Global contemporary art events and news observed from New York City. Suggestion? Email us.
NEWS

London- Yoko Ono at Tate Modern

March 28th, 2024

Yoko Ono at Tate Modern4

Yoko Ono at Tate Modern

“Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind” exhibition at Tate Modern, is on until September 1st and is an expansive journey through Yoko Ono’s artistic legacy, blending music, installations, photography, and interactive performance art. This landmark showcase, the UK’s most extensive collection of Ono’s work, spans her groundbreaking contributions from the early 1950s to today, highlighting her role as a pioneer in avant-garde art circles worldwide.

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Skarstedt London: Jeff Koons

March 12th, 2024

Koons at Skarstedt

Koons at Skarstedt

From 1st March to 25th May 2024, Skarstedt’s London Gallery presents a solo exhibition featuring the work of American artist Jeff Koons. The show includes five mural-sized paintings crafted between 2001 and 2013 drawn from Koons’ series: Easyfun-Ethereal, Antiquity, and Popeye.
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Tanya Bonakdar Gallery LA: Tomas Saraceno

March 7th, 2024

Tanya Bonakdar, Tomas Saraceno7

Tomas Saraceno at Tanya Bonakdar

At Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in Los Angeles, “Live(s) on Air” is on from February 24 to May 4, 2024, featuring new works by Tomás Saraceno. This exhibit explores the theme of eco-social interdependence with a collection that includes sculpture, works on paper, and film. It aims to engage viewers in thinking about the impact of humans on the environment and paths toward coexistence on Earth.
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AO ON-SITE – LOS ANGELES: FRIEZE LOS ANGELES 2024 AT THE SANTA MONICA AIRPORT

March 4th, 2024

Frieze LA

Frieze LA 2024 at Santa Monica Airport

AO was on the ground at the fifth edition of Frieze Los Angeles, held from February 29th to March 3rd, 2024, at Santa Monica Airport, which brought together over 95 galleries exhibiting contemporary art from various regions, showcasing the city’s role in the global art landscape. 
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Perrotin LA: Izumi Kato

February 29th, 2024

Perrotin: IzumI KatoIzumi Kato at Perrotin

AO is on-site at Perrotin, which inaugurated its new Los Angeles gallery with an exhibition featuring Japanese artist Izumi Kato, running from February 28 to March 23, 2024. Kato’s work, known for incorporating elements of both ancient traditions and modern themes, aligns with Los Angeles’s landscape, which includes both natural and urban environments. The artist’s figures, created in his Tokyo studio, are displayed in a setting that reflects the coexistence of contrasting elements, a theme prevalent in Kato’s art.


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MEXICO CITY: ZONA MACO 2024

February 20th, 2024

Zona Maco 2024

Anahuacalli Museum Mexico City

AO was on-site at ZONAMACO Arte Contemporáneo, the largest art fair in Latin America, which celebrated its 20th anniversary from February 7-11th, 2024. Initially launched in 2002 by Zélika García, the fair soon relocated from Monterrey to Centro Citibanamex in Mexico City where it holds four events annually. Since its inception, ZONAMACO has expanded to feature 208 exhibitors from 25 countries, displaying a diverse range of artworks, from modern and contemporary, to design, to an estate section.


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AO ON-SITE – MIAMI BEACH: UNTITLED ART FAIR, DECEMBER 6TH-10TH, 2023

December 12th, 2023

Untitled Art Miami 2023

Photo from Untitled website

Untitled Art Fair revisited its Miami Beach location, again on the beach just off Ocean Drive.  The fair opened on Wednesday the 6th of December and concluded on Sunday the 10th. The fair featured curated presentations, live events, artist performances, and more. This edition hosted 160 exhibitors from 38 countries, showcasing works by nearly 600 artists. The programming encompassed artist projects, performances, and panel discussions as part of the Untitled Art Podcast, with an emphasis on digital innovation and inclusivity.

Annie Duncan, Johansson Projects, Untitled Miami 2023

Annie Duncan, Johansson Projects, Untitled Miami 2023 
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NADA Miami 2023

December 11th, 2023

NADA Miami 2023

AO on site at NADA Miami 2023, here with Harkawik

NADA Miami 2023, the 21st edition of the art fair presented by the New Art Dealers Alliance, showcased a diverse array of galleries from over 50 cities globally, including more than 85 NADA members and 34 first-time exhibitors. The fair was held at Ice Palace Studios and featured a variety of art forms, from traditional to mixed media, reflecting on contemporary societal themes, identity, and the human condition. 
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Hernan Bas’s ‘The Conceptualists’ at The Bass Miami

December 8th, 2023

Hernan Bas's 'The Conceptualists' at The Bas

Hernan Bas’s “The Conceptualists” series at the Bass Museum in Miami Beach presents a unique exploration into themes of queerness, desire, the occult, and the absurd. The series, inspired by the unusual hobbies and activities people took up during the pandemic, features fictitious conceptual artists performing eccentric behaviors. This approach offers a perspective on the boundaries and perceptions of conceptual art, questioning the very definition of artistic expression.

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Art Basel Miami Preview 2023

December 7th, 2023

IMG_20231207_095320

Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 is currently taking place from December 8 to December 10, 2023, at the Miami Beach Convention Center. This edition features 277 international galleries, with a notable presence from North and Latin America, including 25 galleries participating for the first time. The event includes different sectors such as the Meridians, dedicated to large-scale artworks, and the Kabinett, with curated installations. Additionally, the Conversations program offers live debates on art and culture, with a focus on Latin America. The fair also collaborates with various institutions and collections for events across Miami Beach. 
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REFERENCE LIBRARY

Paris – Anri Sala at Galerie Chantal Crousel Through October 7th, 2023

September 14th, 2023

Anri Sala (Installation View), via Galerie Chantal Crousel

Anri Sala (Installation View), via Galerie Chantal Crousel

Artist Anri Sala opens a show of new work at Galerie Chantal Crousel this month, exhibiting a body of new frescoes that underscore continued reseaarch into the construction and composition of narrative, particularly oriented around refashioning and repurposing spaces and epochs.  Read More »

New York – William Kentridge: “Oh To Believe in Another World” at Marian Goodman Through October 21st, 2023

September 13th, 2023

William Kentridge, Oh To Believe in Another World (Installation View)
William Kentridge, Oh To Believe in Another World (Installation View)

This fall, Marian Goodman opens its gall calendar in New York with a solo exhibition by William Kentridge featuring Oh To Believe in Another World, an immersive five-channel projection made in response to Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10. The exhibition marks the North American premiere of the film, which will be shown alongside a multi-disciplinary body of work which includes new bronze sculptures, drawings, collaged lithographs, and mixed-media puppets. Marking the artist’s 19th solo show with the gallery, it also marks 25 years of collaboration between the dealer and artist.

William Kentridge, Oh To Believe in Another World (Installation View)
William Kentridge, Oh To Believe in Another World (Installation View)

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New York – Nicolas Party: “Swamp” at Hauser & Wirth Through October 21st, 2023

September 12th, 2023

Nicolas Party, Portrait with an Eagle (2023), via Hauser & Wirth
Nicolas Party, Portrait with an Eagle (2023), via Hauser & Wirth

Marking his first solo show with Hauser & Wirth in New York, the Swiss artist Nicolas Party has orchestrated an expansive and captivating show of new works that continue to underscore the artist’s mining of traditional painterly languages in concert with freely interpretive and expressive modes of depiction. Spread across the gallery floors of blue-chip dealers’ flagship space in Chelsea, Party’s work is a striking opening note in the fall calendar.  Read More »

AO On-Site – SPRING/BREAK Art Show at Atlantic Production Center, 625 Madison Avenue September 6th – 11th, 2023

September 11th, 2023

Stuart Lantry curated by Shona McAndrew
Stuart Lantry curated by Shona McAndrew, all images via Libby Langsner for Art Observed

The first notes of fall are in the air in New York, and, like clockwork, another art season is now underway, kicked off once again by the opening of the Armory Show and its satellite fairs in New York City. That means that, once again, the night before the fair is the domain of Spring/Break Art Show, the curator-first, project oriented fair that brings together a range of expressive and imaginative works under a broad curatorial banner. Leaving ample space for exploration and investigation, the fair is a perennial highlight, and, now in its 11th year, has reached cruising velocity, bringing with it a year that takes a moment for retrospective conceptions of the event.

Gvantsa Jishkariani at CH64
Gvantsa Jishkariani at CH64

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AO On-Site – New York: Independent 20th Century at Cipriani South Street, September 7 – 10, 2023

September 8th, 2023

Venus Over Manhattan
Venus Over Manhattan, all images by Art Observed

Over the last several years, the Independent Art Fair has built a name for itself as a dynamic and focused exhibition project, culling together small selections of exhibitors that emphasize curation and focus over the sprawling aisles of mega fairs and blue-chip magnets. This year, the fair has returns its 20th Century offering for the run of The Armory Show further uptown. The show, focusing in on historically-resonant works, makes for a striking new offering during Armory Week, and a fitting continuation of the fair’s well-established focus.

Norman Zammit at Karma
Norman Zammit at Karma

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AO On Site – New York: The Armory Show at The Javits Center, September 8–10th, 2023

September 7th, 2023

Jonathas de Andrade at Galeria Nara Roseler
Jonathas de Andrade at Galeria Nara Roseler

Despite a heat wave that made early September feel like mid-July in New York, this week, the fall art season and the promise of cooler weather has descended on The Big Apple, and New Yorkers are flocking back from their summer travels to kick off one of the busiest art seasons of the year at the Armory Show. This year, the Javits Center is home to over 225 booths, featuring selections from gallery veterans, non-profits, museums, and emerging gallerists from over 35 countries. The fair was notably divided into several sections such as Galleries, Solo, dedicated to single artists, Not-for-Profit, Focus, a section curated by Candice Hopkins, featuring solo- and dual-artist presentations that under-represented artists who draw on cultural connections, and Presents, featuring galleries that are less than 10 years old.

Leonard Baby at Anat Ebgi
Leonard Baby at Anat Ebgi

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AO On-Site – Seoul: Frieze Seoul at Coex, September 6th – 9th, 2023

September 6th, 2023

Katherine Bernhardt at David Zwirner
Katherine Bernhardt at David Zwirner, all images via Minji Son for Art Observed

With the first notes of fall drifting into the air, and August fading into September, attention turns this week to the South Korean capital of Seoul, where Frieze has reopened the newest iteration of its art fair franchise. Now in its second year, the fair, led by Frieze Seoul Director Patrick Lee, features over 120 galleries, with a strong focus on Asia alongside a range of galleries from countries around the globe, as well as its signature program of screenings, talks and other projects.

Theaster Gates at White Cube
Theaster Gates at White Cube

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London – “Malediction and Prayer” at Modern Art Through September 16th, 2023

September 5th, 2023

Malediction and Prayer (Installation View), via Modern Art
Malediction and Prayer (Installation View), via Modern Art

Taking its name from a Diamanda Galas record of the same name, Malediction and Prayer marks this year’s summer group show entry at London’s Modern Art. Delving into a range of richly expressive painting and sculpture throughout the show, the program takes on modes of seeing and representation that balances intimacy with intensity, dense layers with moments of triumphal revelation.  Read More »

London – Martin Wong: “Malicious Mischief” at Camden Art Center Through September 17th, 2023

September 4th, 2023

Martin Wong, Malicious Mischief (Installation View)
Martin Wong, Malicious Mischief (Installation View), all images via Camden Art Center

Artist Martin Wong is widely recognised for his extraordinary depictions of social, sexual and political scenographies from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Weaving together narratives of queer existence, marginal communities, and urban gentrification, Wong stands out as an important countercultural voice at odds with the art establishment’s reactionary discourse at the time. This summer, the artist’s work is at the center of an impressive show at the Camden Art Center in London, tracing the artist’s works as an extension of his life. Read More »

London – Marcin Dudek: “NEOPLAN” at Edel Assanti Through September 1st, 2023

September 1st, 2023

Marcin Dudek, NEOPLAN (2023), via Edel Assanti
Marcin Dudek, NEOPLAN (2023), via Edel Assanti

Artist Marcin Dudek’s work finds particular and complex sites for intervention in the language of the everyday, charging familiar forms and structures with a loose, vibrant energy that underscores cultural tensions, frictive languages, and modes of engagement that underline conflict and collision. This mode of practice finds particular expression in NEOPLAN, the artist’s sixth solo exhibition with Edel Assanti on at the gallery’s London exhibition space. and running concurrently with his solo show at Kunsthal Extra City, Antwerp, and the launch of his new monograph. Read More »