Artist Jamie Isenstein has withdrawn her work from a summer group exhibition at Anton Kern Gallery following criticism of what some deem inadequate critique of racist subject matter.  The show, which aimed to address Peter Sellers’s film The Party (in which the lead actor wears brown face), drew criticism from artists Ajay Kurian and Vijay Masharani for failing to fully address the racist framework of the film.  “I realized that if I expect the show to address racism, I also have to address it. I should have thought longer about my assumption that other artists would do it for me,” Isenstein said. (more…)

Martin Puryear has been confirmed as the representative for the United States at the 2019 Venice Biennale, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Madison Square Park Conservancy announced today. “Martin Puryear confronts contemporary issues as a maker of objects in the studio,” says exhibition curator Brooke Kamin Rapaport, the deputy director and senior curator of the Madison Square Park Conservancy. “For more than five decades, Puryear has created a body of work distinguished by a complex visual vocabulary and deeply-considered meaning.” (more…)

The BBC profiles Tate Liverpool this week, and the impact that the institution has had on the city. “Coming from the Left, my idea of economic regeneration was to do with factories and shipyards – the idea that art could be an economic driver didn’t figure for me. But, looking back, that was out of date,” says comedian Alexei Sayle of the museum’s birth. “I would never have guessed that tourism, looking at things and shopping could have become economic drivers, but they have. (more…)

The Kassel state prosecutor’s office has dropped an investigation into misuse of funds by the management of the 2017 edition of Documenta, Art Newspaper reports. “The mere fact that some projects don’t comply with the tastes of some observers or—in their view—are not suited to the goal of promoting the event, doesn’t meet the conditions for criminal breach of trust,” the prosecutor said. (more…)

Maria Alyokhina, one of three founding members of Pussy Riot, has snuck across the border to reach the UK, following her prevention of leaving Russia by border guards. “Pussy Riot founder Maria refused to be captive and silenced,” the group said in a statement. “She was absolutely determined to perform the show and will be there in person to join her band mates to share her story.” (more…)

The List project has been put back up on view in Liverpool after it was torn down last month.  The work documents the 34,361 names of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants who have died trying to get to Europe since 1993.  “The site continues to be a target but we are doing everything we can to ensure that The List is presented for the remainder of Liverpool Biennial 2018, so that more people have the opportunity to come into contact with it,” a spokesperson says. (more…)

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has acquired its first-ever performance artwork: Tino Sehgal’s This You. “For more than a decade the Hirshhorn has demonstrated a unique commitment to the acquisition and presentation of experimental and new media works,” says director Melissa Chiu. “Tino enters the collection at a significant moment, providing fresh insight and further strengthening the museum’s dialogue around contemporary performance.” (more…)

As a string of galleries in Los Angeles leave the Boyle Heights area, the LA Times spotlights the upcoming challenges the area will face from redevelopment plans and rezoning that will bring new market-rate developments in the area. “It’s all market-rate development,”Isela Gracian, president of the East L.A. Community Corp. (ELACC), a nonprofit advocacy group and housing developer based in Boyle Heights. “It’s going through without any affordable housing.” (more…)

Ai Weiwei has accused Chinese authorities of demolishing his studio with no prior warning, leaving many works damaged.  “Works were damaged due to the unannounced attack on the studio,” he said in a statement. “There was no caution taken. However, compared to the memories which have been lost, compared to a society which has never established trust in the social order, a trust in the rule of law, or a trust in any kind of unity in defending the rights of its people, what has been lost at my studio is insignificant, and I don’t even care. There are profoundly deeper and wider ruins in this deteriorating society where the human condition has never been respected.” (more…)

Darren Bader is featured in the New York Times this week, spotlighting his unique artistic practice and his investigation of the lines of just where art lies.  “Contemporary art is by its very nature kind of a tenuous proposition and category,” he says. “I always sense these fault lines, and perhaps I’m overly sensitive to it — perhaps paranoid, I don’t know.”  (more…)

The British Museum is returning a selection of items to Iraq, items taken from the country following the U.S. invasion of the country in 2003. “It’s a real historic event that happened this morning,” says archaeologist Sebastien Rey.  (more…)

The continued negotiations between the MoMA Employees Union and the museum boiled over into a demonstration today, as many gathered in the museum lobby to call for better work standards and pay. “MoMA’s extraordinary staff are the best in the world,” the museum has previously said in a statement. “We are committed to working with the Local 2110 to reach an agreement that will keep our community of dedicated staff and the museum on a path of financial stability and future growth.” (more…)

Peter Fischli, Cans, Bags and Boxes (Installation View), via Reena Spaulings

Currently on view at Reena Spaulings in New York, artist Peter Fischli has brought together a body of small-scale works under the title Cans, Bags and Boxes.  Marking an elaboration and subtle reinterpretation of a body of works originally shown in Los Angeles last year, the exhibition emphasizes Fischli’s razor-sharp wit and roving creative vision.   (more…)

CBS profiles painter Georg Baselitz this week, as the artist opens his show at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. “There’s some sort of irritation, the view of them, and that’s intentional,” he says of his work. “When you’re irritated, you pay closer attention.” (more…)

Artist Martin Puryear has been picked to represent the United States at the 2019 Venice Biennale, a reliable source has told ARTnews. The news was echoed publically by Jerry Saltz, who wrote on Twitter: “I glean in the tea-leaves for the next American Pavilion at next Spring’s Venice Biennale: American sculptor Martin Puryear will represent the United States. An abundant bloom.” (more…)

The Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo gets a profile this week in CityLab, as the museum’s continued focus on public art projects has spread throughout the city. “The Albright-Knox, it’s such a big part of Buffalo. We’re the sixth-oldest museum in the country. Period. We’re the oldest museum dedicated to modern and contemporary work. We’re essentially the oldest museum in America that’s not encyclopedic, so people are really familiar with us as a cultural beacon,” says Aaron Ott, the museum’s Public Art curator. “But the public art initiative is now only on its fourth year. In the long history of the institution, we’ve started something that’s only taken up a wee little bit of it, but people have responded well to it so far.” (more…)

Jack Smith, Art Crust of Spiritual Oasis (Installation View), via Art Observed

Currently on view at Artists Space in New York, artist Jack Smith’s adventurous, ground-breaking oeuvre is the subject of an ambitious, expansive two-floor exhibition exploring his work in the 1970’s and 80’s.  Smith’s work sits at the core of much of the American underground’s creative output of the last quarter of the 20th Century, uniting a group of artists invested in the eerie and weird, the surreal, and the abject as strategies to push (or even antagonize) the viewer’s understanding of their format, and the world around them. One can easily see the impact of Smith’s work in John Waters’ filmic output, or Mike Kelley’s sculptural and performative riffs, to name a few. Smith’s work was equally influential in its do-it-yourself mentality as it was for its sheer ability to create worlds and populate them with a swirling, surreal cast of characters that seemed to work both as surrealist escape and autobiographical interpretation of the world of Manhattan during the post-war years.

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Bloomberg profiles the challenges facing Chinese art dealers and importers of Chinese art and artifacts as President Trump’s trade war with China heats up, noting the cost of tariffs on importing and selling work. “If everything is slapped with a 25 percent tariff, it’s actually going to do a disservice to people here in the U.S.,” says Daniel Chen, director of Chambers Fine Art gallery in New York. “Who are they trying to punish?” (more…)

The Studio Museum in Harlem has named Legacy Russell associate curator of exhibitions. “As we enter our 50th anniversary year and prepare to begin construction on our new home, we’re thrilled to have Legacy join us in advancing the mission of the Studio Museum,” director Thelma Golden said in a statement.  (more…)

Tony Oursler, TC: The Most Interesting Man Alive (Installation View), via Lisson Gallery

Tony Conrad stands among the pinnacle of modern artistic practice; a pioneering and influential experimental filmmaker, musician, composer, artist and educator whose body of work can rarely be traced within the framework of just one discipline or school of thought.  A longtime educator in conjunction with his expansive practice, Conrad’s work moves at a sprint through ideas and constructs, and has remained influential on much of the artists who worked around and with him.  One of these artists was Tony Oursler, who met Conrad in 1979 and performed in a number of Conrad’s films, ultimately forging a bond that would lead to a range of collaborations and pieces. Among these is TC: the most interesting man alive, a short biopic piece that incorporates a range of cinematic, graphic, narrative and autobiographical approaches to produce a new form of biopic about the late artist Tony Conrad. (more…)

The NYT looks at recent efforts by institutions to focus increasingly on diversity, pushing for additional funds to increase the number of professional curators and museum administrators of color. “American museums need to do a better job of hiring, cultivating, retaining and promoting curators of color,” says Akili Tommasino, curatorial assistant at MoMA. “People of color don’t have exposure to arts as viable careers.” (more…)

David Zwirner has appointed curator and instagram-influencer Elena Soboleva as the gallery’s first online sales director. “Understandably, it took some time to find someone both experienced in online sales and sensitive to the priorities of our gallery, programming, and artists,” Zwirner said in a statement. (more…)

Han-I Wang has been named a senior director of Gagosian in Hong Kong, Art News reports, leaving Christie’s to take the post. “I felt the stars aligned,” Wang says, “but I could not have gotten here if it weren’t for Christie’s.” (more…)

Tina Knowles Lawson, the mother of Solange and Beyonce Knowles, gives Kimberly Drew a tour of her art collection, reflecting on her tastes and focus on African-American art. “When my kids were growing up, it was really important to me that they saw images of African-Americans,” Lawson says. “I’m so happy that I did, because both of them are really aware of their culture, and I think a lot of that had to do with looking at those images every day, those strong images.” (more…)