Art Industry News: Dealers Arrested in Hobby Lobby Antiquities Scandal + More Must-Read Stories

Plus, the Met names a Secret Service agent as its new head of security and Kanye West gets rebuffed by the Watermill Center.

A Hobby Lobby store front. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

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 2.

NEED-TO-READ

How the Getty’s Internship Program Is Changing LA – As the Getty Foundation’s Multicultural Internship Program turns 25, Carolina Miranda examines how the initiative has successfully fostered diversity in cultural organizations across the city, seeding former interns in majorly influential positions. (Los Angeles Times)

North Korean Artists Risk Lives for UN Art Show – Four young North Korean artists are putting their safety on the line by participating in an exhibition at the United Nations headquarters in New York this week without their government’s permission. (NY Post)

Dealers Arrested in Hobby Lobby Scandal – Five Palestinian antiquities dealers—who, according to Israel’s Antiquities Authority, sold antiquities to embattled art-supply chain Hobby Lobby—have been arrested in Jerusalem. Artifacts dating back thousands of years have been confiscated from their homes and shops. (NPR)

Watermill Passes on Kanye West – A source says that the Watermill Center Summer Benefit & Auction, held in the Hamptons last weekend, declined to follow through on a rescheduled performance by the rapper: “It was Kanye who wanted the credibility in the art world. But the long list of demands was so difficult and no one wanted him.” Ouch. (NY Daily News)

ART MARKET

Contemporary Istanbul Announces Participating Galleries – The 2017 edition of the Turkish fair will gather over 70 international galleries. Big-hitters like Victoria Miro and Galleria Continua are among the 27 newcomers. (Press release)

Paddle8 to Stage Marilyn Monroe Sale – The online auctioneer is offering more than 70 works, including fine art, photographs, and rare memorabilia inspired by the legendary Hollywood star. The sale runs through August 11. (Press release)

Bonhams London to Auction Historic Jewelry Collection – A trove of pieces by the late British jewelry designer Andrew Grima—a favorite of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Miuccia Prada—will hit the auction block in September. (Observer)

COMINGS & GOINGS

ProjectArt Appoints New Miami Director – The non-profit, which seeks to transform libraries across the US into art spaces and bring art to under-served communities, has named Chana Budgazad Sheldon its national program advisor and director for Miami. (ARTnews)

Bill Sherman to Direct Warburg Institute – The former director of research and collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum will succeed David Freedberg at the helm of the University of London’s Warburg Institute in a bid to raise the profile of the under-appreciated library. (The Art Newspaper)

Ex-Secret Serviceman Named Met Security Director – Former Deputy Director for the US Secret Service, Keith L. Prewitt, has been appointed the museum’s new Chief Security Officer. He will oversee security at all three Met locations from September. (Press release)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Stolen Guercino Prescribed a Year of Conservation – The recovered Guercino altarpiece, which was rolled up inside a carpet after it was pilfered from an Italian church in 2014, has lost 30% of its surface paint and must undergo a year of conservation in Rome to mitigate the damage. (TAN)

Bass Acquires Allora & Calzadilla Sculpture – Miami Beach’s contemporary art museum has acquired the Puerto Rico-based duo’s Petrified Petrol Pump (Pemex) (2011). It will debut when the newly renovated museum reopens in October. (Press release)

Jenny Holzer Maxim or Deleted Anthony Scaramucci Tweet? – A fun game for a Wednesday: Some of these platitudes were authored by the American neo-conceptual artist and others are from the Mooch’s inimitable Twitter account. Can you guess which is which? (McSweeney’s)

See Miquel Barceló Works in Salamanca – The Spanish artist has installed works around the campus of the University of Salamanca, where he will receive an honorary doctorate in September. (Press release)

Miquel Barceló, Allumettes. Courtesy University of Salamanca, Spain.

Miquel Barceló, El arca de Noe. Courtesy University of Salamanca, Spain.

Miquel Barceló, Gran Elefantdret. Courtesy University of Salamanca, Spain.
Barceló’s elephant farts on the hour, emitting a cloud of grey smoke.


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