Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday.
Industry Moves
Bortolami Now Represents Emily Sundblad: The New York–based painter and cofounder of Reena Spaulings Fine Art will have a work in the gallery’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach in December. She will debut a theatrical production, made with Ken Okiishi, at the New Theater Hollywood in February.
Shigeo Otake Joins White Cube: Born and based in Kobe, Japan, the artist is known for his surrealist-inflected paintings featuring an array of otherworldly figures. He will debut new paintings at the gallery’s booth at Art Basel Paris ahead of a solo show at the Mason’s Yard space in spring 2028.
Olney Gleason Takes on Kour Pour: The artist, who draws on a range of visual traditions and his British and Iranian heritage, will have a solo show at the gallery in early 2027. He currently has works on view in its booth at Frieze London.
Hanna Hur Joins Greene Naftali: The Toronto-born, New York–based artist is currently showing a series of new paintings at the gallery. She was featured in the 2025 edition of the Made in L.A. biennial.
Alexander Berggruen Now Represents Raul de Lara: The sculptor is known for making handcrafted pieces in wood depicting flora and household objects. He recently made work for Hermès.
Jan Kaps Adds Lukas Luzius Leichtle to Its Roster: The artist, who is known for his hyper-realistic paintings of the human body, had a solo show at the Cologne-based gallery in June. He will display new work at its booth at Art Basel Paris.
Tanja Grunert and Fierman to Share Space in Chinatown: The two New York galleries, which are not merging, will retain their individual programs and artists but will rotate use of a gallery at 19 Pike Street. The first show will be a solo for Odette Steinert, opening November 13.
IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts Names New Director: Mary Deleary (Chippewas of the Thames First Nation)will begin in her role at the Santa Fe, New Mexico, institution on October 19. She is currently director of the IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts, which is also under the umbrella of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA).
Chicago-Based Gertie Promotes Chanelle Lacy to Managing Director: Lacy has been with the company behind Chicago Exhibition Week since 2023. “Chanelle is a force, and this appointment is about recognizing that and giving her an even bigger platform,” founder Abby Pucker said in a statement.
Rubin Museum Gives Nearly $195,000 for Research Grants for Himalayan Art: The 2026 grant cycle received 250 letters of inquiry; the 13 grantees will receive between $3,000 and $25,000 for their individual projects. Artists chosen for the grant include Peldon Tshering, Sonam Tshedzom Tingkhye, and Tenzing Rigdol. The full list of winners can be for here.
The Big Number: $35 M.
That’s the high estimate for Amedeo Modigliani’s limestone sculpture Tête (1911–12). Though better known for his paintings of nude women with elongated figures and almond-shaped eyes, the artist also made around 28 sculptures during his lifetime. This “fresh to the market” work, which has not changed hands since 1972, “embodies everything that makes Modigliani’s sculpture so revered, including its profound art historical importance,” according to Phillips deputy chairman of the Americas and senior international specialist Jeremiah Evarts. The $35 million estimate is just above the price for the second-most expensive sculpture by the artist ever sold, another Tête that sold in 2019 for $34.3 million. His record for three-dimensional work stands at $52.8 million, while for painting, it’s $170.4 million, a benchmark set more than a decade ago, when Nu couché (1918) sold in 2015.
Read This.
Ahead of Frieze’s VIP opening today, the New York Times published a dispatch from Hong Kong about what goes into putting on an international fair of Frieze’s scale. But instead of talking to the fair director, reporter Mercedes Hutton zeroed in on the work that happens in “the shadows,” as she puts it—that is to say, the labor of one company specializing in logistics that takes care of building the crates for transporting an artwork to its next destination, whether by land, sea, or air. The most fascinating part of the article comes when Franck Vidal, the head of fabrication for Eythos, describes how he builds a crate, even for a work that isn’t quite finished. “To me, the journey starts on the screen or as data,” he says, beginning his explanation. It’s a worth reading on to see what comes next.