From Our Frieze New York Wishlist to Instagram’s Hashtag Crackdown: The Best and Worst of the Art World This Week

Catch up on this week's news—fast.

The outside of Frieze New York 2019. Photo: Mark Blower, courtesy of Frieze.

BEST?

The Turner Prize Shortlist Is Long on Talent – The UK’s most coveted contemporary art prize announced its shortlist, and after last year’s all video-artist lineup, the pool has expanded into greater diversity for 2019.

Finger Painting… for Adults – The artist Iris Scott is changing the way you think about finger painting. It’s not just for pre-schoolers in smocks anymore!

Frieze Frame – Randall’s Island may be just minutes from Manhattan, but it feels like a world away when the big white tent goes up. We’ve selected six showstopping artworks from this year’s more subdued edition of the fair.

Island Style – Who wore it best? artnet News’s intrepid style reporter scoped out the most fashionable fair-goers to Frieze New York—and they’re giving the art a run for its money.

Talent Radar – From 1-54 to Art New York, there were plenty of new artists to discover in New York this week. Here are five to keep your eye on.

Yeah, Bois! – The inimitable Modern art scholar Yve-Alain Bois will show off new research and deliver next year’s Mellon Lectures at the National Gallery of Art.

Long Live Leonardo – Even 500 years after his death, Leonardo da Vinci is still making new headlines; this week, a new portrait of the polymath emerged, giving scholars new insights.

WORST?

 

Turner Prize Tussle – The Turner Prize committee has cut ties with a controversial sponsor after a groundswell of criticism arose about the company’s ties to anti-Gay Rights movements.

Poland Apeels Censorship – When a provocative feminist video artwork starring a banana was removed from a Polish museum, an army of fruit-ingesting protesters went to work to call out the censorship.

Hashtag Holdup – Instagram got a lot of flak from the art world this week when it abruptly put the kibosh on popular hashtags #fineartmodel and #artmodel, just days after artist Betty Tompkins was booted for sharing “explicit content.”

Lost in Space – Artist Trevor Paglen’s interstellar Orbital Reflector has lost its satellite connection after a lengthy government shutdown forced the FCC to go dark.

Whitney Artists Continue Protest – The fight to oust trustee Warren Kanders from the Whitney Museum’s board ratcheted up a notch this week, as more than half of the participants in the institution’s upcoming Biennial joined the call for his removal.

Auction House Blues – Sotheby’s reported a more dramatic loss than expected at their recent shareholders conference call, citing a change to auction calendars and less-than-stellar private sales figures.


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