ART
Chicagoans Mark ARTnews’ “Top 200 Collectors” List
ARTnews’ annual Top 200 Collectors list is out; the extensive profiles of Chicago notables include Anita Blanchard and Martin Nesbitt (profile); Barbara Bluhm-Kaul and Don Paul (profile); Denise and Gary Gardner (profile); Liz and Eric Lefkofsky (profile); Alec Litowitz and Jennifer Leischner (profile); George Lucas and Mellody Hobson (profile); and Penny Pritzker and Bryan Traubert (profile). Ex-Chicagoans on the list include Kenneth C. Griffin (profile); and Carl and Marilynn Thoma (profile). From ARTnews’ introduction to their ambitious roster: “In addition to buying works from galleries, exhibitions, and fairs around the globe, like the Venice Biennale and Art Basel, the collectors featured… are often major players in the art world. They commission daring new works, endow curatorial positions and residencies, fund museum exhibitions, and head up major institutional boards. In the last case, another name new to the Top 200 is that of Denise Gardner and her husband, Gary; Denise made history in 2021 when she became board chair of the Art Institute of Chicago, the first Black woman to hold such a position at a United States museum. Many of these collectors are thinking through the most pressing issues facing the art world today. Rodney Miller, also new to the list, started collecting twenty-five years ago, and has been a museum trustee almost as long. He feels that the cultural shift to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion should only continue to build. ‘We all benefit from having all voices heard, and we should all do our part to make that happen.’”
Lincoln Park Art Night Is Coming
Six art locations are celebrating their Lincoln Park neighborhood as a destination for art lovers. Lincoln Park Art Night will feature free trolleys offering hop-on/hop-off service for three hours on Thursday, October 20, 5:30-pm-8:30pm. Artists and curators will attend. Participating sites: Madron Gallery, 1000 West North; Leslie Wolfe Gallery, 1763 North North Park Avenue; Wrightwood 659, 659 West Wrightwood; DePaul Art Museum, 935 West Fullerton; Josh Moulton Fine Art Gallery, 2218 North Clark; and gallery 1871, 1871 North Clybourn. Registration is not required but requested here.
DESIGN
Strange Ways Of The Reclusive Chicago-Area Billionaire Behind Beanie Babies
“The secretive billionaire genius behind Beanie Babies has a business reputation as anything but a teddy bear,” reports the New York Post. “People who know Ty Warner, the brand’s founder, [a college dropout from suburban Chicago] said he’s a stubborn eccentric who wants things done his way—or else. Now, he’s toying with his reputation by putting two landmark hotels he owns on ice but not making it clear why. Mystery surrounds the seventy-eight-year-old’s decision to shutter both the iconic Four Seasons Hotel in New York as well as the Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara. He closed them at the start of the pandemic in 2020 and it was expected they’d re-open a few months later when most hotels did. Instead, Warner is apparently battling Four Seasons management, which doesn’t own the hotels under its banner but operates them for the owners.”
A Study On The Threat To Owners And Renters By Investor Home Purchases
“Housing markets in the United States are rapidly changing. We are bombarded in the news about corporations purchasing homes across sunbelt metros like Atlanta, Charlotte, and Phoenix,” writes the New Localism. “Reporting and research highlight the challenges faced by renters in private equity-backed properties, from maintenance requests gone unfulfilled to evictions as a core part of a fee-based business model. During the first two years of the pandemic, homebuyers fought over a limited supply of for-sale housing, often finding out that they were beat by all-cash corporate offers. Now we wonder: will these homes ever come back on the…
Read More: Today In The Culture, October 11, 2022: Chicago’s Top Art Collectors | Keanu