Art Industry News: Dr. Seuss Museum to Remove ‘Racist’ Mural After Uproar + More Must-Read Stories

Plus, Rem Koolhaas will design the New Museum's expansion and JR creates another work of art at the US-Mexico border.

A sculpture of the iconic Cat in the Hat by Lark Grey Dimond-Cates at the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden. Courtesy of the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss.

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 Wednesday, October 11.

NEED-TO-READ

Chris Kraus Event Canceled After Boyle Heights Protest – Pressure from anti-gentrification and “art-washing” activists has led a gallery in LA’s warehouse district to cancel a launch event for the I Love Dick author’s new Kathy Acker biography. The event was going to be held at 365 Mission, the space founded by artist Laura Owens. (LA Weekly)

Mexico City Galleries Come Together After Earthquake – After a 7.1-magnitude quake hit Mexico City late last month, local galleries are helping one another find new homes and planning joint shows while their existing spaces undergo repairs. Dealers also hope a planned gallery-hopping program, Sábados de Galerías, will kickstart the long process of economic recovery. (The Art Newspaper)

Seuss Museum Will Remove Offensive Mural – Following a boycott of the museum’s book festival from authors Mo Willems, Mike Curato, and Lisa Yee, the Massachusetts museum has agreed to replace a mural depicting a racist Chinese character. (New York Times)

Rem Koolhaas to Design New Museum’s Extension – The Bowery museum will put its expansion budget of $85 million towards new construction on an adjacent property, doubling the size of the institution. Perhaps surprisingly, this is the first first public project in New York City for OMA, the firm founded by Rem Koolhaas. (NYT)

ART MARKET

Works From the Blitz Collection Lead Sotheby’s Prints Sale – Featuring prints and multiples by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Jasper Johns, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, the sale from the collection of Catherine Woodard and Nelson Blitz Jr. will take place on October 23 at Sotheby’s New York. (Press release)

Hauser & Wirth’s Frieze Booth Hits the Road – If you missed the gallery’s spectacular stand at Frieze London last week, fear not: The fictional museum devoted to works from the Bronze Age (whose gift shop raised £10,000 for UK regional museums) will travel to Firstsite in Colchester. This is the first time a commercial art-fair booth has toured to a museum. (TAN)

Canova’s Angel Comes to TEFAF NY – A rare wingless version of an angel statue made by 18th-century Italian sculptor Antonio Canova will go on view on October 28 at the booth of the Milan gallery Trinity Fine Art at the fall edition of TEFAF New York. It carries a $4 million price tag. (NYT)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Lehmann Maupin Appoints New Partner – Jessica Kreps, who has been working at the gallery for eight years and has served as director since 2014, has been named partner. Gallerist Rachel Lehmann said, “I trust her with what is most dear to me, which are our artists.” (Press release)

White Columns to Move Next to the Whitney – After a long search for a new location—which at one point saw director Mathew Higgs looking into sharing an address with Artists Space—White Columns will stay in the West Village, relocating to a new 2,500-square-foot spot near the Whitney Museum. (ARTnews)

Isa Genzken Nabs Prestigious German Award – Genzken was honored with the Goslarer Kaiserring, a ring awarded by the the namesake city in Lower Saxony since 1975. Previous winners include Christo, Joseph Beuys, Max Ernst, and Georg Baselitz. “It fits!” Genzken said at the award ceremony this past weekend. (Der Standard) ​

FOR ART’S SAKE

Barbara Kruger to Design a Skatepark – Performa has commissioned multiple site-specific installations by Kruger for this year’s event, which runs November 1–19. She will take over a popular skatepark on the Lower East Side and a large billboard in Chelsea. She will also create a full wrap around a public school bus that will travel throughout the city. (Press release)

Smithsonian Acquires 1,000 Artist Talks – The museum’s Archives of American Art has acquired nearly 1,000 panel discussions, open screenings, and dialogues held in New York City. The collection, Artists Talk on Art (ATOA), has recordings of Louise Bourgeois, Hannah Wilke, David Wojnarowicz, and many others speaking about their work. (Artfix Daily)

Two Hip-Hop Museums Battle in New York – Two rap museums in different boroughs are battling over who will be the first to open in the city. The Bronx-based organization, with Kurtis Blow as chairman and Ice-T on its founding board, is projected to open by 2022; the Harlem museum on 125th Street is scheduled to open by late 2020 or early 2021. (dnainfo)

JR Hosts a Cross-Border Picnic – Days after his image of a Mexican toddler peeking over the US-Mexico border wall was removed, the street artist JR got busy again, this time laying down a huge pair of eyes in the form of a fully functional dining table and hosting a picnic simultaneously on both sides of the wall. (i-D)


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