Austrian Abstract Painter Josef Mikl Dies at 78

Josef Mikl John Plumb

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NEW YORK—Bijan Khezri left his post as the CEO and president of the Artist Pension Trust on April 1. Khezri now serves as the vice chairman of the board of directors, while Pamela Auchincloss has assumed the role of CEO. Khezri also co-founded the Bermuda-based oil and gas company Enovation Resources as well as the London-based merchant banking partnership Saphire Finance LLP. 

CINCINNATI—The Cincinnati Art Museum has appointed Jessica Flores its new associate curator of contemporary art. Flores currently works as the director's project assistant at the museum, where she has also helped curate a number of contemporary exhibitions in the past year. Previously she served as a manager at the University of Cincinnati's design, art, architecture, and planning galleries. Flores assumes the new post in September.

PORTLAND—The Portland Art Museum has announced that Christina Olsen will be the new director of its education department, effective August 3. Olsen moves to the museum after 11 years with the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Foundation, having worked as the manager of the Getty Museum's multimedia interactive system ArtAccess, the manager of interactive programs for the Getty Museum and Getty Villa, and the manager of grants for the Getty Foundation. The position in Portland has been recently elevated in its scope and salary, and Olsen says she hopes to make museum education a cornerstone of the institution and the city. 

Farewells
YARNSCOMBE, England—John Plumb, British painter, died on April 6. Aged 81, he was one of a number of abstract artists who emerged in England after World War II. He exhibited with the New English Art Club in 1948 and had his first solo show at Gallery One in London in 1957. Plumb also participated in the "Situation" exhibition at RBA Galleries in 1960 alongside a host of other abstract painters of his generation. Later in life he took up figuration, particularly landscapes, for a little while, but ultimately returned to abstraction. He served as a senior lecturer in painting at London's Central School of Art and Design from 1969 to 1982.

VIENNA—Austrian abstract painter Josef Mikl died on March 29. Mikl, 78, was known as one of the most important painters of the Informal style as well as a key figure in shaping the Austrian art scene after World War II. He studied with Josef Dobrowsky at the Academy of Creative Arts and was a part of the Vienna Art Club and the Galerie St. Stephan group. He also undertook the five-year renovation of the Redoutensaal, Vienna's Imperial Palace, after a fire in 1992. Mikl represented Austria at the Venice Biennale in 1968 and participated in documenta 6 in 1977.

SANTA ROSA, Calif.—Eugenia P. Butler, American conceptual artist, died March 29 at the age of 61. Famous for her early "invisible sculptures," which consisted of nothing but short wall texts, Butler aimed to provoke discussion and challenge people to think about the way they perceive reality. She completed three of four planned volumes of her "Book of Lies" project, which contain images and poetry by 70 artists whom Butler asked to use lies "to explore our relationship with the truth." A 35-year survey of her work was organized in 2003 by Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.