3 min read · 03 May 2024
Installation view, Maurizio Cattelan, SUNDAY (2024), Copyright the artist. Photography by Maris Hutchinson. Courtesy of Gagosian
This was the week Frieze returned to The Shed and 1:54, the fair for collectors focused on contemporary African art, also returned to New York. Maurizio Cattelan caused a stir (again), unveiling a gold-plated wall riddled with bullet holes at Gagosian, and Pope Francis made a historic vist to the Venice Biennale, viewing another Cattelan showstopper.
1 Holly Hendry’s works were all snapped up at Frieze New York, where Stephen Friedman’s booth was a magnet for collectors.
2 Works by Arlene Shechet were in demand at Frieze. Pace sold out its booth on opening day. See also the artist’s monumental work recently intalled at Storm King in upstate New York.
3 Esther Mahlangu’s brightly colored, abstract works inspired by traditional Ndebele designs were a talking point at 1:54 African art fair’s New York edition this week.
4 Picasso’s Cubist portrait of his lover, the artist Dora Maar, which he kept in his personal collection, heads to auction for the first time at Phillips, New York, on May 14. The painting could fetch $18m.
5 The big Keith Haring show now on view at the Walker Art Center includes a special section about the artist's 1984 residency at the Minneapolis museum. It was organized by then-curator Adam Weinberg, who went on to run the Whitney museum.
6 Petrit Halilaj unveiled his rooftop commission at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Tuesday. Called Abetare, it was inspired by a text book he used as a child refugee from Kosova.
7 The late artist Noah Davis’ painting Untitled (Boy with Glasses) is due to be sold by Aryn Drake-Lee, the ex-wife of the actor and collector Jesse Williams, at Phillips on May 14, reports ARTnews in its guide to who is selling what in New York’s spring sales.
And in other news
Venice: Pope Francis became the first pontiff to visit the art Biennale, making a flying visit to the Vatican’s pavilion held in a womens’ prison.
Paris: Two climate protestors were arrested at the Musee d’Orsay. They were reportedly carrying white liquid and were wearing slogan t-shirts.
"‘I’m really in the trenches on this one where I was like, screw an eclipse.’ Sedrick Chisom sits down with fellow artist Kara Walker ahead of his solo show at CLEARING, New York, to talk about the Apocalypse, white supremacy and being a Black artist."
- Interview
Coming next week
Independent returns to New York next week in a birthday mood. The booth-free art fair celebrates its 15th edition with an section called “15x15”, focusing on its greatest hits. Opening to VIPs on May 9, the fair runs through to Sunday, May 12, at Spring Studios, Tribeca.
Maurizo Cattelan's mural on the Vatican Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Photograph by Julie Baumgardner/Hyperallergic