Art Industry News: Set Dressing for the ‘Barbie’ Movie Caused a Global Shortage on Pink Paint + Other Stories

NEED-TO-READ

Hans Peter Feldmann Dies at 82 – The news was jointly announced by the eight galleries he had worked with. The German conceptual artist’s works made out of his archive of seemingly banal pictures were considered by some critics as predecessors of appropriation art in the 1980s. He became the oldest winner of the Guggenheim Museum’s Hugo Boss Prize in 2011. ()

Ownership of the Benin Bronzes Gets Complicated – Institutions in the West that agreed to return the treasures looted from the Kingdom of Benin palace by the British troops in 1897 are demanding clarification about who will own the bronzes after it was announced that the oba, the direct descendent of the Benin kingdom, would be the sole owner of the restituted treasures, rather than the state or the trust that oversees the development of the new Edo Museum of West African Art. The decision could be challenged by Nigerian officials under the newly elected president Bola Tinubu, who took office last Monday. Cambridge University has postponed its handover ceremony of 116 bronzes until clarity is gained. ()

Barbie Movie Causes Shortage of Pink Paint – Sarah Greenwood, production designer of the upcoming screen adaptation of the world’s famous doll franchise, told Architectural Digest that building the sets caused a global shortage of the Rosco fluorescent pink paint. But Rosco’s global marketing VP, Lauren Proud, clarified that there had already been a supply shortage due to logistical issues relating to the pandemic. “And then we gave them everything we could,” Proud said. ()

Oscar Murillo on How Painting Is Like Winemaking – The 37-year-old artist dubbed “the 21st-century Basquiat” said the making of his new work, 2020-2022, on show at Gagosian, was like “making really good wine, it takes years.” The artist took his time to make art while living in his native Colombia during lockdown. ()

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Rijksmuseum’s Vermeer Show Attendance – The Amsterdam institution has welcomed 650,000 visitors from 113 nations over the course of 16 weeks to its Vermeer exhibition, the most successful since the museum was founded more than two centuries ago. The show ended on Sunday but six of the 28 paintings featured at the exhibition remain on view at the museum. ()

Angela Cassie Leaves Post at National Gallery of Canada – Cassie leaves for another yet to be announced leadership position in Manitoba after one year as the National Gallery of Canada’s interim director and CEO. ()

Woody De Othello Joins Stephen Friedman – The London gallery is jointly representing the 1991-born artist with Jessica Silverman Gallery and Karma. ()

FOR ARTS SAKE

London Philharmonic Serenades in a Parking Garage – The philharmonic opened the 2023 season on Saturday with by Gustav Holst, a piece composed for a 95-member orchestra and chorus in a parking garage in Peckham that is now home to Bold Tendencies as part of London Gallery Weekend. A portrait of Holst is housed in the National Portrait Gallery, set to re-open on June 22 after a three-year closure. ()