What If Your Public Artwork Is Destroyed?

January 20, 2023

Good morning. ☁️ Today in art crimes: Police in San Francisco arrest the gallerist who hosed an unhoused woman, a former payroll manager at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) is indicted for embezzling over $2 million from the museum, and a stolen Elaine de Kooning painting emerges in a Colorado hotel room amidst a huge stash of weapons and drugs.

If that's not enough to excite you, we offer useful tips to artists on how to protect their rights if their public artwork is destroyed. Oh, and an end to Instagram's extreme "female nipple ban" might be in sight.

Finally, it's been a long-held belief that abstract art has its roots in the Western tradition with Paul Cézanne laying the groundwork and Pablo Picasso reaching peaks with his appropriation of African art. Well, that's not exactly accurate, as John Yau explains in his review of the work of Nigerian-American artist Odili Donald Odita.

— Hakim Bishara, Senior Editor

What Rights Do Artists Have When Their Work Is Destroyed?

A string of recent mural removals raises important questions about how public artworks are protected and what recourse, if any, exists for artists in the event of their destruction. | Scotti Hill

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The Houston-based, mission-driven theater company showcases Lisa Loomer’s 2016 play as a reminder that the fight over reproductive rights is not over. Learn more.

THE LATEST

Clockwise from top left: Elaine de Kooning, “Untitled (Madrid Series #3)”; Eanger Irving Couse, “Taos Pueblo at Night”; Jane Freilicher, “Burnett’s Barn”; and Joseph Henry Sharp, “View of the Taos Pueblo” (images courtesy City of Boulder)

Authorities uncovered five previously stolen paintings in a Colorado hotel room, including works by Elaine de Kooning and Jane Freilicher.

San Francisco gallerist Collier Gwin is facing a misdemeanor battery charge for hosing down an unhoused woman.

A former Art Institute of Chicago payroll manager is accused of misappropriating more than $2 million in museum funds.

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Decolonizing Design in Teaching and Practice at Vermont College of Fine Arts

VCFA MFA students, instructors, and alumnx reframe stories and reconnect with identities through graphic design. Learn more.

EXHIBITIONS ON OUT RADAR

What Can Art Do for Women?

A group show of women artists at The Contemporary Austin addresses the weight and urgency of the current political moment. | Lauren Moya Ford

Unmasking the Power of Lucha Libre

Lucha Libre: Beyond the Arenas shows that the performative wrestling genre is about more than the wrestlers or their costumes. | Julianne Aguilar

Abstract Art Did Not Begin With Paul Cézanne

Odili Donald Odita challenges the long-held belief that abstract art is a purely Western tradition. | John Yau

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TRANSITIONS

Atteqa Ali was appointed associate curator of Arts of Global Asia at the Newark Museum.

Gregg Bordowitz was named director of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program.

Helen Toomer was appointed director of PHOTOFAIRS New York.

AWARDS & ACCOLADES

Jammie Holmes and José Parlá were named recipients of the Gordon Parks Foundation’s 2023 fellowship.

Melanee C. Harvey was named the Genevieve Young Fellow in Writing.

Visual artist Maya Lin received the World Economic Forum’s 29th Annual Crystal Award.

Pia Monique Murray was named the 2023 Intergenerational Community Arts Council (ICAC) Artist-In-Residence.

Shahzia Sikander received the Pollock-Krasner Foundation’s Pollock Prize for Creativity.

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