— THE BIG STORY —
Now that Jeffrey Deitch has officially given notice at Los Angeles's Museum of Contemporary Art, West Coast art-world watchers have plenty of tangy grist for the conversational mill this weekend—not least over who will succeed him in the director's chair, under the Sword of Damocles (aka Broad). But New York insiders have plenty to talk about as well, with Deitch reported to be searching for new gallery digs on the Upper East Side. So, what does the Big Apple hold in store for its prodigal son?
As the former ringleader of the city's downtown scene through his carnivalesque Deitch Projects enclave in SoHo, the dealer will be returning to find his legacy widely dispersed, with his buzzy artists picked up by other galleries, his lieutenants (among them Kathy Grayson of the Hole and Suzanne Geiss of her eponymous storefront) now running their own shops, and the Swiss Institute now occupying his former flagship space. While no one has exactly stepped into the position he once occupied—in part because his love of the outrageous avant-garde and his willingness to lavishly bankroll its antics, often without regard to sales, has been unmatched—one can see why he has opted to try for a different pasture on the UES.
He would find plenty of opportunities there, too. For one thing, the neighborhood is the city's bastion of secondary-market galleries, and Deitch is an enormously accomplished dealmaker when it comes to Old Masters and Impressionist-through-postwar work, which he traded in first at Citibank's art advisory arm in the '80s and later through the back room of Deitch Projects. But the contemporary art market has also dramatically infiltrated the Upper East Side over the last half decade, with galleries like Hauser & Wirth and Higher Pictures showcasing cutting-edge work to a white-collar Park Avenue crowd that has become ravenous for the latest art.
Should Deitch choose to open a more sedate shop up there with well-curated contemporary shows (eschewing his glitzier tendencies) and rich offerings of older work (however sotto voce) it could be a big success—as well as an enormous boon for both collectors and the city's art lovers.
— QUOTE OF THE WEEK —
"Yeah, Jay Z is ripping me off. You can’t imagine how proud I am." — Ragnar Kjartansson on the rapper's quasi-durational performance-art turn in Chelsea earlier this month, which was widely compared to the Icelandic artist's piece at MoMA PS1 last year when he asked the National to perform one song for six hours straight
— MUST READ —
Picasso, Monet Paintings Unburned After All? — The mother of a Romanian art thief has recanted her claim that she burned $130 million-worth of art by Picasso, Monet, and Lucien Freud. (NYT)
Do We Still Need Royal Baby Portraits? — The Guardian's Jonathan Jones thinks George Alexander Lewis, the newborn royal baby, needs a portrait, and he thinks it should be done by Paula Rego. (Guardian)
Rain, With a Chance of a Nine-Hour Wait — The Guggenheim's Turrellexhibition and the MoMA's Rain Room are drawing huge crowds, but who benefits from their high attendance? Meanwhile, a Gothamist writer chronicles the exhausting wait to see rAndom International's installation. (Daily Beast, Gothamist)
Homeowner Discovers Turrell Work — Turrell may have three retrospectives at the Guggenheim, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the LACMA, but one woman just realized that a Turrell work is installed in her guesthouse. (WSJ)
Looks Good Enough to Eat — A new cookbook focuses on the food artists ate and put into their artwork. (HuffPo)
Art, Fresh Out of the 3-D Printer — Artists and conservators have only just begun to realize the importance of 3-D printing to their craft. (TAN)
Dealing More Than Just Art — Two men were arrested after growing marijuana at the Frontier Culture Museum in Virginia. (Complex)
Where Is the Met's Jade Room? — A gallery of jade artifacts valued at over $1 million has somehow vanished into the Metropolitan Museum of Art's extensive archives. (Hyperallergic)
Campbell's Soup Can Museum— A pop-up Andy Warhol museum that shows 32 original works opened in a Lisbon mall. (Design Taxi)
Suzanne Geiss Goes Digital — www.suzannegeiss.net launches ahead of an exhibition at the Lower East Side gallery. (Interview)
Justin Bieber Art History —Complex continues its pursuit to combine pop stars with unlikely aspects of art history by mashing together Justin Bieber's lyrics with works by Tracey Emin,Jeff Koons, and Frida Kahlo. (Complex)
— ART MARKET —
Motor City Art Bailout — City creditors are eying the Detroit Institute of Arts's world-class Old Masters collection—estimated to be worth around $2 billion—as a possible "salable asset" in the face of mounting debt. (NYT)
Qatar's Buying Power — The country's royal family, particularly the emir's 30-year-old sister, is buying art at unprecedented levels, but where it's going is anybody's guess. (NYT)
New Private Museum in L.A. — Art collectors and Guess jeans owners Maurice and Paul Marciano have purchased an $8 million Masonic temple in Los Angeles to convert into a private museum. (LAT)
— IN & OUT —
Minimalist sculptor and Lightning Field artist Walter De Maria, a heroic force behind 1970s land art who largely withdrew from the public eye, died of a stroke on Thursday at age 77. (LAT)
Dealer Miguel Abreu is opening a second gallery space in the Lower East Side. (Gallerist)
Joel Wachs, the former L.A. City Council president who helped MoCA Los Angeles to open its first exhibition space in 1983, will lead the search for Deitch's successor. (LAT)
The European Union has given €1.9 million to Metabody, a five-year long global art project that kicks off this month. (TAN)
Maxxi, Italy's national contemporary art museum, is struggling to stay in business, largely due to shortages in financing. (NYT)
