AO Art Observed™

Self-Portrait, Sir Anthony van Dyck at Sotheby’s, London

As supply diminishes and demand increases for Old Master works, this week’s sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in London may be remembered as significant in the recent history of the art market. Collectors seized the opportunity to purchase rare and significant works from the giants of European art history and pushed prices so high that numerous existing records were smashed. The auction of Old Masters and 19th Century Art at Christie’s on Tuesday, December 8, realized £68,380,250 – the highest ever total for an Old Masters auction. 2 of the top 5 prices ever paid for an Old Master work at auction were also witnessed at Christie’s in addition to new artist records for Raphael, Rembrandt and Domenichino. At Sotheby’s sale, a rare self-portrait of Anthony van Dyck that sold for £8,329,250, above the pre-sale estimate £2-3 million, helped bring the total within estimate at £15,098,250. Strong prices, record-breaking prices were also seen for works by the Dutch artist Cesar Boetius van Everdingen and the prominent British masters, Sir Edwin Henry Landseer and Samuel Scott.

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James Turrell, “Bridget’s Bardo” (2008) Via DesignBoom

Currently showing at the Kunstmuseum-Wolfsburg  in Germany is an exhibit by Californian artist James Turrell. The exhibit marks the artist’s largest ever walk-through light installation. Situated within a museum context, the structure reaches eleven meters in height — almost touching the museum’s glass roof, and  covers 700 meters of floor area. Entitled “Bridget’s Bardo” the work is inspired by the cosmic qualities of the Roden crater– an extinct volcano in the desert outside of Flagstaff, Arizona and the site of Turrell’s ongoing and most ambitious project of his career.  Turrell has been working on the crater since 1974 in an attempt to turn the subterranean crevice into a kind of artistic observatory where celestial light, in its myriad forms, can be studied and observed. The artist, who works predominantly with light, perception and space, has been working exclusively with the “immaterial” mediums since the 1960′s– continuously exploring the ways in which light interacts with surfaces, colors and spaces while using installation exhibitions to immerse viewers within the resulting visual–and often seemingly tactile– meditative experiences.

James Turrell, “Ganzfeld Piece (model)” 2008 Via DesignBoom

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À chacun sa vérité, poster d’une exposition qui ne verra jamais le jour (2009) by Francesco Vezzoli, via Jeu de Paume

Currently on view at the Jeu de Paume in Paris is Francesco Vezzoli’s “À Chacun Sa Vérité.” The exhibition is devoted to the renowned Italian film director Federico Fellini.  Vezzoli presents two new works which investigate the realms of illusion and and fiction in our everyday perception of reality.  The artist also incorporates themes which are present throughout Fellini’s work such as his love of celebrities, the ongoing presence of desire,  his continual references to the mass media, and the myths often found in social and political life.

Portrait Surréaliste d’Anita Ekberg (avant et après La Dolce Vita) (2008) by Francesco Vezzoli, via Jeu de Paume

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Richard Wright’s winning wall painting, via TimesOnline

Last night, Richard Wright was announced the winner of the prestigious Turner Prize at a ceremony in Tate Britain. Wright’s highly intricate gold-leaf painting that won him the prize can be seen across one wall of the Turner Prize exhibition currently on display at Tate Britain through January 6, 2010.   Wright lives in Glasgow and so follows an illustrious line of Scotland-based winners – from Douglas Gordon back in 1996 to Martin Creed in 2001 and Simon Starling in 2005. At 49, Wright is the oldest man to win the prize since the under-50 age limit was imposed in 1991.

Wright rejected painting on canvas in the late 1980s and has become best known for his wall paintings which are temporarily crafted onto walls in overlooked places with the knowledge that they will soon be erased – almost everything Wright has created since this decision has been destroyed. His paintings combine graphic imagery and intricate patterning from sources as varied as Medieval painting, graphics and typography.

Four artists, working a variety of media, were in contention for the prize – Enrico David, Roger Hiorns, Lucy Skaer, and Richard Wright – Hiorns had been the critics’ favorite going into the competition.

Andrew Dickson, Arts Editor of the Guardian, talks to Turner Prize winner Richard Wright, Stephen Deuchar, Carol Ann Duffy, and 2001 Turner winner Martin Creed via The Guardian

Richard Wright: 2009 Turner Prize Winner [The Guardian]
A Turner Prize Winner Who Takes Viewers By Surprise [NY Times]
Turner Prize Winner Richard Wright Shocks World  – Actual Art [Daily Mail]
Richard Wright Who Wrecks His Own Work Wins Turner Prize [Bloomberg]
I’d Like Him to Do My Living Room Wall [TimesOnline]
School of Art [BBC News]
You could call Wright’s art Minimalist, but it is also luxurious [Independent]
Richard Wright Wins Turner Prize [Financial Times]
Fresco Painter Richard Wright Wins Turner Prize [Reuters]

The entrance to Art Basel Miami Beach 2009

“There’s a lot less ornament and a lot more substance,” declared Micky Wolfson Jr., founder of Miami Beach’s Wolfsonian Museum – this phrase sums-up many reflections on the eighth edition of Art Basel Miami Beach closed on Sunday, December 6 where smaller parties dominated and collectors purchased cautiously. In keeping with tradition edgy Contemporary pieces were bestsellers at Art Basel Miami Beach with larger, museum-targeted pieces dominating the booths along with traditional works by Popular Latin American artists such as the Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco. Interestingly, while many Asian and European buyers skipped the fair, additional Portuguese speakers were hired to aid Latin American buyers who were out in force.

Santigold performs at the Raleigh Hotel

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David Hockney’s iconic painting “A Bigger Splash” (1967), is at the heart of the exhibition. Via Nottingham Contemporary.

Currently showing at the newly opened Nottingham Contemporary art space in the UK is a major exhibition of work by artist David Hockney. Over 60 works by the artist– including paintings, etchings and drawings, are on show from national and international museum collections for the museum’s inaugural exhibit, which focuses on re-examining the work that the artist produced while living in London and Los Angeles during the years 1960 to 1968.  At the beginning of the 1960′s, Hockney was only in his mid-twenties and had already become one of the most critically acclaimed contemporary artists in Britain, building a national reputation for his distinctive, versatile art that was at once spontaneous, full of allusion and bold for its open references to homosexuality. Themes of the conventional yet “glamorous” California life abound in his work– particularly in his paintings of iconic glistening poolscapes and pristine lawns from the 1960′s, which evoke subliminal messages about society. Although Hockney has rejected the label of being a “Pop” artist, many of his works contain references to popular culture and draw inspiration from graffiti, magazine images, films and photographs, while also containing subtle indications of humor.  ”1960-1968, A Marriage of Styles,” marks the first time that Hockney’s early work has been amassed in a collection since the Whitechapel Gallery retrospective of 1970.

David Hockney, “Life Painting for a Diploma,” (1962) Via Guardian

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An annual event at both Basel and Miami Beach since 2004, Art Basel Conversations has hosted platform discussions ranging from single artists exploring their practice to larger panels including the leading players of the art world.  This week the renowned Beijing artist Ai Weiwei initiated the series at the new Oceanfront area at Art Basel Miami Beach.  Ai Weiwei, whose courageous voice has earned him the label as a dissident to be watched by the Chinese government, opened-up to his audience and moderator Philip Tinari about merging art and activism and the challenges he has faced in his efforts to speak freely in a land of oppression.

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Untitled  (2-5-75 Bernstein) (1975) by Donald Judd, via Simon Lee Gallery

Currently on view at Simon Lee Gallery in London is Donald Judd‘s ‘Progressions: 1960s and 1970s.’ This solo show of the American minimalist artist reveals the evolution of his manufacturing processes used in his three-dimensional and wall-mounted works. The exhibition features the artist’s early wall pieces and emphasizes the artist’s exploration of the relationship between color and the object.

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Shepard Fairey in front of his work at STAGES

STAGES, the fundraising exhibition organized by Lance Armstrong‘s Livestrong, has come to Miami after runs in Paris and New York. ArtObserved was at the opening last night at the exhibition brought together by O.H.W.O.W. Lance Armstrong was in attendance, as were several of the artists involved, including Shepard Fairey, who DJed for a time, Rosson Crow, KAWS, Dustin Yellin, Erik Parker, José Parda, and others.

Tom Sach’s work at STAGES

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Yesterday, New Art Dealer’s Alliance fair (NADA) opened its doors to a long list of top collectors and gallery directors that included Jay Jopling, Todd Levin and Lucy Mitchell-Innes. The stampede of eager art lovers cleared-out the booths that started the day filled with contemporary art from talented rising artists from around the world. The fair, now in its seventh year, is celebrating 80 of the world’s top budding galleries selected from 30 countries.

David Hendren’s installation at the Kim Light/Lightbox Gallery booth at NADA

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Andy Warhol “Double Elvis” (1963) Via Kunsthaus Graz

Currently showing at the Kunsthaus Graz in Graz, Austria is a group exhibition of work by artists Andy Warhol, Christopher Wool and Barnett Newman.  The show is designed to explore parallels between the three artists and to simultaneously shed light on the influence of American Abstract Expressionism on Minimalism and Pop Art.  A critical assumption underlying the exhibit is the idea that Warhol was influenced directly by Newman’s work.  Christopher Wool, one of America’s most significant contemporary painters, is brought into the comparison by way of his “Word Paintings,” which demonstrate a “mediatisation” of images and an overall radical approach to conceptual art–comparable to that of Warhol’s. Ultimately, “Painting Real” is a unique reflection on the work of Warhol and Newman from the contemporary perspective of Christopher Wool–supporting the idea that Wool’s work would never have been conceivable without the transformative work that both Warhol and Newman produced in the generation preceding him. Exploring shared themes of space, time and repetition, the exhibit functions as a kind of  historical compilation that speaks to the cumulative nature of artistic movements and the inner dynamics that propel them.

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Variation on Color Seed Space Time Love (2009) by Ernesto Neto, via Bob van Orsouw

Currently on view at Bob van Orsouw in Zurich is Ernesto Neto‘s ‘Variations.’ Presenting his work for the second time at the gallery, in this show the artist displays his latest sculptures representing variations of biomorphic shapes. The viewer experiences these works in multi-sensory dimensions; they can enter, touch, and explore the established forms. Neto even experiments with the sense of smell in these works with different spices filling the inside of his sculptures.

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Kehinde Wiley’s portait of Michael Jackson entitled Equestrian Portrait of King Phillip II at Deitch Projects

It is rumored that in years gone by determined collectors were dressing as janitors in order to sneak into Art Basel Miami Beach prior to its official opening in order to snatch the most coveted pieces before their rivals. While this kind of vigor has not returned to the fair since the economic crash stalled the art market in 2008, the mood at today’s VIP preview seemed to be reflect the the vote of confidence that was delivered to the American art market when active bidding returned to the floor of the Post-war and Contemporary Auctions in New York last month.

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Paul Gauguin, ‘The Call,’ (1902) Via Cleveland Museum of Art

Currently showing at the Cleveland Museum of Art is a landmark exhibition of work by leading Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin and his contemporaries.  Encompassing 75 paintings, works on paper, wood carvings and ceramics by the artist, along with several works by his colleagues, the show focuses on illuminating how the artist developed his signature style by re-creating, on a smaller scale, the radical, independent art show that Gauguin and his artistic colleagues organized during the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris.  While Gauguin was excluded from the extravagant exhibition of conservative, academic paintings at the Grand Palais, he found a way to present his more avant-garde works and those of his colleagues at Monsieur Volpini’s Cafe des Arts, located on the grounds of the Exposition. The event, which was entitled “L’exposition de Peintures du Groupe Impressionniste et Synthetiste” is  now recognized as being the first Symbolist exhibition in Paris. The Cleveland Museum’s “Paul Gauguin: Paris 1889″ re-creates the avant-garde event, bringing viewers into late 19th century Paris, into a replicated cafe–complete with wallpaper and cafe tables–and embedding them within a telling historical context.

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Art Observed is currently in Miami preparing for tomorrow’s preview of the eighth edition of America’s largest contemporary art fair: Art Basel Miami Beach which will open to the public on Thursday December 3 and run through December 6.  More than 250 of the some of the most prestigious galleries from across the world will present over 2,000 artists of the 20th and 21st Centuries.  Earlier this year at Frieze Art Fair in London, organizers told the New York Times there were reports of ”significant sales from new and established galleries exhibiting at the 2009 fair.” Now, in light of results that exceeded expectations at Sotheby’s and Christie’s evening sales – with the former fetching $134.4m for 55 lots and the latter bagging $74.2m for 39 lots – there is further reason for confidence to be restored in the art world.

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Visitors at Art Abu Dhabi, via Linsay Pollack

Last week at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, the inaugural Art Abu Dhabi brought major figures from the international art world to the to rich capital of the United Arab Emirates.  A boutique fair in comparison to Frieze, Dubai, Basel, and Miami, the event showcased only fifty galleries. The event was nevertheless international and high-profile displaying masterworks by Alexander Calder, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons et al many of which had never before been shown in the region.

Princess Michael of Kent at Galerie Gmurzynska and viewer looking at Gursky, via artforum

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Eight Elvises, which sold for $100 million in a private deal last year via TheEconomist

–  The Economist has a downloadable special report on the art market, in it Sarah Thornton reports in an article on Warhol, in the wake of the sale of his work in the recent New York  contemporary auctions for $43.8 million, that in August 2008 Andy Warhol’s singular “Eight Elvises” was sold privately to an unknown buyer for $100 million [Economist]

- Close to $100M of Russian art aims to be sold for Russian Art Week in London, where the vast growth of wealth in Russia allows for repatriation of that country’s works [Bloomberg] more on this here [WallStreetJournal]

A discerning look into some of the less disclosed but nevertheless driving forces and relationships behind various high profile exhibitions [Financial Times]

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