Robert A. Kret, director of the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tennessee is the new director of the Santa Fe, New Mexico Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, according to news reports here and here.

Kret replaces George King, who left the O’Keeffe after 11 years to run the American Federation of Arts.

For an exhibition with bold ambitions – “Bartering may be the answer to bail us out of our current crisis” says the press release – a group of artists will present artworks and accept payment in trade, not cash.

Art4Barter runs August 27 to August 29 at Chelsea’s Tria Gallery (547 West 27th Street, Suite 504).

None of the works by the fourteen participating artists will be sold for money. A list of services and goods that the artist desires (dental work, studio space etc) will be posted on wall labels.

This is the 7th show organized by the Art4Barter brainchild, artist Antonio Puri. Other artists include Erica Brown, Niyeti Chadha, Quentin Morris and Avani Patel.

A $3 million Brice Marden painting on route to Sotheby’s for auction was destroyed during airport transit, according court papers filed Friday and reported in the New York Post.

Marden’s 1969 “Au Centre” was shipped by Gagosian Gallery’s London branch from Moscow to New York. A forklift operator smashed the painting at the Frankfurt airport. Lufthansa Airlines carried the cargo, according to the Post.

Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate has a listing for 510 West 25th Street, the address of Chelsea’s elegant Bortolami Gallery, priced $6.1 million.

The property is owned by Mega Communications, according to real estate filings. Collector Adam Lindemann was Vice Chairman of Mega Communications of New York, LLC, a Spanish radio group, as of 2008. He purchased the property in 2005 for $3.725 million, according to Property Shark.

UPDATE: The building is co-owned by Lindemann and Stefania Bortolami. Bortolami will move her gallery to a new location in Chelsea once the 25th Street building has sold.

From the listing: “Currently a renowned Chelsea Gallery, the bright, minimalist, and double-height volume of this space make it perfect for any number of uses, including retail, restaurant, and of course a superb space for art.”

The gallery opened in 2005 as Bortolami Dayan, founded by ex-Gagosian directors Stefania Bortolami and Amalia Dayan.

The inaugural show, titled “Closing Down,” included works by Piotr Ulanksi, Tim Noble and Sue Webster…

American Express has selected photogenic framer Eli Wilner to class up their trade shows stands.

His oversized likeness is currently on display in the lobby of the New York International Gift Show at the Javits Center.

Auctioneer Simon de Pury is stepping out from behind his gavel to present forty large-scale photographs at The Corner Berlin from October 21 to December 31. The shop, in Berlin’s Mitte district, sells clothing, accessories, books and vintage design.

The show “Purepurygraphy” includes de Pury’s own images which are available for sale, formatted and framed, for €6,000. The photos included in the show, along with another 400 images, will be available for sale after Oct. 21 at www.purepurygraphy.com.

De Pury, known for his high-energy auctioneering patter, is slated to DJ at the opening party.

He is Chairman and Chief Auctioneer of Phillips de Pury & Company, owned by the Russian retailer Mercury Group.

De Pury joined Phillips in 2001.

He started his art career at Sotheby’s in 1974. From 1979 to 1986 he was curator for the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection at the Villa Favorita in Lugano, Switzerland. In 1986, he returned to Sotheby’s as Chairman of Switzerland and later Europe.

Guy Regal, a European neoclassical furniture dealer and Lewis Baer, owner of Newel, are combining forces to create Guy Regal/Newel, located at 233 East 60th Street. The opening is scheduled for October.

The pair will present curated exhibitions in the 3,500 square foot gallery. Regal’s clients include designers Miles Redd, Mario Buatta and Richard Mishaan.

Newel, founded in 1938, had operated from a large space a 425 East 53rd Street and was originally a rental house for period furnishings for film and theatre. In the 1970s, Newel began selling to the public.

Plans are underway for the third incarnation of P.S. 1’s “Greater New York,” which introduces emerging artists living and working in the metropolitan area. The exhibition is scheduled to run from spring to fall in 2010.

The series originated in 2000, and is organized with curatorial collaboration from MoMA.

Curators of “Greater New York 2010” are Klaus Biesenbach, P.S. 1’s Chief Curatorial Advisor and MoMA’s Chief Curator of Media and Performance Art; Connie Butler, MoMA’s Chief Curator of Drawing and Neville Wakefield, P.S. 1’s Senior Curatorial Advisor.

Previous shows featured Carol Bove, Wade Guyton, Cecily Brown and Banks Violette.

The fall line-up for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston‘s popular Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Celebrity Lectures includes artists Robert Irwin, John Currin and museum director Thelma Golden.

Carl Shapiro, a 96-year old philanthropist, was friendly with convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff for fifty years. Shapiro invested proceeds from the sale of his women’s clothing company with Madoff. He used the profits to become one of Boston’s biggest patrons, donating millions to the Museum of Fine Arts, Brandeis University and medical causes.

Shapiro’s foundation donated $15 million to the MFA, Boston in 2005, for their new building expansion project. The museum promised to name a central glass courtyard the Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Family Courtyard. The foundation also funds the speaker series.

In the wake of the Madoff scandal, the Shapiro foundation lost $145 million.

The Whitney Museum of American Art is launching new Stroller Tours this fall, for parents and their 0-18 month old babies.

Whitney Teaching Fellows will lead tours of current shows for new moms and dads when the museum is closed to the public. “Crying babies are welcome!” according to information posted on the museum’s website.

Tours cost $25 per person. More info here.