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The Headlines
THE WORK OF INCARCERATED ARTISTS IS FINALLY RECEIVING widespread attention, thanks to projects like a major show at MoMA PS1 in New York that Nicole R. Fleetwood organized to accompany her book Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration. One of the stars of the current “Made in L.A.” biennial is also a formerly incarcerated artist named Fulton Leroy Washington, who uses the name Mr. Wash, as Deborah Vankin reports in the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Wash’s contributions for the show at the Hammer Museum and the Huntington include two similar paintings—one he made in prison 15 years ago, the other a recent copy he created when he thought that original was lost. As Fleetwood explained in an interview last year with Alex Greenberger in ARTnews, many artists behind bars are not allowed to keep their work, and they often lose track of it. Meanwhile, Kyle Chayka has the story of Michael Pelletier, who honed his painting skills while serving time and was pardoned by President Trump in his last hours in office.
Related Articles
WHILE THE LOUVRE IN PARIS IS CLOSED FOR ITS LONGEST SHUTDOWN since World War II, as a result of the coronavirus, employees are hard at work cleaning and refreshing art and exhibition spaces in the museum, Liz Alderman reports in the New York Times. Sébastien Allard, who directs the paintings department at the Louvre, said, “For some projects, the lockdown has allowed us to do in five days what would have previously taken five weeks.” You can get a lot done when people are not filling your museum, it turns out. On Tuesday, the Centre Pompidou in the French capital said it would plan a three-year closure to do renovation work, as ARTnews noted, saying that it would result in a speedier completion than if it had tried to stay open during that process.
The Digest
Ai Weiwei declared China “the greatest challenge the West has ever faced” in a webinar organized by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong in the United Kingdom. [Evening Express]
The Allentown Art Museum in Pennsylvania has restored a Rembrandt attribution to a portrait in its collection 50 years after scholars stripped that designation from it. It’s now on view. [The Art Newspaper]
The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture and Industry is set to open in Riverside, California, this fall. [The New York Times]
The Frick’s temporary residency at the former Met Breuer in New York will “remind people that the Frick is not just a painting collection,” its director, Ian Wardropper, says in a story by Phyllis Tuchman. [Town & Country]
Chinese furniture heiress Che Xuanqiao recently showcased pieces from a furniture line she cofounded alongside raw pork and beef. [South China Morning Post]
A new podcast revisits a 1980s art piece that asked people to reveal their bad behavior over the phone. [Financial Times]
Larry Achiampong has been named artist in residence for the redevelopment of the Smithfield area of London. [The Voice]
Three Indigenous artists—Malynn Foster, Tamela Laclair, and Kimberly Deriana—are creating a major new public work for Seattle’s Overlook Walk. [The Seattle Times]
Collector Steve Wynn, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, is selling his $110 million Beverly Hills home. [Page Six]
The Kicker
A man has been arrested for allegedly breaking into the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in Boston last weekend and . . . stealing nothing. Instead, police say he threw a suspicious package inside the building, and then departed on bicycle. In 1990, a baker’s dozen of prized paintings were taken from the institution in a daring heist that ranks as one of the largest unsolved museums thefts in history. This is apparently not related. Curiously, the same man is facing other art-related charges. He’s accused of receiving stolen property and vandalism in an incident that took place earlier this month at the Arden Gallery in the city. [The Boston Globe]
Thank you for reading. We’ll see you tomorrow.