Mexico City-based dealer Brett Schultz has embarked on a new project in the Glendale area of Los Angeles County, opening a collaborative exhibition space run by a group of five Latin American art galleries. Members are GalerÃa Agustina Ferreyra (San Juan), Lodos (Mexico City), Proyectos Ultravioleta (Guatemala City), Carne (Bogotá), and Schultz’s BWSMX, formerly Yautepec (Mexico City). (more…)
A Willem de Kooning painting stolen from the University of Arizona Museum of Art over 30 years ago has been found in a New Mexico antiques shop. “For us, it was the equivalent of finding a lost wallet and returning it,” says David Van Auker, who found the piece. “It was a no-brainer.” (more…)
Following the clashes between white supremacists and counter-protestors in Charlottesville, VA this weekend, Louisville’s mayor Greg Fischer has directed the Louisville Commission on Public Art to begin a review of all publicly held art to determine if any of its pieces could be interpreted as honoring bigotry, racism or hatred. “I recognize that some people say all these monuments should be left alone, because they are part of our history,” Fischer said in a statement. “But we need to discuss and interpret our history from multiple perspectives and from different viewpoints. That’s why a community conversation is crucial.” (more…)
A piece in the Art Newspaper traces the initially contentious history of Pablo Picasso’s now iconic public sculpture in downtown Chicago, which earned considerable derision and criticism when it was first unveiled in 1967. “The tone, and I remember it so vividly, was that we had been had, this alien beast or whatever it is with no name arrived and some poseur artist has played a joke on the city,” says Mark Kelly, Chicago’s current cultural commissioner of its first showing. “I would like to believe that I became a little more open and curious to my urban surroundings and to what was considered art.” (more…)
PBS has a piece on the recent controversy over the Berkshires Museum’s decision to deaccession a collection of 40 paintings from its collection, including pieces by Alexander Calder, and the protests raised in response. The museum has claimed the works it wants to sell were “deemed no longer essential to the the Museum’s new interdisciplinary programs,” but is facing criticism over its treatment of the pieces as a rote financial asset. (more…)
The New York Times profiles Dupont Underground, a former subway station in Washington D.C. that has been converted into an arts space. “It’s one of those spaces in the city that becomes mythical because it just hasn’t been open to the public for so long,” said Brianne Nadeau, a member of the City Council. (more…)
The Guardian has a piece on Vermeer’s extensive range of techniques in the creation of his works, including copying and manipulating images to arrive at their masterful final form. According to new research, the artist may have also used various technological methods, including polished lenses and camera obscuras to create his works. (more…)
John Currin has painted actress Jennifer Lawrence for the cover of Vogue Magazine this month, part of the magazine’s 125th Anniversary celebration. “To be in a situation of producing a cover for this famous magazine, I’m a little scared,” Currin said in an interview. “I do worry about decorum.” (more…)
The SCMP has a piece on China’s China Guardian auction house, as the organization expands to go head to head against Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, and prepares a move to a massive new compound in Beijing. “With the extra space in Hong Kong, we can experiment with new categories – watches, jewellery – and new formats, such as a dedicated sale of local architect James Kinoshita’s art and furniture collection,” says China Guardian Chief Executive Hu Yan Yan. “It will be designed to resemble his home, as we want to encourage buyers to live with their collection rather than just keep it in a warehouse.” (more…)
The NADA New York art fair is moving locations again next year, and will set up shop for its 2018 edition at Skylight Clarkson Sq. in West SoHo this coming March. “NADA is dedicated to producing a distinctive New York art fair in March, and we are looking forward to developing a new environment for exhibitors in the pristine studios at Skylight Clarkson Sq,” Heather Hubbs, NADA’s executive director, said in a statement. “As an alliance of professionals working to stage and support contemporary art, we are always creating unique opportunities to assist galleries, and engage the larger community with cultural programming.” (more…)
New figures released by the UK Government show employment in the cultural sector up by 20% in the past 5 years. “The creative industries are out-gunning the rest of the economy several times over but this is not guaranteed to continue,” says John Kampfner, CEO of the Creative Industries Federation. “The government must make the creative industries a priority in Brexit negotiations and address the Federation’s concerns regarding immigration, trade and intellectual property rights.” (more…)
Florence’s Uffizi Gallery has been forced to close its doors as a result of a sweltering heatwave currently hitting the city. Problems with the institution’s air conditioning led to unsafe conditions for visitors, and create complications for preserving paintings in the museum galleries. (more…)
London’s National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery are currently in the middle of a conflict over an expansion project at the National Gallery that its neighbor argues will obscure its views of the city. “We have not received a briefing on the scheme from the National Gallery, but would welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively with them to address our concerns,” a statement from the National Portrait Gallery reads. (more…)
Collector couple Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova have split, the New York Post’s Page Six reports. “We are committed to jointly raising our two children. We will also continue to work together as co-founders of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow and the New Holland Island cultural center in Saint Petersburg,” the couple said in a joint statement. (more…)
Julie Mehretu is profiled in the New York Times this week, as the artist takes the paper to view the monumental new commission for SFMoMA she is currently working on in an abandoned Harlem church. The piece was inspired by early American landscape painting. “I was attracted to these landscape paintings that were trying to describe a really intense moment historically, of what this country was becoming, on all these different levels,” she says. (more…)
MoMA has promoted Michelle Elligott to serve as chief of archives, library, and research collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, a position that sees Elligott continue a long and prestigious career as an archivist at the museum. “The breadth of the extraordinary research collections that document the history of modern art and diverse artistic practices [at MoMA] are a vital resource for museum staff and researchers from around the world,” she said in a statement. “It is my great privilege to lead the efforts to promote this unique content and cultivate scholarship, while at the same time working collaboratively to dramatically increase access to these resources for the general public alike.” (more…)
Despite strong auction outings and a major record auction for Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sotheby’s posted quarterly earnings for Q2 that were down 14% from last year. “Overall, the quarter was solid and I’m confident more growth will come both as the market improves and as our investments begin to yield returns,” Sotheby’s CEO Tad Smith said in a call to investors. (more…)
Continuing a string of defaced works and thefts at Skulptur Project Münster, technical equipment related to the work of artist Koki Tanaka was stolen from a building housing his work in the city. “As soon as new technology can be installed, the location will be reopened,” the organizers said in a statement. (more…)
Harold Williams, who served as founding president of J. Paul Getty Trust, has passed away at the age of 89. Williams was instrumental in the Trust’s growth over its first 17 years, and remained an instrumental force in the Los Angeles arts community for years after leaving his post. “The Getty today — its global reach and its Southern California presence — is a legacy of Harold M. Williams,” says Maria Hummer-Tuttle, chairwoman of the Getty Trust’s board of directors. (more…)
The Met Museum has turned over an ancient bull’s head that was on loan to the museum, after prosecutors alleged that the work may have been looted from a Lebanese storage area in the 1980’s during the country’s civil war. “Upon a Met curator’s discovery that this item on loan may have been stolen from government storage during the Lebanese civil war, the museum took immediate action,” the museum said in a statement. “We contacted the Lebanese government and the lender, we took the item off display, and we have been working with federal and state authorities, which recently involved delivering the head of the bull to the Manhattan D.A. upon its request.” (more…)
The Indonesian-Chinese collector Budi Tek has been awarded with France’s highest honor, the Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur, for serving as a vital cultural link between France and China. Tek’s Yuz Museum has frequently worked as an advocate of Asian art in French institutions, and sponsored Zeng Fanzhi’s solo exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 2013. (more…)
As the Crystal Bridges Museum turns five, Art News speaks to its staff, and profiles the museum’s plans for the coming years, especially that of Lauren Haynes, a former curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and specialist in African-American modern art. “We’re definitely in a growth mode, and I think we’ll develop an innovative interplay between these projects and those in the new industrial facility. It’s understood in all of this that I’m very committed to artists of color, and to telling a broader story of America as seen through the visual arts,” she says of her work. (more…)
The Bass Museum in Miami Beach has acquired a fossilized gas pump by American-Cuban artist duo Allora & Calzadilla, the first major installation by the group in a Miami art museum. “I saw one of their petrol pumps a few years ago and was struck by how timely the work was. It discusses issues that the whole world is going through,” says Silvia Karman Cubiña, the director and chief curator of the Bass. (more…)