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The Headlines
GROW OR GO.ThePortland Museum of Artin Maine hashired a firmfor its $100 million expansion:LEVER Architecture, of (confusingly) Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles, theBoston Globereports. The outfit has done work for thePrinceton University Art Museum, and has proposed a design for the PMA that will add 60,000 square feet of space for various uses. Across the Atlantic, in beautiful Switzerland, theKunstmuseum Bernis embarking on a redevelopment project and hasinvited 39 architectsto submit proposals,Building Designreports. They include big names like theBjarke Ingels GroupandDiller Scofidio & Renfro. Also in the architecture press:Dezeenasked 13 Indian architects topick their favorite buildingsin the country; their answers amount to a thrilling tour of the place.
Related Articles
Portland Museum of Art Launches $85 M. Campaign to Double the Size of its Downtown Campus
Maine's Portland Museum of Art Plans Expansion, Looted Buddha Statue Returned to India, and More: Morning Links for February 14, 2022
POLICE BLOTTER.At a hotel in Lakewood, Colorado, police recovered five paintings thatwent missingfrom an art-transport van last month in Boulder, andarrested a 31-year-old man,Fox 31reports. The paintings—byElaine de Kooning,Jane Freilicher, and others—had been valued at more than $400,000, and were found with other stolen items (guns, electronics), almost 2,000 fentanyl pills, and methamphetamine. According to an arrest report, the suspect hadoffered to sellthe hot art for $6,000 to a person who notified police, per9 News. That tipster had already made a down payment of $1,000 (in bitcoin, naturally), but said he came forward because he wanted to “do the right thing.” He also apparently said that he regularly wastes $1,000 a day on “dumb sh—.” OK! In other legal news, another 31-year-old man was arrested for allegedlystealing 1,500-year-old relicsfrom a church in Subaico, Arkansas, theNew York Timesreports.
The Digest
An indicator that seems positive for the art market: Though there are concerns that the global economy is slowing, the rich are still buyingRolls-Royces. The luxury carmaker’s CEO said, “We haven’t seen any downturn in order intake here over the last months. I’m cautiously optimistic about this year.”[Bloomberg]
ArtistJames Turrellwill create one of his deeply satisfying “Skyspaces” for theKansas City Museumin Missouri. The plan is for the piece—the first in either Missouri or Kansas—to be operational in time for the 2026World Cup, which will take place in various North America cities, including the Heart of America.[KMBC News]
What a run! After 50 years at the helm ofFilm Forum, the beloved New York arthouse cinema with storied banana bread,Karen Cooperis stepping down.Sonya Chung, its deputy director, will take on the role, with Cooper becoming an adviser.[Artforum]
The Chicago-basedHindmanart auction house has named its chief business development officer,Alyssa Quinlan, to be its CEO.[Crain’s Chicago Business]
CuratorRobert Leonardhas been tapped to be director of theInstitute of Modern Artin Brisbane, Australia. It’s a homecoming of sorts for Leonard, who led the institution between 2005 and 2013. His most recent post was chief curator of the City Gallery Wellington in New Zealand.[ArtAsiaPacific]
ActorVicky Krieps, who stars as the 19th-century Austro-HungarianEmpress Elisabethin the new filmCorsage,paid a visit to New York’sNeue Galerie, hunting for a portrait that she was told resembles her. While there, she also took in someEgon Schieledrawings. The empress would have been a fan, she said.[The New Yorker]
The Kicker
THE CITY OF LIGHTS.One of the big stories on the international art scene over the past few years has been the ascendence of Paris as an important capital for contemporary art, with big-league dealers opening up shop and billionaires building bountiful museums. InBloomberg Businessweek,James Tarmycharted the developments, and spoke to a stalwart local, the venturesome dealerKamel Mennour. “People used to think of Paris as an old lady—a museum city only, with no blood in its veins,” Mennour said. “Now there’s a lot of energy and people and collectors.”[Bloomberg]