Art Industry News: The World’s Oldest Cave Art Is Under Threat From Miners in Indonesia + Other Stories

by admin

Feb 24, 2020

artnet

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
24.

NEED-TO-READ

San Antonio District Attorney Censors Artist’s Work –
Oakland-based
artist Xandra
Ibarra’s sexually
subversive video was pulled from a show of Chicanx art in San
Antonio by the city’s district attorney. Andy Segovi decided that
Ibarra’s 2014 video was “obscene” and should not be shown at the
Centro de Artes, which is managed by the city. The National
Coalition Against Censorship has complained to San Antonio’s mayor,
writing that this “flies in the face of the city’s First Amendment
obligations.” Ibarra plays a character named “La Chica Boom” in the
short video, which mocks racial and sexual stereotypes about Latinx
people. (ARTnews)

National Archives Releases Emails About Women’s March Photo
– The National Archives has released heavily redacted
emails sent by staffers discussing how to alter photographs of the
2017 Women’s March in Washington, DC. There was an
outcry after negative references to
President Trump on protestors’
banners were blurred when it was put on display at the National
Archives. The archives was
forced to apologize for the self-censorship. The policy to “clean
up” the Getty Images photo seems to have come from the top, with
one staffer writing: “We have been told by the Archivist that any
images we end up using should be carefully inspected for offensive
signage.” None of the emails touched on possible political fallout,
and few involved in the the decision appeared to think it could be
seen as unethical, sexist, or even contentious. (New York
Times)

World’s Oldest Art Under Threat From Cement Mining –
Experts are concerned that
the world’s oldest
cave art is under threat. The prehistoric paintings of hunting scenes
created at least 40,000 years ago are located in an area on an
Indonesian island that’s controlled by the cement
company Tonasa. Company
officials insist the site is safe, but critics point out that trucks filled with
limestone and other materials drive close to the entrance of the
caves. The art is threatened by dust and vibrations caused by the
heavy traffic, and mining nearby. Tonasa is planning to build a museum to allow
visitors to see the paintings. (Guardian)

A Mega-Gallery Is Dragged Into the Mexit Saga –
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are
allegedly upset that the Queen won’t let them exploit the “Sussex
Royal” brand now that they’ve stepped down from their royal duties.
They also note in a lengthy statement that while other “titled
members of the Royal Family” are allowed to seek employment, they
have been put on a “12-month review period.” Critics interpret this
as a coded reference to Princess Eugenie and her sister Beatrice,
among other royal relatives. Eugenie is an associate director at
Hauser & Wirth, although she may have more royal duties to perform
post-Mexit. Eugenie and her employers, Iwan and Manuela Wirth, were
also guests at Meghan’s wedding, while Meghan’s bridesmaids and
page boys wore sashes based on Hauser & Wirth artist Mark
Bradford’s work. (Daily
Mail)

ART MARKET

Sotheby’s Moves Hong Kong Sales to New York –
The spread of the coronavirus has
forced Sotheby’s to move its Hong Kong sales of Modern and
contemporary art to New York this April. The auction house has also
postponed its sale of Chinese art, jewelry, and wine in Hong Kong
until July. (Press release)

Western Museums Are Playing Catch Up on African Art –
The founding director of the
contemporary African art fair 1-54 says in a recent interview that museums
such as Tate and MoMA are playing catch up after ignoring the
continent’s art until recently. Touria El Glaoui, who has just
organized the Marrakech edition of the fair, also declined to
distance herself from fair sponsor Sindika Dokolo, the Congolese
businessman and African art collector who is fighting allegations
of corruption. (Guardian)

Bonhams Will Offer a Major Soulages Painting –
The veteran French artist’s
black-and-red abstract painting Pienture 16 decembre 1959
has a £7.5 million ($9.7 million)
upper estimate at Bonham’s London. The classic painting is due to
go under the hammer on March 12. This could actually be a dip in
price, however: The work previously sold in 2018 at Christie’s New York for $10.6
million. (Art Market
Monitor)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Artist Jack Youngerman
Dies at 93 – The French-trained American artist has
died after complications from a fall. His invention of fluid
shapes created a new world of abstraction in the wake of
Abstract Expressionism. (NYT)

Contemporary Austin
Names Executive Director – Sharon Maidenberg has been
named the new executive director and CEO of the art museum
Contemporary Austin. The former chief executive of the Headlands
Center for the Arts near San Francisco will begin in her new role
on September 1. (Glasstire)

Michael Rakowitz Creates
a Gulf War Memorial for England – The artist’s sculpture
of a British soldier who served in Iraq will be installed at the
Margate seafront facing the direction of UK Parliament. The
life-sized monument has one arm outstretched and a finger pointed
in an accusatorial way to where the decision to invade Iraq in
2003 was made. (KentOnline)

Ai Weiwei Takes Over the
Facade of the Minneapolis Museum of Art – For his
most recent work, the Chinese artist has covered the exterior
columns of the Minneapolis museum with 2,400 life jackets worn by
refugees traveling from Turkey to Greece. The work, Safe
Passage, is part of an exhibition on displacement and
immigration called “When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Art and
Migration.” (CNN)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Could Philadelphia
Museum Scandals Spark a Union Push? – One
month after the museum had experienced a fallout for allegedly protecting a top
executive after numerous complaints from staff about his
conduct, the Inquirer wonders if the saga will prompt
the staff to form a union. It says that workers felt that its
management’s inaction was “emblematic of a culture that protected
senior staff at the expense of lower-tier workers.” High-profile
scandals of this kind have triggered union movements in that
past. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Hockney Unveils a
Portrait That Caused a Family Rift – My
Parents and Myself, a precursor to his 1977 work My Parents, is
similar in composition, except that in the earlier work, the artist
includes his own self-portrait in a mirror reflection. He
eventually gave up on the piece, which frustrated his family, but
it will now be seen publicly in an exhibition opening this
week at the National Portrait Gallery. (Guardian)

What Did Monet Really See? – Ever wonder
what the house in Claude Monet’s Houses At Falaise In The
Fog (1885) really looked like? Now you can see what famous
painters saw on the other side of their easels, thanks to the home
renovation search engine Home Advisor, which has
created realistic renderings of famous paintings. (Home Advisor)