A number of artists are voicing their concern over the Frick’s proposed expansion plan, which would eliminate a garden by the British designer Russell Page.  “As professionals working in the art world,” says an open letter signed by Chuck Close, Rachel Feinstein, Lisa Yuskavage, and Frank Stella, among others, “we strongly believe that the Frick’s effectiveness as a display space lies in its intimacy.  Replacing the hall and garden with an institutional 106-foot tower will indeed destroy the famed Frick experience for artists and art lovers around the world.” (more…)

Nick van Woert, Haruspex (Installation View), Courtesy Yvon Lambert Gallery

The work of American artist Nick van Woert is currently on view at the Yvon Lambert Gallery in Paris.  Taking its name from a 2010 work, Haruspex refers to the practice of divination in Etruscan or Roman religious practice, called Haruspicy involving the interpretation of mens or predicting the future based on the entrails of animals. Inspired by the images of divination and dismemberment, the artist has constructed a series of pieces that approach modern economic and social conditions of the world through the deconstruction and application of material runoff.

Nick van Woert, Untitled (2013), courtesy of the Artist (more…)

Jeff Koons, Gazing Ball (Snowman), (2013), via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

The counterpoint to Gagosian Gallery’s survey of recent work by Jeff Koons, David Zwirner is currently presenting a markedly more subdued set of works by the American artist.  Consisting of a cohesive series of plaster and steel sculptures, Gazing Ball fuses Koons’ signature approach to American kitsch and the art historical with a new sense of minimalism.

Jeff Koons, Gazing Ball (Farnese Hercules), (2013), via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed (more…)