News

November 19, 2018 at 5:47pm

Philadelphia Contemporary Receives Major Gift

Philadelphia Contemporary, the nomadic contemporary art organization founded by Harry Philbrick in 2016, announced that it has received a significant gift from longtime supporters of the Philadelphia arts community Sueyun and Gene Locks. The gift comes on the heels of the institution’s hiring of architectural firm Johnston Marklee to design its new permanent home in West Philadelphia.
The funds will enable the arts space to underwrite its artistic director position, currently held by Nato Thompson, for the next three years. Thompson assumed the role in November, 2017 after serving as artistic

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November 19, 2018 at 5:22pm

Gary Ryan Appointed Executive Director of Virginia MoCA

The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art in Virginia Beach has named Gary Ryan as its new executive director. Ryan comes to the institution from the Katonah Museum of Art in Westchester, New York, where she served as director of development. Prior to joining the non-collecting museum, Ryan was chief executive of Palermo Strategy, a consulting firm she founded in 2014, and worked in development roles for institutions such as the Metropolitan Opera and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
“A museum outside of a cultural center, even just forty miles outside, can play a really important role in bringing

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November 19, 2018 at 7:23am

Glenn Lowry to Remain Director of New York’s MoMA Through 2025

In a surprise move, the board of New York’s Museum of Modern Art has extended the contract of director Glenn D. Lowry, who will lead the institution for seven more years, Jason Farago of the New York Times reports. Lowry’s term was supposed to end in 2020 following the completion of its major expansion project.
The extension bends the museum’s longtime policy that stipulates senior management retire at sixty-five, and Lowry, who is sixty-four-years old, had previously told the New York Times that he would respect the rule. The board’s decision to keep Lowry at the helm of the institution will

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November 19, 2018 at 7:04am

Metropolitan Museum of Art Revives Plans for Modern and Contemporary Art Wing

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has revealed that it will move forward with its plans to redesign its modern and contemporary art galleries. The institution first announced that it would overhaul its Southwest Wing, the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing, in 2014, but postponed the $600 million project in 2017 in order to curb a $10 million deficit. Since then, the Met has welcomed Max Hollein as its new director, worked on stabilizing its finances, and initiated talks with the Frick Collection, which may take over the Met Breuer in 2020.
According to the New York Times, following the museum’s

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November 18, 2018 at 3:46pm

Arnaldo Roche Rabell (1955–2018)

Arnaldo Roche Rabell, the oil painter widely considered to be one of Puerto Rico’s most significant artists, died yesterday at age sixty-two. The cause was lung cancer, according to Walter Otero, whose gallery represents the artist. In the 1980s, Roche Rabell gained international recognition for his textured, sensual figurative neo-expressionist canvases, which resulted from complicated layering techniques. In his works, Roche Rabell often grappled thematically with memory, political turbulence, consciousness, and the medium of painting itself.
Born in 1955, Roche Rabell trained under Lope Max

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November 16, 2018 at 6:00pm

Penske Media Purchases Artnews and Art in America from Peter Brant

Penske Media Corporation (PMC) has acquired Art Media Holdings, LLC—the parent company of Artnews and Art in America—from collector and business magnate Peter Brant in a deal said to have cost between $20 million and $25 million. Alan Mnuchin, brother of current US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and son of Robert Mnuchin of the blue-chip Mnuchin Gallery, advised Penske on the deal, reports Artnet. Penske has not previously been involved in the art world, though he currently controls sixteen publications and entertainment and luxury brands, including Rolling Stone, the Robb Report,

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November 16, 2018 at 2:11pm

MoMA PS1 Art Handlers and Maintenance Workers to Stage Action in Protest of Unfair Wages

On Sunday, installation and maintenance workers belonging to the union Local 30 will stage an action to bring attention to their ongoing wage negotiations at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, Queens, reports Artnews. MoMA PS1 installers are paid between $20 and $30 hourly, while their Manhattan counterparts at MoMA can make up to $47 an hour, according to Local 30. The union is currently negotiating with the museum’s management to raise the rates at MoMA PS1 to between $30 and $40 for their new contract; the last one expired on October 31.
“It’s just pretty amazing that an institution that, on its

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November 16, 2018 at 1:21pm

David Hockney Painting Nets $90.3 Million, Smashing Record for Work by a Living Artist

At the postwar and contemporary art sale at Christie’s New York on Thursday, November 15, a painting by David Hockney made history when it sold for $90.3 million, shattering the record for the highest price ever paid for an artwork by a living artist. The piece, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), 1972, fetched $30 million more than the work that previously held the record, one of Jeff Koons’s balloon dog sculptures. The sale helped the auction house close the night with a total of $358 million.
While seven of the forty-eight lots on the block failed to sell, in addition to Hockney,

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November 16, 2018 at 11:08am

After 102 Days in Detention, Photographer Shahidul Alam Granted Bail by Bangladeshi Court

Photojournalist Shahidul Alam has been granted bail after being held in a Dhaka jail since his August arrest, reports Al Jazeera. “Since the bail was granted by the High Court, we will acquire the certified copy of the order and go to the lower court to obtain release order,” said his lawyer Sara Hossain, who hopes to get Alam released by Sunday, though it is possible the government will repeal the decision.
The photojournalist was arrested on August 5, hours after giving an interview to Al Jazeera in which he criticized the Bangladeshi government for its handling of a student-led protest. The

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November 16, 2018 at 10:04am

Austria Criticized for Restituting Klimt Painting to Wrong Family

Gustav Klimt’s Apple Tree II, 1916, was in the collection of Vienna’s Belvedere Gallery until the Austrian government restituted the work to the wrong family in 2001. The case—as confusing logistically as it is legally—resurfaced recently when the painting in question was scheduled to go on view at the Leopold Museum in Vienna for the exhibition “Gustav Klimt: Artist of the Century,” reports the Art Newspaper.
On June 22, the day of the opening, the Leopold pulled the painting and issued the following statement: “Seeing as this artwork is currently the subject of a dispute between

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November 16, 2018 at 9:32am

Cerith Wyn Evans Awarded 2018 Hepworth Prize for Sculpture

Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire, England, named Cerith Wyn Evans the winner of the second Hepworth Prize for Sculpture, which honors UK-based artists who have made significant contributions to the development of contemporary sculpture. The institution presented the $38,500 award to the artist at a dinner at the Hepworth Wakefield on Thursday evening.
Born in Llanelli, Wales, in 1958, Wyn Evans lives and works in London. He first earned recognition in the 1980s for his experimental film work and other collaborations in dance and performance. The artist is perhaps best known for his floating light

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November 15, 2018 at 1:52pm

Swiss Institute in New York Adds Three New Board Members

The Swiss Institute (SI), the New York–based contemporary art institution, has elected three new members to its board: Monique Burger, John Garcia, and Florian Gutzwiller. The nonprofit announced it was growing its board at its annual benefit and auction held earlier this month. The marquee fundraising event helped the institute raise an all-time record of more than $1 million.
“I am immensely grateful for the continuing support we have been receiving as we create the very first long-term home for SI after more than three decades,” chair Maja Hoffmann said in a statement. Director Simon Castets

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