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, November 15.
NEED-TO-READ
Protesters Target Replica Mummy in Spain – Climate activists poured red and brown slime over a display case containing a replica mummy at the Egyptian Museum in Barcelona in protest of COP27, taking place this year in Egypt. The activists, who are from the group Futuro Vegetal, pointed out that Coca-Cola was a sponsor of the climate conference. (ARTnews)
Could the Salvator Mundi Buyer Ask for a Refund? – Christie’s recored-setting sale, five years ago, of the Salvator Mundi came with a five-year warranty. But it might not be as easy as it sounds for the buyer to cash in before the expiration date. Such warrantees afford considerable leeway to auction houses, which can argue that the lot description corresponded to the generally accepted opinion of scholars at the time of the sale. (The Art Newspaper)
Brian Eno Peed on That Duchamp – The musician confessed that he once urinated on Duchamp’s Fountain while it was on view in New York by way of a complex process that involved peeing into a plastic tube and feeding it through the vitrine while a security guard’s back was turned. He called it a “symbolic” act. (New York Times)
The Other Side of the Paul Allen Sale – The Microsoft cofounder cherished the importance of public access to art. So why did he sell his masterpieces into private hands? Critic Blake Gopnik suggests the billionaire was never really as passionate about art as he claimed to be—and that his donation of $20 million worth of “un-fine art and culture” objects to Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture shows that “what he really counted as most wonderful… might be different from what the art market does.” (NYT)
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Jenna Gribbon Joins David Kordansky – The in-demand figurative painter will have her first solo show with the gallery in Los Angeles in 2024. She will continue to be represented by Massimo De Carlo in Milan and LGDR in New York. (ARTnews)
Ukrainian Art Students Get a Boost – The Abakanowicz Arts and Culture Charitable Foundation, in collaboration with the European League of Institutes of the Art, has awarded its largest gift to date to support art students and universities in Ukraine. The announcement coincides with the opening of a major Tate Modern exhibition dedicated to the late Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz. (Press release)
Andy Warhol Show Comes to Saudi Arabia – As a part of the AlUla Arts Festival, “Fame: Andy Warhol in AlUla,” will open at the Maraya exhibition hall on February 17. The show is organized by the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. (ARTnews)
Ragnar Kjartansson Unveils New Video – The Icelandic artist’s new show at Luhring Augustine in Chelsea presents No Tomorrow, an installation projected onto six screens with 30 sound channels choreographed by Margrét Bjarnadóttir and set to music by Bryce Dessner. The lyrics come from the 18th-century novella of the same name by Vivant Denon and lines from the Greek poet Sappho and evokes the lovestruck paintings of Jean-Antoine Watteau. (Washington Post)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Kim Kardashian Matches Her Dress to Her Turrell – The Skims founder, who infamously wore Marilyn Monroe’s archival gown (to the horror of conservators everywhere), is back in the art-meets-fashion press. Over the weekend, Kardashian went viral for posing next to her sister Kylie’s luminescent pink James Turrell in a matching Balenciaga dress ahead of the Baby2Baby gala, where she donated $1 million. (Page Six, Instagram)