May 18, 2015: Peggy Guggenheim’s Family Goes to Court Over Her Collection & the Whitney Gives Emerging Artists First U.S. Solo Shows

Opening

In New York …

Feuer/Mesler hosts an opening reception for “Grand Tour,” its inaugural show at 319 Grand Street, with works by Keren Cytter and Jon Rafman, at 6 p.m.

In Los Angeles ...

The performance series “Is It All Over My Face?,” including pieces by Arturo Molinar-Avitia, Mutant Salon, Ashley M Romano & David Gutierrez, Liz Toonkel, and Austin Young, opens at Honor Fraser at 6 p.m. and runs through Thursday May 21st, with a schedule of events available here.

Today’s Notable News

Tomorrow, relatives of the late mega-patron Peggy Guggenheim, including her grandson Sandro Rumney, will initiate a court appeal to remove works not belonging to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection from Venice’s Palazzo Venier dei Leoni. In what is part of an ongoing legal dispute with another faction of the family, Rumney believes the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation has mismanaged his grandmother’s collection by ignoring her wishes and “dilut[ing]” it with works from the Schulhof collection. (via The Guardian)

California governor Jerry Brown has amended this year’s state spending plan, allocating a total of $6.1 million to the California Arts Council, which is responsible for creating arts grants. Although the increase still leaves California, at $0.24, significantly below the national arts spending average of $1.09 per capita, this is the first time the governor has designated a $5 million bump as a “permanent funding increase” rather than last year’s “one-time only boost.” (via the LA Times)

The Whitney has announced that it will begin a new series that gives emerging artists their first U.S. solo exhibitions. The first year of the program will give debut U.S. solos to Jared Madere, Rachel Rose, and Sophia Al-Maria, all organized by the Whitney’s associate curator Christopher Y. Lew. (via Whitney Museum of American Art)

Last week, the city council of Long Island City passed a bill mandating that public hearings be held before public art can be erected by the Percent for Art organization. The bill was originally submitted by councilman Jimmy Van Bramer in March. (via DNAinfo)

A Montreal student has been sentenced to 18 months’ probation and 100 hours of community service, after she was arrested for Instagramming a picture of anti-police street art (which she herself did not paint) in 2013. She is additionally prohibited from publicly posting on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. The street art in question was an image of Ian Lafrenière, the director of communications and media relations for the city’s police force, with a gunshot wound in his head along with the acronym “ACAB” (“All Cops Are Bastards”). (via Hyperallergic)

Best of Instagram

Via @gagosiangallery: “What’s the #latestinNOW? #ChrisBurden’s final work, Ode to Santos Dumont, is currently on view @LACMA through June 21.”

Via @publicartfund: “@nycgo asked us to help New Yorkers #seeyourcity. We encouraged everyone to #seeyourcity through the eyes of artists, like these tiny visitors viewing #PleaseTouchTheArt! How do you #seeyourcity? #JeppeHein #publicart”

Via @pieraluisa: “Head games. @tonyoursler #friezetag ✨✨ Check out my takeover on @artsy tomorrow from the @friezeartfair”

Good Reads