Freddy

Ha Chong-Hyun’s “Conjunction 86-11” (1986)

A new-old wave of process-based abstract painting is dominating galleries in New York, London, and Los Angeles; selling for millions; and receiving attention in the form of museum exhibitions and monographs. But no, these painters aren’t young kids who found fame on Instagram. These are South Korean Tansaekhwa—literally “monochrome painting”—artists in their 80’s. The previously obscure movement from the 1970s is immensely popular again for various reasons this article explains. But I’m more interested in this explanation of its origins from an era of Korean political oppression and economic hardship by genre pioneer Lee Ufan:“Young artists unknown to the public or with no prestigious position had nothing else to do than to repeat non-expressive expressions with no distinctive image using minimal materials.” [The New Yorker]

Kris Martin’s 2014 piece “Altar” is presently installed on the High Line. It’s not much to look at—a simple, empty, oxidized steel frame—but it’s an art historical reference that’s pretty cool. It traces the panels of Jan van Eyck’s “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb”, the first major oil painting and the most repeatedly stolen artwork in history. Read all about its crazy provenance here. [Observer]

Allow us to toot our own horn for a minute. Israel’s oldest and most influential newspaper just included Art F City in their “Guide to the World’s Leading Art Journals”. The page is in Hebrew. Anyone care to offer us a better translation than Google’s somewhat cryptic attempt? [Haaretz]

The Welikia Project (which gets its name from the Lenape Indian term for “my good home”) lets users explore what New York City looked like in 1609, before Dutch colonization. Spoiler alert: very, very different. [The Welikia Project]

An artist who spray painted the names “Raul” and “Fidel”, in reference to the infamous Castro brothers, on the backs of pigs has been imprisoned in Cuba since the end of last year. Amnesty International is calling for his release. [artnet News]

The gallery Freddy will be shuttering in October. The space on Baltimore’s little West Franklin St. “gallery row” has been somewhat-anonymously run by New York-based artist Joshua Abelow and generated some controversy due to a relationship with the city that some have considered condescending. This article actually has a quote from me from earlier in the year. It’s essentially a big “meh.” [ARTnews]

In other Baltimore news, nominations for the Baker Artist Awards open tomorrow. The top prize in the juried competition is $50,000. It’s worth applying, but is only open to artists in Baltimore City or the five surrounding suburban counties. [The Baltimore Sun]

The Saudi artist Abdulnasser Gharem, who attended school with two of the 9/11 hijackers, hopes to dissuade young people from radicalization by encouraging art education as an alternative (Saudi Arabia is severely lacking in extracurricular activities as many leisurely pastimes are banned). To teach a figure drawing class, he had to smuggle a plastic mannequin into the kingdom in pieces—figures with heads are considered blasphemous idols. Gharem and his proteges are currently exhibiting in London. [The Guardian]

Dozens of artists are being forced out of their Gowanus studios as a property developer has taken over the buildings. [DNAinfo]

At the Beijing International Art Biennale, men in suits posing as officials attempted to destroy artwork at the Armenian booth. It’s not quite clear why or who the men were, but Armenian media are guessing they were from Azerbaijan because the two countries are frequently locked in conflicts and rivalries. The whole thing is weird. [Artforum]

An Interview with Phoebe Founder Alex Ebstein