What We're Reading: 6/24

State agencies expected to oppose adding Helmut Jahn’s Thompson Center to National Register of Historic Places

Preservationists fear two Illinois agencies will oppose having the James R. Thompson Center added to the National Register of Historic Places, which the groups see as a key to saving the Helmut Jahn-designed building in the Loop.

The state agencies are expected to move to block the designation Friday in a meeting of the Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council, preservation groups said, citing a publicly posted document in which the agencies say they agree that the Thompson Center should not be considered historically significant enough to be preserved.

Via Chicago Tribune

Artist Beeple Sold His NFT for $69 Million—But Has a Tough Time Breaking Into the Art World

Digital designer and artist Mike Winkelmann, who goes by Beeple, sparked a global frenzy for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, after Christie’s sold his digital collage for $69 million in March—but since then he’s maintained a relatively low profile, stoking curiosity about his next big move.

Now, Mr. Winkelmann is opening up, revealing that he’s had a rocky entrée into the art establishment even though he currently ranks as the world’s third most-expensive living artist after Jeff Koons and David Hockney.

Via WSJ

Phillips’ New York Sale Driven by Emerging Artists

Phillips 20th-century and contemporary art sale Wednesday evening in New York continued the auction house’s streak of 100% sold sales driven by a slew of hot contemporary artists. 

The total reached US$118.2 million after several long rounds of bidding with buyers from across the world throughout the two-and-a-half hour sale. 

The stars of the evening were emerging artists, including Avery Singer, Matthew Wong, Emily Mae Smith, Titus Kaphar, Amy Sherald, Amoako Boafo, and Mickalene Thomas, among others. 

Via Barrons

Two Immersive Van Gogh Experiences Offer the Post-Pandemic Escapism Visitors Crave. They Have Weirdly Little to Do With Van Gogh

How did Van Gogh become the hottest artist of the post-quarantine, return-to-physical-spaces moment?

I speak, of course, not of the real artist named Vincent Van Gogh, with his old-timey tale of suffering and transcendence. I speak of the undead mash-up of Van Gogh’s paintings with projection mapping, animation, and music, now doing beaucoup business in dozens of cities across the globe in one of the largest coordinated art phenomena of all time.

Via Artnet

Thumbnail image: Exterior view of the Thompson Center in Chicago's Loop, Nov. 19, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)