CBS profiles painter Georg Baselitz this week, as the artist opens his show at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. “There’s some sort of irritation, the view of them, and that’s intentional,” he says of his work. “When you’re irritated, you pay closer attention.” (more…)

Artist Martin Puryear has been picked to represent the United States at the 2019 Venice Biennale, a reliable source has told ARTnews. The news was echoed publically by Jerry Saltz, who wrote on Twitter: “I glean in the tea-leaves for the next American Pavilion at next Spring’s Venice Biennale: American sculptor Martin Puryear will represent the United States. An abundant bloom.” (more…)

The Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo gets a profile this week in CityLab, as the museum’s continued focus on public art projects has spread throughout the city. “The Albright-Knox, it’s such a big part of Buffalo. We’re the sixth-oldest museum in the country. Period. We’re the oldest museum dedicated to modern and contemporary work. We’re essentially the oldest museum in America that’s not encyclopedic, so people are really familiar with us as a cultural beacon,” says Aaron Ott, the museum’s Public Art curator. “But the public art initiative is now only on its fourth year. In the long history of the institution, we’ve started something that’s only taken up a wee little bit of it, but people have responded well to it so far.” (more…)

Bloomberg profiles the challenges facing Chinese art dealers and importers of Chinese art and artifacts as President Trump’s trade war with China heats up, noting the cost of tariffs on importing and selling work. “If everything is slapped with a 25 percent tariff, it’s actually going to do a disservice to people here in the U.S.,” says Daniel Chen, director of Chambers Fine Art gallery in New York. “Who are they trying to punish?” (more…)

The NYT looks at recent efforts by institutions to focus increasingly on diversity, pushing for additional funds to increase the number of professional curators and museum administrators of color. “American museums need to do a better job of hiring, cultivating, retaining and promoting curators of color,” says Akili Tommasino, curatorial assistant at MoMA. “People of color don’t have exposure to arts as viable careers.” (more…)

David Zwirner has appointed curator and instagram-influencer Elena Soboleva as the gallery’s first online sales director. “Understandably, it took some time to find someone both experienced in online sales and sensitive to the priorities of our gallery, programming, and artists,” Zwirner said in a statement. (more…)

Han-I Wang has been named a senior director of Gagosian in Hong Kong, Art News reports, leaving Christie’s to take the post. “I felt the stars aligned,” Wang says, “but I could not have gotten here if it weren’t for Christie’s.” (more…)

Tina Knowles Lawson, the mother of Solange and Beyonce Knowles, gives Kimberly Drew a tour of her art collection, reflecting on her tastes and focus on African-American art. “When my kids were growing up, it was really important to me that they saw images of African-Americans,” Lawson says. “I’m so happy that I did, because both of them are really aware of their culture, and I think a lot of that had to do with looking at those images every day, those strong images.” (more…)

Ten Pablo Picasso works are among the pieces discovered during a reappraisal of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art’s holdings, the Art Newspaper reports.     (more…)

Sculptor B. Wurtz is featured in the NYT this week, discussing the selection of Eames chairs he has collected and restored over the course of his life. “I have this fascination with Eames because I associate them with California, which is where I grew up,” he says. “And because they wanted to make nicely designed furniture that people could afford.” (more…)

The Kunststiftung NRW foundation in Germany has named the shortlist for the 2018 Nam June Paik Award, which includes a €25,000 prize. The nominees are Andreas Angelidakis, Melanie Bonajo, Antoine Catala, Hanne Lippard, and Sondra Perry.  (more…)

Sotheby’s has reported a $57.3 million net income in the second quarter of 2018—a decrease of $19.6 million from last year, it noted in its call to investors this morning. “Overall,”CEO Tad Smith said, “these results were lower than we expected. At the same time, management and the board are excited as ever about the company’s prospects going forward.” (more…)

The Bass in Miami Beach has acquired major work by Sandford Biggers, Lawrence Weiner, and more, Artofurm reports. “Continuing to grow and expand The Bass’s permanent collection is a vital part of our commitment to presenting international contemporary art to our audiences,” says director and chief curator Silvia Cubina. (more…)

Munich’s Haus der Kunst has cancelled its exhibition of the touring Joan Jonas retrospective, citing financial difficulties. All attempts at securing last minute funding have failed, leaving the institution without the resources to open the show.  (more…)

Nicole Eisenman has won the 2020 Suzanne Deal Booth/FLAG Art Foundation Prize, which includes a $200,000 cash award. “I would describe her as being one of the most important painters of our generation,” says Louis Grachos, the executive director and chief executive of the Contemporary Austin. “Part of the excitement we have for this prize is it’s so focused on the artist’s ability to create new work.” (more…)

Cheim & Read will host a fundraiser for NY gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon on August 14, Art News reports. “We believe in Cynthia Nixon’s platform and would like to lend our support at this critical time in American politics,” the gallery told says. (more…)

Simon Shaw has been named vice chairman of Sotheby’s global fine art division, Art News reports. Shaw was behind the record $157.2 million sale of Amedeo Modigliani’s 1917 painting Nu couché (sur le côté gauche). (more…)

Shirin Neshat, Mickalene Thomas, and Carrie Mae Weems, among others, will create a series of video works for Planned Parenthood’s new campaign, Unstoppable. “In the darkest hours, the struggle is to keep on pushing, to keep on advancing, to rebel and to protest, to lift our voices against all forms of injustice as we attempt to address the wrongs of the past, to move to higher ground and to hold on tighter to hope, to one another and to love,” Weems said in a statement. (more…)

Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery has clamped down on “illegal” tours of its halls, with a side effect being museum guards reprimanding everyday visitors discussing the works. “We were exchanging views about the paintings, naturally we asked each other questions,” says University professor Maxim Shevchenko. “Suddenly we were approached by a guard who said it was prohibited to lead tours without accreditation.” (more…)

An artwork featuring a list of 34,361 refugees and migrants who have lost their lives trying to reach Europe has been destroyed in the city of Liverpool. Artist Banu CennetoÄŸlu has produced this list for several years, with this iteration installed for the Liverpool Biennial.  “It is timely and important to make The List public during a global refugee crisis,” the exhibition organizers said in a statement. “We were dismayed to see it had been removed on Saturday night and would like to know why. The List has been met with critical acclaim and we are doing everything we can to reinstate it.” (more…)

In a major announcement, Klaus Biesenbach will head west to serve as the next director of MOCA Los Angeles, the LA Times reports. “He’s a total visionary,” MOCA board president Maria Seferian said. “He’s an incredible museum executive. He’s innovative. He’s done it all.” (more…)

Robert Indiana’s estate is the subject of an in-depth piece in the NYT this week, examining the influence the late artist’s caretaker has exerted over the control of his works and images, and may have driven the production of a series of works attributed to the artist that have raised questions over their authenticity. “I would be surprised,” says scholar John Wilmerding, “if any serious and informed Indiana critic or writer would accept these works, in my opinion.” (more…)

The Guardian notes that the Trump Administration has still not named its pick for next year’s Venice Biennale, and looks at the consistently icy relationship between the President and the art world. “Trump seems utterly confused in even defining the word culture,” says Virginia Shore, former chief curator of the state department’s Art in Embassies program. (more…)

Los Angeles–based dealer and collector Stefan Simchowitz will open a semi-permanent exhibition space in a former newsstand in the city, Art News reports. “Newsstands are all going out of business,” Simchowitz says. “It’s kind of tragic, because a newsstand, if you think about it, is almost like the last holdout of cultural diversity and complexity. It’s an environment where you have special interests and different interests represented, different subcultures represented, and they’re just going out of business, effectively.” (more…)