Credit: Amuse
- Photographer Philip-Lorca diCorcia is no longer a fan of fashion brands getting involved with the art world, especially after he learnt that money he made working with Valentino could be traced back to the company’s home base in Qatar. “Contemporary art is a cock ring on a giant erection pumped up by capitalism and keeping the masters of that game from cumming,” he writes in a recent Artforum op-ed. “I think they like it. I think the artists like it, too. They get to pretend to be profound. Some are. Most are hemorrhoids waiting to happen.” [BLOUIN ARTINFO]
- Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi (A.K.A. Rokudenashiko) has been ordered to pay a 400,000 yen ($3,700) fine for distributing data created by scanning her own vagina, under Japan’s strict obscenity laws. Ironically, the courts ruled that Igarashi’s 3D-printed objects, which depict her vagina and were made with said data, are not “pornographic” but “pop art”. Just the data is “obscene.” [ABC News]
- Helen Molesworth, Moca’s chief curator, states a lot of obvious facts about why gender imbalance persists in museums: the art world isn’t separate from the greater patriarchal system, and the only way you’ll get diversity is if you actually do it. “If you’re going to be equitable, some of the dudes don’t get shows that year.” Nonetheless, a refreshing interview with Julia Halperin, especially with observations about why the mid-career point happens late for female artists and how the rise of art as an asset class is bad for both female and male artists. [The Art Newspaper]
- Architect Moshe Safdie has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at Cooper Hewitt Museum’s 2016 National Design Awards. [Artforum]
- Sotheby’s reported a loss of $25.9 million during its first quarter of 2016. The loss isn’t surprising, especially given the re-structuring happening under the watch of CEO Tad Smith, and the general market trend. [New York Times, The Art Market Monitor]
- Speaking of auctions, a roundup of reports on Christie’s “Bound to Fail” auction, which was generally considered a success given that they were selling a bunch of difficult conceptual work. The market isn’t doing as badly as we think? [The Art Market Monitor]
- A 1970s high school art project was mistakenly appraised on Antique Road Show as a late 19th century artifact worth $50,000. [Hyperallergic]
- What are the laws governing the sale, return, and legal status of stolen artwork? Quite a few, as it turns out. And they vary from state to state. [Artsy]
- The 21-acre Brooklyn Greenway has new renderings, following a long period of community input. The plan is to connect many of downtown Brooklyn’s parks and public spaces, but based on these images, it doesn’t look very green—large paved areas dominate. Still, it’s an improvement for pedestrians.[Curbed]
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