News from Around the Art World: February 12, 2018
Photos: SUE the T. rex’s big moving day at the Field Museum
SUE the T. rex has some pretty die-hard fans. When the Field Museum tweeted out that the beloved dinosaur would be moving to a new home within the museum—Alison Laurence immediately bought a plane ticket to Chicago.
She didn’t want to miss the first day of SUE the T. rex’s month-long moving process at the Field Museum on Monday afternoon. Alison, from Evanston but living in Cambridge, Mass., was excited to see researchers take apart SUE because it happens to be directly related to her field of study. She’s working on her PhD at MIT focusing on how extinct animals are displayed in museums and institutions.
By Sara Freund, Curbed Chicago
The Artist JR Will Plaster the Facade of This Year’s Armory Show With the Faces of Immigrants
On the heels of JR’s recent Oscar nomination for Faces Places, a documentary he co-directed with filmmaker Agnes Varda, the French street artist is already working on his next project: an ambitious public art installation for the Armory Show. For the work, titled SO CLOSE, JR is plastering the exterior of Pier 94 with photographs that meld archival images from Ellis Island with portraits of Syrian refugees.
The massive installation has been organized by art dealer Jeffrey Deitch and Artsy, and is a sequel of sorts to “Unframed,” the artist’s 2014 photo installation on Ellis Island. For that project, JR took over the former immigration facility’s abandoned hospital complex, pasting enlarged photographs of patients onto the buildings’ crumbling walls and broken windows.
By Sarah Cascone, artnews
Obamas' portraits unveiled, include official flower of Chicago
Portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama were unveiled Monday at the National Portrait Gallery, showcasing works from the first African-Americans to create paintings for the gallery’s collection of U.S. presidents and their wives.
The former president’s portrait features flowers in the background: chrysanthemums referencing the official flower of Chicago, jasmine evoking his native Hawaii and African blue lilies in memory of his late father. The former first lady’s shows her in a long flowing sleeveless black and white dress embellished with geometric shapes by designer Michelle Smith’s label, Milly.
By Katherine Skiba, Chicago Tribune
Beyond the Golden Toilet: How Does Art End Up in the White House, and What Does It Tell Us About Our Leaders?
It was the loan denial heard around the world. When the White House requested to borrow a painting by Vincent van Gogh from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in September, the museum’s chief curator Nancy Spector kindly declined, but countered with a hum-dinger of a replacement: a golden toilet by Maurizio Cattelan.
After the Washington Post reported the exchange late last month, many applauded her snarkiness, while others—including a Fox Business host who called for the curator’s resignation—viewed it as highly inappropriate.
Party-line divisions aside, the cause célèbre sheds light on a history of lesser-known art loans to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And it illustrates how the Trump Administration appears to be doing things a bit differently than its predecessors.
By Menachem Wecker, artnews