Marlene Dumas, Gravita (2012). All images courtesy of Fondazione Stelline.

This spring at the Fondazione Stelline in Milan, Marlene Dumas celebrates the Christian season’s Resurrection by examining what came before: the crucifixion. Sorte, Dumas’ exhibition, consists of 22 works—15 of them new—plus an additional 15 historical drawings and watercolors. Per the exhibition’s press release, “[Dumas'] Milan exhibition will portray some of the themes most dear to the artist: the crucifixion, famous people linked to dramatic events, and those ‘people in extreme suffering’ who represent the humanity that is the focus of her painting.”

Installation view
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Janaina Tschäpe’s table installation, a giant squid with condom roe. All photos on site for Art Observed by Samuel Sveen.

The Brooklyn Artists Ball took place last night, the annual fundraising gala hosted by the Brooklyn Museum. A number of artists and celebrities were in attendance, including Judy Chicago, Aurel Schmidt and Dustin Yellin, as well as those honored with the Asher B. Durand Award: Martha Rosler, Amy Sillman, Mickalene Thomas. Between a lively cocktail hour and an after party sponsored by W Magazine sat an elegant dinner with one-night-only 40-foot-long “table environments,” created by 16 Brooklyn Women artists. The event was the fifth anniversary of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, with Ms. Elizabeth A. Sackler present to receive the Augustus Graham Medal for strong commitment to the arts and the Brooklyn Museum.

Guests posing for the interactive video installation by Nicole Cohen

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Tony Cragg, Sculptures and Drawings, Exhibition View. Images courtesy of CAFA Museum.

British sculptor Tony Cragg presents his first museum show in China, Sculptures and Drawings, at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) Museum in Beijing. Cragg, whom the exhibition’s press release hails as “one of the world’s greatest living sculptors,” has compiled 127 works—50 major sculptures and a series of watercolors and drawings—for the large-scale show, focusing mainly on his creations from the last 15 years.

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Judy Chicago collaboration with Materials & Applications, Disappearing Environments (2012). All images on site for Art Observed by Megan Hoetger.

January is a notoriously busy time here in Los Angeles when the two major art fairs in the city, the LA Art Show and Art LA Contemporary, set up shop across town from one another, daring fair-goers to make the arduous trek back and forth across one of the lifelines of the urban sprawl, the dreaded 10 freeway. The opening night performances at both fairs also marked the start of the much-anticipated Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival, which itself encompasses over 30 performances and events across the city.

Myths of Rape (1977/2012)

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Martin Boyce, Turner Prize award ceremony, December 5, 2011 via Daily Mail

After much anticipation, the Turner Prize winner has been announced.  Martin Boyce won with a series of installed sculptures that was originally shown in the Venice Biennale in 2009. He is one of three Scottish artists to accept the prize within the last three years. The exhibition transformed a room at the Baltic Arts Center in Gateshead, who held the competition for the very first time. The well known photographer Mario Testino presented the £25,000 award last night. Karla Black, another Scottish artist, along with Hilary Lloyd and George Shaw were the other shortlisted artists to be nominated.

Martin Boyce, Do Words Have Voices, 2009 via Daily Mail

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Richard Hughes, Dead Flies (2010). Anton Kern Gallery. All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse.

Art Basel Miami Beach attracted some 50,000 visitors for the fair’s 10th edition this year in Miami South Beach. Showcasing over 2,000 artists represented by over 260 galleries, the decadent week seemed to exist outside of the current dubious economic situation worldwide. Miami Beach Convention Center hosted the main fair, housing an endless number of gallery booths, a VIP Collectors Lounge, and Art Basel Conversations throughout the week. Nearby the Bass Museum of Art opened a solo exhibition by Erwin Wurm, its front lawn, Collins Park, spotted with sculptures by artists such as Antony Gormley and Damien Hirst. Seventeen satellite fairs got in on the action as well, Art Observed focusing on NADA and OHWOW in particular, while Scope, Pulse, Design Miami, and Art Miami, among others, also drew crowds. The week would not be complete without its exhausting nightlife, exclusive events at hotels like Delano, Mondrian, Raleigh, Shelborne, Shore Club, The Standard Miami, and W, partying late into the morning hours.

Lucian Freud, Seated Figure (1980-82); The Painter’s Mother (1972). Richard Gray Gallery.
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All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse

The Visionaire Magazine Art Basel Rio Party delivered colorful dancers to the wading pool of Delano, the pool already glowing with candles afloat. The extremely exclusive event also entertained guests with a 3-D stereoscopic projection and a Victorian table set in the shallow pool, with plenty of bed-like lounging arrangements and curtained private rooms around.

Jefferson Hack

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All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse.

Artists and gallerists headed south from the Deauville location of the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) art fair to host a poolside cocktail party at Shore Club Friday night. A few large colorful abstract paintings framed the atmosphere, and a subtler Curtis Kulig banner draped above the DJ—a facade to more obscured lounging and a secret fabric gazebo.

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All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse.

Interview Magazine—founded by Warhol—and the Andy Warhol Museum debuted a never-before-seen film by the artist himself, shot on 16 mm film in 1968 with Paul Morrissey at The Standard Miami on Friday night. The film’s trailer looped throughout the night before Eric Shiner, Director of the Andy Warhol Museum, introduced “San Diego Surf.” In Warholian style, the film meandered with little plot, and most of the actors couldn’t actually surf. The party’s guest list, including celebrities from the art world and beyond, was pleasantly surprised by the evening’s flash mob: wigged and black-clad dancers performing to Lou Reed’s “Take a Walk on the Wild Side.”

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Marina Abramović fielding questions after the preview screening of Marina Abramović The Artist is Present at Soho Beach House. All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse.

Marina Abramović was on site at Soho Beach House to present her new documentary Marina Abramović The Artist is Present, which was recently confirmed to show at Sundance Film Festival, and will air on HBO next year. The showcase featured a looping 15-minute preview clip—made while the film was still in production—and between each screening was a Q & A session with the artist and her filmmakers Jeff Dupre and Matthew Akers. Moving from the second floor screening room, a cocktail reception at the 8th floor poolside bar followed. The after-party was attended by the artist herself, along with Dasha Zhukova, magazine editor Jefferson Hack, and Waris Ahluwalia, among others. Both the viewing and the party were sponsored by NOWNESS, an online publication on luxury lifestyle and entertainment. A slide show of fashion, travel, art, and gastronomy was projected by the pool.

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Marina Abramović, Waris Ahluwalia, and friend in the back of Paris Paris. All photos by Caroline Claisse.

The grittier, satellite party to Le Baron, André Saraiva’s ‘Paris Paris’ pop-up karaoke club opened its exclusive downstairs doors Wednesday night. Paris Paris is something of a throwback, taking place in the original home of Le Baron after the latter jumped from the basement of Shelborne to Delano, with a few stops in between. Artists Marina Abramović, Aaron Young, and Nate Lowman, among others, arrived sometime after midnight, a full-band-backed karaoke session awaiting. Featuring mixologist Charles Vexenat’s Pernod Absinthe infused “Green Beast,” Paris Paris remains open through Saturday night, with Saraiva closing out the week with a Sunday BBQ at the Standard Hotel.

Karaoke on the stage

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Paul McCarthy, Cultural Gothic (1992). All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse.

Art Observed was on site for the private Tuesday evening preview of the Rubell Family Collection/Contemporary Arts Foundation show American Exuberance. Throughout 28 gallery spaces in a 45,000 sq ft museum, 190 works by 64 artists explore the American condition today through art, dissecting the paradoxical arenas of culture, economics, and politics. A 244-page catalog includes written commentaries by 13 of the artists from the notable roster, as follows: Thomas Houseago, Richard Jackson, Rashid Johnson, Nate Lowman, Richard Prince, Sterling Ruby, Haim Steinbach, Ryan Trecartin, and to name a few. About a quarter of the works were made in 2011 specifically for the show.  Also, Art Observed returned the next morning on Wednesday for Jennifer Rubell’s 11th annual breakfast, which is presented every morning throughout the week, treats visitors to a small jar of fresh yogurt, to be ‘anointed’ with honey dripping from the ceiling.

Collecting dripping honey at Jennifer Rubell’s Incubation yogurt and honey breakfast.

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All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse.

An extensive collection of Ferraris, spanning decades of makes, models, and colors, filled the seven floors of 11 11 Lincoln Road on the first preview night of Art Basel Miami Beach. Officially a party in honor of Ferrari chairmen Luca di Montezemolo, hosted by Interview magazine, Peter Brant, and Tobias Meyer of Sotheby’s, the latest Ferrari 458 Spider was unveiled in shades of both red and yellow. The Herzog & de Meuron designed open-air parking garage could be seen glowing from blocks around.  RPM, a Ferrari-inspired 3D film by Marco Brambilla came to life with Wayfarer-esque glasses on hand.  While no doubt many enthusiasts would consider Ferraris to be works of art the event certainly leaned to the commerce side of the art and commerce equation and could be seen as a harbinger of some of the big ticket selling within the walls of the art fairs to occur over this week.

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Franco, Ryan McNamara, and Nakadate, Three Performances in Search of Tennessee (2011)

In a one-time only, Performa 11 new commission, James Franco and Laurel Nakadate presented Three Performances in Search of Tennessee at the Abrons Arts Center on November 13, 2011. A loose interpretation of Williams’ famed work, The Glass Menagerie, Franco and Nakadate acted as directors and judges for the series of performers that participated in the work. Both an experiment in performance and a tribute to the renowned playwright, the work was divided into three distinct sections.

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All images via Performa 11.

London-based artists Ed Atkins, Haroon Mirza, and James Richards mounted their sizable art installation, An Echo Button, in the thick of Times Square. Claiming the massive Toshiba screens as their canvas, the artists showcased a series of video pieces that actively responded to the setting in which they were in, projecting a nonstop, multisensory experience. The commercialism and history that constantly infuse Times Square are the main subject matter in the video clips. Simultaneously, the signboards outside function as an “echo chamber,” highlighting each artist’s zeal to display sound in varying contexts while taking advantage of the multiplying powers of the Toshiba screens. The site-specific work explores the crossroads of multimedia installation on a titanic scale.

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Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe, image from “Shadow Pool: A Natural History of the San San International” slide lecture. Courtesy of the artists.

Last Wednesday evening the Masonic Temple at the well-known Hollywood Forever Cemetery was filled with major Los Angeles art world players, including Jeffrey Deitch, MOCA trustee Jeffrey Soros, MOCA donor Karyn Kohl, curator Shamim Momin, Hammer curator Ali Subotnick, and gallerist Maggie Kayne, as well as artists Mark Hagen, Nate Lowman and Hanna Liden. All had gathered under the night’s full moon for the most recent project by New York-based artist duo Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe, Shadow Pool: A Natural History of the San San International, an event organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Freeman and Lowe are known for their immersive environments, such as Hello Meth Lab in the Sun, Black Acid Co-op, and Bright White Underground—and Shadow Pool proved to push their engagement tactics to the next level.

MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch with the Towel People from Shadow Pool fashion show. Image courtesy of Daniel DiScala.

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Martin Boyce, Do Words Have Voices, installation view (2011). All images courtesy of BALTIC Centre of Contemporary Art Gateshead.

The Turner Prize, began in 1984 to honor an outstanding British artist under the age of fifty, has announced the 2011 shortlisted artists: Karla Black, Martin Boyce, Hilary Lloyd, and George Shaw. Judged on work from the previous year, the four nominees also present an exhibition from October through January, this year at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art Gateshead— the first time outside a Tate venue. A program featuring the live announcement of the winner, decided by jury, will be broadcast on the British Channel 4 on December 5, 2011.

Karla Black, Doesn’t Care In Words, installation view (2011).

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Diane Arbus, Lady at a Masked Ball with Two Roses on Her Dress, NYC (1967). Images via Jeu de Paume unless otherwise noted.

Diane Arbus’ (1923-1971) first retrospective in Paris is on now at Jue de Paume. Between the Arbus Estate and 41 private collections, 200 photographs are shown, a handful of which have never been seen before. Describing her work, Arbus once said, “I work from awkwardness. By that I mean I don’t like to arrange things. If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.” Her frank approach to portraiture confronts one with a sense of identity that is often hidden away; she exposed and celebrated the unique in all, her oeuvre showcasing an underlining sensitivity to the human condition.

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Stuart Watson, The hostess never lies (2011). All photos on site for Art Observed by Tara Sheena.

Agathe Snow’s monologue, The hostess never lies, was the finale event of the Vogt Gallery’s performance series of the same name. Curated by Snow’s sister, Anne Apparu, the series emphasized artists working in the medium of performance art and offered a platform for the presentation of works at all stages of their development. The original inspiration for the entire series, this was the first live performance of Snow’s monologue.

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Aleksandra Mir, The Seduction of Galileo Galilei, video still (2011). All images courtesy the artist and Mercer Union, Toronto.

The second showing of The Seduction of Galileo Galilei, a video documenting Aleksandra Mir’s experiment with gravity and car tires stacked unnervingly high, is coupled with The Dream and The Promise, another previous series that combines religious iconography with elemental, scientific scenes. In her interview with AO, she explains how her inspiration largely lies between the crossover of the two—science and faith—so much so that each loses opposition, and within time are indistinguishable from one another.

Aleksandra Mir, The Dream and the Promise (2009)

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Mircea Cantor’s work in FIAC 2011, image by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed, all photos by Art Observed unless otherwise noted.

By the close of FIAC on Sunday evening, some 68,000+ visitors had come through the fair.  These attendance figures represent a 6% increase from the previous year, reports the New York Times.  Housed this year in the exuberant Grand Palais, the fair showed strong sales from the get go. Despite the global economic downtown of recent years, the atmosphere was effervescent. French, American, and German galleries dominated the space (55, 26, and 21, respectively), but participants from Brazil, Turkey, and South Africa showed a strong presence at the fair for the first time. New York newcomers Matthew Marks, Eleven Rivington, Andrew Kreps, Michele Maccarone and Friedrich Petzel did well, and Pace Gallery made a comeback after a long absence. Compared to Frieze the week before in London, many fair-goers felt that the Parisian fair was riskier in content, creating a more exciting and eclectic display of artworks.

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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.

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

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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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