The Art World's Epstein Problem

"Because they've long stopped being about just one depraved pedophile and have come to symbolize the endemic depravity of the world's richest elites. It's no surprise that the art world is implicated. There isn't much difference between a corporation's board of directors and a museum's board of trustees. It's more or less the same money, same power dynamics, and the same creeps crawling through the corridors."

"But another world is possible. Please read Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian's opinion piece on how we got here in the first place, and what we need to do to encourage an arts ecosystem that doesn't sustain itself with filthy money. "I don't believe the hogwash that 'the system has always been this way,' since that invites the type of pessimism that is fertile ground for exploitation," he writes. Amen."

"Newly released emails confirm artist Jeff Koons attended a dinner party organized by Jeffrey Epstein in 2013, years after the financier was first convicted of soliciting sex from a minor. David A. Ross, chair of the School of Visual Arts MFA Art Practice Department, has resigned from his post following the release of his extensive email exchanges with the convicted sex offender. The latest tranche of Epstein files included detailed and gruesome descriptions of alleged abuse by private equity billionaire and MoMA trustee Leon Black."

Epstein files have shifted from the case of a single predator to a symbol of endemic depravity among the world's wealthiest elites. The art world is implicated, with little difference between corporate boards and museum trustees, sharing the same money, power dynamics, and predatory actors. Newly released emails show Jeff Koons at an Epstein dinner, prompted the resignation of David A. Ross, and included detailed allegations against Leon Black. Sensitive redactions, including the Mona Lisa's face, accompany accusations that the DOJ mishandled releases. Advocates call for arts leaders to refuse corrupt funding and to build an ecosystem that does not rely on filthy money.

Read at Hyperallergic