There are not many frontline UK politicians with more of an art-world background than Robert Jenrick, but that has not stopped him coming under fire in Gary Hume's latest show.

Jenrick, a former executive at Christie's, hit the headlines in 2023 when as Minister for Immigration in the previous Conservative government he ordered that murals of cartoon characters on the walls of a center for child asylum seekers be painted over.

Hume has recreated the murals for his show at Matthew Marks gallery in New York which said the work "recreates and memorializes the murals, building upon poignant, universal themes he has long explored in his work, including hope, loss, and vulnerability".

The London-based artist is showing 20 new paintings in the show which opens on September 11 and runs to October 24.

Liu Wei has become the first Chinese artist commissioned by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in 20 years after being asked to make four monumental sculptures for the niches of its Fifth Avenue facade.

The works, which will be on view from September 17 to June 8, are the seventh commission for the building's exterior.

Met director Max Hollein said he was sure the work would "reflect the curiosity, innovation—and even humor" Wei is known for, but the artist himself admitted to some nerves about the project.

He said: "To dialogue with the tremendous legacy of human civilization... makes me so excited and anxious."

German sculptor Ottmar Horl's work must be among the most stolen in contemporary art, but he is remarkably philosophical about it.

His latest installation, a tribute to Mozart in the composer's hometown of Salzburg featuring 320 small statuettes of the musician and his dog, has been hit by thieves who made off with more than 200 of them forcing its early closure.

It comes after his similar installation paying tribute to Richard Wagner in Bayreuth saw all 100 statues stolen within 10 days.

Horl said the crime was "just the nature of public space", telling journalists: "That means when you work as an artist in a public space, you mustn’t complain about what is happening there. It ranges from destruction to theft. That’s just how it is."

Italian photographer Stefano Cerio said his show inspired by wildfires in Sicily became "a sad, surreal, and involuntary performance" when it caught fire itself.

Writing on Instagram, Cerio said the open-air show in Gibellina, Sicily, "caught fire" but "luckily, the firefighters' prompt intervention prevented the photos from being damaged".

The Redemption of Nature, which includes a series of large-scale photographs of fire-damaged trees, was co-commissioned by Carrara Art Museum and curated by art historian Angela Madesani.

1 - Michael J. Anderson has been appointed director of the Portland Art Museum in Oregon having spent more than a decade at Oklahoma City Museum of Art. He takes over the institution, which has recently had a $116 million renovation, on October 12.

2 - Tributes have been paid to the founder of Geneva’s Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Christian Bernard, after his death last week. French journalist Arnaud Laporte said his "sensitivity shone through" his work.

3 - San Francisco photography gallery SF Camerawork is closing at the end of this week. Its last exhibition after 52 years is a John Chiara solo show at the non-profit's space in the city's Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.

4 - Manhattan's sculpture-filled Elizabeth Street Garden appears to have been saved after reports New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is set to abandon plans to replace it with affordable housing. The garden has been under threat for years and attracted supporters from Patti Smith and Martin Scorsese to Robert De Niro.

5 - Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum has got bragging rights after yesterday's eclipse of the sun in Europe. They took advantage of their location, which saw a total eclipse, by posting footage of the event online showing the Frank Gehry-designed building change color as the sky went dark.