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The Headlines
ART SG’S BEST BOOTHS… AND WHAT ABOUT FRIEZE LA? ART SG has opened and Karen K. Ho for ARTnews gives us her picks for best booths. But first, what’s the word on the aisles of the Marina Bay Sands Convention Center? The number of galleries in the third edition of the Southeast Asian fair is lower than last year, but the same doesn’t appear to be true of visitors. Halls were packed until the 9 pm closing time for the VIP opening yesterday, and dealers seemed enthusiastic. The Los Angeles fires, however, were on everybody’s lips, along with concerns over whether Frieze LA would go ahead, with most hoping it would. “Artists need to sell works to carry on,” said collector Agnes Lew, who is also managing director and head of private banking at East West Bank. “If they really care about the art world — it’s not just a fake thing — then this is the moment to show up,” Lew added. “Come on, there’s still six weeks. LA is a big place. Tell people to come to LA. Write something positive. We really, really need it.”
FAKE BASQUIAT PAYOUT? Two insurance companies are balking at a $19.7 million claim by the owners of what are believed to be more than two dozen fake paintings attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat, reports The Associated Press. The paintings were seized by the FBI from the Orlando Museum of Art in a high-profile, 2022 incident that eventually saw former Los Angeles auctioneer Michael Barzman admitting that he and an accomplice had made the counterfeit Basquiats that ended up in the show. But the owners of the paintings said they had purchased and loaned them to the notorious Florida exhibition in good faith, and that they were insured as part of their loan agreement. After the suspect paintings were confiscated by the FBI, the owners, sticking to their guns, filed a claim with insurance companies Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and Great American Insurance Company, later arguing that the paintings’ authenticity had nothing to do with whether or not they were covered by insurance, particularly since the insurers never investigated whether the artworks were the real deal. The insurers are not buying it and have asked a court to block the claim, saying that counterfeit works have no value. “Defendants do not have any valid claim to proceeds from this ‘loss’ since there is no loss to begin with,” the insurance companies said in court papers.
The Digest
A ”once-in-a-century” discovery of a sumptuous Roman bathhouse in Pompeii has just been unearthed after remaining hidden under ash for 2,000 years. Archaeologists believe the spa-like complex is potentially the largest ever found in the Roman city, made up of exquisitely decorated hot, warm, and cold rooms, plus a massive plunge pool. Also among the ruins of this grand residence, which has been the subject of a major excavation over two years, were two bodies. A woman aged between 35 and 50 lying on a bed in a foetal position, clutching jewelry and coins, and a younger man in his teens or early 20’s in the corner of the room, were found. [BBC]
Collectors Brigitte and Henning Freybe have just donated some 122 artworks worth about $10 million to the Vancouver Art Gallery. The impressive list of artists represented include Carl Andre, Nairy Baghramian, Christian Boltanski, Daniel Buren, Tacita Dean, William Kentridge, Alicja Kwade, Julie Mehretu, Roberth Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, and Wolfgang Tillmans. [Artnet News]
Over 20 artists featured in the New Contemporaries exhibit at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) walked out of the show preview on January 14 in support of a pro-Palestinian demonstration against the ICA receiving funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, a group which protestors say supports Israel. However, the ICA said that it has not been given any funding from the former sponsor since 2020. [The Art Newspaper]
The Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan has appointed a new artistic director and chief curator, the New York-based Sara Raza. The center is due to reopen in September 2025 in a restored tram depot. [ArtReview]
The National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, is hosting a Trump-Vance fundraiser, and some are asking why. [Hyperallergic]
The Kicker
ALTADENA WAS MILLENNIAL ARTISTS’ DREAM. “If you were a writer, artist or musician who had finally saved enough of a nest egg to consider buying a home, one appealing area in LA that might have still seemed affordable would have been Altadena,” writes Jessica Gelt for The Los Angeles Times. The city’s larger, relatively more affordable spaces for artists are a well-known draw and have helped turn L.A. into one of the country’s most vibrant art hubs. But the wildfires have wreaked havoc on Altadena residents, who are far less affluent than those in the wealthier, though fire-devastated Pacific Palisades. Gelt describes Altadena as a kind of Brooklyn of Los Angeles, where artists often moved once they had kids. “They had flocked to the unincorporated community for all kinds of reasons. An intangible energy drifted in the air, like it does in places that become counterculture touchstones,” Gelt writes. It’s not clear now whether they will decide to stay and rebuild, or if that is even an option.