Below is CGN's summary of recent art-world news and changes. 

To send us your news email us. 

• Passings

Sabina Ott, artist, professor and local creative champion died at age 62. After a four-year battle with cancer, Ott passed away at home Tuesday, June 26. She exhibited extensively throughout Chicago any beyond, and she was represented by Aspect/Ratio. Read more here. 

Long-time art dealer Roy Boyd died on Wednesday nearly four years after closing his eponymous River North gallery. Read CGN's full tribute here. 

• Art World Moves and Updates

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers announced that the firm appointed Thomas Galbraith as Chief Executive Officer, effective June 4, 2018. He succeeds Hindman who founded the firm in 1982. The appointment follows a private equity investment that positions the firm for aggressive growth.
 
Galbraith co-founded The Petraeus Group in 2010. The consulting firm has provided growth and start-up strategies to Steven Murphy & Partners, Art Dubai, Paddle8, Arthena and numerous other luxury brands and VC firms. During this time, Galbraith also served as Managing Director of Paddle8 and prior to that as Director of Global Strategy for Artnet. He was most recently appointed interim CEO by the board of Twyla, a Google Ventures backed startup, tasked with repositioning the company towards a more profitable future.

Hindman will be stepping back from the day-to-day operations of the auction house and said, “We are extremely excited to have Thomas join us as CEO. With his experience at the cross section of technology and art, and his reputation as a thought leader in the industry, we are poised for future expansion." Hindman will still serve as Chair of the firm's board.

Melanee Cooper Gallery, which was based in Chicago in River North until closing in 2009 when Cooper relocated to California, will be re-opening after a nine year hiatus. Cooper calls her return to her original gallery space at 740 N. Franklin Street "serendipitous." Cooper is pleased to be among her old neighbors and plans a September 7 opening in conjunction with fellow River North galleries and the River North Design District. 

• Artist Awards and Exhibitions Elsewhere

Richard Gray Gallery artist and Stony Island Arts Bank founder Theaster Gates received the Kurt Schwitters Prize. The award ceremony took place on the occasion of Theaster Gates: Black Madonna opening at Sprengel Museum Hannover. Spanning across four European institutions, Black Madonna is a multi-part project that explores the history of the black woman and her image. Additionally Theaster Gates: Black Madonna at the Kunstmuseum Basel takes place in two of the museum’s locations. 

Ben Blount, whose exhibition Typecast is on view at Aron Packer Projects in the CGN office through July 28, has a billboard up on the 606 Trail at Kimball Ave. featuring his Make American Great Again art – read between the lines when you go by. 

Artist Lynn Basa has received the largest public art commission in the history of the Wicker Park and Bucktown neighborhoods for Worker Cottage Parklet, a sculptural installation that pays homage to the traditional Chicago “worker cottages” frequently found in working- and middle-class neighborhoods in the nineteenth century. The $80,000 commission was awarded to Basa by Wicker Park Bucktown Special Service Area #33, the neighborhood’s business improvement district, after an extensive call for artists and jury process led by Chicago art professionals.

Basa’s Worker Cottage Parklet will be installed by July 2018 at the highly visible intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Wood Street in Wicker Park. The intersection was redesigned in 2014 by the Chicago Department of Transportation in collaboration with WPB SSA #33 and 1st Ward Alderman Joe Moreno, to create a safer transit environment and develop a location specifically for a future public artwork.

A giant silver hand by artist Kavi Gupta Gallery artist Tony Tasset is part of FRONT International Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. When finished, the 7-ton work will stand 21 feet high. FRONT will be held July 14–Sept. 30 at 18 venues and dozens of sites in downtown Cleveland, Ohio City, University Circle, Akron and Oberlin. (Image pictured at top of page)

• Announcements

Chicago Art Department is excited to announce the pilot program for the Core Residency Program, an ambitious intervention in the field, one that will challenge artists, organizers, cultural producers to lead studio work, exhibitions, and public programs around topics that matter.

Each of CAD's Core Residencies will come with the challenge of exploring inside a specific topic, and will be fully-funded with stipends and budgets to support professional development. Core Stipends will be $2000 per residency, which will include $500 to specifically support professional development enrolling in outside programs at organizations such as Hyde Park Art Center, Lillstreet Art Center, Spudnik Press, and Chicago Artists Coalition. Applications are due July 8, 2018.

Top of page: Tony Tasset's giant hand sculpture will be installed in Cleveland as part of FRONT

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