Nan Goldin will turn down a retrospective of her work at Britain’s National Portrait Gallery if it accepts a gift of £1 million from the Sackler family, threatening to boycott the gallery over its involvement in the manufacture of OxyContin.  “I will not do the show,” Goldin says. “I have been invited to have a retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery and I have told them I would not do it if they take the Sackler money.” (more…)

Frank Stella is profiled in the NYT this week, showcasing his art collection and the group of works he will sell from it at Christie’s later this year.  “It’s nice to come home and look at paintings. I don’t have to look at my own paintings. To me, it’s a relief,” he says. “I like seeing them and not worrying. I don’t have to adjust anything.” (more…)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced that it has handed over a first-century BC gilded coffin to the Manhattan district attorney for return to the Egyptian government upon discovering the item was looted in 2011. “I can tell you that the provenance file we provided to the Metropolitan Museum, to my best knowledge, was absolutely correct,” says Paris-based dealer Christophe Kunicki, the source who sold the item to The Met. “We want to know what is happening because we don’t understand what is happening. It’s absolutely unbelievable–it’s a terrible surprise for us.” (more…)

Marlene Dumas, James Baldwin (2014), all images via Art Observed

Delving into the life and work of the monumental American writer James Baldwin, Hilton Als has taken another turn as a curator at David Zwirner Gallery, mounting an exhibition that both explores and critiques the artist’s career, and his complicated relationship to the political landscape and social conflicts of the United States. The show, following up on Als’s exploration of the work of Alice Neel, is a nuanced review of Baldwin’s connections between Paris and New York and its diverse art scenes, in conjunction with his own aesthetic longings beyond that of his writing. (more…)

Felix Art Fair, all images via Art Observed

For a city that has embraced its emergence onto the global arts stage in recent years, its still an impressive feat that Los Angeles’s first major market week would open with four well-curated and diverse events, perhaps even more impressive that each would manage to express such a unique vision and concept in relation to the broader fabric of the week.  From Frieze’s dynamic use of the Paramount Studios lots to SPRING/BREAK’s utilization of fruit stands downtown, the mixture of familiar forms in intriguing locales has helped define this whirlwind week in California.

Calvin Marcus at Clearing (more…)

Theo Triantafyllidis, Seamless (2017) at Transfer Gallery, all images via Art Observed

Opening up its own intriguing take on the landscape of Los Angeles and its ample supply of artists and galleries, SPRING/BREAK has brought its production to the City of Angels for the first time, launching a supplementary event that feels particularly resonant amid the hustle and bustle of Frieze week. (more…)

Junya Ishigami’s Pavilion Design

The design for the 2019 edition of the Serpentine Pavilion has been announced, with Japanese designer Junya Ishigami tapped to execute a light, illusory design appearing as if it was quite hefty and overpowering. “Possessing the weighty presence of slate roofs seen around the world, and simultaneously appearing so light it could blow away in the breeze, the cluster of scattered rock levitates, like a billowing piece of fabric,” his firm said in a statement. (more…)

John Baldessari at Marian Goodman, all images via Art Observed

As Thursday draws to a close, and the sun sets over the Pacific, the Frieze Los Angeles Art Fair has wrapped its first day of operation, closing on a a particularly strong and visually striking event that lived up to the anticipation many had afforded it. Installed around the enigmatic environs of the Paramount aquatic tank, the fair’s installation structure and emphasis on its normal uses lent the event a flair that likely will rarely be matched among the highest levels of the contemporary fair circuit.  Its strange inclusion of a massive painted skyline against the rows of booths made for a captivating comment on the land of make-believe so many afford the city as a characteristic.

Frieze Los Angeles

Ken Price, L.A Bowl (1991) at Mathew Marks (more…)

Rachel Eulena Williams, Ceysson & Bénètière

Opening the week of art fairs in Los Angeles, the VIP preview for Art Los Angeles Contemporary has gotten underway at the Santa Monica Airport this evening.  The tenth edition of the fair continues its place as a site for established and emerging galleries from around the world, with a strong focus on the city’s own arts communities.  Outdating the Frieze art fair by a full decade, ALAC has long been a centerpiece in the landscape of Los Angeles’s contemporary arts scene.  Now, the fair seems to have taken on a more boutique stature among the increasingly fragmented landscape of the city’s fair offerings. (more…)

Artist Theaster Gates and filmmaker Ava DuVernay will co-chair a new Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council for Prada, Art News reports.  “Prada is committed to cultivating, recruiting, and retaining diverse talent to contribute to all departments of the company. In addition to amplifying voices of color within the industry we will help ensure that the fashion world is reflective of the world in which we live, and we are thrilled to be working with longtime collaborators Ava DuVernay and Theaster Gates on this important initiative,” the company said in a statement. (more…)

Serial art thief Stéphane Breitwieser the has been arrested again in Alsace. He has been under surveillance since 2016, and was found with â‚¬163,000 in cash stored in buckets at his mother’s house. (more…)

Artsy has alerted users to a potential data breach on its site, exposing information to hackers. “We have no evidence that commercial or financial information was involved, and to date we have not received reports from Artsy users of actual or attempted fraud as a result of this incident,” an alert email read.  (more…)

Lehmann Maupin now represents Helen Pashgian, an artist associated with the Light and Space movement.  “I cannot express how much it means to have Helen join the gallery,” says David Maupin. “My roots in Los Angeles have kept me tied to this generation of artists, who are among my earliest and most lasting influences in how I look at art.” (more…)

Dealer Mary Boone has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for tax avoidance.  “I feel like a pariah,” she said. “I promise to be the best person that I can and to do good and affect lives in a positive way.”  (more…)

Drawing Center curator Laura Hoptmann and painter Verne Dawson are profiled in the NYT’s ‘Show Us Your Wall’ series, showcasing a collection of works built up from a lifetime in the art world. “I never spent more than $20 on a work. This odd vase [with a damaged octopus on the front] I bought for 5 euros on a stoop sale in Paris and I’ve probably made 20 different paintings of it,” Dawson says. (more…)

Art Basel has revealed the exhibitor list for the 2019 edition of its flagship fair, with 290 galleries from 34 different countries participating, including 19 first-time exhibitors. (more…)

The WSJ looks at the upcoming week in Los Angeles, and asks if the city is ready for a step onto the stage of the global art market. “Los Angeles has never had that choke-point week where the auction houses and galleries get the art world’s undivided attention, and we sell big,” says Muys Snijders, U.S. head of postwar and contemporary art for Bonhams, which does hold auctions in the city. “We’re clearly looking to see if Frieze L.A. could become that pinnacle.” (more…)

Nari Ward gets a profile in New York Magazine this week, as he opens his show at the New Museum.  “With these shows we want to celebrate the artist, but there also has to be a bit of an argument to be made,” says curator Massimiliano Gioni says. “And the argument we felt could be made about his work was also how he participated in a generation at the beginning of the ’90s, which was part of the beginning of the internationalism of art.” (more…)

Inside Philanthropy looks inside the fundraising for The Shed this week, charting the impressive amount of money raised for such a daring architectural and artistic project. The piece cites “a small group of visionary individual and corporate leaders—led by the indomitable Dan Doctoroff [its board chair],” according to Chief Development Officer Margaret Pomeroy Hunt, “who believe in the unique mission of The Shed: to commission original works of art across all disciplines for all audiences.” (more…)

Axel Rüger, head of Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum for more than a decade, has been appointed as the new head of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Guardian reports. “I am excited about the opportunity to join at this critical moment and to work to tell great stories through ambitious and varied exhibitions, innovative programs and debate and, more generally, to make the RA, its activities and collections even more accessible to audiences from around the globe,” he says. (more…)

The Liverpool Biennial has named FatoÅŸ Ãœstek, director and chief curator of the David Roberts Art Foundation, as its next director. “Through ten editions, Liverpool Biennial has gained a reputation for being one of the most important contemporary art events accessible to the large national and international public,” Ãœstek said in a statement. “In my new role I will be taking Liverpool as my point of reference, while reflecting on current global discourses and developments in the international arena.” (more…)

The Louvre Abu Dhabi has announced the acquisition of a £9.4 million Rembrandt, Head of a young man, with clasped hands: Study of the figure of Christ, ca. 1648–56.  “We make each new addition to Louvre Abu Dhabi’s expanding collection with great rigor and care, in order to deepen and enhance the museum’s universal narrative,” says Dr. Souraya Noujaim, Scientific, Curatorial and Collections Management Director, Louvre Abu Dhabi. “This exceptional work reflects the new cultural perspectives that emerged during the Dutch Golden Age due to international trade expansion and exchange of ideas. It also demonstrates the great Master’s understanding of the fragility and intense spirituality of life, which inspired so many artists after him.” (more…)

A London judge has ruled for the Tate in a privacy case over an adjacent tower with residents complaining of viewers peering into their flats. “They have moved more of their living activities into a quasi-balcony area and provided more to look at,” ruled Mr. Justice Mann. “Had they not done that, there would have been less worth looking at – less to attract the eye – and fewer living activities to be intruded upon.” (more…)

Artist Edmund de Waal will install a major new work in the 500-year-old Jewish Ghetto in Venice for the 58th Biennale. De Waal’s installation, part of a two-part exhibition called psalm, will go on view in a 16th-century synagogue located in the Ghetto Novo in the north-western Cannaregio sestiere (district) of the city.  “New installations of porcelain, marble and gold [displayed in 12 vitrines] will reflect the literary and musical heritage of this extraordinary place. For the first time the Women’s Gallery within the synagogue will hold contemporary art,” a project statement reads. (more…)