Author: Juddy Miller

Hundreds of artists, cultural workers and activists gathered on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on New York’s Fifth Avenue on Sunday (March 24) to publicly call for the most visited museum in the US to call for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. and undertake to preserve the cultural heritage of Palestine. Demonstrators unfurled a 30-by-50-meter quilt with designs sewn, painted and printed by more than 60 artists expressing solidarity with the Palestinians. The quilt was organized by an international group of artists inspired by the Names Project Aids Memorial Quilt., started in 1987 as a…

Van Gogh’s self-portrait is the perfect cover for many books about the painter. It illustrates not only the art, but also the artist. But, unfortunately, even major publishers and their famous expert writers have occasionally been tricked into choosing a misleading image: at least four fake self-portraits have been included on book covers. The will to live The will to live, Irving Stone’s best-selling novel, has shaped the way we perceive Van Gogh since its publication in 1934. It has been reprinted hundreds of times and extensively translated into dozens of languages. Ninety years later, it’s still in print all…

The foundation of legendary minimalist artist Donald Judd (1928-94) is suing entrepreneur and reality TV star Kim Kardashian and Los Angeles interior design firm Clements Design, alleging that the firm misrepresented tables and chairs furnished for Skkn’s offices. Kim, Kardashian’s company, as the actual design of Judd. The Judd Foundation’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday (March 27) in California’s Central District Court, accuses Kardashian and Clements Design of trademark infringement, copyright infringement, unfair competition, false advertising and false endorsement. The Judd Foundation seeks any profits that Kardashian and Clements Design may receive from the alleged false representations of the tables and chairs…

This week, the British Museum in London launched legal proceedings against one of its former curators, Peter Higgs, accused of stealing up to 2,000 objects from its collection. The archaeologist who first saw the stolen items, however, described the legal action as “locking the stable door after locking the horse”. Higgs was curator of the museum’s Ancient Greek collections and acting head of the Greece and Rome department. It was released last year after revelations that scores of objects had been damaged or disappeared, and this week the museum sued Higgs for the return of the remaining artworks in its…

An enormous canvas made as part of the high-profile collaboration between Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat will be one of the highlights of the spring auction season at Sotheby’s in New York. With an estimate of around $18 million, it is expected to set a new record price under the hammer for a work from the series when it is offered at the auction house’s contemporary art evening sale this May. The untitled 1984 painting is one of 160 works created by the two artists together over a two-year period, which would include some of the last years of their…

In 2016, American multidisciplinary artist Mike Bouchet hired a German perfume expert to distill the scent of the US dollar and spent almost a year extracting the chemical compounds from the pressed banknotes. Cotton and linen were infused with more than 100 chemicals, including ink, metal and sweat, before Bouchet’s new sculpture appeared at New York’s Marlborough Chelsea Gallery in early 2017. Tender, the “synthesized scent of US bills,” filled every corner of the gallery’s 45,000 cubic feet. When art patron, collector and activist Rachel Verghis read Bouchet’s interview in The Wall Street Journal, she was shocked. “It was like…

The debate over Morocco’s national pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, after three artists and curators were suddenly replaced in January, has taken another turn: the country will not have a national pavilion at all. It started as good news for the North African country. In July, Morocco’s culture ministry announced that the country would participate with a national pavilion for the first time. Artist and writer Mahi Binebine was appointed curator, and commissioned three artists to participate: Majida Khattari, Safaa Erruas and Fatiha Zemmouri. The artists were working on their pieces for a deadline of January 11, but in…

The 20th edition of São Paulo’s SP-Arte—Brazil’s main art fair—will open a few weeks before the 60th Venice Biennale (April 20 to November 24), a historic moment for the country’s art world, with Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa. curator of the exhibition. Fernanda Feitosa, founder of SP-Arte, says that the nation’s commercial sector is ready to “capitalize on the moment”. The fair will gather this month 180 exhibitors, including from more than 15 Brazilian cities. “There are 30 Brazilian artists at the Venice Biennale, our largest representation ever,” says Feitosa. “Almost all of these artists have been exhibited at the fair and…

Brazilian dealers Jaqueline Martins and Maria Montero are merging their galleries to create a new joint venture, Martins&Montero. Both Martins, Galeria Jaqueline Martins, and Montero, who founded Sé Galeria, will close their individual spaces in São Paulo and jointly open another in the city next month. Martins&Montero will also take over the second location of Galeria Jaqueline Martins in Brussels. All employees of both galleries will be retained in the merger, and each artist previously represented by Jaqueline Martins or Sé will transfer to the Martins&Montero roster. Founded in 2011, Galeria Jaqueline Martins has grown to represent 30 artists, including…

A unique 19th-century Maori feather cloak, created from thousands of green parrot feathers woven into a grass cloth, has been put on display at Scotland’s new £27m Perth Museum. The cape is a special object for the descendants of its makers: Maori people were invited to Perth to pray and sing over it, as it was carefully packed for transport, and traveled to the British Museum in London, where conservation work was carried out. A closed Facebook group enabled exchanges between two museums in the UK, Te Papa Tongarewa Museum in New Zealand and Māori communities. The cape is in…