Aug. 28, 2007 

PINTA ART FAIR IN NEW YORK CITY
Latin American modernism is the focus of the new Pinta art fair in New York City, Nov. 16-20, 2007, presenting 40 top galleries from the U.S., South America, Mexico and Europe at the Metropolitan Pavilion at 125 West 18th Street in Manhattan. Confirmed exhibitors include Cecilia de Torres (New York), Ruth Benzacar (Buenos Aires), Enrique Farias (New York), Magnan Projects (New York), DPM (Quito), Durban Segnini (Caracas and Miami), Alejandra Von Hartz (Miami), Nara Roesler (Sao Paulo), Rubbers (Buenos Aires), Leon Tovar (New York) and EDS (Mexico). The fair coincides with the week of Latin American art auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

Pinta general director is Diego Costa Peuser, publisher of Arte al Dia magazine and director of the Arteamericas art fair in Miami. His co-directors are Alejandro Zaia, head of Conexion PR, and Mauro Herlitzka, director of the arteBA art fair in Buenos Aires. Pinta’s host committee is chaired by Patricia Phelps de Cisneros along with Estrella Brodsky and Gonzalo Parodi. Pinta’s honored artist is Waltercio Caldas, who is slated to give a lecture at the Americas Society on Nov. 13, 2007.

MUSEUMS FOR CHINESE ARTISTS
The government of Sichuan Province in Central China has offered to build museums devoted to eight Chinese art stars, according to a report the New York Times. The eight artists are Zhang Xiaogang, Wang Guangyi, Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun, Zhou Chunya, He Duoling, Zhang Peili and Wu Shanzhuan, and the $13-million project would go up on an 18-acre plot of land in Dujiangyan, a city near the provincial capital of Chengdu. The initiative is meant to bolster tourism and "benefit a group of real estate companies that are redeveloping the provincial area," according to the Times. The museums are expected to open in 2008, with each artist having control of his own institution.

Though museums focusing on contemporary art are still rare in the country, China is undergoing an unprecedented museum building boom, according to a 2005 report in Bloomberg News [see Artnet News, Oct. 14, 2005].

THE BIG DRAW IN BIG APPLE
"The Big Draw" looks to be, well, a big draw at the River to River arts festival in New York, Sept. 8, 2007. The massive "participatory drawing event" -- everybody gets a free sketchbook -- is scheduled to run from 11 am to 11 pm at four different locations in New York City: Teardrop Park in Battery Park City, the National Museum of the American Indian, the South Street Seaport Museum and the Winter Garden & Plaza at the World Financial Center. A special evening program involving "laser tag" is being put on by the Graffiti Research Lab at the Old Slip park between Front and Water streets. "The Big Draw" was originally launched in the U.K., and returns to the Big Apple for its second year. The event is presented by the Drawing Center, fittingly enough. See www.RiverToRiverNYC.com for more info.

ARTXPOSIUM IN WEST CHICAGO
Described as "part expo, part symposium," the first-ever ArtXposium is taking over a former True Value hardware store at 103 W. Washington St. in West Chicago, starting Sept. 21, 2007, for a three-day multimedia art experience. The initiative is spearheaded by Anni Holm and Brian Reis, and is designed to help develop an artist’s residency program in West Chicago. Expect entertainment, food, a silent auction and works by some 60 artists, including Angeline Evans, Annie Heckman, Ashley Hudson, Brian Sorg, Brandon Sorg, Kristina Dziedzic Wright, Lauren Targ, Lisa Peterson Gonzales, Liz Chilsen, Mary Familant and Mary Rachel Fanning. See www.artxposium.org

"FORMS OF RESISTANCE" IN THE NETHERLANDS
The Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, is presenting "Forms of Resistance," Sept. 22, 2007-June 1, 2008, an exhibition that purportedly "tells the story of art and social change through the lens of resistance and artistic desire." Focusing on a wide panorama of artists involved in social change, the show analyzes four historical moments -- the French Commune of 1871, the Russian Revolution of 1917, May 1968 in Paris and the post-9/11 world -- through the lens of a variety of artists, including Édouard Manet, Gustave Courbet, El Lissitzky, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Kazimir Malevich, Brigada Ramona Parra, Atelier Populaire, Tucuman Arde, Hans Haacke, General Idea, Adrian Piper and Superflex.

VEAUTE TO PALAZZO GRASSI
Monique Veaute has been named director of François Pinault’s Palazzo Grassi in Venice. Veaute succeeds Jean-Jacques Aillagon, who was appointed president of the state-run Chateau de Versailles in June by new French prime minister Nicolas Sarkozy. The German-born Veaute has served as director of the Romaeuropa Festival in Rome, and has lived and worked in Italy since 1984.

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