29 March 2020
The coronavirus has been responsible for a major crisis in the art world. Museums and galleries have slammed their doors shut. Increasingly the only way to look at art, in the present situation, is to look at it on a computer screen – or, at a pinch, on the screen of your mobile phone. This is creating a ‘viral’ phenomenon.
25 March 2020
Manifesta 13, the European Nomadic Biennial which originated in the early 1990s in response to the political, economic, and social change following the end of the Cold War, has been postponed because of the COVID-19 crisis. It was due to take place at various venues in Marseille, France 7 June – 1 December 2020
25 March 2020
The Genesis Foundation today announced Rebecca Salter, President of the Royal Academy of Arts, as the winner of the 2020 Genesis Prize.
24 March 2020
The London-born dealer PAUL KASMIN (1960–2020) has died in New York after a protracted illness. The gallery released the following statement.
Marina Abramović made a statement to the people of Italy in association with Palazzo Strozzi as part of project IN TOUCH. The international artist joined Ai Weiwei and Tomás Saraceno in sending a message of solidarity and encouragement emphasising how Italians are demonstrating “great courage and a great feeling of community and humanity” and that the COVID-19 crisis represents an emergency now global
Cass Art has shut all of their stores leaving artists to scramble for supplies. All professionals and students looking to stock up on materials are now being referred to the Cass website to purchase items for home delivery.
As the contemporary art world goes dark, and as galleries – official spaces and commercial ones – slam shut their doors, one inevitably starts to wonder what the art world will be like once all this is over—the British art world, and also the global one.
20 March 2020
The unveiling of the Fourth Plinth commission, a giant soft-serve dollop of whipped cream topped with a cherry, a fly and a drone by Heather Phillipson has been postponed due to the current public health crisis. The sculpture in Trafalgar Square central London was to replace The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist by Michael Rakowitz […]
First, the Louvre in Paris closed. Then the galleries in London started to shut their doors, one by one, like the “lamps going out all over Europe” as the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey remarked on the eve of the First World War, adding “We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”
The Tate has just released a press statement informing that it will be closing up shop until May due to COVID19 virus. The Serpentine and Hayward Galleries have made a similar announcement.
16 March 2020
The National Gallery has unprecedentedly cancelled their highly anticipated Artemisia Gentileschi exhibition, scheduled to open on 4th April. The ICA, Wellcome Collection, South London Gallery, Camden Arts Centre, Beaconsfield, and Modern Art Oxford has also suspended opening to the public.
14 March 2020
Gagosian, the largest chain of commercial galleries in the world, has shuttered until further notice. The following message was released this morning.
13 March 2020
Tate Modern has announced that Anicka Yi will create the next annual Hyundai Commission, an annual event at the gallery. Her new site-specific work for the Turbine Hall will be open to the public from 6 October 2020 to 10 January 2021. Anicka Yi has developed a reputation for highly innovative work – Frances Morris […]
The Metropolitan Museum in New York has announced, it is to Close Temporarily Starting today, March 13. It will close all three locations—The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer, and The Met Cloisters—starting tomorrow, March 13, to support New York City’s effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. The Museum will undertake a thorough cleaning and plans to announce next steps early next week.
The Max Mara prize 2020 has been awarded to Emma Talbot. The award supports UK-based female artists who have not previously had a major solo exhibition.
The Art Dubai organisers have postponed the 2020 fair indefinitely. This is the second major to be canceled this Winter along side Art Basel Hong Kong in February.
Administrators from the London-based firm ReSolve, have been called in to sort out the financial mess at Blain|Southern, one of London’s top art galleries. A meeting of all creditors, including some of the artists, has been scheduled for this week.
The Russian dissident Performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky, 35, is to face invasion of privacy charges after leaking a graphic sex tape of Parisian mayoral candidate Benjamin Griveaux. The politician is a member of French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party La République En Marche.
A new artwork that appeared on the side of a house in Bristol yesterday has been confirmed as the work of the elusive street artist Banksy. The Banksy Valentine mural features a stencil-artwork of a girl firing a slingshot of red flowers made with spray-painted ivy. Banksy published picture of the work on his Instagram page at midnight on Valentine’s Day.
12 February 2020
After a tumultuous six months, Blain|Southern has decided to call it a day.
12 February 2020
Sonia Boyce OBE RA has been announced as the artist to represent the UK at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2021.
11 February 2020
David Hockney’s iconic work, The Splash, has been sold for £23.1m at Sotheby’s in London. The name of the buyer has not been disclosed. It had been estimated to sell for £20m-£30m – and ended up going for £23,117,000.
10 February 2020
Elizabeth Price will be presented by Artangel in a 19th-century assembly room on Borough Road in London from 1 May – 28 June 2020. This will be the first significant presentation of Price’s work in London since she was awarded the Turner Prize in 2012. SLOW DANS is the most ambitious installation to date by this Turner Prize-winning artist.
6 February 2020
Art Basel has just announced the cancellation of the upcoming fair in Hong Kong due to the outbreak and spread of the new coronavirus. The fair was already struggling with the uncertain political climate and student riots in the region.
3 February 2020
Groundbreaking works by the celebrated British sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor will go on show across the grounds and historic interiors of Houghton Hall in Norfolk opening 29 March 2020.
The German Historical Museum in Berlin has acquired a significant painting by George Grosz executed at the time he was living in exile in New York.
The Art Fund is trying to raise £3.5m by 31 March 2020 to purchase Prospect Cottage the much-loved beachside home and garden of the artist/film director Derek Jarman.
19 January 2020
A stolen multi-million-pound painting discovered hidden in a false wall has been confirmed as an authentic Gustav Klimt original, Italian authorities have confirmed. The canvas was taken nearly 23 years ago.
On Monday, January 13 the Times (London) published a chirpy article by Ben Luke promising wonders to come in London’s official galleries during the coming year. I have to say that the prospects he offered didn’t look so wonderful to me – that is to say where contemporary art is concerned.
14 January 2020
What better way to launch a global art event than to have a K-Pop band (BTS), Hans Ulrich Obrist and a host of first-rate artists including Sir Antony Gormley officiate.