A Swiss farmer, Hanspeter Benz has won a competition by the Fondation Beyeler to hang a Picasso in his barn for 24 hours. The work was shown in Benz’s barn on April 16th.
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AO Auction Recap – London: Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale, February 26th – 27th, 2019
February 27th, 2019
Paul Signac, Le Port au soleil couchant, Opus 236 (Saint-Tropez) (1892), Final Price: £19,501,250 via Christie’s
Over the course of the last two evenings in London, the major auction houses rounded out an uneven, occasionally disappointing series of sales in the British capital, casting some doubts over the prolonged strength of the Impressionist and Modernist market in the UK, EU and beyond. Missing out on major fireworks at both houses, save for a few auction records already anticipated to fall, the evening sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s have posed some hard questions regarding the market’s current health, and just how markets are responding to an increasingly foggy Brexit picture.
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AO Auction Preview – London: The Impressionist/Modern and Post-War/Contemporary Evening Sales, February 26th – March 7th, 2019
February 25th, 2019
Claude Monet, Le Palais Ducal (1908), via Sotheby’s
With the month of February drawing to a close, the major auction houses are gearing up for their first real test of the year, with a string of auctions set to take place over the course of the following weeks in London. Marking major sales for both the Impressionist/Modern and Post-War/Contemporary categories, the next two weeks should offer some perspective on how the secondary market is faring in relation to what seems to be an energetic but slightly smaller fair circuit. Read More »
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New York – Ella Kruglyanskaya: “Fenix” at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise Through February 24th, 2019
February 22nd, 2019
Ella Kruglyanskaya, Doll on Lilac Background (2018), via Art Observed
Latvian-born painter Ella Kruglyanskaya brings her stylized depictions of female figures to New York this month, presenting a show of new paintings at Gavin Brown’s spacious Harlem gallery space. The show, dwelling on her restlessly inventive and stylistically diverse body of work, has installed the artist’s range of portraits and scenes depicting women’s bodies and social contexts through a range of varied lenses. Read More »
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New York – “God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin” at David Zwirner
February 17th, 2019
Marlene Dumas, James Baldwin (2014), all images via Art Observed
Delving into the life and work of the monumental American writer James Baldwin, Hilton Als has taken another turn as a curator at David Zwirner Gallery, mounting an exhibition that both explores and critiques the artist’s career, and his complicated relationship to the political landscape and social conflicts of the United States. The show, following up on Als’s exploration of the work of Alice Neel, is a nuanced review of Baldwin’s connections between Paris and New York and its diverse art scenes, in conjunction with his own aesthetic longings beyond that of his writing. Read More »
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AO On-Site – Los Angeles: Felix Art Fair, February 14th – 17th, 2019
February 17th, 2019
Felix Art Fair, all images via Art Observed
For a city that has embraced its emergence onto the global arts stage in recent years, its still an impressive feat that Los Angeles’s first major market week would open with four well-curated and diverse events, perhaps even more impressive that each would manage to express such a unique vision and concept in relation to the broader fabric of the week. From Frieze’s dynamic use of the Paramount Studios lots to SPRING/BREAK’s utilization of fruit stands downtown, the mixture of familiar forms in intriguing locales has helped define this whirlwind week in California.
Calvin Marcus at Clearing Read More »
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AO On-Site – Los Angeles: SPRING/BREAK LA at The Stalls at Skylight ROW DTLA, February 15th – 17th, 2019
February 17th, 2019
Theo Triantafyllidis, Seamless (2017) at Transfer Gallery, all images via Art Observed
Opening up its own intriguing take on the landscape of Los Angeles and its ample supply of artists and galleries, SPRING/BREAK has brought its production to the City of Angels for the first time, launching a supplementary event that feels particularly resonant amid the hustle and bustle of Frieze week. Read More »
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Junya Ishigami Wins 2019 Serpentine Pavilion Design Competition
February 15th, 2019
Junya Ishigami’s Pavilion Design
The design for the 2019 edition of the Serpentine Pavilion has been announced, with Japanese designer Junya Ishigami tapped to execute a light, illusory design appearing as if it was quite hefty and overpowering. “Possessing the weighty presence of slate roofs seen around the world, and simultaneously appearing so light it could blow away in the breeze, the cluster of scattered rock levitates, like a billowing piece of fabric,” his firm said in a statement. Read More »
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AO On-Site – Los Angeles: Frieze Los Angeles at Paramount Studios, February 15th – 17th, 2019
February 15th, 2019
John Baldessari at Marian Goodman, all images via Art Observed
As Thursday draws to a close, and the sun sets over the Pacific, the Frieze Los Angeles Art Fair has wrapped its first day of operation, closing on a a particularly strong and visually striking event that lived up to the anticipation many had afforded it. Installed around the enigmatic environs of the Paramount aquatic tank, the fair’s installation structure and emphasis on its normal uses lent the event a flair that likely will rarely be matched among the highest levels of the contemporary fair circuit. Its strange inclusion of a massive painted skyline against the rows of booths made for a captivating comment on the land of make-believe so many afford the city as a characteristic.
Frieze Los Angeles
Ken Price, L.A Bowl (1991) at Mathew Marks Read More »
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AO On-Site – Los Angeles: Art Los Angeles Contemporary at Santa Monica Airport, February 13th – 17th, 2019
February 14th, 2019
Rachel Eulena Williams, Ceysson & Bénètière
Opening the week of art fairs in Los Angeles, the VIP preview for Art Los Angeles Contemporary has gotten underway at the Santa Monica Airport this evening. The tenth edition of the fair continues its place as a site for established and emerging galleries from around the world, with a strong focus on the city’s own arts communities. Outdating the Frieze art fair by a full decade, ALAC has long been a centerpiece in the landscape of Los Angeles’s contemporary arts scene. Now, the fair seems to have taken on a more boutique stature among the increasingly fragmented landscape of the city’s fair offerings. Read More »
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AO Preview – Los Angeles: Frieze Art Fair and LA Art Week, February 13th – 17th, 2019
February 11th, 2019
Wolfgang Tillmans, via Regen Projects
Taking a new spin on Art Week in the Californian metropolis, this week sees the inaugural edition of Frieze Los Angeles, a new fair opening under the sunny skies of the Golden State. Setting up shop at Paramount Studios, this week will serve as something of a victory lap for a city whose contemporary arts offerings have exploded in past years, and which has taken on the role of a cultural capital for both artists and the galleries representing them.
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