- Josh Roth is the art lawyer tasked with assembling United Talent Agency’s art team, essentially responsible for the Hollywood agency’s controversial move into representing visual artists. There’s a lot of concern that UTA is going to disrupt traditional artist/gallery/audience relationships and reward entertainment-style spectacle. After reading this interview with him, the whole endeavor seems to make a bit more sense. Maybe this isn’t the L.A. art apocalypse it’s been made out to be? [VICE]
- Well, everyone should’ve seen this coming: secondary market prices for “emerging” artists such as Hugh Scott-Douglas and Lucien Smith are way below the prices they commanded in 2014. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Those prices were over-inflated by speculators just buying to flip, and the correction keeps the primary market in check. Will this encourage young artists and gallerists to stop churning out endless quantities of soulless crapstraction? [Bloomberg]
- Andrew Sullivan’s long-form reflection on his (very common) addiction to a constant data stream of social media as a professional blogger is a good read and very relatable… until about ⅘ of the way through, when it’s suggested that yoga, Burning Man, and organized religion are productive alternatives to wean us off Facebook. The first 10 minutes of this essay had me convinced that living real life should be enough. [New York Magazine]
- This is a great idea. Berlin has trained refugees displaced by ISIS and the associated civil wars as museum guides to give other refugees tours in Arabic. [The Art Newspaper]
- Headline of the week: A Sex Toy Lawsuit Highlights Privacy Concerns Around “Smart” Dildos. The lawsuit centers around “We-Vibe” a dildo that can be controlled via smartphone, and collects data like intensity settings, frequency and date of us. Personally, I’m (Paddy) far less concerned about the privacy issues than I am baffled by the need for such a “smart” product to exist in the first place. To use a dildo you have to hold it in your hand…just like a phone. Isn’t this just complicating the whole procedure? [Motherboard]
- We’ve been fascinated by the story of Rebecca Moss, the artist-in-residence aboard a cargo vessel owned by Hanjin Shipping Company. After the Korean company declared bankruptcy, no port would allow the ship to dock out of fear the parent company wouldn’t be able to pay fees. She’s been stranded at sea by this bizarre situation until September 17th, when the ship was allowed to dock in Tokyo, where she’s now catching up with art world folks. [artnet News]
- That giant statue of Lenin atop the East Village apartment building Red Square has been removed. This comes amid rumors that the complex has been sold to developer Dermot Company. Sad. There’s gotta be some joke in here about capitalism winning over the East or something. [Curbed]
- Kansas Gallery is closing after five years. The gallery was located across the street from Postmasters on Franklin Street in Tribeca. They showed a lot of great young talent and will be missed. [AFC Inbox]
- In other “Kansas” news, Wichita-based artist Curt Clonts wrote a short opinion piece condemning trendy art as social-media-focused or else overtly political “crap”. What’s remarkable about this is the backlash/conversation it started—after igniting heated debate locally online, the Wichita art space Harvester Arts is hosting a public forum to discuss the piece. I can’t tell if living somewhere where one short piece of art criticism ranting could become such a hotly contested issue would be inspiring or crazily suffocating. Either way, it’s good to see people care. [The Wichita Eagle]
- Oh man. Greg Allen reports that we missed the Rob Pruitt birthday panda balloon market on ebay back in June. Doh! [Greg.org]
