The Digest. 04.29.09.

Kaf in Naples. (Photo by C-M.)

• A coat of many Kermits.
• James Rosenquist loses his studio to a devastating fire. (@artnetdotcom.)
• Guy suing L.A.’s MOCA over Murakami handbag art gets one of his cases tossed out of court.
• An awesome, awesome, awesome photo essay on motels by Magnum photographers.
• El Schnabel seeks renters at Palazzo Chupi — only $40,000 to $50,000 per month. A bargain…if you’re Damien Hirst. (@theartmarket.)
• Con Artist, a new doc about Mark Kostabi.
• Turner Prize nominees announced. And Bloomberg signals this as a return to the “visual” arts. More at the Times of London and the Guardian.
• LACMA picks up a gigantor painting by Roberto Matta. Cool!
• The art industrial average is plunging. Layoffs hit Aperture and the Getty. More here. Plus: Isabella Stewart Gardner museum lays off staff as it pursues a Renzo Piano-designed expansion. (AFC.)
• God told me to give you the finger.
• A list of artsy fartsies on Twitter. I’m one of the fartsies. (@hragv.)
• A belated R.I.P. for Bea Arthur, dirty public reading edition. (Mercy, Mlle. Connasse.)
• Suburban Slovakia. (Coudal.)
• And the award for most creative use of tape in a music video goes to… (Grazie, Least Wanted.)
• I want, I need, I have to have…a cryptozoological play set. Seriously.
• Four arrested during NYC’s billboard takeover this past weekend.
• Today’s Street Art: TitiFreak in Osaka.
• The Day in Graff Merch: Augor spraypaint and Cope2 vinyl skins for your iPod and computer.
• Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity temple named one of the most endangered places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. L.A.’s Century Plaza Hotel in Century City also makes the list. See the rest of the list here.
• Your moment of Ocean’s Eleven, Muppet style.