Anjali Gupta leaves Art Lies

Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief of Art Lies Anjali Gupta has announced her plans to leave the organization in order to pursue independent projects. Editor-in-Chief of Art Lies’ quarterly journal since 2004, Gupta was named Executive Director of the organization in 2008. In addition to her manifold contributions to Art Lies, Gupta’s writing has appeared in periodicals, including tema celeste, Art Papers, Art Asia Pacific, artUS and Public Art Review, as well as numerous gallery and museum catalogues including American Art Since 1900 (Blanton Museum of Art, 2006). She has edited a number of books, among them the award-winning monograph Thomas Glassford: CADÁVER EXQUISITO (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2007). Gupta is currently a member of the Andy Warhol Foundation/Creative Capital Writer’s Initiative Planning Committee. 

With Gupta’s departure, Elizabeth Murray, Art Lies’ Assistant Director, assumes the position of Interim Director. Since 2008, Murray has served as the organization’s chief financial and operations officer, auditing and restructuring Art Lies’ fiscal system, developing Art Lies’ intern program, and launching membership initiatives including subscription drives and organizational donor history refurbishment. Through an associate position with the accounting firm Robert Camp Business Group and freelance consulting engagements, she has helped develop financial strategy for several Houston-area businesses, arts professionals and arts organizations, such as BOX 13 ArtSpace.

Art Lies’ Associate Editor Kurt Mueller, who has worked with the organization since 2006 and was Guest Editorial Contributor of the journal’s Winter 2009 issue, assumes the role of Interim Editor. Mueller, a critic, curator and artist, was a Core Program critical studies resident at the Glassell School of Art of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 2008–10. He received his MFA from the University of Texas in Austin in 2008 and his BA from Harvard University in 2002. Mueller has contributed criticism to Art Asia Pacific, Art Papers, Flash Art and Frieze and curated exhibitions at numerous Texas venues, including the Blanton Museum of Art and the Glassell School of Art. Public Relations/Marketing Assistant Lauren Adams will continue to manage advertiser relations, and Harry Dearing, Membership and Administrative Assistant, will handle the day-to-day operations of the organization. Art Lies enjoys strong support from public and private grantmakers, in particular, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts since 2008, The Houston Endowment, The Brown Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts since 1998, the Texas Commission on the Arts and The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, both since 1997, as well as our members and subscribers.

(from the press release)