AO Art Observed™

“Untitled (77/23 — Bernstein)” (1977) by Donald Judd sold for $3,218,500 against an estimate of $4.0 million, via ArtInfo

PHILLIPS DE PURY’S CONTEMPORARY ART SALE, New York, Thursday, November 13th

Total Lots Offered: 51, originally 56
Total Lots Sold: 30
Total Sales Value: $9.6 Million
Total Sales Pre-Auction Estimate: $23-$32 Million

Before Phillips de Pury’s Contemporary Art sale began in New York on Thursday evening November 13th, five works were withdrawn, including John Currin’s Standing Nude from 1993 (est. $500–700,000), pictured below, Richard Prince’s Untitled (Tire Planter) from 1999 (est. $120–180,000), and an Anselm Kiefer work. Total sales were $9,608,700, which was less than half of the low estimate of $23 million. By way of comparison, a comparable Phillips sale a year ago fetched $42.3 million. In the end, 41% of the lots (21 lots) were unsold (51% unsold by value) and those that did sell did so at below estimates. Anything estimated to sell at more than $1 million was either withdrawn or went unsold. In attendance were collectors such as Adam Lindemann, Stavros Merjos, Stefan Edlis of Chicago, Maria Baibakova, Mera and Don Rubell, Zurich dealer Doris Ammann, and executives from the Russian luxury goods giant Mercury Group which, as covered by Art Observed here, recently purchased the Phillips de Pury auction house.

Despite the dismal outcome of the totals, Phillips de Pury’s in the end appeared prescient versus its competitors Sotheby’s and Christie’s who both got crushed by over guaranteeing works in a down market, by contrast, Phillips guaranteed none of the 51 works offered, save for a single neon text 2005 sculpture by Kendell Geers, which had a low estimate of $60,000 and sold for $56,250. In a comparable sale last November, Phillips guaranteed about half the lots.

$9.6 Million at Phillips De Pury [ArtNet]
Phillips Sale Totals Less Than Half the Low Estimate [New YorkTimes]
Phillips Goes with the Downward Flow [ArtInfo]
Hirst Painting Flops at ‘Brutal’ New York Art Auction [Bloomberg]

more story and pictures after the jump…

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Anish Kapoor - Cloud Gate via heartland.vanabbe.nl

A London studio visit interview with Anish Kapoor [GuardianUK]
Richard Prince, who opened at Gagosian Chelsea tonight, interviewed on VBS.TV [VBSTV]
Three public art projects from Jeff Koons, Daniel Arsham, and John Henry will be at Art Basel Miami Beach [Artdaily]
All about Maia Norman, Damien Hirst’s companion [TimesUK]
How the current times can offer art bargains [Bloomberg]
The Asian Contemporary Art Fair, on in New York from Thursday to this Monday the 10th at Pier 92, 52nd Street & 12th Avenue [Official Site]
Two portraits authenticated as Van Goghs from 1886 Paris [cbcnews]
Former MET Director Philippe de Montebello and Paula Zahn to host 13’s SundayArts [ArtDaily]
Murakami ‘Wraps’ Louis Vuitton corner on 5th and 57th in Manhattan [WWD via Kempt]

Cory Arcangel’s “Golden Ticket” to the 2008 Frieze Art Fair via Artnet

With over 150 galleries, The Frieze Art Fair, set in London’s Regent’s Park, began selling works by over 1,000 artists on October 15. Since its first year in 2003, the Frieze fair has grown to be regarded as the youngest and perhaps the most cosmopolitan and cutting edge of the global fairs, which include Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach and the Venice Biennial. The fair, which runs until the 19th of October, and the London auctions that will occur this evening and this coming weekend, mark the first major opportunity for transparency into the the status of the global art market since the widespread financial turmoil began. Following Damien Hirst’s groundbreaking, clearing house, £111.5 million, direct-to-market auction of his own work at Sotheby’s last month (as covered by ArtObserved here) the market has had some clouds brewing over it, with beginning indications of weakness manifesting in events such as Sotheby’s lackluster first evening sale of contemporary Asian art in Hong Kong earlier this month (as covered by ArtObserved here), which sold £7 million against expectations of £30 million to another auction that same weekend in which Sotheby’s sale of modern 20th-century Chinese art left over a third of the lots unsold. More recently, the Singapore Art Auctions were also a dissapointment.

London’s Frieze Prepares for a Chill [Wall Street Journal]
Crisis Imperils U.K. Art Fairs, $183 Million Sales, Dealers Say and Auction Houses Guarantee Top Lots; Dealers See Falling Demand and Paltrow, Saatchi, Zhukova Browse Frieze Art as Sales Go Slowly, Aguilera Parties, Damien Hirst Has a Head Case: London Art Buzz [Bloomberg]
Deep Frieze: UK’s hottest art fair braces itself for the chill of the banking crisis and Prank canvas [GuardianUK]
Frieze Art Fair: Super-rich to cast economic crisis aside and Andy Warhol’s Skulls up for auction [Telegraph]
All the fun of the fairs: the art world gathers for Frieze [Independent]
The Post-Materialist | Frieze Art Fair [TheMoment]
Diary: Frieze Frame [ArtForum]
Frieze Factor [Artnet]
Frieze: First night blur [ArtReview]
Frieze Art Fair 2008 [Frieze Art Fair]

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Desmond by Jean Michel Basquiat, up for auction at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Auction, via Christie’s

In addition to selling a rare portrait by Francis Bacon, Christie’s October 19 auction catalogue features a long list of post-war luminaries. Several portraits of Mao and Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol figure prominently among the auction’s offerings. A sculpture by Jeff Koons, as well as pieces by Jean Michel Basquiat, Gerhard Richter, Richard Prince, Anish Kapoor, Willem de Kooning, Lucian Freud and a plethora of other artists account for the rest of the lots. The priciest of 48 lots is expected to be Lucio Fontana’s canvas, Concetto spaziale, la fine di Dio, which should fetch around £12 million pounds ($21.8 million).

Christie’s: Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Christie’s: Press Release for Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Fontana work may fetch $21.8 million in Record Christie’s Sale [Bloomberg]
Bacon Portrait Expected to Sell for £7.5 million at Christie’s Auction in October [ArtObserved]

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‘I give you all my money 2008′ by Cathy Wilkes, a finalist at 2008’s Turner Prize, via Guardian

The Turner Prize is exhibiting this year’s finalists starting September 30th at the Tate Britain, in London. Founded in London in 1984 to support the development of contemporary artists under 50 years of age, the prize is widely considered one of the art world’s highest honors. This year’s finalists are Runa Islam, Goshka Macuga, Mark Leckey and Cathy Wilkes–the first time in the prize’s history that three of its four nominees are women. The works shown run the gamut from installation art to film.  Past award recipients have included Wolfgang Tillmans, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor and Steve McQueen.

Turner Prize page at the Tate Britain
A mannequin on a toilet and dry porridge – it’s the Turner Prize [Independent]
The Turner Prize 2008: who cares who wins? [Telegraph]
Turner Prize Nominees Offer Supermarket Checkouts, Broken China [Bloomberg]
Video: Take a tour of the Turner prize 2008 [Guardian]
Turner Prize 2008: Who’s Who [Guardian]
Dummies and china compete for Turner [Financial Times]
Turner fight begins again [Financial Times]
Nurses and Curses: Adrian Searle on this year’s Turner Prize finalists [Guardian]

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Rendering of Herzog & de Meuron’s 56 Leonard St. tower including the site specific sculpture designed by artist Anish Kapoor via Andrea Schwan Inc.

The design for Pritzer Prize winning architects, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron’s Tribeca tower was released earlier this week. The $650 million project will be 57-stories high with condominiums ranging from 1,430 square feet to 6,360 square feet, and is projected to be open in 2010. The tower is said to house 145 residences each with its unique floor plan and complete with a private balcony. The translucent skyscraper will be the first high-rise commission for the Swiss architects, who have had their hand in designing the Beijing National Stadium in China for the recent 2008 Olympic games, the Tate Modern in London, and the de Young Museum in San Francisco. The contemporary artist Anish Kapoor has been commissioned to install one of his signature stainless steel, reflective sculptures on the ground floor. The tower will appear to be resting a top his sculpture, and will be the first permanent public artwork for the artist in New York City.

Construction Begins On Herzog & De Meuron’s 56 Leonard Street [Artdaily]
Olympic Bird’s Nest architects design NY high-rise [Associated Press]
A Stack of Houses [NYTimes]
Fantastical Form in TriBeCa: Herzog & de Meuron’s 56 Leonard St. [NYSun]
At 57 Stories, 56 Leonard St. to Tower Over Tribeca [Tribeca Tribune]
One’s Huge, the Other’s Crazy [NYMag]
Herzog & de Meuron reach for the sky [World Architecture News]
Herzog & de Meuron’s Plans Unveiled for New York City Tower [ArtForum]
New York Developer commissions Anish Kapoor for Herzog & de Meuron residential project in Tribeca [ArtObserved]

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the sculptor Anish Kappor via the Boston Globe

Sculptor Anish Kapoor set designs for an upcoming Akram Khan play featuring Juliette Binoche [National Theatre, London]
Are Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls damaging the local natural environment? [ArtInfo]
Relating a past run-in with Francis Bacon and reflecting on his work before his retrospective at the Tate [The Independent]
Author Michael Gross’s ‘Rogues’ Gallery’ exposes the inner circles of the Metropolitan Museum of Art [ArtInfo] Aug 29
Gustav Klimt at the Tate Liverpool brings record attendance [BBC News] while the British National Gallery’s strategy of exhibiting newer artists leads to a sharp drop in paying visitors [Times Online] Aug. 31

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2008 via Serpentine Gallery

Gehry’s Serpentine Pavilion, reflective of his early style, up through October 19 [Serpentine Gallery]
Sao Paolo police find $630,000 of stolen works, including a Picasso [BBC]
Banksy posts a comment on his identity [Banksy.co.uk via The World's Best Ever]
Royal Academy announces upcoming Anish Kapoor retrospective [Artinfo]
Sir Nicholas Serota, Tate Modern director, is ‘learning Russian fast’ to court philanthropic support of new extension [Russia Today ]

Artist Anish Kapoor via Billslater

Indian-born artist, Anish Kapoor, has been commissioned to design a large-scale public sculpture for a new residential tower in Tribeca. In addition to Kapoor, the New York-based real estate company, Alexico Group, has chosen the world-renowned Pritzker Prize winning architectural firm, Herzog & de Meuron to design the building. Izak Senbahar and Simon Elias, principals of the Alexico Group, have announced that the Kapoor sculpture will be installed at ground level and be fully incorporated into the architectural design. The designs for the building and sculpture that will sit at the intersection of Leonard and Church Streets, will be released in the fall, and construction is projected to be completed in Spring 2010 .

New Tribeca Tower to Include Kapoor Sculpture [Artinfo]
A New Tower For Tribeca [VanityFair]
Alexico Group Announces Manhattan Commission to Architects Herzog & De Meuron and Artist Anish Kapoor [Artdaily]
Swiss Firm to Design New TriBeCa Tower [NYTimes]
Alexico Group inked a deal with architects Herzog & de Meuron [NYDailynews]
Herzog & de Meuron and Anish Kapoor to Collaborate on New York Tower [InteriorDesign]
Tribeca Skyscraper to get Sculpture [TheRealDeal]

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Chant 2, Bridget Riley (1967) via Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s is holding its Contemporary Art Evening Auction on Tuesday, July 1st at its New Bond St. location in London. The sale’s highlights include works from Francis Bacon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Antony Gormley, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, Gerhard Richter, Bridget Riley, Andy Warhol and a number of other notable contemporary artists. The complete body of works for this sale will be on view at Sotheby’s New Bond St. galleries Monday, June 30 from 9am-7pm and Tuesday, July 1 from 9am-12noon.

Bridget Riley’s piece, Chant 2, a unique color painting which will be in the sale, was part of a show which won the artist the esteemed International Prize for Painting at the 34th Venice Biennale in 1968 .

Estimate: $4,000,000 - $6,000,000 (Pictured above)

London Contemporary Art Evening Auction [Sotheby's]

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Anish Kapoor via Time

Time Magazine on Anish Kapoor [Time]
Tracey Emin’s controversial selections for Royal Academy include zebra bestiality, closeups of masturbation during menstruation, and barbed wire hula-hooping [The Daily Mail]
Separately, Hirst invited to join Royal Academy, and has yet to reply [[TimesUK]
Banksy friend/street artist Nick Walker to tag undisclosed British landmarks with laser [Artinfo]
Private art insurance premiums jump 30% year on year [Wall Street Journal]
Salander furniture/antique sale garners $1.6 million [Bloomberg]
The Met is closer to a new Director [New York Sun]
The Vatican begins a contemporary art initiative[the Independent]

Anish Kapoor Blood Stick (2008) via erikjsommer

Gladstone Gallery is currently exhibiting new work by the sculptor Anish Kapoor at both its 24th Street and 21st Street locations.  The exhibition is the first at Gladstone’s new gallery space on 21st street.  Kapoor uses divergent materials such as stainless steel and vibrant colored dyed wax to make his work, always placing a premium on the viewer’s interaction with the sculpture.

Anish Kapoor [Gladstone Gallery]
Interview with Anish Kapoor [Bloomberg]

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Image via telegraph.co.uk

On Decemeber 3rd 2007 Tate Britain awarded Mark Wallinger the 2007 Turner Prize for his “State Britain”, annually awarded to a top British Contemporary Art Exhibition of the previous year and is generally regarded as one of top art awards in Europe. The award has been given since 1984. Past winners include Damien Hirst, Gilbert & George and Anish Kapoor. The exhibition is on display through January 18th at Tate Liverpool.

Bloomberg Article

More Details on Wallinger after the Jump: (more…)

Via Estuaire 2007

Once a center of naval activity, the newest and certainly most eye-catching bateau on France’s Loire estuary is armored with a shell of mirrors, reflecting the riverbank’s factories, natural marshes… and resident gigantic floating plastic duck? Florentijn Hofman’s “Canard du Bain”, a titanic incarnation of every child’s favorite yellow bath time friend is absurdly placed within a dingy, industrial habitat. A cartoon-like beacon, the river-bound sculpture injects a certain lightheartedness into the milieu. If it were not so innocent looking, its size would suggest that it could wipe out a nearby cluster of sailboats in a single gulp. (more…)