COURTESY HERITAGE AUCTIONS
Market
Heritage Auctions will sell works by two U.S. Presidents—John F. Kennedy and Donald Trump—this December, the Boston Globe reports. Trump’s is a squiggly version of the Manhattan skyline, and it’s expected to bring in $15,000. [The Boston Globe]
Rental Gallery’s NADA Miami Beach fair booth will be filled with works by Joel Mesler, who also runs the East Hampton space. But rather than putting out a press release for the booth, Mesler has dropped a teaser video, available now on ARTnews’s website, in which the dealer discusses embracing sobriety. [ARTnews]
Fun with Technology
Could artificial intelligence predict what will be a hit with collectors? According to Bloomberg, Arthena, a new startup that’s already being funded by notable backers, among them Y Combinator, might be that sought-after AI. [Bloomberg]
The New York Times has on its website a cool augmented-reality experience devoted to Lucio Fontana, whose work is the subject of an exhibition at the Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan. “I would suggest viewing the exhibition as if you didn’t know the artist died in 1968,” one of the show’s curators tells the Times. [The New York Times]
Scrupulous Chroniclers
In next week’s issue of the New Yorker, Adam Gopnik writes on Jed Perl’s 700-page Alexander Calder biography. “No one doubts that Calder is a remarkable artist, and in Jed Perl he has found a scrupulous chronicler,” Gopnik notes. [The New Yorker]
With a show currently on view at London’s Stephen Friedman Gallery and a portrait of Barack Obama still to come, the New York Times checks in with Kehinde Wiley. Regarding the Obama painting, Wiley is sworn to secrecy, and he’s at a loss for words to describe his excitement. [The New York Times]
A Documenta Debacle
Following news that Documenta 14 had gone severely over budget and run up a deficit north of €5.4 million, the quinquennial’s managing director, Annette Kulenkampff, has stepped down, the Art Newspaper reports. She called the decision to leave a “mutual agreement” in a statement yesterday. [The Art Newspaper]
Around America
Curator Dan Cameron, who launched New Orleans’s Prospect triennial, has another art festival up his sleeve. Artnet News reports that his latest biennial will be called Open Spaces, and it will take place this August in Kansas City. [Artnet News]
W previews the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami which opens to the public this week in its new permanent home. The inaugural show, which focuses on images of artists’ studios, will bring together well-established artists and emerging talent alike. [W]
According to a New York Times report, work created by Guantánamo Bay prisoners is property of the U.S. government, so it doesn’t belong to the artists themselves. This means that officials have the rights to destroy art by prisoners, some of which is currently on view at John Jay College in New York. [The New York Times]
How does the Denver Art Museum deinstall a 330,000-pound Mark di Suvero sculpture? The Denver Post offers a look inside the process. Spoiler alert: it involves the use of scale models in preparation. [The Denver Post]
The Future
W picks five female curators to watch in 2018, from collector Tiffany Zabludowicz to Dia Art Foundation young patrons program chair Laura de Gunzburg. [W]