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Paddy Johnson and Rhett Jones
by Paddy Johnson and Rhett Jones on July 18, 2016
According to sources speaking anonymously with Art F City, Jeff Koons’ mammoth studio operation in Chelsea has laid off 14 of its night crew workers who were attempting to unionize and one day crew member who was friendly with those night crew organizers.
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by Paddy Johnson and Rhett Jones on July 11, 2016
Sophie Michael, The Watershow Extravaganza, 2016 courtesy of Seventeen Gallery
- London’s Seventeen Gallery will be opening a space on Bowery in what some are seeing as a migration inspired by the International Center of Photography opening near the New Museum. Seventeen has a pretty nice lineup of artists, including Paul B. Davis, Sophie Michael and Oliver Laric. [Bowery Boogie]
- In what is probably not a coincidence, a self-portrait of Frida Kahlo standing on the border of the U.S. and Mexico will be coming to Philadelphia just 2 weeks before the presidential election. We’re guessing it will be viewed quite differently depending on which candidate is elected. [Art Newspaper]
- LACMA is acquiring 39 major lithographs from the legendary L.A. print shop, Gemini. The acquisition includes works by Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha and Frank Stella. [Los Angeles Times]
- Douglas Gordon has completed a feature about the patriarch of experimental film, Jonas Mekas. It will premiere at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. Not much is known about the piece but the festival’s director says that “Douglas Gordon offers us a truly sensorial experience, which challenges the concept of seeing, and links the idea of the present with that of memory.” Gordon’s previous feature work, “Zidane: A Self Portrait” was an extremely unique approach to portraiture and biography, so the idea of him taking on Mekas is pretty exciting. [Art News] [Opinions belong to Rhett, Paddy does not agree.]
- The photograph of a weeping officer that became one of the most iconic images from the Dallas police shooting last week was by an intern at the The Dallas Morning News. [Columbia Journalism Review]
- This mirrored library in Yangzhou, China looks like some sort of unholy marriage between the Starship Enterprise and Hogwarts. [Curbed]
- Speaking of the Starship Enterprise, the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum has opened an elaborate, interactive Star Trek exhibition. Yes, it’s basically a commercial for the new series that launches next year. But, it’s also a chance to find out what position you’d be given as a Starfleet cadet. [New York Times]
- Toronto’s Museum of Contemporary Art has a new CEO. Terry Nicholson, the former director of arts and culture of the City of Toronto, will replace Chantal Pontbriand, who left after only eight months on the job. This appointment seems like a step in the right direction. Nicholson has worked with the institution before and has a long history of successfully pulling projects out of the fire. [The Toronto Star]
- The Brooklyn Museum’s anti-gentrification forum was rescheduled this weekend due to an air-conditioning outage that forced the museum to close. It will now take place Sunday July 26th. In the meantime, Ben Davis gives some context to the event and offers a few highlights to look forward to. [artnet News]
- Making the rounds: This Warhol style screen print of Donald Trump, with the words “Vote Hillary” inscribed below. The piece is by Deborah Kass. [Facebook]
- From Hugo Ball to Kanye West, The Times’ staff takes a look at the history of Dada on its 100th anniversary. [New York Times]
- The best thing on the Internet right now: bearcam! We spent most of the weekend watching bears patiently wait for salmon to fly into their mouths in katmai national park, alaska Alaska river. It’s early morning, and as I write this there is only one bear on the cam and a million salmon flying through the air. A good breakfast will be had. [Explore]
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by Paddy Johnson and Rhett Jones on June 30, 2016
- Ron Perelman is donating $75m to a new performance arts center that is planned for the World Trade Center site. It will be named after the billionaire. The center was originally planned to be designed by Frank Gehry, but when the project stalled, his designs were shelved. Good. Too much Gehry. A new architect hasn’t been chosen yet, but Perelman says that he’s considering designs by Joshua Prince-Ramus. [New York Times]
- Pulse has put out an open call for video artists to be part of its Miami edition this year. Selected artists will not need to be working with a participating gallery to be featured. Those who are interested in submitting work for consideration have until August 31st. [artnet News]
- The Rauschenberg Foundation has announced the winners of its annual Artists as Activist Fellowship. 10 winners will split $775,000 that will be distributed over two years. One project, by the performance group Los Angeles Poverty Department, will attempt to devise “informal community policing vehicles that maintain respect for the well-being” of the residents on Skid Row. [L.A. Times]
- Following the massive viral success of its Bob Ross stream, the live video platform, Twitch, is launching another art-related program: watching people eat. Warhol would be proud. [Polygon]
- Holland Cotter loves PS1’s Vito Acconci retrospective. He likes it so much that there’s pretty much nothing negative here. That means he gets to spend the entire review just talking about the work. It’s a good read. [New York Times]
- Speaking of good reads, Hilton Als has an excellent, long profile of Nan Goldin. We recently were surprised to find that critics were able to say something new about her “Ballad of Sexual Dependence.” It’s almost as surprising to find new nuggets from her well-worn biography. This is a must. [New Yorker]
- We’ve seen post-Brexit results from Phillips and Sotheby’s so far this week, now it’s Christie’s turn. Following the surprise withdrawal of a 1994 Abstraktes Bild that was expected to sell for about £14m, the overall night exceeded the low-estimate with a £33.7m take and 92% sell-through rate. As for why the Richter was withdrawn, the owner reportedly did not want to reduce the reserve price. Collector Alain Servais said “There is no direct relation to Brexit except—as for the whole art market—we are living in more uncertain times.” [The Art Newspaper]
- Josh Baer reminds us that currency issues have little to do with prices paid at auction, “A weak pound lets buyers in other currency bid 10% higher, which works out roughly the same. The only time it “saves” money is if there is just one bidder”. [The Baer Faxt]
- Just in time for Summer beach season, go inside an elite Hamptons sex party. Or don’t. [Marie Claire]
- Prosperity Dumpling, the dumpling house patroned by many art lovers and beloved for its insanely cheap dumplings is moving. Apparently, news of its back alley and roach infestation sunk the business. Still, sad news that they weren’t able to clean up their act. They are now moving all the way out to Bensonhurst in Brooklyn. We had to look that up to figure out where it is (way out by Dyker Heights). [Bowery Boogie]
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by Paddy Johnson and Rhett Jones on June 29, 2016
- DIS responds to critics of the Berlin Biennale. The collective says that “people may leave feeling angry or uncomfortable, which is a valid response, and it’s better than them feeling gratified as if they’d just recycled, or donated to a cause.” They go on to say that “the big mistake people make is to see this as a disillusioned or cynical or fatalist perspective.” The interview sounds a lot smarter than the show looks. [Ocula]
- If the auction at Sotheby’s yesterday is any indication it seems that international players are taking advantage of the devalued British currency. Works by Keith Haring and Jenny Saville broke records and overall sales were characterised as “reassuring.” London dealer Harry Blain said that “It’s such an international market. If you are looking at something in terms of sterling it is a lot less expensive than it was three days ago.” [The Art Newspaper]
- A ranking of all 156 Amazon dash buttons. There’s something unsettling about the branded devices that reorder common items like detergent or toilet paper with a single button press. This list gets it right with Trojan condoms coming in at number one. [Motherboard]
- Airbnb is suing San Francisco over on-going regulatory disputes that were initially kicked off by affordable housing advocates. The city decided on June 7th to fine Airbnb $1,000 a day for every unregistered host on the site. This follows a move by New York to fine users of Airbnb who rent a whole apartment for fewer than 30 days. [New York Times]
- Stella Schnabel has opened a “music club that’s like an art gallery.” How is it more like a gallery than a venue? That remains unclear. It sounds as if Ms. Schnabel is just unaware of the large DIY venue scene in New York and her music space is more like an art gallery because it is not Madison Square Garden. Also, they serve fruit punch instead of alcohol. [Wall Street Journal]
- You can rent photographer Annie Leibovitz’s former four-floor townhouse in the West Village for a mere $13,500 a month. It’s shaped like a triangle, so good luck doing anything interesting with the space. [Curbed]
- Once again, the New York City Rent Guidelines Board approved a rent freeze on all one-year leases. [Capital New York]
- Artists are no longer flocking to New York, according to artnet News. Instead, they are opting to stay in their city of origin—Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Indonesia, etc. Not exactly news to most art professionals, but good to see the fact that these so-called peripheries are a big deal to artists acknowledged. [artnet News]
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by Paddy Johnson and Rhett Jones on June 28, 2016
- Phillips ran their 20th-Century and Contemporary Art auction yesterday with lackluster results. The sale totaled 11.9 million GBP, a 34.6 percent drop from last year. The sell-through rate was only 68 percent. Could the Brexit have contributed to the mood? Josh Baer seems to think the effect will be minimal with the market being global. But doesn’t globalism mean that we’re all connected so we’re more not less sensitive to shifts in the economies of others? [The Art Newspaper and Baer Faxt]
- Another day, another huge museum gift at work. The Philadelphia Museum is showcasing the collection of Keith and Katherine Sachs—a collection that, according to Newsworks, is expected to transform the museum into a powerhouse of contemporary art. [Newsworks]
- That universally mocked, live action Tetris movie trilogy really is happening. Its producer says that it has to be a trilogy because the story they are telling is just TOO BIG. He added, “We’re not going to have blocks with feet running around the movie. But it’s great that people think so. It sets the bar rather low!” [The Guardian]
- In the latest effort to teach kids the principles of coding from an early age, Google has made a set of electric toy blocks. When the blocks are snapped together they can create real computer programs like a musical instrument or a messaging app. They’re also pretty great to look at. [Wired]
- Wow, Jason Farago haaaates the inaugural selfie exhibition at the ICP’s new space on the Bowery. He complains that they set aside no space for their permanent collection of 150,000 photographs (the space isn’t large enough for that, though) and that the current show is little more than an aggregation of artworks, reproductions, considered pieces and throw-away snaps. “This is an exhibition that should have remained a Pinterest board”, Farago concludes. Ouch. [The Guardian]
- Hyperallergic’s Elyssa Goodman seems to get a lot more out of the exhibition but we’re a bit confused about the message. In one passage she discusses photographing herself in a mirror used to display Warhol Polaroids, purposefully obscuring her face with the Warhol so that “self-identification and public visibility” actually overlap. What does this mean? [Hyperallergic]
- A new investigation has concluded that Nazi-looted art was sold to high-ranking Nazis at a deflated price rather than being given to victims families. The art was originally recovered by the Monuments Men and was turned over to the Bavarian government on the condition of it being used as restitution. [artnet News]
- A 5000-year-old pay stub now in the possession of the British Museum shows that ancient workers were paid in beer. At the time beer was a hearty, starchy brew that could double as a meal. [ars technica]
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