The New York Times has a piece on the fallout over Sam Durant’s controversial Scaffold work at the Walker Center in Minnesota, and and a number of staff departures at the institution, pointing to demanding working conditions under director Olga Viso. “Obviously the Walker has a slight cloud over it right now,” says Tom Eccles, executive director of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. “It’s a cloud; not a downpour, but it needs to get out of it quickly.” (more…)

Indonesian-Chinese Collector Budi Tek is pressing the Chinese government to overhaul its restrictions on private museums, even as he battles pancreatic cancer. “I am still full of ambition. That’s what’s keeping me alive—and thinking positively,” he says. (more…)

The Hirshhorn has acquired artist Ragnar Kjartansson’s long-running Me and My Mother series, which includes footage of the artist being spit on repeatedly by his mother. The museum also acquired pieces by Shirin Neshat, Deb Sokolow, and Mika Tajima, among others. (more…)

Robert Rauschenberg, Rhyme (1956), via Art Observed

Closing out its run at MoMA this month, Robert Rauschenberg’s impressive retrospective show, Among Friends, is a monument to the spirit of the post-War U.S. and its most exploratory artists, focused through the lens of a single painter. Drawing together some of Rauschenberg’s most iconic and challenging pieces alongside a range of works by his collaborators, friends and lovers, the artist’s pieces trace a life dedicated to the act of creating, and of challenging the work itself to push beyond the thin line between art and life itself.   (more…)

Mary Heilmann, Ray (2017), via Art Observed

In the early years of her career, artist Mary Heilmann embraced a utilitarian approach to the art object, drawing domestic materials, scrap pieces and other objects into a swirling orbit of bright colors and bold, thick strokes of paint.  Drawing on the energy and vitality of the minimalist language, and its conceptual charge to the body of modern painting, Heilmann’s work embraced both a subdued look at the real landscape of the modern American, and the manifold images that float through it each day. (more…)

Bloomberg has a piece this week on preparations underway in Miami to preserve and save art in the face of the powerful Hurricane Irma currently bearing down on the coastal city. “It’s always scary and dangerous. You can’t take any chances,” says developer Craig Robins. “At this point there isn’t much you can do. You’ve secured everything and now you can only pray. You pray it goes out to sea or gets weaker.” (more…)

The nation of Luxembourg is completing negotiations to move its national pavilion at the Venice Biennale to a space in the Arsenale. “This is a focal point of the Biennale and I am convinced that, thanks to this decision, the Grand-Duchy will have an increased visibility from the Biennale of Architecture in 2018,” says prime minister Xavier Bettel. (more…)

The New Art Dealers Alliance has added a group of thirteen new members, as it continues to grow and evolve. New galleries include Mexico City’s Lulu, London’s Arcadia Missa, and New York’s Signal. The organization will celebrate its new members this December at NADA Miami Beach. (more…)

The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris is partnering with the Museum of Modern Art for a new exhibition, the Art Newspaper reports, presenting key works from the museum’s full holdings, including examples by Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, and Cindy Sherman. “MoMA is a beacon for Modern art in the West, and for decades its narrative of art historical Modernism was uncontested,” says the Fondation’s artistic director, Suzanne Pagé. “It has also established itself [with] its discernment regarding the art of today, an institution possessed of a clear-eyed vision of its future. Today, the doxa [common belief and opinion] are being reassessed.” (more…)

La Biennale Paris art fair is preparing to open its doors, as the New York Times charts the adjustments and tweaks to its programming made to make it more competitive in the current art market. “In order to compete as a major fair, you have to be part of the annual calendar or someone will take that slot,” says fair president Christopher Forbes. (more…)

The Financial Times analyzes the current state of the contemporary art market, examining how demands placed on galleries by the international fair circuit and other situations have made it increasingly difficult to compete with mega-galleries. “If you add everything up on a booth for emerging artists, it’s difficult to see how galleries can make the costs back,” says gallerist Laura Bartlett, who recently closed her London exhibition space. “I gained so much profile through international fairs; they just need to be as flexible as possible now and adapt to the market.”  (more…)

Sotheby’s has unveiled a collection of 400 works and objects from the estate of painter Howard Hodgkin, which it will place on sale in the coming months through a series of auctions. “If Howard needed it he bought it, sometimes for a lot of money once he could afford it,” says the artist’s partner, writer Antony Peattie. “He didn’t believe in bargains and if something was really good he went ahead and paid the price for it.” (more…)

Gladstone Gallery is now representing the work of Ian Cheng, who recently capped a summer exhibition at MoMA PS1 featuring an evolving, shifting video game landscape. “We are honored and excited to work with Ian at this pivotal moment in his career,” Barbara Gladstone said in a statement. “Ian’s exceptional current exhibition at MoMA PS1 speaks to the transformative and forward thinking nature of his work, and we’re thrilled to support the continued exploration of his practice. We are eager to build upon the incredible momentum Ian has already gained in his career well into the future.” (more…)

Martine Syms is now represented by Sadie Coles HQ, the Art News reports.  The announcement comes after Syms capped her first exhibition at MoMA this summer. “Syms is original and dynamic, and has already earned wide recognition for a practice that combines conceptual grit, humor, and social commentary,” a spokesperson for the gallery says. “Having experienced the work during Donahue’s presentation last year as part of London’s Condo gallery-swap scheme, we found Martine and her work compelling, sophisticated, and profound.” (more…)

Monika Sosnowska, Façade (2016), via Art Observed

Taking over one of the multiple large-scale exhibition spaces at Hauser & Wirth’s cavernous complex in downtown Los Angeles, artist Monika Sosnowska offers an interestingly nuanced exploration of modernist architectural convention for her first solo show in the Californian metropolis. Spreading her twisted steel sculptures and varied spatial interventions throughout the gallery, Sosnowska’s body of work marks a negotiation between the historical landscapes and political structures of her home country of Poland, writ large against the gallery’s ample halls. (more…)

The ICA Los Angeles is set to open its doors this fall in a former garment factory in downtown Los Angeles, the Art Newspaper reports. “The primary thing we’d like to achieve as an institution is to make this feel like a welcoming space for a public that might otherwise feel intimidated,” says curator, Jamillah James. (more…)

The Chicago Tribune takes a tour of Marisol, the new restaurant inside Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art. The space, named after the famed French-Venezuelan sculptor Maria Sol Escobar, features a massive mural by Chris Ofili. “We want (Marisol) to be a space where people come together,” says chef Jason Hammel. “If people walk around upstairs or go to a performance at the theater, they want a place to hang out afterwards and talk.” (more…)

Government proposals to close London’s art and antiques crime squad are being met with harsh criticism, the Art Newspaper reports. “We are right to fear it will face closure,” says Richard Ellis, former head of the Metropolitan police’s art and antiques crime unit, noting “too many temporary postings becoming permanent” after similar proposed budget cuts. (more…)

The Brooklyn Museum has appointed Jennifer Y. Chi as the institution’s new deputy director and chief curator, Artforum reports. “I am excited to partner with Jennifer,” says Director Anne Pasternak. “She is not only a renowned scholar and curator, but also a creative thinker, whose drive and entrepreneurial skills will be a great boon to our efforts in expanding our curatorial activities.” (more…)

Maureen Gallace, Clear Day (Installation View), via Art Observed

Painter Maureen Gallace has brought an expansive look at her painterly practice to MoMA PS1 this summer, opening an exhibition cataloguing the artist’s long-running engagement with the rural American landscape, and the pastoral language that underwrites it as a source for constant reinvention.  Pulling together a dizzying selection of the artist’s work, the exhibition offers an opportunity to trace these recurrent ideas and concepts through a wide swath of the artist’s work, bringing the viewer into an extended engagement with both her formal language, and the subject itself. (more…)

London gallerist Laura Bartlett is closing her space in London, which she has run for the past 12 years. “I have had the pleasure to work with an incredible group of artists over the years and I am happy to announce that I will continue these collaborations as an advisor to international collections, working on private and public commissions and towards a more fluid exhibition programming model,” she wrote in an online statement. (more…)

Painter Sean Scully is featured in the New York Times’s ‘Show Us Your Wall’ piece, showcasing some of the works from his collection including Walker Evans photographs and pieces by Damien Hirst. “I’m not trying to make a collection. It’s just making itself,” he says. “I’m quite a social person, quite a communicator, and I like to have the work of other people around. And occasionally I want to buy something that I want to look at for a long time.” (more…)

David Hockney is profiled in the New York Times this week, as the artist turns 80 years old, and reflects back on his life as a painter, and his relentless desire to challenge and reinvigorate the medium.“To hell with the idea of a single vanishing point,” he says during the course of the interview. (more…)

Lévy Gorvy will open an office in Shanghai, the Art News reports, with former Christie’s employee Danqing Li heading up operations. “We are delighted to welcome Danqing Li to our international team,” co-founder, Brett Gorvy, said in a statement. “Having worked with her for many years in Asia during my tenure at Christie’s, I have always admired the depth of her knowledge and her unique sensitivity not only to art but to the cross-cultural connections it creates. It’s an honor to welcome her to the Lévy Gorvy family.” (more…)