The Headlines
ROYAL FLUSH. In the course of the marquee New York gross sales subsequent month, Maurizio Cattelan, whose duct-taped banana bought for $6.2 million final yr, would possibly simply steal the present yet one more time. That a minimum of appears to be what Sotheby’s is betting on when it presents the Italian conceptual prankster notorious 18-karat, stable gold bathroom. Titled America (2016), it is going to be plumbed into a toilet within the Breuer Constructing , Sotheby’s new HQ, and guests will likely be invited to view it one-by-one starting November 8. In an public sale first, when the 100-kilogram bathroom hits the block on November 18, the beginning bid will likely be decided by the value of the work’s weight in gold—or round $10 million. “Cattelan’s incisive commentary on the collision of inventive manufacturing and commodity worth has by no means felt extra well timed,” Sotheby’s mentioned in a press release. Sotheby’s confirmed to ARTnews that no bidders have dropped a giant deposit to safe the work with an irrevocable bid forward of the sale.
BLURRED LINES. The boundaries of artist illustration are shifting in in the present day’s artwork market, the Artwork Newspaper writes. New York–based mostly artist Tom Sachs is now represented by The Lede Firm, a PR company slightly than a gallery. The announcement clarified that Thaddaeus Ropac , Sachs’s long-time seller, stays accountable for his effective artwork, whereas The Lede will deal with model and media collaborations. This division raises questions on the place a gallery’s remit ends and an company’s begins. Sachs’s follow, rooted in critiques of shopper tradition, has developed to embrace high-profile partnerships, together with with Levi’s and Nike, for whom he designed the Mars Yard 3.0 sneakers and a associated app. He describes Nike as a “megaphone” for his concepts, giving him attain far past the artwork market.
The Digest
Scientific artwork evaluation agency ArtDiscovery has unveiled what it referred to as the “world’s first insured authenticity assure for artworks.” The brand new product pairs connoisseurship and provenance analysis with laboratory science and proprietary AI, after which backs the conclusion with an insurance coverage coverage from an A+ rated insurer. [ArtDiscovery]
Structure critic Michael Kimmelman previews the Studio Museum in Harlem’s new constructing, opening subsequent month. [The New York Times]
It’s Halloween, so the Irish Occasions toured Eire’s solely dying museum and located dying masks, mourning jewellery, and actual human enamel used for dentures. [Irish Times]
From spirit images to spectral sculptures, an exhibition at Kunstmuseum Basel explores 250 years of spooky imagery in artwork. [Artnet News]
The Kicker
BOO! Zachary Small, the New York Occasions’s tradition reporter, has taken readers on a haunted tour of the the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork. “You’re in for a scare: they embody a decapitation platter and a sculpture of a rumored cannibal,” the paper writes. Watch the video right here.
