Richard Serra has been named the 2015 WSJ Art Innovator of the Year, and is profiled in the magazine discussing his practice, and the recent completion of his work East-West/West-East in the deserts of Qatar. “A lot of people wanted to reduce sculpture to object making,” says art critic and historian Hal Foster, “but he reclaimed sculpture for space making.” (more…)
In a letter to stakeholders this morning, ArtPrize has announced that it will be withdrawing from its first attempt at a franchised event outside of Grand Rapids, MI, and that ArtPrize Dallas will no longer be taking place. “During the process of planning and working with stakeholders it became clear that many were thrilled and excited to see new avenues of growth and opportunity for all,” the organization wrote. “Despite the visionary understanding of our supporters, there were a few who saw the concept as threatening to the status quo.” (more…)
The Art Newspaper looks at the increased rates of giving by wealthy collectors to museums in recent years, and questions the motives, speculating whether increased philanthropy is merely a cover for ever-larger tax write-offs. “Every donor I’ve ever worked with has been interested in the tax incentives and implications of their philanthropy,” says Scott Stover, head of philanthropy advisory Global Art Development. (more…)
Blue Checkers, a recent painting by artist and director Harmony Korine, has been stolen from the lobby walls of Soho’s Puck Building this week. The work is valued at $120,000, and was shown in the artist’s last show with Gagosian Gallery on Park Ave. (more…)
Artist Jonas Mekas has received an apology from lawyer Gerald Harris over his 1963 prosecution for obscenity, following Mekas’s screening of Jack Smith’s iconic avant-garde film Flaming Creatures. “I feel I owe you an apology,” Mr. Harris wrote. “Although my appreciation of free expression and aversion to censorship developed more fully as I matured, I should have sooner acted more courageously.” (more…)
The Whitney Museum has named Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks as the co-curators for the 2017 Biennial, first Biennial presented in the Whitney’s new building in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. “Every Whitney Biennial is a galvanizing process for the Museum, a tradition that goes back to the institution’s roots while retaining its freshness and immediacy,” says Director Adam D. Weinberg. “Endeavoring to gauge the state of art in America today, the Biennial demands curators who are attuned to the art of the current moment and there is no question that Chris Lew and Mia Locks have their fingers on the pulse.” (more…)
Joe Bradley is reportedly leaving Gavin Brown’s Enterprise and Eva Presenhuber for Gagosian Gallery, the Observer reports. The news comes on the heels of the artist’s inclusion in last year’s Forever Now painting show at MoMa, and a recent profile in W Magazine. (more…)
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC has launched initial talks with the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art over a the possibility of borrowing works from the Iranian museum’s collection. “We have received a number of requests,” said Ehsan Aghaei, deputy director of the museum. (more…)
The Guggenheim has launched its first online arts initiative, the Ã…zone Futures Market, which allows participants to play an imagined market influenced by the emergence of various new technologies, including innovations in space travel and green energy. “I see the museum as a machine for making sense of history for a public audience, both distant histories and those unfolding in the present” says curator Troy Conrad Therrien. “For museums to fulfill their mandate in this environment, they need to experiment with new types of exhibitions to address contemporary issues that will shape our future.” (more…)
The Italian culture ministry is making moves to classify museums and historical sites in the country as “essential services,” limiting workers’ rights to strike, and complicating already tense relations between the organization and union workers. “It is a question of whether the strike call responds to the need to protect workers, or if it is nothing but the continuation of an arm wrestle between the unions and the government over culture, to the detriment of consumers,” Roberto Alesse, the president of the Commissione di Garanzia per gli Scioperi, which acts as arbitrator between the unions and the government, said of recent clashes between the sites. (more…)
The Telegraph notes the increased popularity of the Impressionist and Modern sales this week in New York, as a strong trove of works shifts focus away from the recently popular Contemporary auctions, charting over $1 billion in pre-sale estimates among the three major auction house. (more…)
MoMA has announced that it will be moving over to a timed-ticket program for its blockbuster Picasso Sculpture exhibition, currently on view. “The reaction to the exhibition has been overwhelmingly positive,” Margaret Doyle, a spokeswoman for the museum, says, “so we anticipate that it will grow during the busy holiday season.” (more…)
The Washington Post notes Director Melissa Chiu’s unprecedented fundraising since taking her position as head the Hirshhorn last year, having raised $1.55 million from this year’s museum fundraiser gala (a tally several times higher than the museum has ever achieved), held in New York City. “I would characterize my first year as doing all the tough foundational work that is largely invisible to the public,” Chiu says. (more…)
Ai Weiwei has begun his three-year tenure as a visiting professor at Berlin’s University of the Arts this month, and introduced himself to the student body with some unique musings on the nature and definition of art. “It’s a bit like with sex,” Ai told the gathered audience this week. “One can have a lot of experience, and nevertheless find it extremely difficult to define.” (more…)
Doris Salcedo is the recipient of the Nasher Sculpture Center’s first $100,000 Nasher Prize. “Through her use of meaningful, everyday materials, often in unexpected and socially-charged public spaces in her native Colombia and elsewhere around the world, Doris Salcedo has created a body of work that is both aesthetically striking and politically resonant,” says Nasher Sculpture Center director Jeremy Strick. (more…)
The Rodin Museum is spearheading the sales of newly cast bronze sculptures from the artist’s original molds, in an effort to finance a $17.7 million restoration of the Left Bank exhibition space. “They don’t have many more big pieces, because most editions are sold out,” says Gilles Perrault, an art expert for France’s high court. “They may have a few more examples left. But today, what the Rodin museum makes are mostly little pieces and variations.” (more…)
An article in Vanity Fair traces the controversies of the Taubman family in recent years as patriarch Alfred Taubman’s estate goes to auction at Sotheby’s this week, including a note on the estate’s inflated guarantee. “Bobby [Taubman] is a board member; he’s supposed to increase shareholder value,” says one anonymous insider. “It’s going to be very hard for Sotheby’s to earn out that guarantee.” (more…)
The Wall Street Journal notes an increasing number of collectors donating works to smaller non-profits and institutions like hospitals, in an effort to have these works kept in public view rather than sitting in museum storage, and points to the increased benefits these works have on patients and visitors. “Studies have shown that artwork helps to reduce stress and boredom, reduces blood pressure and increases white-blood-cell count, all of which are factors in the healing process,” says Jessica R. Finch, art program manager at Boston Children’s Hospital (more…)
The WSJ investigates the occasionally opaque practice of art gallery waiting lists, which it points out are often used to sort buyers and build relationships, or to help sell works which are still held in inventory. “They may make you buy works by other artists they represent, pieces they haven’t been able to sell and which you may not like,” says Pace Gallery President Marc Glimcher. “They may say, ‘We’ll let you buy a work you want, but you’ll also have to buy one to donate to a museum, and we’ll tell you which museum.’” (more…)
The Financial Times profiles Ed Ruscha this week, as the artist opens a new show at Sprüth Magers in Berlin. “Things that catch my attention are things that are usually negligible or forgotten, or overlooked or denigrated in some way or another,” he says. (more…)
The EU has stepped down on its proposed ban of cadmium paint pigments, after studies showed that the type of cadmium used in the paints were not as harmful as previously reported. “While we discussed the technical case for cadmium pigments, many artists were passionately able to stress the economic and artistic importance of cadmiums as they uniquely bring warmth, light, strength and color to paintings to stand the test of time,” says Rachel Volpé of Spectrum Paints. (more…)
A new drama produced by Sony Television for its Crackle streaming-unit will focus on the competitive nature of the contemporary auction house. the New York Times reports. The Art of More premieres on November 19th, and will star Dennis Quaid, Kate Bosworth and Cary Elwes. “Because of these high prices, it’s seen as a very glamorous place — the drama of auctions, the high spectacle of it,” says Christie’s Brett Gorvy. “We’ve got $100 million paintings, celebrities in the auction room — a DiCaprio — a cattle call of names, the sense that the art market is a very sexy place, a lot of conniving and innuendo that might be part of this. I’m not surprised it makes for a TV program.” (more…)
The Bruce High Quality Foundation University has announced a joint fundraiser and art exhibition for next week, titled Arcadia, and featuring an impressive lineup of performers including Francis and the Lights, and LE1F, and a body of work inspired by painter Nicholas Poussin, as well as a new entry in the Absolut Art Bar series, designed by Bruce High Quality Foundation. The party and opening takes place on Nov. 5th. (more…)