May 22, 2015: Venice Shuts Down the Iceland Pavilion Mosque & Sotheby’s to Auction First Restituted Gurlitt Painting
Opening
In New York ...
“Peter Fox: Blind Trust” opens at Front Room Gallery; “David Rosenboom: Propositional Music” opens at ISSUE Project Room; “Neo-Craftivism,” with works by Katerina Lanfranco, Rebecca Morgan, and Nichole Van Beek, opens at The Parlour Bushwick; “Night Flight,” with works by Trenton Doyle Hancock, Tom McGrath, and Mark Shetabi, opens at Tiger Strikes Asteroid New York.
On Sunday, May 24th, an exhibition of Lissy Funk’s 1964 tapestry The Secret Fish (Der geheime Fisch) opens at JTT.
In East Hampton …
“The View From Here” opens at Tiwani Contemporary; “Justin Mortimer: Kult” opens at Parafin; “Shirazeh Houshiary: Smell of the First Snow” and “Sergio Camargo: Mámore” open at Lisson Gallery; “Yeşim Akdeniz: The Secret Life of My Coffee Table” opens at Pi ARTWORKS; “Sean Lynch: DeLorean Progress Report” opens at Ronchini; “Ruth Proctor: Putting it on” opens at Hollybush Gardens.
On Saturday, May 23rd, Pump House Gallery hosts “Infra Sound,” a conversation between artist Alistair McClymont & Neuroscientist Aleksandra Berditchevskai, at 2 p.m.
In Los Angeles ...
“Eve Fowler: the difference is spreading” opens at MIER Gallery.
On Saturday, May 23rd, “Travis Collinson: Knobby Knees” opens at Maloney Fine Art; “Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins: Where Am I?” opens at KP Projects / MKG; “Andre D. Wagner: American Survey Pt. II: Tell It like It Is” opens at Papillion; “Z-ing,” with works by William Pope.L, Sterling Ruby, Wolfgang Tillmans, Richard Hawkins, Chris Martin, Paul Thek, Joanne Greenbaum, Ravi Jackson, B. Wurtz, and Bjorn Copeland, opens at Richard Telles Fine Art; “C.K. Wilde: Temper” opens at Rosamund Felsen Gallery.
On Sunday, May 24th, “Art and Other Tactics: Contemporary Craft by Artist Veterans,” “Phyllis Green: Fall 12: An Autobiography Considering Charles Ray’s ‘Fall 91’,” and “Chris Francis: Shoe Designer” open at Craft & Folk Art Museum; “Matt Siegle: Eddie’s Gulch” opens at Park View.
In Paris ...
“BLESS: N°53 Contenttenders” opens at mfc – michèle didier; “Em’kal Eyongakpa: negotiations – Chapter 1-i : Paris – Dualaland” opens at Kadist Art Foundation.
In Tokyo ...
“Yoshinobu Nakagawa: Early Works” opens at Taguchi Fine Art, ltd.
Today’s Notable News
Venetian authorities have shut down the Icelandic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, a functional mosque (the first one in Venice) created by artist Christoph Büchel and the subject of controversy since it opened on May 8th. Police cited the mosque as a safety concern, claiming that the artist permitted excessive occupancy of the building and had failed to acquire necessary permits for religious use of the space, which previously functioned as a Catholic church. The pavilion’s commissioner, The Icelandic Art Center, has stated that the installation’s goals were accomplished despite its early closure, as it succeeded in raising awareness of societal prejudice and immigration-based conflicts. (via the New York Times)
After being returned to its rightful heirs just last week, the first painting restituted from Cornelius Gurlitt’s hoard will be auctioned by Sotheby’s on June 24th. The work, Max Liebermann’s Two Riders on the Beach (1901), is expected to sell for as much as £550,000. (via The Art Newspaper)
Three members of Illuminator Art Collective have filed a lawsuit against the New York Police Department for “false arrest and improper seizure of…property,” based on events that occurred last September. The prosecutors were arrested outside the Met for “unlawful posting of advertisements” while protesting at the David H. Koch Plaza inauguration, and their property was held in police custody for over two months following their release. The members of the group are claiming a violation of the First Amendment, as the confiscation of their property prohibited them from taking part in further planned protests. (via Hyperallergic)
Next month, Berlin nonprofit PRAXES Center for Contemporary Art will close its doors after two years in St. Agnes Church, a space now shared with the newly relocated and revamped König Galerie. Founders and directors Kristine Siegel and Rhea Dall are to become co-conveners of Norway’s 2016 Bergen Assembly. (via artnet News)
Eric Fischl is no longer represented by Mary Boone Gallery. After 30 years of representation by the gallery, the artist is discontented by the current state of the art market and does not wish to have gallery representation of any kind at this time. Boone shares similar views, and the gallery’s relationship with Fischl continues to be a positive one. (via The Art Newspaper)
Poet Maya Angelou’s collection of close to 50 works of African-American art will hit the auction block on September 15th. The collection represents artists including Romare Bearden, Melvin Edwards, and Faith Ringgold, with Ringgold’s Maya’s Quilt of Life (1989), a piece commissioned by Oprah, to become the first of the artist’s story quilts ever sold at auction. (via The Observer)
The Clark Art Institute has named as its new associate director of research and academic program Christopher Heuer, who is currently a senior fellow at D.C.’s National Gallery and co-founded Selma arts collective Our Literal Speed. (via Artforum)
Best of Instagram
Via @xavierhufkens: “#DanielBuren & #MichelFrancois are part of the twelfth #HavanaBiennial”
Via @juddfoundation: “Judd Foundation is happy to share the news that a fall 2017 Donald Judd retrospective will be exhibited at @themuseumofmodernart. Comprising more than 100 works of art gathered from public and private collections around the world, this retrospective aims to provide a multifaceted perspective on Judd, advancing scholarship on his practice and introducing his work to new generations of viewers.”
Via @diaartfoundation: “Robert Irwin, ‘Excursus: Homage to the Square³’ installation week 1: The basement of Dia:Beacon is prepped for the prototype construction. Opens June 1 at Dia:Beacon.”
Good Reads
“A Few Good Reasons to Drop Out of Art School” (via The New Yorker)
“$1.5 million in art planned for county-funded Hilton convention hotel to include a selfie mosaic” (via cleveland.com)
Want to catch up with the rest of this week’s news? Review past Daily Digests here.
