AO Art Observed™

Installation view of Rirkrit Tiravanija’s ‘Less Oil More Courage’ via Kunsthalle Fridericianum

Running January 17-March 15 and April 4-June 21, 2009 at the Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany is Rirkrit Tiravanija’s ‘Less Oil More Courage,’ a large wall painting comprised of those words. The phrase comes from an invitation that Tiravanija received to a posthumous exhibition of painter Peter Cain. The invitation featured a reproduction from Cain’s notebooks with the words ‘More courage less oil.’ What for Cain was a painter’s mantra is opened to many more possibilities of interpretation through Tiravanija’s grammatical reversal and recontextualizations.

Rirkrit Tiravanija: ‘Less Oil More Courage’ [Kunsthalle Fridericianum]
Kunsthalle Fridericianum to Open Rirkrit Tiravanija: Less Oil More Courage [Artdaily]

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David Zwirner booth at the Armory, showing Yan Pei-Ming, John McCracken, and Rachel Khedoori.

New York Armory Week 2009 is in full swing, with attendance higher than expected moving into the weekend.  Despite the absence of several blue chip galleries – including Matthew Marks and Lehmann Maupin – the gallerists’ collective mood seems hesitant but optimistic.  177 contemporary galleries are exhibiting in the Armory’s 11th year, along with the addition of a Modern wing at Pier 92 selling more established, less edgy work.

The Armory Show 2009 and the Armory Modern
Piers 92 and 94
12th Avenue at 54th Street
March 4-8, 2009

Armory Opening Party at MoMA.

RELATED LINKS
Sales still down, but spirits are buoyant [Art Newspaper]
On the Piers, Testing the Waters in a Down Art Market [New York Times]
Has the Recession Sparked a New Renaissance? [Guardian UK]
On the Scene at the Armory Preview Party [Style File Blog]
MoMA’s Armory Show Opening Benefit Party [Patrick McMullan]
Armory MoMA After Party [Guest of a Guest]
Now Dealing | The Armory Show [TheMoment]
Window-shoppers Descend on Armory Art Show [NYMag]
What’s Selling (or Not) at the New York Armory Show [NYMag]
‘Creepy’ Bernie Madoff Watercolor Fails to Sell at Armory Show [NYMag]
Dealers Sold on Armory Modern, Collectors Less So [ArtInfo]
The Herd Is Out, but Holding Back [ArtInfo]

more stories and photos after the jump…

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Hunky Dory (2005) by Glenn Brown, via Tate Liverpool

Currently on view at Tate Liverpool is a major retrospective of the work of Glenn Brown. The exhibition includes over sixty paintings, sculptures, and several new works making it the largest selection of the artist’s oeuvre to date. Brown’s work belongs to the group called the “appropriationists” meaning artists who borrow from others’ work in the creation of their own. His inspiration draws from art history and popular culture while incorporating images from the work of Dali, Auerbach, Rembrandt, de Kooning, Fragonard, and science fiction illustrators. The elements of size, color, surface texture and brushwork thus influence the way in which original works are transformed onto his canvas.

Glenn Brown [Tate Liverpool]
Glenn Brown’s Giant Canvases [FT]
Tate Liverpool Presents Today Glenn Brown Exhibition [ArtDaily]
Glenn Brown, Tate Liverpool [The Independent]
Exhibition Preview: Glenn Brown, Liverpool [The Guardian]

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Installation view of “A Dog From Every County” at Maccarone Gallery.  Photo by Tom Powel, courtesy of the Artist and Maccarone.

Greenwich Village contemporary gallery Maccarone is hosting a new Nate Lowman exhibition through the end of March.  The work, a series of works on paper depicting smiley faces, is a departure for the bad boy artist, more typically known for putting bullet holes in gallery walls.  According to Lowman, he’s challenging the idea of a reflexive happy emotion, and the smiley face imagery is lifted from a letter written by celebrity/criminal O.J. Simpson: “It’s this insane compulsion, like “I’m happy! I swear!” I’m not buying it. I don’t believe them.”

Maccarone Gallery
Nate Lowman “A Dog from Every County”
630 Greenwich Street, New York
February 28 – March 28, 2009

RELATED LINKS

Current Shows: Nate Lowman [Frieze Magazine]
Blasblog: The A-crowd comes out for Nate Lowman [Style File Blog]
Leo Fitzpatrick interview with Nate Lowman [Interview magazine]
Art Basel Miami Beach: Under Construction [T: The Moment]

More images, information, and video footage after the jump… (more…)

PR photo of Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth, via the Guardian UK.

Noted British sculptor and Turner Prize winner Antony Gormley is seeking to recruit up to 2,400 volunteers to participate in his latest work, One & Other, atop Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth.

Participants will have an entire hour atop the plinth, and are free to do anything legal. Gormley has commented that he expects there to be “naked riots,” and that he would be “upset if at least one person did not take their clothes off.” The only requirements for partake in One and Other are that participants are over 16 years of age and are residents of the UK while the show is on display. Applications will be accepted through a website designed for that purpose, and Sky Arts will broadcast coverage of the plinth. Video coverage of the plinth will also be streaming live at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The website will notify participants in three tranches starting in April.

On the motivation and objective behind the ‘sculpture,’ Gormley had this to say:

“The idea behind One & Other is a simple one. Through elevation onto the plinth and removal from the common ground, the body becomes a metaphor, symbol, emblem – a point of reference, focus and thought. In the context of Trafalgar Square with its military, valedictory and male historical statues to specific individuals, this elevation of everyday life to the position formerly occupied by monumental art allows us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability and particularity of the individual in contemporary society. It could be tragic but it could also be funny.” — via the Guardian UK

Gormley won the opportunity to display One and Other through a process run by the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group. Other artists who have exhibited on the plinth include Marc Quinn, Rachel Whiteread and Thomas Schutte.

Sculpture site: One and Other
Antony Gormley’s Fourth Plinth: make an exhibition of yourself [Times UK]
Antony Gormley wants you for the fourth plinth [Guardian UK]
Trafalgar Square fourth plinth art ‘will cause arrests’ [Telegraph UK]
Gormley on his plinth: ‘I would be very upset if nobody took their clothes off’ [Independent]
Gormley Invites Brits to Lord Over Trafalgar Square [ArtInfo]
Volunteer plea for plinth artwork [BBC]
Gormley puts public on pedestal [BBC]

The Rose (2008) by Cy Twombly, via Gagosian Gallery

Currently on display at Gagosian’s Britannia Street Gallery in London are five new monumental paintings by American artist Cy Twombly.  Each painting depicts four wood panels with three vibrantly colored roses in full bloom.  The colors of the roses range from deep burgundy to bright orange, violet, crimson, and gold against a turquoise background.  Stanzas from “Les Roses” by German poet Rainer Maria Rilke are inscribed on the last panel of each painting. The poems inspired this series of works and tell of the artist’s characteristic coupling of painting and poetry.

Exhibition Page: Cy Twombly: The Rose
Last-Chance Timeless Beauty: ‘Cy Twombly: The Rose’ shown at the Gagosian Gallery, London [Financial Times]
Cy Twombly Covers Walls of Gagosian Gallery with Giant Roses [Bloomberg]
Cy Twombly: The Rose [Art Newspaper]
Charles Spencer: How my admiration for Cy the scribbler blossomed. [Daily Telegraph]
Titian and Twombly: the most youthful of old masters [GuardianUK ]

more images and story…

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Gary Simmons, “Untitled (Sabatini)” (2009) via ARTINFO

Armory Arts Week is on, running March 4th (press preview) through Sunday the 8th on Piers 92 & 94 (Twelfth Avenue at 55th Street). One of the world’s leading art fairs devoted exclusively to contemporary art since its introduction in 1999, The Armory Show – The International Fair of New Art (on Pier 94) is the main draw inviting visitors to both purchase and immerse themselves in the art of our times. Concurrently, The Armory Show – Modern (on Pier 92) is a new section dedicated to international dealers specializing in historically significant Modern and contemporary art.

In addition to the shows, an array of extended exhibitions and special programs are available to the public, as well as panel discussions, guided tours, open studios, visits to collectors’ homes, performances, and separate receptions hosted by a variety of cultural officials.

This year, Armory Week extends beyond the piers with Volta NY, an invitational show for emerging artists, as well as Satellite Fairs, including Pulse, Red Dot, Scope New York, the Bridge Art Fair, and the Art Now Fair.

For a map of Armory Week, click here.

Opening Hours:
Thursday, March 5 – Saturday, March 7 Noon to 8 pm
Sunday, March 8 Noon to 7 pm

News links:
Armory art fair draws interest despite recession [Crain’s New York Business]
Editor’s Picks: Armory Show Preview [ARTINFO]
The AFC Guide to Art Fair Week Events [Art Fag City]
‘Meat Head’ Bronze at $250,000 Highlights Armory Show in N.Y. [Bloomberg]
Interview with Featured Artist: Machiko Edmondson [Art Comments]

Damien Hirst’s skateboard decks for Supreme, via The Hundreds

Damien Hirst launches a new line of skate decks for Supreme [Hypebeast] plus a Glenn Brown interview with Supreme [Interview]
Turner prize winning British artist Steve McQueen debuts Hunger. [W Magazine via C-Monster]

John Baldessari at Mies van der Rohe’s Haus Lange of 1928, in Krefeld, Germany, via Edward Lifson

John Baldessari transforms a Mies van der Rohe house [Edward Lifson]
Metropolitan Opera puts up two Chagalls as collateral for loan in the face of a shrunken endowment [Crain's]
Art In America launches its new website [Art Fag City]

A model of Jeff Koons’s ‘Train’ to be built at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, via LACMA

LACMA moves forward with record $25 million sculpture by Jeff Koons [The Art Newspaper]
Gold Bars for a Chris Burden show at Gagosian held up in Stanford fraud case [Culture Monster]
A negative forecast for the recession’s impact on art [NewYorkMagazine]

Banksy in London, via Wooster Collective

New Banksy works appear in London [Wooster Collective]
A profile of the Guggenheim’s Richard Armstrong, a modest museum head compared to his controversial predecessor [Wall Street Journal]

KAWS’s cover for the current issue of New York, via SuperTouch

KAWS designs New York Magazine’s cover for their ‘Best of New York 2009′ issue [SuperTouch]
Jackie Wullschlager looks at the exhibitions that have come about after Anthony d’Offay’s gift of his collection to Britain [Financial Times]

Gang Gang Dance, via The Social Registry

Armory Show preview and party at MoMA featuring a performance by Gang Gang Dance [MoMA]
A profile of art collecting Mugrabi family [NY Times]
Second ever newspaper interview of Charles Saatchi [London Times]

Jake and Dinos Chapman’s remade ‘Hell’ via The Guardian

Jonathan Jones on why the Chapman Brothers’ Hell deserves to be shown at the National Gallery [Guardian]
Munich gallery Andreas Grimm shutters NY location [Hintmag]
SANAA, architects of the New Museum, to design Serpentine Pavilion [Icon]

A rug made by Francis Bacon, via London Times

Rediscovered Francis Bacon rugs are up for auction at a relative pittance versus his canvases [London Times]
Alex Katz models for J. Crew [MediaBistro]
A trend of wealthy collectors building museums to open their collections to the public [Fortune]

Martin Kippenberger – Spiderman Studio (1996) at MoMA.  Photo (c) Jason Mandella.

Twelve years after his death at age 44, Martin Kippenberger collectors and fans can rest easy knowing his prolific work is well-represented in MoMA’s retrospective exhibition, organized by Ann Goldstein of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and Ann Temkin, MoMA’s chief curator of painting and sculpture.  The German artist, known for his hard living, experimentation, disobedience, and loyalty, managed to amass an astounding amount of work in relatively short career, including paintings, photographs, posters, books, music, and installation work.

MoMA
Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective
March 1-May 11, 2009
The Joan and Preston Robert Tisch Exhibition Gallery, 6th Floor

RELATED LINKS

Exhibition page [MoMA]
Art Review: Martin Kippenberger at MoMA [New York Times]
The Ford Capri as an Artist’s Muse [New York Times "Wheels" Blog]
Taking a Toll: The Art World [New Yorker]
The Artist Who Did Everything [NYMag]
Open Bar Leads to Coat-Check Fiasco at MoMA Kippenberger Retrospective [NYMag]
Kippenberger’s Giant Egg, Likable Communist at MoMA: Review [Bloomberg]
Jill Krementz Photo Journal – Martin Kippenberger [NY Social Diary]
MoMA Presents Major U.S. Retrospective of Influential German Artist Martin Kippenberger [Art Daily]
Martin Kippenberger at MoMA Major US Retrospective [FAD]
Martin Kippenberger Opening at MoMA New York [Panache]

More images, information, and video footage after the jump…

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Bronze heads dating from China’s Qing dynasty, subject of a controversy after the winning bidder is refusing to pay for political reasons. Image via New York Times.

“I think any Chinese person would have stood up at that moment,” he said, adding, “I want to emphasize that the money won’t be paid.” – Cai Mingchao, via the New York Times.

Cai Mingchao, the winning bidder on two Chinese relics recently sold at Christie’s record-breaking Yves St Laurent auction, is refusing to pay for them in a gesture aimed at botching the sale of the figurine heads that were looted from an imperial palace almost 150 years ago. The winning bid was $18 million for each head.

The bronze heads representing a rat and a rabbit were the subject of some controversy before and during the auction.  A group based in China filed an injunction against Christie’s in a French court, in an unsuccessful effort to block the sale of the heads. They were part of a water clock display based on the Chinese zodiac, and allegedly looted by French and British soldiers during the Second Opium War in 1860. When asked about the sculptures during an interview at the onset of the auction, Pierre Berge commented that he would return them if  they would “observe human rights and give liberty to the Tibetan people and welcome the Dalai Lama.”

Twist in Sale of Relics Has China Winking [New York Times]
Bidder Refuses to Pay, Stating Protest of Looting [Wall Street Journal]
Chinese art trader declines to pay up [Financial Times]
Chinese zodiac statues’ origins [BBC]
China relics buyer refuses to pay [BBC]
Yves Saint Laurent Auction Sabotage [Forbes]
Chinese collector sabotaged animal head auction [Telegraph UK]
Spectacular Yves Saint Laurent auction raises record breaking $264 million, sets records for Mondrian, Matisse [ArtObserved]
Chinese Who Won Bid on Bronzes Acted on His Own, Xinhua Says [Bloomberg]
China-Art Sales May Drop as Bidder Refuses to Pay [Bloomberg]

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Hernan Bas - The Burden (I Shall Leave No Memoirs), 2006. The Rubell Family Collection, Miami

“Hernan Bas: Works from the Rubell Family Collection” at the Brooklyn Museum includes 38 works by Miami’s native son Hernan Bas, collected over a ten-year period by the seminal Rubell family.  His work, which incorporates romantic and classical imagery, finds inspiration in youth and Goth culture, fashion layouts, and books, among them the Hardy Boys series, Oscar Wilde, and Huysmans as reimagined from the perspective of a young gay artist. At the center of the exhibition is a specially commissioned, grand-scale video and sculpture installation, Ocean’s Symphony, a “sumptuous tribute to the myth of the mermaid.”

Brooklyn Museum
Hernan Bas: Works from the Rubell Family Collection
February 27-May 24, 2009
Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing, 4th Floor

RELATED LINKS

Exhibition page [Brooklyn Museum]
Exclusive: Miami Native Hernan Bas Brings Decadence to Brooklyn Museum [Flavorwire]
Hernan Bas at the Brooklyn Museum [Flash Art]
Getting Lushy: Hernan Bas at the Brooklyn Museum [C-Monster]
Overview: Hernan Bas [ArtInfo]
Hernan Bas Exhibit Opens at The Brooklyn Museum [WWD]

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Will Cotton’s ‘Alpine Ruin’ via Mary Boone

On view now at Mary Boone Gallery’s Fifth Avenue location is an exhibition of new paintings by Will Cotton. Cotton is known for his photorealistic candyland dreamscapes, often featuring scantily-clad female figures lounging in cotton candy clouds or bathing in chocolate pools. Cotton’s current series is inspired by Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole’s acclaimed ‘The Course of Empire’ series.  The human eye-candy disappears from these decadent landscapes, but the exhibition includes a series of portrait studies in the style of Renaissance portraiture with young beautiful women wearing status symbols made of sugar.

Exhibition page [Mary Boone]
Artist’s page
Adam Stennett in conversation with Will Cotton [Whitehot Magazine]
Greg Lindquist in conversation with Will Cotton [artcritical]

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