A letter by Vincent Van Gogh gushing to critic Albert Aurier over a review of one of his shows is on view at the Van Gogh Museum, The Guardian reports. “I rediscover my canvases in your article, but better than they really are – richer, more significant,” Van Gogh wrote. (more…)
The Getty Research Institute has appointed Pietro Rigolo as its assistant curator of modern and contemporary collections, Art News reports. “I am looking forward to joining my colleagues in implementing and diversifying our collections, envisaging new ways to present such relevant holdings, produce new knowledge, and engage our global public of researchers, students, and local communities throughout Southern California,” Rigolo said in a statement. (more…)
The Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston will unveil a new MassArt Art Museum in February 2020, Art News reports, funded in part by Pace founder Arne Glimcher. “Our primary goal has always been to show what’s new and to make contemporary art accessible to everyone, and the MassArt Art Museum will make that truly possible,” says Lisa Tung executive director of the school’s Bakalar & Paine Galleries. “Our artists will also feel supported to realize their vision, and our students will be invited into the process to learn from the professional artists they aspire to be.” (more…)
Japanese collector Yusaku Maezawa, the buyer of a selection of Basquiat works in recent years, is selling some of his collection this year, raising concerns about his future commitment to the market. “Yes, I have no money. I spend it so quickly,” he said on Twitter this week. (more…)
MOCA LA head Klaus Biesenbach has named Mia Locks, curator of the 2017 Whitney Biennial, senior curator and head of new initiatives of the institution, beginning in July. “As a contemporary art museum, MOCA needs to anticipate and respond to the world around us, and Mia will help us to lead efforts to support the issues that artists care about most,” Biesenbach said in a statement. “For example, museums have to address pressing issues of equity and inclusion, and climate and ecology, among others. I know Mia will help bring attention to these issues and support MOCA in being a responsible citizen among citizens.” (more…)
Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County have invested $620 million in a renovation of the circa-1957 Miami Beach Convention Center, including a massive program of public art, part of the city’s attempt to redefine itself in the wake of its art fair explosion. “For all of the fairs in New York—Frieze, Armory, Independent, antique shows, et cetera—I think New York would survive perfectly well without them. L.A. is always trying to get in on the action,” says Jonathan Schwartz CEO of Atelier 4. “Only Miami seems to have actually been transformed by the art-fair phenomenon.” (more…)
Artist Tamara Dean has won the $50,000 Moran contemporary photographic prize has for her image Endangered, part of a series which explores climate change and the Great Barrier Reef. (more…)
Christoph Buchel will stage a show in Venice this year, showing a fishing boat that sank in the Mediterranean, killing 800 people. The artist has frequently courted controversy with his work, challenging nationalist and right-wing politics with pieces based around the plight of migrants and other marginalized peoples. (more…)
Financier David Martinez is selling Andy Warhol’s Double Elvis [Ferus Type] and Frank Stella’s Point of Pines from 1959 at Christie’s in New York this month, anticipating sales of $100 million for the two pieces. The Warhol is already carrying a third-party guarantee. (more…)
The Saatchi Gallery has covered up two paintings in a show by the artist SKU that incorporated the text of the shahada, one of the five pillars of Islam following protest from visitors. “It seemed a respectful solution that enables a debate about freedom of expression versus the perceived right not to be offended,” the artist said in a statement. (more…)
The Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) and has named its list of curators receiving 2019 Awards for Excellence. “For 15 years, curators have recognized the trailblazing achievements of their peers through our annual Awards for Excellence,” Judith Pineiro, executive director of AAMC and AAMC Foundation, said in a statement. “It is a privilege to celebrate this year’s awardees who, through their work, have fostered dynamic dialogue and broader engagement in the arts.” (more…)
Venice, via Art Observed
With the summer months looming and the cities of Europe emerging from the gloom of the continent’s winter season, the month of May marks the opening of the the 58th edition of the Venice Biennale, the crown jewel of the art world’s circuit of international art exhibitions and curated projects. Having run for over one hundred years, the annual exhibition stands among the most important and iconic of shows, filling the Most Serene Republic and its winding streets and alleys with countless shows and projects alongside the main exhibitions at the Arsenale and Giardini. In just a week’s time, the fair will open its doors, and announce the prizes for its best pieces and artists, setting the stage for new artworld stars to blossom under the eye of its jury.
Zach Martin at Fisher Parrish, via Art Observed
For the last few years, NADA has been instrumental in pushing new strategies and concepts for the exhibition and presentation of work in a fair context, exploring alternatives and options to the large-scale fair model in a market environment that has proved increasingly challenging for smaller art spaces. Enter NADA House, an opportunity for NADA members to stage a group show in an intimate and unusual setting on Governors Island. The organization’s second off-site exhibition on Governors Island, the show features 45 artists from NADA Member galleries and non-profits in a new, expanded format across 34 rooms in three historic, turn-of-the-century Colonial Revival houses. With only one or two artists on display in each room, NADA House reflects the camaraderie intrinsic to NADA’s mission, and exemplifies the organization’s adaptive approach to finding new models to present work from its community. (more…)
Artists Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock, Tai Shani and Oscar Murillo have been tapped for this year’s iteration of the Turner Prize, a group of artists marking a challenging continuation of the prize’s engagement with politically active work. (more…)
Richard Hughes, via Art Observed
With the bustling, distributed selection of fairs and exhibition programs spread around New York City over the course of the week, it’s hard to imagine another iteration of the art fair model making a mark on Frieze Week in New York. Yet that’s just what the Object & Thing Fair aims to do, taking over the raw industrial halls of 99 Scott on the borders of Bushwick, East Williamsburg and Ridgewood aims to do. The fair, founded by former Frieze Artistic Director Abby Bangser, is an intriguing reimagining of the art fair, a sort of junior TEFAF that unites art objects, design pieces, furniture and other work under an open-format exhibition plan. Rather than providing the galleries participating with booths, the objects offered are arranged about the space, the result being an imminently browsable, engaging experience. What’s more, the fair is based around a commission model, experimenting with ways to make fairs more affordable and flexible.
Peter Shire via Art Observed
Maurizio Cattelan’s America (2016), an 18-karat-gold toilet, will be shown at the Blenheim Palace later this year. “Maurizio Cattelan has been producing groundbreaking work for decades, so it is a proud moment for us to present his first UK solo show in twenty years,” says Michael Frahm, the director of the Blenheim Art Foundation. “As the first artwork to be announced, America sets the tone for what should be a bold, exciting and thought-provoking show.” (more…)
After a public outcry, the Turner prize and its 2019 sponsor, Stagecoach, have parted ways. The deal had come under fire over Stagecoach head Sir Brian Souter’s campaigns against gay marriage. “Turner Contemporary and Tate’s highest priority is to show and celebrate artists and their work,” a statement reads. “The Turner prize celebrates the creative freedoms of the visual arts community and our wider society. By mutual agreement, we will not proceed with Stagecoach South East’s sponsorship of this year’s prize.” (more…)
Trevor Paglen has penned a piece on his Orbital Reflector project, which will no longer be tracked in outer space. “If the project’s goal was to provoke a conversation about the politics of space, it has been nothing less than a stellar success,” he says. “And the story of OR has become an embodiment of those politics: the Trump administration’s insistence on building a wall between the United States and Mexico led to the demise of a spacecraft whose purpose was to questions these very kinds of politics.” (more…)
A sketch of a bearded man from the collection of the Royal Family has been identified as a rare portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci, Art Newspaper reports. “It is hard to avoid the conclusion that [the ink portrait] is also an image of Leonardo, sketched rapidly by a pupil while Leonardo was in France in the last couple of years of his life,” says Martin Clayton, the head of prints and drawings at the Royal Collection Trust. (more…)
Manifesta 2022 has been announced, and will take place in Prishtina, Kosovo. “The cultural, legal, and political paralysis of the 1990s resulted in a loss of sense of public space and a lack of recognition for what is common,” says Hedwig Fijen, Manifesta’s director. “I wish Manifesta can provide Pristina the means to reconstruct, redefine, and reclaim a radicalized and diverse public space, which still seems to be today regarded as a cultural subversive act, which can become a call for change.” (more…)
The Harvey Quaytman Trust is now represented worldwide by Blum & Poe Gallery, in collaboration with Van Doren Waxter, Art News reports. The Los Angeles headquarters of the gallery will stage a show of the artist’s work this fall. (more…)
Jutta Koether is will now be represented by Lévy Gorvy. The news came from Koether’s previous gallery, Bortolami, which sent out an announcement this week. “We are inspired by Jutta Koether’s unique approach to painting,” Dominique Lévy said in a release. “She is a rare artist who has her roots in a deep European tradition and yet profoundly belongs to a very meaningful group of American artists.” (more…)
The estate of Chris Burden has named Yayoi Shionoiri as its first executive director. She will also work as the executive director of the studio of Nancy Rubins, the late artist’s wife. Shionoiri previously worked at Artsy as general counsel and head of Asia strategy. (more…)
