Global contemporary art events and news observed from New York City. Suggestion? Email us.
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.
According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Lincoln Center is home not only to world-renowned institutions of the performing arts but also an impressive collection of modern art, including pieces by Alexander Calder, Jasper Johns, and Henry Moore. The article details locations of several works from the 41-piece collection, which lies scattered throughout the lobbies and plazas of Lincoln Center’s newly renovated campus.
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.
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.
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.
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…)
The New York Times takes a look inside Mana Fine Arts and Mana Contemporary, the nearly one million square foot art storage and exhibition space in Jersey City, which has become one of New York’s best kept secrets, and which is owned by moving magnate Moishe Mana, whose business has grown alongside New York’s art world. “I remember moving artists in the early days,” Mana recalls. “And when they said they couldn’t afford my rate, I told them if they couldn’t make a living from their art, then they should find real jobs and keep art as a hobby.” (more…)
Stephen Prina, Detail of Monochrome Painting: A Posterior Prototype: Average Size (1994), all images courtesy Patrick Painter
Patrick Painter Gallery in Los Angeles is currently hosting an impressively selected group show, culling artists from the past 30 years of practice entitled Titans of the Stratosphere, and featuring six artists: Rodney Graham, Mike Kelley, Paul McCarthy, Stephen Prina, Christopher Wool, and Andrea Zittel.
US Museums are joining forces with the Syrian Interim Government’s Heritage Task Force to assist in the preservation of the country’s cultural heritage against the tide of its ongoing civil war, training civilians in preservation techniques and strategies for securing important art objects and artifacts. “Local communities are best equipped to identify heritage in need of preservation and protection, and this is precisely what is happening in Syria,” says Richard Leventhal, the executive director of the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. (more…)
Auction Houses are placing an increased emphasis on pre-20th century art and other objects, in an effort to further expand the thriving auction markets. Offering variety shows that present top works from a variety of areas and cultures, the auctions are designed to encourage top bidders by focusing sales. “If the auction houses pick their 50 or so best objects, then their top buyers don’t have to sift through several sales,” says Stuart Lochhead, director of Daniel Katz Ltd. “People are less connoisseurial these days. Finance people are always rushing. They have so little time.” (more…)
Carl Andre at The Paula Cooper Gallery, via Art Observed
On view at The Paula Cooper Gallery in New York is an exhibition of major sculptures by Carl Andre from a period ranging over thirty years. The exhibition coincides with the artist’s retrospective at Dia:Beacon, which is the first survey of Carl Andre’s entire body of work by a museum in North America since 1980.
The case for artist resale royalties in the United States is gaining strength in Congress, as the bill proposing the measure has earned six co-signers in the past weeks. “We’re optimistic—the pace over the past month seems to have picked up,” says Ted Feder, the president of the Artists Rights Society. (more…)
Last week, artist Cai Guo-Qiang floated a specially made ark, filled with stuffed animals, around Shanghai harbor, in an attempt to draw further attention to the port city’s heavily polluted waters. ”Not being dead leaves possibilities and space for imagination,” the artist said of his work, emphasizing the space between living and dead that his stuffed animals occupy. (more…)
Partnering with Beijing’s Tsinghua University Art and Science Media Laboratory (TASML) and the Center for Art and Technology at CCIA (CAT/CCIA), Rhizome has announced a $10,000 cash prize to one Internet artist. The award will be handed out annually three times total over the course of the next three years, through 2016. “Internet art remains less recognized, less supported,” the organization said in a statement. “This prize gives a boost to those who continue to make art on the Internet, and emphasizes the unique cultural importance of such work.” (more…)
