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Statements
Pyotr Pavlensky, the performance artist best known for nailing his scrotum to a sidewalk in Moscow, has set fire to a bank’s entrance in Paris. He was subsequently detained by French police. [The Art Newspaper]
No one has definitively said that Lars von Trier is the Danish director Björk referred to in a statement about sexual harassment, but the Dogme 95 filmmaker is reportedly denying that it was him. [Vulture]
Museums
James H. DeGraffenreidt Jr. is now the president of the board of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. [The Daily Record]
For a major survey of Chinese contemporary art at the Guggenheim Museum, Xu Tan has recreated a 1998 installation that includes furniture wrapped in Mylar, a water gun, and a 500-piece Mona Lisa puzzle. “Can you guess why I named the piece Made in China?” Xu asks. [The New Yorker]
Collections and Commissions
Roberta Smith provides some helpful background about the artists chosen to paint Barack and Michelle Obama’s portraits—Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, respectively—and enumerates the reasons why they were good choices. [The New York Times]
Donald Trump’s tax plan is good for collectors, but less so for museums, according to one art law expert. [ABC News/Associated Press]
A Sotheby’s auction benefiting the survivors of the Grenfell fire brought in £1.9 million, or about $2.5 million. [BBC News]
Stargazing
You can’t go wrong with this weekend’s issue of T Magazine. Its theme is “The Greats,” and it includes Randy Kennedy profiling Claes Oldenburg, Roxane Gay interviewing Nicki Minaj, and much more. Plus: The Handmaiden director Park Chan-wook photographed with models wearing oversized masks and portraits by Carrie Mae Weems and Collier Schorr. [T Magazine]
A look around this past weekend’s Hammer Museum Gala, which honored Hilton Als and Ava DuVernay. [Vogue]