News From Around the Art World: November 12, 2018
Contemporary art’s value may be on the rise, but it comes at a greater cost
Chicago’s aborted effort to sell Kerry James Marshall’s public work teaches us something about the transactional nature of today’s culture
By Michelle Grabner, The Art Newspaper
Kerry James Marshall named most influential contemporary artist
Kerry James Marshall, the American figurative painter who set a record at auction this year for the most expensive work by a living black artist, has been judged the world’s most influential artist in an annual contemporary power list.
Via The Guardian
Reimagining Norman Rockwell’s America
In 2012, Hank Willis Thomas saw a poster of Norman Rockwell’s painting of a family seated around a holiday table, the matriarch presenting a turkey to her guests. For Mr. Thomas, a 42-year-old black artist raised in Manhattan, the pale complexions in Mr. Rockwell’s 1943 masterpiece did little to represent his experience of a diverse America. So he decided to create a tableau of his own.
By Lauren M. Holson, The New York Times
What’s the Secret to Making It as an Artist? A New Study Says the First Few Years Are Key
What does it take to make it as a professional artist today? The most critical thing is to show at the right places early on, according to a new study published in the journal Science.
Data scientists looked at the careers of a half-million artists between 1980 and 2016 and found that early endorsement by prestigious art institutions was the best predictor of long-term success. The data, collected by the firm Magnus, included exhibitions at 16,002 galleries and 7,568 museums, as well as sales at 1,239 auction houses.
By Sarah Cascone, Artnet News
