The Artist Residency That Never Was
Hyperallergic reports that Abstract Mag, an art-focused social media platform with more than 1 million followers, invited artists to what it described as an all-expenses-paid, two-week residency in southern Georgia in August for 40 visual artists. Los Angeles airbrush painter Syd Sauer Wilson, 25, received an invitation email on Friday, June 5, despite not applying that year, after having paid a $40 fee to apply to a previous Abstract Mag residency in Marseille at the 18th-century Château De Forbin. Artists later reported that many similar invitations were sent, prompting doubts about the program’s legitimacy. In July, Abstract Mag posted (and later deleted) that 40 artists had been accepted, but artists said they were subsequently ghosted as the residency’s social media pages went dark.
From This Briefing
This story was covered in Donations, Restitution, and the Museum Power Play