While it is undeniable that the pandemic did cast a pall of gloom and inertia on the art world, the latter half of 2021 did see the picking of pace in the global arts scene. In fact, despite the Covid scare, the year was peppered with some highly interesting, or shall we say downright amusing, incidents throughout. We diligently brought you the news the year around and thought it would be a great idea to rewind to all the significant stories that called for attention in 2021.
![\"\"](\"http://localhost/abirpothi/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/alborg-1-300x225.jpg\")
In a rather peculiar turn of events, a museum in Aalborg, Denmark, accused an artist of breaking their legal agreement and demanding the artist return the 534,000 kroner, the equivalent of over $84,000. It so happened, reported The Washington Post, that the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in northern Denmark had commissioned artist Jens Haaning to re-create two of his older pieces that were made with cash and lent him half-million kroner to feature the same. But instead, when they opened boxes received from Haaning last week, they found two empty frames, titled: “Take the Money and Run.”
![\"\"](\"http://localhost/abirpothi/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Beyonce-1-300x267.jpg\")
Beyonce and Jay-Z’s Tiffany ad featuring a Basquiat painting titled ‘Equals Pi’ made the news worldwide, for the wrong reasons as per a fascinating article by The News Minute. Criticism was meted out for the way in which a white-owned company (Tiffany) was furthering sales while using Black artists, both current (the Carters) and past (Basquiat).
![\"\"](\"http://localhost/abirpothi/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Diego-Giacometti-1-300x195.jpg\")
Further, in a shocking development, the Sotheby’s auction house took a Florida art seller and his wife to the court and demanded a compensation of $7 million and legal fees. This turn of events occured after Sotheby claimed that the couple, well known in the art circles in France, sold a piece of art that Sotheby’s alleges to be fake. The work was sold as renowned sculptor and painter Diego Giacometti’s creation. Dealers Frederic Thut and wife Bettina Von Marnitz Thut committed a “brazen fraudulent scheme,” Sotheby’s claimed in an August 3 Manhattan Federal Court filing.
