ARTnews in Brief: Aurora Biennial in Dallas Reimagines Programming—and More from June 26, 2020

Friday, June 26

Texas’ Aurora Biennial Reimagines Programming 
Aurora, an artist-run biennial in Dallas, has announced an overhaul of its format, transitioning into a year-round arts organization which will offer new digital initiatives and educational programming. Among its new initiatives is an emergency artist relief fund offering $4,000 grants on a rolling basis to North Texas–based artists who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Applicants can apply here.

Thursday, June 25

New Nonprofit Centering Art and Wellness to Open This Fall
Compound, a new space dedicated to the intersections of contemporary art and wellness, will open in Long Beach, California, in September. The 15,000-square-foot complex, which will include a sculpture garden, courtyard, and restaurant, among other amenities, will host exhibitions, meditation sessions, and other programming.

Lehmann Maupin Appoints New Senior Director
Fionna Flaherty is now a senior director at Lehmann Maupin, which maintains spaces in New York, Hong Kong, and Seoul. Flaherty, who is based in New York, joined the gallery in 2011 and works closely with Lehmann Maupin’s roster of artists. In her new role, she will continue to oversee the gallery’s international fair programming and artistic liaison department.

Kayne Griffin Corcoran Now Represents Sarah Crowner
Sarah Crowner, whose practice spans painting, sculpture, and installation, has joined the Los Angeles–based gallery Kayne Griffin Corcoran, where she will have a solo exhibition in April 2021. Crowner’s work will also figure in a group show with the gallery next month. The artist draws inspiration from the natural world for her vibrant abstractions, which often feature interacting forms and shapes. Her works is in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum and Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and other institutions. She is also represented by Casey Kaplan in New York, and will continue to show with Galerie Nordenhake (of Stockholm and Mexico City) and Simon Lee Gallery (London and Hong Kong).

Wednesday, June 24

Moderna Museet Acquires Arthur Jafa Film 
Moderna Museet in Stockholm has acquired an edition of Arthur Jafa’s video work The White Album (2018) through a donation from the American Friends of Moderna Museet. The 40-minute essayistic film examines the legacy of white violence in the United States and was awarded the Golden Lion at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. The work will go on view at the museum later this year. “The White Album is an extremely important work that visualizes the disturbing and invasive racism that is currently being debated globally, “ said Gitte Ørskou, director of Moderna Museet in a statement, adding, “The White Album is horrifyingly urgent, and we are very grateful for this donation.”

Americans for the Arts, Jorge M. Pérez Partner for New Public Art & Civic Design Award
The nonprofit Americans for the Arts has received a $250,000 gift from the Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation to establish a new award, named the Jorge and Darlene Pérez Prize in Public Art & Civic Design. The organization will administer the award annually to an artist, public art administrator, or representative from the civic design field (rotating between each category) as a way to “celebrate and highlight the work of individuals who support, develop, and manage the incorporation of art into the design of places and spaces across the United States,” according to a press release. Awardees will receive a grant package totaling more than $50,000, a significant portion of which will be a cash prize. The 2020 award will go to an artist, and the application can be found here. In a statement, Pérez said, “Darlene and I have always believed public art plays a critical role in exposing individuals across the entire economic spectrum to new ideas, philosophies and cultures.”

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Acquires Patrick Martinez Work
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture has acquired a 2017 work, titled Flower Memorial Pee Chee, by artist Patrick Martinez for its visual art collection. Part of his ongoing “Pee Chee” series of drawings and paintings, which appropriates the popular academic folder of the same name, Martinez depicts three people who have been subjected to police violence across the country. In the upper left corner is a portrait of Jordan Edwards, a 15-year-old African-American boy who was fatally shot by a police officer in Texas; at center is Juanita Mendez-Medrano, who was forcefully arrested by police for selling flowers outside a high school graduation in California; and Justine Diamond, at bottom right, who was killed by Minneapolis police in July 2017 after calling 911 to report a possible assault outside her home.

Tuesday, June 23

Monday, June 22

Venus Over Manhattan Now Represents Estate of Roy De Forest
The New York–based gallery Venus Over Manhattan now exclusively represents the estate of Roy De Forest, a prominent painter in the Bay Area’s art scene in the 1950s and 1960s. Influenced by natural phenomena, beaded tapestries created by people of the Yakama Nation, and more, De Forest’s vibrant and playful artworks often feature multifarious figures and animals. The artist, who died in 2007, served as a faculty member at the University of California, Davis, and he exhibited at the Whitney Museum in New York, Dilexi Gallery in San Francisco, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and other institutions throughout his career.

Hackney Council Names Artists for Forthcoming Public Works
The Hackney Council in London has selected artists Thomas J Price and Veronica Ryan to create permanent public artworks to be unveiled in 2021. The new works will be the first in the United Kingdom to celebrate Hackney’s Windrush Generation of immigrants from Caribbean countries. Price will make a large-scale bronze sculpture to be situated outside the Hackney Town Hall, and Ryan will create a series of bronze and marble sculptures of Caribbean fruits and vegetables.

Andrea Bowers Joins Jessica Silverman Gallery
Andrea Bowers, who is best known for her installations, drawings, and paintings focused on political and social issues, is now represented by Jessica Silverman Gallery in San Francisco, where the artist will have a solo exhibition in 2021. Bowers’s work also figures in the gallery’s summer group show, titled “Conversational Spirits.” “I’m always looking to push my education about power, justice, liberty and privilege,” the artist has said of her research and art practice. Bowers is also represented by Andrew Kreps Gallery, Capitain Petzel, Kaufmann Repetto, and Susanne Vielmetter.

Nino Mier Gallery Now Represents Mindy Shapero
Mindy Shapero has joined Nino Mier Gallery in Los Angeles. Shapero creates colorful sculptures and works on paper that have previously been shown at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, and other venues. The artist’s first exhibition with the gallery, titled “Midnight Portal Scars,” will be viewable online and in-person by appointment.