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, September 22.
NEED-TO-READ
Meet Rising Star Curator Destinee Ross-Sutton – The 24-year-old Brooklyn-based curator has her finger on the pulse of the art world, especially when it comes to her generation of artists of the Black diaspora. She recently organized an exhibit with Christie’s this summer, “Say It Loud,” which included 22 emerging international painters—and pioneered a new contract for buyers that aims to curtail speculation. Ross-Sutton has also been painted by such artistic luminaries as Derrick Adams, Amoako Boafo, and Kehinde Wiley. (Business Insider)
One Museum Is Putting Its Entire Collection on Display – Forget curating—the entire collection of one of the Netherlands’ most prominent museums is accessible via a monumental building in Rotterdam. Designed by the Dutch firm MVRDV, the so-called Depot of the Boijmans Van Beuningen houses and displays all of its 150,000 objects. The €55 million building is right next door to the actual museum and is the most extreme example of the growing museum trend of visible storage. (Guardian)
Overwhelmed by Traffic, Online Art Fair Crashes – The first online-only edition of the Art Car Boot Fair, which usually takes place in London and sees direct-to-collector sales by artists (out of, yes, the trunks of cars), has been postponed until October 4 after its website crashed “due to extraordinary demand by eager buyers.” All tickets will still be valid for the new date and refunds are available. (TAN)
Tschabalala Self Interviews Somaya Critchlow – It’s always enjoyable to hear artists in conversation, and this exchange is worth your time: the American artist Tschabalala Self interviews emerging British artist Somaya Critchlow. Both depict the Black female body in their work, but with very different approaches. “In a very simplified way my position is unique because there are not many Black British artists with a contemporary platform,” Critchlow says. “I think there are about 12 or 13 black women represented by galleries here in the UK, which is crazy.” (Office)
ART MARKET
Sotheby’s Plans Artist-Designed Sneaker Sale – Sotheby’s has launched a novel sale, “Cult Canvas,” featuring eight artist-designed sneakers made exclusively for Nike. As the house aims to amp up its online offerings while bringing in a younger, crossover-collecting audience, it has partnered with Ryan Chang, founder of Applied Arts, a media company that “celebrates sneakers as fine-art objects” to launch the auction, which is open for bidding until September 30. Artists behind the kicks include French Expressionist Bernard Buffet, street artist Futura 2000, and toy designer Michael Lau. (Press release)
New York’s Gray Gallery Is on the Move – Richard Gray Gallery, which represents the likes of Jim Dine, McArthur Binion, and Jim Lutes, is moving from its current location at 1018 Madison Avenue in New York. It will relocate from the fourth floor to a revamped space on the second floor. (Press release)
Simon Lee Gallery Takes on Rachel Howard – The British artist known for her shadowy, saturated, and expressive paintings will present new work with the gallery at Frieze’s online edition this October before her first show there, planned for fall 2021. (Press release)
COMINGS & GOINGS
93 National Trust Estates Have Links to Slavery and Colonialism – A new report conducted by the English heritage body National Trust has revealed that 93 of its properties have links to colonialism and slavery. The report, which covers sites including Winston Churchill’s country estate Chartwell, is part of a broader effort to understand these histories in order to present more nuanced narratives about them. (Guardian)
Missing Arno Breker Sculpture Found in Germany – Construction workers uncovered a long-lost sculpture by Arno Breker as well as another, yet-to-be-identified piece while digging up the garden of the Kunsthaus Dahlem. The marble bust by one of Hitler’s favorite artists has been identified from photographic records as Romanichel and is thought to date from 1940, when Breker was using the building as a studio. (Press release)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Beatrix Ruf Is Helping the Dutch State Collect Art – Dutch entrepreneur Rob Defares and Beatrix Ruf are helping the Dutch State to Collect Art via The Hartwig Art Foundation, the Hartwig Art Production / Collection Fund, is giving an honorarium of €10,000 ($11,710) to 15 artists who have attended residencies in the Netherlands to be presented at midsize institutions around the country in 2021. The fund is also providing €300,000 (around $353,000) to acquire the new works, which will be donated to the Dutch national collection. (Press release)
An Artist Renames Subway Station After Ruth Ginsburg – Artist Adrian Wilson created a guerrilla memorial to the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg inside Manhattan’s 50th Street subway station by altering the mosaic signage to read “Ruth St.” MTA staff swiftly removed his handiwork, which was carried out with adhesive stickers, dubbing it “illegal graffiti.” Wilson was also behind the beloved alteration of the Franklin Street subway sign to read “Aretha Franklin Street” following the singer’s death. (Hyperallergic)