Archive for October, 2008

UK’s National Portrait Gallery raising funds to acquire Marc Quinn’s self-portrait made of blood

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008


Self (1991) by Marc Quinn, via Culture Loves Us

The National Portrait Gallery, home to portraits of major British figures such as kings, queens, and prime ministers, has set its eyes on acquiring ‘Self,’ a sculptural self-portrait of Marc Quinn made from ten pints of his own frozen blood. Marc Quinn–one of the most celebrated of the YBAs (Young British Artists) along with Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin–has made three sculptures using his blood as the raw material since 1991, and has said that he plans on making similar sculptures every five years until he is unable to. The original ‘Self’ was acquired by advertising magnate Charles Saatchi for £13,000; White Cube Gallery is offering the NPG the most recent iteration (dating from 2006) for £350,000, with its open market value being quoted at £1.5 million. The Art Fund and several other sources have committed £150,000 to acquiring the work, leaving £200,000 which the NPG needs to raise by December 31st.

National Portrait Gallery criticised over purchase of Marc Quinn’s Blood Head [TimesUK]
National Portrait Gallery Raises Money for Self-Portrait Made From Frozen Blood
[ArtInfo]
Museum needs £200,000 for Marc Quinn’s blood portrait
[The Art Newspaper]

Previously:
Go See: ‘Statuephilia’ at The British Museum today through January 25th
[ArtObserved]
Marc Quinn’s gigantic baby sculpture up for private auction by Sotheby’s
[ArtObserved]

Go See: Gilbert & George Retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, from October 3 to January 11, 2009

Monday, October 6th, 2008


Life
by Gilbert and George, part of Death Hope Life Fear series, via the Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum is the final stop in the global tour of the Gilbert and George retrospective, offering a comprehensive overview of the art the British duo has been making since 1970. Many of the 90 pieces on display will only be shown in Brooklyn. The pair’s work encompasses performance art and charcoal sketches as well as large, monument-scale digital picture installations which address politics, sexuality, race, identity faith, and other aspects of modern life in a very idiosyncratic, provocative way. Gilbert and George met at Central St. Martin’s College in 1967 and have been working exclusively with each other ever since, winning the Turner Prize in 1986 and representing Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2005.

Brooklyn Museum Exhibits: Gilbert & George
Gilbert and George Retro at Brooklyn Museum Begins
[Gothamist]
Provocative Duo, Naked and Natty
[New York Times]
Gilbert & George Retrospective At The Brooklyn Museum
[rawArt]
Gilbert and George Retrospective
[The Art Newspapers]

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Go See: Richard Serra 'Sculpture' at Gagosian Gallery London through December 20, 2008

Sunday, October 5th, 2008


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Artist Richard Serra poses for photographers beside one of his works entitled ‘Fernando Pessoa’ during the unveiling of his new exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in London October 3, 2008 via Reuters

Richard Serra, widely regarded as the ‘greatest living sculpture’ has a two concurrent exhibitions at the Gagosian Galleries on Britannia Street and Davies Street in London. Simply titled, ‘Sculpture’, the Brittania Street exhibit displays three new large-scale steel installations and four smaller wall hanging pieces, while the Davies Street gallery houses new works on paper. This is the first time that Richard Serra has exhibited in London since Weight and Measure at Tate Gallery in 1992. The 70 year-old artist has not slowed down in the recent years with a critically acclaimed installation at the Grand Palais in Paris this summer, a “40 Years” retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2007, and the widely recognized “Matter of Time” installation at the Guggenheim Bilboa in 2005. The sculptures at the current Gagosian show weigh over 300 tons and will occupy the gallery space until December 20, 2008.

Interview with Richard Serra, Man of steel [GuardianUK]
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Serra Recalls 9/11, Shipyard as Steel Labyrinth Opens in London [Bloomberg]
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Richard Serra shows off his rings of steel [Economist]
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Serra brings giant steel sculptures to London [Reuters]
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Super slabs and steely nerves and Heavy metal: Richard Serra exhibition for London [GuardianUK]
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Richard Serra: Sculpture [Gagosian Gallery]

Previously:
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Go See: Richard Serra – Thinking on Your Feet [ArtObserved]

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Newslinks for Sunday October 5th, 2008

Saturday, October 4th, 2008


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A London building-side JR via Woostercollective

Some large works mark JR’s return to London from NYC (previously covered by AO here) for a solo show at Lazarides [Woostercollective]
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The Tate will brand a cruise ship line focused on art [GuardianUK]
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Jackie Wullschlager’s biography of Marc Chagall reviewed
[The Economist]
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Focusing on the sculptures of Pablo Picasso [Wall Street Journal]
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Due to gambling regulatory concerns, Lazarides cancels ‘art raffle’ meant to coincide with Frieze [ArtInfo]
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Tar magazine (anagram of art) debuts with a cover by Julian Schnabel [Mediabisto]
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The Chapman Brothers produce a fuzzy backdrop for Stella McCartney’s spring/summer show in Paris [Independent]

Go See: 'Statuephilia' at The British Museum today through January 25th

Saturday, October 4th, 2008


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Marc Quinn, Siren, 2008, Gold – via Telegraph

Today, The British Museum opened Statuephilia – a show of five major contemporary sculptures by five leading British artists – Damien Hirst, Marc Quinn, Ron Mueck, Antony Gormley, and Noble and Webster. The works are placed separately throughout the museum’s permanent collection in their respective relevant historical contexts. The exhibition includes Siren, Marc Quinn’s life size solid 18 carat gold statue of Kate Moss in a Yoga position which is set in the museum’s Nereid Room among ancient statues of Greek goddesses which was previously covered by AO here.

Images from Statuephilia [Telegraph]
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Statuephilia Opens [Art Daily]
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Kate Moss: The Muse [Independent]
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Marc Quinn Immortalizes Kate Moss [TimesUK]
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Solid gold Moss statue revealed [BBC]
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Statuephilia at The British Museum Website

More images and links after the jump.
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Newslinks for Saturday, October 4th, 2008

Saturday, October 4th, 2008


Shepard Fairey via the NYTimes

Street art legend Shepard Fairey shadowed in action by the New York Times[NYTimes]
Art as an unexpected hedge amongst billionaires in uncertain timesand Sarah Thornton has more on this here [Forbes] [TelegraphUK]
Levi’s to launch limited edition jeans featuring Murakami’s flowers [Nylon]
Ex-wife of Jeff Koons/former porn star/Italian parliament member gets to keep her son [Bloomberg]
Flea market purchase revealed to be work by 17th-century Flemish master Pieter Brueghel the Younger [GuardianUK}
Art Market Blog offers another view to market conclusions drawn from last week’s Kate Moss, Banksy auction,  previously covered by Art Observed here [Art Market Blog] 
A guide to buying contemporary art[TimesOnline]

Second three-story Banksy mural found in Soho, New York

Friday, October 3rd, 2008


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Bansky mural at Howard St. and Broadway photo by ArtObserved

The large-scale Banksy piece on the corner of Howard St. and Broadway in Soho is the second entire-building-facade work found in downtown Manhattan this week (the first covered by ArtObserved here) and is also the second collaboration between Banksy and the professional advertisement firm, Colossal Media.  The massive rat, filled with fast scrawling black-lines to appear as if done in crayon or marker, stands next to dripping red letters reading, “LET THEM EAT CRACK.” 

Banksy Goes Legal: Rent Walls & Hires Painters[Supertouch]
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Banksy Reacts To Wall Street [TheWorlds Best Ever]
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A Could-Be Banksy Mural Appears on Soho Wall
[NYTimes]
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Banksygate 2008: Natives Respond
 [Gothamist]
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Banksy Official Website

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AO AUCTION PREVIEW: Freud, Warhol, de Kooning, Koons, Murakami at Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale, Oct. 19th, Christie’s, London

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008


Desmond by Jean Michel Basquiat, up for auction at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Auction, via Christie’s

In addition to selling a rare portrait by Francis Bacon, Christie’s October 19 auction catalogue features a long list of post-war luminaries. Several portraits of Mao and Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol figure prominently among the auction’s offerings. A sculpture by Jeff Koons, as well as pieces by Jean Michel Basquiat, Gerhard Richter, Richard Prince, Anish Kapoor, Willem de Kooning, Lucian Freud and a plethora of other artists account for the rest of the lots. The priciest of 48 lots is expected to be Lucio Fontana’s canvas, Concetto spaziale, la fine di Dio, which should fetch around £12 million pounds ($21.8 million).

Christie’s: Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Christie’s: Press Release for Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale

Fontana work may fetch $21.8 million in Record Christie’s Sale
[Bloomberg]
Bacon Portrait Expected to Sell for £7.5 million at Christie’s Auction in October [ArtObserved]

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Go See: Giorgio Morandi, 1890-1964 Retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through December 14

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008


Still Life (Natura morta) (1943), Giorgio Morandi via [Metropolitan Museum of Art]

‘Giorgio Morandi, 1890-1964′ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the first  exhibit of its size and scope in the United States, displaying approximately one hundred still life paintings and a dozen landscapes. Composed with narrow-ranging hues of cream, brown, and gray, Morandi projects a study of rhythm, balance and intricacy of shape with his identifiable style. The show includes works which span Morandi’s 50-year tenure as a painter and track the lineage of the painter’s influence upon Cézanne, Cubism, Futurism, and the pittura metafisica of Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà.  In addition, the intimacy of the underground gallery of the Robert Lehman wing provides well-suited location for the subtleties of such an artist.

All That Life Contains, Contained [NYTimes]
Morandi’s Subtle Spectable
[NYSun]
Tables for One
[New Yorker]
Giorgio Morandi, 1890-1964
[Met Museum]
Museo Morandi Website

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