AO Art Observed™

Marc Quinn, Siren, 2008, Gold - via Telegraph

Today, The British Museum opened Statuephilia - a show of five major contemporary sculptures by five leading British artists - Damien Hirst, Marc Quinn, Ron Mueck, Antony Gormley, and Noble and Webster. The works are placed separately throughout the museum’s permanent collection in their respective relevant historical contexts. The exhibition includes Siren, Marc Quinn’s life size solid 18 carat gold statue of Kate Moss in a Yoga position which is set in the museum’s Nereid Room among ancient statues of Greek goddesses which was previously covered by AO here.

Images from Statuephilia [Telegraph]
Statuephilia Opens [Art Daily]
Kate Moss: The Muse [Independent]
Marc Quinn Immortalizes Kate Moss [TimesUK]
Solid gold Moss statue revealed [BBC]
Statuephilia at The British Museum Website

More images and links after the jump.
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Gold Kate Moss sculpture (left), Kate Moss (Right) via Telegraph

British sculptor Marc Quinn is about to unveil the golden sculpture of celebrity, Kate Moss, 34, as part of the  Statuephilia exhibit at the British Museum.  Entitled Siren, it is reportedly the largest golden sculpture created since ancient Egypt.  However, the ’solid’ gold sculpture is actually hollow, weighing exactly110 pounds (50kgs). Moss’s modern ideal beauty is immortalized and will be on display among statue of ancient goddesses like naked Aphrodite and Venus.  Quinn remarked, “I thought the next thing to do would be to make a sculpture of the person who’s the ideal beauty of the moment, but even Kate Moss doesn’t live up to the image.” At the moment, the British Museum has revealed only a teaser image, therefore only a glimpse of the statue’s face is publicized.  Following the similar theme of his previous Kate Moss-series Sphinx show, held in New York last year, covered by Art Observed, Moss will be captured in a seemingly uncomfortable yogic pose.

Kate Moss gets the golden touch as she’s immortalised in gold [Daily Mail]
Statuephilia - Contemporary Sculptors at the British Museum [Art Daily]
Solid gold statue of Kate Moss unveiled at British Museum [Telegraph]
Kate Moss Joins Gild: Mega-Statue Museum-Bound [E Online]
A model who’s worth her weight in gold (50kg, to be precise) [The Independent]
Marc Quinn’s 18 Carat Gold Kate Moss [The World's Best Ever]
Marc Quinn to Unveil Gold Kate Moss “Sphinx” Sculpture [Supertouch]
The British Museum
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Critical Mass II, “Between Me and You”, Antony Gormley (1995) via Artdaily

Kunsthal Rotterdam presents a touring solo exhibition for the work of Antony Gormley. The exhibition, called ‘Between Me and You’, is shown in accordance with a citywide installation, ‘Event Horizon’, which consists of 21 molds of the artist’s body distributed across 15 Rotterdam rooftops throughout the city. ‘Between Me and You’ stays with the theme of the human being, and also marks the purchase of a permanent installation Another Time II, to be put in on the park side of the Kunstal Rotterdam. The touring show, ‘Between Me and You’ will stay at Kunsthal Rotterdam until September 14, and will stop at the Musee d’Art Moderne St Etienne in France from October 11 to January 25, and will then be at the Artium Museum in Spain from March 18 to September 13, 2009.

Antony Gormley at Rotterdam Kunsthal [Kunsthal]
Antony Gormley at Kunsthal Rotterdam [White Box]
Kunsthal Presents Exhibition Devoted to Antony Gormley [Artdaily]

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Image via Telegraph UK

Award-winning sculptor Antony Gormley will present his work “One And Other” in Trafalgar Square, London as he was recently chosen for the Fourth Plinth commission. His piece will occupy the Fourth Plinth for 100 consecutive days, for 24 hours, by members of the public who volunteered to stand for an hour. This will allow 2,400 people to participate in this piece.

Next on the Trafalgar Square plinth: the public [Times Online]
London Mayor Offers to Be Living Artwork for Gormley [Bloomberg]
Gormley’s human exhibit wins battle of Trafalgar [Independent]
Antony Gormley will ask Trafalgar Square volunteers to climb plinth for art [Telegraph UK]
Public art — literally — for London’s Trafalgar Square [AFP]
Trafalgar Square: The People’s Plinth - A Portrait of our Time [Independent]

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Study for Head of George Dyer, Francis Bacon (1967) via NYTimes

Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Sale in London took place yesterday on July 1st and brought in an encouraging total of $188.8 million.  Francis Bacon’s painting of the profile of his lover and companion, George Dyer, was a highlight of the auction. This intimate portrait based on a photograph by John Deakin, was originally predicted to collect $15.5 million, but sold at a much higher $27.4 million to an anonymous collector. Although the sellers of the Bacon painting were kept anonymous, the New York Tims reported that experts speculate that it was sold by Ian and Mercedes Stouker, London Philanthropists.  Other impressive results of the sale achieved records for 11 different artists, and included the high profile sale of a Basquiat painting from seller U2, and an Andy Warhol from seller John McEnroe. The sold-out collection from the German industrialist, Walther Lauffs, which included work from Yves Klein, was another highlight of the show.

Sotheby’s July 2008 Contemporary Art Evening Sale Triumphs [Artdaily]
U2’s Jean-Michel Basquiat work on Sotheby’s block for $17.7M [Art Observed]
Bacon Stars, 10 Records Set at Sotheby’s; U2 Sell Art [Bloomberg]
Anish Kapoor sculpture attracts $3.87 mn at Sotheby’s sale [Economic Times]
Ten Works Set Records at Sotheby’s Contemporary Auctions [NYSun]
Sotheby’s contemporary art sale reaches £94.7 million [International Herald Tribune]
Contemporary Art Evening Auction Results [Sotheby's]
Bacon Is Again a Top Draw at Auction [NYTimes]

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Marlene Dumas fromThe New York Times

Marlene Dumas, most expensive living woman artist at auction (until recently exceeded by Bourgeois) coming to MOMA in December [NYTimes Mag]
How the proliferation of private museums affects the buyer/dealer system [The Independent]
A reduced-size Antony Gormley ‘Angel of the North’ a Bacon, a Basquiat, a Richter coming on the block at Sotheby’s [Artinfo]
Profile of Lauren Cornell, director of New Museum website: Rhizome [TimeoutNY]
Herzog & de Meuron to design new museum of modern art in Calcutta [The Arts Newspaper]
The art works Jeff Koons collects [NYTimes]
Update: New York Mag covers the Shafrazi show,[NYMag] covered by AO here [AO]
FT’s Jackie Wullschlager reviews Royal Academy Exhibition in London [Financial Times]

Los Angeles County Museum Via Bloomberg

Review: Eli Broad gives $50mm, loans his foundation’s and personal collections to LACMA [Bloomberg]
Jeff Koons chats with Katy Siegel at 92nd Street Y Exhibition [Art Fag City]
Julian Schnabel claims he will “bring peace to Israel” in June [New York Mag]
Ad agency accuses Tracey Emin of plagiarizing Antony Gromley’s E.ON 2007 campaign [Art Fag City]
New Award for Top Swiss Contemporary Art, courtesy of Julius Bär Foundation [Swiss Info]
ARCO8, 27th Madrid International Contemporary Art Fair, opens today [Art Daily]

The Fourth Plinth via The National Gallery

The Fourth Plinth, built in 1851, remained unused for 147 years, until the National Gallery began a rolling program to display select artists’ works on it. Jeremy Deller, Tracy Emin, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Yinka Shinibare, and Bob & Roberta Smith are currently competing for the spot. Artists such as Marc Quinn have been on the Plinth.

Competing for the Plinth [The National Gallery]