Art Industry News: A ‘Hideous’ Sculpture of a Giant Hand Is Sparking Fear and Confusion in New Zealand + Other Stories

Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most
consequential developments coming out of the art world and art
market. Here’s what you need to know this Tuesday, August
20.

NEED-TO-READ

Venice Cruise Ships Will Keep on Sailing – It seems
reports that Italy has banned giant
cruise ships from sailing near Venice have been exaggerated.
The Italian minister of
infrastructure, Danilo Toninelli, has only begun a consultation on
the issue; he also lacks political clout to ban them, and Italy’s
coalition government may fall at any time. Because of earlier
“bans,” no ship over 40,0000 tonnes should have been sailing down
the Giudecca canal for the past six years. The rules, however, were
not enough to keep out the MSC Opera (65,000 tonnes), which hit a
quayside in July, or another even bigger ship being involved in
near miss this summer. (The Art Newspaper)

Maus Creator Pulled an Essay on Marvel –
The graphic novelist Art Spiegelman
says he pulled an introduction he had written for a collection of
Marvel comics after he was told to remove a jab at US President
Trump. Comparing comic book heroes’ fascist nemeses to Trump,
Speigelman wrote: “In today’s all too real world Captain America’s
most nefarious villain, the Red Skull, is alive on screen and an
Orange Skull haunts America.” The publishers asked him to remove
the analogy because Marvel, which is run by Trump ally Isaac
Perlmutter, is meant to be “apolitical.” (Huffington Post)

A Giant Hand Sculpture Strikes Again in New Zealand –
A sculpture that has been called a
“hideous malevolent being” has caused an upset within hours of
arriving in the capital of New Zealand. The giant hand landed via helicopter on the
roof of the City Gallery Wellington on Monday and instantly became a talking point.
Some remarked on social
media that the face could be US President Trump, but the work is,
in fact, a “partial self-portrait” by the artist Ronnie van Hout.
Called Quasi, it is also a reference to the Hunchback of
Notre Dame. The artist’s work has divided opinion before. It caused an uproar
when first installed in the artist’s home city of Christchurch, but
now some miss its creepy presence. (Guardian)

MFA Boston Diversifies Its Americas Galleries –
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
has rehung level three of its Americas wing with work by more than
100 female artists. The feminist takeover marks the start of the
museum’s yearlong celebration of the centenary of woman’s suffrage
in the US. Artists on display range from Frida Kahlo, Alice Neel,
and Georgia O’Keeffe to living icons like Sheila Hicks as well as
to lesser-known names. The curatorial team behind the hang made
sure that work by African American, Asian American, Latin American,
and indigenous women are included. Senior curator Nonie Gadsden has overseen the project—called
“Women Take the Floor”—and said that it questions how museums “have
perpetuated a white-, male-dominated history of American art since
their inception.” (Boston Magazine)

ART MARKET

JTT Gallery Adds Three Artists to its Roster –
The New York gallery has announced
that it now represent Elaine Cameron-Weir, Sam McKinniss, and Issy
Wood. Cameron-Weir’s first solo show in its Chrystie Street space
opens on September 8, while Wood’s and McKinniss’s shows open in
January and February 2020
respectively. (Instagram)

The Hemingway Gallery Moves to Tribeca – The Hemingway African Gallery, which was co-founded
by Gregory Hemingway, the late son of Ernest Hemingway, has moved
to a storefront location at 88 Leonard Street. Co-founder Brian
Gaisford had been based in the Manhattan Art and Antiques
Center. (TAN)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Meadows Museum Announces New Acquisitions – The museum in Dallas has acquired four works of
Spanish art. The works by Manuel Ramírez de Arellano, Salvador
Dalí, Ignacio Zuloaga, and Emilio Sánchez Perrier span three
centuries and will be exhibited in dialogue with the museum’s
existing collections. (Art
Daily)

Trove of Rare Film Posters Head to Auction – Ewbanks, an auction house in the South of England, is
selling a trove of movie posters assembled by a film superfan. The
2,000-strong collection includes an early promotion for
Return of the Jedi
when it was still called
Revenge of the
Jedi, and is
expected to fetch up to £100,000 ($120,000) in the August 23 sale.
(Guardian)

Moody Center Appoints Two Curators – Ylinka Barotto and Frauke V. Josenhans have
joined the staff at the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice
University in Houston, Texas. The curators, who come from the
Guggenheim and Yale University Art Gallery respectively, will take
up positions as associate curators. (Artforum)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Columbia Publishes an Oral History of Robert Rauschenberg
– Columbia’s Oral History
Project is publishing the first volume of transcripts from its
Robert Rauschenberg recordings. The editors put his closest friends
and family in conversation with each other to tell the life story
of the influential artist, and his rise to fame in the 1960s art
scene in New York. (Columbia)

This Dealer-Artist Duo Have Launched a Graphic T Line –
The artist Andrew Kuo and gallerist
Pascal Spengemann have created a baseball cap and clothing line
called Shrits. Their graphic tees and hats are replete with insider
art-world references, pop cultural references, and riffs on famous
artists, including Monet and Chagall. The merch sprang from a
mutual interest in hybridization, and is available to purchase at
Spengemann’s Chelsea gallery, Marlborough Contemporary, as well as
online. (GQ)

The post Art Industry News: A ‘Hideous’ Sculpture of a Giant
Hand Is Sparking Fear and Confusion in New Zealand + Other
Stories appeared first on artnet News.