Dr. Tricia Y. Paik appointed as Curator of Contemporary Art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

INDIANAPOLIS, IN.- Dr. Charles L. Venable, The Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, announced today that Dr. Tricia Y. Paik has been named the Museum’s new curator of contemporary art. In her role, Paik will be responsible for the preservation, interpretation and continued growth of the IMA’s contemporary art collection as well as the strategic presentation of contemporary art throughout the IMA’s 152-acre campus, including the IMA’s permanent galleries, special exhibition spaces and The Virginia [...]

Arnolfini announces Middlesbrough Institute of Contemporary Art’s Kate Brindley as Interim Director

BRISTOL.- Arnolfini Centre for the Contemporary Arts in Bristol announced the appointment of Kate Brindley as its Interim Director. She will take up post on 1 April 2014. Kate is an experienced and respected visual arts professional whose career has been characterised by her curatorial and leadership skills. She joins Arnolfini from the Middlesbrough Institute of Contemporary Art (mima), where, as Director, she has firmly established this ambitious, new-build initiative on the cultural map. During her time in the North East, she [...]

Sotheby’s announces Worldwide Heads of Contemporary and Impressionist & Modern Art

NEW YORK, NY.- Bill Ruprecht, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Sotheby’s, today announced the appointment of Alexander Rotter and Cheyenne Westphal as Worldwide Heads of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Department. Bill Ruprecht also announced the appointment of Helena Newman and Simon Shaw as Worldwide Heads of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department. In addition, Samuel Valette has been named Vice Chairman Worldwide of Private Sales for the category. “Over the past several years, Sotheby’s global Contemporary team, under the leadership of [...]

Pilchuck Glass School’s Diane Wright to join Chrysler Museum of Art as the Barry Curator of Glass

NORFOLK, VA.- The Chrysler Museum of Art has hired Diane C. Wright as the Carolyn and Richard Barry Curator of Glass. Wright begins her new appointment in March 2014. She will be responsible for the display, interpretation, study, and care of works of art in the Museum’s glass collection of over 10,000 objects, many of which will be showcased in the newly expanded glass galleries when the Museum reopens in spring 2014. Wright comes to the Chrysler Museum from the Pilchuck Glass [...]

Okwui Enwezor appointed as director of the Visual Arts Sector for the 56th Biennale di Venezia

MUNICH.- The Board of Directors of la Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, after thanking and expressing its gratitude to Massimiliano Gioni for the excellent results of the 55th International Art Exhibition, appointed Okwui Enwezor Director of the Visual Arts Sector. Enwezor has been granted the specific responsibility of curating the 56th International Art Exhibition, to be held in 2015 (Venice, Giardini and Arsenale, May 9 – November 22, 2015). At the end of the meeting of the Board, President [...]

Wang Jianwei selected as first commissioned artist for Chinese art initiative

NEW YORK, NY.- The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum announced the selection of Beijing-based artist Wang Jianwei as the first commissioned artist for The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative at the Guggenheim Museum. Launched in early 2013, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative at the Guggenheim Museum has been established to expand the discourse on contemporary Chinese art by commissioning Chinese artists to create major works that will enter the Guggenheim Museum’s permanent collection and [...]

Emir of Qatar’s sister named biggest player in art world by Britain’s ArtReview magazine

LONDON (AFP).- The sister of the Emir of Qatar was named the most influential figure in the art world in a “power list” published by Britain’s ArtReview magazine on Thursday. Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bint al-Thani has around $1 billion a year to spend on art as head of the Qatar Museums Authority (QMA), according to ArtReview — 30 times more than New York’s Museum of Modern Art. “No wonder, then, that whenever Sheikha Al-Mayassa is in town, everyone from government ministers [...]

Sotheby’s appoints Julian King as International Specialist and Carrie Li as Senior Specialist

HONG KONG.- Sotheby’s today announces the appointment of Julian King as International Specialist and Carrie Li as Senior Specialist (Greater China) of the Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art department. Together Mr. King and Ms. Li possess nearly three decades of experience in the art and auction business as well as strong and extensive relationships with clients and dealers worldwide. Based in Hong Kong, Mr. King and Ms. Li will report to Nicolas Chow, Sotheby’s International Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works [...]

DESTE Prize 2013 Awarded to Kostas Sahpazis

ATHENS.- The DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art and the Museum of Cycladic Art announced the winner of the DESTE Prize 2013. During an Award Ceremony that took place on Monday, September 9, 2013 at the Museum of Cycladic Art, the DESTE Prize was awarded to Kostas Sahpazis. On behalf of the Jury Committee, Ms. Bice Curiger, curator of Kunsthalle Zurich, made the following announcement: “It is a pleasure to announce to you in the name of all the jurors the winner of [...]

Spanish artist Cecilia Gimenez to share riches from botched restoration of a painting of Christ

MADRID (AFP).- An 82-year-old Spanish woman whose botched restoration of a painting of Christ made her a global laughing stock is to reap nearly half the riches from worldwide merchandising of the monkey-like image. Cecilia Gimenez took it upon herself a year ago to fix up Ecce Homo (Behold the Man), a flaking, century-old fresco of Christ painted on a pillar in a church in Borja, northeastern Spain. The touched-up result resembled a pale-faced ape with cartoon-style eyes and mouth and a [...]

Q&A with Scarlette Lee, Director of Core Design Gallery, on Contemporary Malaysian art

SUBANG JAYA.- Scarlette Lee, the director of Core Design Gallery, an exclusive boutique art gallery which specializes in Malaysia Contemporary Art, talks to us about the gallery’s new project, the Great Malaysia Contemporary Art (GMCA). Malaysia Art has been very much sought after especially with the emergence of art auction houses for the past 3 years. What is the current scenario for Malaysia Contemporary Art? For the past 10 years, Malaysia Contemporary Art has been receiving tremendous awareness and response from art [...]

Peri Schwartz: ‘Painting Is Like Breathing for Me.’

NEW YORK, NY.- Peri Schwartz, whose work is currently on view in the three-person exhibition “Dwellings” at the Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe, is a formalist and a seeker of harmonies. Schwartz’s compositions get their rigor from the implied presence of a grid, which she offsets and punctuates with painterly gestures and harmonies of color and value. Her most recent oils — studio interiors and still lifes of translucent bottles and jars — have the expressive vitality of perfectly executed [...]

Executive Director of Josef and Anni Albers Foundation awarded Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

BETHANY, CT.- The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation congratulates Nicholas Fox Weber, Executive Director of the Foundation, on his Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres (the Order of Arts and Letters) from the French Ministry of Culture. A ceremony to mark the honor will take place in Paris on Wednesday, October 16, 2013. The Order of Arts and Letters was established in 1957 to recognize eminent artists and writers, as well as people who have contributed significantly to furthering the arts [...]

Zoe Ryan appointed curator of the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial

ISTANBUL.- Zoë Ryan have been appointed as the curator of the second Istanbul Design Biennial, to be held from 18 October to 14 December 2014 by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV). British curator and writer Zoë Ryan is the John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago. Since joining the museum in 2006, British curator and writer Zoë Ryan has been building the museum’s first collection of contemporary design in addition [...]

Bono receives France’s highest cultural honour: Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters

PARIS (AFP).- France on Tuesday bestowed its highest cultural honour on U2 singer Bono at a ceremony in Paris. The Irish singer was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, receiving the medal from French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti. Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, is a leading advocate of aid for Africa. He founded the global anti-poverty group ONE to help fight poverty and disease on the continent. The U2 lead singer has received numerous awards and [...]