Friday, December 6
Marciano Art Foundation to Remain Closed Permanently
In what some could describe as a Friday news dump, the Marciano Art Foundation in Los Angeles sent out an email saying that it will remain closed permanently. When it abruptly closed its doors last month, the private museum owned by Maurice and Paul Marciano said it had “no present plans to reopen.” Prior to that announcement in November, the museum had laid off dozens of part-time workers, many of whom had been involved in a campaign to unionize, and cited “low attendance” as its reason for closing certain exhibitions earlier than had originally been planned. The museum’s practices are currently being reviewed by the National Labor Relations Board. “We are grateful to the public and the art community for their enthusiastic support of this ambitious project and all that we have accomplished during the past two and a half years,” the museum said in a statement. “It was truly fulfilling to see thousands of visitors enjoy the exhibitions we had the good fortune of putting together with such inspiring artists.” ARTnews has reached out to the foundation to see what will happen to the foundation’s base of operations, a Scottish Rite Masonic Temple, and will update this post accordingly. —Alex Greenberger
Pérez Art Museum Miami Acquires Kenny Rivero Work at NADA
The Pérez Art Museum Miami has added a new work to its permanent collection through its annual acquisition initiative conducted in collaboration with the NADA Miami Beach, and funded by ticket sales. The painting, New Hat (2019), is by Kenny Rivero, a New York–based artist, and was displayed in the booth of Charles Moffett gallery, which has a location in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood. In a statement, PAMM curators Jennifer Inacio and María Elena Ortiz said that the purchase honors the museum’s “commitment to Latinx and Carribean artists.”
Aaron Garber-Maikovska Joins Blum & Poe
Blum & Poe in New York now represents Los Angeles-based artist Aaron Garber-Maikovska, whose work is currently featured in the gallery’s presentation at Art Basel Miami Beach. The artist’s work, which spans painting, drawing, sculpture and video, is known for its highly expressive movement and color. A solo exhibition of the artist’s work will be presented at Blum & Poe in 2020.
Thursday, December 5
Two Joseph Kosuth Works Enter Ohio Museum Collection
The Toledo Museum of Art has commissioned Joseph Kosuth, one of the key artists related to the Conceptualist movement, to create a new work inspired by a visit to the Ohio city last year. The work is a neon piece that will be installed in a frieze in the museum’s interior courtyard. Its titular phrase, “The way in which language signifies is mirrored,” references the work of 20th-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Kosuth has a special connection to the museum; he was born in Toledo and took classes at TMA when he was a kid. That experience has directly influenced a work that he also has just gifted to the museum, One and Three Blackboards (1965). Much like his famous One and Three Chairs, from the same year, this version considers the meaning of the object in its title as a thing, a word, and an idea. The physical blackboard in this case is one that Kosuth used in the museum’s classrooms. —Maximilíano Durón
Norton Museum of Art Names Nominees for Emerging Photographers Prize
The Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, has revealed the 2020 nominees for its Rudin Prize for Emerging Photographers, a biennial award that gives $20,000 to an artist who has yet to have a solo museum show. Each nominee was put up for consideration by a famed artist. Kristin Lee-Moolman was nominated by Cindy Sherman, Jess T. Dugan by Dawoud Bey, David Spero by Ori Gersht, and Lina Hashim by Trine Søndergaard. The winner will be named on February 28.
Otazu Art Prize Awarded at Untitled, Art Miami Beach
Artist Emmanuel Van der Auwera has won the second annual Otazu Art Prize at Untitled, Art Miami Beach for his work VideoSculpture XXI (Vegas), 2019, which is presented by Harlan Levey Projects. Through the award, it will be acquired by the Fundación Otazu in Navarra, Spain, for its private collection. Van der Auwera will also design a label for a special-edition wine that will be produced by the Bodega Otazu winery in 2020.
L’Inconnue Gallery Will Relocate to New York
The Montreal-based gallery L’Inconnue, which has worked with artists like Melanie Ebenhoch, Maia Ruth Lee, Anne Low, Alex Morrison, and Emily Ludwig Shaffer, will move to New York’s Chinatown neighborhood next year. The inaugural exhibition in its new 600 square-foot space will a solo show by Vera Frenkel. In a statement, gallery founder Leila Greiche said of the move, “The art world is a niche market and community therefore I believe there is more opportunity to cultivate an audience and program in New York which will expedite the advancement of the gallery in the most optimal setting.”
Oslo’s Astrup Fearnley Museet Appoints New Executive Director
Solveig Øvstebø will join the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo, Norway, as executive director and chief curator in May 2020. She will succeed Gunnar B. Kvaran, who has held the post since 2001. Øvstebø most recently served as executive director and chief curator of the Renaissance Society in Chicago, and she worked as director of the Bergen Kunsthall in Norway from 2003 to 2013.
Wednesday, December 4
Zona Maco Announces Exhibitor List for 2020 Edition
The Zona Maco art fair in Mexico City has released the names of the more than 100 exhibitors from 26 different countries that will participate in its 17th edition, slated to run from February 5 to February 9. Among the galleries that will bring their wares to the fair are international powerhouses like Pace and Lisson Gallery, which will show alongside some of Mexico’s leading galleries, including Kurimanzutto, OMR, Proyectos Monclova, and Labor. The fair has also added a fifth section that will focus on mid-career galleries, Foro (“forum” or “meeting” in Spanish), that is organized by independent curator Anna Goetz. For the first time, Zona Maco will bring together all four of the fairs that it runs in one venue, Centro Citibanamex, with the main contemporary art fair running alongside its design, photography, and antiques versions. The full list of exhibitors for all four fairs can be downloaded here.
Asia Society Triennial Reveals Commissioned Artists for Inaugural Edition
The Asia Society Triennial, which will open its first-ever edition next summer at various venues in New York, will feature more than 18 newly commissioned works. Among the artists who have been invited to create new works are Song-Ming Ang, Reza Aramesh, Vibha Galhotra, Anne Samat, Melati Suryodarmo, and Xu Bing. The exhibition, titled “We Do Not Dream Alone,” will be co-curated by Boon Hui Tan and Michelle Yun, both of whom are curators at the Asia Society. A complete list of artists and venues will be announced early next year, and the partial list of commissioned artists can be found here.
Tuesday, December 3
Florida’s Ringing Museum Receives Gift of Photography, Curatorial Endowment
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, will receive a gift of over 1,000 photographs and an undisclosed amount of money that will endow a curatorial post in photography and media arts from Stanton B. and Nancy W. Kaplan. Stanton has been involved with the museum since the 1990s, when he started volunteering there. Among the photographers included in the gift are Eugène Atget, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston, and Manuel Álvarez Bravo, who is currently the subject of an exhibition at the Ringling that includes around 40 works that are part of the Kaplan gift. Also part of the donation are a group of Asian scholars’ rocks, also known as gongshi, which Nancy collects. (The couple had previously donated one to the museum in 2001 that is on view in the Asian Art Wing.) In a statement, the museum’s director Steven High said, “The endowments of a curatorship and a program focused on photography and the media arts is an especially important commitment by the Kaplans to support the Ringling’s growing collections and scholarship in this medium.” —Maximilíano Durón
Dan Graham Joins 303 Gallery
New York–based artist and curator Dan Graham is now also represented by 303 Gallery in New York, and he will continue working with his four other galleries: Greene Naftali Gallery (New York), Marian Goodman Gallery (New York, Paris, London), Hauser & Wirth (Zurich, London, New York, Somerset, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Gstaad in Switzerland), and Lisson Gallery (London, New York, Shanghai). Graham is best known for his key role in the advent of Conceptual art during the 1960s. His works are held in the collections of the the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, Tate Gallery in London, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others. A solo exhibition of his work will open at 303 in April 2020.
Mexico City’s Material Art Fair Taps 78 Galleries for 2020 Edition
As Art Basel Miami Beach opens in Florida, Mexico City’s emerging-art-focused Material Art Fair is gearing up for its 2020 edition, which runs February 7 through 9. For the fair, 78 galleries will come together at the Frontón México sporting arena, including Art:Concept (of Paris), Simone Subal (New York), and Piktogram (Warsaw), as well as two Mexico City heavyweights, Kurimanzutto (also of New York) and OMR, who will also be participating in the larger Zona Maco fair, which runs concurrently. The galleries hail from 21 countries, and about 25 percent of them are based in Mexico. Having a significant representation from the country “has always been a priority for us to make sure that, in addition to being a point of entry into Latin America for international galleries, Material can function as a relevant platform for Mexican galleries to reach an international audience,” Brett W. Schultz, a cofounder of the fair, said in an email. “I think that kind of local commitment is something that differentiates us significantly from our peers.”
There are also some changes afoot: Materials’ performance program, Immaterial, which is curated by Michelangelo Miccolis, will be joined by a new series dedicated to sound-based performances called “Listening Material,” curated by Eric Namour, who runs the experimental music program elnicho in Mexico City. And Kenny Curran, the onetime chef de cuisine of CALA restaurant in San Francisco (owned by Mexico City’s redoubtable Grupo Contramar), will handle food. “It’s going to be a foodie heaven, Kenny is a brilliant chef,” Schultz said, mentioning a “trout tostada with cucumber, manzano chile aioli, fried sweet potato, and avocado.” Asked about the fair’s layout, which has taken on unusual and inventive forms over the years, Schultz was evasive. “It’s going to look totally transformed this time,” he said. “All I can say for the moment is that there’s going to be a lot of color.” The full list of galleries in Material is available here. —Andrew Russeth
Artsy Names Chief Marketing Officer
The entrepreneur Everette Taylor has been named chief marketing officer of Artsy. Taylor joins the startup from ET Enterprises, a portfolio of tech companies he founded in 2013 that includes the marketing firm MilliSense and the software company GrowthHackers. Earlier this year, Taylor created ArtX, an online platform for emerging artists. In a statement, Artsy CEO Mike Steib called Taylor “a brilliant and experienced marketer with a passion for the art world and Artsy’s mission.”
Monday, December 2
L.A. Press Club Names Christopher Knight Critic of the Year for Art/Design
The Los Angeles Press Club has named the 2019 winners for its annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards, which recognizes journalists and critics covering the entertainment industry as well as the visual and performing arts. One of the top prizes—Critic, Art/Design—went to Christopher Knight, the chief art critic for the Los Angeles Times, with the jury citing his “nuance and insight combined with elegant writing.” Other art-world awardees include Deborah Vankin (also of the Times) who won “Visual Arts/Architecture Feature – Over 1,000 Words” for a piece on the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens’s restoration of its famed Gainsborough painting, Blue Boy. Paul Hodgins (Voice of OC) won in “Commentary Analysis/Trend—Books/Arts” for a piece titled, “Is It Time for Local Arts Leadership to Reflect a Changing World?” Gloria Liu (The Red Bulletin) won “Arts Feature – Under 1,000 Words” for a profile of artist Uzumaki Cepeda. The TV station KCET won two awards, for an article and video, on the ceramicist Edith Heath. And in non–art world related news, ARTnews’s sister publication Variety scooped up several awards, including best website. The year’s best entertainment publication was American (In)Justice, a joint issue by Variety and Rolling Stone (also owned by PMC, our parent company) that examines the prison-industrial complex in the United States. —Maximilíano Durón
Artory Makes Two Senior Leadership Hires
Artory, the New York–based blockchain-backed digital art registry, has appointed Timothy Kompanchenko as its chief technology officer and G. Andrea Danese as a senior adviser. For the past five years, Kompanchenko served as CTO at Christie’s, and Danese previously managed Bloomberg’s enterprise content and distribution division before launching the art-loan agency Athena Art Finance in 2015. In a statement, Danese said, “The creation of an art registry is a powerful step ahead, providing a greater degree of confidence to the art market and facilitating the collection and storage of key information in a secure and confidential environment.”
Correction, December 6, 2019, 4:00 p.m.: An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the Norton Museum’s art award. It is the Rudin Prize for Emerging Photographers, not Rubin Prize for Emerging Photographers. The post has been updated to reflect this.