AO Art Observed™

The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, designed by Frank Gehry, is placed on hold with aspects of construction halted [AO Newslink]

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Banks Violette video interviewed on his process and the origins of and conceptual drivers behind his work [AO Newslink]

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Antoine Dorotte’s Una Misteriosa Bola (2011). All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse.

Just a stone’s throw from the Grand Palais, the host site of FIAC 2011, sculptures abound at the Jardin des Tuileries. Works include those by Urs Fischer, Antony Gormley, and Navid Nuur.

Vincent Mauger, La somme des hypothèses (2011)

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Musicians play in front of a work by Alex Katz at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, where the painter’s show Face The Music runs through November 19th, 2011. All Photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

Thursday evening, October 20th, Parisian galleries across the city participated in what is called Nocturne des Galeries (Galleries Night Out). Hosted by FIAC, the event is an opportunity to survey the French art scene, as well as to “step up the commitment and increase the visibility of galleries focused on 20th century furniture conceived by architects and and contemporary design work.” The galleries are divided into five different sections: Louvre/Saint Germain, Champ Élysées, Eastern Paris, Louise Weiss, and Marias, which boasts the largest number of galleries. Art Observed was on site for openings at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Galerie Chantal Crousel and Emmanuel Perrotin.

Xavier Veilhan, opening of Orchestra at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin through November 12.

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Crowds outside the Grand Palais on the public opening of FIAC, October 21, 2011. All photographs for Art Observed on site by Caroline Claisse.

After two days of previews, FIAC opened its doors to the Paris public on Friday, October 21st. Jill Silverman, Director of Paris/Salzburg-based gallery Thaddaeus Ropac, tells Art Observed that the fair presents “a very good cross section of European collectors.” FIAC is one of the most nationally-focused art fairs, boasting a solid 32% of French exhibitors, whereas last week’s Frieze in London had only 25% British galleries. American presence increased this year with several New York galleries making their debut at the fair: Matthew Marks, Eleven Rivington, Andrew Kreps, Michele Maccarone and Friedrich Petzel. After a 30+year absence, Pace Gallery made a comeback to the fair. Works by seasoned veteran Damien Hirst are exhibited at both White Cube and Gagosian. Anish Kapoor also has work spread across the fair, whose gargantuan installation Leviathan filled the entire interior of the Grand Palais earlier this year. Lisson is showing one of his signature colored concave mirrors in fire-engine red; Kamel Mennour has wine-red, Galeria Continua has green, and Kukje/Tina Kim has purple; all have different price tags. Sales have been strong thusfar; Pace Gallery’s Arne Glimcher told Artinfo, “We had sales right off the bat, it was really fascinating. I hadn’t anticipated this kind of rush, especially in this economy, where Europe is not in as good of shape as America. But I think we have the right artists.” He added, “FIAC is certainly an enormous cut above Frieze.”

Michelangelo Pistoletto, Two Less One (2011) at Galleria Continua

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‪‬Damien Hirst designs label for 20-year-old Somerset Cider Brandy as a favor to Alice Temperley, 10 years after being asked [AO Newslink]

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Zeng Fanzhi, Bacon, 2010

Now on at Gagosian Gallery Hong Kong is a large exhibition of paintings by Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi. Known for his representations of the human figure, this show presents many key works from the past twenty years of his career. Fanzhi’s work explores the transformations within post-Cultural Revolution China, specifically the developments in art and the art market. His paintings tackle the evolving role of Chinese history and tradition within contemporary society, and his expressionistic style makes clear that this is not necessarily a smooth transition. The paintings are tactile and frenzied both in style and subject matter. Since first being represented by Gagosian in July, this is Fanzhi’s first show at the Gagosian Gallery Hong Kong.

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Thomas Houseago, Lying Figure (Mother Father) 2011. Via Art & Architecture Journal Press.

On Vassivière Island, What Went Down is Thomas Houseago‘s first exclusively sculpture exhibition in France, at The Centre International d’art et due Paysage de L’ile de Vassivière. Both the building and its surroundings are filled with large, monumental sculptures inspired by the Vassivière landscape. Curated by Chiara Parisi, the artist creates with plaster, bronze, and wood, applying traditional ‘high-art’ materials to sprawling, awkward, masculine forms. Houseago has described his work as unskilled, saying “I could talk for hours about Michel Foucault, but I couldn’t draw. So I feel like I’m in a punk band. I’m completely unskilled. I feel like I just have to do it.”

Thomas Houseago, Large Lamp I (Snake Island) (2011). Via AAJP

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The Mound (2011), left. Triptych (2011), right.

Lisa Yuskavage is currently showing her third solo exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery. In a mix of early French Impressionism (a la Manet) and Dali-esque Surrealism, Yuskavage captures the languid, voluptuous figures of the female body through a feminist lens. The artist also takes on themes of landscape, time, and plot, in a way that extends her visual resonance.

Art Observed on site for the opening

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‪‬Terence Koh launches new website with minimal aesthetic, “both ‘lo-fi’ and HD” [AO Newslink]

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‪‬Warhol Foundation dissolves authentication board to focus on “charitable activities,” effect on art market worries collectors [AO Newslink]

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FIAC 2011 at the Grand Palais in Paris. All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse.

FIAC 2011 (The Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain) opens this weekend in Paris for its 38th year. The international art fair, which boasts an impressive array of 168 galleries from 21 countries, will show the work of some 2,800+ artists. Running October 20–23rd, the exposition comes at the tail end of Frieze Art Fair, drawing artists, collectors, gallerists, and enthusiasts eastward from London. While the focus of Frieze leans toward contemporary, FIAC includes both contemporary and modern, including works from Picasso, Calder, and Matisse. The fair has been building momentum since 2006; Jennifer Flay, appointed general director in 2010, credits this boost to the fair’s move to the Grand Palais, one of the city’s most cherished architectural gems. The fair also expands this year to the Jardin des Tuileries, the Jardin des Plantes, the Museum of Natural History, and other venues around the city. Another innovation, a mobile application (in French) is available through Windows Phone which enables visitors to book tickets directly from their phone, as well as receive realtime news updates from the fair, find exhibitors and artists, and access videos and photos of the show.

Jay Jopling of White Cube, which is exhibiting Damien Hirst’s Where Will It End.

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All images for Art Observed on site by Guillaume Vandame.

The Andrea Rosen Gallery currently presents its first exhibition of Sterling Ruby and Lucio Fontana, an adventurous juxtaposition of the hip contemporary Californian with the radical and aggressive 20th Century artist. Ms. Andrea Rosen, who kindly answered questions on the show, described how the inspiration for the exhibition came as a conversation with Ruby when Rosen was doing a group show of De Kooning, Fontana, and Eva Hesse in the fall of 2008. “We were talking about contextualizing Sterling’s work and Sterling had very much liked that show, in particular my relationship to those particular ceramics which hadn’t been shown very much,” Rosen said. “So we started with a discussion and it sort of evolved in a year long conversation about what we wanted to accomplish juxtaposing Sterling and Fontana.”

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Jenny Saville, Red Stare Head 1 (2011). Oil on canvas.  10 5/16 x 86 5/8 inches. © Jenny Saville. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. Photography by Mike Bruce.

Her first exhibition in New York City since 2003, Jenny Saville‘s Continuum is on now at the Madison Avenue Gagosian Gallery. Writes Saville, “[Flesh] is all things. Ugly, beautiful, repulsive, compelling, anxious, neurotic, dead, alive.” In the multicolored paintings of the Stare series, the body and face are disturbingly laid open. The artist depicts flesh in all forms and colors, often grotesque, as seen in several mother and child paintings, which are also heavily influenced by Biblical imagery.

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‪‬Chuck Close, Sam Francis Foundation, the estate of Robert Graham, and Laddie John Dill sue Sotheby’s and Christie’s over adherence to California Resale Royalties Act [AO Newslink]

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‪‬Nan Goldin shoots “beautiful and raw” photos for new Jimmy Choo ad campaign [AO Newslink]

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Sotheby’s Take Home a Nude annual auction. All photos on site for Art Observed by Nicholas Wirth.

Monday night on the seventh floor of Sotheby’s, art enthusiasts took in a variety of works—many of them nudes or variations thereof—at the 20th annual Take Home a Nude benefit by the New York Academy of Art. A 6 o’clock cocktail hour loosened up bidders for the concurrent silent auction, closing at 8:30 with a live auction, followed by dinner downstairs at 9:00. The night honored artist Jenny Saville and critic John Richardson, with artists Jeff Koons (in attendance further down town at the National Arts Awards) and Nan Goldin up for bid at the live auction, while artist Dustin Yellin—whose work caught the eye of Mary-Kate Olsen—fetched the highest bid at the silent auction at $9,500. However, Alyssa Monk’s Soft went to live auction after fierce bidding during the silent auction, fetching a final $12,000, and the evening’s overall highest piece was Joseph Kosuth‘s ‘Texts (Waiting for-) for Nothing’, Samuel Beckett, in play, 2011 at $37,500.

Work by Dustin Yellin

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Andy Warhol, Blue Liz as Cleopatra (1962)

An assembly of prints from 1962 and 1963, Andy Warhol‘s series of recently deceased movie star and social activist Elizabeth Taylor—the exhibition appropriately titled Liz—is currently on view at the Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea. An iconic figure of Pop Art, Warhol reintroduced figurative imagery into the 1960s art scene, otherwise dominated by an aesthetic ideal of abstract expressionism. As seen in the Liz series and the rest of his early portraiture, Warhol re-appropriated images from the media, mechanically multiplying them via silkscreen.

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Jenny Holzer accepts the Outstanding Contributions to the Arts Award.  All photos on site for Art Observed by Nicholas Wirth.

Americans for the Arts held their 2011 National Arts Awards at the grand Cipriani 42nd Street venue on Monday night, honoring “artists and art leaders who exhibit exemplary national leadership and whose work demonstrates extraordinary artistic achievement.” Awards were bestowed upon artists Frank Stella and Jenny Holzer, as well as Beverley Taylor Sorenson, President Obama’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, Gabourey Sidibe, and Wells Fargo & Company.  The annual gala dinner named Sol Lewitt the featured artist, showcasing his work throughout the space, while guests such as Richard Phillips, Will Cotton, and Jeff Koons mingled in black-tie.

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Photos via Opening Ceremony

“The possibilities, aesthetic and philosophical alike, are endless,” reads the last sentence of the press release for Love Roses, a show by Dan Colen and Nate Lowman currently on at The National Exemplar Gallery in Manhattan. The sculpture, a beaded curtain fashioned out of small glass tubes containing cloth flowers—that also have been known to double as pipes for smoking crack cocaine—challenges notions of the physicality and temporality of an interactive viewing process, while also calling to mind ideas of reappropriation and originality. After passing through the curtain, visitors encounter a rack of free postcards, featuring photographs of past work by both Colen and Lowman.

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‪‬Guggenheim teams up with Vermont-based paint company to introduce 2 lines of house paints based on the colors of classic paintings this fall [AO Newslink]

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Ai Weiwei, Moon Chest (2008). Lisson Gallery all photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

The 2011 Frieze Art Fair is now complete, having drawn collectors and crowds all weekend. While the economy may be to blame for somewhat lackluster sales results, spirits remained high throughout the fair. “It’s been a good fair for us. Every day something has been happening,” said Margherita Belaief of Berlin-based gallery Peres Projects. The gallery sold American artist Alex Israel’s triptych for $50,000, among other works. “[Frieze] is not so much like Basel, where you’re looking for classic artists. You’re always on the lookout for something new.”

Artist Tracey Emin

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‪‬New Van Gogh biography proposes the artist died of murder, not suicide [AO Newslink]

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Will Ryman, Icon (2011), Paul Kasmin Gallery

Outside the bustling white tent, the sculpture park has provided a quieter, more open space during the fair in Regent’s Park. Spotlighted artists include Gavin Turk, represented by Galerie Krinzing in Vienna, Neha Choksi of Mumbai’s Project 88, Alicia Framis of Annet Gelink Gallery in Amsterdam, Korean artist Gimhongsok, as well as Americans Thomas Houseago, Will Ryman and Kiki Smith. Johan Creten, Claudia Fontes, Des Hughes, Eva also feature. The exhibition was curated by David Thorp.

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