Art Industry News: The National Gallery of Australia Just Spent Its Entire Acquisition Budget on Jordan Wolfson’s Latest Robot + 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 Tuesday, March
10.

NEED-TO-READ

Southbank Cultural Center Drops Shell Sponsorship –
The oil company is not renewing its
sponsorship of London’s Southbank Centre and the British Film
Institute. They are the latest UK cultural organizations to sever
their controversial ties with energy giants. Chris Garrard of the advocacy group
Culture Unstained
described the development as a
“crucial milestone” in the ongoing campaign against oil
sponsorship, which has seen the National Theatre, Tate, and
National Galleries of Scotland end their relationships with energy
companies. The move will increase pressure on the British Museum,
National Portrait Gallery, and Science Museum, which are currently
standing by sponsor BP. (Guardian)

Did Banksy Plot Pompidou Heist of His Own Work?
– Banksy has denied having
any part in the theft of one of his artworks from a billboard near
the Pompidou Center in Paris last year, contradicting the man who
was arrested for stealing the mural of a rat with a box cutter. The
suspect’s defense lawyer claimed that his client was commissioned
by the artist to swipe the work—but Banksy sent an email to the
editorial staff of Le
Parisien, which first
reported the allegations, saying he had nothing to do with it.
(Le Parisien)

Jordan Wolfson, Revealed – The artist Jordan Wolfson’s most provocative
work may be himself, writes Dana Goodyear in an instant classic
New Yorker profile. One individual who knows the
artist well described his behavior—he’s the kind of guy who will
park in the handicapped spot and hit on your girlfriend—as
“by-the-book sociopathy.” The artist feels strongly that no subject
should be off-limits—although he admits that approach is becoming
more difficult as a wealthy, straight, white male artist. American
museums are increasingly wary of acquiring such transgressive
work—Castello di Rivoli director Carolyn
Christov-Bakargiev, who recently acquired Wolfson’s VR-work
Real
Violence, thinks it
is because the art world is very literal, and Wolfson’s work “puts
the knife right into the wound.” But the National Gallery of
Australia just blew nearly $5 million, its entire annual
acquisition budget, on Wolfson’s latest provocative animatronic
sculpture, Cube, which is due to be unveiled next year.
(New Yorker)

Art Organizations Condemn Withdrawal From Creative Europe
– Nearly 700 cultural figures
in the UK have signed an open letter to the government protesting
the country’s withdrawal from the Creative Europe fund, which
supports cultural initiatives across the continent. The letter
states that the decision, which will make it impossible for British
creatives to access the €1.46 billion ($1.66 billion) fund, will
result in an “impoverished future” for creativity in
Britain. (TAN)

ART MARKET

McKinsey Exec Sells Off Indian Art – A management consultant who began working for
McKinsey in India almost 30 years ago built a 1,000 work-strong
collection of Indian Modern art. Now, Kito de Boer and his wife,
Jane, are selling 153 of those works at Christie’s New York and
online beginning March 18. They have a combined high estimate of
$4.9 million. (Bloomberg)

Van Gogh Painting Sells for €15 Million at TEFAF –
London-based gallery Dickinson has
sold Van Gogh’s Peasant
Woman in Front of a Farmhouse (1885) to a private collector
at TEFAF
Maastricht for around €15
million ($17 million). It was originally spotted in a junk shop in
London in 1968 and snapped up for less than $60.
(TAN)

O’Keeffe and Stieglitz Collection Nets $17.2 Million – An
array of intriguing items that once belonged to
artists Georgia O’Keeffe
and Alfred
Stieglitz brought
in a total of $17.2 million at Sotheby’s. In advance of the public
auction, Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
acquired a group of photographs and literature through private
sale. The trove came from fellow artist and O’Keeffe confidante
Juan Hamilton. (ARTnews) 

COMINGS & GOINGS

Erie Museum Hires Interim Director – The Eerie Art Museum has appointed Pam Masi as
its interim director following the departure of former
director Joshua Helmer,
who was pushed out amid
allegations of sexual harassment. Masi has 30 years of
nonprofit management experience and was most recently the director
of the Red Cross of Northern Pennsylvania. She will take up the
role in April. (Go Erie)

UK Photography Show Postponed – The Photography Show and the Video Show 2020,
which were due to take place at the National Exhibition Center in
Birmingham, UK, between March 14 and 17, have been postponed until
September due to the ongoing threat of COVID-19. Organizers say
they made the “difficult” decision to postpone ahead of any
government guidelines on curtailing large events out of concern for
the wellbeing of their visitors, exhibitors, and staff.
(Photography)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Artist-Activist Charged Again in the Philippines –
The Philippine government is
continuing to pursue the
artist-activist Gabriela Krista “Kiri” Dalena and nine fellow
activists for alleged perjury after they sought legal protection
against “red-tagging” (the act of accusing activists of having
links to armed communist groups). Critics of the government,
including Amnesty International, say it targets human-rights
activists by falsely accusing them of violent communist
ties. (Art Asia Pacific)

Etsy Removes Coronavirus-Themed Artworks – The e-commerce site Etsy, where users sell
handmade and vintage crafts, has banned listings related to the
coronavirus from its website. While the move was ostensibly meant
to eliminate items that falsely claimed to protect people from the
virus, the site has also removed artworks inspired by microbiology
that were actually trying to fight misinformation, like a crochet
model of the coronavirus. (Forbes)

The post Art Industry News: The National Gallery of
Australia Just Spent Its Entire Acquisition Budget on Jordan
Wolfson’s Latest Robot + Other Stories appeared first on
artnet News.