The Gray Market Weekend Wrap #23

From transmogrified snakemen to misguided litigation avatars

Welcome back to The Gray Market’s weekend wrap, where I pour up a fine flight of recommendations for exhibitions, podcasts, articles and more, with thoughts on what makes each one matter to the current state of art and business.

In this weekend’s edition, you’ll find:

• A shapeshifting, irreverent sculpture show on the Upper East Side

• A pack of reader-selected art world recession indicators

• A trio of articles covering the Network State’s threat to philanthropy, the alarming financial struggles of award-winning indie filmmakers, and the US government calling off the last of the crypto watchdogs

If any of that sounds interesting—or if you just want to support The Gray Market in its ongoing mission to explore where the art business is headed and why—you can subscribe or upgrade your membership using the button below. Paid subscribers will receive all future editions of the weekend wrap, access to the full Substack archive (free posts are paywalled after two months), and much more. And if you’re already a paid subscriber, thank you.

One question I’m wondering about

It’s gala season in the New York art world again, and there hasn’t been this much urgency around fundraising from the private and corporate sectors since the crash of 2008-09. At the same time, US-based donors and nonprofits alike are at risk of being targeted for supporting anything that could be even remotely interpreted as “woke ideology.” So I’m wondering: If it was your job to plan a gala in this environment, what would the theme of the event be?

Email your thoughts to tim@thegraymarket.xyz. I’ll include my favorite(s) in next weekend’s newsletter and comp the winner(s) a one-month subscription to TGM.