An App for Reporting Stolen Art

April 12, 2023

Good morning. 🌤️ There’s an app for everything these days, from finding love to reporting stolen art to the FBI! We have the story on the latter today, though lovers get stolen too.

In other news, a Los Angeles auctioneer admits to helping create fake Basquiats that were shown at the Orlando Museum of Art last year. Also in LA, a popular Pinocchio show reminds people of the existence of an Italian American Museum in the city.

And in return for a $300 million gift, Harvard University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences will now carry the name of Republican megadonor Kenneth Griffin. Major museums have accepted gifts from the hedge fund billionaire despite his foul investments and support of extremist right-wing politicians, most recently Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. And yes, you guessed it right: Griffin is a Harvard alumnus.

— Hakim Bishara, Senior Editor

FBI’s New Stolen Art App Leaves a Lot to Be Desired

Users can search for stolen works and submit tips, all while navigating the aesthetic world — and technology — of a 1990s spy movie. | Elaine Velie

ALSO IN THE NEWS

Auctioneer Michael Barzman confesses to concealing the provenance of and creating the Basquiat forgeries exhibited at the Orlando Museum of Art.

SaraNoa Mark, Nyeema Morgan, and Julia Phillips are recipients of the 2023 Chicago Artadia Awards.

Harvard names its Graduate School of Arts and Sciences after Republican megadonor Kenneth C. Griffin.

SPONSORED

Elias Sime, On View at James Cohan’s 48 Walker Street Gallery

Elias Sime deftly manipulates technological components into abstract compositions, often on a monumental scale. His works serve as records of the global exchange of commodities, and express the tenuousness of our interconnected world, alluding to frictions between tradition and progress, nature and the man-made, and physical presence and the virtual.
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LATEST IN ART

On the Sacred Magic of Writing

With Dark Illuminations, artist Kenturah Davis creates opportunities for us to see the sacred and meditative in the words we write. | AX Mina

SPONSORED

Nature, Crisis, Consequence at the New-York Historical Society

This exhibition looks at the social and cultural impact of environmental crises on different communities. Learn more.

The Complex Spiritualities of Syncretic Beliefs

While candles, images of saints, and other idols are common in households in Puerto Rico, the meanings owners ascribe to them can be unexpected. | Sebastián Meltz-Collazo

Techno Visionary Carl Craig Brings the Party to the Museum

The second iteration of Craig’s art installation Party/After-Party will be staged in a former police car warehouse that houses LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art. | Matt Stromberg

SPONSORED

Stream Media Works by Artists in Asia, the Americas, and Oceania on Watch and Chill 3.0

International audiences have free access to the media collections of MMCA Korea, TONO festival, the Peabody Essex Museum, and the National Gallery of Victoria. Learn more.

ALSO ON HYPERALLERGIC

Things I’ve Learned at the Palm Springs Jewish Film Festival

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the festival explored intergenerational relationships, the preservation of Jewish traditions, and the lingering trauma of the Holocaust. | Renée Reizman

How Pinocchio Put LA’s Italian American Museum On the Map

A Real Boy: The Many Lives of Pinocchio is the institution’s most popular exhibition to date, bringing tens of thousands of visitors to the lesser-known museum. | Matt Stromberg

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