NEED TO READ
Art Islands Are the New Status Symbol for the Super Rich – Private art islands are in fashion among the super-rich. Like the tech billionaire character in the 2022 movie who keeps the Mona Lisa on his Greek island, oligarch and AS Monaco majority owner Dmitry Rybolovlev is building a resort on his Greek island Skorpios, and the Carmignac family show their art collection in their foundation on the island of Porquerolles in the Mediterranean. ()
Australia Releases Budget to Save Museum – The Australian Labor Party has announced a new cultural policy that includes an additional AUD$10 million in annual funding for the National Gallery of Australia to address its AUD$265 million shortfall. The policy, which will allow the museum to repair water damage and avoid job cuts, also seeks to establish new cultural institutions in regional areas and support independent artists and galleries. ()
Met Reclassifies Works by Ukrainian Artists – New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has updated the wall text for at least three artists, Ivan Aivazovsky, Arkhyp Kuindzhi, and Ilya Repinby, changing their nationalities from Russian to Ukrainian after facing public pressure online. It also amended the text for the 19th-century landscape painter Kuindzhi’s to note that “In March 2022, the Kuindzhi Art Museum in Mariupol, Ukraine, was destroyed in a Russian airstrike.” ()
Artists Protest NFL Mascots – A group of Native American artists demonstrated against the the NFL’s use of racist mascots while the Superbowl LVII was on in Glendale, Arizona on Sunday. They accused the Kansas City Chiefs of cultural appropriation, from the team’s name and logo as well as fan’s use of the chopping arm gesture known as the “tomahawk chop.” ()
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Vermeer Retrospective Sells Out – Just days after opening to the public, the highly-anticipated Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum has already sold out. 200,000 tickets were already sold before the show opened, and social media users are roundly criticizing the institution, calling the situation “disappointing” with many saying that the website had been down all weekend, preventing them from even the opportunity to book tickets. ()
Foundations Commit to Latinx Curatorial Positions – The Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Getty Foundation, and the Terra Foundation have teamed up on a new $5 million initiative to support Latinx artists. The money, distributed in $500,000 increments to 10 U.S. art institutions, will be used to create permanent early or mid-career curatorial positions within the field of Latinx art. ()
Rihanna’s Superbowl Ensemble Honors André Leon Talley – Riri’s Superbowl ensemble may have been a nod to the late fashion editor André Leon Talley, who died in January 2022. The Loewe red boiler suit, breastplate, and especially the sweeping Alaïa puffer coat appeared to many as a tribute to Talley’s famed Norma Kamali sleeping bag coat, which is being sold as part of Christie’s upcoming auction of his estate. ()
FOR ARTS SAKE
The New Generation of Wet Paint Hats Have Arrived – In collaboration with artist Kiko Kostadinov’s brand Otto 958, Artnet News’s very own in-house gossip columnist Annie Armstrong has minted a new collection of Wet Paint hats, which you can buy on their website. The lids will be available at 10 a.m. PST, just in time for Frieze week in Los Angeles. ()
Get ’em while you can! Wet Paint hats courtesy of artist Kiko Kostadinov’s brand Otto 958.
