Dealer Jeffrey Deitch will represent the estate of Rammellzee, the prolific graffiti artist, painter, philosopher, and musician.  “Rammellzee was not at all focused on the art world when we met or aware of how if functioned but was essentially just looking for a platform and an audience for his ideas. I decided to take Ramm under my wing, so to speak, and introduced him to some of the friends I was making downtown, like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Charlie Ahearn, Edit deAk, and Patti Astor. All saw he was brilliant and believed he was a fascinating artist who should be known and shown,” says his contemporary, musician Fab 5 Freddy. (more…)

A piece in Art Newspaper this week documents the string of Los Angeles galleries setting up shop in New York. “I think the move is giving us the chance to work more closely and be in more constant dialogue with the best institutions in the country,” says dealer François Ghebaly, who is opening a space in the city. “Selling art at this moment is not difficult, it’s more a question of who we want to sell to.” (more…)

Andy Dixon at Over The Influence, via Art Observed

Located just off the beachside drag of Ocean Drive, amid the sandy hills of Miami Beach and the Atlantic Ocean, Untitled Art Fair has once again raised its posts and opened its doors for its annual show during Miami Art Week. Place amid meandering beachgoers and booming soundsystems, as well as the annual throng of Art Basel Miami Beach visitors, the fair has one of the more unique positions in a week full of unique offerings, one that balances some of the most familiar sights of the city with the impressive work on view inside.

Untitled Art Fair, via Art Observed

(more…)

A piece in the New York Times this week documents galleries’ recent trend towards preselling works at their fair booths, and the craft of selling work at a fair more broadly. “Managing expectations is an art,” says David Zwirner. “You’ll be successful in this industry if you master that. If you don’t, you won’t.” (more…)

The Art Newspaper has a piece this week on the collection of billionaire Larry Ellison, which includes four Van Gogh works, most notably one that hung in the hotel room of JFK the night before the president’s assassination in Dallas. (more…)

Maria Lassnig, Napoleon und Brigitte Bardot (1961), via Petzel

On view this month at Petzel Gallery in New York, the gallery presents a meticulously curated look at the work of Maria Lassnig during her time in Paris. Maria Lassnig: The Paris Years, 1960–68, showcases a range of pieces rarely seen in the U.S., a formative set of works that show her exploring and honing what would become her iconic mode of portraiture and abstraction.  (more…)

New York’s Department of Cultural Affairs will give the Brooklyn Museum a capital infusion of $50 million, making it the largest gift in museum history. “I’m really grateful to the mayor and the commissioner of Cultural Affairs,” says director Anne Pasternak. “When I came to them with this very big idea, they actually took the meeting, and they took it seriously.” (more…)

Frieze has tapped Christine Messineo as director of both its LA and NYC fair events. “As a former exhibitor, I understand the commercial, educational and creative dynamics that make Frieze a unique place for discovery,” she says. “I’m excited to embark on this venture in both cities, places I love and have called home.” (more…)

The Garage in Moscow will launch a massive expansion project, headed by SANAA. “Garage has always had a strong focus on the architecture of public spaces and their history, and this is very much in line with our practice. The Hexagon has a particular charm and we have tried to retain that in our design,” say architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa.  (more…)

LACMA curator Christine Y. Kim has been named the inaugural Christine Y. Britton Family Curator-at-Large for the Tate Modern. “Christine is a hugely talented and experienced curator, with a reputation for showcasing the incredible diversity of North American contemporary art,” says Tate director of collections Gregoir Muir. “I’m delighted that she’ll be joining the team in this role. As an American living in the United States, Christine will also bring on-the-ground expertise to Tate’s activities in the region.” (more…)

Frank Stella has an interview this week with the New York Times, as he installs a new sculpture outside of the World Trade Center, and reflects on the course of his career. “People used to talk about artists and say things like, ‘Oh, now he’s lost it,’” he says. “And what now seems like minuscule phases and changes in the work were at the time the end of a career. It was kind of a joke. But it was serious in the way people reacted to it.” (more…)

Art critic Dave Hickey, a writer known for his keen critical eye and prolific output, has passed away at the age of 82. “People despise critics because people despise weakness,” Hickey was quoted in 2002, “and criticism is the weakest thing you can do in writing.” (more…)

Experts have revealed a fifth version of painter John Constable’s The Glebe Farm, and will go on sale at Sotheby’s. “It’s amazing, really, that in this day and age these things happen and there are still these great masterpieces out there, undiscovered and unknown,” says Julian Gascoigne, director of early British paintings at Sotheby’s. (more…)

The Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Biennale will be handed over to Estonia this year, part of a project to welcome new nations into the Giardini. “The one-time transfer of the pavilion shows our appreciation for Estonia in the field of the visual arts, while at the same time giving the Netherlands the opportunity to step out of our comfort zone and see what freedom it gives us when we step outside the walls of the pavilion,” says Eelco van der Lingen, Director of the Mondriaan Fund, which helped oversee the project. (more…)

Artists Julie Mehretu and Kehinde Wiley will create new credit card designs for American Express’s U.S. Platinum Card, part of a project by American Express that also includes a $1 million gift to the Studio Museun.“We are so thrilled and honored that American Express will support the Studio Museum so we can offer deeply meaningful experiences to audiences in Harlem and beyond,” Thelma Golden, the Studio Museum’s director and chief curator. (more…)

Lehmann Maupin is expanding in Seoul, moving to a larger gallery in the Hannam-dong area of the city. “We have seen a growth in young collectors who’ve been behind their screens for the past 14 months, and they are now contributing to a real buzz in the art scene,” says Rachel Lehmann. “The biggest supporters of Korean artists are the Koreans,” she adds. (more…)

David Salle, Sky King (1998), via Art Observed

Open now at the Brant Foundation Art Study Center, painter David Salle is the subject of comprehensive survey of the the artist’s work, exploring a selection of works culled from both the Brant Collections and from a series of international loans. Underscoring the artist’s continued investigation and elaboration on a range of visual languages and histories of painterly craft, particularly in his exploration and visual mash-ups and shifting perceptual frames, the show showcases Salle’s evolution, over 40 years across a broad, yet a tightly controlled visual syntax.

David Salle, Ice Flow (2001), via Art Observed

(more…)

A Frida Kahlo work has sold for $34.9 million this week at Sotheby’s, making it it the most expensive Latin American work sold at auction. “Painted in the same year her beloved Diego embarked on an affair with her friend, the Mexican golden age actress Maria Félix, this powerful portrait is the painted articulation of her anguish and sorrow,” says Anna Di Stasi, the director of Latin American Art at the auction house. (more…)

Mark Tansey, Resight (2019), via Art Observed

Currently on at Gagosian Gallery in New York, the dealer has compiled a body of new and recent work by painter Mark Tansey, spanning the past six years of work and running through a range of both paintings and graphite drawings mixed with oil and water. (more…)

The art collection of the Macklowe family, sold as part of a fierce divorce battle, achieved a $676.1 million result last night at Sotheby’s, with every lot selling through. “It’s a strong market,” says collector Eugenio López Alonso. “Top quality always sells.” (more…)

Dealer Inigo Philbrick will reportedly plead guilty to the alleged frauds he is accused of this week in New York, the Daily Beast reports.“Inigo Philbrick was a serial swindler who misled art collectors, investors, and lenders out of more than $20 million,” reads a statement by U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman. “When his schemes began to unravel, Philbrick allegedly fled the country.” (more…)

Etel Adnan, Untitled (2015), via White Cube

Artist Etel Adnan, the artist and writer whose colorful, minimalist landscapes and incisive writing about political conflict, trauma, and the Middle East made her a diverse and expressive voice in the Contemporary Arts landscape, has passed away at the age of 96. Adnan, raised in Lebanon but based in California for the past several decades, was an international literary figure, and a powerful fixture in the exploration and criticism of violence and war.

(more…)

Sylvère Lotringer, the influential scholar and founder of the book series Semiotext(e), has passed away at the age of 83. “He could meet people on their level and communicate this wealth of ideas to them,” says writer Chris Kraus. “So many people talk about how meeting Sylvère and hearing him made them change their lives. For him, all of this learning and all of this philosophy was a tool for living a more purposeful and meaningful life.” (more…)

Artist Agnieszka Kurant gives the NYT an interview this week, holding court on her work and philosophy. “She has ambitions to make major contributions to the way we understand ourselves, and to how we categorize and organize knowledge,” says curator Maya Ceruti. (more…)