A piece in the Art Newspaper this week charts the ongoing conflicts at the Barnes Foundation, as an auction of material from the institution opens new wounds over the indenture of trust banning sales of works. “They don’t want to deal with what happened last time,” says alumnus Nicholas Tinari. “They’re shifting their mission, and I guess you like to do that as quietly as possible.” (more…)
Alex Israel, As It Lays 2, 2019 (Production still with Tom Hanks and Alex Israel) (2019), via Greene Naftali
On view at Greene Naftali’s exhibition space in Chelsea, the Los Angeles-based artist Alex Israel has put forth a selection of new works and a collection of videos that reflect on his practice idolizing and reflecting the dizzying landscape of the Californian metropolis. Trafficking in the seductive, aspirational imagery that characterizes his hometown, Israel’s practice regularly draws on the aesthetics and iconographies so often reserved for commerce and Hollywood, and turns them towards a sort of suspended sense of both propduction and self-mythologization. (more…)
Gavin Brown’s Enterprise has closed the branch it opened in Chinatown, saying in an email announcement, “We will miss the space and our neighbors.” (more…)
Marlborough Gallery is planning an expansion in Chelsea, which will consolidate the gallery’s various brands under one roof, Art News reports. “In today’s globalized market, the geographically-specific programming of the individual galleries no longer seems viable,” says Max Levai, who will supervise the new flagship. (more…)
Dr. Carmen Bambach, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has criticized Christie’s for suggesting she had attributed Salvator Mundi to Leonardo Da Vinci. “I have not wanted to answer because I do not want to be listed among people that said ‘yes’ because I wasn’t really asked what I thought about the Salvator Mundi at the time,” she says. “If my name is added to that list, it will be a tacit statement that I agree with the attribution to Leonardo. I do not.” (more…)
Paula Cooper now represents artist and filmmaker Ja’Tovia M. Gary, and will open a solo show there in spring 2020. “Ja’Tovia demonstrates a remarkable and incisive ability to explore ways in which place and time define our bodies and self,” Senior Director Steve Henry said. “Using a broad range of techniques including animation, documentary, and narration, she creates potent, and often unsettling collages of images and sound. We are ecstatic to be working with her.” (more…)
Hartley Waltman will serve as general counsel of the Americas for Phillips auction house, Art News reports. CEO Edward Dolman says Waltman “brings with him considerable expertise, sharp judgement, and a long track record of successfully negotiating high value art transactions and resolving complex disputes.” (more…)
Josh Smith, Emo Jungle (Installation View), via David Zwirner
Marking his first solo presentation with David Zwirner Gallery this month in New York, painter Josh Smith has unfurled a sprawling body of new work at the gallery’s Chelsea exhibition space, bringing together a range of new graphical gestures and classic explorations in pursuit of an ever-evolving visual language. (more…)
Christie’s will offer a 1913 work by Fernand Léger from the artist’s influential “contrastes des formes,” series this June in London, carrying an estimate of £25 million. “[The] contrastes des forms changed the direction of art as we know it,” says Jason Carey, Christie’s head of impressionist and modern art in London. With this series, executed between 1912 and 1914, Léger went beyond the Cubists and Futurists of the time by “completely deconstructing representation,” Carey says. (more…)
The New York Times has a piece this week on budget woes at the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion-Winning Lithuanian Pavilion, which have caused performances of the “beach opera” to be cut back to once a week. “Going into the vernissage week, we didn’t have enough money to guarantee us until the end of the Biennale, even performing once a week,” said curator Lucia Pietroiusti. (more…)
Seth Price, Self as Tube (Installation View), via Galerie Chantal Crousel
Marking an ongoing continuation and elaboration on his recent works dwelling on the body, shared and public space, production and the self, Seth Price has launched a show of new works on view at Galerie Chantal Crousel in Paris this month. Featuring a recent series of mixed media paintings and back-lit photographs, as well as a series of light-boxes and light tubes, the show continues Price’s recent work wrapping digital imagery around the bodies and the spaces they share, then translating those images to specific art contexts, forms, and functions.
The State Hermitage Museum is exploring a possible outpost in Saudi Arabia, Art Newspaper reports. The Museum is also looking to expand its footprint in the Crimea. (more…)
The Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Antiquities has stated intent to recover thousands of antiquities from the United States, including “5,500 artifacts from the Hobby Lobby company and 10,000 clay figurines from Cornell University as well as artifacts from the University of Pennsylvania.” (more…)
Lonnie G. Bunch III, the first head of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, will serve as the next secretary of the entire Smithsonian, the NYT reports. “I want to help it transform America,” he said. (more…)
Virginia Overton, Untitled (Cement Mixer/Water Fountain) (2019), via Bortolami
Marking her first solo outing with Bortolami Gallery, the American artist Virginia Overton has brought her unique blend of repurposed materials, ready-made sculptural interventions and a distinct sense of personal history to New York once again. The artist’s transformative capacities with raw materials and her enigmatic sense of shared purpose and convergent social spheres makes for a fascinating and wide-ranging body of work. (more…)
Sharis Alexandrian has joined Lévy Gorvy as its new senior director, following a seven-year run as director at White Cube. “What really drew me to Sharis is her fierce loyalty to the collectors and the clients she works with,” Lévy says. “She has their best interests at heart in a way that can at times mean fighting the gallery for the client, and I really appreciate that.” (more…)
The recently expanded Glenstone Museum, founded by the Rales family, gets a profile in Washington Post this month, examining its claims of public accessibility and vision of a new public art museum. (more…)
Marianne Boesky Gallery has tapped Bradford Waywell as senior director of sales and acquisitions, starting in September. “His keen eye and wide-ranging relationships with collectors, curators, and artists are incredible assets,” Boesky says. “With my vision to grow equally the gallery’s primary and secondary market business, I know Brad’s experience will prove invaluable.” (more…)
Robert Longo, Death Star 2018 (2018), via Metro Pictures
Over the past few years, Robert Longo’s work has grown increasingly preoccupied with the stature and language of the current American political crisis, exploring gun violence, political absenteeism, police oppression and a range of other cultural motifs indicative of our current political/cultural epoch. Marking a new entry in this ongoing investigation, the artist’s current show at Metro Pictures, Amerika, marks the beginning of a two-part exhibition by the artist and a continuation of his Destroyer Cycle series, an investigation into the politics of power, futility, and aggression. (more…)
Swiss-based MCH Group, which owns Art Basel, has sold its 25% stake in Art Dusseldorf to Sandy Angus and Tim Etchells of ArtHK, Art Newspaper reports. “It’s about giving a broader context to Art Düsseldorf through our contacts in Asia, but at the same time we are hoping to build a rapport with more German galleries, which might lead them into our Asian and other fairs,” Angus says. “Building confidence and relationships with galleries is key.” (more…)
Staff at the Louvre went on a daylong strike this past Monday, forcing the museum to close. The protest was over insufficient support for staff in the face of the museum’s massive number of daily visitors. “Due to a strike by reception and security staff linked to high visitor numbers, the Louvre will exceptionally be closed on Monday,” the museum said on Twitter. (more…)
A piece in The Guardian this week reports that the Louvre is not pursuing the Salvator Mundi for inclusion in a major Leonardo da Vinci show this year, as museum curators do not believe the work can be solely attributed to the artist.“If they did exhibit it … they would want to exhibit it as ‘workshop,’ says art historian and writer Ben Lewis. “If that’s the case, it will be very unlikely that it will be shown, because the owner can’t possibly lend it … the value will go down to somewhere north of $1.5m (£1.2m).” (more…)
A piece in The Guardian this week charts the damage caused by neglect and looting at many of Italy’s cultural and historical sites. “Anywhere else in the world, this site would have been transformed into a museum, attracting millions of visitors. And instead, there it is, a 6th-century BC treasure falling apart before our eyes,” says said Mimmo Macaluso, an EU researcher speaking of one site in San Marco. (more…)