What’s been happening on the art world’s social media this week? We’ve spent some time scrolling through our feeds—keeping track of big-time Twitter players, Facebook majordomos, and Instagram newcomers—to let you know what’s what in the land of likes and retweets.
1. Fired by Koons, a Painter Strikes Back With Parody
Playing on the artist’s name, the creator of an anonymous parody account by a painter recently downsized from Jeff Koons’s studio has dubbed the global superstar “Rakkcoons,” and shows him in the guise of a smug-looking animal who towers over his faceless, goggle-wearing staff, who look something like minions.
2. Naked Truths for the Naked Cowboy
Artist Aman Mojadidi’s project at Times Square has wired defunct phone booths with recordings of the stories from some of the many immigrants to New York City. Times Square icon The Naked Cowboy listened in one sunny day.
3. The Walker Shows Us How Not to Do a Write-Around
Artist Jimmie Durham’s ever-changing claims of being a Cherokee—or not—have come in for serious scrutiny on the part of some members of the tribe on the occasion of a traveling retrospective. Writer Tim Schneider gave some side eye to the Walker Art Center’s treatment of the controversy as it plans to host the exhibition.
4. I Want to Take You to a Gaze Bar, Gaze Bar, Gaze Bar
A pair of art collectors has opened a shrine to Italian art in New York’s Hudson Valley, launching Magazzino with an exhibition chosen from their extensive holdings of Arte Povera. One work in particular led star Instagrammer JiaJia Fei to muse about a punning moniker for a planned gay bar.
5. Richard Price Owns It (Again)
Trickster artist Richard Prince has reportedly disowned work from before 1980, but this week he tweeted a work dated 1975. Is it real? Prince hasn’t returned our messages, but we’ll let you know if he does.
6. Annals of Gift Subscriptions
A New Yorker cartoon has one optical illusion giving rise to another. New York Times art critic Roberta Smith thought that artist Jasper Johns, who has incorporated one of them into his iconography, would get a kick out of it.
7. The Windy City Trolls the 45th President—or Does It?
Some Chicagoans enjoyed a public artwork by Scott Reeder that has taken up residence outside the Windy City’s Trump Tower. Dating from 2013, it predates the president’s repeated jabs at the media, which he accuses of peddling fake news. But can it be read in any other way than as a jab at the 45th president? Neither the artist nor the organizers of the public art exhibition of which it is part have made a statement either way.
8. Do Not F*#k With Anselm Kiefer’s Lemons
Art scribe Andrew Russeth noted that German superstar artist Anselm Kiefer is very, very precise not only as regards his own work but in terms of the quantity of citrus in his refreshments.
9. Instagram’s Favorite Sunset Disappears Over the Horizon
Cult favorite anonymous Instagrammer Loyola Condenser is named for a heating unit that appears outside her window atop a Loyola University building overlooking Lake Michigan. Her daily posts have taken in changing weather conditions, to spellbinding effect. She also gained attention for using the social media site to convey her take on the infamous trial of artist Peter Doig, who had to disprove that he’d created a painting signed “Pete Doige.” (She ultimately revealed her identity as artist Lisa Barense when the works netted her a gallery exhibition.) Well, she’s moving, and so it’s sunset for those beloved lake views. Here’s one of her final posts from the site, to close out this post.
Additional research provided by Caroline Goldstein.