Art Industry News: Richard Serra Is Finally Lightening Up Ahead of His Heaviest Show Ever + 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 Wednesday, August
28.

NEED-TO-READ

The Sacklers Offer $12 Billion to Stop Lawsuits –
The eight Sackler family members
who own Purdue Pharma have
offered up to $12 billion—including $3 billion of their own
money—to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits against them and their
company. According to leaked discussions between their lawyers and
the City of Cleveland, the company will file for bankruptcy. It
will then become a “public beneficiary trust,” allowing profits to
go to the plaintiffs. In a statement, Purdue Pharma said it
“believes a constructive global resolution is the best path
forward.” The artist-activist Nan Goldin and the anti-opioid
campaign group P.A.I.N. have pointed out that if Purdue goes bankrupt in the US, the
Sacklers still own a
European sister company called Mundipharma. (Guardian)

Hong Kong Artists Accuse an Australian Museum of Censorship
– The National Gallery of
Victoria has been accused of self-censorship by artist-activists
who tried to organize a discussion about protest art
in Hong Kong. The
singer Denise Ho and the
Chinese-Australian political cartoonist Badiucao believe that the
NGV did not want to host the talk to avoid upsetting China. In a
statement, the NGV said that it was “unable to accommodate the
security and logistics required to book this event with short
notice.” Ho tweeted: “If everyone turns away due to fear, what will
our world become?” Ho and Badiucao will now stage the event at
another venue in Melbourne instead. (Guardian)

Richard Serra
Thinks Color Is a Joke – On the occasion of three upcoming
concurrent exhibitions this fall at Gagosian, Deborah Solomon
profiles the perpetually serious Richard Serra, who seems finally
to be lightening up in his 80th year. His latest works are 50-ton
steel cylinders of various sizes, reflecting his persistent
interest in weight and shape. (Serra says the latest show is the
heaviest he’s ever done.) Gagosian will also show new
black-and-white works on paper, which prompted Solomon to ask the
artist if he ever considered working in any other colors. “A pink
painting,” he tells her. “I am working on it. It is in my closet.”
Isn’t that just rich? (New York
Times)

More Artists Protest the Shed’s Pro-Trump Board Member –
The artist and DJ Thanushka Yakupitiyage and
musician Elsz have joined the criticism of Shed board member and
Hudson Yards developer Stephen M. Ross, who came under fire for
organizing a pricey Trump fundraiser earlier this month. When the
duo performed at the Shed this past weekend, they wore T-shirts
with the slogan, “DECOLONIZE THIS PLACE.” The shirts were a
reference to the organization of the same name, which led the
campaign against the Whitney Museum’s former vice chair Warren
Kanders. Signs surrounding the duo read “$250,000 = ONE TICKET TO
TRUMP FUNDRAISER” and “250,000+ IMMIGRANTS DEPORTED IN 2018.” The
action followed news last week that two other artists had quietly
removed their work from a Shed show in protest of the venue’s
billionaire board member. (ARTnews)

ART MARKET

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi Wants Gender Parity in His Collection
– The Sharjah-based collector
is buying more work by female Arab artists for his
Barjeel Art Foundation. “I’m going
to push to 50/50, if possible, but it’s hard,” he said. “Their work
has not been catalogued, not been documented, and not been stocked
by galleries.” (The
National)

Contemporary Istanbul Announces Exhibitor List –
The Istanbul fair is returning to
the Istanbul Congress Center with 73 galleries from 22 countries, including the
Hole from New York, Galerie Loevenbruck from Paris, and Zilberman
Gallery from Istanbul. The 14th edition will run from September 12
through 15. (Press release)

Bonhams Names a New Asian Art Head – The auction house has named Wang Zineng as its new head of Modern and
contemporary art, Asia. Wang, who has been a consultant for the
auction house since 2017 and previously operated his own curatorial
and market advisory firm, will be based in Hong Kong.
(ArtAsiaPacific)

COMINGS AND GOINGS

University of Chicago Acquires Trove of Vivian Maier
Photographs – Collector John
Maloof has donated more than 2,700 vintage prints by the
photographer, who worked as a nanny during her life and became a
cult figure  after her death. Only a few of the images in the
collection have ever been published or displayed. The University of
Chicago Library is now home to the largest institutional collection
of Maier’s prints. (UChicago
News)

Italian Artist Eliseo Mattiacci Has Died – The postwar Italian artist known for his
dreamy, large-scale metallic sculptures has died. Mattiacci,
who was born in 1940, was affiliated with Arte Povera and
Minimalism. (Artforum)

Dallas Museum Appoints Latin American Art Curator
– Mark A. Castro has been
appointed the Dallas Museum’s first curator of Latin American art,
a new position created earlier this year. For the past decade,
Castro has worked on the curatorial team at the Philadelphia Museum
of Art. (Press
release)

Kusama’s Infinity Room Heads to Crystal Bridges
– The Crystal Bridges Museum of
American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, has acquired Kusama’s 2018
installation Infinity Mirrored Room―My Heart is Dancing Into
the Universe from London’s Victoria Miro Gallery for an
undisclosed sum. It will go on permanent view October 2, but museum
members will get to experience it early—and without the
crowds—beginning this Saturday. (ARTnews)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Berlin Celebrates the Anniversary of the Fall of the Wall
With Art – The German capital
is planning a week-long festival to mark 30 years since the fall of
the Berlin Wall. As part of the event, artist Patrick Shearn will
fly some 30,000 messages above the Brandenburg Gate on November 9;
each message will be written by Berlin residents or visitors about
their hopes, wishes, and memories. The festival runs from November
4 to 10. (TAN)

International Curators Call for Aichi Show to Reopen –
The International Committee for Museums and
Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM)
has issued a statement calling on the Aichi
Triennale to reopen after it
shuttered an exhibition about artistic freedom following
security threats and criticism from politicians. The group, which includes leading directors
and curators, called the closure of the show “a serious violation
of freedom of expression” and expressed support for the participating artists
who have protested the decision to close the show. CIMAM asked
that safety measures be put in place to ensure the exhibition can
reopen. (Art Asia
Pacific)

Anish Kapoor Supports Arms Fair Protest Show
– The world-famous artist has donated an untitled,
signed print that will be displayed and sold at the upcoming Art
the Arms Fair exhibition, which runs from September 3 to 13 at
Maverick Projects in Peckham. The award-winning display, which
explores war, conflict, and peace, is intended to offer
counter-programming to London’s largest arms fair, which runs
around the same time. (Press
release)

Alex Israel’s Awkward Television Art Show “As It Lays”
Is Back – Before “Between Two Ferns,” there was artist
Alex Israel’s oddly fascinating video series “As It Lays.” For the
second season, Israel has interviewed 33 famous Los Angeles
figures, including Billy Idol, Cindy Crawford, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
You can watch them all here, or get a sneak
peek below. (Instagram)

The post Art Industry News: Richard Serra Is Finally
Lightening Up Ahead of His Heaviest Show Ever + Other Stories
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