The letter, addressed to Art Basel global director Marc Spiegler and Adeline Ooi, its director Asia, did not mince words when airing complaints about the state of the fair amid the Hong Kong protests, which have been going on for months. It claims that “many people who normally attend the fair have indicated that they will not attend this year” and that “many of our artists are unwilling to have their work shown at the fair” because participation in a territory under threat of increased Chinese control is not “consistent with their core belief in the freedom of expression.” – Artnet
Category: visual
Could The Dirt-Poor Alabama Hamlet Famous For Its Quilts Become An Art Destination Like Marfa?
“The thinking goes: If Marfa, the pint-size Texas town located a three-hour’s drive from the nearest airport, can become a site for pilgrims seeking to commune with Donald Judd’s Minimalist art, why can’t Gee’s Bend become a magnet for art historians, craft enthusiasts, and American history buffs who want to know more about the source of the world’s most acclaimed quilts?” – artnet
How A Pair Of English Policemen Helped Jump-Start The Movement To Repatriate The Benin Bronzes
In 2004, Steve Dunstone and Timothy Awoyemi, on a Police Expedition Society goodwill trip, were on a boat on the Niger River being greeted by the people of a southern Nigerian town. As the event was ending and the boat was about to leave, one man from the crowd reached out and passed Dunstone a note. It said, “Please help return the Benin Bronzes.” – The New York Times
Smithsonian To Send Popular Obama Portraits On A National Tour
Kehinde Wiley’s official portrait of President Obama and Amy Sherald’s painting of the first lady, like the Obamas themselves, broke boundaries. L.A.-born, New York-based Wiley and New York-based Sherald were the first African American artists to be chosen by the National Portrait Gallery for such commissions. – Los Angeles Times
Klimt Thief: “We Have Given A Gift To The City”
Last Friday, when art historians confirmed its authenticity through X-rays to see if the original painting was there, Ermanno Mariani got the curious call, and the voice was oddly familiar. The man on the phone said he was the person Mariani had previously interviewed about the theft. Mariani also received a letter claiming, “We are the authors of the theft of Klimt’s Portrait of a Lady, and we have given a gift to the city by returning the canvas.” He turned the letter, written in large block writing, over to police. – The Daily Beast
A New Museum That’s Betting You’ll Pay For A More “Experience” Experience
The museum is betting that in a city where tickets to the Museum of Ice Cream cost $38, visitors will be willing to pay for the privilege of experiencing photography in a way that feels more like socializing than doing homework. (Admission for adults is $28; more than at the Museum of Modern Art, which charges $25, but less than for MOIC.) – Artnet
Italy’s Carabinieri Art Squad, Catching Thieves, Looters, And Traffickers For 50 Years
The Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale was founded in 1969 as the world’s first law enforcement service to specialize in art and cultural heritage. Its agents have worked from Rome and Venice to London and New York to war-ravaged Palmyra to recover stolen treasures, and it has developed an international databse of 1.1 million missing objects. – Artsy
When Your Body Art Gets In The Way Of Life… Take It Off
Tattoos can be a barrier for people getting out of prison. They can make it hard to find jobs, to feel safe in certain neighborhoods, to reconcile with family and to leave the past behind. Now there are programs to help inmates with tattoos wipe the slate clean. – NPR
The State Of Gay Art In Beijing: Delicate And Discreet
On the third floor of Destination, a nightclub-turned-cultural center that’s one of the few such places in the country to expressly welcome queer people, is ART.Des, a (very rare) gallery that features Chinese art that addresses homosexuality. While there is censorship, says one artist, “perhaps it’s not as free as the West; but it’s not as closed as people think, either. We’re not North Korea.” – The New York Times
Feds Reject Ancient Rock Art Sites In Utah For National Register Of Historic Places
Reversing an earlier decision, the National Park Service has now denied an omnibus petition for 199 sites on public land near Moab, Utah to be listed in the National Register. The NPS agrees that the ancient petroglyphs are significant, but it now wants individual applications for each of the sites. – The Salt Lake Tribune