This month, James Rondeau is marking the 10th anniversary of his appointment as president and director of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2026, he’ll help steer forward a projected $50 million art conservation center project, one step in a larger goal of making over the institution and expanding it to keep its competitive edge.Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times

James Rondeau is ready to expand the Art Institute’s footprint — and put that airplane incident behind him

Running an art museum may be one of the toughest jobs in the arts at the moment.

There are cuts in federal support and philanthropic pullbacks to contend with. Sociopolitical jabs from the left and right. Even existential questions about the relevance and purpose of such institutions in the 21st century.

Via WBEZ

Jeffrey Epstein’s Art World Connections: A Guide

Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died by apparent suicide in 2019 while in jail facing additional charges related to alleged sex trafficking in New York and Florida, cultivated an expansive network of powerful and influential contacts in a wide array of fields—art very much among them. In addition to his dealings in the worlds of finance, science, and technology, the reputed billionaire engaged with art institutions, collectors, and cultural enterprises now reckoning with their affiliations with a figure whose history is being closely examined. 

Via ARTnews

Chicago’s Volume Gallery Triples in Size with a Move to West Town

The last couple of years have seen many art galleries close in art hubs around the world amid a struggling market. But one in Chicago is tripling in size with a move to a new neighborhood. Volume Gallery will open on February 13 in a 3,500-square-foot space designed by co-founders Claire Warner and Sam Vinz at 1700 West Hubbard Street, across from mainstays Mariane Ibrahim and Monique Meloche. It’s the gallery’s third space since it opened in 2010. 

Via ARTnews

Art for All: A Smithsonian Museum Spreads Its Bounty for America’s 250th

With its recognizable Brutalist-doughnut architecture, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is the Smithsonian Institution’s redoubt for modern and contemporary art on the National Mall in Washington.

As part of the Smithsonian, it is meant to be a museum for all of America. And to underscore that national mission — and to emphasize that modern and contemporary art need not be exclusive to liberal metropolitan coastal elites — the Hirshhorn has decided to loan scores of artworks from its large collection to smaller museums in all 50 states, red and blue.

Via NYT