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 Tuesday, May 23.
NEED-TO-READ
LA Art Dealer Perry Rubenstein Sentenced to Jail – The onetime New York art-scene fixture was sentenced to 180 days in jail and three years of probation yesterday for the embezzlement of more than $1 million from the sales of Richard Prince and Takashi Murakami artworks. (The Art Newspaper)
Man Caught Trying to Sell Stolen Gardner Museum Paintings – The West Virginia man used Craigslist to advertise two paintings that were notoriously stolen from the Massachusetts museum in 1990; but, with no evidence that he actually had access to the lost paintings, it seems his crime was wire fraud, not art theft. (CBS Boston)
Jeremy Deller Covered London With “Strong and Stable My Arse” Posters – The Turner Prize-winning artist says the posters, directed at Theresa May’s social care policies, are “self-explanatory.” They were posted around the city ahead of the UK’s snap election on June 8. (The Guardian)
Holland Cotter Clobbers the 2017 Venice Biennale — In his thoughtful review for the New York Times, the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic calls Christine Macel’s group exhibition “perversely out of sync with the political moment, and nowhere near strong enough to define a moment of its own.” Ouch. (New York Times)
New York City Gets a New Triennial – The Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University will present a new contemporary art triennial this summer. “Uptown” will show the work of 66 artists who live or work north of 99th Street in New York City. (ARTnews)
ART MARKET
Andrew Wyeth’s Unpublished Love Letters Hit the Auction Block – The celebrated American painter sent the letters to the daughter of a Baptist minister in Poughkeepsie between 1937 and 1939, when he was in his early 20s and just emerging as a prominent force in the art world. (ARTFIXdaily)
Final Blow for Auctionata? – In the course of their insolvency proceedings, the online auction start-up Auctionata Paddle8 AG has transferred the rights to the Auctionata name and web domain to the small Berlin-based auctioneer Historia, and the insolvency lawyer is looking into transferring artifacts and collectibles still stored with Auctionata to the newly renamed Historia Auctionata house, too. (Press release)
Delmes & Zander Gallery Is Closing Its Berlin Space – Having opened a second location in the German capital at the end of 2014, the gallery, which specializes in outsider and self-trained artists, announced they will only focus on their Cologne location, founded in 1988, after the end of the current exhibition in Berlin. (Email)
COMING & GOINGS
Sotheby’s Institute Appoints New Director – Jenny Gibbs, executive director of the Elmhurst Art Museum in Illinois since 2014, will step down to become director of the Sotheby’s Institute of Art’s graduate program in New York. (Artforum)
A Major Departure From Phillips – Matt Carey-Williams, Phillips’s deputy chairman for Europe and Asia, left White Cube in 2015 to join the auction house. He’s now returning to the gallery world as director at Blain Southern in London. (TAN)
New Boss at SFMOMA Library – David Senior will be the new director of SFMOMA’s Library and Archives in San Francisco. Senior is the long-time Senior Bibliographer at MoMA’s library in New York, where he has been in charge of the artists’ books collection and has curated well-reviewed shows. (Email)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Ai Weiwei Lego Portraits Will Go on Show at the Hirshhorn — Remember Ai’s Trace exhibition at Alcatraz? The installation, gathering 176 portraits of activists and dissidents made up of Lego bricks, will soon be on display at the Washington, D.C., museum. (Press release)
Discover the Work of the 2017 Pritzker Prize Winners — RCR Arquitectes, a little-known Spain-based practice made up of three Catalan architects, has won the biggest architectural accolade of the year. To enlighten those unfamiliar with their output, the New York Times has gathered six of their most significant works. (NYT)
Rome Gets First-Ever Permanent Public Contemporary Art Sculpture — The artist to carry out the honor is none other than Arte Povera master Giuseppe Penone, who was chosen by a jury led by New Museum curator Massimiliano Gioni and commissioned by fashion brand Fendi. Take a look at the resulting bronze and marble piece below:
Giuseppe Penone’s Foglie di pietra at Rome’s Largo Goldoni. Photo Stefano Guindani, courtesy FENDI.
Giuseppe Penone’s Foglie di pietra at Rome’s Largo Goldoni. Photo Stefano Guindani, courtesy FENDI.