AO Art Observed™

In a conversation with the Financial Times, Irish businessman Niall Fitzgerald reflected on his time as chairman of the British Museum‘s trustees. The former chief executive of Unilever, Fitzgerald became chairman  in 2006 and has focused his eight years in office on reworking the museum’s funding models and providing a stronger structure to the museum’s management. Under his auspices, the British Museum has entered into a profitable deal loaning objects to Abu Dhabi’s Zayed National Museum in addition to becoming, after the Louvre, the second-most visited museum in the world in 2013 . (more…)

Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel (1916/64)  © Succession Marcel Duchamp / ADAGP, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2014. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. Photo by Philippe Migeat

Cunningly installed just down the street from the monumental Jeff Koons retrospective at The Whitney Museum, Gagosian Gallery is currently presenting a small but impressive exhibition of Marcel Duchamp’s body of readymades, offering a nuanced historical counterpoint to some of the artist’s most distinguished predecessors. (more…)

Researchers at Singapore’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering have created an impressively accurate replica of Monet’s Impression, Sunrise using nano printing technology.  The new technology, which uses focused beams of electrons and microscopic aluminum rods to print at extremely detailed levels.“Each color pixel on this image was mapped to the closest color from a palette that we created using arrays of metal nanodisks, and the code spits out a series of geometries corresponding to this color,” says researcher Joel K.W. Yang. (more…)

Sigmar Polke, Plastik-Wannen (1964) via Kelly Lee for Art Observed

Sigmar Polke’s output was diverse to say the least.  Raised in the lean years following World War II in West Germany, the artist moved quickly from painting to photography to installation, film and back over his almost five decades of work, shifting his techniques and approaches with each subsequent piece.  Sharply critical and always challenging the nature of capitalist negotiation with the art world, his pieces cover a broad spectrum from overtly comical and self-aware to dark and brooding.

(more…)

Jenny Savile, Untitled (2014), all images courtesy Gagosian London

On display at Gagosian Gallery in London is a series of monumental oil paintings by Jenny Saville, focusing on the materiality of the human body. The works are large in scale and extremely detailed, and some of the works have taken up to 7 years to complete. The exhibition will be on view through July 26th at Gagosian London.

(more…)

A new Internet program called Touching the Art has premiered on the Ovation Youtube channel.  Hosted by Casey Jane Ellison, the show takes an irreverent tack on discussing and analyzing the mechanisms and trends of the contemporary art world, with a sense of humor much akin to Hennessy Youngman’s Art Thoughtz.  “Is art somehow better because the person who starred in Transformers made it?” Ellison asks in one segment. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal Reports that the death of German art collector Cornelius Gurlitt in May of this year has brought to light works by major artists such as Edgar Degas, Auguste Rodin, and Henri Matisse, which had been part of  Gurlitt’s over 1,400 piece collection. Although Gurlitt willed this collection to the Kunstmuseum in Bern, Switzerland, the possible origin of the collection in Nazi seizures on Jewish art dealers leaves its fate uncertain. (more…)

Media artist Daniel Canogar follows in the footsteps of artists like JR, Ryan McGinley, and Tracey Emin as he takes the reins for the latest iteration of the Times Square Alliance series “Midnight Moment”, an initiative that seeks to promote creative content through the Square’s billboards and news kiosks.  Titled “Storming Times Square,” the installation is unique in the way it generates content; from July 24th to July 27th, Canogar will film willing passers-by as they crawl over a green-screen, creating footage which will then be displayed on the Square’s 47 screens each night in September. (more…)

Huma Bhabha, Untitled (2013 ), all images courtesy VeneKlasen/Werner

On view at VeneKlasen/Werner Berlin is a group of new works by Pakistan-born artist Huma Bhabha, marking her first solo exhibition in Berlin. The sculptures and collage drawings, which were created in 2013 while Bhabha was working as a resident artist at The American Academy in Berlin, will remain on view through July 26th.

(more…)

A recent Bloomberg article features an examination of the direct correlation between value appreciation and the price of pieces at auction. By studying the auction sales of the top ten artists over the past ten and twenty years, the article suggests that, in the ever-shifting art market, the safest way to ensure a profit is to buy big names like Cy Twombly, Gerhard Richter, and Damien Hirst at big prices.

(more…)

The new 5th avenue home for The Museum for African Art was planned as an elegant and impressive addition to Museum Mile and a cultural contender to neighbors such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Neue Galerie. Unfortunately, the planned move and expansion have been fraught with budgeting and funding problems, forcing the museum to downsize its dream and echoing the struggle faced by many smaller art institutions. (more…)

A Machinery for Living at the Petzel Gallery, installation view, via Art Observed

On view at Petzel Gallery is a group exhibition organized by Walead Beshty entitled “A Machinery for Living.” Composed of over 100 photographs, drawings, paintings, sculptural and installation works, the exhibition approaches a concept of embracing the subversive within everyday life.

(more…)

Bridget Riley, About Yellow (2013-2014) via David Zwirner London

Whether black and white stripes contrast with each other in bewildering harmony, or vividly sharp colors calmly line-up to soothe the eye, there exists an exquisite charm in Bridget Riley’s entrancing canvases. Starting her career in the late 50’s after graduating from London’s famed Goldsmith’s College, Riley experimented with Pointillism and Abstraction while working as an illustrator.  What she would be widely recognized for later in her career, however, were her optical works, which emerged as result of her fascination with Futurism, Constructivism and Minimalism.  Focusing on the artist’s colorful stripe paintings from 1961 to the present on a large scale, Bridget Riley: The Stripe Paintings 1961-2014 at David Zwirner’s London location marks Riley’s largest survey since her 2003 retrospective at Tate London. (more…)

In May or June of next year London might finally play host to Damien Hirst’s new venture, an exhibition space built to house his considerable collection of contemporary art. In the works since 2012, the South London space plans to feature a restaurant and office space alongside six separate galleries filled with pieces by artists such as Jeff Koons, Francis Bacon, and, of course, Hirst himself. (more…)

Artist James Turrell is among the group of recipients for the National Medal of Arts this week, alongside Linda Ronstadt, dancer-choreographer Bill T. Jones, author Maxine Hong Kingston, and Broadway composer John Kander.  The group will be presented with the award by President Barack Obama. (more…)

Three artists in Germany have used the fat from Joseph Beuys‘ work Fettecke (1982) to distill their own liquor, and to serve it to visitors during a performance.  The performers, professor of art in Bremen Markus Löffler and artists Andree Korpys and Dieter Schmal, combined the fat with blue pigment from a Yves Klein work, and created a home distilled drink.  “The taste is reminiscent of Parmesan,” says Löffler. (more…)

A new study has found an interesting link between a synthetic dopamine used to treat Parkinson’s Disease, and sudden bouts of intense creativity. “I started painting from morning till night, and often all through the night until morning. I used countless numbers of brushes at a time. I used knives, forks, sponges … I would gouge open tubes of paint–it was everywhere,” says one patient.  ”But I was still in control at that point. Then, I started painting on the walls, the furniture, even the washing machine.”  (more…)

The Smithsonian Institution is reportedly in talks to build an expansion in London’s Olympic Park, a project that would become part of Mayor Boris Johnson’s plan to build a massive cultural center on the grounds of the 2o12 Olympics.  ”The mayor has made clear his ambitions for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with a view that it becomes home to a range of prestigious higher education, cultural and technological institutions,” said Johnson’s spokesperson. (more…)

Goldsmith’s London has announced plans to build a public art gallery on the University’s South London campus, repurposing the old water tanks of the Laurie Grove Baths.  To raise funds, the institution is asking many former pupils for donations and works to auction in support of the project, including Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst and Antony Gormley. (more…)

Detroit retirees have passed a vote resolving to allow the Detroit Institute of Arts to spin-off as its own institution, and to accept pension cuts, reflecting what many believe to be the popular opinion towards the city’s art collection and its ability to recover.  “The voting shows strong support for the city’s plan to adjust its debts and for the investment necessary to provide essential services and put Detroit on secure financial footing,” said Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr.

(more…)

Art Basel Hong Kong Director Magnus Renfrew is reportedly leaving his post with the growing art fair to join Bonhams Auction House in the role of deputy chairman, Asia and director of fine arts, Asia.  “Renfrew will be responsible for defining the strategy for Bonhams in Asia relating to the fine arts and will oversee the established departments of classical, Modern and contemporary art in Asia,” Bonhams stated in a press release. (more…)

Judge Robert D. Okun of the District of Columbia Superior Court has allowed the lawsuit filed by a group of students and faculty against the Corcoran Gallery to move forward, a move which may delay the absorption of the institution by George Washington University and the National Gallery of Art.  “Today’s decision is a meaningful step for transparency and inclusiveness ”says lawyer Andrew S. Tulumello. (more…)