The Art Newspaper charts the damage and financial cost of the recent government shutdown faced by federal museums and arts institutions. “I think that’s the biggest loss—the public-facing piece,” says Melissa Chiu, the director of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. (more…)

The New York Times spotlights the upcoming Frieze New York sculpture show set to open next month at Rockefeller Center in the run-up to Frieze New York.  “The plaza gets half a million people through it every day,” says Loring Randolph, the artistic director of the Americas for Frieze Art Fairs. “There couldn’t be a better place for the artists to have better exposure.” (more…)

The NYT sits painter Stanley Whitney down with theater director Joe Mantello to discuss their respective arts and visions this week. “A signature style is a very odd thing now,” Whitney says. “It’s not something people really think is a good idea anymore. They feel it’s a limitation.” (more…)

The New York Times reports on a Willem de Kooning work stolen in 1985 and recovered in 2017, stating that it will be shown off before being sent for restoration. “The F.B.I. has kept this an open case,” says Olivia Miller, the University of Arizona Museum of Art’s curator of exhibition. “The painting has been at the museum but it was still considered evidence, so it wasn’t allowed to leave until this past November.” (more…)

A piece in The Art Newspaper looks at recent moves by collector Budi Tek in Los Angeles, and asks if the collector might be branching out towards new exhibition ventures. The collector recently posted a photo of himself online looking at a raw space on Chongming Island.  (more…)

Curator Larry Ossei-Mensah is profiled in the NYT this week, as he reflects on his current curatorial vision and interests in artists working today. “People who are looking to instigate a conversation that might not be in the mainstream, voices that might not always have a platform. Because I look at a lot of art all the time, I see a lot of shows, but then there are the things that stimulate me because it’s historic or an artist who is trying to break the form,” he says. (more…)

Artist Eric N. Mack has claimed that his work Halter (2019), a large-scale sculpture featuring patterned fabrics draped over a disused gas station near the Salton Sea for the Desert X show, has disappeared. “As I process the loss of this artwork that I and many others worked tirelessly to realize, I am only pacified by knowing that many visitors experienced and appreciated it as it was,” the artist said. “While the violence and hate enacted on this installation is astounding, I will not allow for this disregard to become a gesture that obstructs nor defines this work of art.” (more…)

Ian Cheng, BOB (Detail), via Gladstone

Currently on view at Gladstone Gallery’s New York City gallery, artist Ian Cheng is giving the world premiere of his new work BOB (Bag of Beliefs), the first of a series of artificial lifeforms created by the artist.  BOB is presented as an evolving, chimeric serpent, twisting and moving on-screen in a manner that sees him both learning from, and failing in, his new digital environment.  Long a devotee of simulations and learning environments, BOB advances Cheng’s use of these modes to focus on one’s capacity to deal with surprise: the subjective difference between expectations and perception. (more…)

The New York Times has a piece this week on the ever-expanding holdings of major museums, and the experimentation with their collections that curators are undertaking.  “There is this inevitable march where you have to build more storage, more storage, more storage,” says Charles L. Venable, the director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. “I don’t think it’s sustainable.” (more…)

Kara Walker will create the Tate Modern’s next commission for its Turbine Hall, The Guardian reports.  “Kara Walker fearlessly tackles some of the most complex issues we face today,” says Frances Morris, the museum’s director. Her work addresses history and identity with a powerful directness, but also with great understanding, nuance and wit. Seeing her respond to the industrial scale of the Turbine Hall – and the wider context of London and British history – is a hugely exciting proposition.” (more…)

A piece in The Art Newspaper this week explores the increasingly vocal activism of museum employees as they try and unionize in the face of increasingly hostile work situations, even as museums continue to grow and expand. “The industry is so decentralized, it’s really hard for it be unionized,” says a member of the Art Handlers Alliance of New York (AHA-NY). “You have this pyramid of inequity that goes all the way from collector down to art handler, where there’s pressure from all different places, and everyone wants everything right away.” (more…)

Sir John Richardson, the British art historian and critic whose expansive work on Pablo Picasso earned him high-praise as a master of documentation and research, has passed away at the age of 95. “It must have been hell to be his child or his mistress but to his friends he was beguiling,” Richardson said of the artist. “There was never a dull moment.” (more…)

Christie’s will offer the collection of patron Drue Heinz in its New York Evening Sales this May, including an Amedeo Mogidliani Lunia Czechowska (à la robe noire), valued at $18 Million. “These pictures tell the story of Drue Heinz and her passion for creativity,” says Jessica Fertig, Christie’s head of Impressionist and modern art evening sales. “She certainly was well advised, but she positioned herself to see that she was buying what would be an exceptional collection. It included great moments, important moments, in each of these artists’ careers.” (more…)

Collector and real-estate developer Jorge M. Pérez has given $1.5 million to the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, Art News reports.  “I love that connection between Miami, Latin America, and Spain,” Pérez said. (more…)

Over a decade of research has proved that Michelangelo is the artist behind a terracotta model of his famed Pieta, the Telegraph reports. “It turned out to be the most documented terracotta statue of the Renaissance. We have a mountain of documents now. They were the last piece of the puzzle. The mystery is resolved,” says historian Roy Doliner. (more…)

David B. Smith, via Art Observed

With the annual return of The Armory Show to the Piers on the West Side of Manhattan, so too comes the annual opening of the SPRING/BREAK Art Show, the adventurous, curator-driven program that takes up space at a pop-up location for a week of compelling and unique exhibitions and projects.  The fair’s playful reputation and emphasis on young artists and curators welcomed a striking intersection of styles and practices, yet one that seemed to frequently play on witty inversion or twists on the banal.  Given the size and scale of the proceedings around it, SPRING/BREAK has edged out an impressive niche for itself among the bustle of Armory Week, a space where exploration and adventurousness seem to win out over the sales-focused proceedings of its bigger sister fairs around New York. One can only hope that this sense of the unexpected continues to sit at the core of its mission, offering a refreshing respite from the all too familiar fair fatigue of the week. (more…)

A piece in Bloomberg this week estimates that the show of Jean-Michel Basquiat works on view currently at the Brant Foundation includes arguably up to $1 billion in value. “He’s had such a meteoric rise, very much a Van Gogh figure,” Brant says of the artist. “How often do you have an artist who produces this kind of work in his 20s?” (more…)

Alexis Smith at Garth Greenan, via Art Observed

Marking its 10th anniversary this year, the Independent NY Art Fair has proven itself as something of a special case in the presentation of an art fair.  Smaller in scale and more focused in terms of its gallery selections, the fair’s presentation feels more like a presentation of a series of small gallery shows run side-by-side.  Offering a more nuanced, mellow browsing experience in conjunction with the fair’s invite-only exhibitor structure and immense glass windows, the fair has built a reputation as a boutique event with impressive draw, with this 10th year only driving that appeal home. (more…)

MoMA has tapped Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi as a curator in its department of painting and sculpture.  “I am honored to join MoMA as it continues the necessary task of telling an expansive and more inclusive story of 20th- and 21st-century art,” Nzewi said in a statement. “I look forward to collaborating with colleagues across departments in addressing historical gaps through purposeful acquisitions, advancing new programs and exhibitions that enrich our knowledge of global art, and, ultimately, in writing the next chapter in the history of this institution.” (more…)

The Venice Biennale has announced its artist list, with Korakrit Arunanondchai, Carol Bove and Ian Cheng among the list of artists included in this year’s edition, curated by Ralph Rugoff.  The exhibition runs from May 11 through November 24. (more…)

Artist Betty Tompkins gets a profile in The Guardian this week, as she looks back at her controversial body of work and its impact on the field of feminist art. “My work compared to an actual photorealist is lame. They’re interested in getting everything. I’m interested in getting just enough,” she says.  (more…)

David Hockney, Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott (1969), via Christie’s

Following a marathon week of openings and shows between New York and London, the first major Contemporary Evening Sales of 2019 are in the bag, with a trio of sales closing out the week in London with a market picture that seemed relatively strong.  No doubt clouded in some part by the uncertainty of the impending Brexit, the week’s sales still managed to achieve some impressive figures and strong sell-through rates, keeping the uncertainty of the following months alive in the British capital.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Apex (1986), via Sotheby’s (more…)

Performa is launching a new website platform that will feature live-streamed and archived performances from its festival.  “Special Offer [the design studio working with Performa] have embraced Performa’s role as a generator of ideas and producers of live artworks,” said Esa Nickle, the producing director of Performa. “They have created a space that will allow global audiences access to works from the Performa archives, alongside newly commissioned performances and live broadcasts, from anywhere in the world.” (more…)

The Armory Show has awarded its annual prizes to Charlie James Gallery of Los Angeles for its Presents Booth, and to Ryan Gander and Lisson for their Platform section install, among others.  (more…)