The UC Board of Regents is set to approve the UCLA Art School expansion, funded in part by gallerist Margo Leavin. “We’ve had these plans, but it sat fallow there for the longest time,” says painter and UCLA educator Lari Pittman. “But Margo drove it. She asked questions. She wanted to know things. She wanted to meet the dean. That’s how it slowly got its legs.” (more…)
The recent report that Damien Hirst’s formaldehyde sculptures are potentially harmful to viewers’ health has been retracted by its author, who now claims the findings are “inaccurate and unreliable.” “Science Ltd and the authors of the paper co-operated to conduct further tests on formaldehyde works using the equipment referred to in the paper as well as commercially available equipment used by Science Ltd to test the presence of formaldehyde fumes,” a spokeswoman for Hirst said. “It was agreed that there cannot have been formaldehyde present at the dangerously high levels originally cited in the paper and, accordingly, there was never any risk to the public.” (more…)
The Met’s job cuts could likely reach 100 in core areas after its buyouts, as the museum continues to seek relief from a $10 million operating deficit. “There is no letting up on the quality and the commitment we have to excellence — nothing we’re doing will be discernible or visible to the public,” says the museum President and COO Daniel H. Weiss. “We’re planning to streamline our budgets but not to diminish our mission.” (more…)
The BBC is claiming it has identified a lost Lucian Freud work, despite the fact that the artist had repeatedly claimed he never painted the work over the course of his lifetime. “Freud is a colossus of 20th-century modern art, and challenging his word was something we undertook with some trepidation,” says Fiona Bruce, host of Fake or Fortune, where the show was analyzed. (more…)
Ai Weiwei has installed one of his life jacket sculptures in the pool outside of Vienna’s Belvedere Palace this month, continuing his work advocating for and exploring the crisis of Syrian refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos. “There are more than 500,000 life jackets left on [Lesbos] and it looks like a landscape,” he says. “It is something so related to individuals. It could be the last thing you grab when you have to escape.” (more…)
Liz Larner, xv (caesura) (2016), via Max Hetzler
Exploring recent trends in the use of ceramics and pottery in contemporary art practice, Galerie Max Hetzler has launched a group exhibition exploring not only current approaches and interests in the ancient art of ceramics, but equally placing it in the context of 20th and 21st Century practice. Delving into the historical undertones and evolutions of the ceramic craft in the hands of those not originally trained in the medium, the show moves from the early explorations of Lucio Fontana, through to a range of works made in the past five years.
La Mia Ceramica (Installation View), via Max Hetzler
The LA Weekly reports on recent conflicts between art galleries and neighborhood activists in the East LA neighborhood of Boyle Heights, where a group of residents are calling for all art galleries to leave the neighborhood. “We’re not against art or culture,” says Maga Miranda, who spoke at a recent community meeting . “Obviously, the Eastside has been an incredibly active place when it comes to art and culture. But the art galleries are part of a broader effort by planners and politicians and developers who want to artwash gentrification.” (more…)
LACMA has posted a attendance total of 1.4 million visitors for the past year, marking the continued impact of Michael Govan’s programming and perspective. Since taking over in 2008, Govan’s projects have grown the museum attendance from 800,000 visitors yearly. (more…)
David Bowie’s personal art collection is set to go on view this fall in London, shortly before hitting the auction block in November at Sotheby’s. Rarely seen, the collection includes works by Damien Hirst, Henry Moore and Marcel Duchamp. “David Bowie’s collection offers a unique insight into the personal world of one of the 20th Century’s greatest creative spirits,” says Oliver Barker. (more…)
Wolfgang Tillmans, The State We’re In, A (2015), via Art Observed
Few artists have served as such fervent and enigmatic documentarians of the modern landscape as Wolfgang Tillmans, the German-born, London-based photographer who mixes astute and often empathetic images of nightlife and youth culture alongside his more exploratory projects, mixing natural photos, landscapes, and even surreal images of technological innovations, massive building projects, or the iconography of international commerce. For his current exhibition at Maureen Paley in London, Tillmans has allowed each of these elements to take their moment in the spotlight, creating an expansive catalog of works that feels remarkably perceptive in the context of current events.
Wolfgang Tillmans, I refuse to be your enemy, 2 (2016), via Maureen Paley
The Louvre has launched its own museum browsing app, which will, among other things, help viewers to locate themselves within the institution’s sprawling layout. “The Louvre is a palace and doesn’t have the logic of a museum,” says Museum President Jean-Luc Martinez. “The little revolution here is that our application instantly gives your location in three dimensions.” (more…)
The Walker Art Center has received a $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which has been earmarked for artist commissions, projects and research. “Contemporary artists have blurred the lines between artistic disciplines for decades, and museums and performing art centers like ourselves must remain responsive to these evolving practices,” The Walker’s executive director, Olga Viso, said. (more…)
Jerome Bêl has been invited to perform a work in the MoMA atrium this October, and will feature 25 Museum staff performing the artist’s unique choreography. “Bel has invited each participating member of staff to choreograph a brief solo dance of their choice,” a release says. (more…)
The New York Times writes on the recent life and work of Chuck Close, who has suddenly filed for divorce from his wife, moved out to Long Beach, New York, and dealt with health issues that have made working increasingly difficult. “I’ve been in a struggle with my children to see which of us was going to be a grown-up first, and they won,” Close says. “I still live entirely in the moment. I don’t think about the past. It drives the people around me crazy.” (more…)
Diane Arbus is profiled in New York Magazine this week, as the Met Breuer opens an impressive exhibition charting her life and development as an artist. “Once you’ve become an adventurer, because Diane was really an adventure,” a friend says, “you’re geared to adventure, you seek out further adventures, and your life is really based upon them.” (more…)
Claire Fontaine, Caught (2016), via Galerie Neu
Working along a similar thread as Reena Spaulings (a faceless project by several Bernadette Corporation collaborators), the French “artist”/collaborative Claire Fontaine works at the margins of the 20th Century’s most iconic artistic modes: readymades, monochromes, and perhaps more broadly, the studio artist-assistant relationship itself. Throughout each of its formats, the group delves into the space of production for the artist in modern society, a field plagued by contradictions, imbalances of power, and capitalist tendencies that they seek to outline while operating within them.
Claire Fontaine, May Our Enemies Not Prosper (Installation View), via Galerie Neu
A pair of artists have begun constructing the oft-debated wall Donald Trump has called for on the Mexico-US border this week, with the intent of sending the bill for their work to Mexico. “Art has to be present more in these disruptive and contentious moments,” participating artist David Gleeson said. (more…)
Bloomberg reports on the ongoing battle surrounding the inheritance tax lawsuit of the Wildenstein family, as Guy Wildenstein continues to sell off assets to pay off what may be a $500 million tax bill, and seeks to maintain what has been a notoriously private life away from his business. “My brother and I were clueless,” the article quotes. “My father never spoke of his business. He would not come to ask me for advice to manage his fortune or dispose of his property while he was alive. I knew he had the trusts, but he never informed me of detail.” (more…)
Central St. Martins Graduate Student Tina Gorjanc has proposed a conceptual range of leather accessories made from the cloned skin of designer Alexander McQueen. “The Pure Human project was designed as a critical design project that aims to address shortcomings concerning the protection of biological information and move the debate forward using current legal structures,” Gorjanc said. (more…)
The New York Times reports on the ongoing struggle between the GarcÃa Lorca Foundation and the city of Granada, which the Foundation alleges has not kept promises over programming and direction of the Garcia Lorca Center that has been constructed there. “From the start, there was never an enthusiastic approach to this project from government institutions,” says Laura GarcÃa Lorca, the foundation head and niece of the famed playwright. The foundation is withholding a collection of manuscripts and art, valued at over €20 million, until its demands are met. (more…)
A group of British MPs have introduced a bill proposing the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece, a move they claim would serve as a major diplomatic bargaining chip in Brexit negotiations. “These magnificent artifacts were improperly dragged and sawn off the remains of the Parthenon,” says Liberal Democrats MP Mark Williams. “This Bill proposes that the Parliament should annul what it did 200 years ago. In 1816 Parliament effectively state-sanctioned the improper acquisition of these impressive and important sculptures from Greece.” (more…)
Metro Pictures has announced that it is now representing Oliver Laric. Laric has shown widely on the international circuit, and was included in last year’s New Museum Triennial, but has yet to have a solo exhibition in New York. The news comes just days after Laric’s British gallery, Seventeen, announced plans to expand to New York City. (more…)
Douglas Gordon is premiering a film in Locarno, Switzerland this month at Concorso Cineasti del presente, a work that focuses on the life of Jonas Mekas, with little information offered on the artist’s approach or strategy. “Although I do not want to reveal any more about this extraordinary project, I can say that Douglas Gordon offers us a truly sensorial experience, which challenges the concept of seeing, and links the idea of the present with that of memory,” the Concorso artistic director Carlo Chatrian said. (more…)