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 Monday, March 12.

NEED-TO-READ

Dwyane Wade Organizes Parkland Memorial Art Show – The father of a student killed in the Florida high school shooting last month has painted a poignant mural for his son in a memorial art installation organized by Miami Heat player Dwyane Wade. A short video of Manuel Oliver silently creating the portrait of his son alongside the slogan “We Demand Change” has gone viral. (ABC)

New York Clampdown Gives Antiquities Dealers Jitters – Since the Manhattan district attorney’s office established a dedicated antiquities-trafficking unit in December, the business of selling artifacts has been on high alert. While the DA is investigating around 40 cases of illicit trade, some say that even the market for objects with no evidence of problematic provenance threatens to grind to a halt. (The Art Newspaper)

Guggenheim to Acquire Controversial Animal Video – An anonymous donor has given the Chinese artist Xu Bing’s A Case Study of Transference (1994) to the Guggenheim in New York. The controversial piece, which captures two pigs tattooed with false Chinese characters in the act of mating, was one of three that the museum removed from its exhibition “Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World” last year. (ARTnews)

Ai Weiwei Resigned to End of Presidential Term Limits – The exiled Chinese artist Ai Weiwei says that China’s political system won’t change just because it has abolished presidential term limits. While in Sydney to unveil a giant inflatable raft carrying 300 human figures ahead of the Sydney Biennale, he said, “China has always been emperor state.” (Reuters)​

ART MARKET

Hauser & Wirth to Represent Zeng Fanzhi – Ahead of its opening in Hong Kong, Hauser & Wirth has added one of China’s best-known contemporary artists to its roster. Fanzhi is the second Chinese artist to be taken on by the gallery and will continue to be represented by Gagosian and ShanghART. (South China Morning Post)

Artists Raise Money for Studio Museum – Artists including Lorna Simpson, Mark Bradford, and Rashid Johnson are donating work to Sotheby’s contemporary art sale in May. The proceeds will support the construction of the Studio Museum’s new David Adjaye-designed home at its current site on 125th Street. (New York Times)​

Galerie Nagel Draxler to Open in Cologne – The gallery, which operates two spaces in Berlin, will launch a third permanent location in the Rhineland city of Cologne. The new space, designed by Roger Bundschuh Architects, will open on April 18 with an exhibition of work by Egan Frantz. (ARTnews)

New Antiques Biennial Opens in Paris – Called Sublime, the new biennial is set to open this fall alongside FIAC. Organized by Christian Deydier, a former president of the Syndicat National des Antiquaires, the event will host around 40 antique dealers and 10 jewelry houses from France and around the world. (TAN)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Laura Bartlett Joins Interdisciplinary Art Space – Bartlett, who closed her eponymous gallery last year, has joined the creative team behind Hostem, who have launched an interdisciplinary art space called Blue Mountain School in London. Bartlett is involved in the space’s exhibition arm, “Blue Projects,” which launches April 3 with an Alexis Gautier show. (Press release)  

Met Appoints New Conservation Deputy – Michael Gallagher will take up the role of the new deputy director for conservation and chair of paintings conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on April 1. Gallagher first joined the museum as a conservator in 2005. (Artforum)

Australia Picks Angelica Mesiti for Venice Biennale – After Australia’s revamped selection process ruffled feathers last fall, the country’s arts council has chosen Angelica Mesiti to represent it at the 2019 Venice Biennale in a pavilion curated by Juliana Engberg. Mesiti has previously participated in the 2013 Istanbul Biennial, the 2013 Sharjah Biennial, and the 2012 Kochi-Muziris Biennale. (ARTnews)

Bronx Museum Buys Three Works at NADA – As part of a new acquisition partnership funded by fair ticket sales, the Bronx Museum has acquired three works from NADA: Glenn Ligon’s neon Untitled (America) (2015), a work by the LA-based Chicano art collective ASCO from a booth shared by Nottingham Contemporary and Field Editions, and Heidi Lau’s The Butterfly Murders Hideout (2018) from Geary Contemporary. (ARTnews)

FOR ART’S SAKE 

Palais de Tokyo to Welcome Nudists in May – Talk about welcoming new audiences. The contemporary art center in Paris has teamed up with the Paris Naturists Association to open itself up to nudist visitors on May 5. The free guided tour, held before the Palais opens to the general public, quickly sold out. (AFP)

New Russian Law Recognizes Contemporary Art – As part of a revision of the country’s import and export regulations, a new Russian law passed at the end of January no longer classifies contemporary art as a “luxury good,” which is taxed at 30 percent. The previous legislation was created to prevent the mass exportation of cultural goods after the fall of the Soviet Union; the new law will make life much easier for Russian private collectors. (TAN)

Serpentine Galleries Make Inroads in Asia – Yana Peel, the head of Serpentine Galleries, is back in Hong Kong in an effort to expand the gallery’s donor base ahead of Art Basel in Hong Kong. In May, the Serpentine is partnering with real estate firm Hongkong Land to a summer pavilion in Beijing, its first ever outside London. (South China Morning Post​)

FROM OUR PARTNERS

The artist Alec Monopoly. Courtesy of Eden Fine Art.

Want to buy an Alec Monopoly painting? Well, Eden Fine Art has now gained exclusive representation of the popular graffiti artist, making it the sole and exclusive distributor of Monopoly’s original paintings and sculptures through its galleries in New York and London. The fast-selling artist, who has worked in the past with such brands as Tag Heuer, explained the move thusly: “Eden Fine Art was the evident choice after we had already worked together successfully for some years. Their galleries are the most spectacular I’ve been inside, they are professional, and their approach is global.”

Alec Monopoly’s Tree of Life. Courtesy of Eden Fine Art.