Gareth Harris

3 weeks ago | theartnewspaper.com | Gareth Harris

Simon Wallis, the director of the Hepworth Wakefield, has been appointed as the new secretary and chief executive of the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) in London. He replaces Axel Rüger, who stepped down from the role in October last year to become director of the Frick Collection in New York.

3 weeks ago | theartnewspaper.com | Gareth Harris |Gareth Harris

The artists Anish Kapoor, Veronica Ryan and Rachel Whiteread have backed a campaign to keep an important work by Barbara Hepworth in the UK. The Art Fund charity and Hepworth Wakefield gallery in West Yorkshire have launched a public appeal to acquire Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red (1943), which costs £3.8m. The Art Fund has provided £750,000 but another £2.9m needs to be found before the deadline of 27 August.

3 weeks ago | theartnewspaper.com | Gareth Harris |Melissa Gronlund

A young Armenian painter named Vosdanig Manuk Adoian emigrated to the US in 1920, fleeing from the Armenian genocide. After four years living with relatives in Massachusetts, he moved to New York and changed his name to Arshile Gorky in honour of the celebrated Russian poet Maxim Gorky. This new analysis examines Gorky’s artistic evolution against the backdrop of New York as a Modernist mecca, straddling Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism.

3 weeks ago | theartnewspaper.com | Gareth Harris

One of the key proponents of Postmodernism—the irreverent movement that emerged around 1970, shattering established notions about art and design—was Charles Jencks, the late architectural historian whose ideas are embodied in the Cosmic House in London, dubbed “the spiritual home of Postmodern design”. The house also hosts exhibitions, the latest of which is a site-specific commission by the artist and musician Lina Lapelyté (until 19 December).

3 weeks ago | theartnewspaper.com | Gareth Harris

A man has reportedly jumped into a pit at the terracotta warriors museum in China, damaging two of the famous ancient clay warriors. According to a statement from public security officials, reported by the Guardian, the 30-year-old was visiting the museum housing the terracotta army in the city of Xi’an, central China, on 30 May when he “climbed over the guardrail and the protective net and jumped”. He “pushed and pulled” the 2,000-year-old clay statues located in pit no.