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The Headlines
I AM BANKSY. Part of Banksy’s appeal is his anonymous mystique, according to a Reuters long-read,which nevertheless does the detective work of trying to remove it by identifying the artist. The team of reporters justifies their big scoop as serving a “deep public interest,” while insisting on how Banksy has “monetized” said mystique. And yet, the most revealing parts of the story are not so much the naming of Banksy, but reporting about how and with whom the artist works. To cut to the chase, turns out Banksy was born Robin Gunningham in 1973, as some have suspected in the past, and he later changed his name to David Jones. There are 6,000 other men in the UK who also went by that most common of names in 2017. If Banksy hasn’t already changed his name again, he is still one of them.
KENNEDY CENTER TAKEDOWN. After a judge ordered Representative Joyce Beatty (Democrat) to be given access to documents and the ability to voice her opposition to a proposed closure for renovations of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., the New York Times revealed that President Trump is planning to have the center’s board vote on that project today. The president announced he wanted to shut down the center for renovations after artists and patrons boycotted Trump’s takeover and eponymous renaming of the cultural monument. Thus far, the judge-ordered released documents “prove that there is absolutely no basis to shutter this precious living memorial …” Beatty stated. “It certainly looks like President Trump is shutting down the center because he is embarrassed that ticket sales are down and artists are fleeing since his illegal renaming.” Meanwhile, the center’s Trump-appointed president, Richard Grenell, announced he is leaving his position.
The Digest
Italy’s culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, has called for the resignation of the government’s representative on the board of the Venice Biennale, Tamar Gregoretti, for not alerting the government of the possibility that Russia would participate in the event for the first time since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. [ARTnews]
Swiss dealer Yves Bouvier is heading to criminal court in Paris over accusations of concealing stolen goods and money laundering, following the disappearance of dozens of artworks by Picasso that had been in storage. [The Art Newspaper]
The New York Academy of Art said it plans to donate $65,900 linked to donations from Jeffrey Epstein to a nonprofit that supports victims of human trafficking. [The New York Times and ARTnews]
Outgoing Tate director Maria Balshaw said the UK should offer tax incentives on cash gifts to art institution endowment funds. [The Financial Times]
Two People Exchanging Saliva, a film written and directed by artist Alexandre Singh and art historian Natalie Musteata, tied with The Singers to win the Academy Award for live-action short film. [The New York Times]
The Kicker
CAT AND MOUSE OSCAR GAMES. Hollywood and the art scene converged this week ahead of the Oscars on Sunday, for the star-studded, annual opening and dinner at Gagosian’s Beverly Hills gallery, per Vanity Fair’s Nate Freeman. On Thursday, the so-called “Gagosian Oscar show pantheon” honors went to artist Jonas Wood, whose exhibition opened at the space, marking his first in LA in over four years. The event drew famous artists, curators, top collectors, along with their Hollywood counterparts, not to mention pop music stars. “It’s a public opening when anyone can show up— where anyone could show up,” writes Freeman, and it’s a relatively rare chance to mix the art and cinema gangs, for what it’s worth. “The film world is an enormous world, and we’re like little mice playing between the cats — but I kind of like that,” said Gagosian, by way of comparison.
