News From Around the Art World: November 20, 2018
David Hockney Is Now the World’s Most Expensive Living Artist
David Hockney became the most expensive living artist Thursday night when Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972) sold at Christie’s for $80 million at the hammer, or $90.3 million with fees. The work sold for exactly its on-request low estimate after nine minutes of bidding.
By Nate Freeman, Artsy Editorial
At Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, new show looks at artists who moved West
Art history is often presented as a tidy continuum — one movement flowing neatly into the next. But the reality is often much more knotty, as artists switch locales, follow teachers and chase whims. “West By Midwest,” running this weekend through Jan. 27 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, offers a case study in this “complex, even messier alternative,” according to co-organizer Charlotte Ickes.
By Kyle MacMillan, Chicago Sun Times
A Picasso Stolen in a Major Heist Six Years Ago Was Found Buried in a Romanian Forest. But It Was All Part of a Prank
A painting by Pablo Picasso stolen in a dramatic heist six years ago has been found buried in a Rotterdam forest. Or, at least, it seemed that way at first. But what appeared to be a cinematic recovery has now been revealed to be a hoax. Two Belgian film directors planted a forged version of the painting—recovered 10 days ago by an expert on the theft—as an elaborate prank.
By Kate Brown, artnet news
Exhibitors see steady sales at the second edition of Puerto Rico's MECA art fair
With hurricane recovery well underway despite many delays, twenty-nine exhibitors—down from just over 30 in 2017—presented at this year's edition of the fair. These included returning New York-based galleries White Columns, 47 Canal and Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, as well as newcomers yours mine & ours and Bridget Donahue; Embajada from Puerto Rico; and Casa Quien from the Dominican Republic. “It’s important to support Puerto Rico and there are a lot of artist-run spaces and interesting artists here trying to make change after Maria,” says Patton Hindle, co-founder of yours mine & ours.
By Ann Binlot, The Art Newspaper
