ARTnews In Brief: Frieze Editorial Director to Step Down, and More from September 6, 2019

Friday, September 6, 2019

Frieze Editorial Director to Step Down
Jennifer Higgie, the longtime editorial director of Frieze magazine, will step down next week. On Twitter, Higgie said she was departing to work on “writing, a podcast, editing frieze masters & various other projects.” She will now be an editor-at-large at the London- and New York–based publication, and Frieze has already posted a listing for its editor-in-chief position.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Jonas Wood Teams Up With Louis Vuitton
Best known for his vibrant paintings, prints, and works on paper depicting still lifes, portraits, and sundry objects, Jonas Wood is joining forces with Louis Vuitton to create a line of scarves, shawls, and stoles. WWD reports that the collection will hit Louis Vuitton stores worldwide on September 12. The textiles will feature imagery from Wood’s work, including plants and basketballs. Louis Vuitton has previously worked with artists such as Alex Israel, Richard Prince, and Yayoi Kusama, among others.

White Cube Adds Dóra Maurer to Roster
White Cube, which has spaces in Hong Kong and London, and an office in New York, has added Hungarian artist Dóra Maurer to its roster. Maurer, who currently has on view at Tate Modern in London, is known for her geometric abstractions in multiple mediums, including painting, sculpture, and film. Her first solo outing with White Cube will open at the gallery’s London space in the city’s Bermondsey district and is set to run from September 12 through November 3.

Lehmann Maupin Hires Amira Gad as Artistic Director
Lehmann Maupin gallery, which maintains spaces in New York, Hong Kong, and Seoul, has tapped Amira Gad as its artistic director. Gad, who has served as curator of exhibitions and architecture at the Serpentine Galleries in London since 2014, will be based in London, at a new office set to open in the British capital in 2020. In her new role, she will grow the gallery’s artistic program and international network, with a focus on institutions in the United Kingdom and Europe. Gallery founder David Maupin said in a statement, “Building strong curatorial support for our growing program is key and as Artistic Director, Amira will provide vital support and motivation to our artists, helping them realize their most ambitious and challenging works.”

Luxembourg & Dayan and Salon 94 Now Represent Derrick Adams
The New York–based galleries Luxembourg & Dayan and Salon 94 have announced co-representation of Derrick Adams. Adams’s practice spans painting, sculpture, collage, video, performance, and sound installations. The artist, who is also represented by Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago, explores notions of how people conceive of their identities and the ways in which African-American experiences intersect with art history. In a statement, Amalia Dayan of Luxembourg & Dayan and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn of Salon 94 said, “We are honored and thrilled to be able to work with Derrick Adams and with each other, in a way that brings all of our respective talents, networks, and areas of expertise to the forefront.”

Martha Wilson Steps Down as Director of Franklin Furnace
After 43 years at the helm of Franklin Furnace, a New York-based arts organization dedicated to the avant-garde, founding director Martha Wilson will leave her post. Harley Spiller, who has served as deputy director of Franklin Furnace since 2005, will succeed Wilson, who will move into a director emeritus role in which she will continue consulting with staff on major decisions. In an interview with ARTnews, she said her future plans involve “wearing more of the art hat and less of the administrative hat.” She quipped, “My art career is taking off early. I’m 71 and a half now and I have an art career, which is surprising to me.”

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Kasmin Now Represents Ali Banisadr
Painter Ali Banisadr has left Sperone Westwater to join Kasmin, with a solo exhibition scheduled for the enterprise in New York’s Chelsea gallery district in the winter of 2021. Banisadr’s gestural and frenetic paintings are often abstractions of experiences during his childhood in Tehran while witnessing the Iran-Iraq war. His work has been seen at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Centre Pompidou, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others.

Turner Prize Winner to Publish Novel
Artist Helen Marten, the winner of the prestigious Turner Prize for artists in the UK in 2016, will publish a novel. Titled The Boiled In Between, Marten’s book will track various stories that “map the structures and stories of a house,” according to a release. It will be published in the fall of 2020 by independent British publisher Prototype.

W Magazine Culture Editor Heads to Surface
Diane Solway, who has written artist profiles for W magazine, where she was previously features and culture director, has been named editor-in-chief of Surface Media. In her new role, she’ll be overseeing Surface Magazine (which covers art, architecture, fashion, and more) as well as digital platforms, live events, and strategic partnerships. Solway had been at W since 2007, and was a New York Times contributor prior to that.

Museum of Arts and Design Appoints Elissa Auther as Chief Curator
Elissa Auther, who joined the Museum of Arts and Design in New York in 2014 as its research and collections curator, has been named chief curator and deputy director of curatorial affairs. She succeeds Shannon R. Stratton, who resigned from the museum earlier this year, as chief curator. In her new role, Auther will collaborate with MAD director Chris Scoates, who took the helm of the institution last year, to organize exhibitions and develop collections, cultivate relationships with artists and designers, and engage broader audiences. Some of Auther’s curatorial projects at MAD have included “Surface/Depth: The Decorative After Miriam Shapiro” (2018) and “Vera Paints a Scarf” (2019–2020).

Miles Davis’s Star-Spangled Trumpet Goes to Auction at Christie’s New York
A deep blue trumpet festooned with the moon and stars and formerly intimately acquainted with Miles Davis’s lips will go up for auction at Christie’s in New York on October 29. With an estimate ranging from $70,000 to $100,000, the horn—which was commissioned for the jazz legend around 1980—was acquired from the collection of musician George Benson and counts as one of three in a series. A similar red one belongs to Davis’s family, and a black one was buried with Davis himself in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, nearby the resting place of Duke Ellington.

Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology Names New Executive Director
The Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon, Portugal has tapped Beatrice Leanza as its new executive director. She has worked as a critic and an independent curator through her nearly 20-year long career. Additionally, she recently worked as the creative director of Beijing Design Week from 2013 through 2016, and is a member of the international advisory board of Design Trust in Hong Kong. She began her role with the MAAT Museum on September 2.

Katherine Martin Named Chairman of Asia Week New York
Asia Week New York, a collaborative event involving galleries and institutions that runs for 10 days in March, has named Katherine Martin as its new chairman. She currently works as the managing director of Scholten Japanese Art, a New York-based gallery that participated in its 10th edition of Asia Week this year. Martin has also been involved with Asia Week New York previously, serving on its planning committee since 2012 and as a board member and treasurer from 2012 to 2017. Recent editions of the event have seen some 50 dealers (such as Erik Thomsen, Francesca Galloway, and Joan B Mirviss) come together with auction houses including Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Bonham’s as well as institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rubin Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum to mount exhibitions in the city.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

A Triple-Header at ‘Garage’
Simone Leigh fans, take note: the cover of the new issue of Garage bears a portrait of the actress and singer Zendaya conceived by Leigh and shot by Ryan McGinley. (You can view the image on Zendaya’s Instagram, where it has garnered more than 1.3 million likes.) The cover comes as Leigh is all over town in New York: in a solo show at the Guggenheim, in the 2019 Whitney Biennial, and on the High Line.

Björk to Release VR Version of Album
The art world and Björk have an unusual relationship—though museums, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, have been quick to show her work, they’ve often been lambasted by critics for doing so. The experimental musician has pressed on anyway, and on Monday Pitchfork reported that Björk will release a VR version of her 2015 album Vulnicura. A similar work had previously been on view in a touring exhibition that showed at London’s Somerset House, and the re-release of Vulnicura drops Friday, September 6.

African Photography Biennial Names 2019 Participants
Rencontres de Bamako, the African photography biennial that takes place in Mali, has revealed the 85 artists that will participate in its 2019 edition, which opens on November 30 and runs through January 31, 2020. This edition of the biennial carries the theme “Streams of Consciousness,” and is curated by a team led by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, an independent curator and founder of Berlin’s Savvy Contemporary space. The show will include works by Bouchra Khalili, the Otolith Group, Liz Johnson Artur, and many more.

Frieze London Names New Artistic Director
Eva Langret has been named the artistic director of Frieze London. Langret will take over the position in November, following the 2019 edition of the fair, which will occur October 3 through 6 with a preview on October 2. Langret most recently worked at Tiwani Contemporary, a gallery based in London.