Beyoncé mashed up with Manet. $6.64 billion in liquid arts cash, and not a jot for you or me. Anna Wintour generally not giving a sh^*t. Artparasites has gone around the internet and found what you need to know about art, now. Sit back, relax, and enjoy Site Bites.

♦ Beyoncé wowed the world with her Super Bowl performance. She amazed us with her adept inaugural lip syncing. And now she brings new light to old works with her lyrics, which some clever soul on the internet has imposed on to classic paintings. “I’m a Survivor” emblazoned on Theodor Gericault’s “The Raft of the Medusa;” “A Diva is a Female Version of A Hustla” inscribed on Velasquez’s “Las Meninas.” It’s not clear why this meme mash-up is so splendid, but it is. http://beyoncearthistory.tumblr.com/

♦​ Ben Bernanke: A Medici for the 21st century. That’s right. Apparently, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s recent release of hella geld into the world economy has driven the art market way up, mostly because the wealthy few have more liquid cash on their hands these days. Apparently sales of art at Christie’s and Sotheby’s reached $6.64 billion last year. And all I’m asking for is like a tenth of that. I mean, is that really so unreasonable?​​

♦​ Big Brother is everywhere. In an interview with Reubon Negron, Hyperallergic uncovers the stricter and ever-more-arbitrary rules Facebook’s imposing on artists (and the rest of us) who attempt to put up any works with even a hint of nip––or less. Check out this interview, which outlines Negron’s evolution from using Facebook as a primary art marketing tool, to deleting his artist account entirely.

♦ Russian art group Voina (“War”) is known for such stunts as staging a mega-orgy in a Russian museum and drawing a gigantic penis on a building across from former KGB headquarters. In what can only be described as a baller move, Banksy just announced that all profits from his current print sale will go directly to the group. For the occasion, members of the group completed an interview from their current digs––the St. Petersburg prison, where they’re being held for “hooliganism.”

♦ Had enough filth this week? Then check out this adorable story about David Byrd, an artist who’s been toiling away for a number of years and has finally gotten his first gallery show at the ripe old age of 87. That’s right folks, while you wasted the 1950s simply not existing, Byrd was diligently forging his masterworks. And now you can catch them all at the Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle.

♦ The Met held its annual gala this year and the ever-tasteful institution’s theme this year was… Punk. Miley Cyrus came in a spikey mohawk. Madonna came in something fit for her “Vogue” video. And Anna Wintour straight up entirely ignored the theme! Enjoy some pretty awkward outfits pictures here. But forgive the fashion faux pas; these folks are supporting the arts! Except Anne Hathaway. She can shoulder some blame for this.

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Painting by Catrin Walz Stein

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