Every week, Artnet News brings you Wet Paint, a gossip column of original scoops. If you have a tip, email Annie Armstrong—who’s spending her summer in Los Angeles—at aarmstrong@artnet.com.
KEEPING UP WITH THE SCHNABELS
It’s the middle of the summer, and romance is in the air! At least it is for a certain dealer named Vito Schnabel. Wet Paint can exclusively reveal that he got hitched last week, in a very small and very private ceremony, to Russian model Helena Althof.
Althof, who is 21, met Schnabel, 37, on a yacht, according to one source. They were married on July 9. This is the art dealer’s first marriage. Some may recall that he was once in a high-profile relationship with model Heidi Klum, who is 14 years his senior; that ended in 2017. Since then, Schnabel has developed a bit of a reputation as a playboy. There isn’t much online about Althof, other than that she is signed to IMG Models, and that the couple attended the premiere of the FX show Feud: Capote vs The Swans in New York earlier this year along with Vito’s mother, Jacqueline Schnabel.
Schnabel couldn’t be reached for comment, but Althof posted a photo on Instagram of herself in a slinky wedding gown and a pair of Louboutins with the caption, “…..ooops….” From what scant details the post provides, it appears that sushi and caviar were served at their reception and that their cake was blood red. But I can provide a bit more.
According to sources close to Schnabel, the ceremony was very small. It was so small, in fact, that his father, artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel, was not present, and neither was his sister, actress Stella Schnabel. Those who were in attendance, I’m told, included Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, artist Rashid Johnson, members of the Mugrabi family, and art-collecting real estate mogul Aby Rosen.
From Wet Paint to the Schnabel family, mazel tov.
A CORPORATE INQUIRY
Every few years, an anonymous Instagram account gets the art world talking. The time when @JerryGogosian was still run anonymously feels like a pre-pandemic fever dream; it’s now a business enterprise for Hilde Lynn Helphenstein. And until going dark in 2021, @cancelartgalleries stirred the pot. Since then, the still-mysterious @rg_bunny has made Twitter polls that bite and an Instagram so full of treasures that it got New York Times coverage. (Investigative reporter Carl Bernstein is said to be a fan!) Out here in Los Angeles, a new voice has recently emerged online. Have you read @divacorp_usa yet?
Starting with a review of Matthew Marks’s Sturtevant show earlier this summer, the Instagram account has been posting reviews with a five-star system every week. Its tone is generally pretty demure, with the occasional barb. A recent two-star review of Jeffrey Deitch‘s exhibition of work by Eli Russell Linnetz begins, “When I see Linnetz’s Mount Rushmore pizza oven, I want to stuff his entire show in there and incinerate it without prejudice.” Though its following is relatively small, it quickly gotten attention, and at most openings I’ve attend here, someone asks me: “Do you know who Diva Corp is yet?”
I do not. And to be honest, I am not in a rush to find out. Let’s let the account cook for a little longer. Apparently there’s speculation that little old me is behind it—which, though flattering, is untrue. I enjoy getting credit for my hard-earned writing, and Wet Paint remains my sole perch. Some of the better guesses about its author include artists Chase Wilson and Andy Bennett and writers Samuel Loren and Gracie Hadland.
“I can’t tell you how many people have asked me if I’m Diva Corp, or at least if I know who it is,” Hadland said. “If anything, It’s been sort of revealing about how desperate the L.A. art world is for a little edge.”
Loren, who runs the popular literary group Casual Encounters, said that he’s detected “real anxiety” from L.A. dealers about the account. “It’s tempting to call Diva Corp a coward for concealing their identity,” he mused. “But maybe posting takes on art anonymously to Instagram is one of the few remaining ways to actually be an honest critic in our era of hollowed-out media and insider back scratching.”
Indeed, the success of these anonymous accounts points to a real hunger for fresh perspectives. And at a moment when identity dominates so much about how art is framed and discussed, it’s exciting to hear critiques from what is essentially a blank entity. The approach also “reduces the risk of social or professional repercussions,” Helphenstein said, “ensuring critiques are judged on merit rather than the speaker’s background.”
There is, of course, a contrary view. Manhattan Art Review‘s Sean Tatol, who has been doing starred reviews since 2021, recently tweeted: “my advice to anyone trying to be an online art critic: don’t bother if you’re too scared to put your name on your writing. if you can’t stand behind your opinions then no one is going to care what you think.” (Hadland pointed out that Diva Corp is likely modeled after Tatol’s effort.)
My two cents: We need new models for online criticism, as mainstream media outlets deprioritize cultivating such voices and an older generation of established critics retires, so I’m rooting for Diva Corp.
WE HEAR
New York is alight right now with the weird news that Jeffrey Bezos rang in Amazon Prime Day at Jean’s, and I have it on good authority that his dinner mate was none other than Jeff Koons (a source also dining at the NoHo restaurant said they both had the burger)… Well actually, here’s something we don’t hear. Has anyone else noticed that the usually prolific Richard Prince hasn’t posted on his socials for months?… Not quite sure that you want a full Kenny Scharf car bomb, but still want everyone to know how much you love his work? Great news! His new collaboration with Crocs is just for you… Anyone know why “Real Housewife” Sonja Morgan’s daughter Quincy Morgan was hanging out with Simon de Pury?…
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