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In the 27 years that James Meyer worked for pop art master Jasper Johns, the assistant answered the artist's phone, stretched his canvases, bought his paintbrushes and even drew lines on his canvases.
During the time they sat together in New York, St. Maarten and most recently in Sharon, Conn., Johns mentored his apprentice, teaching him how to construct a work of art, how to trace and reuse his drawings, and the technique of painting with thick drops of hot wax, known as encaustic. “Most important,” Meyer once said, was that “Jasper has taught me to think about what I’m making before I make it.”
On Wednesday, Meyer was arrested and charged with stealing at least 22 works from his employer and selling them through an unnamed New York gallery for $6.5 million, falsely telling the dealer and buyers that Johns had given them to him as presents and that they would be in the official compendium of the artist’s work, known as the catalogue raisonné. Meyer kept $3.4 million of that, according to the indictment, with purchasers agreeing to keep the art private for at least eight years, without exhibiting or reselling it.
Arraigned in a Hartford, Conn., courtroom, Meyer pleaded not guilty to federal charges and was released on an unsecured $250,000 bond.
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Russell Simmons apologized for a parody video of Harriet Tubman in a sex tape that appeared on his All Def Digital YouTube channel.
The clip features an actress portraying Tubman having sex with her white slave master as someone films it so the abolitionist can bribe her boss. The “Harriet Tubman Sex Tape” video was posted Wednesday.
The 55-year-old Simmons, founder of Def Jam Records, wrote Thursday that he “can now understand why so many people are upset.” He said he removed the video after a call from the NAACP.
Simmons added that he doesn’t condone violence against women and that he’s “sincerely sorry” to those offended by the clip. Though Simmons removed the video, it still lives online.
Tubman spent nearly 30 years as a slave before escaping in 1849. She led hundreds of slaves to freedom as part of the anti-slavery resistance network known as the Underground Railroad.
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Justin Timberlake is set to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards later this month.
The pop icon will also receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award at the Aug. 25 awards show, the network said Thursday. Timberlake is tied with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for the most nominations, with six each.
Timberlake’s nominations include video of the year, best male video and pop video for “Mirrors.” His comeback album, “The 20/20 Experience,” is the year’s best-selling album. He’ll release “The 20/20 Experience: 2 of 2” on Sept. 30.
Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke will also perform at the VMAs, to air live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actor Robert De Niro is 70. Guitarist Gary Talley of The Box Tops is 66. Drummer Sib Hashian (Boston) is 64. Actor Robert Joy ("CSI: NY") is 62. Singer Kevin Rowland of Dexy's Midnight Runners is 60. Country singer-songwriter Kevin Welch is 58. Bassist Colin Moulding of XTC is 58. Singer Belinda Carlisle is 55. Actor Sean Penn is 53. Guitarist Gilby Clarke (Guns N' Roses) is 51. Singer Maria McKee is 49. Drummer Steve Gorman of the Black Crowes is 48. Singer-bassist Jill Cunniff (Luscious Jackson) is 47. Actor David Conrad ("Relativity") is 46. Rapper Posdnuos of Del La Soul is 44. Singer Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids on the Block is 44. Actor Mark Salling ("Glee") is 31. Actor Bryton James ("Family Matters") is 27. Actor Brady Corbet ("24") is 25.
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