The biggest changes in the art world we’re looking out for in 2020
Looking into the year ahead, many key players in the art world will continue to develop groundbreaking approaches to the display and sale of art, but past issues will haunt auction houses, galleries, and museums alike. In 2019, most art market reports considered a lack of transparency to be the primary hurdle faced by entrants into the art market. In the coming year, the spread of coronavirus, Brexit, and new anti-money laundering directives in the UK will affect the art sales. Read on to see how these changes and others will likely influence the art world going forward.
![This Week in the Art World: Tensions come to a boil on the ongoing Sackler controversy, a disrupted Whitney Biennial, climate change and the Sotheby’s acquisition [22nd July 2019]](https://www.artvisor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Olafur-Eliasson-12-860x575.jpg "This Week in the Art World: Tensions come to a boil on the ongoing Sackler controversy, a disrupted Whitney Biennial, climate change and the Sotheby’s acquisition [22nd July 2019]")
This Week in the Art World: Tensions come to a boil on the ongoing Sackler controversy, a disrupted Whitney Biennial, climate change and the Sotheby’s acquisition [22nd July 2019]
As the Artvisor HQ braces for the upcoming heatwave about to hit London, we are pleased as always to run you through the biggest news stories of the art world this week. Key issues at the forefront of public consciousness over the last year are coming to a boil, beginning with the unprecedented announcement of the Louvre to remove the Sackler name from their museum walls. Amidst further protests regarding the high-profile Sackler family and its links to major art institutions, the Louvre has taken the step to remove or cover signs and plaques honouring a donation from the family...
Dreams, Fantasies, Nightmares: Raqib Shaw, Lu Song and Kenny Scharf
The narratives of dreams and nightmares have long been represented in art. Whether biblical, fantasies of folklore or fictionalised, artists have for centuries depicted surreal visions. Recent works by the three artists Raqib Shaw, Lu Song and Kenny Scharf all provide interpretation of dreamscapes that linger in your mind long after your first encounter with them. Dreamscapes Raqib Shaw’s large canvases are as beautiful as they can be overwhelming. His iridescent works represent imagined landscapes in meticulous detail. Self-Portrait in Kashmir Landscape draws the viewer into a cascading view of a landscape, presumably Kashmir in its titular reference. Born in...
![This Week in the Art World: Shifts in Beijing’s art scene, a conclusion to Pace’s lawsuit, important acquisitions by the Smithsonian and more [15th July 2019]](https://www.artvisor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/1.herocopy-860x575.jpg "This Week in the Art World: Shifts in Beijing’s art scene, a conclusion to Pace’s lawsuit, important acquisitions by the Smithsonian and more [15th July 2019]")
This Week in the Art World: Shifts in Beijing’s art scene, a conclusion to Pace’s lawsuit, important acquisitions by the Smithsonian and more [15th July 2019]
The excitement surrounding the high-octane sporting events over the weekend was palpable here in London at Artvisor’s headquarters. Here’s what you might have missed during the weekend, plus the latest breaking art world news to start off your week. The end of last week saw a major shift in the Beijing art scene, with the announcement of the closure of Pace Beijing Gallery. Citing the US-China trade war, restrictions on flows of money and high import and sales taxes, Arne Glimcher, founder of Pace, did not hesitate to make fiery indictments of the Chinese art market. [via South China Morning...
This Week in the Artworld: 8th July 2019
Welcome to Artvisor’s This Week in the Artworld, a new weekly journal entry where we discuss the latest art world happenings. Last week saw some turbulent reactions following France’s retreat from their controversial Savoy-Sarr report. The policy had recommended the automatic restitution of looted African artefacts and had been held up as an exemplar for other countries. [via The Art Newspaper] The collector and adviser Olyvia Kwok has launched her private selling events, held in New York and London. Under the name “Olyvia’s soirées”, Kwok’s company Willstone Management will provide buyers loans of up to 50% of the value of...
London’s Contemporary Art Auctions June 2019: Spotlight on Her
Last week’s Contemporary Art sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips saw established names achieving stellar results. William Kentridge’s The Pool set a record for a work on paper at the hammer price £447,000 at Sotheby’s on Wednesday. At Christie’s the day before, Gerhard Richter’s Musa (2009) achieved £1,031,250, a world record for a tapestry by the artist. But the fact remains: women – specifically black and African artists – are taking the lead when it comes to contemporary art market momentum. Most notable among them is Tschabalala Self whose work Out of Body (2015, pictured in header) broke the artist’s...
Organic humanity in the 21st Century: Nicholas Johnson & Rory Menage
In our world of the digital and the concrete, the sight of high-rises and fluorescent screens have left us thirsty for green space as well as headspace. By returning to the dynamic forms of nature and humanity, British artists Nicholas Johnson and Rory Menage offer us reprieve from the monotony of technological precision. Fantasies of tropicalia A nod to his Hawaiian birthplace, Johnson’s canvases are a riotous arrangement of botanies both invented and real. The vegetation in Foliate Suspension (2019), represented in a gentle palette of greens, blues and pinks, reminds us of the botanical illustrations found in encyclopaedic texts....
Contemporary Art Trends 2019
Tumultuous global relations, the consolidation of the technological revolution and an ever-louder call for populist ideologies have guaranteed 2019 to significantly develop from the status quo of 2018. Whilst artists and institutions are being urged to reflect on and contribute to the current socio-political zeitgeist, the question remains: how is the contemporary art world responding? The divisive arena of identity politics 2018’s #MeToo movement, as well as debates in the US regarding abortions and women’s rights, have resulted in magnified attention towards the inequalities of our modern society. The confusion of Brexit, the global immigration crisis and incidents such as...