STEPHEN IRONSIDE
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Progress
Kehinde Wiley: “It’s impossible to create a singular narrative of how modern Africa is evolving, into what identity it will become. It’s as complicated as the population is.” [The New York Times]
A new Freelands Foundation report suggests that, in the United Kingdom’s art world, “incremental improvements” are being made on the road to gender parity. [ARTnews]
Collectors
Alice Walton is reportedly the buyer of a record-smashing Robert Rauschenberg painting that sold for $88.8 million at Christie’s last month. [ARTnews via Canvas]
All collector Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi wants for Eid Mubarak is artworks by female Arab modernists. [Twitter]
Simone Leigh
Rianna Jade Parker profiles Simone Leigh, writing that curators’ disregard for art that involves craft allowed the artist the “space and time to mature as an artist unbounded by artificial distinctions between craft and ‘high art.’ ” [Frieze]
Leigh recently unveiled a monumental sculpture in New York that overlooks the High Line’s long-awaited final section. Gothamist has revealed some of the first photos of that just-opened area, known as the Spur. [Gothamist]
The Critics
Jonathan Jones reviews the giant Trump baby balloon blown up by artists at a recent protest, giving it three out of five stars. [The Guardian]
Museums
Keen-eyed art lovers have helped identify the subject of a portrait held by a museum in Madrid: Auguste Rodin. [The Guardian]
Over at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas, there’s an exhibition about disappearances as they relate to the work of three California artists—Bas Jan Ader, Chris Burden, and Jack Goldstein. [D Magazine]