Art Industry News: The Man Who Sifted Through Gerhard Richter’s Garbage for Art Will Defend Himself in Court + 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 Tuesday, December
3.

NEED-TO-READ

Are Art Museums Getting Too
Crowded? – Blockbuster shows
have long been an ordeal for visitors, but the scourge of
overcrowding is worse than ever, according to
the Guardian’s Sirin Kale. She upset at London’s art
museums, which stuff their galleries with people who have paid as
much as $25 a pop—and she is not alone. One visitor to the
King Tut show at Saatchi Gallery left after witnessing a scuffle between two people
jostling for a better view of a sarcophagus. When
asked, art museums stress that visitor numbers are kept within safe
levels and demand at the box office is carefully managed. But an
unnamed Tate staffer admits that today, publicly funded museums are
businesses like any other that want to make
money. (Guardian)

Calvin Tomkins on David Hammons – The artist grants
a rare interview to the New Yorker‘s Calvin
Tomkins—but he won’t allow their conversation to be recorded. “We
sat around a small table, and because our conversation was random,
and unrecorded, and at times a bit arcane, the parts I remember may
not be the ones that needed remembering,” Tomkins writes. But
nevertheless, he captures the artist’s ability to enchant and his
dedication to building a myth around himself—one that he
understands we desire. Hauser & Wirth’s Los Angeles director
recalls watching Hammons sitting on a bench in the gallery’s garden
ahead of his major
exhibition there. “When I asked what he was doing, he said, ‘I
want to know what kind of medicine they need,’” she
recalled. (New Yorker) 

Man Who Sifted Richer’s Garbage Appeals His Conviction –
The man who was fined
for taking sketches by Gerhard Richter from the artist’s garbage is
appealing his conviction. In April, a court in Cologne found the
50-year-old man guilty of theft. He was fined €3,150 (nearly
$3,500) for scavenging artworks with the intention of selling
them. The artist was alerted
to the scam when the man approached the Gerhard Richter Archive in
Dresden to authenticate the drawings. The latest hearing is due to
take place today, December 3. (Monopol)

The Baltimore Museum’s Pledge Is
Met With Skepticism – The
Baltimore Museum of Art’s announcement that it would acquire
only works by female
artists in 2020 grabbed headlines. But some wonder how much
difference 12 months and $2 million will make, given the historic
imbalance of the collection (and, indeed, museum collections around
the world). Just 4 percent of
the museum’s 95,000 works of art and objects were made by
women, leading some skeptics to wonder whether museum
director Chris Bedford’s pledge is tantamount to tokenism. Donna
Drew Sawyer, the chief executive officer of Baltimore’s arts
council, asks: “Why did a male’s call to action seem to resonate so
loudly in this instance when women are the subject and have been
calling for the same action forever?” (City Paper)

ART MARKET

Batman and Robin Costumes Hit the
Auction Block – Collector John
Azarian is selling a pair of
original Batman and Robin outfits—but they come with a string
attached. The collector insists that the costumes remain a dynamic
duo. The lot is expected to sell for up to $200,000 as part of a
sale of his TV memorabilia collection at the Profiles in History auction house on December 17. (NY Post)

Dan Flavin’s Light Sculpture for Donal Judd Sells for $5
Million – In an unusual press announcement about a sale from a
gallery exhibition, David
Zwirner revealed it had sold Flavin’s
Untitled (1970), which the artist first installed
in his friend Donald Judd’s Spring Street home. The work was
purchased by a collector for $5 million. It is currently on view at
David Zwirner’s Flavin show in Paris. (Press release)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Leslie-Lohman Museum Hires New Curator – The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York has
hired the curator and art historian Stamatina Gregory as its new
director of curatorial programs. Gregory, who has organized shows
at the ICA Philadelphia and the Venice Biennale, will take up the
new post on January 6. (Artforum)

Tracey Emin Creates New Work for Jupiter Artland – The
YBA is mounting a show of
brand new work at collector Nicky Wilson‘s Edinburgh sculpture
park, Jupiter Artland. Emin
will show new paintings and drawings as well as a new bronze
sculpture in the show, which is slated to open next June.
(Scotsman)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Kusama’s Balloon Couldn’t Fly – Despite successful test runs, Yayoi Kusama’s
much-talked-about art
balloon for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade never ended up
leaving the staging area. A spokesperson for the parade explained
that poor weather conditions meant that some of the
balloons—including Kusama’s—tore during overnight inflation.
(Hyperallergic)

Alabama Welcomes Its Rosa Parks Statue – A new statue of the civil rights activist Rosa
Parks has been unveiled in Montgomery, Alabama, on Sunday. The
bronze sculpture was inaugurated on the 64th anniversary of Parks’s
1955 arrest, which sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, an important
part of the civil rights movement. (AP)

Virgil Abloh Unveils His Latest Collaboration –
Virgil Abloh is collaborating with
the French crystal company Baccarat on an exhibition to coincide
with Art Basel Miami Beach. Abloh announced the exhibition “Crystal
Clear” on Instagram, teasing a Baccarat crystal chain-link, among
other shiny objects. (Hypebeast)

The post Art Industry News: The Man Who Sifted Through
Gerhard Richter’s Garbage for Art Will Defend Himself in Court +
Other Stories appeared first on artnet News.