Arts news

• Art Fairs Don't Make Sense For Middle-Market Galleries (And Yet They Do)

  13-06-2017 23:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  As the middle market shrinks, many dealers are finding they can’t afford to do fairs—but they can’t afford not to, either. “It’s very hard to estimate what the revenue will be, so a gallery’s decision to do a fair is highly uncertain,” says Olav Velthuis, a professor at the University of Amsterdam who specializes in economic sociology. “People don’t realize that fairs are loss leaders for many small galleries.”
  
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• Selling Art To Fund Social Justice

  13-06-2017 23:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  "New York art patron Agnes Gund has sold a record-smashing $165 million Roy Lichtenstein painting to create a fund to help address mass incarceration in the United States. Some $100 million from that sale will establish the Art for Justice Fund, to be managed by the Ford Foundation, which aims to raise another $100 million over the next five years, partly from art sales. Gund has thus thrown down the gauntlet to other art collectors to unload their assets to address critical issues of social jus
  
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• S.M.A.K. in Ghent welcomes refugees

  13-06-2017 23:00
  
  Christoph Bchel is the latest artist to focus on the issue of migration. But the projectwhich includes accommodating 12 refugees at S.M.A.K. (the Municipal Museum for Contemporary Art) in Ghent, Belgiumhas, until now, remained under the radar. A refugee camp has been constructed in the grounds of the museum, resembling the infamous former Jungle site in Calais, as part of an exhibition organised by the Swiss artist (Verlust der Mitte, until 27 August).
  In the show, visitors first encounter room
  
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• Power of pride: artists champion LGBT causes at Art Basel

  13-06-2017 23:00
  
  Artists at Art Basel are championing gender-identity causes and transgender rights after thousands took to the streets to celebrate the LGBT community in cities such as Los Angeles, where an event last weekend turned into a protest against the policies of US President Donald Trump. We need this discussion in the current climate, says Kathleen Bhler, a curator at the Kunstmuseum Bern, who is moderating an Art Basel talk on Friday called Fluidity of Identity.
  Across Basel, in the former home of t
  
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• Object lessons: a portrait of Jacqueline Roque by Picasso and an image of Christ by Dalí

  13-06-2017 23:00
  
  LondonSothebys21 June: Actual SizeBuste de femme couche (1970) by Pablo Picasso(est. 700,000-900,000)
  One work being offered in the houses first dedicated sale of small works of art (none of the 35 lots are larger than the size of the catalogue page that illustrates it in actual size) is a chalk and pencil on cardboard drawing by Pablo Picasso that depicts his lover Jacqueline Roque, the most recurrent muse of his career. The Spanish artist met Roque in a pottery studio in Vallauris in 1954, wh
  
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• Maldives-bound: Aitken’s pavilions

  13-06-2017 23:00
  
  Los Angeles-based Doug Aitken, who is in Basel this week, tells us that his Underwater Pavilions are destined for an island in the Maldives. Because the South Asian archipelago has around 1,000 coral islands, selecting the best one is his new challenge.
  Visitors to Unlimited can get a sense of the sculptures in a film called Underwater Pavilions (2017), produced by the artist in collaboration with the ocean conservation organisation Parley for the Oceans. It was filmed when the pavilions were m
  
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• Kunstmuseum Basel presents Serra as you’ve never seen him

  13-06-2017 23:00
  
  Richard Serra: Films and VideotapesKunstmuseum Basel
  Until 15 OctoberThe US artist Richard Serra, known for his graceful yet powerful monumental steel sculptures, has not made a film or video work since 1979, which may explain why this part of his career is sometimes overlooked, says Sren Grammel, the organiser of Richard Serra: Films and Videotapes, at the Kunstmuseum Basel, which runs until 15 October.The show is part of the museums wider strategy of investigating and presenting lesser-known
  
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• Kasper König: in praise of an artists’ curator

  13-06-2017 23:00
  
  Visitors to Art Basels auditorium on Friday can expect something of a love-in. In the talk in the fairs Artists Influencers series, hosted by Hans Ulrich Obrist of Londons Serpentine Galleries, it is the turn of the French artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster to pay tribute to an inspirational individual. Her choice is Kasper Knig, who spotted the artist while she was a student and has invited her to take part in various important shows since. But Gonzalez-Foersters selection also has huge person
  
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• Interview: the name’s Charrière, Julian Charrière

  13-06-2017 23:00
  
  Towers of greyish-beige salt rise in hexagonal towers, a tribute perhaps to a utopian but misguided Modernist architect. At their base, puddles of an indeterminate liquid fill triangular pastel-coloured pans. Nearby are strangely pockmarked, black-and-white photographs of concrete structures abandoned on the steppe. Elsewhere, bricks made of a crumbling, white substance gradually ooze a thickish moisture into the vitrine that surrounds them.These are works by the young Swiss artist Julian Charr
  
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• In pictures: Christmas comes early to Art Basel

  13-06-2017 23:00
  
  For his sixth stint as the curator of Art Basels Unlimited sector, the New York-based curator Gianni Jetzer has made use of the full width of Hall 1, creating longer sightlines and an elegant promenade around the sections more than 70 large-scale installations, sculptures and videos. The reconfiguration gives Chris Burdens Ode to Santos-Dumont (2015) space to fly during Art Basel. The late US artists lighter-than-air kinetic sculpture, inspired by the pioneering Brazilian aviators airship, make
  
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• Bern museum to open Harald Szeemann archive during next year's Art Basel

  13-06-2017 23:00
  
  The archive of the late Swiss curator Harald Szeemann, one of the most influential curators of the post-war era, is due to go on show at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles in February. The exhibition, Harald Szeemann: the Museum of Obsessions, will then travel to the Kunsthalle Bern to coincide with Art Basel in 2018. After that, it is expected to tour to venues in Germany and Italy.The show of more than 300 photographs, videos and items of personal correspondence will focus on a serie
  
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• Art Basel diary: How the Cookie Monster rumbles, Hans Ulrich Obrist's nose piercing, plus more gossip from the fair

  13-06-2017 23:00
  
  Gettin jiggy with Cookie Monster
  Sesame Street aficionados should make a beeline for Galerie Francesca Pias booth at Art Basel, where a Cookie Monster lookalike is pulling in the crowds. A bright-blue grand piano in the guise of the lovable muppet is the creation of the Brooklyn-based artist Stefan Tcherepnin, who has a major show coming up this October at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Chariot of a Secret Order (2016) ramps up the monster madness by vibrating every so often, prompting a pa
  
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• Andy Warhol’s first ‘selfie’ expected to fetch £7m at auction

  13-06-2017 23:00
  If any artist could be said to epitomise selfie culture, its Andy Warhol. Now the late Pop artists first self-portraitcomplete with sunglasses and an air of insoucianceis to be sold at auction for the first time.
  Self-Portrait (1963-64) marks the moment a 35-year-old Warhol turned the camera on himself, and in doing so created a celebrity icon. The canvas, which has been in the same private collection since the 1980s, is expected to fetch 7m at Sothebys on 28 June.
  There has been some debate ove
  
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• A Renaissance masterpiece is unveiled, but its mystery remains unsolved

  13-06-2017 23:00
   
  Giovanni da Riminis small and exquisite panel painting Scenes from the Lives of the Virgin and Other Saints was painted between 1300 and 1305 in the wealthy Adriatic port city that is now attached to his name. The scene depicts a variety of narratives, including the coronation of the virgin, Saint Catherine preaching to pagan philosophers andmost importantly, at the top leftthe ascension to heaven of Saint John the Evangelist, until recently believed to be Saint Augustine.The big questio
  
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• Selections from Around Art Basel 2017

  13-06-2017 22:39 via artnews.com
  See what some galleries are bringing to the fair's 48th edition. Read More
  
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• It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World: Marvin Gaye Chetwynd in the Science Lab in Basel

  13-06-2017 22:29 via artnews.com
  The performance added a much-needed dose of anarchic levity to these big-money proceedings. Read More
  
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• Metropolitan Museum Changes Its Leadership Structure, Subordinating Artistic Leadership To Fiscal Direction

  13-06-2017 22:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  "In a striking leadership reorganization, the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Tuesday announced that Daniel H. Weiss, its president and chief operating officer, will lead and run the museum, filling the new, higher-ranking role of president and chief executive. And in a sign that fiscal responsibility now trumps artistic control, the museum’s next director, who oversees programming, will report to Mr. Weiss, rather than the other way around."
  
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• The Edward Albee Question: Just How Absolute Is Playwrights' Control Over Productions Of Their Work?

  13-06-2017 22:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  "What nobody seems to question is that Mr. Albee and his estate have an absolute right to control the casting of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” for as long as the play is controlled by copyright. I have my doubts, however, about exactly how absolute that right is. While I’m not a lawyer, I suspect that a friendly judge might well look upon the requirement that Nick be played by a white man (Mr. Albee was identically militant about denying permission to change the sexes
  
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• Mitchell-Innes & Nash Now Represents the Estate of General Idea

  13-06-2017 22:01 via artnews.com
  In New York in the 1980s, Imagevirus—an artwork that reconstituted Robert Indiana’s brightly colored LOVE to read instead as “AIDS”—was a familiar signpost on walls and in subway cars around the city. Aggressive in its politics and visual language, the project … Read More
  
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• A Bookstore Survival Plan Modeled On Farming?

  13-06-2017 21:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “The idea of purchasing a season’s or a year’s worth of books seemed like an interesting way to structure thinking about a customer’s relationship to the store,” Haskell said recently. At Blue Hill Books, C.S.B. members can purchase a “share” for a thousand dollars—or partial shares for two hundred or five hundred dollars—and draw on that credit to buy books throughout the year. “It’s not a donation; it’s not an investment.&
  
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• Lawsuits Against God (A Brief History)

  13-06-2017 21:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Oh yes, they do happen - as recently as last year in India, and in 2007 in the U.S. (in Omaha). One major problem, though, is serving the defendant with papers. Seriously.
  
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• At Art Basel, Galleries Bet Big on Booming Basquiat Market, Sales Flow During VIP Preview

  13-06-2017 20:58 via artnews.com
  Rival auction houses are not the only art-market machines seething with jealousy over the $110.5 million Basquiat sold at Sotheby’s last month.Art Basel’s flagship fair in Basel, Switzerland—perhaps the world’s most important art mecca and a bellwether for the market for … Read More
  
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• So Sponsors Are Afraid Of Controversy - That Makes Them Unreliable Arts Funders

  13-06-2017 20:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Delta and Bank of America pulled out of sponsorship of the Public Theatre over the Julius Caesar production. "Twitter erupted in scorn: Had none of these people read the play in eighth grade? Did the killing come as a surprise? Did they not realize that it’s supposed to be tragic, not celebratory? Didn’t they remember that in a different production, in 2012, the Romans murdered an Obama-like Caesar, and nobody flipped out? And where does an immense bank or a widely unbeloved airline
  
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• In an organisational shift, Met president Daniel Weiss takes over as chief executive

  13-06-2017 17:31
  
  The Metropolitan Museum of Arts board of trustees has named Daniel Weiss as chief executive and has launched the search for a new director to replace Thomas Campbell, who left this month.Weiss, who has been the museums president since 2015, will now serve in both roles, an organisational shift for the museum. Previously, it was the museums director who held the joint position of chief executive.Asked about the reason for the change, Weiss says: My sense is that this is a particular moment at th
  
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• In an organisational shift, Met president Daniel Weiss also takes over as chief executive

  13-06-2017 17:31
  
  The Metropolitan Museum of Arts board of trustees has named Daniel Weiss as chief executive and has launched the search for a new director to replace Thomas Campbell, who left this month.Weiss, who has been the museums president since 2015, will now serve in both roles, an organisational shift for the museum. Previously, it was the museums director who held the joint position of chief executive.Asked about the reason for the change, Weiss says: My sense is that this is a particular moment at th
  
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• Daniel H. Weiss Named President and CEO at Metropolitan Museum of Art

  13-06-2017 17:24 via artnews.com
  With questions looming as to who will assume the role as its new director, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has named Daniel H. Weiss, the institution’s current president and chief operating officer, to a new post as president and CEO. Weiss … Read More
  
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• The ARTnews Accord: Kevin Beasley and Kellie Jones in Conversation

  13-06-2017 16:35 via artnews.com
  Kevin Beasley is an artist in his early 30s whose work with sculpture and sound has drawn on his upbringing in rural Virginia and, from his current home in New York, his communion with markers of African-American history, among other … Read More
  
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• Castles in the Sky: Cécile B. Evans Builds Brutalist Screening Areas in Basel Booth

  13-06-2017 16:25 via artnews.com
  At Skulptur Projekte Münster, one of the hardest artworks to see was an architectural installation by Gregor Schneider that only two people were allowed to visit at a time. Even the likes of Germano Celant had to queue up to … Read More
  
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• Castles in the Sky: Cécile B. Evans Builds Brutalist Screening Area in Basel Booth

  13-06-2017 16:25 via artnews.com
  At Skulptur Projekte Münster, one of the hardest artworks to see was an architectural installation by Gregor Schneider that only two people were allowed to visit at a time. Even the likes of Germano Celant had to queue up to … Read More
  
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• Kiss Goodbye: Urs Fischer Does Rodin at Basel

  13-06-2017 15:19 via artnews.com
  Visitors can touch, grope, and deface the artist's latest work. Read More
  
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• Morning Links: Little Caesar Stab! Stab! Edition

  13-06-2017 15:00 via artnews.com
  Here's what we're reading this morning. Read More
  
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• Julia Stoschek Collection celebrates 10 years with generation spanning video show

  13-06-2017 13:16
  
  Julia Stoschek opened her collection of time-based media art to the public ten years ago, and to celebrate the anniversary she has invited the British artist Ed Atkins to curate an exhibition from her holdings. Generation Loss: 10 Years of the Julia Stoschek Collection (until 10 July 2018) opened this week at Stoscheks Dsseldorf gallery. The Stoschek collection includes work from the 1960s to the present day, covering a period when time-based art has changed drastically. I think today, jus
  
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• Kehinde Wiley's Trickster: vivid portraits of artists - in pictures

  13-06-2017 12:00
  
  For his latest exhibition, Trickster, at the Sean Kelly gallery in New York, Wiley painted his contemporaries from Mickalene Thomas to Kerry James MarshallKehinde Wiley tackles FrançafriqueContinue reading...
  
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• Blockade of Qatar threatens cultural institutions

  13-06-2017 10:27
  
  The diplomatic crisis in the Middle East, which has resulted in the partial blockade of Qatar, is likely to destabilise cultural institutions and partnerships in the region. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have cut off ties with the oil- and gas-rich state, accusing it of supporting terrorism. These countries have banned everything from Qatar, says Mohamoud Abdalla Mohamed, a representative from Sothebys Doha office. I am sure the situation will affect cultural re
  
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• At Art Unlimited, the Supersize Section of Basel, Bullets, a Rocket, and a Few Gentle Giants

  13-06-2017 08:11 via artnews.com
  Art Basel hasn’t even really begun yet, but already the clear front-runner for the most remarkable thing I am likely to see over the next few days in this lovely Swiss city is a bunch of collector types smiling for photos inside … Read More
  
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• Follow that bee! Brittany's animal obsessives – in pictures

  13-06-2017 08:00
  
  Ed Alcock travelled to Morbihan in northwest France to photograph people working with animals, from a roaming beekeeper to an underground bat conservationist. His work is at the La Gacilly photography festival, Brittany, until 30 September Continue reading...
  
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• For Fifth Edition, Skulptur Projekte Münster Extends to Marl, With a Thomas Schütte Melon on Top

  13-06-2017 07:44 via artnews.com
  “All this area was empty field in the 1950s,” Georg Elben, the director of the Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten in Marl, Germany, said as he motioned to its city center, an array of Brutalist buildings built in the 1960s that sit in front … Read More
  
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• Antarctic explorer’s 118-year-old painting discovered among penguin poo

  13-06-2017 04:13
  
  Watercolour of a small bird was painted by Dr Edward Wilson, who died in 1912 with Captain Robert Scott on their return trip to the south pole A 118-year-old painting by a celebrated south pole explorer has been discovered in a historic Antarctic hut hidden among penguin poo.Dr Edward Wilson, who died with Captain Robert Scott and three others in 1912 as they battled to return from their trip to the south pole, painted the watercolour of a small bird. Related: Lost photographs from Scott of the
  
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