— Blanco Calls Out Biesenbach: At a Basel after-hours party for MoMA PS1, rapper and performance artist Mykki Blanco threw pieces of a Subway sandwich at Klaus Biesenbach, before getting up on a table to assert that the PS1 director “doesn’t like black people. He likes black culture,” reports Sarah Nicole Prickett for Artforum. Blanco added, “He wants to hug Mickalene Thomas, he wants to hug Kehinde Wiley. I am not your Mickalene Thomas.” Of course, as Prickett pointed out, Blanco’s “your” indictment extended even beyond Biesenbach; though protests against police brutality did take place in Miami, effectively shutting down a major highway, a piece posted anonymously on Hyperallergic by a woman who “works in a prominent art PR agency” confirmed that, at least from where she was sitting, the rage-inducing events of the past two weeks didn’t quite phase the art world. “When my co-workers don’t acknowledge Mike Brown and Eric Garner, that says to me that my life, and the lives of people who look like me, isn’t important,” she wrote. “Or at least, it’s not more important than Miley Cyrus’s latest ‘artwork.’” Biesenbach’s response Blanco, meanwhile? “That’s entertainment.” [Artforum, Hyperallergic, Artnet]
— Picasso Stolen at Art Miami: Investigations are underway to recover a silver Picasso plate worth $85,000 that disappeared from the Art Miami booth of Amsterdam’s Leslie Smith Gallery on Friday. The piece, titled “Visage aux Mains,” wasn’t even the most valuable artwork in the booth, hanging just above a Picasso ceramic worth $365,000. In further theft news, just a few days later, a man in a suit and tie walked into Rome’s National Gallery of Modern Art during open hours, popped a €500,000 sculpture by Italian impressionist Medardo Rosso under his jacket, and walked out. [Miami Herald, Telegraph]
— Basel Ridiculousness Round-Up: The first week of December in Miami contains plenty of notable sales and eye-catching artworks, but it’s also a locus for interrobang-inducing anecdotes — a place that hosts “the kind of party where Larry Gagosian hangs out with Wiz Khalifa”; where it’s considered news that Leonardo DiCaprio left an afterparty with 20 (yes, 20) women in tow; where a seven-year-old is encouraged to start his own art collection; and need we even mention the vagina phone charger? For a full picture of fair week ennui (we renounce the term “fairtigue”), read M.H. Miller “documenting my nervous breakdown” over at ARTnews. [NYO, Gawker, Art in America, ARTnews]
— Greece Enraged Over Elgin Loan: Predictably, Greece was none too happy at news that a statue from the infamous Elgin Marbles would be loaned to Russia before England would consider returning them to their home country — though perhaps within the ire of Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaris is some key to progress, as he pointed out that now “the last British dogma about immovability has ceased to exist.” [Guardian, BBC, LAT, WSJ]
— Galapagos Art Space Decamps for Detroit: “A white-hot real estate market is burning through the affordable cultural habitat,” said Robert Elmes, executive director of the Brooklyn space, which has been open for almost 20 years. “And it’s no longer a crisis, it’s a conclusion.” [NYT]
— Barbizet Plans Christie’s Restructuring: Bloomberg reports that Francois Pinault brought in new CEO Patricia Barbizet over the recently-exited Steven Murphy expressly to reevaluate the future direction of the company. [Bloomberg]
— Burmese artist U Htein Lin explains the small upside of his time as a political prisoner, during which he produced (and successfully smuggled out) 300 paintings and sculptures: “I was completely cut off from art critics and an audience. I just did what I wanted. In the cell I found freedom. It was the most important time in my art career.” [NYT]
— Clash bassist Paul Simonon is apparently a painter — and will have a show at the London ICA next month. [Independent]
— RIP Wynn Chamberlain, painter, filmmaker, author, and New York downtown fixture. [NYT]
ALSO ON ARTINFO
VIDEO: 60 Works in 60 Seconds at NADA Miami Beach
Love Thyself: Peter Marino Exhibition Inflates the Man and the Myth
At Pinta, a Laid-Back Vibe Paired With Serious Art
“Peter Pan Live!” Flies Without a Glitch But is No Ratings Bonanza
Check our blog IN THE AIR for breaking news throughout the day.
