Artists Gilbert and George are interviewed in the Wall Street Journal this week, discussing their most recent exhibition at White Cube, Scapegoating Pictures for London. “We thought it strange that the world’s governments, churches, mosques and schools are all confronting the issue of Islamist fervor, but the world’s artists aren’t touching it,” says George Passmore. “We try to create art we feel the world need.” (more…)

Miranda July’s Somebody app, via Miranda July

Artist Miranda July has announced a unique new app design, titled Somebody, which uses active participants and users to deliver messages to other users rather than receive a standard text-based message or email.   (more…)

Ai Weiwei is currently under house arrest in Beijing, but that hasn’t stopped the artist from planning and overseeing the installation of his largest UK exhibition to date at Blenheim Palace.  Ai has had a 3-D digital model of the space created, and has used it to plot out the placement of works meticulously without leaving his home.  “In the beginning, we sent him photographs and detailed plans, but he’s an absolute perfectionist and every inch of where works are placed matters to him. So in the end we lasered all the rooms to make the model for him,” says Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill said. (more…)

As Detroit’s “grand bargain” draws nearer to realization, The New York Times notes that parts of the deal for the city’s exit from bankruptcy may in fact be illegal.  This news comes as a lending company, Art Capital, has offered the city $3 billion in aid using the city’s art collection as collateral, an offer that the city has yet to respond to.  “The museum is owned by the city, and the city is, in fact, in bankruptcy. That asset lawfully should be available to assist in the plan of exit,” said Ian Peck, Art Capital’s chief executive. “But we also believe that this art is a national treasure and should be preserved as such.” (more…)

James Meyer, a former studio assistant to Jasper Johns, has plead to selling a series of the unfinished works by the artist, and fraudulently covering his sales with false inventory.  Meyer ultimately made over $3 million off the sales.  “Meyer will now have to pay for that decision,” says US Attorney Preet Bharara. (more…)

Phyllida Barlow at Tate Britain (Installation View), all images via Tate Britain

‘Our era has been defined by falling monuments’ says Phyllida Barlow in an interview with The Guardian about her Tate Britain commission. She points out the tragedy, triumph, beauty and the immense grief evident in the collapse of a public icon; underlining the extraordinary range of emotive qualities that such a public piece of imagery conveys.  Barlow is delivering another major show defining the notion of monuments in a collaboration with Tate Britain as a part of the museum’s annual artist commissions. (more…)

Dan Graham, Hedge Two-Way Mirror Walkabout (2014), All Images Via Kelly Lee for Art Observed

The annual rooftop commission at The Metropolitan Museum of Art always manages to draw a crowd, whether it be Imran Quereshi’s bloody installation last year, or Tomás Saraceno’s vastly popular Cloud City.  For this year’s Rooftop Commission at , the Met has sided with a more heritage artist, Dan Graham, working in conjunction with Swiss landscape architect Günther Vogt to create the work Hedge Two-Way Mirror Walkabout (2014).  Graham, 71, known for his conceptual bent and exploration of multiple mediums, including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and performance art, has long focused on how architecture directly impacts its occupants and shapes their experiences of looking, a strikingly perfect fit for the Met’s scenic view and unique location.

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Manifesto 10, Installation View, all photos courtesy of Manifesto 10

Despite a steady stream of critiques, criticism and outright protest over the current political climate in Russia, Manifesta 10, one of Europe’s leading contemporary art biennials, has pressed on.  The exhibition, which opened late last month, has made much of its presence in Russia, presenting an exhibition that addresses its own political background while using it as a spring board to broader issues. (more…)

The Financial Times reports on the newly opened Hauser and Wirth location in the Somerset town of Bruton, and the anticipated boon the space may offer for the area’s arts community and real estate.  “Somerset is a large county but there are not many galleries exhibiting contemporary art,” says director Alice Workman. “So as well as the space being for the local community, we’re confident we’ll attract a national and international art-loving audience who will probably bring new custom to Bruton and have a positive impact on the local economy.” (more…)

Marking an ambitious exchange between three New York galleries this summer, the exhibition Multiplicity is currently spread across the city’s varied arts communities for a three part show exploring the intersections of meanings, behaviors and interpretations of urban life around the globe.  Taking up space at NURTUREart in Bushwick, the LES’s Invisible Exports and Mixed Greens in Chelsea, the exhibition culls work from artists in Tirana, Belfast, New Dehli, Tel Aviv, New York, and Hong Kong.   (more…)

Giulio Paolini, Young Man Looking at Lorenzo Lotto (1967)

Arte Povera, meaning ‘poor art’ in Italian, contained a profound criticism towards commodification and consumeristic production. Among its key figures stands Giulio Paolini, who was invited to Arte Povera’s first exhibition by art historian Germano Celant.  But Paolini also occupies a separate position in terms of focusing on a noticeably historical examination of the artistic state in turn. Related to his critical approach towards production dynamics in art, Paolini on the other hand has been investigating the duality between the seer and the seen, questioning the exchange not only between the artwork and the viewer but also between the subject matter and the artist. (more…)

The Living, Hy-Fi (2014), all photos by Kelly Lee for Art Observed

The 15^th annual The Young Architects Program (YAP) has taken rise at MoMA and MoMA PS1, continuing the program’s reputation for innovative ideas that challenge the presentation and purpose of architectural structures for future environments, while embracing and promoting sustainable construction practices. The 2014 YAP winner is Hy-Fi, a unique, 100% organically biodegradable structure created by New York firm The Living.  The structure emerged as the final winner among five finalists in The Young Architects Program competition, starting from 25 candidates. (more…)

Julia Rommel, Comedy Club (2014), all images courtesy Lisson Gallery

Currently on view at Lisson Gallery in London is a group exhibition including paintings, prints, relief objects, and works on canvas from nine different artists, grouped together around a theme of seemingly minimal artistic intervention. Contrasting with the minimal nature of these works, the pieces often required a complex, long and contemplative processes that preceded the works’ final production.  Participating artists include: Allora & Calzadilla, Cory Arcangel, N. Dash, Robert Janitz, Paulo Monteiro, David Ostrowski, Michael Rey, Julia Rommel, and Dan Shaw-Town.

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Lee Yong-woo, President of Korea’s Gwangju Biennial and one of the exhibition’s founders, has resigned from his post after a painting by arist Hong Seong-dam, depicting Korean president Park Geun-hye attacked by victims of the MV Sewol disaster, was removed from an exhibition at the Gwangju Museum, causing a major uproar and the withdrawal of several artists from the show.  “I am taking full responsibility for what happened,” Yong-woo said. (more…)

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is preparing to undergo a major expansion project, doubling its North Adams, MA exhibition space to 260,000 square feet. “The expansion is unquestionably good for the region and the community; the challenge is to pull it off,” said Stephen C. Sheppard, director of nearby Williams College’s Center for Creative Community Development. “They will need to connect with people who share their vision and who’ll support it.” (more…)

Lucio Fontana, Scultura astratta (1934), all images courtesy Museum d’Art Moderne

On view at Museum D’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris is an retrospective exhibition of Italian painter Lucio Fontana, who was known as one of the the primary founders of Spatialism, and was long known for his association with the Arte Povera movement. The exhibition will continue through August 24th. (more…)

A New York businessman has called for the boycott of a Cai Guo-Qiang exhibition in Aspen, due to the artist’s use of tortoises with iPads strapped to their backs.  Andy Sabin, a member of the Turtle Conservancy board, has claimed that the work is deleterious to the tortoises’ health, although museum officials claim that the rescued turtles are under close watch by veterinarians. (more…)

The German Task Force charged with reviewing the Gurlitt trove of looted artworks has gone on record stating that the work Two Riders on the Beach by Max Liebermann should be returned to American David Toren, whose great uncle had the work stolen from his home by Nazi troops. (more…)

The New York Times has published a profile on painter, performer and gallerist Emily Sundblad, one of the proprietors of the multifaceted Reena Spaulings Gallery space.  “When people asked what it was called, we told them different names,” Sundblad notes. “We didn’t know exactly what the space was yet, but we knew for sure that it wasn’t a traditional New York gallery, and we didn’t want our own names on it.”  (more…)

Henri Matisse, Memory of Oceania, (1952-1953) via Museum of Modern Art

Currently on view at London’s Tate Modern, Henri Matisse’s vivid cut-outs reveal the final chapter in Matisse’s career: when he began ‘carving into color’, as the artist was known to describe his spectacular cut-outs, a vastly divergent and fascinating point in the artist’s career.

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Sarah Sze, Triple Point (Planetarium) (2013), All Images Via Kelly Lee for Art Observed

Just over a year ago, Sarah Sze brought her eye-catching assemblages to Italy as the U.S. representative to the 2013 Venice Biennale.  Puzzle-like contraptions snaked in and around the building façade, even allowing and supporting a huge boulder to balance on top of the pavilion’s roof.  A myriad of fake rocks, water bottles and other miscellaneous objects were scattered across the space, offering only a small taste of the deceptively hazardous mess that awaited visitors inside. It was widely praised  as a stand out work, and brought Sze to a new level in her artistic recognition. (more…)

Protestors with Signs at the Free Cooper Union rally, via Art Observed

Earlier this afternoon, students, professors, politicians and more gathered to protest Cooper Union‘s decision to institute tuition for the upcoming school year. The alma mater of artists such as George Segal, Alex Katz, and Eva Hesse, Cooper Union has traditionally been a tuition-free school, offering opportunities to study art, architecture, and engineering to those who might not be able to afford other programs of equal quality. When Cooper Union announced in 2013 that it would begin to charge tuition in the fall of 2014, the backlash was immediate as students organized sit-ins, occupations, and, earlier this year, a lawsuit filed against the school’s Board of Trustees by the Committee to Save Cooper Union (CSCU). The Bruce High Quality Foundation, an arts collective founded with members primarily drawn from Cooper Union graduates, has also been active in their support of CSCU.  (more…)

Dahn Vo, We the People (Detail) (2011-2013), all images courtesy Farschou Foundation Beijing

On view currently at Farschou Foundation in Beijing is a sculpture-based exhibition from the young Danish artist Danh Vo, featuring the key work “We The People (Detail),” which is a 1:1 copy of the Statue of Liberty, which is currently distributed across globe for exhibitions in New York and China.  The exhibition will remain on view through August 24, 2014.

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The Bronx Museum is reportedly in talks with the organizers of next year’s Havana Biennial in Cuba to plan a possible exhibition during the event, which would make it the first major show by a US museum in the country.  The talks are also centered around a possible show of Cuban artists at the New York Museum. (more…)