Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most consequential developments coming out of the art world and art market. Here’s what you need to know this Wednesday, February 6.
NEED-TO-READ
New Insight Into Martin Puryear’s Venice Project – The veteran sculptor representing the US at the Venice Biennale will explore the theme of liberty. Puryear’s work will include a monumental installation on the grounds in front of the neoclassical pavilion in the Giardini. “Issues of citizenry, allegiance, democracy, liberty, and responsibility have long propelled the artist,” organizers say, and so an outreach project with young people in Venice will form part of “Martin Puryear: Liberty/Martin Puryear: Libertà,” which is being curated by Brooke Kamin Rapaport, the deputy director of Madison Square Park Conservancy. (Press release)
Jennifer Lawrence to Marry a Gladstone Gallery Director – The Hollywood star and Cooke Maroney, a director at New York’s Gladstone Gallery, have announced their engagement. Cooke, who previously worked for Gagosian, is based at Gladstone 64 in New York. A relatively low-profile gallerist boyfriend, he was born and bred in the art field: Cosmopolitan magazine reports that his father, James Maroney, was also a New York art dealer. (BBC)
Ivanka Trump Isn’t a Fan of Jennifer Rubell’s Performance – Jennifer Rubell’s performance piece Ivanka Vacuuming has failed to impress Donald Trump’s daughter. Ivanka Trump tweeted her critique after reading about the work, which was commissioned by CulturalDC in Washington. “Women can choose to knock each other down or build each other up,” she wrote. “I choose the latter.” Rubell defended the work, saying it was about a type of femininity. The director of CulturalDC, Kristi Maiselman, hopes Ivanka Trump will come and see the piece and judge it first hand. (ARTnews)
Russian Billionaire’s Museum Opening Delayed – The opening of the Renzo Piano-designed mega-museum has been postponed until 2020 due to necessary program revisions. Called GES-2, the natural-gas billionaire Leonid Mikhelson has spent around $300 million to transform a former power plant into an art institution in Moscow. (TAN)
ART MARKET
Frieze Will Install Sculptures at Rockefeller Center – Frieze New York will gain a foothold in Manhattan by launching Frieze Sculpture at Rockefeller Center. Opening on April 23 to coincide with Frieze New York, it will will run through to the end of June. Curated by Brett Littman, the director of the Noguchi Museum, it will spotlight artists who have not had the opportunity to show public sculpture in New York before. (Press release)
Ketterer Offers Art Advisory Service – The German auction house Ketterer is launching an art advisory service. Robert Ketterer says that it aims to help new private and corporate clients start collecting art. (Press release)
COMINGS & GOINGS
Roman Stańczak will Represent Poland at the Venice Biennale – The sculptor Roman Stańczak has been invited to take over the Polish pavilion this year. He will present an inside-out aircraft sculpture by meticulously deconstructing it and putting the cockpit, onboard equipment, and passenger seats on the exterior; the wings and jets will be inside wound up inside the massive work. (Press release)
The Blanton Acquires Art From Robert & Richard Huber – The Blanton at the University of Texas in Austin has acquired 119 pieces from the Huber Collection, a globally significant holding of art and objects that traces the culture between the 1600s and 1800s in Latin America. (Press release)
Sigmar Polke’s Daughter Establishes a Foundation for Her Father – Anna Polke, the daughter of the prolific German artist, who established a foundation in Cologne to preserve her father’s legacy last year, is now launching her program. There are scholarships, symposia, exhibitions, and publications in the works that will encourage engagement with Polke’s works. Former Venice Biennale curator Bice Curiger is on the board of trustees. (Press release)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Get a Sneak Peek at the New Emojis – To expand our visual vocabularies, the good people at the Unicode Consortium are adding a slew of 230 new emojis this March—the sixth such tranche since 2006—and in addition to welcome icons that are more inclusive of interracial romance, people with disabilities, and allium fans, there are also tighty-whities, a banjo, and what looks to be an ancient lamp. (Designboom)
Rio Museum Finally Sells Its Pollock at a Lower Price – The Brazilian city’s Museum of Modern Art has found a buyer for Pollock’s 1950 painting, No. 16, which it had put up for sale last year in order to secure funds that it needed. However, the work went for a lot less than originally expected: Philip’s sold the work for around $13 million to an undisclosed buyer. An earlier buyer was willing to pay $25 million, but the museum deliberated too long about whether or not to sell the work. The painting had flopped at Phillip’s auction late last year. (TAN)
Tracey Emin’s Astounding Show at White Cube Will Keep You Up at Night – At White Cube in Bermondsey, London, Emin’s new show “A Fortnight of Tears” looks at the artist’s own struggle in grappling with her mother’s death and other pains in her life. One gallery is filled with large-scale selfies taking during an insomniac period, and it’s profound and anxiety-ridden enough to spiral you into sleeplessness. On view until April 7. (Instagram)