The Week in Art: 12 May 2025
More trustees, more New York Art Fair, as well as Tate Modern, the National Gallery, and a London-based art dealer convicted of funding Hezbollah
Last week’s Week in Review, this week:
Trump administration announces (old) new head of the NEA:
A White House spokesperson told the New York Times this week that Mary Anne Carter will resume her position as the head of the NEA, and ‘will play a pivotal role in ushering in the Golden Age of American art and culture.’ Carter had previously stepped down from her role in 2021 when Joe Biden became president; the move is seen as part of the administration’s wider strategy to axe DEI-favourable initiatives across the federal government.
Trump’s housewives sweetheart:
In Britain, former politicians, historians and TV presenters are appointed to the boards of trustees of major cultural institutions; in Trump’s America, reality stars. Siggy Flicker (occupation ‘matchmaker’ on her Wikipedia), a former cast member of the TV franchise The Real Housewives of New Jersey was this week appointed to the board of the Holocaust Museum in Washington. Last year, Flicker was photographed at prayer - or perhaps another kind of reverence - at a Trump rally; her son was also charged in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, ARTnews reports.
TEFAF New York’s lukewarm sales:
Gallerists at TEFAF New York Art Fair are experiencing a ‘downturn’ in art sales, while global sales have dropped by 12% compared to last year, ARTnews reports. Sales seem to be a mixed bag, with some categories performing well, others poorly, no doubt, at least in part, to the ambiguity surrounding tariffs. Dealer Thaddeus Ropac, who this week made multiple sales of German artist Daniel Richter, known for his large-scale oil paintings, described the cautionary mood, ‘people are taking their time.’
Click here for last week’s Week in Art.
Tate Modern and the National Gallery:
This week in London, there have been two major developments for Tate Modern and the National Gallery. Touted by the New York Times as ‘the Museum of the Century’ on May 8, Tate Modern celebrated its 25th birthday, with a schedule of live performances, tours and workshops during its ‘Birthday Weekender’. North of the Thames, the National Gallery unveiled its new Sainsbury Wing main entrance. Updates to the Wing have attracted substantial criticism, with architects calling the £85m revamp by New York-based architect Annabelle Selldorf ‘insensitive’ and ‘an act of vandalism’.
London-based art dealer convicted of funding Hezbollah:
A London-based art dealer pled guilty to eight offences under the Terrorism Act 2000, for financing Hezbollah on May 9. A press release from the Metropolitan Police notes that Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53 ‘has become the first person to be charged with a specific offence under section 21A’ of the Act. Ojiri owns a gallery in London’s art centre, Shoreditch, and appeared as an art expert on BBC’s Bargain Hunt. The prosecutor for The Crown intimated that the contact Ojiri met with, Nazem Ahmad, ‘had been sanctioned in the U.S. as a suspected terrorist financier’, and ‘Ojiri accessed news reports about Mr. Ahmad’s designation and engaged in discussions with others about it, indicating his knowledge or suspicions.’
Amazon’s ‘more empathetic smile’:
In a move to curry favour with the masses, Amazon, the world’s second largest company (by number of employees and revenue), has revamped its logo for the first time in 20 years, dezeen reports. Blink and you’ll miss it. A deepening of the orange, and a curvier grin sees design agency Koto and Amazon’s design team unveil a ‘more empathetic smile’: all but certain to raise morale in its workforce of underpaid and overworked warehouse staff.