AO Art Observed™

Preview of Takashi Murakami’s animated short ‘Superflat First Love’ for Louis Vuitton via Hypebeast

In 2003, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami and Marc Jacob collaborated on a new multicolor monogram for Louis Vuitton, resulting in a runaway hit.  Murakami made an animated short for the line, ‘Superflat Monogram.’ In the fall of 2007, ‘©Murakami’ opened at LAMOCA, complete with a Louis Vuitton store in the museum, to the ire of museum purists. The show later traveled to the Brooklyn Museum. Murakami has partnered with Louis Vuitton for a new line, called ‘Multicolore Spring Palette,’ and made a new video for this line, too, titled ‘Superflat First Love.’ The five-minute video is currently available in Japan as a mobile download, but a preview has been uploaded to YouTube and can be seen above.

View of the Louis Vuitton store in Omotesando, Japan via aarting

Louis Vuitton Animation – SUPERFLAT FIRST LOVE Premiering Soon!! [Kaikai Kiki]
Superflat First Love – Takashi Murakami For Louis Vuitton [High Snobiety]
Takashi Murakami | Superflat First Love [Hypebeast]
Louis Vuitton Superflat First Love – Takashi Murakami [Weekly Drop]
LOUIS VUITTON x TAKASHI MURAKAMI “MULTICOLOR SPRING PALLET” STORE DESIGN [aarting]
Greater Tokyo [Hint Mag]

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The James Turrell Museum of the Hess Art Collection in Argentina

James Turrell Museum of the Hess Art Collection opens its 18,000 sf space in Argentina, almost 8,000 sf above sea level [Reuters]
The Tate galleries issue over 400 video and audio lectures, talks, debates for free on iTunes [Apple]
A video look inside the studio of Jeff Koons [Tate]
Bruce Nauman in his studio, in anticipation of his representing the US in Venice [NYTimes]

Portrait of Nicholas Roerich via Reuters

Despite the above portrait of Nicholas Roerich by his son fetching $2.9M, close to 3x its high estimate of $1.1 million, sales of Russian art in New York by Sotheby’s and Christie’s clear an unsubstantial $27 million versus last year’s $64 million [Reuters]
Is the value of the work of Richard Prince particularly at risk in this recession? [Portfolio]
Angus Murray launches Castlestone’s $50M Modern Art Fund [Portfolio Advisor]

Damien Hirst with The Hours and the painting he created for their album cover via The GuardianUK

Win the £125,000 orignal painting Damien Hirst made for The Hours’ new album cover [GuardianUK]
MoMA sued by heirs of George Grosz over three works the artist left behind when fleeing Nazi Germany [NY Times]
In related, Austrian city of Linz may return $15 million Gustav Klimt to Holocaust victim [Bloomberg]

A shot of the scene sans Mona Lisa via Vanity Fair

A excerpt from a new book on the famous theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911 [Vanity Fair]
A summary of how dramatically US Museums have been hit by the economic slowdown [ArtNewspaper]
In directly related, a timeline of Museums and the recession [ArtInfo]
The “hottest” art exhibitions of summer 2009 according to Times UK [TimesUK]
London usurps New York as top auction location for 2008, bolstered mainly by Damien Hirst’s Sotheby’s sale [ArtInfo via ArtFagCity]
The low profile nature of private sales causes them to rise in popularity due to the impact of public failure of sales at auction [NYTimes]

Saatchi-online’s billboard partnership with Clearchannel via ArtDaily

Clearchannel partners with Saatchi’s to promote through its billboards Saatchi-online’s commission-free online art sales [ArtDaily]
In related, The 10 winners of the Guardian/Saatchi art competition are announced [Guardian UK]
The world’s largest art prize, decided by vote, launches in Grand Rapids, Michigan [artprize.org]
The Park Avenue Armory in New York announces an annual commission for it’s Drill Hall, on May 14th its inaugural exhibition will be Ernesto Neto [ParkAvenueArmory]
Christie’s auction house creates a specific unit to divest of corporate art works [Crain'sNY]
On its 5th anniversary, the UK’s Art Council Initiative interest free loan program has supported a total of £10.5 million worth of arts purchases involving 12,500 people [Artscouncil]

Damien Hirst’s custom Harley-Davidson motorcycle via Motorcycle News

Damien Hirst creates a custom Harley Davidson for charity [Motorcycle News]
Lawsuit alleges fraud from Louis Vuitton in Murakami 2007-08 LA MOCA exhibition due to prints being merely “factory leftovers from handbag production” [LATimes]
In related, Murakami protege Mr. collaborates on a Lucien Pellat-Finet clothing collection [Hypebeast]
Following the National Portrait Gallery in London announcing its shortlist of three artists for the 2009 BP Portrait Award, an in-depth article on craft [IndependentUK]
Vacant retail locations as exhibition space in London [GuardianUK]

Marc Drier

Marc Dreier, the powerful attorney indicted on fraud charges totaling nearly $700 million, revealed as a substantial client of Larry Gagosian [ArtLovesMoney]
and in related: Chris Burden on his exhibition at Gagosian Los Angeles that became entangled in the Allen Stanford fraud case [New Yorker]
Spurred by a spate of deaccessionings, New York State looks at a bill aimed at limiting museums’ art sales [NY Times]
Yvon Lambert closes fledgling London branch [Bloomberg]
in in other recession-related: facing a shrunken endowment, Getty cuts its budget by a quarter [LA Times]

via Traileraddict.com

Steve McQueen’s first feature film, ‘Hunger,’ opens in New York at the IFC Film Center [IFC film Center]
London sees a number of Russian women as a force in the contemporary art scene [Financial Times]

Curators of ‘New Deal’ at the Art Production Fund gallery, Matthew Moravec, left, and Kyle Thurman via NY Times

In their early 20s, two curators present an exhibition of artists 19 to 26 years old for Yvonne Force Villareal’s Art Production Fund [NY Times]

Christian Holstad’s installation at X Initiative via NY Magazine

Jerry Saltz reviews two new energetic galleries: The Boiler in Williamsburg and X Iniatiative in the old Dia space [NY Magazine]
The European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht displays trust in Old Masters [The Art Newspaper]
Hirst, Serra, Koons and others bring in exceed estimates and bring in $6 million at Paris charity auction [Bloomberg]
Asian Art Week actions sell robustly at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s [Crain's]
Artprice publishes its top 10 ranking of artists based on auction revenue in 2008 [ArtPrice]

A portrait of Yves Saint Laurent by Andy Warhol via artnet

Pierre Bergé withdraws four portraits of his partner, the late Yves Saint Laurent, from an Andy Warhol exhibition in Paris four days the opening [Artinfo]
Fashion designer contextualized art is again resilient: Sotheby’s Gianni Versace sale greatly exceeds its estimates [Artdaily]

Vincent van Gogh, The Night Cafe, 1888, Via ARTstor Collections

Yale University files suit to claim ownership of Van Gogh, after self-proclaimed descendent of previous owner lay claim to the work [Associated Press]
Director of SFMoMA sets example on how to tackle economic difficulty [NY Times]
Jackie Wullschlager looks at three new books that explore Darwin’s influence on Modern art [Financial Times]
Beacon in upstate New York is an art destination [NYTimes]

Levi’s collaborates with Stefan Sagmeister on art series featuring its iconic 501 [PaperMag]
and in related Lucien Pellat-Finet and Marc Quinn collaborate [Vogue]
The Chapman Brothers direct new video for PJ Harvey and John Parish [NME]

Michael Visocchi's proposal for Yield, Via Artdaily

Michael Visocchi has won the 2009 Jerwood Sculpture Park Prize [BBC]
and in related, Pipilotti Rist has been awarded the 2009 Joan Miro Prize [Artdaily]

The three day auction of hundreds of art and furniture collected by the late legendary fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his longtime partner Pierre Bergé kicked off today at 1PM EST. The auction which many have called the “Sale of the Century” is being held at the Grand Palais in Paris under the guidance of Christie’s auction house. The auction includes six separate sales over three days and contains masterpieces by Picasso, Mondrian, Matisse along with several other Art Deco pieces, bronzes, enamels and antiques. The first item sold was a small Italian landscape by Degas for which Berges had said he had a “special affection” for. It was bought for 380,000 euros (485,000 dollars). Proceeds from the sale will go to two charitable foundations set up by Saint Laurent and Bergé. Another early highlighted item sold was a wooden sculpture by Constantin Brancusi which sold for 29.2 million euros (37.2 million dollars) which was a a record for the artist’s work at auction. For up to date results from the auction, visit Christie’s results as they happen.

Christie’s Fine Art Auctions
Pierre Bergé on Yves Saint Laurent, his auction house and the sale of the century [Art Info]
Brancusi Sculpture Fetches Record 29.2 Million Euros [Bloomberg]
Saint-Laurent Collection Livens Up A Sluggish Auction Market [Arts Journal]
Treasury of Style [ArtNet]
Inside Yves Saint Laurent’s Art Collection [Forbes]
Treasures, after a fashion [Financial Times]
The Last Collection [New York Times]
The Art World’s Last Hurrah? [Wall Street Journal]

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Alanna Heiss via ArtNet

Alanna Heiss has retired after 37 years of curating MoMA’s PS1; an article on her final show [NYTimes]
$250,000 worth of prints including those by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse stolen in Berlin [AssociatedPress]
A chronicle of the rise of auction prices before the fall, and a rumor that 2/3 of the bidders for Hirst’s monumental September auction may not actually pay for the works, and part 2 here [Bloomberg]
A video of  Eric Fischl at Mary Boone [Newarttv]

Egon Schiele’s Portrait of Wally via the ArtNewspaper

US lawsuit filed to confiscate Egon Schiele’s Portrait of Wally from the Leopold Museum in Vienna is suspended [ArtNewspaper]
Art dealers as paparazzi fodder?  White Cube owner Jay Jopling garners attention with singer Lily Allen in St. Barths [TheMirror]
also on the island, dealer Larry Gagosian and the band Kings of Leon fete collectors Roman Abramovich, Dasha Zhukova and Aby Rosen, designer Marc Jacobs, hip hop mogul Russell Simmons, musician Jon Bon Jovi and actor Daniel Craig among others [IndependentUK]
In other art world vacation news, Damien Hirst hires 4 guards formerly in the British Special Forces to protect him during his Mexico holidays [MercoPress]

The Chanel Mobile Art Pavilion via architecturelist

The Zaha Hadid-designed Chanel Mobile Art tour is stopped; London, Moscow, and Paris canceled [ArtInfo]
Emmanuel Perrotin on three current Parisian exhibitions [The Moment - NYTimes]
MoMA to launch two-year series of live performance works [NYMag]
Collector Ronald Lauder interviewed at his Klimt-rich Neue Galerie in New York [Financial Times]
Damien Hirst bans a documentary film of his Statuephilia work [TelegraphUK]
The Velvet Underground’s John Cale will represent Wales at Venice Biennale of Art next year [BBC]
The controversial act of State museums deaccessioning works [NYTimes]
The Getty endowment has declined 25% [LATimes]
Art Info’s Top 5 art world figures of 2008 [ArtInfo]

Still from Kaikai Kiki Animation Episode 1, Planting the Seeds 2007 via LA Times.

Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is set to open an animation studio in Los Angeles next summer, 2009.  The studio, which should accommodate roughly 30 employees, will take up approximately 9,000 square foot (6,220 square feet on the first floor and 2,760 square feet on the second level) in a building on North Highland Avenue and will be operated by Kaikai Kiki, Murakami’s production and management company.

Murakami said in a statement: “This studio represents a great step in the evolution of Kaikai Kiki and gives me a closer proximity to the community of artists with whom I hope to collaborate as I continue my explorations of animated and live-action film.”

The new studio’s first major project will be an animated feature-length film based on the series of  shorts, “Planting the Seeds,” that premiered last winter at Murakami’s MoCA exhibition.  Kaikai Kiki has already produced the music video for Kanye West’s Good Morning (as covered by Art Observed here.)

Murakami, who, like Andy Warhol, is known for blurring the boundaries between high and low art, created the superflat monogram for Louis Vuitton and his animated characters are also featured in Louis Vuitton advertisements.

Murakami animation studio coming to LA [LA Times]

Videos and images after the jump… (more…)

Stamford After Brunch, John Currin, 2000

After John Currin’s recent success, against the market, at the November auctions (as covered by AO here), an analysis of his work complete with slideshow [Slate via Artmarketmonitor]
NightTalk has an interview with gallerist Mary Boone [Clipsyndicate]
Some NYC galleries are expanding in a downturn [ArtInfo]

Murakami's Kaikai Kiki "High and Lo" sneakers

Murakami’s Kakai Kiki creates a signature sneaker [TheMoment]
Undeniably influential through his iconic images during the Obama campaign, street art legend Shepard Fairey named a GQ man of the year [Supertouch]
Damien Hirst soon to open his bed and breakfast in Devon, UK [FirstPost]
Tracey Emin states that despite the seeming art-recession, she is “pretty credit-crunch proof” [TelegraphUK]
With prices lower at auction, MoMA acquires [NYTimes]

Kaws does cover art for Kanye West via theartcolectors

Kanye West uses Kaws for his cover art (Takashi Murakami has also had the privilege) [theartcollectors]
Art collector Aby Rosen’s Core Club, featuring works by such artists as Jean-Michel Basquiat and De Kooning, owes its founding members funds [NYPost]
A closer look into the ramifications of the art “crash” [WallStreetJournal]

Frank Gehry's Art Museum of Ontario via the NYTImes

T-shirt and pair of jeans featuring original artwork by Damien Hirst, via BlackBook

Damien Hirst has teamed up with Levi’s to produce ‘Damien Hirst x Levi’s x Warhol Factory Collection,’ a series of limited edition jeans, t-shirts and denim jackets. The collection features over 12 pieces featuring motifs and aesthetics found in Hirst’s art: tropical butterflies, skulls, and an array of spin-painted colors. Buyers can expect to find the collection at a select group of Levi’s stores in major global cities as well as fashion boutiques. T-shirts start at $83, while jeans will retail at $230. There is also a series of spin painted jeans in Levi’s signature 501 style, which will only be available via silent auction in key cities in Asia, Europe and North America–for price tags in the range of $23,000.

Art Star Damien Hirst Creates New Levi’s Jeans [Women's Wear Daily]
Damien Hirst x Levi’s x Warhol Factory [Denimology]
Introducing $23,000 Denim, Courtesy of Damien Hirst [BlackBook]

“Concetto spaziale, La fine di Dio” by Lucio Fontana via Christie’s

Highest-valued sale Christie’s has yet to auction during Frieze Art week will be a Lucio Fontana egg-shaped canvas estimated at $21.8 million [Bloomberg]
LACMA announces $55 million gift directed toward new pavilion amongst other endeavors from POM Wonderful and Fiji water owners [ArtDaily]
Street artist Kaws, now at Emmanuel Perrotin in Miami (as covered by AO here), collaborates on shoes with Marc Jacobs [TheWorldsBestEver]
An interview with Catherine Opie, whose work can now be seen at the Guggenheim [Artforum]
Ukrainian (not Russian, as cited in linked article) steel oligarch Victor Pinchuk announces Director for his new Kiev museum and that he was in fact a major buyer at Hirst’s Sotheby’s auction [ArtInfo]

Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron via Financial Times

On Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, Swiss architects of the Tate Modern [Financial Times]
Amy Cappellazzo of Christie’s entertains in her home to support Pratt Institute [NYSun]
French designer Agnes B.’s other hat: art dealer [Bloomberg]
Sotheby’s reprises monumental sculpture exhibition and sale in Chatsworth, UK [Art Daily]
German artist Jonathan Meese remixes Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center, underwear stapled to walls involved [NYTimes]

H BOX, designed by Didier Fiuza Faustino Portuguese, and produced by Hermès International via Bloomberg

Storied french luxury fashion house Hermès International presents the H BOX, a collapsible screening hall designed by Portuguese artist and architect, Didier Fiuza Faustino. The H Box is a traveling screening capsule that exhibits the video art of 8 international artists: Alice Anderson, Yael Bartana, Sebastián Díaz-Morales, Dora García, Judit Kúrtag, Valérie Mréjen, Shahryar Nashat, and Su-Mei Tse. The H Box will be exhibited in the Tate Modern in London until August 17.

Outside The Box [Vogue]
Hermes H Box, Tate Modern [Designtaxi]
The Tate Modern [Tate]
Vuitton’s Richard Prince Bags, Hermes at Tate: Fashion Art [Bloomberg]
Tate’s H-Box screens art films [Digital Arts Online]

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Snow Scene at Argenteuil 1875 by Claude Monet (1840-1926) via Guardian

On view at Tate Britain: 18 masterpieces recently bequeathed to British National Gallery, including works by Degas, Freud, Monet, worth roughly $200,000,000 [GuardianUK]
The art/fashion, Vuitton/Richard Prince link in London [Bloomberg]
Mutualart.com’s Top Art Exhibitions for 2008 [Businessweek]
French art thief pleads guilty in botched $4.7M masterworks sale, indictment covered by AO here [NYSun] [AO]
2009 Turner Prize judges announced [TheArtNewspaper]
MOMA buys 3 Jasper Johns works for undisclosed sum (note: 2 years ago a Johns sold for $80M) [NYTimes]

Untitled (cowboy) 1998-99 via Serpentine Gallery

American artist Richard Prince follows his recent Guggenheim retrospective with Richard Prince: Continuation at Serpentine Gallery in London. This show will include recent work as well as Prince’s more established pieces from the past 30 years, such as his cowboy series, where the artist rephotographed and enlarged images of American masculinity from Marlboro cigarette advertisements.

Richard Prince [official website]
Richard Prince: Continuation [Serpentine Gallery]
Richard Prince at the Serpentine [red carnation]
Richard Prince and Marc Jacobs Create Expensive Purses [Elle UK]

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Chanel’s Mobile Art – First Stop, Hong Kong via Museum Lab

The Pritzker prize winning, Iraqi-born, Zaha Hadid is the name marking Chanel’s newest and (potentially) most audacious endeavor to date in the merger of art and fashion. The project is a “portable” exhibition of contemporary art. The Mobile Art project, which is essentially a globe trotting collapsable pavilion, was designed by Hadid and has thus far served to bring contemporary art to the general public at its first world location: Tokyo, Japan.

Moving Pictures [NY Times]
Mobile Art Exclusive [Wallpaper]
Chanel Mobile Art
Quilty Pleasures [The National]
Zaha Hadid [DesignBoom]

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