Art Industry News: An Enchanted Encounter on Instagram Enabled Sting to Grant an Artist Fan’s Dying Wish + 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 on this Thursday, May
21.

NEED-TO-READ

China Bans Knockoffs of
Foreign Buildings – The Chinese government is clamping
down on copies of foreign architecture in an effort to promote
local design. While replicas of English towns, Alpine villages, and
even the Eiffel Tower can be found across the country, the
government now says that “plagiarizing, imitating, and copycatting”
other designs is prohibited in new public constructions. The
statement singles out stadiums, museums, and theaters as facilities
where it is especially important to stomp out
plagiarism. “City constructions are the combination of
a city’s external image and internal spirit, revealing a city’s
culture,” the government says. (BBC)

Paris Announces €15 Million Bailout for Culture –
Paris’s deputy mayor for culture,
Christophe Girard, has announced a €15 million ($16.5 million)
relief plan for the city’s culture sector. The “historic gesture”
includes €11.5 million for the city’s public theaters, art and
culture centers, and concert halls, as well as €1.2 million for
private sector venues. A €50,000 packet will be handed out to
playwrights and composers, and a €1.45 million grant will support
the cinema sector. The city is also dedicating €400,000 to develop
a robust arts program for the month of August catering to Parisians
unable to go on vacation. The mayor hopes to open seven of the 14
smaller municipal museums by June 16. “August will be the month of
celebration of art and beauty in Paris,” Girard says.
(Le Parisien)

A Sting Fan’s Last Wish Comes True, Courtesy of Instagram
– Sometimes social media
is a force for good. In a recent post on the beloved Instagram
account Humans of New York, which brings the stories of New Yorkers
to its 10.4 million followers, a young woman memorialized her
father, who died of MS. “I think he dreamed of being an artist. But
he needed something more stable,” she wrote, adding that he pursued
a career as a policeman to provide for his family. He built an art
studio at the back of the house and painted just one canvas: a
portrait of Sting. His dying wish was to share it with the singer.
Well, it just so happens that one of the Instagram account’s
followers is Mickey Sumner, Sting’s daughter. After seeing the
heartwarming post, she promptly contacted Humans of New York, and
within hours was connected with the family to grant the father’s
wish. (Vanity Fair)

Italian Woman Wins a Picasso Painting in a Charity Raffle
– A novel raffle that
offered up a Pablo Picasso painting worth $1.1 million to raise
money for African water projects has found a winner. An Italian
woman—who received the ticket as a gift—is now the proud owner
of Nature
morte (1921), a small
still life of a table with a glass of absinthe. The raffle raised
$5.6 million; $988,000 of that sum will go to art dealer and
collector David Nahmad, who provided the work. (Reuters)

ART MARKET

Another Amoako Boafo Painting Hits the Block –
Following the auction breakout of
the young Ghanaian painter in February—when Phillips sold a work for
$881,550, more than 10
times its high estimate—another Boafo is headed to the auction
block. Phillips is selling a work on paper, Sleepy Lady, in its online contemporary sale, which closes
today at 2 p.m. in London. The work has already been bid up to
£85,000 ($103,955), more than five times its low
estimate. (Art Market Monitor)

Report Shows Art-Market Confidence Is Bleak –
A report by ArtTactic shows that
confidence in the art market is lower than it was after the
financial crisis of 2008—and, in fact, it now has the lowest rating
since the company began its twice-yearly survey in 2005. Confidence
has fallen 85 percent since last September. Moving forward,
Christie’s chief executive Guillaume Cerutti says, “innovation is
key, now and for the future.” (Financial Times)

Portraits of Leonardo DiCaprio, Billie Eilish, Jennifer
Lopez, and More Head to Auction – The celebrity photographer Mark Seliger is
offering a selection of his intimate portraits of some of the
world’s most famous entertainers at a charity auction organized by
Christie’s and Red Carpet Advocacy. The sale of 25 works will take
place virtually (of course) from May 28 to June 12, and all
proceeds will go toward charities including Meals on Wheels, World
Central Kitchen, and the American Red Cross. (WWD)

COMINGS & GOINGS

DC’s National Building Museum Cuts Two-Thirds of Its Staff
– The National Building Museum
will lay off more than 40 staff members on June 1, leaving just 18
staff positions (which are on partial furlough) and two staffers
working on grant-based projects. The future of the museum was
uncertain even before the lockdown, having already cut 8 percent of
its workforce in February. It is still unclear when it will reopen.
(DCist)

Shanghai Biennale Names Curatorial Team – The oldest biennial in China will have a new
format for its 13th edition. Titled “Bodies of Water,” the biennale
will unfold in three phases and formats—a summit, a television
program, and a live exhibition—over nine months beginning in
November 2020. It is led by New York–based architect Andrés Jaque
and curators YOU Mi, Marina Otero Verzier, Lucia Pietroiusti, and
Filipa Ramos. (Artforum)

Jeffrey Deitch Launches “Art in the Streets” Website –
Art dealer Jeffrey Deitch has
launched a website in tribute to the 2011 LA MOCA exhibition “Art
in the Streets,” which was also the subject of a follow-up exhibition
in New York last year. The website offers information about the
artists included in the show and on the history of the street art
movement. (Press
release)

FOR ART’S SAKE

National Gallery Acquires 18th-Century Masterworks –
The London museum has acquired
three 18th-century artworks, including a major work by Jean-Etienne
Liotard, in lieu of a £10 million ($12.2 million) inheritance
tax. The Lavergne Family
Breakfast (1754), which
was owned by the late banker George Pinto and has been on loan to
the museum since 2018, joined the collection as part of the UK’s
tax scheme, which allows families to reduce tax bills through
donations. (Guardian)

UK Artists Make Masks for Charity – Artists Linder Sterling, David Shrigley, Yinka
Shonibare, and Eddie Peake have designed face masks to raise money
for the Contemporary Art Society’s new CAS Rapid Response Fund,
which will support museum acquisitions of contemporary art by
British-based artists. The masks are being sold for £35 ($43) each
or £120 ($146) for all four through crowdfunder. (Guardian)

The post Art Industry News: An Enchanted Encounter on
Instagram Enabled Sting to Grant an Artist Fan’s Dying Wish + Other
Stories appeared first on artnet News.