AO Art Observed™

The Raising of Lazarus, 2007 (David Zwirner Gallery)

Chris Ofili’s familiar hits are brought together with his more mature recent works for the first time in a mid-career survey at the Tate Britain, London, through 16 May 2010. The collective effect of the show is a kaleidoscope of wild humor, brilliant color and raw energy. What is striking about the exhibition is its unique position within the growing contemporary canon: firstly, Ofili is unusual as a painter in a conceptual era, and, secondly, he is intensely concerned with the aesthetic. The paintings in this exhibition are richly ornamented; their surfaces are imaginatively constructed from such incongruous materials as elephant dung (Ofili’s signature), map pins and glitter. The paintings are structural and highly tactile, and the viewing experience is a sensory event. This perhaps most evident in The Upper Room, a collaboration with the architect David Adjaye to design an independent and enclosed viewing space. The audience is guided down a barely lit corridor into a dim, yet glittering chamber that enhances the spiritually of viewing paintings which reference both the Christian and Hindu faiths.

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Emily Prince in front of her installation at the Saatchi Gallery, via the Guardian

An installation by Emily Prince, featuring graphite pencil miniature portraits of slain U.S. soldiers, is drawing additional attention to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the wake of President Obama’s decision to send 30,000 additional troops to bolster the mission in Central Asia. The installation, titled American Servicemen and Women Who Have Died in Iraq and Afghanistan (But Not Including the Wounded, nor the Iraqis, nor the Afghans, features almost 5,300 sketched portraits and is on display at the Saatchi Gallery in London through May 7th.

The 28 year old artist, only a few years out of Stanford and UC Berkeley but who already has participated in a Venice Biennale, was motivated to draw the portraits by her frustration following George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004. “I was feeling hopeless and frustrated, and I think I somehow needed to channel that energy,” Ms Prince expressed via Bloomberg. She was also quoted by the Daily Telegraph, saying that “I am disturbed about how easy it is to be disassociated from the war if like me you don’t have a relative who is involved.”  Based in San Francisco, she will continue to produce the drawings until the conflicts come to an end.

Andre D Tyson Riverside, CA Date of Death: April 22, 2007 by Emily Prince, via Saatchi Gallery, via Saatchi Gallery

more images text and links after the jump…

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Tacita Dean’s Christmas tree, ‘Weihnachtsbaum‘ at Tate Britain via Zimbio

The Tate has been embracing the Christmas spirit this week with a series of headlining seasonal happenings.  The Tate Christmas Tree 2009, “Weihnachtsbaum” designed by Tacita Dean, shocked critics by actually appearing “Christmassy”[Bloomberg]  This weekend, Tate Modern’s vast Turbine Hall was taken over by Rob Pruitt’s festive ‘Flea Market’ – originally held at Gavin Brown’s Passerby gallery in New York in the late 1990s, this event was programmed to coincide with the Tate Modern exhibition Pop Life: Art in a Material World, in which Pruitt also appears [POP Magazine]

Italian police have seized works of art belonging to Carlisto Tanzi – founder of the Italian firm Parmalat who collapsed in a massive fraud scandal in 2003. The 19 paintings and drawings, included works by Picasso, Monet and Van Gogh, and is estimated to be worth more than 100million euros [BBC News]

Antony Gormley’s Event Horizon that will appear in New York’s Madison Square Park in March 2010 via ArtInfo

Antony Gormley has announced plans to install 31 nude sculptures cast from his own body in and around Madison Square Park in Manhattan’s Flatiron District beginning March 26 [NY Times]

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Eight Elvises, which sold for $100 million in a private deal last year via TheEconomist

–  The Economist has a downloadable special report on the art market, in it Sarah Thornton reports in an article on Warhol, in the wake of the sale of his work in the recent New York  contemporary auctions for $43.8 million, that in August 2008 Andy Warhol’s singular “Eight Elvises” was sold privately to an unknown buyer for $100 million [Economist]

- Close to $100M of Russian art aims to be sold for Russian Art Week in London, where the vast growth of wealth in Russia allows for repatriation of that country’s works [Bloomberg] more on this here [WallStreetJournal]

A discerning look into some of the less disclosed but nevertheless driving forces and relationships behind various high profile exhibitions [Financial Times]

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Jeanne-Claude and Christo via smh

Jeanne-Claude, the radical artist best known for the joint projects undertaken with her husband Christo – most notably the wrapping of the Pont Neuf in Paris and the installation of 7,503 vinyl gates with bright orange panels in Central Park in 2005 – dies at the age of 74 in New York City [Guardian] a review of some of the couple’s monumental art here [Guardian]

Jeff Koons’ train installation via artculture

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) reconsiders plans for a Jeff Koons sculpture involving a replica of a 70-ft 1944 Baldwin locomotive to hang from a crane and estimated to cost $25 million [LATimes]

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Installation view of Adansonias at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris via gallery’s website

Terence Koh, a controversial Canadian multimedia artist, has premiered his first solo show with Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris. The enigmatic exhibition cum installation cum operatic performance in two parts distinctly embodies Koh’s ouevre. The gallery is transformed via the artist’s multitude of references to mythology, identity, power, religion, fashion and sexuality. In addition to the time-based pieces Koh presented on October 6th and October 22nd, on display are various objects and wall pieces executed in the artist’s signature white monochrome style. An amalgam of drawings, photographs, and collages document the experimental opera project and reflect the influence of Parisian architecture and sensibility on Koh’s art.

A photograph of Adansonias opera performance staged by Terence Koh and 8 white-clad participants via Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac

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Marc Quinn’s Blood Head Self-Portrait displayed in a refrigeration unit at The National Gallery in London via Guardian

The National Portrait Gallery in London acquires and shows the most recent of Marc Quinn’s self-portraits created with the use of artist’s own blood [Bloomberg]

Titian, Diana and Acteaon via Artdaily

In related, Titian’s Diana and Acteaon, one of the six large-scale mythologies inspired by Ovid, acquired by The National Gallery in London, is to be displayed at Trafalgar Square [Artdaily]
Three paintings attributed to Adolf Hitler were sold at Weidler’s auction house in Germany for an accumulative price of  $60,000 to three phone bidders [The New York Times]
The Museo National del Prado’s is exhibiting 2 Sorolla paintings of the Fanjul family that were illegally confiscated by the Cuban government which may cast the museum’s directors legal bind [Reuters]
A private European collector helps settle a 7-Year discord between the Swedish Moderna Museet and heirs of a Jewish businessman over a Nazi-looted Nolde painting and in related, Dutch Museums will return 13 artworks lost during Nazi occupation to heirs of Jewish collectors [Bloomberg]

Velázquez, Portrait of a Man via The New York Times

After restoration and cleaning of “Portrait of a Man” in MET’s collection, the author of the painting attributed to Vélazquez’ workshop is confirmed to be Vélazquez himself [The New York Times]
Phillips de Pury auction house, known for its focus on contemporary art, is adding 18 new sales for the upcoming year and a half [The Wall Street Journal]
As the market fluctuates, art collectors seize opportunities of investment, yet the auction market based on no identical units, making calculated predictions almost impossible, turn investing into gambling [NYTimes]
The Glyndebourne Opera House, England to sell a painting by the Italian Old Master, Domenichino; estimated at $16.5 million [Bloomberg]
Bill Viola declines an invitation to participate in a culture summit, organized by Pope Benedict XVI in an attempt to reconcile spirituality and artistic expression, supposedly due to the artist’s disagreement with policies put forth by the Vatican and the Catholic Church [Artnet]

Six of the missing works by Andy Warhol via Telegraph

$1million is being offered for a lead to locating the “Athletes” series by Andy Warhol from Richard Weisman’s collection that has been stolen from the collector’s Los Angeles residence [Telegraph]
Pencils from an installation by Damien Hirst were stolen by a 17-year old artist named Cartrain [The Independent] who had been stripped of his artwork for incorporating Damien Hirst’s ideas into his collages [ArtObserved]
“You can be immortalized in an artwork” says Damien Hirst in his search for a numerous sets of identical twins to literally become part of his artwork at Tate Modern [Guardian]

Charles Saatchi with his wife Nigella Lawson via The Independent

“My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am an Artoholic”, a book written by Charles Saatchi, who almost never gives interviews, is released without a loud PR campaign and is written in a format of potential interviewer’s questions and answers [Guardian UK]
Aleksandra Mir’s installation at Collective gallery in Edinburgh consists of rows of a limited edition cookbook titled “The How Not to Cookbook: Lessons Learned the Hard Way” [The Moment]
German police uncover a thousand fake Giacometti bronzes in the possession of  a man who tried to sell them as originals [Art Market Monitor]
An editorial on the state of galleries dictated by the financial market provides an encompassing snapshot of what a gallery represents in the art-world and how it is likely to function in the current economic condition [NYTimes]

Bruce Nauman’s skywriting fittingly reads “Leave The Land Alone” via Los Angeles Times

On September 12 in Pasadena, artist Bruce Nauman realized his skywriting project, reading Leave the Land Alone, after a 40 year wait [Los Angeles Times]
Frédéric Mitterrand’s appointment to the post of French minister of culture is well received by most for his extensive previous background  and involvement in the world of art and culture [The Art Newspaper]
London’s Outset Contemporary Art Fund brings artwork to a fair to be seen publicly and then purchased by the Tate [Bloomberg]
The story of Tony Shafrazi, art terrorist and later gallerist [Artnet]

A view of Sol LeWitt’s unveiled mural at 59th street via Gothamist

Sol LeWitt’s mural, comprised of 250 porcelain tiles, is installed at Columbus Circle subway station in Manhattan[Lindsay Pollock]
Run by oligarch Viktor Pinchuk, the PinchukArtCenter in Kiev announces a new art Prize and the shortlisted 20 nominees [ArtReview]
Gagosian’s plan for a gallery in Paris’ prestigious 8th arrondissement promises to gain instant success by providing access to Picasso’s work [Bloomberg]
In related, Gagosian is to open a bookstore on Madison avenue in Manhattan selling books, catalogues, magazines and Jeff Koons puppy vase that come in an edition of 3,000 [Art fag City]
UBS, a global financial services firm, is to close its gallery in Manhattan in an attempt to cut back on costs [Artinfo]

A photograph of Emmanuel Perrotin via The Selby

The Selby visits Emmanuel Perrotin at his gallery in Paris [The Selby]
Research shows that visitors to museums housing modern art are likely to respond emotionally, while those viewing ancient artworks are more prompt to describing their experiences in more cognitive terms [Miller McCune via Artinfo]
“The Art of the Steal”, a documentary film by Don Argott, explores the Barnes Foundation, a Post-Impressionist and early Modern art collection [The New York Times]
John Currin interviewed by Glenn O’Brien speaks about art, the art market and shares personal stories [Interview Magazine]
The rating service Moody’s estimates the current financial troubles and hence auction market distress to persist and drops Sotheby’s corporate credit rating by one level [Bloomberg]
Kara Walker’s participation in Whitney’s Biennial is manifested in an email correspondence with the organizer of the show documenting the artist’s refusal to participate in the Biennial [Artnet]

Centquatre art space in Paris via The Daily Undertaker

A site of the Municipal Funeral Services in Paris is now turned into an arts center providing the capital’s northern reaches an art initiative it has been lacking [Financial Times]
A survey of artistic practice based on technology and its move towards the usage of the Internet as means of expression [The New York Times]
Thomas Campbell, director of Met, shares his plans for the museum in an interview with The Art Newspaper [The Art Newspaper]
American artist Greg Wyatt’s 22-thousand-pound bronze sculpture “Two Rivers” is being transported to Piazza della Signoria in Florence, “the soul of the world of sculpture,” where it is to become the first American displayed at that location [Bloomberg]
An interview with the billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, who spoke about democratization of art and educational reforms [The Wall Street Journal]

Judith Supine, Above the City in a Summer Night Dream via Wooster Collective

Judith Supine installs his “Above the City in a Summer Night Dream” on top of the Williamsburg Bridge in New York [Wooster Collective]
Ryan McGinley writes on Dash Snow in Vice Magazine [Vice via Art Fag City]
India’s contemporary art “superstar,” Subodh Gupta, before his first UK solo show at Hauser & Wirth, speaks of his Western influences [Financial Times]
In related, The Economist discusses the state of Indian Contemporary art with a summary of the International Art Fair in Delhi [Economist]

Julien Fronsacq (Palais de Tokyo, Paris), Olivier Sailliard (Musée de la Mode et du Textile, Paris),and Hans Ulrich Obrist (Serpentine Gallery, London) model for Yohji Yamamoto’s Y, via ArtJetSet

The spring lookbook for Yohji Yamamoto’s Y features curators as models [ArtJetSet]
Gagosian Gallery sues Lufthansa and Art Crate Inc. over the destruction of a 1969 Brice Marden painting worth $3 million [NY Times]
Russian artist, Presniakov, to sue Hilton heiress for failing to pay $10 million for his artwork [Reuters]
Meanwhile a Moscow dealer sues Luhring Augustine over George Condo paintings [Bloomberg]
Graffiti charges against Yoshitomo Nara dropped after 6 months of proper behavior [Artforum]
The Norton Simon Museum’s ‘Adam’ and ‘Eve’ become the center of a legal battle after an heir to the work claims the paintings were looted by the Nazis [LA Times]

Gavin Turk’s ‘Brillo 5′ a bronze sculpture of a cardboard box for sale via Christie’s

Christie’s announces its First Open Sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art, scheduled for September 23rd [Artdaily]
LA art gallery Blum and Poe expands its gallery into a new space launching October 2 in related both Sotheby’s and Christie’s downsize their LA operations [Lindsay Pollock]
Christie’s converts an icon Brooklyn warehouse into a rigorously guarded storage space [The New York Times]
With 372,000 visitors, the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit was the most attended show in the Guggenheim Museum’s history [NY Times]
In related, Banksy’s guerilla Bristol Museum show reaches over 300,000 visitors [Guardian]

Posters for the New York Minute exhibition at Macro in Rome via OHWOW

An interview with Charles Saatchi, who is releasing a book on September 8th detailing his experiences as an art collector [Guardian]
Daniel Richter leads a protest against the demolition of artist studio and gallery space in Hamburg [Artinfo]
Moscow International Biennale for Young Art- an ambitious art initiative announces call for applications [Art Daily]
AMR- a new index by analysts for tracking prices aimed solely on post-war art is created [Financial Times]
The Scotsman Steps built in 1899 will become a panel for famous contemporary artist- Martin Creed’s installation [News Scotsman via ArtInfo]
A painting uncovered in Iraq is picked up by the media as a Picasso but is likely inauthentic [ArtMarketMonitor]

Pipilotti Rist via Panache

The Gucci Group award, previously awarded to artists including Steve McQueen and Julian Schnabel, has announced its 4 nominees, among which is artist Pipilotti Rist [Vogue]
This year’s Frieze Music Presentation will be a performance choreographed by artist Martin Creed [Frieze]
In response to LACMA’s decision to end its long standing weekend film program, two outside organizations step in with $150,000 pledge in an attempt to save it [Los Angeles Times]

Skewville wooden sneakers via C-Monster

The ubiquitous Skewville wooden sneakers have online documentation [Skewville via C-Monster]
The latest V magazine profiles 6 projects presented at the 53d Venice Biennale, including those by Tauba Auerbach, Aurel Schmidt, Dan Colen and the late Dash Snow [V magazine]
Art exhibitions to see this fall as suggested by New York art critic Jerry Saltz [Artnet]
The values of art related financial indexes increase as the market is possibly recovering [ArtInfo]
Townhouses restored and owned by photographer Annie Leibovitz could potentially cure her $24 million loan obligations to Art Capital Market [Bloomberg]

Nils Folke installation via Phillips De Pury

Phillips De Pury & Co installs sculptures by Nils Folke in its windows to be viewed from High Line park in New York [Phillips De Pury]
Newly created Arts Editor role at the BBC News is being assumed by Will Gompertz who is the current Director of Tate Media at the Tate [BBC]
This year’s Vanity Fair 100 includes art world figures Bernard Arnault (#10), François-Henri Pinault (#20), Miuccia Prada (#40) and Jean Pigozzi (#74) [Vanity Fair]
Ed Ruscha will receive the Artistic Excellence Award from the National Arts Awards on October 5, 2009 [Americans For The Arts]
The Guardian investigates the art scene in Moscow complete with the listing new exhibition spaces [Guardian]

Donald Judd, Untitled, in “Boule to Braid” at Lisson Gallery. Via the Telegraph

The Lisson Gallery is hosting “Boule to Braid” through August 15.   The exhibition draws exclusively from the collection of Nicholas Logsdail, Lisson Gallery’s young founder.  Featured are Carl Andre, Paul McCarthy, Donald Judd, Tony Cragg and more.

Related links:
Lisson Gallery – Exhibition – Boule to Braid: curated by Richard Wentworth
Art Sales: dealer who opened Saatchi’s eyes [the Telegraph]
Richard Wentworth on ‘Boule to Braid’ [Interview, artreview.com]
Boule de Braid: Private View with Adrian Searle [Guardian]

Tom Sachs, Supreme Allied Commander Moon Rock Box, in “Boule to Braid” at Lisson Gallery.

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Os Gemeos at work on their mural in at Houston and Elizabeth via The Art Collectors

Brazilian street art duo Os Gemeos are completing a mural on the corner of Houston and Bowery in New York on the site of the Keith Haring tribute memorial [The Art Collectors]
A rare interview with Bruce Nauman after he was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale [The Art Newspaper]
The British Museum has raised 2/3 of the $200 million for its new Herzog & de Meuron-designed wing [Bloomberg]

Hirst’s recurring butterfly imagery adorns Lance Armstrong’s bike frame via Designweek

With perhaps one of the more thought provoking of the Livestrong bike creations, Damien Hirst has designed the bike Lance Armstrong will use during the final stage of the Tour de France with his recurring mortality metaphor of butterflies [Galerie Perrotin]
A breakdown of ArtNews’s Top 200 Collectors: 81% collect contemporary, 34% collect modern, 9% collect Impressionist, and 9% collect Old Masters [ArtNews]

Digital rendering of Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne’s menagerie on New York’s Park Avenue via NY Times

From Sept. 13 through Nov. 20, Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne’s animal menagerie will adorn the medians between 52nd and 57th Streets in Midtown Manhattan [NY Times]

Franz West’s The Ego and the Id via the The Public Art Fund

In related, Franz West’s 20 foot ‘The Ego and the Id’ will be installed Central Park at 5th Ave & 60th tomorrow, on loan from Amalia Dayan and Adam Lindemann through March [PublicArtFund]
BBC1 announces a four-part documentary focusing on Picasso, Dali, Matisse and Warhol, airing next year [BBC]
The Castlestone art fund is buying Post War art from deceased and non-producing artists such as Picasso and Warhol as it posits that pricing has dropped 20-40% from last year [International Advisor via ArtMarketMonitor] and a related email gaffe from Castlestone [ArtNewspaper]

Performance view of Anselm Kiefer’s ‘Am Anfang’ via Opera de Paris

German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer directed and designed, ‘Am Anfang,’ or ‘At the Beginning,’ for the Opera de Bastille in Paris, is currently running [TheGuardian]
In related, contemporary artist Zhang Huan will design and direct a 250 year anniversary production of Handel’s Semele in Brussels for the 2009/10 season [ArtDaily]

A new Banksy mural in Africa via SlamxHype

A number of Banksy murals in Africa have popped up, possibly in Mali [World's Best Ever] and related, 120,000 have visited the artist’s exhibition in his hometown of Bristol [BBC Bristol via FAD]
Charles Saatchi has replaced his Abstract America show his Kings Road gallery for an installation promoting the Jaguar XJ [Vogue]

John Morton at the site of his sound installation in Central Park via NY Times

A pedestrian tunnel in Central Park is the site of an immersive sound installation by John Morton [NY Times]
A brush fire near Getty Center caused Getty museum officials to evacuate 1,600 visitors and 800 employees [LA Times]

Michael Jackson series by Andy Warhol via ArtDaily

A portrait of Michael Jackson by Andy Warhol is dropped from a NY auction after overwhelming inquiries [ArtDaily]
Phillips de Pury & Company is launching a series of new theme auctions, including 21st century art and “New York, New York” [Artdaily]
Abu Dhabi Art, a new art fair, will debut in November [Artinfo]

A “plinther” participant in Antony Gormley’s One & Other via The Guardian

Antony Gormley’s ‘One&Other’ continues its 100-day run on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square in London [One & Other (livefeed)]
In related participatory British art, 23 museum visitors sufferred minor injuries during Robert Morris’s recent Bodyspacemotionthings reprisal at the Tate Modern [ArtInfo]
The Tate announces the judges of the 2010 Turner Prize [The Art Newspaper]

Installation view of Rothko’s ‘Seagram Murals’ via MSNBC

Tate Liverpool exhibits Rothko’s Seagram Murals after a 20-year absence [Artdaily]
Rochelle Steiner, under whose tenure Olafur Eliasson’s “New York City Waterfalls” was sponsored, leaves the Public Art Fund [NY Times] and in related, Sotheby’s CEO takes big paycuts in the wake of the market downturn [Bloomberg]

Alex James, bassist of Blur via The Mirror

Blur’s Alex James to judge Charles Saatchi’s art-star reality TV show [The Mirror]
Jonathan Jones on how consumerism spawned Warhol and Pop art and thus the shallowness of contemporary art [Guardian]
Vanity Fair’s imagined conversations overheard at a MoMA party [VanityFair]
A new show at Paris’s Musee d’Art Moderne acknowledges how Italian Surrealist Giorgio de Chirico sold backdated copies of his own work [Bloomberg]

Patti Smith via The Art Newspaper

Patti Smith, whose Polaroids are showing at Robert Miller gallery, on her early career as an artist and why she feels Jeff Koons’s work is “just litter upon the earth” [The Art Newspaper]

Andy Warhol’s BMW Art Car via W Magazine

The BMW Art Car series by artists such as Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg to appear at New York’s Grand Central Terminal starting March 24 [W Magazine]
Chinese art dealer who sabotaged Christie’s sale of bronzes during the Yves Saint Laurent sale weeps at his shattered credibility [Bloomberg]

Steve McQueen modeling for T Magazine

A brief profile of Turner prize winning film artist Steve McQueen’s fashion aesthetic [The Moment]
The Las Vegas Sun does a post-mortem on the Las Vegas Art Museum, which closed last month [Las Vegas sun via ArtsJournal]

Trailer for ‘Guest of Cindy Sherman’ via Entertainment Weekly

Soon to open in New York, an art world outsider chronicles his relationship with an art world insider in the film ‘Guest of Cindy Sherman’ [Entertainment Weekly]
Susan Moore looks at the recent emergence of a homegrown art scene in the United Arab Emirates [Financial Times]

Collectors Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant via Artnet

Art in America and Interview Magazine owner Peter Brant opens his private collection to the public, by appointment only, at the Brant Foundation Art Study Center [NY Times]
How the former CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland was unable to secure an immense 16,000 piece art collection obtained during a takeover of ABN Amro as that bank’s CEO deftly transferred ownership to a foundation before the merger [TimesUK]
Turner Prize winning sculptor Antony Gormley announces first public art installation for Scotland [TheScotsman]

Laura Hoptman, Massimiliano Gioni and Lauren Cornell, curators at the New Museum of Contemporary Art via NY Times

A preview of the New Museum’s inaugural triennial, “The Generational: Younger Than Jesus” [NY Times]
Hans Ulrich Obrist’s book “The Conversation Series” includes interviews with artist such as Wolfgang Tillmans and Gilbert and George [ArtInfo]

A peek at Pierogi Gallery’s new annex, the Boiler via NY Times

Williamsburg’s Pierogi Gallery opens new annex, The Boiler [NY Times]
Chelsea galleries, including Andrea Rosen, Barbara Gladstone, Mary Boone and Matthew Marks, to show work at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana, Cuba [The Art Newspaper]

Anish Kapoor’s ‘Temenos’ via AnishKapoor

Construction begins on first of five of Anish Kapoor outdoor sculptures in the UK: the ‘world’s biggest art project’ [DesignWeek]

Portrait of Pope Benedict XIV by Pierre Subleyras via NY Mag

Old masters prove to be a bellwether in the market downturn [Financial Times] as such, The Metropolitan Museum acquires a Renaissance portrait of Pope Benedict XIV for nearly $1 million amidst financial woes [NY Mag] and this painting also is featured here in a separate video discussion on the resilience of old master paintings [Sotheby's]

Damien Hirst’s skateboard decks for Supreme, via The Hundreds

Damien Hirst launches a new line of skate decks for Supreme [Hypebeast] plus a Glenn Brown interview with Supreme [Interview]
Turner prize winning British artist Steve McQueen debuts Hunger. [W Magazine via C-Monster]

John Baldessari at Mies van der Rohe’s Haus Lange of 1928, in Krefeld, Germany, via Edward Lifson

John Baldessari transforms a Mies van der Rohe house [Edward Lifson]
Metropolitan Opera puts up two Chagalls as collateral for loan in the face of a shrunken endowment [Crain's]
Art In America launches its new website [Art Fag City]

A model of Jeff Koons’s ‘Train’ to be built at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, via LACMA

LACMA moves forward with record $25 million sculpture by Jeff Koons [The Art Newspaper]
Gold Bars for a Chris Burden show at Gagosian held up in Stanford fraud case [Culture Monster]
A negative forecast for the recession’s impact on art [NewYorkMagazine]

Banksy in London, via Wooster Collective

New Banksy works appear in London [Wooster Collective]
A profile of the Guggenheim’s Richard Armstrong, a modest museum head compared to his controversial predecessor [Wall Street Journal]

KAWS’s cover for the current issue of New York, via SuperTouch

KAWS designs New York Magazine’s cover for their ‘Best of New York 2009′ issue [SuperTouch]
Jackie Wullschlager looks at the exhibitions that have come about after Anthony d’Offay’s gift of his collection to Britain [Financial Times]

Gang Gang Dance, via The Social Registry

Armory Show preview and party at MoMA featuring a performance by Gang Gang Dance [MoMA]
A profile of art collecting Mugrabi family [NY Times]
Second ever newspaper interview of Charles Saatchi [London Times]

Jake and Dinos Chapman’s remade ‘Hell’ via The Guardian

Jonathan Jones on why the Chapman Brothers’ Hell deserves to be shown at the National Gallery [Guardian]
Munich gallery Andreas Grimm shutters NY location [Hintmag]
SANAA, architects of the New Museum, to design Serpentine Pavilion [Icon]

A rug made by Francis Bacon, via London Times

Rediscovered Francis Bacon rugs are up for auction at a relative pittance versus his canvases [London Times]
Alex Katz models for J. Crew [MediaBistro]
A trend of wealthy collectors building museums to open their collections to the public [Fortune]

Untitled from the Like Everyday Series (2000-2001) by Shirin Ghadirian, via The Saatchi Gallery

The Saatchi Gallery’s new show “Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East” showcases work completed by more than 20 contemporary artists from the region, including from Iran, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, and Algeria.  Avant-garde painting, sculpture and installations from emerging Middle Eastern artists adorn the space of the Chelsea gallery.  The works exhibited are hard hitting and graphic yet aim to touch upon the sensitive subjects of the region including the horrors of conflicts in the past and present exploring suppressed sensuality and the examination of a woman’s place in the Muslim world.

Exhibition Page: Unveiled: New Art From the Middle East
Saatchi and Middle Eastern Art [FT]
Saatchi Show Unveils Vibrant Middle Eastern Arts Scene [Reuters]
Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East at the Saatchi Gallery [The Telegraph]
In Pictures: Middle Eastern Art [BBC]
Art Review: The veil is Lifted on Hidden Talent [Timeout London]

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Charles Saatchi, photo via Welt

British art collector, Charles Saatchi, famous for launching the now established careers of “Young British Artists” of the 1990’s such as Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin and others, is set to preside over a new reality television show on BBC2, described as the Art X Factor.

In an attempt to be the next YBA Hirst or Emin, artists over the age of 18 and residing in the UK will submit their work online.  All artistic genres, from painting to conceptual, will be accepted.  A panel of art world experts will narrow the entries down to approximately 50 which will then be presented to Saatchi in the form of an exhibition.  Saatchi, himself, will then select six of these artists to participate in the TV show “Saatchi’s Best of British.”

Charles Saatchi is indisputably one of the most significant figures in the art world.  In 1970, Saatchi founded the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi with his brother Maurice.  By 1986 Saatchi and Saatchi grew to be the largest ad agency in the world, with over 600 offices.  Yet Saatchi is as much famous perhaps for his direct influence in the art market, establishing the Saatchi Gallery in 1985 in London.  He recently opened his new space in October of last year at Duke of York Headquarters Building in Chelsea, London (as covered by Art Observed here).  In 1997 he mounted an exhibition at the Royal Academy titled Sensation, which travelled to Berlin and New York ruffling feathers along the way and causing the regognition of the artists in the show to in most cases shift to an entirely higher plane.

Jonathan Jones: Reality TV has nothing to offer the art world [Guardian]
Saatchi to front art talent show [BBC]
BBC and Charles Saatchi Launch Reality Show [Art Daily]
Charles Saatchi to host Art X-Factor [Times]
TV show hunts for next Damien Hirst [Metro]
Reality show taps Saatchi [CBC]
X Factor for budding artists [Marie Claire]

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Zhan Wang – Ornamental Rock No. 71, on view at Saatchi Gallery, London – The Revolution Continues: New Chinese Art via Saatchi Gallery

When the new Saatchi Gallery’s inaugural show closes it will have drawn over half a million visitors [GuardianUK]
How artists are replacing some aspects of the role of dealers [TheArtNewspaper]
Christie’s lowers estimates  by more than 10% also stating “It’s not our intention to offer any guarantees until we have a better idea of where the markets are” [ArtInfo]
MOCA agrees to Eli Broad’s $15 million match contribution [LATimes]

‘the Farm’ by Joan Miró (1893-1983) via the Wall Street Journal

A detailed look into Joan Miró’s ‘the Farm” [WallStreetJournal]
Boston Lawyer hiding stolen art including a $26 million Cezanne sentenced to 7 years [ArtDaily]
Top ten outstanding moments in the art market for 2008 [TelegraphUK]

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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A silica gel sculpture “Communication” by Cang Xn in the new Saatchi Gallery via Reuters

One of the most influential art collectors, Charles Saatchi, who years ago jump started the careers of the Young British Artists such as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, has opened his new gallery in Chelsea in Central, London. The neoclassical former military barracks from 1801 known as the Duke of York Headquarters building is the now home to Saatchi’s gallery and his opening exhibit called “The Revolution Continues: New Art From China.” Within the space, a standard “white cube” internal architecture, the inaugural group show features works of art from the most of the top contemporary Chinese artists. Duke of York Headquarters buildings provides an impressive 70,000 square feet of space of gallery space, and in its past life was the military headquarters and barracks for the Duke’s soldiers.

Also notable is that the new Saatchi Gallery, a huge space that compares with City or National arts spaces in its scope and quality of offerings, is entirely free, due to a corporate sponsorship by Phillips de Pury & Company, which only this week was purchased by the Mercury Group of Russia, as reported by Art Observed yesterday here.

Saatchi Gallery Website
Saatchi Gallery Opens at Duke of York’s HQ Building, Chelsea [Artdaily]
Saatchi leads Chinese revolution with video here, and more video here [BBC]
Classical frame for Saatchi’s brand-new look [Financial Times]
Art guru Saatchi back with new gallery, China show [Reuters]
Saatchi’s New London Gallery Hails Britart, Chinese Revolution [Bloomberg]
Charles Saatchi’s old favourites – made in China [TimesUK]
Stuck with Saatchi [ArtReview]
The Revolution continues at the new Saatchi Gallery [TimesUK]
The verdict on Saatchi’s new gallery and Dog chews and Mao [Independent]
Saatchi Gallery: great space, shame about the art and Saatchi gallery: a study in blandness [GuardianUK]
Last scene by Saatchi and Charles Saatchi: Did I say that? and Is it third time lucky for Saatchi gallery? [GuardianUK]
Saatchi Gallery Opening – London [Jean Pigozzi for Colette]
Update: Opening of the Week: Saatchi rolls out the red carpet [Independent]

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