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Benjamin Genocchio
Born	(1969-04-28) 28 April 1969 (age 55) Sydney
Nationality	Australian
Education	Newington College University of Sydney
Occupation	Art critic
Title	Editor-in-chief of Artnet News
Spouse	Melissa Chiu

Benjamin Giorgio Genocchio (born 28 April 1969) is an Australian-born non-fiction writer, art critic and editor, now residing in the U.S. state of New York. He formerly worked for The New York Times as an art critic, then as the editor-in-chief of Art+Auction magazine and Modern Painters magazine as well as the website Artinfo.com and is currently editor-in-chief of the art world news website Artnet News. He is the author and editor of seven books.

Education

Genocchio was born in Sydney, New South Wales and attended Newington College (1981–86). He studied Arts/Law at the University of Sydney and later completed a Ph.D in art history.

Career

In late December 2002 Genocchio moved to New York to begin writing for The New York Times. In 2008 Genocchio published Dollar Dreaming, an exposé of corruption and double-dealing in the $500-million trade in Aboriginal art in Australia and abroad. The book received a great deal of media attention, especially in Australia.

In early 2010 he became editorial director at Louise Blouin Media, and editor-in-chief of Art+Auction magazine, Modern Painters and artinfo.com. He left the post at Modern Painters in 2011.

In December 2013 Genocchio joined Artnet, the publicly traded German-based online price database, auction and internet services company to build and launch Artnet News, the first 24-hour global art market newswire. The site was launched in February 2014 with 15 staff on three continents. As of March 2015 it employs 22 people and receives approximately 1.5 million visitors per month, making it the most popular dedicated art news site in the world.

Italian government lawsuit

In April 2002, Genocchio gained international notoriety when as the art critic for The Australian newspaper he was being threatened with a $50-million lawsuit by the Italian government for his blunt front-page critique of a visiting exhibition of Italian old master paintings at the National Gallery of Australia. The review prompted the Italian culture chief Vittorio Sgarbi to denounce the review and promise to sue the newspaper for defamation. No claim was ever made, nor was even legally valid, though the story generated headlines and was carried in dozens of newspapers worldwide, including The New York Times and The Times.

Publications

• Dollar Dreaming: The Rise of the Aboriginal Art Market
• Fiona Foley: Solitaire
• The Art of Persuassion, Australian Art Criticism
• Simeon Nelson, Passages
• (ed.) What is Installation?
• Asian Contemporary Art
• (ed.) Contemporary Asian Art, A Critical Reader

References

1. ABC Melbourne
2. The Drum – ABC
3. Newington College Register of Past Students 1863-1998 (Syd, 1999), pp. 71.
4. Il Globo - How to fight the art hype (and win)
5. Steve Dow, “Rising high in the art world”, The Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia), 18 July 2010, p. 8.
6. "Art critic hopes to educate others on Aboriginal art and the people, lives behind it", Daily Bruin.
7. "Dollar Dreaming lifts the lid on Aboriginal art industry", Courier Mail.
8. Louin Artinfo
11. Artnet - Lawsuit threatened for art critic
12. ABC Melbourne
13. "Dollar Dreaming", National Library of Australia (NLA) Catalogue
14. "Fiona Foley: solitaire", National Library of Australia Catalogue
15. University of Illinois Press - What is Installation

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• 1969 births
• Living people
• Australian art critics
• Australian art historians
• Australian expatriates in the United States
• People educated at Newington College