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, September 27.

NEED-TO-READ

Hockney Says Losing His Hearing Improved His Art – In a speech at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the 80-year-old artist revealed that as his hearing deteriorated, his sense of perspective and depth grew sharper. He also announced plans to donate a massive work, The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire, which is currently part of his traveling retrospective, to the institution. (AP)

Here’s Thelma Golden’s Vision for the Studio Museum – “Right now, there is very little about what it means to be the director of the Studio Museum that I would trade,” Golden insists, warding off speculation about a potential move to the Metropolitan Museum of Art or elsewhere. The Harlem institution is preparing to close for three years during the construction of its new $175 million building. (New York Times)

MoMA to Show Colin Kaepernick’s Jersey – The jersey is from the football player’s tenure with the 49ers, when he first began taking a knee during the national anthem at NFL games to protest police brutality. It is included in the exhibition “Items: Is Fashion Modern?” which opens October 1. (W Magazine)

Yayoi Kusama Opens Up About Her Tokyo Museum – Ahead of the official opening of the Kusama mecca in Shinjuku on Sunday, the 88-year-old discusses the 45 works she has selected for its first exhibition. Tickets for timed entry visits are already sold out through November. Fittingly, the museum’s restrooms are covered in polka dots. (NYT)

ART MARKET

Dealer Harry Blain Is Getting Sued – One of Britain’s top dealers, Harry Blain of Blain|Southern, is being accused of dishonesty by two former business partners. Chris Boas and James Graham-Maw are demanding complete repayment of the ‎£500,000 ($668,730) they invested in Blain’s online image platform, Sedition, claiming he used the money for unknown purposes and did not reach the agreed subscription numbers. (Daily Mail)

Phillips to Sell Works From Elvis Presley’s Publisher – Esteemed music publisher Julian Aberbach—a key player in the careers of Presley, Johnny Cash, and Ray Charles—also collected Modern art. The late collector’s four drawings by Picasso and Matisse will go on show at Phillips in London this week before being sold in New York. (Telegraph)

‘White-Glove’ Sales for Vivien Leigh, Edward Albee Collections – The collection of Gone With the Wind star Vivien Leigh and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf playwright Edward Albee have achieved rare “white-glove” status, with 100% of lots sold at Sotheby’s London and New York, respectively. (Press release)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Yahoo Co-Founder Gives $25 Million to a San Francisco Museum – Jerry Yang, a Yahoo co-founder, and his wife Akiko Yamazaki have pledged $25 million toward a $90 million refurbishment of the city’s Asian Art Museum. It is the largest financial donation in the institution’s history. (NYT)

Museums to Move into Moscow Fairground – A dozen museums are slated to open next year within walking distance of one another at a Stalin-era fairground in Northeast Moscow, under the leadership of Ekaterina Pronicheva. Participating institutions include the State Museum of Oriental Art and the Cinema Museum. (The Art Newspaper)

New Museum Opens Two New Galleries – As part of its expansion into 231 Bowery, the Manhattan museum is opening two new galleries today, with shows devoted to the artists Kahlil Joseph and Petrit Halilaj. The spaces will be connected to the museum lobby. (Bowery Boogie)

Valton Tyler Dies at 73 – The self-taught Texas artist—who was the subject of an acclaimed retrospective at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth earlier this year—died on September 25 in Dallas. He created intricate, otherworldly compositions in drawing, etching, and painting. (Glasstire)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Gavin Brown Raises Money for Puerto Rico – In response to the devastation caused by two category five hurricanes, Gavin Brown’s enterprise is hosting a fundraiser this Thursday at its Harlem gallery space. Food will be conceived by artist Rirkrit Tiravanija and the minimum donation to attend is $100. (ARTnews)

Ancient Egyptian Tablet Stolen in Broad Daylight – An Egyptian funerary stele was taken from the Museum of Mediterranean Archeology in Marseilles, France, in early September. The theft happened quietly in the middle of the day and the museum, which is second only to the Louvre in its collection of Egyptian antiquities, did not realize until days after the fact. (La Provence)

Dior Collection References Linda Nochlin and Niki de Saint Phalle – Linda Nochlin’s seminal essay “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” has found its way onto the Dior catwalk. Meanwhile, designer Maria Grazia Chiuri has said that the new collection was also inspired by de Saint Phalle’s Nana sculptures. You’ll have to wait until next year to own the items, but in the meantime, take a look at other art-inspired looks in stores now. (ARTnews)

FROM OUR PARTNERS

LADDIE JOHN DILL & KRISTIN JAI KLOSTERMAN
Georges Bergès Gallery, New York
September 7–26

A significant artist of California’s Light and Space movement in the 1970s who re-established himself in New York, Laddie John Dill creates neon sculptural environments of light and color that engage the viewer’s senses and tickle the perceptions. For his latest outing at George Bergès Gallery, Dill is joined by his collaborator of some 15 years, Kristin Jai Klosterman, who is presenting mixed-media works that draw power from the interplay of hard and soft materials and plays of luminance.

Works from the show, including one of Laddie John Dill’s “Light Sentences.” Photo courtesy of Georges Bergès Gallery.