Friday, October 1
Casey Kaplan to Represent Ella Walker
Casey Kaplan gallery in New York now represents Ella Walker, whose large-format canvases depict theatrical scenes inspired by classical ballet, the opera, and medieval narratives. “I’m drawn to the transformation, the ritual, the ceremony, the party,” Walker writes in an artists statement, “So, when I’m making a painting, I am thinking about an event, and how I can make a version of this exciting experience.” Her works are created using a variety of techniques, including fresco. The gallery will present her work at Frieze London this month, and in May 2022, Walker is slated to have her first solo exhibition in New York with Casey Kaplan.
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Thursday, September 30
Constance W. Rice Named Board Chair of Seattle Art Museum
Continuing a wave of Black women being elected to lead the boards of major U.S. institutions, including at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Walker Art Center, the Seattle Art Museum has named Constance W. Rice as its new board chair. Rice has been on the Washington museum’s board since 1995. In addition to working as an activist, Rice is president of the Very Strategic Group, which focuses on educational initiatives in the Mississippi Delta and Seattle. “I like to learn before I lead, and I look forward to learning from SAM board, staff, and community about the opportunities to continue to build a museum that truly belongs to all,” Rice said in a statement.
Underground Museum Names Recipients of Inaugural Noah Davis Prize
The Underground Museum in Los Angeles has announced the winners of the inaugural Noah Davis Prize, which honors curators whose innovative practices embody the inclusive spirit of the late artist Noah Davis, who cofounded the museum. The recipients are Candice Hopkins, an independent curator who is known for her exhibitions of Indigenous art, including the 2018 Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art show “Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices, 1950s to Now”; Jamillah James, senior curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles who co-organized this year’s New Museum Triennial; and Thomas J. Lax, curator of media and performance at the Museum of Modern Art in New York who organized a Judson Dance Theater survey and is at work on a show about Just Above Midtown gallery. Each winner will receive $25,000.
Katharina Grosse Elected Board Chair of Berlin’s KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Artist Katharina Grosse has been elected board chair of KW Institute for Contemporary Art, one of the top contemporary art museums in Berlin and the organizer of the city’s biennial. Grosse is widely known for her large-scale installations in which vibrant colors are sprayed across architectural structures. She succeeds Olafur Eliasson, who said in a statement that he was honored “to win over such an outstanding artist to chair the board and accompany KW as well as the Berlin Biennale into the next decade.”
2022 Bangkok Art Biennale Announces Curators, Theme
Taking the title “CHAOS : CALM,” the 2022 Bangkok Art Biennale will focus on how art has reflected the upheaval of the past few years. The Biennale’s artistic director, Apinan Poshyananda, will curate the show, along with art consultant Nigel Hurst, curator Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani, Gallery VER director Jirat Ratthawongjirakul, and Chomwan Weeraworawit, founder of Bangkok’s Mysterious Ordinary consultancy. Advising the curators will be Mori Art Museum director Mami Kataoka, scholar Yongwoo Lee, Guggenheim Museum curator Alexandra Munroe, National Gallery Singapore director Eugene Tan, and the China Arts and Entertainment Group’s Wang Chen. “From this state of chaos, the Biennale hopes to emerge from this dystopian contemporary world to offer a glimpse of clarity and calm through art,” the curators wrote in a statement. The show will open across Thailand on October 22, 2022.
Laguna Art Museum Names Victoria Gerard Deputy Director
The Laguna Art Museum in California has appointed Victoria Gerard as its deputy director. Previously, Gerard served as the vice president of programs and collections at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California. “It is a privilege to continue to contribute to Orange County’s rich cultural landscape in this new role,” she said in a statement. The Laguna Art Museum also brought on Ryan Callis as chief proprietor and Madeline Roth-Scofield as membership and database manager.
Ryan Lee Gallery Takes on Masako Miki, Gideon Rubin
New York’s Ryan Lee Gallery now represents artists Masako Miki and Gideon Rubin. Miki’s multimedia practice ranges from installation and large-scale sculpture to printmaking and watercolor. The Japanese-born, California-based artist often uses disoriented senses of space and perspective as a metaphor for the struggle of living with a bicultural identity. Originally from Israel and now based in London, Rubin is known for his portraiture that presents sumptuous figures in intimate settings.
Wednesday, September 29
Maxine Petry Named Executive Director of Pioneer Works
Pioneer Works in New York has named Maxine Petry as its new executive director. Petry has been working at the Brooklyn-based arts center since 2014, most recently as its managing director. In the four years that she’s been at Pioneer Works, Petry has increased the center’s annual operating budget by 36 percent, spearheaded funding campaigns for the purchase of a new space in Red Hook, established a board of directors, and more. Prior to her roles at Pioneer Works, she was the director of major gifts at Park Avenue Armory. Austin Hearst, chair of Pioneer Works’s board, said of her appointment, “Her new responsibilities will only amplify her existing vision and commitment in driving our mission as an organization—to build community through the arts and sciences to create an open and inspired world.”
Tuesday, September 28
Almine Rech Adds Jonathan Gardner to Its Roster
Almine Rech, which maintains spaces in Paris, London, Brussels, New York, and Shanghai, now represents New York–based artist Jonathan Gardner in Europe. Gardner, who is also represented by New York’s Casey Kaplan gallery, is known for his richly colored paintings of semi-fantastical worlds populated by uncanny figures. Drawing on modernist aesthetics, he presents these scenes in flattened spaces. His work was featured in a group presentation at Almine Rech’s Paris gallery in 2019; his first solo exhibition with the gallery will take place this November.
Monday, September 27
Miles McEnery Gallery Now Represents Enrique Martínez Celaya
Miles McEnery Gallery in New York now represents Los Angeles–based artist Enrique Martínez Celaya, who will have his first solo exhibition at the gallery in fall 2022. His extensive body of work, which spans paintings, sculptures, and installations, engages themes of identity, memory, and mythology. References to poetry, science, and philosophy, persist throughout, probing different facets of the human condition. He has exhibited at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and the Pérez Art Museum Miami, among other venues. His work has been acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum in New York, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Constantina Zavitsanos Awarded 2021 Keith Haring Fellowship in Art and Activism
Artist Constantina Zavitsanos has been named as the 2021-2022 recipient of the Keith Haring Fellowship in Art and Activism, which is administered by Bard College’s Center for Curatorial Studies and Human Rights Project. Awarded annually, the fellowship goes to scholars, activists, or artists working at the intersection of art and social justice the opportunity to teach and conduct research at Bard’s campus. Working in sculpture, performance, text, and sound, Zavitsanos investigates themes of disability, debt, and dependency. Their work has been exhibited in New York at the Brooklyn Museum, New Museum, Artists Space, and the Kitchen and at international venues including Arika in Glasgow and the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt.
Thaddaeus Ropac Appoints Dawn Zhu as Director of Asia
Thaddaeus Ropac, which has spaces in London, Paris, and Salzburg, Austria, as well as a forthcoming one in Seoul, has appointed Dawn Zhu as Director of Asia. In her new role, Dawn will be responsible for expanding the audience for Ropac’s artists internationally and working with institutions throughout Asia in their collaborations with the gallery’s artists. She will be based in London, Hong Kong, and mainland China. Since 2017, Dawn has worked at Gagosian in sales between their London and Hong Kong locations. Prior to that, she worked in Phillip’s client advisory department. In a statement, Zhu said, “It is an exciting time to join Thaddaeus Ropac at a pivotal moment when the gallery is growing its international presence.”