AO Art Observed™

Ai Wei Wei’s Animal/Zodiac Heads, unveiled today outside the Plaza Hotel. All images Ian Hassett for Art Observed.

In conjunction with an exhibition on the third floor of the Arsenal Building, the Pulitzer fountain outside the Plaza Hotel by Central Park is currently the site of Ai Wei Wei’s Animal/Zodiac Heads, as part of a multi-year touring exhibition that will cross the United States.  The exhibition takes place in the wake of international uproar and protests over the disappearance of artist and activist Ai Wei Wei, who was taken into custody by the Chinese government on  April 3rd, 2011 and has since been missing. The unveiling had been moved up to Wednesday from Monday due to the Mayor Bloomberg’s wish to postpone it to attend a news conference responding to the death of Osama bin Laden, which had been announced the night before.

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Founded by the New Museum, the Festival of Ideas for the New City is a collaborative program which embodies the Lower East Side’s re-invention as a cultural hub and alternative to chic Chelsea. During the four-day long effort, innovative ideas, fresh talent and some familiar faces will be showcased with a mix of street festivities, panel discussions and gallery projects.

The changing Lower East Side freflected in an 1984 issue of New York Magazine.

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Alexej von Jawlensky, Frau mit Grunem Facher, 1912 (est. $8-12 million, realized $11.3 million). All images via Sothebys.com.

Tuesday night’s auction of Impressionist and Modern art at Sotheby’s New York, which carried presale estimates of $158.9-229.7 million, realized $170.5 million for forty-four of fifty-nine lots sold. The sale had a sell through rate of 74.6% by lot and 84.8% by volume. In reflecting on the evening at the press conference, Simon Shaw, head of the Impressionist and Modern department at Sotheby’s New York, noted that while bidding was “not euphoric,” there was still solid bidding both in the room and on the telephone. The sale’s top lot – Picasso‘s 1934 portrait of his muse Marie-Thérèse Walter – did not reach its low estimate when it sold for $21.4 million (allegedly to an Asian buyer), and several other top lots were bought in. Still, the evening saw spirited bidding for a few works, and several artist records were set.

Paul Gauguin, Jeune Tahitienne, c. 1893 (est. $10-15 million, realized $11.3 million)

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Gallerist Charles Riva with Brancusi Tree (2007). All pictures by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

Art Observed was on site at the opening of Paul McCarthy “Selected Works” at the Charles Riva Collection Thursday, April 28th. The show’s opening fell on the inaugural night of Art Brussels 2011, which ArtInfo calls a “slow burn” – in an interview with Perry Rubenstein, the gallerist compared the show to Art Basel Miami Beach: “The collectors that attend [Art Brussels] are true connoisseurs — they look at work many times and engaged in informed dialogue before acquiring.” The same thoughtful collecting can be seen in Mr. Riva’s selection of 30 of McCarthy’s most seminal works.

Paul McCarthy is a multimedia artist, who is known for his sexually-tinged transgressive work. He fires satirical shots at beloved American icons and myths– of Hollywood, of Manifest Destiny, of Democracy itself.

Installation view, Paul McCarthy “Selected Works” at Charles Riva Collection.

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Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Turning the Seventh Corner (2011) via Ex Berliner

Friday night, April 29th, Tim Noble and Sue Webster opened their new site-specific installation, “Turning the Seventh Corner”, at Blain|Southern‘s Berlin space as part of the city’s Gallery Weekend.  The new installation has been made in conjunction with architect David Adjaye, with whom Noble and Webster have worked previously,  (“Toxic Schizophrenia (Hyper Version)”, (2007), MCA Denver) and also on the home in which the the artists live..  Noble and Webster co-opted the second floor space of the gallery, creating two doorways into a neighboring space, providing an entrance and an exit for their installation.  “Turning the Seventh Corner” is an experiential installation that draws inspiration from the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs and reflects Noble and Webster’s continued interest with shadow and light.

Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Two Shooters Portrait, (2011), via Blain|Southern.

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Pablo Picasso, Femmes Lisant (Deux Personnages), 1934 (est. $25-35 million), via Sothebys.com

The New York spring sales begin this week as Sotheby’s and Christie’s hold their Impressionist & Modern evening auctions on May 3rd and 4th, respectively. Sotheby’s 59-lot sale is estimated to fetch $158.9-227.9 million, while Christie’s 55-lot sale is expected to bring in at least $160 million. Five works to hit the auction block (one at Sotheby’s and four at Christie’s) carry estimates of $20 million or more. The headlining work at Sotheby’s is a 1932 portrait by Picasso of his mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter. The painting is similar to the portrait of Walter that led the February Impressionist and Modern sale at Sotheby’s London and sold for £25.4 million (about $42.4 million) against a high estimate of £18 million ($30 million). Femmes Lisant (Deux Personnages) last changed hands in 1981 and is expected to fetch between $25-35 million.

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Scott Campbell, Untitled (2011). All images Nicolas Linnert for Art Observed.

Friday evening marked the opening of Marc Jancou Contemporary’s exhibition Blankness is Not a Void, a group show of works by Steven Parrino, Raymond Pettibon and Scott Campbell. Encouraging a dialogue between three artists of disparate time and locale, the exhibition showcases the overlapping thematic and formal references each artist drew not only from their social milieu, but also from each other.

Artist Scott Campbell (left) and gallerist Marc Jancou (right) with friends.

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Andy Warhol,  Colored Campbell’s Soup Can (1866, 1965). Courtesy of L & M Arts.

12 Colored Campbell’s Soup Can paintings by Andy Warhol are currently on view at L & M Arts in New York. These tomato soups cans from 1965 have never before been the sole subject of a Warhol exhibition, even as they continue to represent a pinnacle in contemporary art history.

Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup Cans (1962). Via the Museum of Modern Art

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