WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
A New Private Museum in L.A.
The Marciano Art Foundation had its grand opening for VIPs over the weekend, inviting everyone in to see how collector Maurice Marciano arranged his collection in the former Scottish Rite Masonic Temple near Koreatown in Los Angeles. But how do the normal people get tickets? [The Los Angeles Times]
Plus, here’s a look at Kulapat Yantrasast, the architect behind the space. [The Los Angeles Times]
As ever, there was a wild party following the opening, and it looks like Takashi Murakami had a good time, as he does. [Instagram]
The Iceman Cometh
The former Hollywood leading man Val Kilmer has been enjoying a career renaissance due to some choice new roles, a remarkably candid and unhinged Twitter account, and—perhaps most surprisingly—a new career as an artist. A reporter spent many fruitless attempts to track Kilmer down for an interview before he finally relented and, oh boy, is it worth it. I won’t ruin the Bob Dylan anecdote for you, because you should just read it yourself. [The Guardian]
And if you’re in New York City, you can now see a show of Val Kilmer’s new work at Woodward Gallery on the Lower East Side. It is called “VALHOLLA,” which the press release helpfully explains is “ironically titled.” The whole release is pretty marvelous, as it contains sentences such as “Kilmer explains the abstract series is born from the perspective that matter isn’t matter, it’s energy” and ends by saying “Val Kilmer will randomly be in attendance throughout the exhibition.” [Woodward Gallery]
But, alas, you might have already missed him by this morning. [Twitter]
Baldessari in the Studio
The legendary John Baldessari is up to all sorts of great things these days, including a new show at downtown L.A. print studio Mixografia, so here’s a nice visit to his studio, where on one wall he’s placed correspondence with fellow artists Sol LeWitt, Richard Serra and, um, Scarlett Johansson. [The Los Angeles Times]
He also uses his studio to paint the latest entrant into the BMW Art Car series, and from the looks of this he’s really painting these cars himself, which is pretty cool. But he hasn’t gotten behind the wheel. “I can’t even fit in it, I’m just too big,” he said. [CBS]
Basquiat, Basquiat, Basquiat
The art market was still reeling from the historic sale of a untitled 1982 skull painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat for $110.5 million at Sotheby’s Thursday night. By the weekend, analysis started to hit radio networks, too—NPR had New York magazine critic Jerry Saltz to come on and talk about it. [NPR]
Plus, the New York Post got into the game, asking whether the sale will actually boost the market, or if it’s an outlier. [The New York Post]
Complex argues that while it did sell for a pretty high figure, perhaps it’s just such a good work that it’s priceless. “$110.5 million is, by all accounts, a lot of money. But fuck money!” writes Trace William Cowen. [Complex]
Another explainer on how the market came to this moment, and how the sale will affect things going forward. [The Guardian]
And an argument that maintains that Basquiat is important for many reasons beyond his record prices. In fact, he is now the “ultimate American artist.” [The Huffington Post]
The Cannes Film Festival
It’s that time of year when people have a great time going to see movie premieres on the French Riviera—the Cannes Film Festival! This year, one of the films that screened in competition for the Palme d’Or is “The Square,” which takes place in a museum in Stockholm and centers around a curator as he tries to find his phone, deal with the institution’s patrons, and handle a performance artist who unleashes a conceptual work where he violently impersonates an ape. [Reuters]
Galerie Perrotin artist JR made a documentary with important French New Wave figure Agnes Varda that follows the artist as he makes murals during a road trip through rural France. [Variety]
And some news out of the festival: Willem Dafoe will star as Vincent van Gogh in the new film by the artist and director Julian Schnabel. The film, “At Eternity’s Gate,” will focus on the artist’s life in Arles. [The Hollywood Reporter]