Hans Ulrich Obrist’s Questionnaire:

Kim Hyesoon

On March 28, a major exhibition of Jenny Saville’s work opened at Ca’ Pesaro–Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna in Venice, bringing together nearly thirty paintings from the 1990s to the present. The exhibition is curated by Elisabetta Barisoni, head of the museums division at Venice’s Ca’ Pesaro, Museo Fortuny, and head of MUVE in Mestre. Saville’s monumental canvases are set in dialogue with the great Venetian artists of the past, creating a unique encounter between contemporary painting and the city’s artistic heritage. Here, the artist speaks with Stefania Ventra, professor with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, about her early trips to Venice, the radicality of Titian’s painting, and depicting emotional truth.

Andrew Durbin’s dual biography The Wonderful World That Almost Was: A Life of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, tracks the convergences and divergences in the lives of the two artists, from their first meeting in Coral Cables, Florida, in 1956 through their generative romantic and creative partnership in New York, Italy, Fire Island, and beyond. Ahead of the release, Durbin met with the Quarterly’s Wyatt Allgeier to speak about the development of the project, the sublime noncompliance of these two artists, and the motifs of love, death, and rebirth that weave through the telling of their story.

Helter Skelter—an exhibition at Fondazione Prada’s Venetian venue, Ca’ Corner della Regina—marks the first creative dialogue between two visionaries of American art, Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince. The show explores the grit, grift, violence, and ingenuity of American culture through more than fifty works, including photography, video, and large-scale installations that interrogate themes of race, gender, media, and politics. In the interview below, Nancy Spector, the exhibition’s curator, speaks about the shared motifs—from apocalyptic sunsets to a fascination with “monstrosity”—that led her to pair these artists for the first time.

Valentina Castellani speaks with the Quarterly’s Alison McDonald about her new book Trading Beauty: Art Market Histories from the Altar to the Gallery. The illustrated survey traces the evolution of the Western art market from the medieval era to the present day.

Ahead of Persephone, an exhibition of new paintings by Mary Weatherford inside Hong Kong’s historic Pedder Building, the Quarterly’s Wyatt Allgeier met with Weatherford and the architect Mark Lee to talk about their collaboration. Here, they discuss how custom architectural interventions—from mirrored columns to strategic light play—transform the gallery, evoking Persephone’s mythic journey through the underworld and back into the light of spring.

Courtney J. Martin, executive director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, discusses its approach to the artist’s lifelong philanthropy, the intricacies of stewarding an artist’s goals and passions, and more.