Art Industry News: A Greeting Card Company Escalates Its Feud With Bansky, Accusing Him of ‘Tricking Fans’ + Other Stories

Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most
consequential developments coming out of the art world and art
market. Here’s what you need to know on this Monday, October
7.

NEED-TO-READ

UK Museums Double Down on Oil Sponsorship – The British Museum and London’s National
Portrait Gallery are standing by the energy company BP, even while
the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre are cutting
ties with their own oil sponsors (BP and Shell, respectively).
Asked about the decision, a British Museum spokesperson said that
“support from the corporate sector is essential for museums and
arts organizations in times of reduced funding.” The statement will
likely do little to prevent climate activists from continuing to
apply pressure: The group BP or Not
BP? is currently
crowdfunding to build a literal Trojan Horse to unveil during the
British Museum’s exhibition “Troy: Myth and
Reality” in November. The
group is urging demonstrators via social media to “join us as we
lay theatrical siege to the [exhibition].” (Energy Voice, Press
release)

How Oligarchs Use Arts Patronage to Boost Russia’s Image
– The New
York Times takes a deep dive into the increasingly
controversial soft
power flexed by Russia in the United States via arts patronage from
leading oligarchs. (See
artnet News’s full list of notable Russian arts patrons
here.) New York’s Kennedy Center used part of a $6.45 million
gift from Vladimir O. Potanin, who is also on the Guggenheim’s
board, to create a meeting space called the “Russian Lounge.”
Meanwhile, Viktor
Vekselberg’s company, the Renova Group, has donated $13.5 million
to the arts over the past decade. His is one of a number of companies that has
been slapped with sanctions by the US government for its role in or
support of the Putin regime. Now, US cultural institutions are
stuck between a rock and a hard place in deciding whether to accept
these gifts. The Kennedy Center confirmed that it recently rejected a gift from
the Russian bank VTB after the bank’s president,
Andrey Kostin, was placed under
full (as opposed to partial) US sanctions last year.
(New York Times)

Greeting Card Company Accuses Banksy of “Tricking Fans” –
The company Full Colour Black is defending itself against
the world-famous street artist, who claimed the firm was wrongly
trying to take control of Banksy’s trademark by offering unapproved
objects under the artist’s name. In an angry Facebook post, the
greeting-card and street-art licensing company—whose websites were
both down as of Monday morning—insisted that its products do not
“infringe his rights in any way.” They say the artist is “tricking
fans” by painting “our tiny little business as a ‘big corporate’
and paint[ing] himself as the poor artist.” The statement comes
after Banksy and his
lawyers stepped up their battle against the firm by launching a competing
e-commerce business and a storefront exhibition in Croydon, South
London, last week. (Independent)

Robert Indiana’s Hometown Wrestles With His Legacy
– The residents of
Vinalhaven, Robert Indiana’s
longtime island home off the coast of Maine, are concerned about
plans to turn the artist’s former studio into a museum. Around 70
residents gathered at a meeting convened by the late artist’s
nonprofit, the Star of Hope Foundation, to express their concerns
about how the museum might transform the character of the island.
“There’s a lot of emotion,” admits Kris Davidson, one of two locals
who sit on the foundation’s board. There is also a
legal battle raging over the the artist’s
estate and the role
of Indiana’s former caretaker, Jamie L. Thomas. He attended the
recent community meeting but did not speak. (NYT)

ART
MARKET

Sotheby’s Photo Auctions Total $4.3 Million
– Sotheby’s annual fall photography sales in New York
generated a total of $4.3 million. The top lot was the late
American photographer Francesca Woodman’s Polka Dots from 1976, which sold for $200,000, a new auction
record for the artist and more than double the work’s $70,000 high
estimate. (Press release)

Ben Enwonwu’s Portrait Sells for $700,000 – A portrait by Nigeria’s most famous artist, Ben
Enwonwu, sold for £555,063 ($700,000) at Bonhams
in London on October 3. The
painting outperformed expectations, selling for more than twice
its £200,000 high estimate. The Modern and contemporary
African art auction also saw a new record achieved for the artist
South African artist Zanele Muholi, whose photograph sold for
$7,400 with premium. (Press release) 

COMINGS &
GOINGS

M Woods Names New Chief
Curator – The independent curator Victor Wang has
been appointed artistic director and chief curator of the M Woods
Museum in Beijing. He will oversee the institution’s original
location in the 798 Art District as well as its new space in the
city’s Dongcheng District, which opened in August. The news comes
one week after M Woods co-founder Michael Xufu Huang announced
his departure from the institution in order to open a new home for
his collection in the city. (Artforum)

Photographer Sally
Soames Dies – The acclaimed newspaper photographer
has died at the age of 82 after a long illness. Over the course of
her lengthy career, she photographed Andy Warhol, Margaret
Thatcher, and Hilary Mantel. Some 17 of her images are in
the National Portrait Gallery’s collection in
London. (Guardian)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Antony Gormley Plants
Brexit Giants on France’s Coast – The British sculptor
wants to erect seven large bronze sculptures on the coast of France
that will look out at the forlorn United Kingdom, post-Brexit. The
project has yet to receive official approval, but Gormley says
French President Emmanuel Macron is supportive. Gormley has called
Brexit “a stupid moment of collective
fibrillation.” (Guardian)

Why Eike Schmidt Stayed
at the Uffizi – After news broke last week that
director Eike Schmidt would cancel his planned move to the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna at the eleventh hour to stay in
Florence, the curator offered some insight into his decision.
Schmidt says that it became clear to him that the current Vienna
director did not want to leave her post—but he noted
that it is “not at all certain whether” he can remain
director of the Uffizi. (Der Spiegel)

Epstein Accuser Holds
Art Patron Les Wexner Accountable – Artist Maria Farmer, who has accused the deceased
financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein of sexual
assaulting her when she was an art student, has now turned
her focus to his alleged enablers. Elaborating on her account to artnet
News earlier this summer, she says she was held against her
will at an Ohio property that Epstein shared with the
billionaire CEO and arts patron Leslie Wexner, now 82. Wexner, whom
Farmer says she has never met, denies any knowledge of Epstein’s
alleged misconduct. (Washington Post)

Extinction Rebellion
Shines a Light on London’s Tate – Factions of the
Projection Rebellion group, a subsidiary of Extinction Rebellion
(the climate activists who were present at the
opening of Frieze last week), worked with the comic artist and
founder of the band Gorillaz, Jamie Hewlett, on a project that took
over the chimney of Tate Modern on Friday night. The rotating
projection quipped “Time’s up, act now,” “Tell the truth,” and
“Rebel for Life.” (TAN)

The post Art Industry News: A Greeting Card Company
Escalates Its Feud With Bansky, Accusing Him of ‘Tricking Fans’ +
Other Stories appeared first on artnet News.