BEST?

The Auction-House Hot Shot – artnet News’s Andrew Goldstein spoke with Loïc Gouzer, the man responsible for Christie’s record-shattering sale of Salvator Mundi, about the state of collecting, his unorthodox ‘curating’ practices, and his passion for the planet.

New York Says ‘Yes’ to Hammons’s Hudson Project – The artist David Hammons has cleared a hurdle in the quest to build an enormous permanent art installation on the Hudson River across from the Whitney Museum. The New York State legislature approved the plans this week, though there remain regulatory hurdles to overcome in the future.

A Much Better Look – There is a big change afoot in the realm of auction photography, and it might involve a lot fewer women. After artnet News noticed the scores of awkwardly posed stock photos featuring young women next to artworks, auction houses are attempting to introduce a more varied style of presale promotional images.

The Met’s Starring Role on the Silver Screen – The rollicking summer movie Oceans 8 premiered this week, giving viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the museum and its real-life art collection. The movie was filmed on location, and also features cameos by Christie’s auction house and Cheim & Read gallery.

Frieze Warms Up to Exhibitors – The art fair is offering a partial refund to galleries that showed at the 2018 New York edition after the stifling heat under the big tent on Randalls Island left many visitors and exhibitors hot and bothered.

Lichtenstein Foundation Secures Its Legacy – Roy Lichtenstein’s Pop art will engage visitors for generations to come, thanks to a massive gift from the artist’s eponymous foundation. As the organization prepares to close, it is donating huge amounts of artwork to public institutions, with the Whitney and the Smithsonian Archive of American Art the first beneficiaries.

Murakami Is Still a Kanye Fan – This week the Japanese art star Takashi Murakami revealed his new psychedelic cover art for a collaborative album between Kanye West and Kid Cudi.

WORST? 

Remembering a Singular Voice in Art History – The renown art critic Irving Sandler died this week at the age of 92. The beloved man-about-town documented the rise of Abstract Expressionism and captured the outsized personality of the artists who powered the movement.

No Piece of Cake – Art critic Ben Davis parses the recent Supreme Court case of the Colorado baker who refused to make his oh-so-artistic confections for a gay wedding—and explains why this is not just an issue of religious freedom and gay rights but also strikes at the heart of artistic expression.

Enwezor Exits Post – Curator Okwui Enwezor is stepping down as director of the Haus Der Kunst due to health issues. Enwezor has led the museum since 2011, in addition to headlining several international events including documenta 11 and the Venice Biennale in 2015.

A Naked Rejection – The grocery store in Australia has cancelled the photo shoot for one of artist Spencer Tunick’s mass nude photographs, saying that the image of more than 10,0000 naked volunteers at the store would dissuade customers from shopping there.

Van Gogh’s Fading Florals – A new study casts a cloudy pallor over Van Gogh’s renowned sunflowers—finding that due to a particular light-sensitive pigment used to capture the blooms, the once luminous yellows are turning brown.

Who’s Copying Who? – An Instagram account has very successfully stirred by art-world pot by juxtaposing artworks that bear unmistakable degrees of similarity to one another, calling out the rampant copycats of the art world.