Friday, November 13
Bronx Museum of the Arts Appoints Executive Director
The Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York has named Klaudio Rodriguez, who has served as interim director of the institution since January, as executive director. Rodriguez joined the museum, which celebrates its 50th anniversary next year, in 2017 as deputy director. “I came to the Bronx Museum with great enthusiasm, knowing how remarkably this institution was succeeding in its mission of transforming lives through art,” he said in a statement. “Over the past three years, working with this wonderful Board and staff, I have felt privileged to serve our Bronx community and an international art world that has looked to us for inspiration.”
Somerset House Launches Effort to Interrogate its Colonial Past
Somerset House in central London has launched an open call to recruit an independent historian to “interrogate the history of Somerset House and its role in Britain’s colonial past,” according to a report in the Art Newspaper. The selected candidate will be tasked with widening the historical context within which the complex was built and has operated, with a focus on the impact of its history on “the lives of people of color.” The research project will span all structures within the complex, including the initial Tudor palace and the Courtauld Institute of Art and Courtauld Gallery. The first draft of the report is expected to be ready in January, and its findings will be integrated into promotional materials and future programming.
Thursday, November 12
Aichi Triennale Appoints Artistic Director for Fifth Edition
Mami Kataoka, who serves as director of Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum, has been named artistic director of the fifth edition of Japan’s Aichi Triennale, which is set to take place in 2022. Kataoka is also the current president of the International Committee for Museum and Collections of Modern Art, and she has previously worked as chief curator at the Mori Art Museum and artistic director for the 2018 Biennale of Sydney.
National Gallery of Canada Foundation Appoints CEO
The National Gallery of Canada Foundation has named Barbara Stead-Coyle as the foundation’s chief executive officer. She will begin her tenure on November 16. Most recently, Stead-Coyle was CEO of Muscular Dystrophy Canada, where her responsibilities included fundraising, strategic planning, and research development. Prior to that, she served as the National Vice President of Annual Development with the Canadian Cancer Society.
Wednesday, November 11
Simone Leigh Work Installed on University of Pennsylvania Campus
The University of Pennsylvania has installed a large-scale sculpture by Simone Leigh at its main campus entrance. Situated beside the School of Design, the 16-foot-tall, 5,900-pound statue depicts a Black female figure rising from an architectural structure. Leigh created it as part of her “Anatomy of Architecture” series; another edition of the work is on view at New York’s High Line through spring 2021. The sculpture is a gift from New York-based art collectors Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman.
Stephen Friedman Gallery Now Represents Sarah Ball
Sarah Ball, who is known for her intimate and detailed portraits examining aspects of their sitters’ identities, has joined the roster of Stephen Friedman Gallery in London. The artist’s work will figure in the gallery’s online viewing room in Art Basel Miami Beach this year. Her pieces have previously been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Victoria Miro in London, Half Gallery in New York, and other international venues.
Tuesday, November 10
ICI Names Inaugural Indigenous Curatorial Research Fellow
The New York–based nonprofit Independent Curators International has named Jordan Wilson as its inaugural Indigenous Curatorial Research Fellow. The fellowship was developed in conjunction with ICI’s traveling exhibition “Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts,” curated by by Candice Hopkins and Dylan Robinson, both of whom will work closely with Wilson as he develops a curatorial project. Wilson, a member of the Musqueam First Nation, is an independent curator and scholar specializing in anthropology and Indigenous Studies. He is based in Vancouver and New York, where he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in anthropology at New York University.
[Related: How Candice Hopkins’s curating lets Indigenous artists do the talking.]
Almine Rech Now Represents Huang Yuxing
Almine Rech now represents Beijing-based artist Huang Yuxing in the United States, Europe, and the United Kingdom. In June 2021, Huang will have his first solo exhibition at the gallery’s Brussels space. The artist is known for his abstract and semi-abstract paintings rendered in vibrant colors and featuring motifs from the natural world, and his works have previously been shown in solo presentations at the Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum and Yuz Museum in Shanghai.
Edra Soto Joins Luis De Jesus Los Angeles
Interdisciplinary artist, educator, and curator Edra Soto, who is co-director of outdoor project space the Franklin in Chicago, is now represented by Luis De Jesus gallery in Los Angeles. Soto’s work has examined the histories of colonialism, civic and social activism, and more, and has been exhibited at the Smart Museum in Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago, the Momentary in Bentonville, Arkansas, and other institutions.
Jessica Silverman Now Represents Catherine Wagner
Jessica Silverman gallery in San Francisco has added American conceptual artist Catherine Wagner to its roster. Wagner is best known for her photography which investigates the intersection of architectural spaces and political, cultural, and gender identities. The gallery will present a thematic retrospective show of Wagner’s work in April 2021, and it will present two bodies of Wagner’s work as part of the Art Basel Miami Beach OVR next month.
Gavlak Adds Three Artists to Roster
Gavlak gallery, which has locations in Palm Beach and Los Angeles, now represents artists Karen Carson, Kim Dacres, and Viola Frey. Carson’s practice spans painting, mixed media work, and more, and she will have a solo exhibition with Gavlak in Los Angeles in 2021. Dacres, who had a solo show with the gallery this year, creates sculptures focused on identity and subjective experience, and Frey is known for her figurative ceramics, bronze sculptures, drawings, and paintings. Work by all three artists is currently on view in the gallery’s “Nasty Women” exhibition in Los Angeles, and Frey will have a solo exhibition with the gallery in L.A. in 2021.
Monday, November 9
Curator Joseph J. Rishel Has Died at 80
Joseph J. Rishel, a longtime curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, has died at age 80. Rishel joined the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s curatorial staff in 1971 after starting his career at the Art Institute of Chicago. He served as senior curator of European painting before 1900 at the Pennsylvania institution, and his wife, Anne d’Harnoncourt, served as director of the museum beginning in 1982. Rishel, whose curatorial credits at the Philadelphia Museum of Art include the exhibitions “The Second Empire 1852–1870: Art in France under Napoleon III” (1978) and “Tesoros/Treasures/Tesouros: The Arts of Latin America, 1492–1820” (2006), retired from his post in 2015 and became curator emeritus. In a statement, the museum said, “It is difficult to describe in a few paragraphs all that Joe Rishel meant to this institution and to those who had the good fortune to know him.”
San Antonio Museum of Art Reveals New Acquisitions
The San Antonio Museum of Art in Texas has announced its summer and fall acquisitions, including the first works by contemporary Indigenous artists to enter its collection. New additions to the collection include pieces by Christina Fernandez, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Jeffrey Gibson, Edgar Heap of Birds, Kirk Hayes, Earlie Hudnall Jr., Marcelyn McNeil, and Liz Trosper. “The ongoing expansion and enrichment of the museum’s contemporary art collection reflects our deep commitment to bringing diversity, inclusivity, and new narratives to the contemporary art collection,” Suzanne Weaver, interim chief curator at the museum, said in a statement.
Shanghai Biennale Announces Initial Participants
The Power Station of Art has revealed the initial participated for the Shanghai Biennale, “Bodies of Water,” which will unfold over an eight-month extended program beginning November 10. Among those lined up to participate in a summit this month include artists Itziar Ocariz, Himali Singh Soin, Tong Wenmin and Clare Britton; researchers and scholars Astrida Neimanis, Sun Xiangchen, Zhao Tingyang, Weng Zijian, Wang Hongzhe, Hou Hanru, and Mark Wigley; and filmmakers the Karrabing Film Collective, Yong Xiang Li, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, and Pema Tseden.