Jonathan Monk, A Copy of Deflated Sculpture No. 1 (2009-2014), all photos via Osman Yerebakan for Art Observed

Appropriating the works of the lead players of Conceptual and Minimal art with an allusive wit, the British artist Jonathan Monk is known for adding his own accent to the often trenchant dynamics of the art world.  In his current show at Casey Kaplan, however, Monk embarks on an autobiographical investigation, reminiscing and eventually interpreting his artistic relation with various other artists. (more…)

Peter Doig, The Heart of Old San Juan (1999), via Christie’s

The fall auction season will get back underway this week, as the bustle of Frieze London will also play home to the first major evening sales since early this summer.  With major lots offered at Phillips, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, buyers in the British capital will compete over a number of classic works alongside their recent purchases at Regent’s Park.

Francis Bacon, Study for a Portrait (1954), via Sotheby’s

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This weekend marks the seventh edition of Pinta NY, an international art fair dedicated to Latin American, Spanish, and Portuguese art. Founded in 2007, the fair has moved around the city and taken a few different shapes as it has grown into the can’t miss event it is today. This year, the fair is located at 82MERCER, a “downtown loft-style building located in the heart of SoHo,” and is comprised of two floors and features both contemporary and modern art. Additionally, Pinta has revamped its layout by breaking down exhibitions into platforms, organized by theme and period, and hand-picked by a team of internationally recognized curators. For visitors with limited time, this breakdown will help you find exactly what you’re looking for.

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Speaking on the state of contemporary art, Grayson Perry has called the majority of contemporary art “rubbish.”  Speaking during the inaugural Radio 4 Reith Lecture, Perry began by discussing his own appeal as an artist.  “Although we live in an era where anything can be art, not everything is art.  I think the art world is happy to dig down into the lower regions of society for a bit of gritty reality, but what it’s frightened of is the middle classes with good taste, often. Maybe I appeal to too many of those people.”  He continued:  “At any one moment most of the art being made is awful.” (more…)

Maurice and Paul Marciano, known as the co-founders of Guess Jeans, have purchased the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, with the intent of turning the space into a museum for their contemporary art collection.  The property was purchased by the Maurice and Paul Marciano Art Foundation, for the price of $8 million. “We have been looking for a home for the collection,” said William F. Payne, a spokesman for the foundation. “It’s a legacy project for the family.” (more…)

With growing confidence among Chinese contemporary art buyers, Sotheby’s will heavily feature work from the Asian state in its June 26th and 27th contemporary sales in London.  Works by Zhang Xiaogang, Shi Xinning, Yue Minjun, and Zhang Huan will feature prominently in the sales, with a series of works expected to sell anywhere between £120,000 and £450,000. (more…)

The Venice Biennale

Every two years, the floating city of Venice floods with with the multitudes of art visitors, customers, gallerists and exhibitions that are all a part of the Venice Biennale. This year, marking the 55^th edition of the world’s largest art fair, sees the continuation of an event that first began in 1896. Between June 1^st and November 24^th over 300,000 visitors will travel to Venice for the expansive installations of exhibitions of work from artists in 88 nations, at both official and fringe sites. Art Observed will be on-site this week, with photos from variety of events around the city.

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François Pinault, the Christie’s owner and art collector was recently profiled in the Wall Street Journal, highlighting the executive’s passion for contemporary art, and the current show of work by Rudolf Stingel at Pinault’s recently purchased Venetian palace the Palazzo Grassi.  “He is a sponge. He is willing to learn all the time,” says Elena Geuna, the former director of Sotheby’s Europe. (more…)

Hong Kong Convention Center, via Art in America

Tomorrow, Art Basel Hong Kong will open its doors to the public, inaugurating the expansion of the company’s impressive range of art fairs into the Far East.  Situated at the Hong Kong Convention Center, the fair has brought collectors and galleries from the world over to the heart of this bustling metropolis, for a week of art sales, talks and special projects, all with a particular focus on the contemporary art world of the Asia-Pacific region.

Hong Kong’s Inflatable Rubber Duck, via CNN

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The Jumex Collection, the contemporary arts-heavy museum currently being built in Mexico City’s wealthy suburb of Polanco, is scheduled to complete its construction in July, with a target opening date in November.  Established by food and juice magnate Eugenio López, the Jumex Collection is considered the largest private contemporary arts collection in Latin America, and features works by  Tacita Dean, Olafur Eliasson, Martin Kippenberger and Bruce Nauman. (more…)

Gert and Uwe Tobias, Untitled ’13 (Installation View), via Team Gallery

Continuing in their uniquely distinctive practice that weaves printmaking, installation, sculpture and typography, twin brothers Gert and Uwe Tobias are currently exhibiting a selection of new work at Team Gallery in New York City.

Gert and Uwe Tobias, Untitled (GUT 2055) (2012), via Team Gallery (more…)

Nick van Woert, Microscope (2013), (Nick van Woert in Ted Kaczynski’s clothes), courtesy of the artist and OHWOW

Since his first solo exhibition at Grimm Gallery, Amsterdam in 2010, Brooklyn-based artist Nick van Woert has quickly risen through the ranks of the contemporary arts scene, creating a prolific and experimental body of work informed by his unique interests in history, architecture, environment, and philosophy.  From ancient Rome to the Unabomber, van Woert casts an eye on the past as a means of understanding the present and inquiring into the future. His work blends an emphasis on sculptural craft and process with the use of found objects and readymades, resting between aesthetic value and conceptual statement. While preparing for the opening of No Man’s Land, his first exhibition at OHWOW in Los Angeles, (open through April 6, 2013), the artist sat down to answer some questions for Art Observed.

Nick van Woert, No Man’s Land (2013), Courtesy of the artist and OHWOW

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Jim Shaw (Installation View), via Simon Lee

On view at London’s Simon Lee Gallery is a solo exhibition of eclectic new works by Los Angeles-based, American artist Jim Shaw. A California Institute of the Arts graduate and longtime L.A. resident, Shaw’s works highlight the anxieties and triumphs of  late capitalist society, phantasmic religion and the shamanic, mythical world of his dream life. This idiosyncratic body of work utilizes comic book aesthetic in pencil drawings and groupings of sculptures juxtaposed against new painted and drawn portraits of unhinged and broken body parts, which engender a distinct unease in the viewer.  

Jim Shaw, Oden’s Broken Staff and Emerald City Asgard (2013), via Simon Lee

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The Guardian has published a lengthy piece on the role of the artist’s assistant, and assistant’s often ignored contributions to the work of major artists.  The piece features an interview with Jake and Dinos Chapman, who recall their early work as assistants to Gilbert and George.  ‘It was hard labour by any measure,” says Jake Chapman.  “There was absolutely no creative input at all. They were very polite and it was interesting to hear them talking – as we did our daily penance.”  (more…)

Since opening in 2011, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art has faced criticism for its dearth of Post-War Contemporary Art.  In response, the museum has gone on a spree of acquisitions to fill out its collection, including works by Andy Warhol, Donald Judd and Mark Rothko.  “It’s fair to say that we are very actively seeking to shore up the 20th century, including early Modernism,” says museum president, Don Bacigalupi, “though not to the exclusion of other things.”  (more…)

The Guggenheim Museum has received a $10 million grant from the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation in Hong Kong to comission new works from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.  The move comes as the museum continues to expand its global view of contemporary art.  “This is all part of our global narrative,” says Richard Armstrong, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. “For years people have asked what we are doing about China. This is a crucial next step.” (more…)

For the first time in its 84-year history as an independent state, the Vatican City will have its own contemporary art pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Biennale president Paolo Baratta announced yesterday.  The news comes as the Catholic Church seeks to move forward from issues associated with the last pope stepping down.  “They said they wanted to put into public view the fact that there were other things beyond mere country boundaries, political state boundaries, that united people.” Says Andrea Rose, the British Council Director of Visual Arts, who met with Vatican officials last year. (more…)

2 Works by Mark Flood at Peres Projects, photo by Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

The Independent Art Fair returned to Chelsea this year, taking up three floors of Center548 with work from over 40 galleries around the world, offering a markedly fresh take on the busy sales rush of Armory Week in New York. 

Independent, New York, 2013 (Installation View) Courtesy Independent, New York

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The first Art13 Festival took place this past week in London, showing a high number of Asian and Middle Eastern Galleries and Artists competing for the attention of interested buyers.  With about half of the showing artists of non-western origin, the show provided buyers with opportunities to purchase major works by Eastern Contemporary Art figureheads like the Indonesian painter Nyoman Masriadi, whose work Godlike has already commanded impressive attention and an equally impressive price tag of $350,000.  “Fairs like Frieze and Art Basel tend to be a bit Western- centric,” Jasdeep Sandhu, of Singapore’s Gajah Gallery, said. “This presentation has a more global focus. It’s what the future of the art market might be.” (more…)

In commemoration of the groundbreaking 1913 Armory Arts Show and its impact on the world of contemporary art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York has produced a series of videos emphasizing their collection of works from that year.   The videos are available for viewing at the museum’s website, and feature museum curators discussing their favorite works in the museum collection, including works by Umberto Boccioni, Marcel Duchamp and Fernand Léger. (more…)

Sotheby’s has reported $1.25 billion in global auction results for Contemporary Art last year, making 2012 its third most successful year in history, and the highest in history for Contemporary Art.  “The marketplace and demand for contemporary art has never been stronger or more international – of the top 20 prices achieved by Sotheby’s last year, more than half were post-war and contemporary masterworks.”  Says Sotheby’s Chairman of Contemporary Art Europe Cheyenne Westphal. (more…)

Wade Guyton, Untitled (2010), Courtesy The Whitney Museum.

Through January 13, The Whitney hosts a mid-career solo exhibition of the work of Wade Guyton.  Often aligned with abstract Modernist giant Andy Warhol, Guyton self-identifies as a painter, despite a body of work lacking the processes of hand-to-paper creation.  Through frequent use of his signature X’s and U’s, Guyton explores the symbols of modernity and calls into question the nature of production in the fine arts.

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MoMA has just published a new book called “What Is Contemporary Art? A Guide for Kids,” ($19.95), featuring the work of over 70 artists, such as Gillian Wearing, Louise Bourgeois, Bruce Nauman, Olafur Eliasson, Andreas Gursky and Jeff Koons. It is written to make contemporary art more understandable and accessible. (more…)

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Aerial short of Randall’s Island, via The Art Newspaper

Frieze, the hallmark London contemporary art fair which has steadily built itself up since 2003, today announced its expansion to New York where it will host a fair in Randall’s Island Park.  Frieze Art Fair will open on May 2nd for VIPs, with the public gaining access between May 3rd and 6th.

The fair will coincide with the city’s 2012 contemporary art auctions and will be around the same size as its London counterpart, with roughly170 galleries from 33 countries participating.  Notably, the fair fall outside of the traditional art fair week in March, anchored by the Armory Show.  This may prompt some galleries to re-evaluate which fairs they will participate in. Similarly, the timing of Frieze’s New York fair may affect galleries who may have opted for Art Basel in June.

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