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 Wednesday, July 20.

NEED TO READ

Cardi B Trial in $5 Million Suit Over “Sexual” Cover Art – The superstar rapper is expected to testify in person at the August 3 trial for a lawsuit brought by Kevin Michael Brophy, who claims Cardi B misappropriated his tattoo for the cover art of her 2016 album Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1. The lawsuit was first filed in 2017 and hit the courts after settlement discussions fell through. The four-day trial is expected to be a spectacle. “It’s showtime,” U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney said. (Rolling Stone)

Ukrainian Art Show Gets a New Home – An exhibition of work by 42 Ukrainian artists that was left stranded at a Denmark gallery, unable to return to Kyiv, has reopened in Brussels. The solution—which prevents the show from being locked away and stuck in limbo indefinitely—was the result of four weeks of frantic negotiations between curators, E.U. foreign policy officials, and the Art and History Museum in Brussels. (Guardian)

Pace Shutters Palo Alto Space as Part of “Consolidation” – Pace will close its Palo Alto gallery after its final show, of work by Brice Guilbert, concludes on September 2. The gallery says its decision to shutter the six-year-old space—one of the first blue-chip spaces to open in Silicon Valley—is part of a broader move to consolidate its global operation following the opening of a new space in Los Angeles and recent expansions in London and Seoul. (Press release)

Outsted Whitworth Gallery Director Moves to ZKM Karlsruhe – The cultural institution Zentrums für Kunst und Medien (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany, has appointed Alistair Hudson as its new director. The British curator was forced to step down from the helm of Manchester University’s Whitworth Art Gallery in February over the a pro-Palestine display included a show he organized by Forensic Architecture. (Art Review)

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Almine Rech Expands in Paris – The star-making gallerist is doubling the size of her space at 18 Avenue Matignon in the 8th Arrondissement with a new extension opening in early September ahead of the first edition of Paris+. A solo exhibition of work by Vietnamese artist Mai Thu will inaugurate the new venue. (Press release)

Artnet Auctions Launches Poly Auction Collaboration – Artnet Auctions​’​ joint online ​sale in collaboration with Poly Auction launches today. ​The ​sale—hosted on Poly Auction’s online platform​—offer​s​ Asia-based collectors access to Artnet’s offering of premium postwar and contemporary art, prints and multiples, and photographs, and illustrates Artnet’s commitment to the Asian market​. (Press release)

Front Triennial Launches Fellowship Program – The three-year Art Futures Fellowship launched by the Front Triennial, which opened in Cleveland, Akron, and Oberlin last week, will offer unrestricted grants of $25,000 and professional development and travel opportunities to three artists from marginalized communities in northern Ohio. (The Art Newspaper)

Art-World Power Couple Splits – It’s not every day an art-world breakup gets covered in Page Six, but the gossip column reported that artist Mickalene Thomas and art consultant Racquel Chevremont have called it quits after a two-and-a-half-year engagement. The pair recently organized an exhibition at the Parrish Art Museum under their joint curatorial initiative Deux Femmes Noires. (Page Six) 

FOR ARTS SAKE

An Artist-Designed Bat Hits the Field – New York Met Pete Alonso came up short in his bid for a historic three-peat (three-Pete?) in the Home Run Derby on Monday night. (The Washington Nationals’​​ Juan Soto won.) But for the third straight contest, the first baseman wielded an artist-designed bat for the occasion, this one by Gregory Siff in Mets blue and orange. It features the phrase “Polar Power,” a reference to Alonso’s nickname, “Polar Bear.” (Twitter)