Every week, Artnet News brings you Wet Paint, a gossip column of original scoops. If you have a tip, email Annie Armstrong at aarmstrong@artnet.com.
LUCAS ZWIRNER IS DATING DIANNA AGRON… OR IS HE?
A word to the wise: if you’re looking for art-world gossip, come to me first. Not every source is as reliable as Wet Paint.
This week, several people forwarded me one of gossip blog @deuxmoi’s famed Instagram stories, which are typically emailed to the anonymous account from anonymous sources. As a news source, @deuxmoi is… not exactly trusted? For the record, its Instagram account clearly states: “statements made on this account have not been independently confirmed. this account does not claim any information published is based in fact.”
Oh! Well. Good to have that cleared up.
This week’s @deuxmoi scoop, sent out in an email blast, had a tantalizing subject line: “Dianna Agron and Lucas Zwirner.”
Gasp!
Let’s back up. David Zwirner’s bibliophilic son, who runs his dad’s gallery’s publishing imprint, of course, famously dated American Sniper star Sienna Miller, who is—scandalously!—10 years his senior. Zwirner and Miller ended their eight-month engagement at the end of summer 2020, ostensibly because “Lucas was a bit immature for Sienna,” as one source told Us magazine around that time.
As for Agron, for those of you not in-the-know, she became famous in the early 2000’s for her role as a pregnant cheerleader on the TV show Glee. Since then, she’s maintained her career acting, popping up in Ralph Breaks the Internet, Against the Clock, and directing a segment of the anthology film Berlin, I Love You. If none of those ring a bell, maybe you remember her from the recent cult comedy Shiva Baby.
She’s also known as kind of a socialite: she was married for four years to one-time Mumford & Sons banjoist Winston Marshall, and before that, dated Sebastian Stan (the Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe who also plays Tommy Lee in the upcoming Hulu series, Pam & Tommy).
In New York, she’s known as the best friend of famed restaurateur Kyle Hotchkiss Carone, a partner at art-world watering holes the American Bar and Saint Theos, which she’s been known to frequent.
Dianna Agron. Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Utopia Films.
According to the @deuxmoi email, Zwirner and Agron “have been quietly dating for a few weeks now.” The same source also told @deuxmoi that the two spent New Year’s Eve together in St. Moritz, and took a little trip this past weekend to “the Hamptoms.” The spelling error says it all.
What’s more, @deuxmoi claimed that the two were “very DL” (which means “down low,” ya ol’ fogies), but “getting serious quickly.”
Of course, Wet Paint had to look into this. Lucas Zwirner is one of the art world’s most eligible bachelors, and the fact that he’s attractive to Hollywood starlets makes him a rare art-world cross-over figure. (Step aside, Cooke Maroney!) So if Agron is really Zwirner’s new flame, it’s pretty important that I disrespect their privacy and annoy everyone I know by asking anyone I’ve ever met what they know about it.
But after digging deep, Wet Paint can reveal that, at least as of the past week, Lucas is still single and ready to mingle. A source close to the publisher told this reporter that at David Zwirner’s recent opening for James Castle in New York, Lucas let slip that he was, in fact, actively looking.
So however did this little rumor get started?
According to a few sources close to Zwirner, Argon and Lucas have recently been at two of the same parties. But if that’s the only requisite to generating romance, then great news: your very own Wet Paint is now dating Adam Driver.
As for the love affair with Miller? One anonymous source, when asked if Lucas was finally over it, said: “Emotionally, who knows. But in terms of moving on, yeah.”
PACE PAINTS THE TOWN BLUE(CHIP)
Outside of the new space on Broadway. Courtesy of Pace.
Exciting news! A Chelsea-based mega-gallery is opening a project space in the newly invigorated Tribeca neighborhood with a rising star curator at the helm. That’s right, David Zwi—oh wait, whoops.
Sorry. Let me start that over.
Exciting news! A Chelsea-based mega-gallery is opening a project space in the newly invigorated Tribeca neighborhood with a rising star curator at the helm. That’s right, Pace Gallery has tapped 83-year-old industry veteran Arne Glimcher (who, um, founded the gallery) to run a brand new space in whatever way he likes.
The New York Times coverage of the news even adorably sees his son Marc, CEO of the gallery, dictate his father’s retirement plans as. “No puttering around, no golf game for my father.”
Seems healthy!
The gallery announced yesterday that it would be taking a space on the corner of Broadway and Walker, naming it 125 Newbury after Pace’s original Boston location. The building is down the street from Canada, Patrick Parrish, James Cohan, and several other big names in the neighborhood, including Ebony Haynes‘s space through David Zwirner, 52 Walker.
(In case you haven’t heard, Tribeca is now the trendy gallery neighborhood in New York.)
But not everyone is thrilled with the news.
“I think this move makes Tribeca feel even more crowded and less focused,” one irate dealer, much younger than Arne, told Wet Paint. “Although the programming may be stellar, it still feels like a death rattle for Pace—one last attempt at relevancy. And I’m already not amused.”
Okay, sure Tribeca is starting to feel a little oversaturated. And the decision to have Arne at the top feels a teeny bit tone deaf considering… I don’t know, the world at large, I guess. But he’s Arne Glimcher! The guy is a living legend. Maybe we’re all being a bit too cynical?
“I have high hopes, but low expectations,” another dealer told said. “I’m not sure [his] history as a dealer represents what the younger generation of dealers are hoping for in an art world of the future. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Actions like protecting the Rothko family from swindlers still stands out to me as noble act. So, tee bee dee and good luck.”
(Pace, of course, famously represents the Rothko estate, which ran into some legal trouble back in the 70s.)
So hey, let’s give Arne a chance. At the very least, the building he’s opening up shop in has some nice history.
Located at 395 Broadway, the gallery will open in the long-gone Pearl River Mart, the beloved Asian market that has since expanded to three other locations in New York. The building was built in 1899 by the greatest starchitect of the 19th century, Robert Maynicke. The German-born, Beaux-Arts style builder made his name building lofts in what we now call Tribeca, and also along Fifth Avenue. Maynicke was so prolific that it is rumored the total square footage of buildings he worked on would encompass Lower Manhattan from Battery to Cortland Street. On top of that, he’s no stranger to the arts either, as his firm designed 1230 Fifth Avenue, which is now home to Museo del Barrio. (Although honestly, whether he was such a star—I don’t know! Just go with it.)
SPOTTED
Courtesy a tipster.
WE HEAR
Orange Crush, the journal of art and wrestling, is set to release its third issue this Sunday at Hammerstein Ballroom *** Instagram shadow-banned @JerryGogosian after its creator posted a meme that involved an explicit Andrea Fraser piece *** Hospitality king Jon Neidich is taking over the vacant space next to beloved watering hole Clandestino, and we can’t wait to see what the Acme founder has dreamed up *** Mitchell-Innes & Nash is opening a seasonal exhibition space in Mexico City, beginning with a group show featuring works by Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Lucas Samaras, and Paul Mpagi Sepuya *** Madonna is at least toying with the idea of hopping on the Bored Apes bandwagon *** There’s a brand new immersive experience dedicated to the career of *checks notes* Dennis Hopper set to tour eight different major cities ?…
WET PAINT IN THE WILD
I first met the Texas-born and London-based artist Gray Wielebinski at a party during Armory Week earlier this year. Known for making energetic sculptures, Gray explores gender and identity through an imaginative use of material and iconography.
But enough of that fancy art talk! In an effort to satiate my curiosity about Wielebinski’s life, I plopped a disposable camera into his hands for a week as he traveled to Southern California for the Rose Bowl and to soak up the sun…
Started the week with a trip to the Rose Bowl flea market. Loved this gorge bronze sculpture of Brandi Chastain’s iconic sports bra reveal after she scored the game-winning penalty kick at the 1999 Women’s World Cup, which I happened to have incorporated in a textile work called Hall of Mirrors in 2019. She’s not shown any interest in collaborating thus far, but who knows—maybe she reads Wet Paint!
Bought a box of baseball cards from the gentleman on the right. I used to collect baseball cards as a kid with my dad and brother. I’ve been turning them into collages to keep their market value up. I’ll be publishing my first artist book of them, called 100 Baseball Cards, with Baron Books this year.
More highlights from the Rose Bowl. Something you should know about my taste in art: if it’s about basketball or butts, I will love it. I still regret not buying a different painting (sadly not pictured) of a man holding a chicken thoughtfully in a large hat.
My boyfriend Asa celebrating flea market success with a s’more.
Haircuts and aerial gymnastics on Matia’s balcony.
Matia was preparing to leave on a trip to New York, where, famously, anything could happen.
Dinner with the boys: Ana, Asa, me, and Cash, who was visiting from London.
Moving on to celebrate Jonathan’s birthday. Tom, on the right, is also visiting from London, and learning to love Los Angeles.
Ana with everyone’s favorite book of 2020.
Asa and Kate, with the birthday boy laughing in the background.
Me and Toaster, the sexiest dog in the world.
Another day, another dog: Hilary and Georgie at her and her husband, Riley’s, new home. Hilary and I grew up in Dallas together, where she runs the wonderful Gallery 12.26 with her sister Hannah. The painting behind her is by Aglaé Bassens.
Interlude at Santa Monica Airport. I was not there for the reason you’d think.
Holiday season reading list, now spilling over into 2022.
At work on a series of ink drawings. Not the best quality photo, but that helps keep the mystery alive!
Asa and Roz teaming up against me at pool in Venice.
Alex, the director at Anat Ebgi, showing us some of the many gorgeous details of Jane Margarette’s ceramic works at the gallery’s Culver City Location. I loved this show!
30th birthday dinner for Zoe at her friend’s studio at an undisclosed location (a chicer way of saying, I forgot!). The b-day girl is pictured above, dancing with her mother.
Capped the week off with a sunset swim. The shirt was a gift from my friend Jenna.
WET PAINT QUESTIONNAIRE
Last week, I asked you fine folk what artist you thought would be least likely to mint their own NFT.
Art handler Austin Heye figured it would be Bruce Nauman, “because he’s on the ranch.” Artist Jeanette Hayes said R. Crumb (before Googling it to find that is already happening, and thus amending her answer to Lucas Samaras (who, um, also made one).
Fellow artist Aran Cravey name-checked Anselm Kiefer, while multi-hyphenate Miami art-world guy Saif Saqr volunteered Maurizio Cattelan (though, I must admit, I do wonder what direction he’d take with it—he might be the first to use the medium imaginatively!).
This week, my question for you is this: What’s the best place to use the bathroom in Chelsea? Send pics! But like, you know, not explicit ones. Email me at aarmstrong@artnet.com.