Art Industry News: Justin Bieber Buys Kobe Bryant Tribute Art That Simultaneously Rips Off Kanye and Murakami + Other Stories

Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most
consequential developments coming out of the art world and art
market. Here’s what you need to know on this Monday, February
3.

NEED-TO-READ

A Teenager Who Jumped Off Vessel at Hudson Yards Has Died
– A 19-year-old man
believed to be Peter De Salvo, a student at Scared Heart
University, jumped from the 150-foot-tall structure on Sunday.
Classmates have expressed their grief at the death saying that he
seemed like a happy young man. Concerns about the height of the
railings were expressed in a review of the structure when it
opened. (New York
Times)

Artist Sues Disney Over ‘Copied’ Artwork
– San Francisco-based
artist Sweet Cecily Daniher is suing Disney and its subsidiary
Pixar after a painting on the side of a van she lent them for an
event subsequently appeared in the film Onward. A
representative from Pixar had reached out to Daniher to rent her
”Amazing Vanicorn” as a prop for an event but upon seeing the
promotional material for Onward the artist recognized her
van. When she complained, the films’ producer “admitted to the
Plaintiff that the Defendants intentionally did not inform her”
that her work would be used in this way. The design has been
featured on posters and a replica of the van has been made.
(The Art
Newspaper)

Justin Bieber Buys Kobe Bryant Tribute
Art – The pop singer and longtime Lakers fan
has bought a work from the Los Angeles-based Idiot Box Art, run
by Emily Bright and Tamara Martin, that depicts a
cartoon bear wearing Kobe Bryant’s #8 Lakers jersey over a Mamba
hoodie. Bieber paid $1,200 for the wooden bear, painted in acrylic,
but miniature versions are going on sale for $200 a pop to benefit
the Mamba On Three fund to support the other victims of the
helicopter crash that killed Bryant and his daughter Gianna in
January. And yes, the artwork looks exactly like a Murakami
(specifically the “Kanye Bear” that Murakami designed for Kanye
West’s 2007 album “Graduation,” art-ifying the bear motif the
musician adopted for his “College Dropout” cover), but no, it is
not a real Murakami. (TMZ)

Artist to Represent France at the Venice Biennale Under Fire
for Alleged Ties to BDS – Zineb Sedira, slated to be the first artist of
Algerian descent to represent France at the Venice Biennale in
2020, has been criticized over her links to the pro-Palestinian
organization Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Sedira says she is not and has never been a member of BDS, saying,
“I have never had acquaintance with this movement. I also firmly
condemn any boycott and I cannot be associated with or support the
BDS. I oppose BDS and any global boycott that would have the
counterproductive effect of affecting and paralyzing women and men
who want to live in peace.” (ARTnews)

ART MARKET

Design Shanghai Canceled – The Design Shanghai fair, due to run from
May 26 to 29, 2020, has been called off due to the global outbreak
of the coronavirus. In a statement the fair said, “After careful
consideration and advice, we have made the difficult decision to
postpone Design Shanghai to ensure the welfare and safety of
visitors to our show, our exhibitors, and our team.” (Press
release)

Photography Dealer Michael Shapiro Stages Exhibition in
London – The exhibition at
Richard Nagy features work by Man Ray, Imogen Cunningham, and Ansel
Adams. Shapiro has spent decades amassing his expert collection.
The exhibition contains 50 pictures and runs from February 6 to
March 7. (Financial
Times)

Inigo Philbrick Accused of Selling a Painting Without
Collectors’ Knowledge – In
an affidavit filed in New York’s Supreme Court collector Andre
Sakhai accuses Inigo Philbrick of selling a Wade Guyton painting
that he had already agreed to sell to another party. This is part
of a lawsuit filed by an entity called Guzzini regarding the
consignment of a Rudolf Stingel painting. Philbrick is already
accused of withholding millions of dollars from the German company
Fine Art Partners in a separate lawsuit (ARTnews)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Collector Leaves Dutch
and British Masterworks to Museums – Artworks and
furniture pieces that belonged to George Way, an avid collector
nicknamed the “Oak Man” who died in June, will go to the New York
State Museum and the Van Wagenen House. A few hundred objects
and paintings are set to go on sale at Skinner auction house
in Boston this June. (New York
Times)

V&A Appoints
Inaugural Photography Director – The Victoria and Albert
Museum has named scholar and curator Duncan Forbes as its
first-ever director of photography. He takes up the post in April
2020 and oversee the development of the V&A’s Photography
Center that is set to open in 2022. (Artforum)

Crochet Pioneer Del Pitt
Feldman Dies – The artist who made crochet a respected
medium for fashion and art died on January 14 in Mechanicsburg,
Pennsylvania, at age 90. (NYT)

Collector Hester Diamond
Dies at 91 – The esteemed New
York collector was a major supporter of British painter and
sculptor Barbara Hepworth, and her collection included pieces by
Picasso, Léger, Mondrian, and Brancusi. (NYT)

FOR ART’S SAKE

More Artifacts Recovered
After Fire At Museum Of Chinese in America – The New
York museum has salvaged at least 200 boxes of objects from the
fire that ravaged the institution’s
storage facility on January 23. Tens of thousands of pieces
were thought to be lost. Menus from Chinatown’s earliest
restaurants, handwritten letters, and tickets for ship passages
were among the historic documents stored in the building.
(AAP)

Could New Lighting
Technology Transform Conservation?
– Advancements in technology mean that
non-invasive lighting could help limit the need for some
traditional restoration techniques. Replacing traditional halogen
lamps with energy-efficient LEDs means lower heat emissions and
less ultraviolet or infrared radiation, both which pose
threats to works of art. It also allows for higher levels of
control over the way a painting appears to viewers, bringing out
more nuances in the work. (TAN)

JR Prepares to Unveil
Mural of 1,000 New Yorkers – Today’s the day:
World-famous street artist JR will unveil his collaged mural
featuring 1,000 New Yorkers on a at Domino Park in Brooklyn. The
highly anticipated reveal accompanies the Brooklyn Museum’s current
exhibition “JR: Chronicles,” which runs through May.
(New York
Observer)

The post Art Industry News: Justin Bieber Buys Kobe Bryant
Tribute Art That Simultaneously Rips Off Kanye and Murakami + Other
Stories appeared first on artnet News.