a fetishistic form of sculpture that touches upon childhood fantasy and bodily decrepitude. A couple of Ms.  read more »

Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore told New York Magazine last week that the band plans to launch a traveling art show that will stop in New York, possibly at the Whitney.

"We're putting together this museum show that's utilizing all the artists that we've worked with on different covers and concepts, and that's going to happen for two or three years," said Mr. Moore, following a gig at the "Kool Thing" at Marc Jacobs's fashion show. "It's going to happen in young museums, there's one outside of Paris, there's one in Malmö, Sweden," he added.

More details about this daydream of a national tour after the jump.  read more »

The Whitney Museum of American Art will present Television Delivers People, an exhibition of video works from the 1970's to modern day projects, which examines the relationship between television and the viewer. Will Perez Hilton or a pint of Ben and Jerry's involved? Not necessarily. " The exhibition borrows its title from Richard Serra's video Television Delivers People (1973), which playfully pairs a Muzak soundtrack with a scrolling list of statements describing the manipulative strategies and motivations imbedded in television by corporate advertisers," according to the press release.

Full release after the jump.  read more »

The Whitney annouced the artists selected for their 2008 Biennial today. The show will be displayed in the entire museum (except for the fifth floor). It opens March 6, and runs through June 1, 2008.

Donna De Salvo, Associate Director for Programs and Curator, said in a press release: "The Biennial is a laboratory, a way of 'taking the temperature' of what is happening now and putting it on view. It influences our thinking on multiple levels and, for the Whitney, translates directly into the choices we make about our exhibitions and collections. In dealing with the art of the present, there are no easy assessments, only multiple points of entry. For the Whitney, and for our public, we hope the Biennial is one way in."

Artists listed after the jump.  read more »

No fewer than 20 Arden Wohl-esque headbands were spotted at the Whitney Museum’s Art Party on Wednesday, June 6.  The evening’s dress code was, after all, “hippie chic,” in honor of the museum’s current exhibition, “Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era.”

Socialite Genevieve Jones looked beautiful in her daisy headband.  Man about town Paul Johnson-Calderon chose a red one (with a matching sash around his waist). to accessorize his tuxedo. The artist duo Andrew Andrew, who dress as twins à la Gilbert-and-George and Viktor-and-Rolf, sported matching ones.  “We bought them in a Japanese supermarket in Hawaii,” they boasted. 

Top model Agnyess Deyn was a standout in her canary-yellow mini-dress by London label Preen.  The Manchester, England, native recently moved to New York.  “I’m still in my honeymoon period with the city,” she said with a smile.

The actress Rosario Dawson, stunning in Max Azria (the design label sponsored the event), said she’s looking forward to Fourth of July Weekend in the Hamptons, where her buddies are throwing a big bash.  Last summer in the Hamptons, The Transom kicked it with Ms. Dawson and her madcap moms, Isabel.  This year, she said, she feels a bit out of it.  “Oh, I don’t even know all the parties,” she said.  “No one ever tells me, I’m never invited anywhere, you know that!”

But attention comic book fanatics: Ms. Dawson is the prototype for a crime-fighting heroine in a comic book named O.C.T.: Occult Crimes Taskforce.  The trade paperback of the first four issues is coming out June 13, and shortly thereafter Ms. Dawson hits the road on a book tour. Whee!

Conspicuously absent from the crowd were the art-world power brokers--curators, critics, gallerists and the like – most of whom are jetting their way to Europe and the month-long jamboree of big exhibitions there.  “There’s only a handful left,” said Whitney director Adam Weinberg of the art gang.  But, no worries, the poor artists themselves are still here, he said. Oh, phew.

Luba Azria, wife of Max, was introduced to Walis Singh Ahluwalia, the jewelry designer.  Ms. Azria, perhaps inspired by Mr. Singh Ahluwalia’s turban, decided to inform him that she’d once attended a great Eastern-meditation camp, of sorts.  “It was a totally amazing experience. It changed my life,” she said.  Mr. Singh Ahluwalia blinked and nodded blankly.

“I’m building a big, beautiful house for all my friends, brick by brick,” he later said about his gem company, House of Waris. 

At last year’s party, Moby told The Transom that he’d washed his hands of the whole affair (“I’m bored,” he’d said.)  This year, he didn’t wash his hands after peeing.  The head-shorn musician turned from the men’s room urinals and headed straight for the door.  “What I love about this party in particular is it’s this odd combination of socialites and degenerate artists,” he said.  “And they sort of rub off on each other.”