Every week, Artnet News brings you Wet Paint, a gossip column of original scoops. If you have a tip, email Annie Armstrong at [email protected].

THE ENTERPRISE STRIKES BACK

It was around this time last year that one of the great art gallery shakeups of recent memory went down. When Peter Doig announced his sudden and unceremonious departure from Michael Werner Gallery, it left most of us wondering what the hell happened. 

To jog your memory, some details did come out. It was revealed that instead of a traditional gallery representation set up, the artist was defecting to be managed solely by high-profile lawyer Joe Hage, and also revealed a long history of roiling complications in his market. Tl;dr, the story was a cautionary tale for dealers who rely on a star artist, and evidence that there are alternative models for representation. 

Now, the plot is thickening. Wet Paint has learned of a new development in the saga de Doig: this summer, he’ll be mounting a show with his old friend and former dealer Gavin Brown. 

Brown confirmed the news with scant details, writing, “Peter and I are working on a show at Sant Andrea de Scaphis in Rome this June. There are no other plans beyond that. Thank you.” The dealer also confirmed that this will be a one-off show mounted solely by Brown, without any relationship to the gallery that he acts as partner with, Barbara Gladstone.

While I was personally not present for the salad days of Gavin Brown’s Enterprise shows of Doig’s work in the early aughts, I reliably see a twinkle in people’s eyes when they tell me stories about that time. Thus, I can’t help but feel like this is a pretty sweet return home for the duo, who have both seen their careers change dramatically post-pandemic. 

For the involved parties who are currently reading this news, I implore you to also bring back the Emergency Parties that Mogadassi used to throw with Spencer Sweeney. If Brown and Doig are showing together again, it’d be my distinct honor to also catch them partying together again.

WHO’S AFRAID OF @RG_BUNNY1? 

Above all else, I want the readers of this column to know just how far I will go to deliver to you the answers you deserve to know. In the past, that’s meant camping out at Christophe de Menil’s townhouse, revealing the true identity of Cumwizard69420 in the face of harrowing resistance, and making enemies of at least a few auction house consignors. I’d sign my name in blood swearing that I will go to extraordinary lengths for this column. 

That is why I am truly vexed to say that I have failed you this week. For several months now, chatter at dinner parties has led many people to ask me if I know who is behind the Twitter (I know it’s X now but like, who cares) account @rg_bunny1. Despite copious efforts in earnest, I really can’t figure it out. 

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, let’s talk about why someone would want to know who runs this account (to be clear, I’m not the first to ask. But wow, three years later and still no answers!). Claiming to be a “gamer” from “Palo Alto,” the anonymous account posts deep cuts from art history alongside a series of incendiary and often intimidating polls that either gauge an art world figure’s popularity, or rank them aside each other. Some examples below: 

While the account doesn’t have a ton of followers (691 is a pretty rookie number for the clouted community), the proof is in the prestige of who votes. Among those who follow/engage with the account are a long list of prominent artists and industry power players including Raymond Pettibon, Bridget Donahue, Richard Prince, Dean Kissick, Walter Robinson, and Alex Logsdail, among others.

I feel I’ve exhausted my resources trying to get to the bottom of this. I think we all want to know how all those people vote in @rg_bunny1’s numerous polls. Thus, I offer here, a martini at Balthazar and a pink Wet Paint hat to anyone who leaks it to me. My email is wide open.

WE HEAR 

Lots of folks in the art world seem to be wondering why the new Anselm Kiefer movie by Wim Wenders has a 3D component… The second season of Charlotte Burns’s podcast “The Art World: What If…?!” launches soon, starting with an interview with the artist Alice Smith… Howardena Pindell is looking for interns, with duties spanning “washing out spray guns” and “paper dot punching”… Pretty much every kid in the downtown New York scene was at Jack Pierson‘s opening of new work by Mark Flood at his Henry Street outpost, Eliot Templeton Fine Art… 

SPOTTED

 

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It’s been a big week for Hollywood descending on the art world, with hot-couple-of-the-moment Sabrina Carpenter and Barry Keoghan off to visit Luna Luna on a date night last week, and Brad Pitt spotted taking his squeeze Ines de Ramon to visit Gagosian in Beverly Hills to see the Bennett Miller show  *** Meanwhile, back in New York, OG riot grrrl Kathleen Hannah paid a visit to Tracey Emin’s show at White Cube on its final day *** Ralph DeLuca, Jo Messer, and Chloe Wise were among the attendees at Journal Gallery’s dinner for Mickey Lee at Casa Carmen, where white Negronis were poured generously and the chicken mole was just perfectly bitter ***