Plus, Joseph Goebbels's summer home may become an artist residency and painter Jordan Casteel joins a new gallery.
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 on this Tuesday, February 9.
How Deaccessioning Is Playing Out in the Public Sphere – Andrew Russeth captures the battle royal underway in the museum world surrounding deaccessioning in light of new challenges posed by the pandemic. Perhaps the most vocal proponent of a loose constructionist view is Baltimore Museum of Art director Christopher Bedford, who said: “Museum directors, as a convention, learn art history in the classroom, and they learn economic management in practice. The big revelation, for me, is that my greatest act of creativity is now an economic one, as opposed to a conventionally defined creative one.” (ARTnews)
Artists in UK and France Make Work Celebrating Special Relationship – The arts center Somerset House and the Dover Street market fashion house are encouraging artists in the UK and France to take part in a cross-Channel art project called “I Love You, Moi Non Plus.” The brief is to create work exploring the relationship between the two countries post-Brexit; a number of celebrities, including artist Bob and Roberta Smith, have already agreed to take part. (Guardian)
Rem Koolhaas Designs an Art Card for Amex – Do you want everyone who swipes your credit card to know you are into highly conceptual Dutch design? Well, you’re in luck! Later this month, American Express will release a new collaboration with OMA, Rem Koolhaas’s architecture firm, for the exclusive Centurion ‘Art’ Card. The company first approached the firm back in 2019 after coming across OMA’s very first commission in Boompjes in the early 1980s. The space became a starting point for the new card design; it’s the smallest item ever designed by Koolhaas. (Wallpaper)
Syria Has Found the Body of Archeologist Murdered By ISIS – Syrian authorities believe they have found the body of the leading archeologist Khaled al-Asaad, who was murdered by terrorists in 2015 while attempting to protect the ancient city of Palmyra. The former head of antiquities at the site was beheaded publicly after refusing to disclose the location of valuable hidden artifacts. A DNA test will be carried out to confirm the identity of the body. (BBC)
Jordan Casteel Joins Massimo De Carlo – The Italian art dealer has announced that it is now representing the New York-based portrait painter Jordan Casteel. The artist will continue to be represented by New York’s Casey Kaplan gallery. (Press release)
Portrait Once Held in Same Collection as Botticelli Heads to Auction – A rare 15th-century portrait by the artist Piero del Pollaiuolo, which was once in the same private collection as the record-breaking Botticelli that sold for $92 million last month, will hit the block at Sotheby’s London on March 25. The Renaissance portrait of a young male sitter is estimated to bring in as much as $8.2 million. (ARTnews)
Joseph Goebbels’s Summer Home Could Become Artist Residencies – A nonprofit is campaigning for the former premises of the Nazi propaganda minister to be converted into an artist’s retreat and a Museum of Tolerance. The LKC Bogensee group hopes the move will prevent the site, which is owned by the Berlin city government, from becoming “a historical revisionist pilgrimage site.” (TAN)
Feminist Art Historian Cindy Nemser Dies – The influential art historian has died at age 87 from pneumonia. Nemser called out chauvinism in the art world, named names, and in the 1970s co-founded the Feminist Art Journal to spotlight the work of female artists on their own terms. (New York Times)
Man Campaigns for a Sculpture Honoring Captain Tom Moore – A businessman who runs a sculpture studio is campaigning to erect a larger-than-life sculpture of Sir Captain Tom Moore, the late veteran who raised more than £32 million for the UK’s National Health Service. Garry McBride says he would commission the statue and would love to see it installed on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth, which is currently occupied by a sculpture by Heather Phillipson. (Evening Standard)
Kim Kardashian Shows Off Daughter’s Painting Skills – Some people put their children’s art on the fridge—but why not put it on Instagram if you have millions of followers? Kim Kardashian shared a painting created by her seven-year-old daughter North online with the caption “My little artist North.” The colorful, Bob Ross-esque lake scene is, honestly, not too bad? (US Weekly)
Houston Dedicates Permanent Mural to George Floyd – George Floyd’s hometown of Houston has unveiled a vast street mural to memorialize him outside his alma mater, Jake Yates High School. The artwork, which was created by local artist Jonah Elijah, features the words Black Lives Matter and the number 88 jersey Floyd wore during his time on the school’s football team. (ABC News)
