Our weekly news roundup is an extension of Paint Drippings, which drops first in The Back Room, our lively recap funneling only the week’s must-know art industry intel into a nimble read you’ll actually enjoy. Artnet News Pro members get exclusive access—subscribe now to receive this in your inbox every Friday.
Art Fairs
– Nathan Clements-Gillespie has left his position as director of Frieze Masters after eight years on the job. (Instagram)
– FAB Paris said that it will stage its fourth edition two months earlier than last year, running at the Grand Palais from September 20 to 24. (Press release)
– The Saudi Visual Arts Commission will stage the first Art Week Riyadh from April 6 to 13. (Press release)
Auction Houses
– Nathan Drahi, son of Sotheby’s owner Patrick Drahi, will relocate from Hong Kong to New York to lead the auction house’s global business development division. The appointment comes amid a major reorganization of the house’s global fine art division that will prioritize multi-category, single-owner collections. (Artnet News)
Galleries
– Joanne Robertson has joined Company Gallery, Yoko Matsumoto is now on White Cube’s roster, Oda Iselin Sønderland is now represented by Gathering, and Berry Campbell has taken on the estate of Mary Ann Unger. (Press releases)
– Istanbul gallery Dirimart opened a space in London’s Mayfair district, its first international expansion. (Press release)
– The mega gallery Pace and Galerie Judin are joining forces to share a Berlin venue that will debut in May during Gallery Weekend Berlin. They will maintain separate offices but take turns staging shows in the gallery. (Artnet News)
Museums and Institutions
– Documenta and the Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany, have named Tania Coen-Uzzielli, Nicole Deitelhoff, Susanne Gaensheimer, Diane Lima, Christoph Menke, and Thomas Sparr to a newly founded scientific advisory board. (Press release)
– The Africa Center in New York named Martin Kimani as its new chief executive. He succeeds Uzodinma Iweala, who held the position for seven years. (New York Times)
– Two rare early paintings and 121 drawings by Cy Twombly were given to the Menil Collection in Houston by the Cy Twombly Foundation. (Press release)
Installation view of “Ai Weiwei: Neither Nor” (2024) at Galleria Continua in San Gimignano, Italy. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio. Courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio and Galleria Continua.
Tech and Legal News
– A group of politicians sent a letter to the Raymond and Gloria Naftali Foundation, asking it to reconsider selling a Chelsea building that is filled with artists’ studios and galleries. The West 26th Street address could fetch up to $170 million. (New York Post)
– A painting rescued from a garage sale bin in Minnesota for less than $50 could be a lost work by Vincent van Gogh potentially worth $15 million, according to an analysis by the data science company LMI Group. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam maintains that the work, titled Elimar, is not authentic. (Artnet News)
– Ai Weiwei claims that the new A.I. chatbot DeepSeek censors itself when responding to prompts asking about Chinese dissident artists. (Artnet News)
RIP
– Artist and activist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith died at 85. The past few years have seen renewed interest in Smith’s work, which unpacks historic injustices against Native American peoples. (Artnet News)
– Alonzo Davis, a leading African American artist, educator, and gallerist who was a tireless advocate for Black artists and social justice, died at 82. (Artnet News)
– Artist Graham Nickson, who led the New York Studio School in Manhattan for 30 years, died at 79. (Hyperallergic)