Over 150 artists have urged the
Museum of Modern Art to
remove Leon Black from its board of trustees. Black recently announced that he would step down as CEO of his private equity firm Apollo Global Management after an independent report found that he provided convicted sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein with a $30 million loan.
Andrea Fraser, Nan Goldin, Michael Rakowitz, and
Xaviera Simmons are among the signatories.
After weeks of opposition against government censorship in
Turkey, protests have escalated after a
group of students was detained for creating LGBTQ posters. The initial demonstrations started one month ago after
President Erdoğan appointed one of his political allies as the school’s rector, inciting outrage over political motivations.
Months of dispute over a
Nick Cave artwork has come to a close after a zoning board in
Kinderhook, New York, ruled in a unanimous vote that “Truth Be Told” (2020) was “a political message and art,” and
therefore protected by the First Amendment. The work had recently been removed after a code enforcement officer instigated a stop-work order for the 160-foot message on
Jack Shainman Gallery’s upstate outpost.
A
Botticelli painting
sold for $92.2 million, becoming the second most expensive Old Master work ever sold at auction. The tempera on panel painting is one of three portraits by the 15th-century artist left in private hands.
Two
recent investigations of “Salvator Mundi,” including one conducted by the Louvre, suggest sections of the portrait were not part of
Leonardo da Vinci’s original design and may have been painted by another artist.
Awards & Accolades
Tacita Dean, Renée Green, Sky Hopinka, Joan Jonas, and Oscar Santillán were selected for an inaugural art commission by the Holt/Smithson Foundation.
Porfirio Gutiérrez will be awarded the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation Art Prize, and Jovan C. Speller will be awarded the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation Minnesota Art Prize.
Lauren Halsey was awarded the 2021 Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence Prize by the Seattle Art Museum.
Transitions
Polly Brannan was named artistic director of Open School East in the United Kingdom.
Kelly Taxter was named director of the Parrish Art Museum in Watermill, New York.
In Memoriam
Guy Brett (1942–2021), curator and critic |
ARTnews Robert Cohan (1925–2021), dancer, choreographer, and artistic director |
Guardian Dustin Diamond (1977–2021), actor and stand-up comedian known for his role on
Saved by the Bell |
New York Times Rini Dippel (1931–2021), Stedelijk Museum curator |
ARTnews Sibongile Khumalo (1957–2021), singer of classical, jazz, opera, and traditional South African music |
Africa Report Ricky Powell (1961–2021), photographer known for his images of the hip-hop music scene and downtown New York City
Sophie (1986–2021), pioneering producer, songwriter, and musician |
Pitchfork Monika Tilley (1934–2021), swimwear and loungewear designer and founding Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) member |
WWD Marc Wilmore (1963–2021), writer for
In Living Color, The Simpsons, F Is for Family, and more |
New York Times 
