People: Céline Dion, Li Yu, Ryan O'Neal
Bidders in London shelled out about 45.8 million, or about $90 million, in a contemporary art sale at Sotheby’s on Wednesday, the latest in a record-breaking week of sales for auction houses in the city. The total was a record for a contemporary art sale in Europe, Sotheby’s said. It brings the value of the art sold by the auctioneer in London this week to about 168 million, with more sales scheduled before the week’s end. The top lot Wednesday was “White Canoe” by the British artist Peter Doig, sold to an anonymous bidder for 5.7 million more than five times the previous record for a Doig work. The sensation of Monday’s fevered bidding for Impressionist and modern art the night’s total was 94.9 million was Chaim Soutine’s “L’Homme au Foulard Rouge,” (”The Man in the Red Scarf”) which sold for 8.75 million, well above its 5 million pre-sale estimate. The sums are the latest sign of a boiling hot global art market. Sotheby’s rival, Christie’s, began holding auctions in Dubai in May. Now Sotheby’s has announced plans to strengthen its presence in the Gulf of Arabia region too. The company has appointed Roxane Zand, an art adviser, to be director of its Middle East and Gulf Region. (AP)
Now it’s the lawyers’ turn. The attorneys representing Ryan O’Neal and those working for his son Griffin are each accusing the other side for the altercation that led to the actor’s arrest last weekend at his Malibu, California, home. Griffin O’Neal, 42, and his pregnant girlfriend, Joanna Berry, 25, who had bandages around a bruised and swollen left eye, appeared at a news conference held by their attorney, Gloria Allred. “We vigorously reject any assertion that the injuries suffered … were as a result of Ryan O’Neal’s acting in self defense,” Allred said. Berry, who is expecting a boy at the end of March, suffered facial lacerations that took eight stitches to close, Allred said. The actor’s attorney, Mark Werksman, countered quickly. “Ryan O’Neal is the victim and was attacked by his own son, with his own poker,” said Werksman, who noted his client had a cut on his hand and bruises on his arms and legs. Werksman said O’Neal’s other son, Redmond, was in the house at the time and the fight occurred over how Griffin has treated Redmond, who is currently in drug treatment. The O’Neals have a troubled history. In 1983, police were called to the O’Neal home after a fight in which the elder O’Neal knocked out two of Griffin’s teeth. No charges were filed but the younger O’Neal soon after entered a drug rehabilitation center in Hawaii. Griffin was found guilty of reckless boating in a 1986 accident that killed Gian-Carlo Coppola, the son of the film director Francis Ford Coppola. He was given an 18-day jail sentence after failing to perform 400 hours of community service. (AP)
Cйline Dion will unveil a new song, “I Knew I Loved You,” during a tribute to the Italian composer Ennio Morricone at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony on Feb. 25. The 78-year-old Morricone, who is to receive an honorary Oscar, orchestrated the song for 1984’s “Once Upon a Time in America,” directed by Sergio Leone, and is a multiple Oscar nominee for original score, having set music to films such as “The Mission,” “The Untouchables” and “Malиna.” (AP)
In other Oscar news, the singer James Blunt will perform at the 15th annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards celebration held in Los Angeles the night of the awards. Blunt, 32, is nominated for five awards at the Grammys, to be given on Sunday, including a nomination for record of the year for the song “You’re Beautiful” from his double-platinum debut album, “Back to Bedlam.” He toured with Elton John in 2004. (AP)
It took five revisions, but “Lost in Beijing,” a Chinese film about a massage parlor boss and one of his workers, has finally been cleared to compete next week at the Berlin International Film Festival, the movie’s producer, Fang Li, said. Fang said that he had edited out a side character, scenes involving dirty streets, prostitutes, gambling, the Chinese national flag, as well as Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, the site of a bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 1989. “It is a very painful process,” he told The Associated Press. In total, 53 changes had been made and the 112-minute film, by the director Li Yu, was cut by 15 minutes before it secured the approval of China’s Film Bureau. (AP)