It’s now possible to get inside the $50 billion art world with Sotheby’s Institute of Art Online. You can study from anywhere in the world. All you need is a computer and  you can study everything from understanding trends in the art market to using art as an alternative investment to the history of museums and more. It is all at your fingertips, taught by the Institute’s leading faculty as well as some of the world’s most important experts in the art world, from bankers to  historians to gallerists to international art lawyers.

With Sotheby’s Institute Online you can get inside the art world, learn about the art market and the vibrant international art scene from any computer anywhere. You’ll gain unparalleled access to Sotheby’s Institute of Art faculty and experts as well as a network provided by the online learning system. You’ll attend lectures, interact with faculty and other students and participate in discussions all via computer. A free, fully-online student orientation begins before each session. In addition, you’ll also have access to telephone technical support from noon to midnight each day.

Cy Twombly, the enigmatic, controversial, operatic artist is dead at age 83. I must say I have extremely mixed feelings about Twombly. I have been moved by some of his paintings, am bored by most of his sculpture, and despite some misgivings believe he was a very important and influential figure in 20th century art. However, having worked with him on an exhibition at the Whitney, I got to know him slightly and as my mother often told me, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, say nothing at all.” So, in this case, I will follow her advice. Here are some of the obits, reflections and appreciations that have been written over the past few days.

The Wall Street Journal

New York Times

LA Times

New York Times Appreciation

Jerry Saltz on Facebook

New Art From Emerging Markets by Iain Robertson

Our own Iain Robertson, head of Art Business at Sotheby’s Institute in London,  has a new book that will be published this month from Lund Humphries in collaboration with Sotheby’s Institute of Art. The first in a series of collaborative publications, New Art from Emerging Markets takes a look at how value in non-Western contemporary art is constructed largely by external political events and economic factors rather than aesthetic considerations. The book also considers whether it is better to let a new art market grow organically, driven by commercial imperatives, or for the government to step in to construct a cultural and economic infrastructure within which an art market can be placed.

The Guardian newspaper

has just published an interview with James Lingwood and Michael Morris, who this year are celebrating twenty years leading Artangel, the London-based art world production company. They are the impresarios that brought us Rachel Whiteread’s House, back in 1993, and more recently expanded their geographical reach by helping Roni Horn to construct her magical Library of Water in a distant part of Iceland.

 Artangel are a fascinating example of how the art world has evolved new forms to answer to the dramatic changes that art itself has experienced since the 1960s. And it is changes and evolutions such as this that we will be tracking in the new online course, Introduction to Contemporary art, that Sotheby’s is initiating next week. We sweep over the whole history of what has come to be called “contemporary” art, from the emergence of Pop in the 1950s and 1960s, to the latest developments in the commercial galleries. Some surveys of the period are presented as a series of artists and styles, each coming after the other in a plodding progression, but this course breaks that history into living traditions. We look at how Pop art inspired the work of contemporaries such as Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami, and how Conceptual art has seeded the ideas of young artists such as Tino Seghal and Douglas Gordon. And, throughout, we keep an eye on the changing institutions of the art world, from commercial galleries to auction houses to public agencies such as Artangel.

 Morgan Falconer

From Christian Marclay's "Clock" exhibition at Paula Cooper Gallery, NY

If you are in New York this weekend, or if you can get to New York this weekend, be sure to see Christian Marclay’s “Clock”  at Paula Cooper Gallery. The 24 hour film is one of the most compelling works of art on view right now. Shown first in London, “Clock” is rumored to be on hold for MoMA’s collection, and as an edition of 6, it is sure to be in the holdings of other museums soon.  In his new role as art critic for Tina Brown’s Daily Beast/Newsweek, Blake Gopnik calls it a “masterpiece.” Click here to read his review. The exhibition closes Saturday at 6 pm. Don’t miss it.

a drawing from Marcel Dzama's "Behind Every Curtain" at David Zwirner Gallery, NY

Marcel Dzama’s new work on view at David Zwirner Gallery also involves film and performance, but is a work created from the artist’s imagination instead of from a collage of found material. Dzama has commissioned a ballet dedicated to the game of chess. He worked with dancers and craftsmen in Guadalajara, Mexico, and the influence of the setting and culture can be felt throughout the resulting film, which on opening night was accompanied by a live Mariachi band. The installation, called “Behind Every Curtain” includes rotating sculptures made from the original costumes, as well as dioramas of the action and story boards. The work comes out of a dada tradition, melding performance, magical realism and almost kitschy staging. Dzama has developed his own distinctive vocabulary of images that are charming and haunting at the same time. This new work is delightful and some of his strongest to date.

One of Tara Donovan's early pin drawings at Pace Gallery, NY

Chelsea’s galleries are full of good stuff right now. Just opened at Pace are Tara Donovan’s exquisite push pin paintings. Abstractions made from varying the density of the pins on the surface, these works are seductively beautiful and take Donovan’s work to a different place. She has, for many years, worked with everyday materials to make site specific sculptural objects, but these works are more painterly and depart from her usual explorations, while remaining true to her core practice. I find it interesting that she and Dan Steinhilber were working in Washington DC at the same time in the 1990′s and early 2000s and both using cups, rug remnants, pins, thread and other commonly found objects in transformative ways. ArtInfo made this show one of its top picks.

Works from "Soot and Shine" at Donald Sultan's studio

Donald Sultan has some fine new works on view at Mary Ryan. The show is called “Soot and Shine” and characteristically Sultan uses tar, wax, and floor tiles to create domestic-scale objects of desire. 

From Mika Rottenberg's "Squeeze"

Walking into Mary Boone has proved extraordinary in recent months. In December, her show of Mika Rottenberg blew me away and a planned ten minute visit turned into an hour or more in front of the screen. Now, she’s showing Terence Koh and a ten foot high conical mound of salt. Koh, on his knees in a white suit, eyes closed, circumnavigates the salt pile as if in prayer. Sounds rather tame, but in fact, the work is mystical and gorgeous.  Of course, because it is Koh, the work is meditations on shades of white, while at the same time, asking us to consider pain, suffering, need, want and shame.  The gallery assistant said he will be performing in the space for eight hours every day it is open. I liked this work much better than I ever expected.

Jennifer Rubell with her sculpture of Prince William at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London

And, although I’m not there, if I were in London I’d be rushing over to the Stephen Friedman Gallery on Old Burlington Street to check out Jennifer Rubell’s “Engagement” exhibition. Rubell plays with our royals obsession by commissioning a wax sculpture of Prince William with THE RING attached to his arm, inviting all who wish to grab hold and slip our fingers into the conveniently vacant slot. The result? I’m on the arm of the prince, wearing that famous ring. Beyond funny and all the rage.

Gagosian Gallery’s new exhibition by Francesco Vezzoli is a valentine to our obsession with fame, fortune and fashion and a rather hilarious send up of commerce as our modern religion. But is the work worth the trip to chelsea? how much should we care about supermodels with needlepoint tears and Vezzoli’s mother dressed as the virgin mary singing pop tunes? Are we supposed to be outraged? Is the commentary anything new? This is certainly not new territory for Vezzoli, whose work has explored the themes of fame, sex, blasphemy and sin for many years. The New York Times blog calls it “irreverent” in this post from last week. What do you think?

Join the conversation about contemporary art in New York with our new online classes starting in March. The class on Contemporary Art is taught by Sotheby’s Institute’s own Stephen Pascher.

Check out this video from Sotheby’s Institute about Contemporary Art . Professor Anthony Downey takes you inside the exciting contemporary market with the unique Sotheby’s Institute approach.

Learn more with Sotheby’s Institute’s new ONLINE courses in Contemporary Art. Classes begin in March.