COURTESY SHUTTERSTOCK
Lives of the Artists
In this marvelous profile, Martine Syms discusses helping Kanye West write his MTV Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award; being inspired by “The Real World”; how she might make a television show but “Unless I can get that Shonda package, I don’t want to fuck with it”; and Kevin Durant. [The New Yorker]
Things Jim Dine hates: Ohio, New York, Donald Trump, conducting interviews, “this world we have come into.” To defend against all these horrible things, he’s donated 249 works to the National Gallery of Victoria. [The Sydney Morning Herald]
Ai Weiwei calls for China to release Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning dissident who has been imprisoned for nine years and was recently diagnosed with liver cancer. [The Guardian]
Sweet Charity
100 percent of the sales of Shake Shack’s new shake, “The Shake-speare,” will go to the Public Theater, to support its production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It is strawberry and rose-flavored. [Gothamist]
Dealers
Carter Burden Gallery in Chelsea only reps artists over the age of 60—a different kind of ageism than we’re used to. [The New York Times]
The jewelry dealer Louisa Guinness collects still, but has soured on art fairs. “All the personal touch of buying art has gone when you visit these rat races,” she said. Sigh. [Robb Report]
Around the Country
The local paper in Atlantic City thinks the most recent public art project, 48 Blocks, is the most successful to date. [Press of Atlantic City]
A columnist for the paper in Aspen does not like the newly renovated Aspen Art Museum. “Maybe the gross building is a parody of an art museum and the fake ‘art’ is a parody of art,” he writes. Back to the slopes I guess. [The Aspen Times]
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has awarded the Bemis Center in Omaha, Nebraska, a grant of $100,000 to support its artist residency program. [The Wichita Eagle]
The Museum of Ventura County in California could close by the end of the month if it can’t find funding. [The Ventura County Star]
Gucci Fur Slippers
An anonymous assistant at Hauser & Wirth tells The Strategist what to buy to be all about that gallery girl lifestyle. Bone broth gets a shout out, $445 Issey Miyake pants are recommended, and this seems to be pivotal: “Gucci fur slippers. Everyone has the Gucci slippers.” [New York]
Rest in Peace
A student of the poet Larry Fagin, who died in May, remembers him as a generous teacher and devoted resident of the East Village—he lived in the same E. 12th Street building that housed Allen Ginsberg and Arthur Russell. His favorite cheeseburger was at Silver Spurs on Houston Street. [The New Yorker]
The artist José Luis Cuevas has died in Mexico City. He was 83. [The New York Times]
Museum Booze
The Liberty Hall Museum in New Jersey discovered a stash of wine from the 1700s in its basement. [The New York Post]
The Field Museum in Chicago will be serving beer on tap inspired by ancient Chinese recipes. [The Chicago Sun-Times]
Bonus!
Thomas Crow, the associate provost for the arts at New York University, lists the 43 works of art you need to see before you die. [Business Insider]
White Columns director Matthew Higgs has been dropping some epic throwback pictures on his Instagram, including flyers for some wild punk shows and DJ sets, teenage fan letters to his favorite bands, and snaps of a young, clean-shaven Gavin Brown. [Instagram]