New Images of Man (Installation View), via Blum & Poe

In 1959, MoMA launched the exhibition New Images of Man, a show that combined a disparate and imaginative body of works that brought together a group of artists grappling with the human condition and with new modes of representation in painting and sculpture in the wake of the Second World War.  Returning to this subject matter for a new show exploring both the original exhibition and its echoes through culture in the following sixty years, Blum & Poe Los Angeles has mounted a new take, part homage, part radical revision, that spans two floors in the gallery and reconstitutes emblematic figures from the original MoMA line up of artists alongside artists from this era and beyond to re-examine its motivations and impact. (more…)

Museums have begun to reopen in China and Japan, following a string a coronavirus-related closures. “We do the disinfection everyday according to the [official] sterilizing protocols, and all the working staff has been trained beforehand,” says a spokesperson for the Power Station of Art in Shanghai. “We have also prepared a temporary quarantine area on every floor in case of any emergencies. All visitors must have their temperature taken, as well as present their ID card and registered health code, before entering.” (more…)

Anicka Yi will be the Tate Modern’s next Turbine Hall commission. “Anicka Yi has developed a reputation for highly innovative work,” Frances Morris, director of Tate, said in a statement. “Her installations are unforgettable, using the latest scientific ideas and experimental materials in unexpected ways. The results not only engage the senses, but also tackle some of the big questions we face today about humanity’s relationship to nature and technology.” (more…)

Vienna’s Albertina Museum will get a Modern branch, the NYT reports. “I want to exhibit the Austrian canon alongside the larger canon,” says Klaus Albrecht Schröder, the general director of the Albertina. “In later exhibitions we will include artists like Georg Baselitz, Cindy Sherman, Alex Katz and Mike Kelley. But Austrian artists will always be present, at least 50 percent.” (more…)

Art Basel Hong Kong’s online viewing room program has been announced, a consolation for exhibitors left unable to attend the fair due to coronavirus.  (more…)

Germany has promised financial assistance to arts institutions affected by coronavirus. “It’s clear to me that the situation is a massive burden for the cultural and creative sectors and that small institutions and freelance artists could face considerable distress,” says culture minister Monika Grütters. “I won’t leave you in the lurch!” (more…)

Maya Lin has been tapped for the next Madison Square Park Conservancy installation, where she will erect a series of desiccated trees as a response to climate change. “Climate change has been a significant aspect of Lin’s practice through sculpture and installations, and also through her projects documenting mass extinction due to the loss of species and habitat degradation,” says Brooke Kamin Rapaport, the deputy director and Martin Friedman chief curator of the Madison Square Park Conservancy. “She is working on solutions for this global dilemma. This will be her legacy.” (more…)

A few hours after the WHO has declared a coronavirus a global pandemic, The L.A. Art Book Fair, has been cancelled. “Our annual L.A. Art Book Fair is both a celebration and a critical platform for artists’ books and publishing activity from across the globe,” a statement reads. “We are grateful for the understanding of our participating artists and publishers, and want to acknowledge the time and effort they have dedicated to developing creative publishing projects for the fair. We encourage everyone to continue to support their work.” (more…)

The new proposed UK budget features a £250 million fund to support local museums and neighborhood libraries, and clears the way to build freeports on British soil. The plan earned some criticism for not doing enough to combat the economic effects of coronavirus.  “The impact on cultural and sporting institutions will be severe,” says Tracy Brabin, the shadow secretary of state for culture. “I’m disappointed that the government has not announced specific measures in today’s budget to support DCMS sectors.” (more…)

David Nahmad gives a tour of his home to ABC News this week, as he prepares to raffle off a Picasso painting for charity. “We bought so many Picassos now, I don’t remember the specific reason,” Nahmad says. “It’s the smallest painting that I have.” (more…)

Michael Willams, Curb Your Enthusiasm (2020), via Gladstone

Comprising a new body of works that continues his approach towards brightly colored and texturally rich compositions, artist Michael Williams returns to Gladstone Gallery this month.  The artist, whose work often explores narrow corners and specific emotions drawn from the experience of the world, exhibits a selection of works that continue and expand his vocabulary. (more…)

Gonzalo Casals,  executive director of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, has been named New York’s next commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs. (more…)

Artist Heather Phillipson is interviewed in The Guardian this week, as her sculpture for London’s Fourth Plinth goes on view.  “I’m really interested in how we give ourselves away in language, how we can’t stop dribbling out stuff in our words and through our bodies,” she says. (more…)

An LA man will plead guilty to art fraud for attempts to sell $6m in forged paintings attributed to artists like Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Philip Bennet Righter would buy fake works on eBay then forge certificates of attribution, ultimately selling the works at a substantial markup. (more…)

A major show scheduled around the sale of the Marron family collection at Pace and Gagosian will be postponed due to coronavirus. “Given the current climate of uncertainty, it seems that it will no longer be possible to secure the loans from international private lenders and institutions that would be required to present the true scope and influence of Don Marron’s collection,” a Pace spokesperson says. “Our priority is on creating an exhibition that will honor Don to the fullest, and that will celebrate his legacy for local and global audiences.” (more…)

A piece in the NYT this week charts the new project at Performance Space NY, where a cohort of artists have been given free reign over the institution. “It’s so much giving up of control,” says director Jenny Schlenzka. “Like, I’m sitting here with The New York Times, and I don’t even know what’s going on in my place for the next year.” (more…)

The city of Berlin is shuttering all state-owned arts venues for a month in response to coronavirus.  The decision comes as cases of the virus explode in the German capital. (more…)

Art News notes that NYC’s smaller museums and galleries may be eligible for relief under any coronavirus relief packages. “We are facing an existential crisis,” says Jane Stephenson, executive director of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA). “People should be aware that arts organizations are going to face difficulties if we don’t get some relief.” (more…)

Michael E. Smith (Installation View)

Currently at Andrew Kreps Gallery, a line of floor-fans run in a single file through the doorway of the main gallery space, emitting a slight whine that makes the presentation of the work all the more illusive.  Unable to tell if the fans are on or if there is some other element emitting the sound, the arrangement conjures a strange sense of animated material, a sort of life outside the human body that makes the viewer question just what they are viewing.  So goes the work of artist Michael E. Smith, whose arrangements frequently mine this sort of uncertainty from the familiar objects of the world around us. (more…)

A recently rediscovered Ana Mendieta work is set to sell at Sotheby’s, but her family claims its owner has no right to sell it, claiming the work was never returned following a loan. “If an auction house accepts works without doing due diligence and says, ‘You guys fight it out,’ then you put a burden on the original owner that perhaps is not justified,” says Barbara Hoffman, the family’s lawyer. (more…)

The soon to open Tate Modern Andy Warhol show will feature a selection of the artist’s rarely seen, custom fright wigs. “They are incredible objects, which he would have had a say in, in terms of their design … the way they are dark at the back and blonde at the front,” says co-curator Gregor Muir. “The wigs are part of Warhol’s persona, and Warhol himself was an artwork.” (more…)

The UK government is under fire for attempting to withdraw from the European-Union-funded Creative Europe project, depriving the nation of millions in EU funds for the arts.  “By ending our participation, the UK government is erecting barriers to continued cultural exchange. Moreover, this decision makes no financial sense.” an open letter reads. “It is well established that Creative Europe grants have delivered a net benefit back to the UK creative economy on both soft and hard measures (worth €74m since 2014, benefitting 334 organizations), leveraging additional funding, helping to create employment.” (more…)

French Culture Minister Franck Riester has tested positive for coronavirus, shortly after visiting parliament where several ministers had fell ill.  (more…)

Christopher Williams, Footwear (Adapted for Use) (Installation View), via David Zwirner

This spring, Christopher Williams presents his ninth solo show with David Zwirner gallery, entitled Footwear (Adapted for Use). The new body of work reflects the artist’s continued interest in how meaning and information are structured through the processes of staging and adaptation. The exhibition references a wide array of source material like Ikea catalogues and airplane magazines, and features new photographs, hand-painted signs, sculptures and videos, all of which engage with postwar material and cultural histories.  (more…)