Art Industry News: Buy an Ai Weiwei on eBay for $100 + More Must-Read Stories

Plus, North Korean artists find a market and David Hammons unveils photos of his Gordon Matta-Clark remake on the Hudson.

Chinese activist and artist Ai Weiwei at the Idomeni refugee camp on the Greek Macedonia border last March. Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.

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 Thursday, October 5.

NEED-TO-READ

The Biggest Question Facing Artists Today? – Eleven major art world figures come forward and share what they see as the biggest question facing artists today. From censorship to affordable housing to “how do I get paid?”, artists Arthur Jafa, Tacita Dean, and Tate director Maria Belshaw weigh in, among others. Jeremy Deller responds with a simple, “WTF?” (The Guardian)

David Salle Gives a Lesson in Art Criticism – The painter gives a critical walkthrough of his own exhibition “Ham and Cheese and Other Paintings,” which runs through October 28 at Skarstedt gallery, instructing readers on how to look at his art. One tip: don’t focus on the objects in the painting so much, “the how is what makes a painting a painting.” (New York Times)

Ai Weiwei Sells Works on eBay for a Cause – Art world dissident Ai Weiwei is selling works such as “Odyssey,” a 24-by-36-inch print depicting refugees in the style of a Greco-Roman frieze, starting at just $100 on eBay. Proceeds go to support the Public Art Fund’s upcoming exhibition with the artist that takes place across 300 sites in New York, opening October 11. (Page Six)

Art Gallery of Ontario Director Defends Museum – After AGO curator Andrew Hunter quit and publicly denounced museums for their ongoing colonial legacies, the institution’s director, Stephan Jost, responded to the criticism, saying he agrees with Hunter but remains optimistic about the work being done at the institution. (The Toronto Star)

ART MARKET

Big Sales Reported at Frieze – Despite concerns about Brexit, it seems London’s art market is still thriving, at least for now. Sales reported from Frieze’s preview day include big tickets like a $2.75 million Jeff Koons and a $2.5 million Sigmar Polke. (ARTnews)

The Contemporary Art Society Buys Bopape – The CAS has acquired a major installation, Sedibeng, it comes with the rain (2016), by the South African artist Dineo Seshee Bopape at Frieze London. Bopape won the Pinchuk Future Generation Art Prize and the Sharjah Biennial Art Prize this year and had a solo show at Palais de Tokyo in 2016. (Press release)

North Korean Artists Find a Market in China Nestled in a Chinese border town, North Korea’s state-run Mansudae Art Studio is the country’s largest producer of art, creating statues of global leaders, propaganda posters, and paintings. The United Nations has reported, however, that a part of Mansudae called Mansudae Overseas Projects was a front for the North Korean state to cash in on military deals. (Reuters)

The Other Art Fair Opens in London – Running concurrently with Frieze London, the Other Art Fair in Shoreditch features solo exhibitions by more than 130 artists and sells art priced as low as £50 ($66). The fair operates in partnership with online gallery Saatchi Art. (Evening Standard)

COMINGS AND GOINGS

Artists Named for the FRONT Residency – The Cleveland-based FRONT has announced the lineup for its 2018 residency. Artistic directors Michelle Grabner and Jens Hoffman named Juan Araujo, Elizabeth Emery, and Lauren Yeager among the 18 chosen artists, who will appear in the region-wide FRONT Triennial, July 14–September 30, 2018. (Press release)

Lawrence Abu Hamdan Wins Abraaj Group Art Prize – The Berlin-based, Lebanese sound installation artist has won the $100,000 prize, which is one of the largest monetary art prizes in the world, recognizing artists from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. (ARTnews)

Tony Lewis Wins Rose Art Museum’s Perlmutter Prize – The Chicago-based artist is the recipient of the 2017-2018 Ruth Ann and Nathan Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence Award. He will create a new site-specific mural for the the museum. (Press release)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Kara Walker Receives Harvard Du Bois Medal – The artist shared the stage last night with fellow recipients of the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal at Harvard’s annual Hutchins Center Honors, including luminaries such as Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, Microsoft chair John W. Thompson, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, rapper LL Cool J, filmmaker Ava DuVernay, and the Ford Foundation’s Darren Walker. (Instagram)

Gilbert & George’s Foundation to Show Rejected Works – The English artist duo, who have announced plans to open their own foundation in 2019, said that the refurbished East London space will be used to show their most “difficult” works—“all the pieces people are not quite ready for.” (The Art Newspaper)

David Bowie Show Coming to the Brooklyn Museum – The blockbuster exhibition was organized in collaboration with the British star before it first opened in London’s V&A in 2013, and it has been traveling the world ever since. Next year it will appear at the Brooklyn Museum with some “expanded content,” according to museum director Anne Pasternak. (@annepasternak Instagram)

David Hammons Resurrects Matta-Clark on the Hudson – The artist presented renderings of his plans for a permanent outdoor installation on the Hudson River, commissioned by the Whitney Museum. The work is a minimalist homage to a Pier 52 shed that Gordon Matta-Clark cut holes into in 1975 and that has since been torn down. Both works are titled Day’s End. (NYT)

A rendering of Day’s End, a proposed public art installation by David Hammons. Courtesy of Guy Nordenson and Associates

A rendering of “Day’s End,” a proposed public art installation by David Hammons. Courtesy of Guy Nordenson and Associates


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