September 19 | Wolfgang Tillmans addresses German voters ahead of federal elections

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“Every vote counts. Print the posters and ask in a pub, bakery, or workplace whether you can hang one. Or post it online.” After his anti-Brexit posters, Tillmans enters once again the political debate, this time in Germany. In other, more light-hearted news, Phillips and Mark Grotjahn can’t figure out whether the artist is, indeed, the painter behind one of the lots the auction house was planning to feature at their upcoming New York sale.

Wolfgang Tillmans gets political

After having encouraged UK voters to stay ahead of the Brexit vote, Wolfgang Tillmans is once again fighting the rise of right-wing powers across Europe. This time, the artist has created a series of shareable images to warn German voters against the danger of right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) gaining seats at the upcoming federal elections, slated for September 24.

If Angela Merkel’s victory can almost be taken as a given, AfD could still obtain between 10 and 12% of the votes and thus gain seats in the Bundestag. Despite the AfD’s best efforts to give “a non-radical picture” of itself, Germany’s Foreign Affair minister Sigmar Gabriel has compared Alternative für Deutschland to the Nazi party… In the meantime, Tillmans’ posters are available for download here. More via Artnews.



 

 

 

Mark Grotjahn’s “not sure he made this” — Philips pulls lot from auction

When Mark Grotjahn posted an Instagram photo of a work Phillips was auctioning off as one of his own, captioned by the laconic “I’m Not Sure I Made This”, everyone thought it was a joke. Not so funny anymore! The auction house has in fact announced it is pulling the lot from its upcoming New York sale “New Now”, set to take place later today.

We are working with the artist’s studio to verify the work’s authenticity,” Michael Sherman, the auction house’s chief communications officer, told ARTnews. “In the meantime, we decided to remove the painting from next week’s sale until we arrive at a definitive conclusion.” Read more on ArtNews.

 

 

 

France | The Irving Penn Foundation and Thaddaeus Ropac gallery team up

Powerhouse gallery Thaddaeus Ropac has announced that it now represents the Irving Penn Foundation in France. The gallery will host a show of work by the American photographer (1917-2009) from October 19 — the opening date of Paris’ FIAC — through January 2018. The exhibition will run in parallel with a major retrospective dedicated to the artist, held at the Grand Palais from September 21 through January 29 — which will then travel to New York’s Met.

Thaddeaus Ropac’s show will focus on works by Penn covering the 1947-1950 period.

 

Irving Penn | Alberto Giacometti, Paris, 1950 |  Platinium palladium print mounted to aluminium | 36,8 x 34,9 cm 


 

 

White Cube’s former director will open a gallery in the Lower East Side

In spite of an array of high-profile New York galleries closing their doors in recent months, Sara Kay, former director of London’s White cube and founder of the Professional Organization for Women in the Arts (POWarts), has announced that it will open a gallery on New York’s 4 East 2nd Street on September 28. The gallery will take over a nineteenth-century building previously occupied by Rivington Arms gallery.

The space will inaugurate with a show of works from Audrey Heckler’s collection, one of the “most important private collections dedicated to Outsider art”, featuring artists James Castle, Aloïse Corbaz, Madge Gill, Martín Ramírez, et Adolf Wölfli. The New York Times has more information.

 

Sara Kay via New York Times — Succession H. Matisse/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Tommy Agriodimas/Ungano + Agriodimas