Art Industry News: Superstar Curator Hans Ulrich-Obrist Calls for a Massive Public Art Initiative to Put British Artists to Work + 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, March
30.

NEED-TO-READ

The British Museum Defies the UK
Government – The British Museum
has defied Downing Street by appointing renowned classicist Mary
Beard as a trustee. The
nomination of the Cambridge academic,
broadcaster, and occasional curator was blocked by unnamed
politicians last year
because of her pro-European, anti-Brexit views. But the political
interference was roundly criticized when it became public earlier
this month, and the British Museum added Beard to its 25-person
board anyway. Now, it seems the UK government has made a U-turn.
“The current administration is delighted,” an unnamed source in
Downing Street told the Press Association, distancing Boris Johnson
from the decision made when Theresa May was prime minister.
(Observer)

Despite Everything, LACMA
Demolition Continues – The public health crisis has left many
capital projects at a standstill: the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and the Lucas
Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles have both paused
construction. But the Los Angeles County Museum of Art intends to
continue tearing down four of its buildings as part of its
controversial renovation. In defending the decision, the museum’s
director Michael Govan said that the $750 million campus revamp
would be an “engine of job creation and economic recovery.”
Construction workers are wearing protective gear, keeping six feet
apart, and frequently washing their hands at portable sinks,
according to a museum spokeswoman. Rob Hollman, an opponent of the
expansion and a campaigner for the group Save LACMA, slammed the
move: “It’s wrong, ethically and morally,” he said. (Los Angeles Times)

Hans Ulrich-Obrist Issues a Call
for Pandemic Public Art – The
superstar curator Hans
Ulrich-Obrist has
called on the UK government to create a version of the New Deal for
British artists in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The
artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries notes how, during the
Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration gave many
artists their first commissions, which kickstarted the careers of
Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, among others. Last week,
the government
funded Arts Council England
launched a $190 million emergency response
package, which includes
grants of up to £3,000 for individual artists. But Ulrich-Obrist
and other leading art professionals are looking for something more
dramatic. (Guardian)

Behind the Battle Over Derek
Fordjour’s Success – A New
York court will decide who wins the bitter battle between
the artist Derek
Fordjour and his former dealer Robert Blumenthal. The case hinges on 20 works by the now
in-demand artist, which Fordjour claims he consigned to the New
York gallerist for $20,000. The gallery now says Fordjour still
owes seven of those works, and it will accept no less than $1.45
million in lieu of the art. Since the pair first made the original
deal six years ago, Fordjour’s prices have skyrocketed—his
collectors now include Beyoncé. The artist declined to speak to
the Times, but the paper concludes that the legal fight
goes beyond money, revealing the “undercurrents of pride,
friendship, and hurt feelings that can arise over the question of
who deserves to take credit for and profit from an artist’s
success.” (New York
Times)

ART MARKET

Christie’s Upgrades Its Private
Sales Platform – While many of its sales have been rescheduled
or converted to virtual events, the
auction house is shifting its narrative to promote private sales
online, ramping up what it calls “collector engagement.” Last year,
64 percent of Christie’s clients bought or bid online, and 41
percent of new buyers arrived via its digital platforms.
(Art Market
Monitor)

Goodman Gallery Sells
Artist-Designed Blankets for COVID Relief –
The Johannesburg gallery is
selling artist-designed blankets to raise funds for a health clinic
in the South African capital. The textile works by Broomberg &
Chanarin, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Reza Farkhondeh & Ghada Amer,
and Samson Kambalu are priced $620 each and produced in editions of
50. (The Art
Newspaper)

New York Landlords Are Trying to Boot Out Small Galleries
– As April 1 approaches, small
New York galleries are fretting about paying their rent
after an enforced lockdown put their businesses on ice. They say
landlords have ignored requests for a rent freeze and that they
don’t qualify for the loans or other support offered by New York
City. Last week, the New Art Dealers Alliance released a petition supporting a 90-day rent suspension to help ailing
businesses, but it remains to be seen whether that will be put into
place. (Hyperallergic)

COMINGS & GOINGS

2020 Rabkin Prize
Winners Announced – The 2020 Rabkin Prize, which
honors writers and critics who inform the public through their
writing on contemporary art, has been awarded to nine recipients:
Mary Abbe, Jerry Cullum, Neil Fauerso, Amanda Fortini, Sam
Lefebvre, Steve Litt, Erin Nelson, Seph Rodney, and Elisa Turner.
Each will receive $50,000. (Artforum)

UK Arts Administrator
Dies of the Coronavirus – The first female chair of Arts
Council Wales, Sybil Crouch, has died from complications from
COVID-19 at age 66. She was an advisor to the Welsh government on
arts and cultural policy and a Labour party member. Until last
year, she served as director of the Taliesin Arts Centre and head
of cultural services at Swansea University.
(Guardian)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Last Year Was the
Busiest This Century for London Museums – Some 27 million
people visited London’s seven major art museums in 2019, according
to The Art Newspaper‘s annual attendance figures
report. That’s the highest total for London since the turn of the
century (as in, the year 2000). Attendance was boosted by two blockbusters: Tate
Britain’s “Van Gogh and Britain” show and Antony Gormley’s survey
at the Royal Academy of Arts. (The Art
Newspaper)

How Coronavirus Could
Change Art History – “Society will change with this
pandemic, and art will too—in ways we can only begin to guess,”
writes art critic Christopher Knight. For precedent, he looks back
at the Black Plague, when artistic transformations that were going
on at the time disappeared, came to a halt, or “skipped a bunch of
generations.” He cites the pioneering Florentine painter Giotto di
Bondone, who died of the plague just as he was helming an artistic
revolution. “A renaissance didn’t erupt in Florence for another
hundred years,” Knight notes. (Los Angeles
Times)

The Getty Launches
Create-Your-Own Old Master – The Getty is offering a
new way to interact with its art collection while in quarantine.
It’s simple: choose your favorite artwork and find three
things lying around your house that can help you recreate it. Then
click send! The Getty is sharing the inventive images on social
media. (Guardian)

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Ulrich-Obrist Calls for a Massive Public Art Initiative to Put
British Artists to Work + Other Stories appeared first on
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