Archive for April, 2009

Go See: Antony Gormley’s ‘ATAXIA II’ at Thaddaeus Ropac in Salzburg through May 23, 2009

Thursday, April 30th, 2009


Antony Gormley’s ‘Clutch II’ via Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac

Currently on view at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac’s Salzburg location is Antony Gormley’s exhibition of new drawing and sculptures, ‘ATAXIA II.’ Ataxia, a Greek word meaning ‘lack of order,’ is a neurological condition that results in the loss of coordination and bodily control. A series of seven sculptures composed of iron blocks shows the body in varying physical states representing a a loss of control. The works’ titles, Turn, Splice, Shrive, Shy, List, Clutch, and Haft, correspond to different pathologies and movements.  Also on view are several small black and white drawings exploring the idea that our bodies are heavily influenced by outside forces, both social and physical.

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
Antony Gormley
Body Art [Artinfo]

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AO ON SITE: MARILYN MINTER’S GREEN PINK CAVIAR AT SALON 94 FREEMANS, NEW YORK, TUESDAY APRIL 28TH, SHOWING THROUGH JUNE 13th, 2009

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
Marilyn Minter, Bubbleface, 2009. Photo by Art Observed.

Crowds poured into a sweltering Freeman Alley yesterday evening to attend the opening of Marilyn Minter’s Green Pink Caviar at Salon 94 Freemans. On show were seven new works by the artist that formulate a juxtaposition between photorealistic paintings and painterly photographs. In “her examination of glamour and its underbelly,” Minter’s work operates on the verge between clearness and abstraction, and situates itself ambiguously between the appalling and the beautiful. Minter appropriates the body as a site to play out these dualities. For example, in Snake Charmer (2009), a nipple with a tattooed snake protrudes from an enamel surface. Throughout the exhibition, the tongue and other erotic zones, such as the lips and fingers, boldly enter the viewer’s space. Green Pink Caviar will run through June 13th, 2009.

Opening Marilyn Minter – Green Pink Caviar at Salon 94 Freemans. Photo by Art Observed.

Marilyn Minter: Green Pink Caviar
Salon 94 Freemans
1 Freeman Alley
April 28, 2009 – June 13, 2009

RELATED LINKS

Exhibition Page [Salon 94]
Marilyn Minter: It’s About Mainting the Integrity of Ideas
[Two Coats of Paint]
CHEWING COLOR, curated by Marilyn Minter
[Creative Time]
A Mouthful of Marilyn Minter [WMagazine]
Marilyn Minter – Green Pink Caviar
[Green Pink Caviar]
Marilyn Minter by Johanna Burton
[Amazon]
What Does Goo Mean To You?
[New York Magazine]

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Go See: Zeng Fanzhi at Acquavella Galleries, through May 15, 2009

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Zeng Fanzhi, "Untitled 08-12-19", 2008, Via Acquavella Galleries

Acquavella Galleries presents Chinese contemporary artist Zeng Fanzhi’s first solo exhibition in the United States. The show consists of twenty oil on canvas works, both portraiture and landscape painting. The majority of these pieces have never been shown to the public before. Fanzhi’s oeuvre is a manifestation of personal feelings, the people that surround him and his daily encounters. Early in his artistic development, German Expressionism largely influenced Fanzhi’s aesthetic, but his more recent work draws upon more traditional Chinese practices, such as the landscape painting of the Song Dynasty. In addition, Fanzhi’s use of line recalls Chinese calligraphy and the process of attaining this art. To achieve this, Fanzhi developed a dramatically different technique in which he holds two –sometimes even four- brushes at a time, allowing him to create and to destroy form simultaneously.  As a result, the paintings convey a sensation of spontaneity and sentiment. The works currently on display at Acquavella Galleries are illustrative of Fanzhi’s latest aesthetic.

Zeng Fanzhi, "Self-Portrait", 2008, Via Acquavella Galleries

Zeng Fanzhi
Acquavella Galleries
18 East 79th Street
April 2, 2009 – May 15, 2009

RELATED LINKS
Exhibition Page with Selected Press
[Acquavella Galleries]
Artist Page [Acquavella Galleries]
Q & A with Zeng Fanzhi: The solo exhibition at Acquavella Galleries [ArtZine China]
Zeng Fanzhi [Saatchi Gallery]

China’s Art Market: Cold or Maybe Hibernating? [New York Times]

Chinese Contemporary Artist Zeng Fanzhi Solos at Acquavella Galleries [Artron.net]

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Go See: Damien Hirst: ‘Requiem’ at the Pinchuk Artcentre in Kiev, Ukraine through September 20th, 2009

Monday, April 27th, 2009

Death Explained (2007) by Damien Hirst, via White Cube

Requiem, a major retrospective of over 100 works by Damien Hirst dating from 1990 to 2009, is currently showing at the PinchukArtCentre in Kiev, Ukraine. The show brings together many of Hirst’s most renowned works which range from early iconic sculptures such as A Thousand Years (1990) to more recent works such as the monumental butterfly triptch Doorways to the Kingdom of Heaven (2007) and the famous Death Explained (2007), a sculpture of a shark cut in half and placed into formaldehyde.

Press Release [PinchukArt Center]
Pinchuk to open major Hirst Retrospective [Flash Art]
Damien Hirst Requiem at PinchukArt Center in Ukraine [Artdaily]
Requiem by Damien Hirst at the PinchukArt Center [Gagosian Gallery]            
Hirst Says Art Prices May Still Fall as His Biggest Show Opens
[Bloomberg]
Damien Hirst says crisis will stimulate artists
[Reuters]
Pinchuk to mount Largest Hirst Retrospective
[Artinfo]
Damien Hirst Exhibition to be shown in Kiev [The GuardianUK]
Billionaire Pinchuk to Host Biggest Hirst Show at the Kiev Museum [Bloomberg]


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Go See: Marnie Weber ‘The Bondage of Decay’ at Marc Jancou Contemporary, New York, through June 6, 2009

Monday, April 27th, 2009

Marble Statue by Marnie Weber: Bondage of Decay

L.A. based artist Marnie Weber invents fractured narratives that conjure up twisted fairy-tales and haunting, dream like worlds populated by fantastical characters.  The exhibition, The Bondage of Decay, presents one of the final chapters of her narrative of the Spirit Girls, an all female band who die tragically and return as ghosts in a quest for spiritual enlightenment.  In this tale, the lead Spirit Girl guides a group of 12 clowns through varying adventures until she ultimately rejoins the spirit world, leaving them alone to grieve. In addition to an installation of clown sculptures and collages, the exhibition will feature two significant large-scale sculptures: a marble ghost clown and a painted wood circus bear. These are the most ambitious sculptures that the artist has produced, standing approximately 6 feet and 9 feet tall respectively.

Marnie Weber
Marc Jancou Contemporary
Marnie Weber on Artnet
Marnie Weber Wikipedia

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Art Observed Newslinks for Monday, April 27, 2009

Monday, April 27th, 2009


The James Turrell Museum of the Hess Art Collection in Argentina

James Turrell Museum of the Hess Art Collection opens its 18,000 sf space in Argentina, almost 8,000 sf above sea level [Reuters]
The Tate galleries issue over 400 video and audio lectures, talks, debates for free on iTunes
[Apple]
A video look inside the studio of Jeff Koons
[Tate]
Bruce Nauman in his studio, in anticipation of his representing the US in Venice
[NYTimes]


Portrait of Nicholas Roerich via Reuters

Despite the above portrait of Nicholas Roerich by his son fetching $2.9M, close to 3x its high estimate of $1.1 million, sales of Russian art in New York by Sotheby’s and Christie’s clear an unsubstantial $27 million versus last year’s $64 million [Reuters]
Is the value of the work of Richard Prince particularly at risk in this recession?
[Portfolio]
Angus Murray launches Castlestone’s $50M Modern Art Fund
[Portfolio Advisor]


Damien Hirst with The Hours and the painting he created for their album cover via The GuardianUK

Win the £125,000 orignal painting Damien Hirst made for The Hours’ new album cover [GuardianUK]
MoMA sued by heirs of George Grosz over three works the artist left behind when fleeing Nazi Germany
[NY Times]
In related,
Austrian city of Linz may return $15 million Gustav Klimt to Holocaust victim [Bloomberg]


A shot of the scene sans Mona Lisa via Vanity Fair

A excerpt from a new book on the famous theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911 [Vanity Fair]
A summary of how dramatically US Museums have been hit by the economic slowdown
[ArtNewspaper]
In directly related, a timeline of Museums and the recession [ArtInfo]
The “hottest” art exhibitions of summer 2009 according to Times UK [TimesUK]
London usurps New York as top auction location for 2008, bolstered mainly by Damien Hirst’s Sotheby’s sale
[ArtInfo via ArtFagCity]
The low profile nature of private sales causes them to rise in popularity due to the impact of public failure of sales at auction
[NYTimes]


Saatchi-online’s billboard partnership with Clearchannel via ArtDaily

Clearchannel partners with Saatchi’s to promote through its billboards Saatchi-online’s commission-free online art sales [ArtDaily]
In related, The 10 winners of the Guardian/Saatchi art competition are announced
[Guardian UK]
The world’s largest art prize, decided by vote, launches in Grand Rapids, Michigan [artprize.org]
The Park Avenue Armory in New York announces an annual commission for it’s Drill Hall, on May 14th its inaugural exhibition will be Ernesto Neto
[ParkAvenueArmory]
Christie’s auction house creates a specific unit to divest of corporate art works [Crain'sNY]
On its 5th anniversary, the UK’s Art Council Initiative interest free loan program has supported a total of £10.5 million worth of arts purchases involving 12,500 people
[Artscouncil]


Damien Hirst’s custom Harley-Davidson motorcycle via Motorcycle News

Damien Hirst creates a custom Harley Davidson for charity [Motorcycle News]
Lawsuit alleges fraud from Louis Vuitton in Murakami 2007-08 LA MOCA exhibition due to prints being merely “factory leftovers from handbag production” [LATimes]
In related, Murakami protege Mr. collaborates on a Lucien Pellat-Finet clothing collection
[Hypebeast]
Following the National Portrait Gallery in London announcing its shortlist of three artists for the 2009 BP Portrait Award, an in-depth article on craft
[IndependentUK]
Vacant retail locations as exhibition space in London [GuardianUK]

Go See: The Generational: Younger Than Jesus at The New Museum, through 5 July, 2009

Saturday, April 25th, 2009

AIDS-3D, OMG Obelisk, 2007 - Photo via Art Observed

The New Museum presents The Generational: Younger Than Jesus, an exhibition representing fifty international artists who were all born around 1980. Underpinning the exhibition theme is the idea that artist make firm gestures in the early stages of their artistic development. The exhibition gives insight into how this generation of artists experienced and reinterpreted, through their art work, personal and world events that occured during their lifetime so far. Within that reinterpretation, issues of memory , and cross-cultural and cross-generational communication arise. Addressing these issues through questions of technology, identity, collaboration and family uncovers an intimacy in the work that is not obvious at first. Taking up a large part of the museum (the lobby, second floor, third floor, fourth floor and fifth floor), the exhibition will run through 5 July 2009.

The Generational: Younger than Jesus
The New Museum
235 Bowery, New York
8 April 2009 – 5 July 2009

RELATED LINKS
Exhibition Page and Media
[The New Museum]
Exhibtion Blog [The New Museum]
Announcement of the Opening [Art Newspaper]
Questioning the Durablity of Young Artists [Two Coats of Paint]
A “Wunderkind” Review [C-Monster]
BLT Gallery “Wiser than God” responds [Two Coats of Paint]
Video Review of the Exhibition [The World's Best Ever]
Jerry Saltz reviews the Exhibition [New York Magazine]
A “Refreshing” Show [NY Art Beat]
New Art is Complete Anarchy [New Yorker]
A “Vibrant” and “Energetic” Show [NY Art Beat]
“Useless Information” [ArtNet]
The Strengths and the Weaknesses [ArtNet]
An Impression of the Opening Night [New York Times]
Review of the Opening Night [Art Forum]

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Go See: Alex Katz: Fifteen Minutes at PaceWildenstein, New York, through June 13th, 2009

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009


Sunset 3
(2008) by Alex Katz, via Pace Wildenstein

Currently showing at Pace Wildenstein Gallery in New York is a new series of ten large-scale paintings on linen and canvas by Alex Katz. The ten landscape paintings captured at twilight and sunset reveal the artist’s continual influence from nature.

Katz studied plein air painting at the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture in Maine during the summer following his graduation from The Cooper Union in 1949.  It was the landscape of northern New England which captivated his artistic sentiment drawing him back each summer to the coast of Maine.  In his new works,  Katz captures the Maine light, “which is richer and darker than the light of the Impressionist paintings that helped me separate myself from European painting and find my own eyes,” the artist once explained. The delicate and soft Maine light which he depicts is often found at dusk when the sun is below the horizon.

Press Release
Alex Katz: Fifteen Minutes [Artinfo]
Alex Katz: Fifteen Minutes at Pace Wildenstein [Timeout New York]

(more…)

AO Video Preview: Dustin Yellin talks to Rebecca Schiffman for ArtObserved in a studio visit before tomorrow’s opening at Robert Miller Gallery, NY

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

–>–>–>–>

The artist Dustin Yellin talks to Rebecca Schiffman for ArtObserved in his Red Hook studio about his upcoming show ‘Dust in The Brain Attic’ which opens tomorrow, April 23, at Robert Miller Gallery, New York.  The show has been the subject of a good amount of press, including a preview in this month’s Vanity Vair.   Art Observed will be on site to cover the exhibition tomorrow night.

Robert Miller Gallery Dustin Yellin Exhibition Page
Press Release – Dustin Yellin at Robert Miller Gallery Thursday, April 23

Go See: ‘Introducing Aaron Young’ at Galerie Almine Rech in Paris through June 6, 2009

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009


‘Smoke Flows in All Directions’ by Aaron Young via Galerie Almine Rech

On the first floor of Galerie Almine Rech in Paris is Aaron Young’s first solo exhibition in France, ‘Introducing Aaron Young.’ The show brings together a number of Young’s signature works. The young New York-based artist is most well-known for his September 2007 performance of ‘Greeting Card’ original video of which was taken by Art Observed and can be seen here. For that show, Young hired professional motorcyclists to skid around and “burnout” over painted wooden panels in the Park Avenue Armory, inviting hundreds of art world notables to see the show. The event was derided by some as thin spectacle, embodying the Gilded Age decadence seen before the financial crisis but it’s resonance in the media was strong.  According to Roberta Smith of the NY Times, some spectators called the result ‘the world’s largest Brice Marden painting.’ A diptych of panels from one of Young’s motorcycle performance is included in ‘Introducing Aaron Young.’

–>–>–>–>
Original Performance of Aaron Young’s ‘Greeting Card’ in New York recorded by Art Observed

Galerie Almine Rech
Aaron Young: Galerie Almine Rech [The Parisian]
Locals Only [Purple]
Warhol’s Child (Interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist) [Flash Art]

(more…)

Go See: ‘FOCUS: Rosson Crow’ now showing at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas through May 17

Monday, April 20th, 2009


Rosson Crow, Queen’s Butcher Shop, 1910 (2008) via Artdaily

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas is currently showing the exhibition FOCUS: Rosson Crow until May 17, 2009.  The exhibition features a small selected collection of Rosson Crow’s grand scale paintings.  It is the first solo exhibition in a museum for the young artist.  Crow’s work has been previously included in numerous galleries including White Cube, London; Deitch Projects, New York; and Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg.

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Exhibition by Painter Rosson Crow Features Large-scale, Vivid Depictions of Nostalgia-laden Interiors [Art Daily]
Texas// First Look: Rosson Crow’s “FOCUS” at the Fort Worth Modern [SuperTouch]
Rosson Crow brings her theatrical flair to Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth [Dallas News]

(more…)

Go See: Sophie Calle “Take Care of Yourself” US Debut at Paula Cooper Gallery, April 9-May 22, 2009

Saturday, April 18th, 2009


Sophie Calle, from “Take Care of Yourself,” French Intelligence Officer, Louise (2007). Via Paula Cooper Gallery.

French conceptual artist Sophie Calle has invited guests into her temporary bedroom in the Eiffel Tower, worked as a maid to photograph strangers’ travel possessions, collaborated on a fictional character with writer Paul Auster, and been followed by a private detective at her own request.  Her latest turn, at New York gallery Paula Cooper, finds Calle dealing with a lover’s breakup via email, using the traumatic experience to explore issues of intimacy vs. mass technology.

Paula Cooper Gallery
Sophie Calle, Take Care of Yourself
534 West 21st Street
April 9 – May 22, 2009

RELATED LINKS
Exhibition Page [Paula Cooper]
Interview: Sophie Calle [Guardian UK]
Sophie Calle: Paula Cooper [Art Forum]
Private pain, public revenge
[FT]

(more…)

AO On Site: Adel Abdessemed’s Rio at David Zwirner, Friday April 3rd showing through May 9th, 2009

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

Adel Abdessemed, Music box (foreground), 2009 and Prostitute (background), 2008

David Zwirner presents Adel Abdessemed’s first solo gallery exhibition in New York.  The particular installation of the exhibition throughout the three main gallery spaces (519 W 19th st., 525 W 19th st., 533 W 19th st.) allows the visitors to set out their own path in a maze-like environment that nevertheless respects the autonomy of the individual artworks. RIO includes Abdessemed’s latest 2008 and 2009 drawings, photographs, videos and sculpture, which are of a strong political nature. Prostitute (2008) addresses religion through a number of copies of the Koran, the Tora and the Bible that were handwritten by prostitutes and Practice zero tolerance (retournée) (2008) consists of a mold of an impounded car from the 2005 violent uprisings in the Paris banlieues.  Abdessemed has titled the show after his daughter with whom he shares the fascination with which “she contemplates the big animals in the zoo that are thirsty and hungry.”  The exhibition runs through 9 May, 2009.

Adel Abdessemed, Telle mère tel fils, 2008

Adel Abdessemed: RIO
David Zwirner
519,525 and 533 West 19th Street

RELATED LINKS
Exhibition Page, Press Release and Biography
[David Zwirner]
Exhibition Review highlighting Telle m
ère tel fils (2008) [Design Boom]
Biography and Discussion of Nature of Abdessemed’s Work
[Re-Title]
Exhibition Review
[Supertouch]
Exhibition Review II [NY Art Beat]
Article on Controversial Work by Abdessemed [National Coalition Against Censorship]
Video on Controversial Work by Abdessemed (graphic nature, in Italian) [Ribeiro Art]

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Newslinks for Monday, April 13, 2009

Monday, April 13th, 2009

Kate Moss by Damien Hirst on the cover of Tar Art Magazine, Via New York Times

Kate Moss by Damien Hirst is the new cover of Tar Magazine (anagram for “art”) [NY Times]
–>
Art funds launched in 2008, such as the London-based Art Trading Fund, are shelved due to failure to raise required funds
[ArtNewspaper]
–>
Art:21, Art in Twenty-First Century is now available for free on Hulu [Hulu]

"G8" by Andrei Molodkin via Financial Times

Russian Artist Andrea Molodkin, previously cited by AO here, prepares for Venice Biennale [Financial Times]
–>
Jeff Koons is speaking at Strand Books tonight at 7:00-8:30 in New York
[Via FAD]
–>
New York Old Masters dealer Lawrence Salander is indicted and pleads guilty in $88 million charge [Bloomberg]

A look inside Rome’s MAXXI designed by Zaha Hadid via c-monster

A preview of the MAXXI in Rome, $108 million art museum designed by Zaha Hadid [c-monster]
–>
Adam Lindemann, financier, collector and author of Collecting Contemporary launches a new book from Taschen: Collecting Design [ArtInfo]


–>
Flash Art’s current cover featuring a portrait of Barack Obama by Marlene Dumas via Art Fag City

Marlene Dumas’s portrait of Barack Obama is the cover of Flash Art [Art Fag City]
–>
Madonna’s art collection is estimated at £80 million pounds
[TimesUK]

A selection from the site via The World’s Best Ever

A timeline of modern & contemporary art artists by movement, school, style, period, theme & art prize [The-artists.org via The World's Best Ever]
–>
Richard Serra to receive honorary degree from Pratt Institute at its 120th Commencement on May 18th
[MediaBistro]

Interview with photographer Nan Goldin on why she is auctioning some of the curiosities she has collected [TelegraphUK]
–>
SFMOMA announces plans for a future expansion, doubling gallery space
[SF Chronicle]


–>
A preview of SANAA’s design for the 2009 Serpentine Pavillion via Architect’s Journal

SANAA, the Japanese architectual duo behind the New Museum, release first glimpse of design for the 2009 Serpentine Pavilion [Architect's Journal]
–>
Jim Dine donates 40 drawings influenced by Greek and Roman sculpture to the Morgan Library
[Artinfo]

Julian Schnabel’s Picasso Femme au Chapeau will soon be sold by Christie’s [New York Times]
–>
The Mugrabis, a hi
gh impact, market-making collector family, may be addicted to the game of art [The Observer]

ASSEMBLYMAN LENTOL WARNS HIS COMMUNITY ABOUT ASIAN LONGHORNED BEETLE

US Fed News Service, Including US State News November 8, 2006 Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol, D-Brooklyn (50th District), issued the following press release:

Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol (D-North Brooklyn) alerted his community that the Asian Longhorned Beetle, a non-indigenous insect that preys on healthy trees, has returned to Brooklyn. Once a tree is infested it must be removed and destroyed to prevent the beetle from spreading to other trees.

“The Asian Longhorned Beetle is a threat to our community,” said Lentol. “We thought we eradicated it from the district seven years ago. Now we have evidence that it has returned.” A massive infestation in Greenpoint was literally rooted out in 1999 when over 1,000 trees had to be destroyed because of the Asian Longhorned Beetle. Last spring, the New York State Asian Longhorned Beetle Cooperative Eradication Program found 18 trees in Williamsburg infested with the bug. The majority were on Lynch St. Thirteen of the 18 trees were on Lynch St, the rest on nearby Lee Avenue and Heyward St. website asian longhorned beetle

“Just because we’re talking about a little bug doesn’t mean this isn’t a big concern for our district,” warned Lentol. “We’re lucky that this appears to be a small infestation, but the key to keeping the Asian Longhorned Beetle from destroying our trees is through awareness.” The Asian Longhorned Beetle is known to nest in all varieties of maple, as well as birch, horse chestnut, elm, willow, poplar, ash, hackberry, sycamore, London Plane and mimosa. Lentol encourages homeowners to look for exit holes on their trees, they will be about the size of a dime, and to grant environmental inspectors access to their property for the purpose of finding infested trees. go to website asian longhorned beetle

Lentol also encourages residents who spot the beetle to call 311 and ask for the Asian Longhorned Beetle Hotline. The United States Forest Service offers replanting of new trees to those who lose trees to the beetle. The insecticide imidacloprid is the only effective preventative measure against the beetle, though experts warn that it cannot help a tree once it is infested. ALB Eradication Program contractors use it during the spring to treat at-risk trees. Residents will be notified by the ALB Eradication Program when tree treatments take place in this area, and Assemblyman Lentol urges residents to work with program officials and provide them access to yard trees for these critical applications and for survey.

Go See: Picasso’s Mosqueteros at the Gagosian Gallery 21st Street, in Chelsea, New York, through June 6th, 2009

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

Bust (1970) by Pablo Picasso, via Gagosian Gallery

Currently on view at Gagosian’s Chelsea Gallery in New York is “Picasso: Mosqueteros,” one of the first exhibitions in the United States to focus on the late paintings of the artist. The selection of works aims to shed new light on the context and subjects that influenced the artist’s later work. Featuring a large group of important paintings and prints from the collection of Bernard Ruiz-Picasso as well as works from The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museo Picasso, Malaga, and various other private collections spanning the years of 1962-1972, the exhibit is the first to display works from Picasso’s later period since the exhibition “Picasso: The Last Years: 1963-1973″ at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1984. Such unique images of matadors, musketeers, twisted couples and disturbed women provide a glance into the world of Picasso’s later life.

Press Release
A Personal Lesson in Late-Period Picasso [NY Times]
Picasso’s Mosqueteros [Luxury Culture]
Picasso’s Mosqueteros at Gagosian Gallery [Time Out New York]
Picasso Looks Death In the Eye [Economist]

(more…)

AO On Site: ‘Koons Kelley Koh’ curated by Javier Peres at Mary Boone Gallery in Chelsea, Saturday, March 4th, show runs through May 16, 2009

Friday, April 10th, 2009


Terence Koh’s ‘Untitled (Urinal)’ on the opening night of ‘KKK,’ photo by ArtObserved

On Saturday, April 4, ‘Koons-Kelley-Koh,’ or ‘KKK,’ curated by LA-Berlin dealer Javier Peres opened at Mary Boone Gallery. The theme of the exhibition is rather loose. In the press release Peres wrote, ‘My purpose in assembling this exhibition was not to emphasize a curatorial message as such, but rather – quite simply – to put three of my favorite American artists side by side. No tricks, no gimmicks, no bullshit, just sculptures representative of each artist’s practice. I hope you enjoy looking.’ The show includes two sculptures by each artist. It does not feature any of Jeff Koons’s recent signature large-scale sculptures, with all but one of the works on the relatively small side. There is, however, a 24-foot-long piece by Terence Koh, a smashed-up urinal glued back together.

Koons-Kelley-Koh [Mary Boone Gallery]
About Last Night… [PaperMag]
Talking With Terence Koh [ArtCat]
Crate of the week (if not the year…) [Fine Art Shipping]
Terrence Koh, Jeff Koons, And Mike Kelley Host An Exibition At The Mary Boone Gallery [Guest of a Guest]
Terence Koh’s Mary Boone Opening [Style.com]

(more…)

Don't Miss: Women, A Loan Exhibition from the Collection of Steven and Alexandra Cohen at Sotheby's New York, through April 14

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

Robert Rauschenberg and Susan Weil, Untitled (Sue), 1950, Via Frankfurter Allgemeine

Currently on view at Sotheby’s New York for the first time and for a short time only is a selection of works from the collection of Steven and Alexandra Cohen.  The exhibition consists of twenty pieces by masters of the modern period, such as Picasso, de Kooning and Warhol, and leading contemporary artists, dealing with women as subject matter.   Other artists represented in Women are: Edvard Munch, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani. Robert Rauschenberg and Susan Weil, Yves Klein, Gerhard Richter, Cindy Sherman, Lucian Freud, Richard Prince, Marlene Dumas and Lisa Yuskavage.

Sotheby’s New York
–>
Women: A Loan Exhibition from the Collection of Steven and Alexandra Cohen
–>
1334 York Ave, New York,
–>
10th floor
–>
April 2 – April 14, 2009

RELATED LINKS

Exhibition Page and Press Release [Sotheby's]
–>
NY Times Carol Vogel Previews the Exhibition [New York Times]
–>
Steven Cohen’s Rise as a Collector [The Independent]
–>
MAO Critiquing Cohen’s Motives [MAO]
–>
NY Mag Examines Cohen’s Motives [New York Magazine]
–>
The Exhibition in the Light of the Art Market [Wealth Bulletin]
–>
Speculations on the Exhibition [ArtForum]
–>
Speculations on the Exhibition II [ArtInfo]
–>
Speculations on Cohen’s Motives [Bloomberg]
–>
Exploring Cohen’s Motives [Luxist]
–>
Preview of the Exhibition
[Bloomberg]

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Go See: Matthew Barney’s ‘Ancient Evenings: Libretto’ at Gladstone Gallery in Brussels through May 9, 2009

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009


Installation view of Matthew Barney’s ‘Ancient Evenings: Libretto’ via Gladstone Gallery

On view now at Gladstone Gallery in Brussels is Matthew Barney’s ‘Ancient Evenings: Libretto,’ a series of drawings from the seven act opera that Barney is developing with Berlin-based composer Jonathan Bepler.  The opera is based on Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings, set in ancient Egypt chronicling the journeys of the dead, reincarnation, and the gods. The opera follows the seven stages the soul passes through after bodily death according to Egyptian mythology.  Barney replaces the human body with that of the 1967 Chrysler Imperial that figured heavily in his film Cremaster 3, displacing the ancient mythic landscape of the Nile and pyramids for an industrial contemporary setting.  The exhibition includes very detailed drawings of characters in the opera as well as a number of copies of Mailer’s book which Barney has reworked.

Matthew Barney – Ancient Evenings: Libretto [Gladstone Gallery]
Matthew Barney – Ancient Evenings: Libretto [Look Into My Owl]
Ren Master [Interview]

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Go See: A Certain State of The World? Highlights from the François Pinault Foundation Collection, at The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow, through June 14, 2009

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

Maurizio Cattelan, Ostrich, 1997, Via the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture

On March 19, The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture (GCCC) in Moscow celebrated the opening of A Certain State of the World? Highlights from the François Pinault Foundation Collection, an exhibition of international contemporary art from the collection of François Pinault curated by Caroline Bourgeois.  The show includes works -curated along themes of war, the society of spectacle and the globalized world- by thirty three top-ranking artists from North-America, Europe, Africa, the Middle-East and Asia, working with a variety of media.  Amid many noteworthy pieces, visitors can admire Jeff Koons’ famed Hanging Heart (1994-2006). Hanging Heart sold for $23.6 million on auction at Sotheby’s in November 2007 and was first publicly displayed at the inaugural exhibition of François Pinault’s Collection at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice.  Other artists included in the exhibition are: Chen Zen, Bill Viola, Francesco Vezzoli, Joana Vasconcelos, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Marion Tampon Lajarriette, Cindy Sherman, Paul Pfeiffer, Philipe Parreno, Takashi Murakami, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley, Kimsooja, Y.Z. Kami, Pierre Huyghe, Subodh Gupta, Johan Grimonprez, Loris Gréaud, Dan Flavin, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Liu Dahong, Maurizio Cattelan, Cao Fei, Carlos Amorales, Francis Alÿs, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla and Adel Abdessemed.

The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture
A Certain State of the World?
Highlights from the François Pinault Foundation Collection

Obraztsova street 19 A, Moscow
March 20 – June 14, 2009

RELATED LINKS

Gallery Website (in Russian) [The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture]
Interview with Daria Zhukova on the Eve of the Opening Night [Financial Times]
A Review of the Opening Night [Saatchi Gallery]
A Review by The Guardian [The Guardian]
Article on Russian Art World and the GCCC [The Economist]
Article on Daria Zhukova and the Exhibition [The First Post]
Article on Daria Zhukova and the Exhibition [The Times UK]
Exhibition Review [The Moscow Times]

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Go See: ‘Electricity’ group show at Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, through April 25, 2009

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

Leo Castelli Gallery presents “Electricity,” a group show featuring Pop artists from the early 1960s.  Works incorporating neon and light bulbs by such visionaries as Jim Dine, Dan Flavin, Joseph Kosuth, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Keith Sonnier, and Robert Watts contest the idea that neon only came of age thanks to Minimalist and and Conceptual art groups in the late 60s.

Leo Castelli Gallery
Electricity Group Show
18 East 77th Street
March 6 – April 25, 2009

RELATED LINKS
Exhibition Page and Press Release [Leo Castelli]
Leo Castelli: Electricity [ArtInfo]
Where Neon Art Comes of Age [New York Times]
Leo Castelli, Influential Art Dealer, Dies at 91 [New York Times] (more…)

Go See: Mark Rothko and JMW Turner at the BP British Art Displays at the Tate Britain through July 26th 2009

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Storm Clouds: Sunset with a Pink Sky (1833) by JMW Turner, via Tate Britain

Currently exhibited at the Tate Britain are works by Mark Rothko (1903-1970) and JMW Turner (1775-1851), two of the world’s most influential painters displayed side by side for the first time.  The paintings are part of BP British Art Displays which exhibit a unique array of works from the Tate Collection. Visitors have the opportunity to go between the mediative ambiance of six works of Rothko’s Seagram Murals to the display of Turner works from the 1966 MOMA exhibition which includes experimental watercolors such as A Pink Sky above Sea (c.1822) and Storm Clouds: Sunset with a Pink Sky (1833). Such dreamy, loose, and immersive works demonstrate the great affinity between the two painters.

Press Release
BP British Art Displays: Turner/ Rothko [Artdaily]
Rothko and Turner receive joint billing at Tate for first time [The Telegraph]
The works of two influential painters, JMW and Rothko, are being brought together in an exhibition to show the artists’ similarities [BBC]
Turner/ Rothko at Tate Britain [Timeout London]

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Newslinks for Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009


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David Hockney’s ‘Beverly Hills Housewife’

David Hockney’s iconic painting, ‘Beverly Hills Housewife’ is the marquee lot in Christie’s May 13 Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale [ArtDaily] and more on this painting here [MoreIntelligentLife]


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Alberto Giacometti’s Le Chat from 1951

In related, Alberto Giacometti’s Le Chat will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s Spring sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York for an estimated $16 to $22 million [ArtDaily]
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Analysis of London gallerist Jay Jopling’s career in a time of uncertainty
[TimesUK]


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Dasha Zhukova

A lunchtime interview with Daria “Dasha” Zhukova on her Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture in Moscow and other various topics [Financial Times]
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The collapse of top Berlin galleries allows room for newcomers [GuardianUK]
–>
With his Kenya and Cambodia projects getting attention, anonymous Parisian Street artist JR is going big and raising the profile a bit [Independent]
–>

Damien Hirst is the cover of Honeyee Magazine [Honeyee] and, he’s sponsoring a giveaway contest for his work to promote the new album for the Hours [Guardian]
–>
New York art visits Cuba at the Havana Biennial [New York Times]
–>
Old Master sales in
December in London and in New York in January seem to defy downward market trends [Financial Times]


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Lucian Freud via the TimesUK

Lucian Freud’s latest painting unveiled [TimesUK]
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Swiss bank UBS closes its “art banking” department [Crains New York]
–>
Phillips de Pury faces the headwinds [Portfolio]


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The proposed extension of the Tate Modern

Tate Modern expansion by Herzog & de Meuron receives approval [Bloomberg]
–>
Faith-Ann Young on the fully manifested decline in the art market
[Economist]
–>
Joan Banach sues foundation where she formerly worked as curator and cataloger of Robert Motherwell’s work
[NY Times]
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Video: Tracey Emin’s retrospective on display now at Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland [Vernissage]
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No brown skins. (Hispanic Americans and the 1986 Immigration Reform Act)

The Economist (US) February 3, 1990 No brown skins SAN FRANCISCO HISPANIC Americans were against the 1986 Immigration Reform Act; they feared it would give employers an excuse not to hire people who looked or sounded Hispanic. They were right, it seems. The California Fair Employment and Housing Commission reports that the law, which is supposed to deter illegal immigration, has created “a widespread pattern and practice of discrimination” against legal immigrants.

The law fines or imprisons those employers who are caught hiring illegal immigrants. Nervous employers are playing safe by brushing aside official work permits and declining to hire people with brown skins and Latin names and accents. The law, which was supposed to protect people against this happening, created a special counsel to hear complaints and to act on them. But there is just one special-counsel office, and that is in Washington, DC. Few immigrants even learn of its existence, let alone approach it with complaints. go to website illegal immigration statistics

In addition, reports the Californian commission (an independent agency established 30 years ago to protect civil rights in jobs and housing), the Immigration and Nationalisation Service (INS) issues such a variety of different immigrant classifications that employers cannot be familiar with what is official and what is not. The confusion is compounded by the amnesty that the law gave to illegal immigrants who could prove that they had lived in the United States since 1981, plus the special rules for agricultural workers. The sorting-out of all this leaves the immigration service snowed under with forms and letters of work-approval.

Although the INS claims to have spent $2m on educational material explaining the law, the explanation, the commission says sternly, is “inadequate…incomplete and confusing”. As remedy, the commission proposes a temporary moratorium on employer sanctions until the backlog of appeals for work authorisation is cleared, the educational material is rewritten and special counsel offices are opened around the country. go to website illegal immigration statistics

The California report is important since about half the immigrants who come to the United States seeking work authorisation come to California. But it is only one in a series of reports on the effect of the 1986 law. A New York task force is due to report to Governor Mario Cuomo soon. And in a month or two, the General Accounting Office (GAO), which was officially charged to monitor the consequences of the immigration controls, will be issuing its findings. Last year the GAO reported that about 16% of some 3.3m employers who were aware of the new rules did discriminate against foreign-looking applicants. The report called for a more co-ordinated effort to educate the public but, unlike the California commission, it did not declare that a “pattern” of discrimination had resulted from the act.

If the GAO now finds such a pattern, it would trigger changes in the law. Congress would have 30 days to consider lifting sanctions against employers. But if the GAO reports that it has found no serious discrimination, the provisions in the law that are supposed to protect workers against bias would be removed. In any event, the GAO report will set off a fiery debate in Congress.

Part of the debate is whether the law’s strictness has in fact cut down illegal immigration. Statistics from the INS suggest that it has. In 1986 1.6m people were caught trying to enter from Mexico; in 1989, with more border guards, the total had shrunk to 850,000 people. Either they are getting cleverer at evading the guards, or the law, despite its unfair side-effects, is working.

Go See: Group Exhibition Espèces d’Espaces at Yvon Lambert New York, through May 16, 2009

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

Louise Lawler, 'Il M'aime Un Peu, Beaucoup, Passionément, à La Folie, Pas du Tout', 2008/2009, (edition of 5), Via Yvon Lambert

Last weekend, Yvon Lambert gallery opened a group exhibition Espèces d’Espaces (Species of Spaces) at its  New York location. It features contemporary and modern work by internationally noted artists Lawrence Weiner, Ian Wallace, Christian Vetter, Roman Opalka, Jonathan Monk, Brice Marden, Jill Magid, Zoe Leonard, Louise Lawler, Brice Marden, Zilvinas Kempinas, Yvon Lambert, Bethan Huws, Roni Horn, Jenny Holzer, Liam Gillick, Enrico Castellani, Carter, André Cadere, Stefan Brüggeman, Michael Brown, Brice Marden and Robert Barry.  The show is not only characterized by a great variety of artists, but also by an abundance of mediums.  Besides painting, various forms of sculpture and photography, the exhibtion includes LED, sound and neon. It runs from March 28 until May 16.

Yvon Lambert New York
Group Exhibition: Espèces d’Espaces
550 West 21st street
March 28 – May 16, 2009

RELATED LINKS

Exhibition Page and Press Release [Yvon Lambert]
Exhibition Announcement I
[Re-Title]
Exhibition Announcement II
[New York Art Beat]
Species of Spaces and Other Pieces by George Perec and John Sturrock
[Amazon]
Jenny Holzer Protect Protect at the Whitney
[The Whitney Museum of American Art]
Louise Bourgeois at the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
[The Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden]
Lawrence Weiner The Other Side of a Cul-de-Sac at The Power Plant Gallery
[The Powerplant Gallery]
Roni Horn Roni Horn aka Roni Horn at Tate Modern
[Tate Modern]

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