Celia Paul, Edward Hopper, Saif Azzuz
Deep cuts at Pace gallery, artists threaten to sue the Venice Biennale, and the importance of reintegrating art with life
Tell me, who needs an eight-story gallery in Manhattan that feels like a mall, plus cavernous outposts in Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Geneva, Seoul, and Tokyo? Who needs a roster of 135 artists, including a battery of estates? Who needs those so-called “museum-quality” exhibitions that reframe art history for us through the narrow lens of a bottom-line-oriented dealer? Pace, a mega gallery, made headlines this week after it slashed one-third of its artists and one-fifth of its staff. Its CEO, Marc Glimcher, blamed a "broken" gallery model for the cuts, the same model he helped create. The good news is that Pace is now more true to itself: a business that was made to sell art. The bad news: It's the artists and art workers who pay the price.
Now tell me, did you know you produce culture every time you go grocery shopping, eat dinner with your family, or take a walk with a friend? In her opinion piece, curator and former museum leader Laura Raicovich argues that many of society's problems come from the separation between art and life. The remedy lies in the reintegration of the two, because art is everywhere, not just across the eight floors of a mega gallery.
Much more to read this week, including Saif Azzuz's ancestral landscapes, Ali Eyal's satirical Iraqi Pavilion at an LA gas station, Edward Hopper’s portraits of American solitude, and Celia Paul's inward-looking paintings.
PS — If you care about art journalism that doesn't kowtow to the rich and powerful and tells you the truth, please support our work by becoming a paying member. Every dollar helps. Enjoy reading and have a great weekend.
Art and culture...fuel our imaginations, cultivate our humanity, and allow us to see ourselves and one another. They also have the capacity to radically shift what we believe is possible, to better the world in which we live. If we abandon this power to the limited purview of institutions funded and governed by a narrow segment of society, we risk leaving on the table the potential for our collective culture to move towards greater justice and freedom. | Laura Raicovich
Her depictions of individuals in settings that seem both out of time and of this moment represent one of many engaging paradoxes. | John Yau
An exhibition at The Getty gave me the peculiar feeling of peeking behind a curtain in my own house and discovering new things about a topic I thought I knew well. | Nereya Otieno
She puts her own spin on autobiography, exceeding her own cult status as a monastic artist. | John Yau
Her photographs showcase an intensely physical side of the city: breaking down boxes to dance upon, spray-painting subway cars. | Imani Williford
In the film, Kate Moss is looking for the right man to get her sober, and Lucian Freud is a Great Man who magically sees the “truth” in young women. | Eileen G’Sell
Across galleries, museums, and outdoor sculpture, he connects Indigenous land practices in California, the Hudson Valley, and beyond. | Max Blue
Ali Eyal and David Horvitz satirize America’s oil war in an installation at a Chevron gas station on Venice Boulevard. | Matt Stromberg
“We want to act as a little eddy in the stream of gentrification, giving these houses one last burst of life before they’re gone,” one of the organizers of “Once Removed” told Hyperallergic. | Amanda Manitach
After spring’s marquee auctions, we are led to believe that everything in our important art universe is doing just fine. It isn’t.| Marc J. Straus
A romp through early punk culture, Odilon Redon’s dreamy portraiture, Willie Birch’s papier-mâché odes to New Orleans, Samella Lewis’s visions in woodcut, and more.
Residencies, fellowships, grants, and open calls from the VH Award, Bennett Prize, and more in our monthly list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers.