PERES PROJECTS BANS ARTIST FROM THEIR PREMISES 

At this point in my Wet Paint tenure, I’ve been around the block when it comes to why artists leave their galleries and how, so I’m wise enough to know that it’s never quite as collegial as a press statement would have you believe. From Lucas Zwirner’s fumbled handling of Harold Ancart to Joe Bradley’s apparent case of restless leg syndrome, I feel like what I’ve seen has run the gamut of what can lead to a non-amicable divorce between artist and gallerist. 

Thus far, though, I have yet to see relations become so tense that a gallery will ban their artist from even stepping onto their premises. Last week, over a series of since-deleted Instagram posts, artist Richard Kennedy posted the email they received from their gallery Peres Projects, whose Berlin-based director wrote to inform them that they had been “banned from entering Peres Projects’ gallery premises at any of our gallery locations in Berlin, Milan, or Seoul,” and added that if they break the ban, “we will inform local police immediately.” 

Below Kennedy’s post, they wrote a dizzying sermon about the various ways the gallery had wronged them in Spanish. Translated, the caption begins: “When you find out your gallery has stolen 400k + from you, ruined so much of your art, sabotaged your life, stole your ideas…” before trailing off into an impassioned diatribe: “BURN IT ALL DOWN!!! And then sue them for everything they are worth,” they wrote. “Where is Terrence koh? Where is dash snow ?WHO KILLED RIVER PHOENIX?! #scamlikely.” 

I do not have the answers to those questions, but I think I have an answer to the question that’s likely on your mind. What the hell happened? According to the gallery’s founder, Javier Peres, Kennedy’s claims of stolen money and art are categorically false. “We will reiterate what we have told our employees, artists, and clients. Our decision not to continue representing this artist came after painful discussions with everyone involved,” he said in an emailed statement. “Our gallery is built on the belief that artists deserve care and support, and unfortunately, we are just not the right partners for them anymore. We hope they find this support elsewhere and live a prosperous professional and personal life.”

Kennedy declined to comment. I’ll keep my eyes on the court dockets. 

MIAMI VICE: THE KGB GOES TO THE BEACH

It tends to hit me like a ton of bricks in early Fall when I get my first email invite for an event happening during Art Basel Miami Beach. Usually the first one is something like, “Dear Annie, join us on the blockchain for Soho Beach House’s first ever NFT meta-cocktail with special guest Diplo” (I made that up entirely). As soon as my brain calculates that the invites are about to start rolling in, “Flight of the Valkyries” starts playing in my head. Winter is coming. 

Just to whet our whistles before we take a breather for Thanksgiving next week, I thought I’d share with the class my personal favorite email I’ve gotten thus far. This year at the small satellite fair Aqua Art Miami, one of the downtown art world’s favorite bars, KGB, will be making an appearance in the form of a gallery. Confused? So was I! 

Apparently, the beloved Soviet-themed watering hole in the East Village that we all congregate at after openings and for readings actually began as a gallery in 1983 when Kraine Art Gallery was opened by Denis Woychuk, who eventually took over KGB. Forty years later (whoa), the gallery portion of the space is coming back, according to a release: “Marking its inaugural Basel showcase, the Kraine Gallery collective at Aqua Art Miami epitomizes the richness and diversity of contemporary art, bringing a fresh perspective to this internationally acclaimed event.” 

The artists they’re bringing to the fair are perfectly on-pitch for KGB: writer Anthony Haden-Guest is presenting work, as is Rose Hartman, who famously photographed Bianca Jagger riding a horse into Studio 54, and one of Spike Lee’s favorite artists, Josh Gosfield, will bring work, among others.

So there you have it. In case you’re getting the pre-Miami scaries, there’s a little spot of fun to look forward to. See you in December.

WE HEAR 

 

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Downtown’s resident party photographer Matthew Weinberger has released a zine of photos of Jerry Saltz taking selfies with his fans, which looks pretty irresistible to me… Magenta Plains has picked up representation of the estate of experimental filmmaker Stan VanDerBeek… Fionna Flaherty has been promoted to partner at Lehmann Maupin… Word to the wise: the O’Flaherty’s opening of Christian Ludwig Attersee paintings I mentioned last week has been pushed to this Saturday… Failed assassin and noted Silver Jews fan John Hinckley claims that he will have his first ever show of his cat paintings in Baltimore early next year… Did anyone else clock that Peter Schjeldahl‘s daughter, Ada Calhoun, was listed as one of the contributing ghostwriters for Britney Spears‘s memoir?

SPOTTED

Don and Mera Rubell dining at Harkawik. Photo by Annie Armstrong.

Harkawik hosted a dinner for Constance Tenvik’s new show, where Don and Mera Rubell, Chloe Wise, Jonathan Travis, and Emma Stern ate dolloped clams and candied apples beneath Tenvik’s ebullient paintings *** Björk stopped by No Agency‘s book launch in Paris last week *** Can anyone riddle me what these “Yes” and “No” buttons do in White Cube’s elevator at their new space on the Upper East Side? *** 

Courtesy a tipster.