The Rise and Fall of Kavi Gupta: Chicago Dealer Faces Lawsuits, Claims of Mismanagement

Gupta’s business has been struggling. His staff has shrunk, as has his artist roster, and people close to the gallery say there are serious financial issues, with both employees and artists going unpaid for various stretches. He is dealing with two lawsuits—one against his gallery and one against him that has not been previously reported. His gallery’s main location is now open only by appointment, after “a ‘Tsunami’ of weather-related disasters,” including water damage that affected electrical lines and tornado damage to the roof, according to a since-deleted December 10 Instagram post. One recent exhibition stayed up for five months, far from the standard four- or five-week turnaround for a gallery show.

Via Artnet

Image: Kavi Gupta in his booth at Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida, in 2014. Photo: Getty Images.

As Los Angeles Fires Rage On, Artists Raise Money to Fund Rebuilding Efforts

In Los Angeles this week, museums burned to the ground, many artists’ homes were lost, and a number of artworks were endangered. And with four fires currently blazing, members of the city’s art scene have banded together to raise money for artists and art workers impacted by all the destruction.

Via ARTnews

There Are No Art Hierarchies in the KAWS Collection

If there is one exhibition in New York City that I would recommend everyone see before it closes, it is The Way I See It: Selections from the KAWS Collection at the Drawing Center. KAWS (born Brian Donnelly) is ubiquitous — my barbershop sells figurines of his demented Mickey Mouse with X’d out eyes, as do shops around the world. He is the only artist whose works can be bought by teenagers, multimillionaires, and people getting their hair cut. For those in the art world who don’t look at auction sales, The KAWS ALBUM (2005) — a mash-up of characters from The Simpsons and the album artwork for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles — sold in Hong Kong for $14.8 million. 

By John Yau for Hyperallergic