First Edition: Reflecting on 2020
December Newsletter
As I sat down to write this month’s newsletter I could not help but look back at the posts that ended last year and started this one. Both discussed in-person events that ended the 2019 art-world season - Art Basel, Miami - and mused on the must-see exhibitions of 2020. How things have changed…
While a lot of the year was tough, several things that happened in 2020 were inspiring. One of my favorite parts of this insane year was the newfound sense of collaboration. There were countless instances where the art world and artists banded together around important causes, whether that was artists supporting artists in light of COVID devastations, fundraisers for fighting racism, print sales to support hospitals, or those to fund political activism. There had never been a better year to buy art with a purpose. (While most of the fundraisers have ended, if you missed them, Art for Change continues to release prints that provide support for various impactful causes.)
As we wind down now and reflect on the past year, I thought I’d send off the last newsletter of the year with some round-ups of things that have inspired me, in the hopes of providing a little more inspiration to send us all into the new year ahead.
🌊 Deep Dive: Recommended Reading
Instead of being able to see art in person this year, I’ve been replacing looking at art with writing about it in this newsletter and reading about it. Here are a few stand-outs from my reading this year.
📚 Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency by Olivia Laing
When the world seems to be spiraling out of control, there are many moments when I’ve questioned my passion for art in the grand scheme of things - Laing’s collection of essays brought me back each time, reminding me of the incredible importance and endurance of creativity, artists, and culture.
📚 Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger by Ken Perenyi
An older one but worth the read if you are looking for a quick, fascinating book for any end of year downtime. This true story reads like a movie as it chronicles the story of the author, one of the most illustrious art forgers of all time. The book serves as his confession, as the statute of limitations on his crimes has officially expired.
🗞“Buying Myself Back When does a model own her own image?” by Emily Ratajkowski
Stick with me here, this is a truly beautiful essay by model and feminist Emily Ratajkowski. It touches on some really thought-provoking ideas around owning an image and how that translates to both art and life.
🗞 Check out Tim Schneider’s weekly Artnet column, The Gray Market, which has some awesome opinion pieces the connect art and current events, and Kenny Schachter’s monthly opinion pieces for humor and the inside scoop.
🗞 “The Life Breonna Taylor Lived, in the Words of her Mother” Interview with Tamika Palmer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Photographs by LaToya Ruby Frazier
The rawness of LaToya Ruby Frazier’s photographs combined with the immediacy of this touching interview was a highlight for me.
🎧 Talk Art, a podcast by gallerist Robert Diament and the actor Russell Tovey
Technically a listen and not a read, but I’ve loved these interviews with cutting edge contemporary artists. Despite not being able to see the works while listening (another interesting parallel to not being able to see art in person in 2020) these interviews have helped me truly see each of these artist’s bodies of work better after hearing about each their stories and processes.
My two favorite episodes profiled Toyin Ojih Odutola and Katherine Bradford. For more info, the New York Times also wrote about it here.
🎥 MUSEUM TOWN, Directed by Jennifer Trainer
Ok, again technically a watch not a read, and I haven’t been able to see this documentary yet but I am dying to. It focuses on the story of how MASS MoCA, a gigantic contemporary art space in the small North Adams, MA came to be, and how bringing a weird contemporary art space to a small town, with the help of taxpayers’ dollars, was not an easy feat. Spoiler alert: it was worth it.
I haven’t been to MASS MoCA since high school but it is at the top of my list post-lockdown.
🔥 Trending
As we wrap up the year, here are some round-ups of what has been going on around the art world.
Here is some good art-world news from every month of the year.
A round-up of the record-breaking lots sold at auction, and the year’s top 10 most expensive sales.
Francis Bacon, Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus (1981) was the most expensive sale of the year, achieving $84.6 million via Sotheby’s Livestream on June 30.
A select group of young artists reached incredible, exponential market highs.
Swann’s African American art department achieved its first white-glove sale (where every work in the sale found a buyer) with the art collection of the Johnson Publishing Company, the publisher of Ebony and Jet. The sale set 29 new artist records, including a new high for a suite of photographs by Carrie Mae Weems.
Arty’s list of the most influential artists of 2020, and the most in-demand artists on their platform.
A picture is worth 1,000 words - these images sum up 2020 according to artnet.
👋 Parting Words…
I am feeling super grateful for art this year, and while I sincerely miss museums and the in-person element (who doesn’t), I have loved seeing the creativity that has emerged and kept us connected. I’ve been able to travel to many more shows and art fairs virtually, and discover more artists on an even deeper level as I’ve had the chance to slow down a bit.
2021 brings a lot of optimism and I am particularly excited about one project that is helping to transition the art world online — but I’ll have to share more about that later!
See you in the new year! xx