Lawrence Salander, flanked by attorney, Charles Ross (left) and son, Jonah Salander. Image via NY Daily News
Yesterday, the beleaguered New York art dealer, Lawrence Salander, pleaded guilty to engineering a $120 million art investment scam that duped wealthy clients including tennis star John McEnroe and actor Robert De Niro and financial institutions like Bank of America. The one-time co-owner and manager of Salander-O’Reilly Galleries LLC, admitted to an array of schemes, from selling shares of the same work of art to multiple owners to selling artwork and pocketing the proceeds. Salander, who filed for bankruptcy in 2008, is expected to be sentenced to six to 18 years in prison and must pay $120 million in restitution to victims under a plea agreement. in which he pleaded guilty to 28 counts of grand larceny in state Supreme Court in New York.
more story and relevant news links after the jump…
Another Nauman piece at PMA, which is exhibiting his audio shows “Days and Giorni” through April 4. Image via Art21.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, home to one of Bruce Nauman’s earliest pieces, “The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths” (1967), is showing two new audio series by this much beloved contemporary artist. With this new exhibition, he tampers with time: in both “Days” and “Giorni,” multiple voices recorded separately recite the days of the week. “Days” is in English; “Giorni” is in Italian, and was recorded in a single day. Both fill the echoing gallery spaces of PMA until the show’s close on April 4.
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Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto, Pablo Picasso (1903)
Christie’s, London have announced that they will offer an important and highly celebrated masterpiece by Pablo Picasso in their evening auction of Impressionist and Modern Art in London on 23 June 2010. Painted in 1903, Portrait ofAngel Fernandez de Soto, gained notoriety as the subject of a lengthy legal battle over how it came to be sold during the Nazis rise to power in Germany. The painting had been consigned for sale at Christie’s in New York in November 2006 but was withdrawn from the auction at the request of the vendor, The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, after an 11th hour ownership challenge from German Professor, Julius Schoeps, based on the sale of the painting in the 1930s. In January this year, representatives of Mr. Schoeps announced they had reached a settlement agreement with the trustees of The Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation, relinquishing all claims of title to the painting. The painting was acquired at auction in New York in May 1995 for $29.2 million by The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation - a charity founded by the celebrated composer in 1992 to promote arts, culture and heritage in Britain. On this occasion, Christie’s have valued the painting at £30 million to £40 million – potentially, a record-breaking price for the artist – and all proceeds will benefit The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation.
Related Links:
Record estimate for disputed Picasso painting [BBC News]
Christie’s to Offer a Famed Blue-Period Picasso [Art Info]
Lloyd Webber to Sell $60.9 Million Picasso Portrait for Charity [Bloomberg]
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Picasso set to raise £30m for charity [Telegraph.co.uk]
Lloyd Webber’s Picasso to be sold after Nazi row settled [AFP]
Picasso’s Absinthe Drinker set for auction [Times Online]
Andrew Lloyd Webber to auction £40m ‘Nazi’ Picasso [Daily Mail]
Lloyd Webber’s Picasso Finally Set for Auction [NY Times]
Picasso owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber sets record pre-sale estimate [Guardian.co.uk]
Currently on show at Casey Kaplan Gallery is an exhibition of new works by Liam Gillick. This is an exhibition of three parts; however, each eloquently converse and all display Gillick’s familiar brand of socially motivated neo-Minimalism and neo-Conceptualism. The Discussion Bench Platforms in particular demonstrates Gillick’s concern for public/audience participation and integration into the work. Furthermore, it is another manifestation of Gillick’s attempts to level the balance of functionality and aesthetic quality. Powder-coated aluminum benches are set up in the gallery space to compliment new discussion platforms converting the gallery into a designated space for thought.
Time Stops but the Clock Disappears, 2008. (Spinning)
Don’t miss James Rosenquist’s exhibition of new works at Acquavella Gallery, New York. The exhibition is an extension of Rosenquist’s perennial fascination with the Universe and the Unknown, as well as Time and Space. The artist said of his obsession: “There’s so much we know nothing about. Here we are in our natural environment and the mysteries of the universe are all around us. I want to paint these mysteries.” [Gallery Press Release]
Last night, over 600 members of the New York art community rallied together at Sotheby’s for a silent auction in support of the ongoing effort by ‘Tools for Thought’ to help rebuild Haiti. Prominent figures in the art world were encouraged to sign and donate an object to be auctioned: inventory ranged from works of art to tools of the trade, also included were personally significant objects such as a skateboard that was donated by the artist Marilyn Minter. Among the most coveted items of the evening were works by Dan Colen, Roxy Paine and Aurel Schmidt. Guest were not only entertained by the bidding wars the ensued in the room and on the telephones, but were entranced by a beautiful set from the ‘Godmother of Punk,’ Patti Smith who also donated ‘My Horse in Namibia’ – a print featuring unique poetry by the singer (below). Smith was not the only participating artist in attendance – amongst others Nate Lowman, Andrew Cramer, Aurel Schmidt, Andrew Levitas, Michael Clyde Johnson, Joe Bradley, Marco Perego, Kenny Scharf and Gordon Hull dotted the crowd.
Tools for Thought was formed in January 2010 by Diana Campbell and Julie Rgolia in the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti that left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced. Still growing, the foundation hopes to continue in uniting the art community in this same manner, one project or region at a time.
Purple Tree by Dustin Yellin
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Candice Breitz, Factum Kang, From the series ‘Factum,’ 2009
Don’t miss Candice Breitz’s third exhibition at the White Cube in Hoxton Square, London. The exhibition, entitled “Factum” after Robert Rauschenberg’s almost identical canvases, Factum I and II, is an investigation into four twins and one triplet. Breitz has created beautifully intimate video portraits of each twin, which when coupled together in a kind of diptych, reveal the subtleties and nuances that make one individual. It is an extension of her perpetual fascination with repetition, identity and portraiture. By examining a phenomenon we wrongly presume as naturally and biologically identical we are encouraged to accept how very different twins really are.
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Robert Ryman at PaceWildenstein Gallery at 32 E 57 Street in New York. Installation View. All images via PaceWildenstein Gallery unless otherwise noted
Currently on view at PaceWildenstein Gallery is “Robert Ryman: Large-small, thick-thin, light reflecting, light absorbing” – the exhibition of thirty new paintings of the renowned minimalist American artists. Executed in Ryman’s signature monochromatic palette the paintings on display measure ten to thirty square inches and represent a wide gamut of experimentation in materials, including wood, MDF board, aluminum, and stretched cotton. The works appear strong and indestructible, although painted on the paper-thin material Tyvek. In addition to traditional graphite and ink, Ryman employs such painterly materials as acrylic varnish, enamel and epoxy. To hang the paintings to the walls, the artist will use regular staples, which are a traditional integral part of his aesthetics.
Robert Ryman at Pace Wildenstein. Installation View
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Mark Rothko, Black on Maroon, Mural, Section 3 (1959), from “The Seagram Murals” via ArtInfo
Mark Rothko’s beautiful work The Seagram Murals returns to Tate Liverpool after more than twenty years since it opened the museum in 1988. The entire ground floor gallery has been altered for the show – the walls being painted grey according to Rothko’s specification and mood lighting installed in order amplify the dramatic qualities of the piece, creating a complete emotive viewing experience.
Reclining Figure (1951), by Henry Moore, via The Guardian
Currently on view at Tate Britain is an exhibition celebrating the work of renowned sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986). With a display of over 150 stone sculptures, wood carvings, sculptures, bronzes, and drawings, the show revisits the legendary works of one of the masters of twentieth century art. The show attempts to emphasize the revolutionary in Moore. It highlights his fight to preserve the figurative tradition for three decades by challenging and yet incorporating elements of abstraction.
Seated Nude with Mirror (1924) by Henry Moore, via Tate Britain
More images, text and related links after the jump…
Spiegel in Kabine mit Passtücken (Spiegel von Michelangelo Pistoletto), Franz West (1996) Image Via Museum Ludwig
Currently on view at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne is Auto-Theatre – the first major European retrospective of Franz West. For this exhibition, West himself grouped over 40 works in themed constellations allowing the visitor to experience the sheer complexity and singularity of his oeuvre. The title Autotheater (Auto-Theatre) points to the performative, interactive dimension of his work and included are the West’s earliest Adaptives (Passstücke) and collages from the 1970s, papier-mâché sculptures, furniture and site-specific installations, his picture walls from the Eighties and his latest sculptures for public spaces.
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Olafur Eliasson is currently on show for the sixth time at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, through March 20, in a spectacular exhibition that extends the artist’s study of modes of perception, specifically concerning one’s experience of space and time. In this instance Eliasson’s particular fascination is the phenomena of light, movement and color and the relationship between them.
On show at the Galleria Patricia Armocida, Milan, is the much anticipated “Nos Braços de um Anjo” (In the Arms of an Angel), the second exhibition of works by Brazlian twins Os Gemeos (Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo). This exhibition presents a series of entirely new, and previously unseen, works that include large canvases, musical sculpture-objects, mechanical and interactive site-specific installations actually created inside the gallery walls.
O Devoto, 2010
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Sarah Morris, “Beijing Intersecting” (2009), one of the proposals for filling the Guggenheim’s void as part of its 50th anniversary show. Photo by Art Observed.
AO was at the press preview for “Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim” as the museum celebrates the 50th anniversary of its Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home on the East Side. For this new exhibition, organizer Nancy Spector commissioned two hundred proposals from artists, designers, and architects to fill the void. Through April 28, proposals are on the walls of the Guggenheim, a set of dreams and interventions.
Detail from “Remember Beuys” (2009), by Bolles+Wilson, at the Guggenheim. Photo by Art Observed.
More images, story, and relevant links after the jump…
School, 2008 Subodh Gupta [ All images via Hauser & Wirth unless otherwise noted]
Currently showing at Hauser & Wirth London, 15 Old Bond Street is “School,” a selection of most recent works by Subodh Gupta. The show features forty five brass stools paired with stainless steel thali trays (traditional Indian trays with multiple compartments used for meals containing several dishes).
Sterling Ruby, “Pig Pen” (2009-2010), on view at PaceWildenstein.
Through March 10, Sterling Ruby has two new pieces at PaceWildenstein’s downtown gallery. On view are “Pig Pen” and “Bus,” two industrialized traps that confine, says a gallerist, humanity’s basic primitivism. This is an artist’s apocalyptic endgame.
A photo taken with a mobile phone, although picture-taking was prohibited during the exhibition via NY Times
When Tino Sehgal’s work took over the Guggenheim Museum in New York on January 29th it was a quiet experience. There were no opening parties, no fuss and none of that Art World glitter to make one jump from exuberant excitement. The walls of Frank Lloyd Wright’s majestic rotunda were stripped bare and seem to have newly acquired a long lost naïveté. The lobby still brimmed with crowds of people clustered around the impenetrable center. The Kiss unfolded, rolled and scattered itself in a graceful poise of a feline. The subtly choreographed sequence of animated poses referenced erotic works from Rodin, to Courbet, to Jeff Koons. Occasionally, a couple or a small group of visitors would creep closer for a brief encounter or settle in contemplative thought on the floor of the proposed stage.
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