“A long list of problems, mainly tied to the country’s cripplingly slow bureaucracy, still threatens to engulf the plan and sink it before it can be put into action.”
Category: visual
China’s Import Ban Distorts The Art Market
“Chinese ministries continue to demand high fees for tightly controlled, often highly censored, travelling exhibitions. The only result of the ban is that US citizens and institutions cannot import or collect items traded freely in other parts of the world, including in mainland China and Hong Kong.”
Rediscovered Leonardo Sold for $75 Million
The oil-on-panel Christ figure, titled Salvator Mundi, was identified during a 2011 estate sale; Sotheby’s brokered its sale last May. (And no, they’re not going to tell us who bought it.)
Basquiat Heirs Sues Christie’s for Selling Forgeries
“The siblings of the late New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat slapped Christie’s auction house with a $1 million lawsuit Tuesday, claiming an upcoming sale of his works may be full of fakes.”
A Bunch of Grain Silos Will Become South Africa’s New MoCA
“The British designer Thomas Heatherwick has been chosen to convert a 1920s [waterfront] granary in Cape Town into a museum for contemporary African art collected by Jochen Zeitz, the former chairman of sportswear company Puma.”
How Does An Artist Know When An Art Work Is Finished?
“Choosing when to stop altering a piece can be a highly individual decision, as idiosyncratic and personal as style, and there are instances in which a work is never fully done, at least in its creator’s mind.”
How The Art Biennials Are Distancing Themselves From Art Fairs
While details of most biennial works of art were still under wraps as we went to press, some buzzwords were already in play: “hybridity”, “fluidity”, “criticality”, “collectivity” and “interdisciplinary”.
Officials Seize Ancient Roman Statue in Queens, Saying It’s Stolen
“United States officials said that they began tracking the life-size, 1,700-pound statue last year after they were alerted that it had been exhibited for sale at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan by Phoenix Ancient Art.” (Why is so much art crime lately in Queens?)
Someone Left Pompeii Out in the Rain (And It Started to Crumble, Again)
“Heavy rains over the weekend provoked several collapses at the archaeological site of Pompeii, highlighting once again the fragility of one of the world’s most famous open-air museums.”
Here’s The Artist Who Is Co-Curating The Whitney Biennial
This is the first time the Whitney has allowed an artist to operate as a curator who chooses other artists for inclusion in a show.