Tag: Mark Bradford

Frieze and Kiaf SEOUL Scale Back in Spectacle While Still Securing Sales

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Kiaf SEOUL and Frieze Seoul each opened at the COEX Center with a VIP preview on September 3. Courtesy of Kiaf SEOUL

For those who’ve attended Seoul’s art week since Frieze arrived in 2021, the contrast this year was unmistakable. The chaotic entrance lines at Kiaf SEOUL and the overcrowded aisles of last year’s Frieze are gone. Attendance feels lighter, and the booths more subdued, though major brands like Adidas, BMW, Ruinart and American Express still held prime positions at the entrance—a clear indication that the fair’s popularity is now firmly rooted in Korean society four years after its debut.

At the opening of Frieze Seoul on Wednesday, September 3, the mood was distinctly more muted and contained—a reflection of the art world adjusting to a new chapter in South Korea’s post-boom market. Slightly more lively in the afternoon was the historical Korean fair Kiaf, where collectors remain loyal to longstanding traditions and their local dealers.

This year marks the 4th edition of Frieze Seoul. Courtesy of Frieze and Wecap Studio

Blue-chip gallerists like Larry Gagosian and Emmanuel Perrotin skipped the trip this year, leaving their booths staffed solely by regional teams during the preview—a stark contrast to previous editions, when they flew in with much of their global staff. When gallery owners or lead partners from spaces focused on Korean artists, such as Gladstone and Mennour, did attend, it signaled that international galleries have already recognized the need to tailor their offerings to a local audience attuned to the market’s slower collecting pace and shifting attitude.

While Korean collectors remain engaged with the international art circuit, this has undeniably been a turbulent year for the country. With President Yoon Suk-yeol ousted after attempting to declare martial law and an economy still reeling from the effects of U.S. tariffs, Korean collectors are understandably more cautious in their buying.

This year, Frieze Seoul hosted over 120 galleries. Courtesy of Frieze and Wecap Studio.

Private buyers and institutions remain active, but spending habits have shifted, as Observer gathered from early press preview conversations. The once-rampant appetite for ultra-contemporary works has given way to a more measured approach, focusing on institutional-grade pieces and blue-chip artists. Speaking with resigned pragmatism, dealers noted that this trend extends beyond South Korea, echoing across Asia and the global market.

So what’s the new mantra for galleries? Cultivate your own relationships in the place you show. Those who have spent years building ties in South Korea can still make it work, as can local players. But for newcomers, entering the market now may feel like they’re arriving just as the music stopped.

That was not the case for the dynamic Los Angeles gallery Make Room, which marked its first appearance in Frieze Seoul’s main section with a shared booth alongside Apalazzo and a celebrity-filled dinner party steeped in a witchy atmosphere. Between drinks and bites of Korean fried chicken, K-pop and K-drama stars made appearances that set social media alight—including SUHO from EXO, actor Lomon Park, Tony Hong and members of the girl group Lovelyz.

Make Room hosted a K-pop and K-drama star-filled dinner on Tuesday night. Courtesy Make Room | Photo: Studio Monday Naked

Park Seo-Bo, a foundational figure in postwar Korean abstraction and the father of Dansaekhwa, was one of the names resonating most strongly at Kiaf and Frieze this year, following his recent passing. At Frieze, LG OLED honored his legacy in collaboration with the artist’s foundation, dedicating an entire booth to rarely seen later Écriture paintings from the estate, paired with ultra high-resolution video works that captured the textures in striking detail. The sharp contrast between the digital reinterpretations on screen and the tactile surfaces of the paintings underscored how, in his later years, Seo-Bo was already reflecting on the role of painting in a world saturated by screens and shaped by emerging digital realms that influence perception and aesthetics. As he once described it, standing on a “cliff edge” in the early 2000s, Seo-Bo confronted the question of how painting could evolve as the boundaries between different worlds began to blur.

Dynamic lower tiers and Focus Asia offer opportunities for discovery

Noteworthy results at both Frieze and Kiaf weren’t limited to the highest price points. Lindseed from Shanghai quickly sold out works by Chinese-born, Paris-based visionary Fu Liang at the Focus Asia sector, with prices ranging from $6,500 to $34,000. Similarly, Hong Kong-based gallery Kiang Malingue, which recently opened a space in New York, nearly sold out its solo booth of work by Taiwanese talent Tseng Chien Ying, priced between $15,000 and $25,000—a current sweet spot for collectors.

Returning to Seoul from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s leading contemporary gallery, Galerie Quynh, took a bold step with a solo presentation in the main section, showcasing the layered work of Lien Truong, a Vietnamese-born artist based in North Carolina. Her intricate canvases—exploring the intersection of body, identity and environment through the lens of diasporic trauma and societal pressure—drew early interest from collectors.

Galerie Quynh presenting Lien Truong, Booth B21, Frieze Seoul 2025. Courtesy Galerie Quynh

Seoul gallery Cylinder made a striking debut in the main section, securing multiple sales, including a work by Jennifer Carvalho ($9,000), three works by Sunwon Chan ($2,500-4,800), two works by Eunsil Lee ($12,000 and $5,000) and two works by Jongwhan Lee ($2,200 and $5,000). Next for the fast-growing gallery is its debut at Frieze London with a solo booth by Rim Park.

Equally successful, the young and dynamic Seoul gallery G Gallery sold six works by Choi Yoonhee on the first day ($2,400-19,000), a work by Moon Isaac for $12,000 and a piece by Cindy Ji Hye Kim for $10,000.

Another first-time exhibitor in Focus Asia was Shanghai- and Beijing-based Hive Contemporary, which showcased emerging names including Yuan Fang, Xia Yu, Zhang Mingxuang and Tan Yongqing, drawing a strong response: by evening, the gallery had sold 18 paintings and one sculpture priced between $20,000 and $100,000.

Timoteus Anggawan Kusno was presented by the Kohesi Initiative at Frieze Seoul Focus Asia. Photo: Elisa Carollo

Despite this year’s reduced footprint—and tucked into a narrow corridor wedged between the main booths—the Focus Asia section at Frieze offered some of the most compelling opportunities for regional discoveries inside the COEX.

Jakarta-based gallery Kohesi Initiatives presented Indonesian filmmaker and multimedia artist Timoteus Anggawan Kusno, whose work revisits censored narratives from 1960s films to explore liminality and historical erasure, examining the blurred lines between fact and fiction. Rooted in post-colonial and post-dictatorship Indonesia, Kusno’s practice reflects the country’s ongoing unrest and protests, shaped by the long-term consequences of the very issues his work confronts.

Parcel (F3) at Frieze Seoul, Focus Asia. Courtesy of Frieze Seoul

Tokyo-based PARCEL is presenting the multilayered practice of Side Core, a Japanese collective that critiques forced urbanization and restless public development through thoughtful multimedia guerrilla interventions. The works on view confront contradictions in public funding for the Tokyo Olympics and the broader paradoxes of Japan’s rapid urban expansion. Among them, the Rode Work series—launched in 2017 in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture—juxtaposes post-disaster reconstruction landscapes with the repetitive motions of skateboarding, highlighting the enduring bond between land and people. In the film, flashing lights and hazard signs guide drivers to a skate park built on a damaged industrial site, where skaters in high-visibility jerseys grind a half-pipe—subtly revealing how grassroots creativity can emerge from destruction and corruption.

Another standout in the section is PTT Space, presenting the sharp satire of Taiwanese American artist Christine Tien Wang, who explores millennial diaspora anxieties and the recent volatility of the bitcoin bubble through one of the most diffuse yet persistent forms of contemporary ephemera: memes. Her Tiger series addresses diasporic anxiety and societal mobility within Asian communities, while her Bitcoin series critiques the NFT apocalypse and the fleeting nature of digital culture, transforming the disposable aesthetics of memes into what the artist calls “historical paintings,” reflective of our time and its contradictions. Working at the intersection of institutional critique, politics and popular culture, Tien Wang is gaining international recognition, with acquisitions by LACMA and exhibitions at both Night Gallery and Naxos Draxler.

Christine Tien Wang’s “BDSM (Bitcoin Daddies Seek Memes),” presented by PTT Space in Frieze Seoul’s Focus Asia section. Courtesy of PTT Space

Korean and international galleries stake a claim on Kiaf’s first-day buzz

When comparing Kiaf with Frieze, several Korean dealers appeared to place even more emphasis on their presentations, spotlighting the top names in their rosters. On the lower level of the historic Korean fair, Kukje Gallery reported a complete sell-out of Ugo Rondinone’s work (the artist also has a show at Gladstone this week), along with an iconic green Kapoor piece (£550,000-660,000) and a later work by Park Seo-Bo ($250,000-300,000). Known as a leading gallery for Korean art, Johyun Gallery made a strong showing with artists like Lee Bae and Park Seo-Bo, reporting early sales directly from the floor. Blue-chip names also anchored Gana Art’s presentation, which included works by Alex Katz, Chiharu Shiota and Yayoi Kusama.

Seoul-based EM Gallery drew attention with Moonassi, the Korean artist recognized for his black-and-white existential compositions. The gallery sold out pieces priced between $20,000 and $32,000—Moonassi’s works have remained in high demand since his last presentation, often with waiting lists.

The oldest work on view at Kiaf this year was a painting by Palma Il Vecchio, dated 1525-1528, presented by Die Galerie alongside drawings and sculptures by Marino Marini and works on paper and lithographs by Picasso. The historic canvas drew attention on the floor with a price tag of €750,000, standing out amid the fair’s modern and contemporary offerings. Long part of the gallery owner’s personal collection, the masterpiece was originally acquired from a nobleman in Hungary, and now everyone’s wondering whether it will find a new home this edition.

The oldest work on view at Kiaf this year was a Palma Il Vecchio painting from 1525-1528, presented by Die Galerie. Courtesy of Die Galerie

In general, however, a pop aesthetic and lower price points seemed to be the winning formula for maintaining Kiaf’s floral energy on the first day. Gallery Delaive reported early sales of several works by Ayako Rokkaku, priced between €50,000 and €200,000.

Among the standout presentations of new names, Space Willing N Dealing showcased quietly contemplative scenes of human interaction and exchange, all priced between $2,500 and $3,500. Busan-based gallery Nara Cho Busan presented Anomalisa, an exploration of love and entanglement through thread, with works priced at $7,800-12,000. Intimacy and suspended atmospheres—rendered through soft, delicate paint—also defined the work of Japanese painter Shimpei Yoshida, shown by Shibuya-based Hide Gallery. Thanks to very accessible pricing under $1,500, several pieces had sold or were on hold by day’s end.

KORNFELD, participating in its fifth Kiaf, also reported a strong start. Works by Korean artists Wonhae Hwang and Seong Joon Hong found new collectors on day one, totaling €10,000, while a major piece by Etsu Egami sold within the first hour to a new Korean collector for €22,000. “After participating at Kiaf for more than five years, we are very pleased with the successful start of this edition and the positive response from collectors and institutions,” gallery owner Alfred Kornfeld told Observer.

Returning to Kiaf with a strong grasp of the rhythm and habits of Korean collectors, the Milan-based Cassina Project had a particularly promising first day—even with just one confirmed sale. “We had good conversations. From our experience in past years, the following days are usually more intense—clients who show interest often return, and the final days are when deals close,” Irene Cassina told Observer.

Kiaf SEOUL runs through September 7. Courtesy Kiaf SEOUL

Among the additional sales reported by dealers at Kiaf by the start of the second day, Gallery Palzo sold Byeong Hyeon Jeong’s Ambiguous Inclination 25008 for $5,250 and two works by Lee Daecheon—Berg, Wasser (산, 수) for $3,000 and Gardener for $450—along with two paintings by Haru. K, each sold for $675. Galerie PICI placed two works by Dukhee Kim: Gold Desire-Bag for $4,000 and Keep Going (pump) for $2,000. SAN Gallery sold Jenkun Yeh’s Back and Forth I for $2,085 and Huihsuan Hsu’s Chasing a Lush Cave for $1,875. SH Art reported a complete sell-out of works by Backside—a street artist from Fukuoka, Japan, whose true identity remains anonymous—including VIVA, PINEAPPLE, SMILE, VINYL and QUIET, each priced at $17,250.

Frieze and Kiaf SEOUL continue through Sunday, September 7, at the COEX Center.

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Elisa Carollo

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September 4, 2025
Highlights and Sales from an Effervescent Art Basel Paris VIP Preview

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Art Basel Paris 2024 on opening day. Courtesy of Art Basel

The majestic Grand Palais quickly filled with a steady stream of art lovers there for Art Basel Paris’ VIP preview day. The atmosphere was positive and the mood upbeat, spurring healthy sales and lively negotiations from the early hours. Collectors and professionals from across the globe descended on the preview, with many traveling from the Americas and Asia. Among the notable attendees were Chloe Sevigny, Natalie Portman, Owen Wilson, Princess Maria-Anunciata von Liechtenstein, Queen Rania of Jordan, Raf Simons, Sheikha Mayassa, Sheikha Nawar Al Qassimi, Philip Tinari, Massimiliano Gioni, Adrian Cheng, George Economou, Maya Hoffmann and Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, to name a few.

Pace Gallery’s booth “Mystic Sugar” curated by Paulina Olowska at Art Basel Paris. Sebastiano Pellion di Persano

At the entrance, Gladstone’s booth greeted fairgoers with a monumental Dubuffet hanging on the wall, juxtaposed with a sculpture by Sarah Lucas and drawings by Marisa Merz, an homage to the Arte Povera artists celebrated in the show at La Bourse—Pinault Collection. Pace Gallery stood out with “Mystical Sugar,” curated by Paulina Olowska, featuring an extensive work that dominated the booth alongside pieces by Louise Nevelson, Kiki Smith and Lucas Samaras. In the first few hours, all four of Olowska’s paintings sold, as did several sculptures by Nevelson and Smith. In the backroom, Lee Ufan’s Response from 2024 led sales, complementing works by Ufan, Agnes Pelton, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini and Alexander Calder.

Next door, Blum & Poe presented a solo booth of Asuka Anastacia Ogawa, which sold out by the afternoon, with prices ranging from $22,000 to $100,000. Not far away, Eva Presenhuber’s solo presentation of new works and furniture by Tschabalala Self also sold out in the early hours, with prices ranging from $175,000 to $320,000. Jeffrey Deitch curated a booth featuring rarely seen artists like Myrlande Constant and Ella Kruglyanska, with a focus on Judy Chicago and a standout selection of Rammellzee works, ahead of his upcoming show in NYC.

PPOW saw strong results, selling all of its Grace Carney pieces in the $20,000 to $30,000 range, along with a central piece, a large table with a hand-painted tablecloth and porcelain vases by Ann Agee, sold as a pair for $14,000-18,000. MASSIMODECARLO also did brisk work, selling twenty-five pieces on the first day, including a Matthew Wong painting consigned directly from the estate, presented alongside a work by Salvo. Other sales included a piece by Dominique Fung ($36,000), various works by Jean-Marie Appriou, two by Tomoo Gokita, three by France-Lise McGurn and one by artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset, who currently have a museum exhibition at Le Musée D’Orsay.

Among the notable sales on the first day, White Cube sold a Julie Mehretu work for $9.5 million, a Howardena Pindell piece for $1.75 million and a Lucio Fontana slash for $1.3 million.

Jeffrey Deitch at Art Basel Paris. Photo by Andrea Rossetti. Courtesy of the artists and Jeffrey Deitch, New York and Los Angeles.

Standing out in the Hauser & Wirth booth was a striking spider by Louise Bourgeois, paired with a powerful Ed Clark, which reportedly sold by the end of the day for $950,000. Also sold was a work by Barbara Chase Riboud for $2.2 million and a large Mark Bradford for $3.5 million. Of particular interest, the external wall featured a large Jeffrey Gibson, hinting at a potential new collaboration with the gallery, while the other wall showcased a vibrant, explosive work by Frank Bowling. Meanwhile, Lisson Gallery sold two pieces by Colombian artist Olga de Amaral—one for $800,000 and the other for $400,000—both to a private U.S. collection. The sales coincided with the artist’s current show at Foundation Cartier in Paris, one of many exhibitions opening alongside Art Basel Paris.

Lisson Gallery at Art Basel Paris. Courtesy Art Basel

In celebration of Surrealism’s 100th anniversary, many booths honored artists from the movement in the city where it began. Di Donna offered a beautiful dialogue between Jean Tanguy and Wilfredo Lam, while Nahmad devoted their entire booth to works by Dalí, Picabia, Max Ernst, Tanguy, De Chirico, Picasso and Magritte, along with a stunning floating mobile by Calder. In the masterworks section, featuring pieces priced in the five- to six-digit range, Van De Weghe presented a 1964 Pablo Picasso and a 1985 Great American Nude by Tom Wesselmann, riding the wave of momentum from the “Pop Forever” show at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Tornabuoni’s booth featured a standout monumental map by Alighiero Boetti, covering an entire wall. New York dealer Aquavella showcased a series of masterpieces by Fontana, De Kooning, Basquiat and Thiebaud, with a gallery representative telling Observer that “a lot of good collectors” had come through throughout the morning.

Among the best-curated booths, The Modern Institute from Glasgow dedicated its entire presentation to a site-specific, immersive installation by artist Martin Boyce, titled Before Behind Between Above Below. Combining various works and elements, Boyce created a liminal interior space exploring the boundary between the real and imagined and the collapse of architecture and nature. The installation drew inspiration from Jan and Joël Martel’s cubist trees, first exhibited at the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in 1925, right in front of the Grand Palais.

The Modern Institute at Art Basel Paris. The Modern Institute

Once the ground floor became too crowded to navigate, many collectors sought breathing room in the upstairs sections, where more space allowed for new discoveries, particularly in the terrace corridor of the “Emergence” section. A standout in this area was the experimental Jakarta-based gallery Rho Projects, showcasing Kei Imazu’s intriguing blend of historical memory, traces,and digital structures (priced between $15,000 and $20,000). Another highlight was a large, narrative-rich painting by young Polish artist Jeh Eustachy Wilsky, presented by Piktogram, stretching across the entire booth.

SEE ALSO: Lukewarm and Less Engaging, London’s 1-54 Had Little New to Say This Year

Upstairs also housed a range of thriving galleries, including Karma, Clearing, Mariane Ibrahim, Sultana and Société. Société’s booth had a future-forward feel, featuring Trisha Baga’s pictorial explorations of the digital realm and a divinatory video by Lu Yang. Nearby, Ortuzar Projects presented a solo booth of Takako Yamaguchi, fresh from the Whitney Biennial, which quickly attracted buyers. With prices set at $300,000, only three works remained by midday.

Throughout the VIP day at Art Basel Paris, the atmosphere was effervescent, proving that collectors are still eager and excited about bold new moves—especially with this being the first Art Basel in its new, opulent historic venue, which truly has no architectural equal worldwide.

SCAD at Design Miami Paris with an Alumni Booth presenting the work of Trish Andersen, Lærke Lillelund, Bradley Bowers and Eny Lee Parker. Photo Chia Chong. Courtesy of SCAD.

Design Miami Paris also saw a successful opening, launching its second edition the day before with a similarly packed VIP reception at L’Hôtel de Maisons. Inside the lavish 18th-century mansion, exhibitors presented a curated selection of historic and contemporary collectible designs, with strong sales early on. Notably, Galerie Downtown-LAFFANOUR (Paris) sold a full-scale Jean Prouvé post-war prefabricated house (1946) for over one million euros.

Among the standout presentations, SCAD took over the elegant staircase with a cascade of abstract forms and vivid colors in a fiber site-specific installation by artist and alumna Trish Andersen. The school also showcased the creative talents of alumni Lærke Lillelund, Bradley Bowers and Eny Lee Parker. Other highlights included fashion designer Rick Owens’ striking pair of Tomb Chairs in the gardens, presented by Salon 94 Design (New York), alongside rare pieces by Gaetano Pesce, such as his Palladio Cabinet (Milk colored prototype) (2007) and Flower Origami Table (2023). The award for “Best Gallery Presentation at Design Miami Paris 2024” went to Galerie Gastou (Paris) and Galerie Desprez-Bréhéret (Paris), which brought a significant collection of minimalist works by Jean Touret in wood and iron, shown in dialogue with contemporary pieces by Agnès Debizet.

The garden of Design Miami at the fair’s opening. IVAN EROFEEV

Art Basel Paris and Design Miami Paris continue through Sunday, October 20.

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Elisa Carollo

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October 17, 2024
One Fine Show: ‘Multiplicity’ at the Phillips Collection

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Lauren Halsey, Loda Land, 2020. Courtesy David Kordansky / Photo Jeff McLane / © Lauren Halsey

Welcome to One Fine Show, where Observer highlights a recently opened exhibition at a museum outside of New York City—a place we know and love that already receives plenty of attention.

Collage is a virile form first associated with modernism that has endured a number of ‘posts,’ the first being postmodernism and post-postmodernism. It remains relevant in our current age, even though we’re pretty much post-movements in general. Collage borders on post-art, though, dragging the world into the work, sometimes to the point that you wonder about the necessity of creation at all. Experience seems to offer so many readymades. As the jingle that obsesses Leopold Bloom goes: “What is life without/ Plumtree’s Potted Meat?/ Incomplete”

So widespread is collage that a soon-to-close show at the Phillips Collection, “Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage,” showcases the technique through a specific lens but still spans three floors in two buildings. It brings together more than fifty works to explore how the African American story is constructed from a great deal of diverse material. The show features pieces by forty-nine artists including Mark Bradford, Lauren Halsey, Rashid Johnson, Kerry James Marshall, Wangechi Mutu, Tschabalala Self, Lorna Simpson, Mickalene Thomas and Kara Walker.

SEE ALSO: Asia Week New York Is Back for Autumn With a Smaller Program of Exhibitions and Auctions

Halsey has to be one of the hottest names in the art world at the moment, fresh from last year’s commission on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and her columns at this year’s Venice Biennale, which borrowed from both the Hathoric discipline and Shrek. Her collages here ace the assignment, resembling at first glance the kind of magazine collages you might have made in elementary school, if you’d had a supernatural sense of color and theme. Loda Land (2020) probes the kind of visuals one encounters in South Central to weave a narrative about space, aliens and humanity, showing no more of her hand than the scissors she holds. A similar work, betta daze (loda land) (2021) introduces Hotep culture and pyramids to this conversation.

Born in 1943, Howardena Pindell might be slightly less buzzy but employs a similarly compelling interplay of colors between seemingly unrelated bits of subject matter, hers connected only slightly more by having been drawn. Shaped like brains, her pieces feel naturally occurring, though every inch of them has been made by hand. Lorna Simpson’s contributions merge the pop cultural and natural, with pin-up gals from the 1960s who are becoming star charts on a cheeky background that is probably legally distinct from Yves Klein’s blue.

Great work has been done with basketball art by Jeff Koons and Paul Pfeiffer, but in this show, Tay Butler manages to achieve what they do in Hyperinvisibility (2022) with far less technical support. In it, he cuts up a familiar image of Michael Jordan about to slam dunk and somehow turns all the little pieces so that the man has vanished. Perhaps this is why artists of all races and persuasions keep returning to collage. It is so simple and so effective no matter the era.

“Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage” is on view at the Phillips Collection through September 22.

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Dan Duray

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September 14, 2024
Theaster Gates Will Help Guide an Expanding Forman Arts Initiative

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Artist Theaster Gates is partnering with Forman Arts Initiative. Holger Hollemann/picture alliance via Getty Image

Theaster Gates, the American artist known for his wide-ranging social practice, sculptures and installations, will use his expertise in community cultural programming to help guide a new project from the Philadelphia-based Forman Arts Initiative (FAI) in a new multi-year partnership. The organization, founded in 2021 by art collectors Michael Forman and Jennifer Rice, has acquired nearly an entire block in Philadelphia’s East Kensington neighborhood that FAI plans to transform into an arts center complete with a gallery and an emphasis on community activation.

Gates will work FAI’s director Adjoa Jones de Almeida, the Brooklyn Museum’s former deputy director of learning and social education, to shape the renovation and programming of the new campus. Located across three buildings and two lots, the 100,000-square-foot site will open gradually over the next two years. “This collaboration with Adjoa—who also comes from an art and community engagement background—gives us both an opportunity to build on the lessons we’ve learned from our previous respective experiences, and to develop a unique model for what a community-grounded, globally-relevant art space can look like,” said Gates in a statement.

An interior view of one of the FAI campus buildings. Photo: Isabel Kokko/Courtesy Forman Arts Initiative

Gates has pursued similar projects in the past. Through his Rebuild Foundation, the artist has spent years acquiring abandoned properties across Chicago and turning them into creative community centers for an initiative known as the Dorchester Projects, often using scrap materials to create new artwork that generates additional funds for the project. In 2021, the Rebuild Foundation partnered up with Prada to create the Dorchester Industries Experimental Lab, a Chicago-based three-year incubator emphasizing designers of color. There’s also Gates’ 2016 acquisition of the city’s shuttered St. Laurence Elementary School, which is set to transform into an arts incubator complete with studios, classrooms and labs.

SEE ALSO: Matisse, Maillol and One Ebullient Evening: Inside MoMA’s 2024 Party in the Garden

This won’t be the first time the artist has worked with FAI, which helped fund his 2022 installation Monument in Waiting at Drexel University and counts works by the artist among its collection. “Since meeting Theaster over seven years ago, Michael and I have been continually impressed by his expansive exploration of history, especially Black and Brown history, through social practice, performance, land art, and exquisitely crafted sculptures,” said Rice in a statement.

What is FAI’s place in Philadelphia’s art scene?

FAI’s current initiatives include its grantmaking program Art Works in partnership with the Philadelphia Foundation, which will distribute $3 million in funding over five years to community artists and organizations across Greater Philadelphia. As of last year, the organization partnered up with Mural Works to establish Public Works, a residency program that places artists with government agencies to develop artwork. FAI’s star consultants include board members like artist Rashid Johnson and expert advisors like Adam Pendleton and Jessica Morgan of Dia Art Foundation.

Adjoa Jones de Almeida, Michael Forman and Jennifer Rice at an event celebrating the new campus. Photo: Isabel Kokko/Courtesy Forman Arts Initiative

FAI’s new campus will include a gallery space to showcase the private art collection of Forman and Rice. Artists including Cecily Brown, Cindy Sherman, Sam Gilliam, Mark Bradford, Alma Thomas, Romare Bearden, Gordon Parks, Kerry James Marshall and Lorna Simpson are represented in the holdings, alongside Philadelphia-based artists like Roberto Lugo and Alex da Corte. Operating as a nontraditional gallery, the artworks will be utilized in rotating exhibitions, public programs and partnerships with schools and youth development organizations.

Outdoor spaces and community engagement rooms at FAI’s new site will open later this year, followed by a larger programmatic space and gallery in 2026. Renovations will begin this summer, with campus design aided by architectural firms DIGSAU and Ian Smith Design Group. Meanwhile, the organization will speak with residents, leaders and activists across West Kensington and Philadelphia for input on how to utilize additional spaces to best meet the needs of local communities.

“Since its founding, collaboration and dialogue with Philadelphia’s diverse communities have been central to how FAI supports the city’s cultural landscape, and those are the principles that will guide the vision for what this campus will become,” said Jones de Almeida in a statement. “We understand that through this dynamic collaboration with Theaster along with the rich network of artists and communities already engaged with FAI, we have the potential to create something really unique for Philadelphia.”

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Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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June 5, 2024
Katherine Fleming On the Getty’s Role in the 21st Century

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Katherine Fleming. Julie Skarratt Photography Inc

Though a noted scholar of Mediterranean culture, history and religion, Katherine Fleming’s love affair with the region was initially less than academic. “I could try and hook up a highfalutin’ academic answer,” she told Observer. “But the real bottom line is that when I was a teenager, I dropped out of college and took a job as a waitress at a Taverna in Crete.”

Fleming, who grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, picked up modern Greek during her “wild, well-spent youth” on the island—a skill that in subsequent years came in handy in her studies of the humanities. “Since I had Greek, I wound up following a course of study that made it possible for me to make use of and deploy it,” she said. But for all the hinted-at shenanigans, the scholarly path she eventually followed didn’t come out of left field for Fleming, the daughter of a literary critic and Episcopal priest. After her adventures in Greece, she earned degrees at Barnard University, the University of Chicago and UC Berkeley before going on to work as a lecturer at several California universities and eventually becoming provost of New York University in 2016.

Today, however, Fleming works in an entirely different field. Since 2022, she has been president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world’s wealthiest arts institution with an $8.6 billion endowment as of last year. She oversees the Los Angeles-based organization’s Getty Foundation, Getty Research Institute, Getty Conservation Institute and its two museums—alongside the 1,400 employees employed by them. Fleming was hired as a strategist to help unify the Getty’s various entities. “I spent a lot of time thinking about what it means to be a public-facing cultural institution in the 21st Century because it can mean something pretty different from what it meant even twenty-five years ago,” she said.

A new definition of access for art institutions

One of those shifts includes evolved ways of thinking about who should have access to fine art museums. Located in Brentwood and Malibu, the Getty Center and Getty Villa respectively showcase pre-20th-century European art and Greek and Roman antiquities from the Getty’s more than 125,000-piece collection. “The organization is going through the process of trying to think really carefully and creatively about what it means to be wealthy, on top of a hill made of marble, in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in L.A.,” says Fleming. “We have to make that place as welcoming as possible to as many people as possible and to really make the people of the city of L.A. aware of it as theirs.”

A view of the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Shane Gritzinger/FilmMagic

By emphasizing both physical and online visitor experiences, Fleming hopes the Getty will become representative of the kinds of institutionally neutral places that one can visit for a moment of reflection. This is especially important “in an increasingly chaotic world,” says Fleming, when “people are trying to tell people what to think and how to think about things.” In addition to ensuring visitors can interpret holdings in their own ways, without an assumption that one must have attained a certain level of education or have a particular knowledge base to truly appreciate artwork, Fleming wants the Getty museums to be “a kind of public square” where people can gather to enjoy the architecture and ocean views.

Other priorities include investing in the Getty’s public resource features, such as educational programs and teacher curriculums, and continuing major cataloguing and digitization initiatives like its work on the Johnson Publishing Company Archive. The producer of magazines including Ebony and Jet, the publishing company’s trove of images is co-owned by the Getty and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and stands as one of the most significant depictions of Black culture in the 20th Century, with pivotal snapshots of famous figures like Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr. and Billie Holiday. “I’m very proud to be at an organization that owns that archive and is actively working to make it as widely accessible as possible—and effectively saving that archive from going into private hands,” Fleming said.

Exploring new models of ownership

The Getty CEO is also proud of her decision to commit $17 million to Pacific Standard Time, an arts initiative that brings together institutions across Southern California on a five-year cycle. Renamed PST, its next edition will kick off this September with an emphasis on interactions between art and science. Another major move made under Fleming’s leadership occurred in 2023 when the Getty and London’s National Portrait Gallery jointly purchased the 18th-century Joshua Reynolds painting Portrait of Mai (Omai), which depicts the first Polynesian to visit Britain. “We are in a world in which increasingly we have shared services, we have things that rest on the premise that lots of people should have access to the same goods,” said Fleming. Acquired for $62 million, the work will travel between the two institutions for exhibitions, research and conservation.

The courtyard of the Getty Villa in Malibu. Nick Wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images

Fleming’s enthusiasm for experimenting with ownership models extends beyond collaborative purchases. She cited fractional ownership platforms such as Masterworks and Artex, which offer the opportunity to acquire portions or shares of fine art, as key evolutions in an art market increasingly populated by investors and rising prices. “I don’t know yet what I think of them—it’s too early for me to make a judgment,” she says. “But I find it really, really interesting.”

Her own artistic inclinations reflect her commitment to culture in Los Angeles. Fleming is particularly excited about the rise of L.A.-based artists, like Getty Prize winner Mark Bradford, who are playing a role in shaping the city’s artistic evolution. Other influential creators include Lauren Halsey, whose installations in the South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles address local issues and offer critiques of gentrification, and Catherine Opie, whose photography documents Californian subcultures and queer communities. It’s the artists who are driving the region’s thriving cultural growth, said Fleming, as opposed to “the ecosystems of institutions that sell or curate or present their art.”

Amid an especially dynamic time for the Los Angeles arts community, Fleming believes the Getty needs to continue evolving and strengthening its commitment to the city it has long invested in. Fostering collaboration across the region and expanding its open-access resources are key elements of that mission—as are its plans to turn its physical campuses into more inclusive and welcoming sites. “In a place like L.A., which is so atomized and internal, people are in real need of it.”

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Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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April 12, 2024