NELSON MAKAMO (B. 1982, MODIMOLLE, LIMPOPO, SOUTH AFRICA): Untitled, from Blue Series. Executed in 2020. © Courtesy the artist and Destinee Ross-Sutton
NELSON MAKAMO (B. 1982, MODIMOLLE, LIMPOPO, SOUTH AFRICA): Untitled, from Blue Series. Executed in 2020. © Courtesy the artist and Destinee Ross-Sutton
Christie’s powerful new show “Say It Loud (I’m Black and Proud)” has imposed a notable series of rules on potential buyers in response to a frenzy of interest around Black artists.
Artists will receive 100% of the proceeds from the sale of their work. Buyers will not be allowed to place the work for auction for at least five years. If they want to sell, the artist gets right of first refusal, and 15% of the proceeds if they place the work elsewhere.
The rules are the brainchild of 24-year-old rising star curator Destinee Ross-Sutton, who wants to both showcase Black artists and curb what she sees as a parallel to “how so many Black artists were taken advantage of in the ’90s in the music industry, or even gentrification, where people lose their homes because the rent is suddenly hiked and other people move because they want the culture and the culture is no longer there.” Ross-Sutton is also the inspiration for the figure in the Derrick Adams portrait visible in ‘Black is King,’ and altogether a figure to watch in the art world.
Close on the heels of a pair of game-worn AJ1s from Jordan’s rookie season becoming the most expensive pair of sneakers ever sold, a pair of AJ1s worn by Jordan in a 1985 exhibition game in Trieste, Italy have just shattered that record.
The pair gets its name from the shard of glass embedded in the left sole, resulting from Jordan having shattered a backboard while wearing them.
They were part of a 11-lot auction held at Christie’s in partnership with sneaker giant Stadium Goods that was, per Christie’s, “among the highest attended online events Christie’s has hosted since lockdown,” with 70% of bidders new to the platform. Stadium Goods’ co-CEO John McPheters said, “This sale once again confirms that sneakers are cultural artifacts and deserve to be listed alongside other luxury items in the collectibles marketplace.”
• Despite last week’s ‘bloodbath,’ DC’s CEO says they “are still in the business of publishing comics.”
• ...and their upcoming FanDome event seems to be happening as scheduled.
• The sculptor trying to reclaim a lost Iraq.
• Inside Aglet, the game described as “Pokemon Go for sneakerheads.”
• Reclusive designer Martin Margiela finally speaks.
• All the Nike references in Drake’s new video.
• What you need to know about Supreme’s upcoming drop.
• Art museums have a docent problem.
• There’s a new KAWS ‘Companion’ drop, and this one has gone to space.
• Some intense-looking Yeezy samples have turned up online. (And some more normal ones are coming out soon)
