Everything you need to know about the most important headlines from the world of art in the last seven days
The Art World This Week
Austin photographer turns lens on his unexpected cancer journey in new book
VIPs keep market afloat at Art Basel Miami Beach
A market-wide show of resilience, or a collective display of faking it until you make it? That was the question hovering over the first VIP day of Art Basel in Miami Beach on Wednesday. Although the final answer will not become clear until later, results in the early hours of the fair gave reason for at least some measured optimism.
Despite a nearly year-long market correction that has chastened many in the trade, the convention centre’s aisles were abuzz shortly after doors opened. Anyone ignorant to the broader market context would have had a difficult time detecting much anxiety. Still, conversations reaffirmed that the latest iteration of the fair is taking place in a more discerning environment than even last year’s edition, when the cracks in the trade were beginning to show.
“It’s a slightly more selective market. For us, that’s not a bad thing because we have a lot of things that are really canonised,” says Nick Olney, the president of Kasmin gallery. “We’re not aiming to push markets into some really hot streak, we’re really building things for the long term.”
Kasmin’s stand, larger than in previous years, features works by a wide range of artists, from the institutional fixtures Alex Katz and Judith Bernstein to the ascendant American artists Cynthia Daignault and vanessa german. The gallery made several sales in the opening hours, from $1.4m for Katz’s Leigh (2007) to $50,000 for 31-year-old Sara Anstis’s The tree surgeon (2023).
Several other blue-chip stalwarts were rewarded for soldiering on, albeit not at market-recalibrating levels. Thaddaeus Ropac placed three works in the seven-figure range by early Wednesday afternoon, particularly notable given the gallery’s long-time refusal to presell the pieces bound for its stands. Robert Rauschenberg’s Copperhead-Bite IX / ROCI CHILE (1985) led the pack at $1.7m, while Georg Baselitz’s Alles fällt vom Tisch (2020) and Grüße aus Dinard (2023) sold for €1.5m and €1.2m, respectively.
Gladstone Gallery placed $2.2m worth of works in the fair’s first two hours: a pair of Keith Haring works on paper for $950,000 and $650,000, Amy Sillman’s painting Machine (2023) for $450,000 and an untitled acrylic-on-archival-print work by Arthur Jafa for $150,000. Pace Gallery also closed multiple deals for six-figure prices, including Isamu Noguchi’s Plus Equals Minus (around 1945-79) for $450,000, a painting from the Korean artist Lee Kun-Yong’s Bodyscape series for $250,000 and multiple editions of Lynda Benglis’s 2023 bronze sculpture QT for more than $200,000 each.
Lehmann Maupin did similarly well with international artists and buyers alike. Teresita Fernández’s Dark Earth (Reservoir), a 2023 wall-based work, went to prominent private collectors in Europe for between $375,000 and $425,000. Lee Bul’s Perdu CLXXXVII (2023) is bound for a Hong Kong-based collection at a price in the $250,000 to $300,000 range. The gallery also placed a piece by the Brazilian duo OSGEMEOS, on show in the fair’s Kabinett sector, for $250,000 with US collectors.
Opening-hours demand went beyond the canonical names, with some young artists’ work flying off the stands. Perrotin, which split its large stand between a solo presentation of new paintings by the fast-rising California-based artist Emma Webster and a group presentation of the gallery’s other artists, also found swift success. All eight of Webster’s paintings, of climate-change-induced apocalyptic landscapes adapted from the artist’s own digital models, were placed by early afternoon, at prices from $80,000 to $175,000 each. The gallery also found buyers for works by Jason Boyd Kinsella, Alex Gardner and Xiyao Wang, at prices ranging from $65,000 to $115,000, as well as an Emily Mae Smith canvas (priced $200,000 to $300,000).
Setting aside sales, the exposure provided by a mega-fair like Art Basel in Miami Beach remains irreplaceable for modestly sized dealers. “This is a place that is key for us in terms of developing our programme and developing our collector base,” says Omayra Alvarado-Jensen, the executive director of the Bogotá- and New York-based gallery Instituto de Visión, which is selling works by Latin American women artists, ranging from $5,000 to $60,0000.
“It’s a tighter market,” one New York-based adviser said early on preview day. “Dealers who play it safe, they’re boring everyone. The ones who are willing to say, ‘This is my eye, this is my vision’, they do really well.”
Jordan Wolfson Debuts New Robot Performer at NGA
Body Sculpture depicts mature themes and generates sound levels that reach 100 decibels, the Canberra institution warned.
Native American art, DigIndy road closure, Governor’s Fellowship
On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon, M.D., R-Indiana, released a statement following the passing of his friend and Perry County community leader Tom McCart
U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon, M.D., R-Indiana
Bucshon: “It is with a heavy heart that I share the news of the passing of my friend, Tom McCart. Tom McCart was a devoted family man and steadfast community leader within Perry County’s banking industry. He was known for his great sense of humor along with his unparalleled empathy, always being there for others in times of joy and sorrow. Tom will be greatly missed, and the void he leaves is truly irreplaceable. In this difficult time, my heart goes out to his wife, Debbie, and his children, and I ask that Hoosiers join me in praying for his family. May they find comfort and strength in cherished memories and the enduring legacy of a remarkable man.”
An exhibition of contemporary Native American art is now open at the Eiteljorg and continues through Feb. 25.
From the press release: “UNSETTLE / Converge: The 2023 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship features the works of five Native artists from the U.S. and Canada who create multimedia, ceramic sculpture, assemblage, beadwork and photography. The exhibition is included with regular museum admission. Details are here: https://eiteljorg.org/news-release-eiteljorg-contemporary-art-fellowship-exhibition-redefines-contemporary-native-art/”
Citizens Energy Group has announced the closure of a segment of E. Pleasant Run Parkway N. Drive, between Denny Street and near Brookfield Road, to conclude in August 2024.
From the press release: “Located primarily through Christian Park on Indianapolis’ east side, the impacted segment will allow for continued work on the DigIndy Tunnel System project. … Completed portions of the DigIndy Tunnel System already have prevented nearly 5 billion gallons of sewage from entering our local waterways. The entire system will be finished in 2025. Learn more about DigIndy online, and check out the 360 VR Tunnel Tour on YouTube.”
Applications will be accepted through Jan. 31 for the 2024–2025 Governor’s Fellowship, which places fellows in various state agencies on a rotating basis throughout the year. The application and submission guidelines can be found online at www.in.gov/gov/fellowship.htm.
Governor Eric Holcomb smiles in front of the American and Indiana state flags.
Gov. Eric Holcomb: “Our Governor’s Fellows are such a valuable piece to our team. The wide range of assistance they provide over the course of their fellowship is key to serving Hoosiers. The experience is mutually beneficial as the fellows gain immeasurable professional skills that will serve them well into their professional careers.”
More than 200 practitioners, partners and advocates recently attended an end-of-year celebration hosted by the Indiana Public Health Association in Carmel.
From the press release: “The event highlighted the Governor’s Public Health Commission (GPHC) study and recommendations, which resulted in updated state legislation and a historic investment of $225 million in the current biennium for local public health services. Now known as Health First Indiana, this initiative empowers counties to determine their local health needs and then implement programs focused on prevention, with the goal of ensuring every Hoosier has access to the core public health services that allow them to achieve their optimal health and well-being. Eighty-six of Indiana’s 92 counties have opted to receive funding in 2024.”
IPHA President Joan Trendell: “We’re thrilled to bring together partners from across Indiana to recognize and show appreciation for the dedication and persistence of Indiana’s public health workforce. There have been significant challenges and lessons over the past few years, and together we have found ways to improve, advance and sustain our collective efforts.”
Judy Monroe, MD, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation and co-chair of the Governor’s Public Health Commission: “It’s such an exciting time for public health in Indiana. State and local leaders, in partnership with community-based organizations and practitioners, have made a transformational investment in core public health services delivered at the local level. Indiana’s approach of studying the current system, talking and listening to community members, identifying evidence-based strategies across key focus areas, and then developing recommendations for improvements provides a tremendous example for other states to follow.”
9 astounding photos this mom took to keep herself calm while giving birth.
Andrew Kotite’s Kinetic Sculpture Pairs a Raspberry Pi and 40 Microcontrollers with 80 Steel Balls
Raising and lowering 80 individually-addressable steel balls in concert with 172 RGB LEDs provides a mesmerizing effect.
Curator Tom Hill was ‘a beacon of light’ for Indigenous artists
Tom Hill helped raise the stature of Indigenous artists in Canada, opening a dialogue that offered a more realistic depiction of Indigenous peoples.Woodland Cultural Centre
Thomas Vernon Hill was an artist, curator, art historian, arts administrator and champion of Indigenous culture. For more than half a century, he contributed mightily to raising the stature of Indigenous artists in Canada, particularly through his work at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ont. Known as Tom to his many admirers in Canada’s cultural milieu and on the international scene, Mr. Hill was a member of the Konadaha Seneca. He died in the company of his family on Nov. 11 at the age of 80.
He was born on May 9, 1943, to Alton and Daisy (née Johnson) Hill at Oshweken, in the Grand River Territory of the Six Nations, near Brantford. He graduated from the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University) in 1967 and continued his studies on a scholarship at the National Gallery of Canada and Carleton University.
Expo 67 was a turning point for Mr. Hill, who contributed a ceramic mural at the event’s Indians of Canada Pavilion. He began a dialogue with fellow Indigenous artists offering a more realistic, less stereotypical or romanticized depiction of Indigenous peoples.
In 1968 he was named director of the Cultural Affairs section of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. In that role he was instrumental in displaying and promoting the work of Indigenous artists. Among those he mentored was actor and musician Gary Farmer, who worked for the Woodland Cultural Centre starting in 1973, driving a bus to exhibit art in Indigenous communities.
“It was a precious period for me,” said Mr. Farmer, who had grown up largely in the United States and was reconnecting with his Six Nations community at the time. “Tom was a big help to me. He saw something in me. He was this guy in the background, the sensible guy government could trust.”
In 1977, during Mr. Hill’s 14-year stint as a civil servant, Mr. Farmer was among a group of Indigenous artists Mr. Hill selected to meet Queen Elizabeth II on a royal visit.
Throughout his time in Ottawa, Mr. Hill remained close to his Six Nations community and the development of the Woodland Cultural Centre. It was built on the site of the Mohawk Institute Residential School, known as the Mush Hole because of the bowls of poor-quality mushy porridge served to students there.
The Six Nations community took possession of the principal building in the 1970s and made it into a museum and cultural hub.
“It’s significant that we are on a residential school site,” said Woodland Cultural Centre executive director Heather George. “We are engaged here in building resiliency through contemporary art and in that way also building on Tom’s legacy. Every day I come in here I realize how I and the communities benefit from his generosity and kindness.”
Mr. Hill was museum director at the Woodland Cultural Centre from 1982 to 2005, but his presence was felt far beyond the Brantford facility.
“I met Tom on almost my first day at the [Royal Ontario Museum],” said Trudy Nicks, senior curator emeritus at the ROM. “He was this wonderful, smiley, happy person who walked into my office to welcome me to the ROM. He became an important colleague, a friend and a mentor. Although he was at Woodland, it was hard to pin him down to a single role. He was very involved with the wider museum community. He was absolutely critical in building bridges between communities.”
In 1988, a controversy erupted concerning The Spirit Sings, an exhibition at Calgary’s Glenbow Museum that coincided with the Winter Olympics in that city. The Lubicon Lake Cree called for a boycott because the show’s sponsor, Shell Canada, was drilling in an area they claimed as their traditional lands. The brouhaha brought forward a cluster of tensions concerning Indigenous peoples, anthropology, ethnology and the role of museums. In the aftermath, the federal government set up a national task force to explore the issues. Its co-chairs were Mr. Hill and Ms. Nicks.
“It was an excellent opportunity to see his skills and insights. He was very open to working together,” Ms. Nicks said. Their report “was more than just a laundry list,” she said. “It dealt with the urgency of Indigenous involvement, access and opportunity. It didn’t solve everything, but it showed both sides a way of going forward.”
In Creation’s Journey – Native American Identity and Belief a book Mr. Hill co-edited for the Smithsonian Institution in 1994, he wrote, “the task force called for new partnerships between institutions and First Peoples to be based on such principles as mutual appreciation, the recognition of shared interests, and full involvement of Native Americans in the development of policies and programs. All this is a far cry from the practices of the past.”
Mr. Hill published widely including co-authoring the book Norval Morrisseau and the Emergence of The Image Makers, with Elizabeth McLuhan, in 1984.
As he emerged as a force as a curator and museum director, Mr. Hill put his own career as a visual artist on hold. Of that decision he told an interviewer in 2004, “You can’t be the patient and be the doctor too. Here I am now taking the role of the curator, and so I can’t do my own art … I’ve let my own art career go by the wayside.”
Museum director Rick Hill (no relation), who co-edited Creation’s Journey: Native American Identity and Belief with Tom Hill, called his friend and collaborator a bridge-builder, saying, “He was a cultural mediator here between Christians, Longhouse People and people in between to bring people together just as he was also a cultural mediator to government.”
“He was one of the few people who could talk about Picasso, the Canadian arts movement or a sacred object,” Rick Hill added. “We didn’t always agree, but he got me to rethink things. His greatest gift was to get us to think about what we think, what we make and what we say. He did that while maintaining and even embellishing Haudenosaunee intellectual tradition. He thought tradition could be used to fashion a new future.”
Tom Hill’s community involvement included participation with Old Mush, a group of male singers who perform traditional Six Nations songs. They sang at Mr. Hill’s funeral service at Oshweken.
Tom Hill had many diverse achievements over a long, productive life. In addition to museum direction and visual arts, he also contributed to stage productions. He worked on the script of Paddle Song, a one-woman show about Mohawk poet Pauline Johnson, with writer Dinah Christie.
In 2015, Mr. Hill invited Cheri Maracle, a Haudenosaunee/Irish actress, singer, playwright and professional host, to read for the lead part. Ms. Maracle was stunned when Mr. Hill reached out. “I first met him when I was a young girl. I was really floored by who he was, by his breadth. He was someone I aspired to be like.” She got the role.
Tom Hill with Haudenosaunee/Irish actress Cheri Maracle. Maracle got the lead role in Paddle Song, which Hill worked on, and plays a water drum given to her by the curator at one point in the play.Cheri Maracle
Paddle Song, featuring Ms. Maracle, toured Canada and was staged in Norway. She also performed excerpts from the show in New Delhi. As she sings at one point in the play, Ms. Maracle beats a water drum given to her by Tom Hill. “Getting the drum ready by soaking it and stretching it is part of my warm-up for the show every night.” In addition to remembering his sense of humour and lovely giggle, Ms. Maracle recalls his “infectious enthusiasm and his positive support. He was instrumental in seeing Indigenous artists succeed. He was a beacon of light to so many people.”
Among his many honours, Mr. Hill was named to the Order of Ontario in 1993 and received the Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts, and honorary fellowships from the Canadian Museum Association and OCAD University. He was a member of OCAD University’s Indigenous Education Council from 2008 to 2018 and received an honorary doctorate from Wilfred Laurier University in 2003.
Tom Hill leaves his wife of 48 years, Roberta Jamieson; his sister, Rose Margaret Hill; daughter, Jessica; and grandchildren, Daisy, Miles and Lyla (Bird).
Catalina Classic Commemorative Statue photography contest winners
A photography contest whose sole subject was the Catalina Classic Commemorative Statue at the Manhattan Beach pier was hosted last month by the South Bay Boardriders Club, Paul’s Photo and Easy Reader.
Second prize by Homer Hernandez.
The statue was dedicated in August (at no cost to Manhattan Beach), after seven years of planning and fundraising by the Boardriders Club. The 17-foot tall bronze statue was sculpted by former Hermosa Beach pro surfer Chris Barela. It commemorates the Catalina Classic Paddleboard race held each year in August. The 32 mile race begins at Two Harbors on Catalina Island and ends the Manhattan Beach pier.
Third prize by Samir Shahin.
Contest winners are: First prize Dennis White; Second prize Homer Hernandez; Samir Shahin.
Honorable mention by William Skones
Honorable mention by JP Cordero
A New Film Documents Kerry James Marshall’s Dynamic Stained Glass Windows for the Washington National Cathedral
How do you revise a narrative that some still believe true? And, how do you change that story to focus on perseverance and reform when the fight for justice is ongoing?
In 2017, two stained glass windows commemorating Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson were removed from the Washington National Cathedral. When Kerry James Marshall (previously) was commissioned to create their replacements, he grappled with these questions, ultimately offering a dynamic pair of works installed this September.
A new short film for Art21’s Extended Play series documents the artist’s process and thinking behind the monumental windows, which were made in collaboration with stained-glass artisan Andrew Goldkuhle. The vibrant pieces depict anonymous protestors engaged in a peaceful demonstration. Some figures holding signs saying “No,” “No Foul Play,” and “Fairness,” slogans inspired by a speech by Chicago’s first Black mayor, Harold Washington. The phrases connect a basic principle of the U.S. Constitution with that of dishonesty and crimes and reflect the need to redress wrongs.
“We tend to make celebrities the focal point of any kind of achievement when for the most part, almost all the achievements we experience are the work of a vast number of anonymous and unidentified people who put in the work on a day-to-day basis,” Marshall says. The title of both the windows and the documentary, “Now and Forever,” reflects this dedication to showing up and striving for a better world each day.
No matter how much progress we make, the artist reminds us, “achievement doesn’t necessarily mean complacency.”
Watch the full film above and find more about the project on Art21.
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