— THE BIG STORY —
Last week was an exciting one over here at Artspace, to say the least. On Tuesday we announced that a consortium of investors led by venture-capital firm Canaan Partners invested $8.5 million into the site to fund a dramatic expansion, with new strategic director Maria Baibakova—the savvy and accomplished curator and patron behind Moscow's Baibakov Art Projects—leading the company's drive into international markets. (Read an interview with Baibakova here on her plans.)
On the strictly editorial side of things, we also debuted our first column by none other than Walter Robinson, the highly respected founding editor of Artnet Magazine and an accomplished artist in his own right. (Read that column, "Confessions of an Art Collector," here.) His arrival was joined by that of Alex Allenchey, our longtime contributor who has now has joined the team full-time. Expect Artspace's editorial offerings to expand further in coming weeks with more features, interviews, news, and opinion casting light onto the inner workings of the contemporary art world.
— QUOTE OF THE WEEK —
“I love art, and art loves me more than any man has ever loved me. Art has never let me down. When I’ve been my lowest of my low, art has always come and picked me up. I can’t say that about the men I’ve had relationships with. It’s about forever and ever. The last thing I do before I die will be art, definitely. Whereas people come and people go. I wish I could have a lover like art, that loved me as passionately as art loves me, or who I could give as much back to.” — Tracey Emin talks about her less-than-ideal romantic life in a lengthy confessional piece by New Yorker writer/love sleuth Emma Allen
— MUST READ —
Ai Weiwei Moves From Screen to Stage — Following the release of his successful documentary, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, which was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival (though was snubbed by the Oscars), the firebrand Chinese artist will have his accounts of his two-month detention in a Chinese prison adapted into a new play, #aiww: The Arrest of Ai Weiwei, at London's Hampstead Theatre. (TAN)
Novel Artist’s Rights Proposal From … China?!? — Though it significantly lags behind the rest of the first-world in terms of copyright law, China is considering implementing a resale clause that would entitle artists to a share of royalty payments whenever their work is sold at auction. While the proposal has its detractors, many think that the new legislation would put a clamp on the number of fake works and forgeries that enter the Chinese market since auction houses would have to trace each work to its original creator. (TAN and Art Market Monitor)
Death, Taxes, & Art — Underachievers can rejoice, because in case you haven’t already filed your taxes this year, Italian artist and Internet pirate Paolo Cirio is releasing the identities and documents of over 200,000 companies with bank accounts registered in the Cayman Islands, granting collectors access to all the offshore tax advantages granted to giant, multinational corporations. (Artinfo)
Park Avenue Armory Unveils 2013 Program — There’s a decent chance that the Park Avenue Armory will repeat the smashing success of Ann Hamilton’s recent installation at the uptown exhibition space, as just a quick glance at their planned events in the new year reveals some major gems, including the U.S. premiere of The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, starring the artist alongside Willem Dafoe. (Press Release)
Surrealist Swiper Snagged in Sting — The man who absconded earlier this year with a Salvador Dalí drawing from Upper East Side gallery Venus Over Manhattan—only to leave it at the airport days later—has been taken into custody following a complex sting operation that involved a police officer posing as an art gallery manager offering the thief a job. (NYT)
Museums Spice Up Exhibits With Food — In the latest aspect of the art world to go hog wild about food, the period-room departments of some of America's most august institutions are working with British food historian Ivan Day to create feasts appropriate to the time that particular furnishings were made. (NYT)
Dressing to Impress(ionist) — In her review of the Met's new "Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity" show, Roberta Smith pulls out all the stops with a fulsomely rich survey of the interplay between advanced art and fashion in 19th-century France, and it's a rewarding read. (NYT)
See a Sneak Peek of Jesper Just's Pavilion — The Danish artist has made a spectacular multi-channel film for his country's pavilion in this year's Venice Biennale, and here are a few stills. (Gallerist NY)
Japan Meets Brooklyn — Artist Iona Rozeal Brown, who has new concurrent shows up at Salon 94 Freemans and Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery, discusses the ideas behind her paintings that fuse Kabuki, hip-hop culture, voguing, and other divergent but dramatically visual formats. (NYT)
— ART MARKET —
Dealer Reveals His Artistic Side — Popular West Village gallerist Gavin Brown, whose Enterprise represents artists from Alex Katz to Rirkrit Tiravanija, recently announced that he’ll be having a solo show of his own work—his first in over a decade—at the Green Gallery in Milwaukee. (Artinfo)
The Chelsea Gallery Exodus — As the larger galleries in the art district expand and more fashion and technology companies are drawn to the appealing location, established mid-size galleries are finding it difficult to keep up with rising rent costs and are increasingly faced with the prospect of moving out of Chelsea entirely—risking a loss of experimental and adventurous art among the blue-chip titans. (Bloomberg)
Mo’ Money, Mo’ Premiums —Christie’s auction house recently announced that it will be raising its buyer’s premiums for the first time since 2008, despite seeing sales increase by 10 percent over the last year; no word yet as to whether the other major houses will follow suit and up their rates as well. (NYT)
Will Consigners Care, Though? — Georgina Adam sounds out a few art-market heavies to see if they are upset about the fee hike, and two out of three suggest the answer is resoundingly "yes." (FT)
The Return of the Middle Market? — With the thinning herd of masterpieces by the art market’s biggest of big names that remain available for sale (i.e. aren't in museums or private collections), more and more attention is being paid to figures don’t always make the headlines as buyers look to find value in recognized but available artists. (Art Market Monitor)
Knoedler Gallery Gets Sued Again — "Canadian impresario" David Mirvish is the latest to cry foul about work that the gallery sourced from the mysterious Glafira Rosales, the Long Island dealer who suppled Knoedler with now-dubious works by Pollock, Rothko, and other greats. (NYT)
— IN & OUT —
Frieze has named Nicola Lees, former senior curator of public programs at London's Serpentine Gallery (and Hans Ulrich Obrist's understudy), will be taking over as the Frieze Foundation’s curator—and while plans for the 2013 fair aren’t yet set in stone, Lees says that she’s “committed to an integrated approach to artistic expression.” (Artinfo)
The 10th edition of the roving Manifesta exhibition will be sited in St. Petersburg in 2014, with the show being spread across several locales, including the Hermitage's new contemporary art wing. (Baibakov Art Projects)
Renzo Piano's makeover and expansion of the Harvard Art Museums, which will unite the university's three art institutions into one building, is now expected to be unveiled in fall 2014. (Artforum)
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, holder of America's greatest Duchamp collection, has appointed UVA curator Matthew Affron to be its newest curator of Modern art. (Inquirer)
Young critic, editor, curator, and man-about-town Alex Gartenfeld is about to be a man about a different town, heading down south to become a curator at the on-the-pulse MOCA North Miami. (Gallerist NY)
Embattled hedge-fund titan and über-megacollector Steve Cohen has donated a group of stunning and important paintings by Martin Kippenberger, Ed Ruscha, Peter Doig, and Cy Twombly, while A C Hudgins and Glenn Furhman have also given major works. (NYT)
If you want to work for Jeff Koons and can mask paintings or sculpture, carve stone, or work with plaster molds, here's your shot. (Gallerist NY)
