An article in The Economist this week revisits the frequently noted boom in the art market, taking an extended perspective on the practices of private sales, institutional investment and consulting over the past thirty years. “People buy art when they’re confident about their future wealth,” says economist Clare McAndrew. (more…)
Mike Kelley, Torture Table (1992), via Skarstedt Gallery
Exploring the darker aspects of American post-modernism and urbanization, New York’s Skarstedt Gallery is presenting a tightly curated show of work by Mike Kelley, Cady Noland, Richard Prince, and Christopher Wool, exploring the artists’ various approaches to the contemporary images of American culture and economics. Titled Murdered Out, the group show is inspired by an urban slang term, referring to a car painted all black matte. Taking this turn, the show explores American culture “through a masked, or ‘blackened-out’ lens.” (more…)
In the wake of Cooper Union’s contentious decision to begin charging admission, The New York Times has published an in-depth study of the school’s finances, particularly its ownership of the land under the Chrysler Building. While the land earns a rent of $9 Million a year, it would be difficult to sell in an emergency, yet comprises 84% of the school’s assets. Combined with the debts accrued for the construction of the school’s new campus building, the article paints a bleak picture of the storied institution’s finances. “There was never any sense of giving back. Cooper never asked. We always thought Cooper didn’t need the money because it had the Chrysler Building. Forty years ago, I would have stressed to students that someone had to make it possible for you to come here for free.” Says trustee Thomas Driscoll. (more…)
Artnet’s Katherine Markley is reporting on the continued growth of the art market for contemporary female artists, focusing in particular on the work of Yayoi Kusama. Analyzing sales figures for the last several years, Markley points out that Kusama has vastly exceeded the current sales figures for both Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons since 2007, and reframes the question of female artists’ presence in terms of comparison to direct market competitors, in favor of the 100 highest selling works list often cited in news articles and auction reports. (more…)
New research into the composition and techniques in the work of Vincent Van Gogh are challenging the perceptions of the artist as a spontaneous, romantic libertine in favor of a portrait of the Dutchman as a skilled and relentlessly committed technician. Presenting findings at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, a team of researchers have used new technologies and visualization equipment to analyze and uncover Van Gogh’s skillful approach to composing and arranging his paintings. “There has never been such extensive research into Van Gogh’s paintings and drawings,” says Nienke Bakker, Van Gogh Museum curator. (more…)
Matisse: In Search of True Painting, (Installation View),via The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City opened the exhibition “Matisse: In Search of True Painting” on December 4th 2012. Dedicated to Henri Matisse’s painting process, and highlighting his tendency to “repeat compositions in order to compare effects,” the exhibition includes forty-nine works, emphasizing the artist’s lifelong work with pairs, trios, and series, and exploring his artistic exercise of variance to discover the true essence of an image.
