Francesco Vezzoli is interviewed in The Guardian this week, discussing his personal life, and his leftist political views, formed by his family’s membership in the Proletarian Unity Party.  “We had a public debate at the National Synotec in Rome and one of the presidents of Italian television who is one of the wittiest men in Italy kept screaming ‘You’re such a Marxist!’, because of the things I was saying.” He says. “I said ‘I must have been able to come out of the closet as a homosexual, but the Marxist thing is still locked somewhere in there.’ Many people say that the work is way more political than I seem to realize, but that must come from my family. I think that it’s kind of sweet that it’s there; I leave for other people to read it.” (more…)

Richard Bell, Embassy (2015), via Performa

Performa, New York’s iconic and ongoing performance art Biennial has returned to the city this month, kicking off this past Sunday with a full calendar of events running through the 22nd.  The 15th edition of the event, Performa is offering a particularly strong calendar of events over the coming weeks, mixing high art stage performances, conceptual exercises, live poetics and confrontational pieces across the city’s range of venues, institutions and galleries. (more…)

Francesco Vezzoli, Eternal Kiss (2015), via Almine Rech

Continuing his recent interest in the preservation, representation and context of the historical, Francesco Vezzoli is currently showing a new work Eternal Kiss at Almine Rech’s London exhibition space.  Taking a pair of classical Roman busts originally acquired at auction, Vezzoli has worked for several years restoring the works, relying on the input and advice of archaeologists and historians to approximate their original surfaces. (more…)

Cindy Sherman is set to play aging diva Maria Callas in a new film show by Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli, the Art Newspaper reports.  “The video was shot last May in Paris at Théâtre des Variétés, featuring Cindy as the quintessential opera diva. The film depicts fictional, pivotal chapters of the singer’s life and career, in her full glory and darker situations, showing her fading away,” Vezzoli says. (more…)

Francesco Vezzoli, All About Anni – Anni vs. Marlene (The Saga Begins) (2006), via MoCA

Much like predecessors Rainer Fassbinder, George Kuchar and Tom Wesselmann, Franceso Vezzoli grew up around the golden ages cinema and television, and his work often toys at fusing their higher art forms with a violent appreciation for popular culture in very different ways.  It’s these interests that dominate his show Cinema Vezzoli,currently on view at MOCA in Los Angeles, part of the three museum retrospective of Vezzoli’s work, titled The Trilogy. (more…)

Francesco Vezzoli’s planned installation of an Italian church in the courtyard of MoMA PS1 in New York has been cancelled after Italian authorities intervened to block the artist’s export of the ruins.  Vezzoli is now under criminal investigation for the deconstruction of the church, despite the prior blessing of the Mayor of Montegiordano, where the church was located.  Vezzoli is searching for a new way to show his work at MoMA, but has yet to fully commit to a new plan.  “It’s like love — if this church turns you down, you can’t fall in love again right away,” he said. “My Juliet is being kept captive.” (more…)

Francesco Vezzoli, Galleria Vezzoli (Installation View), Courtesy MAXXI Rome

MAXXI in Rome this weekend closed the exhibition of Galleria Vezzoli, a gallery cum timeline of Francesco Vezzoli’s artistic career, and a self-created tribute to the artist, beginning from his embroideries in the 1990s and continuing to his more recent video works and sculptures made of marble.  The exhibition was part of a larger exhibition entitled The Trinity, Galleria Vezzoli and was the first in a three-part project, Vezzoli in three different locations: at MoMA PS1 in New York and MOCA in Los Angeles. The works in the exhibition at MAXXI mimiced a 19th century museum aesthetic, but were placed within the contemporary architectural context of the gallery space, designed by architect Zaha Hadid.

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FIAC crowds, photo by Tiphaine Popesco for Art Observed

FIAC closed today, Sunday October 21st, with dealers reporting strong sales and a collective sigh of relief that the proposed inclusion of artwork over €50,000 to France’s wealth tax had not passed.  The fair was, by all accounts, well-organized and exhibited an impressive program of young galleries alongside work by established blue-chip artists. This year the fair added exhibition space in the Salon d’Honneur, the newly-renovated upper floor of the historic Grand Palais.  In past years the fair has seen more European collectors, but this year dealers reported sales to many collectors from Asia, Russia and the Middle East as well. The fair was directed by Jennifer Flay.

Marc Quinn, The Origin of the World, 2012, photo by Tiphaine Popesco for Art Observed

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FIAC Grand Palais, photo courtesy We Want Contrast for Art Observed

FIAC, one of Europe’s main three art fairs, held its vernissage last night in Paris at the Grand Palais. Dealers saw strong blue chip sales, including an $8 million Joan Miro panting, despite concerns over France’s proposed increase in wealth taxes and a strong Frieze and Frieze Masters in London the week before.

Gilles Fuches, President Prix Marcel Duchamp

All photos by Tiphaine Popesco for Art Observed unless otherwise noted

The crowd at FIAC

FIAC has added more contemporary work from the second half of the 20th century in the last two years, attracting big collectors like Francois Pinault, Bernard Arnault, Alberto Mugrabi and Omer Koc.

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Grand Palais, courtesy FIAC

FIAC, or the 39th International Contemporary Art Fair, will open tomorrow (Thursday) in Paris, with a VIP preview today, with 184 galleries exhibiting at the Grand Palais, and this year utilizing the restored Salon d’Honneur as well, which lies at the center of the structure. As in past years, galleries will exhibit sculpture at the Tuilieries Garden nearby. Approximately 65,000 visitors are expected to attend.

Tuilieries Garden courtesy FIAC (more…)

On January 24th, duo Francesco Vezzoli and designer Miuccia Prada team up with AMO, the research division of Rem Koolhaas’s architectural firm OMA, to transform Paris’ Palais d’Iéna into The 24 Hour Museum. The palace, which ordinarily houses France’s economical, social, and environmental councils, will instead be populated with high-end fantasy fashion and explorations of celebrity and sex. Known as a prankster of sorts, Vezzoli’s work often involves a certain kitchiness while perhaps masking a deeper political significance. In this exhibition, Vezzoli pays homage to the female figure in particular, featuring renditions of neo-classical sculptures outfitted with heads of “contemporary divas.” The museum is divided into three sections—historic, contemporary, and forgotten—with three segments of the 24 hour period as well: first a private dinner at 8:30 Tuesday evening, followed by an exclusive dance party, then opening to the public at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, before closing at 8:30 p.m.

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All photos by Caroline Claisse.

Currently on view at the Punta della Dogana, housed in the magnificent Palazzo Grassi, is “The World Belongs to You.” Curated by Caroline Bourgeois, the exhibition brings together artists from different generations, geographical locations, and practices to explore history and current realities.

The Punta della Dogana became the official exhibition space of Francois Pinault‘s private collection in 2006, when he purchased the building from the city of Venice. It now houses works from internationally renowned contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons, Urs Fischer, Maurizio Cattelan, and Takashi Murakami.

Urs Fischer’s violet piano at Punta della Dogana.

More text and images after the jump… (more…)

Temporary Tattoo provided with exhibition statement As Long As It Lasts (2011), photo by A. Bogart for Art Observed

Arratia, Beer present “As Long As It Lasts…”, a group exhibition that is transitory in nature.  The gallery invited several artists and designers to design tattoos, which are inked on site by a professional tattoo artist, Sarah Bolen from AKA Berlin.  The tattoo artist was only on site for Gallery Weekend, April 29-May 1, so appointments need to be made for anyone wishing to be ‘signed by’ an artist.  Those who choose to have an artist’s design tattooed get a certificate of authenticity, thus certifying that a work of art is part of them.  Appointments can be made until the end of May.

Francesco Vezzoli Untitled (2011), via Arratia, Beer.

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Francesco Vezzoli, Jesus Christ Superstar, Light box (2011). Photo by Sei Eun Lee, Art Observed

Francesco Vezzoli holds his first solo exhibition Sacrilegio in New York at the 21st Street Gagosian Gallery through March 12th. Vezzoli has enlarged several Madonna and Child paintings by 15th and 16th century artists Giovanni Bellini, Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea Mantegna, and Sandro Botticelli, reinterpreting them within a contemporary context by replacing the virginal faces with supermodels Claudia Schiffer, Tatjana Patitz, Cindy Crawford, Christie Brinkley, Naomi Campbell, and Kim Alexis.

Francesco Vezzoli, Crying portrait of Kim Alexis as a Renaissance Madonna with Holy Child (after Giovanni Bellini) (2010). Via Gagosian Gallery

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With only two weeks left in the exhibition, all of Stockholm was out to see “Dalí Dalí featuring Francesco Vezzoli” at Moderna Museet. The exhibition presents a retrospective of Salvador Dali, as well as his influence on contemporary artist Francesco Vezzoli. According to the exhibition’ curator, John Peter Nilsson, the show “examines the role of the artist in today’s celebrity-obsessed society, and of these two artists’ disingenuous relationship with mass media and power.” At once, it puts Dali’s oeuvre in a contemporary context and creates a historical perspective through which Vezzoli’s work may be understood.

for more story and relevant links after the jump…

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À chacun sa vérité, poster d’une exposition qui ne verra jamais le jour (2009) by Francesco Vezzoli, via Jeu de Paume

Currently on view at the Jeu de Paume in Paris is Francesco Vezzoli’s “À Chacun Sa Vérité.” The exhibition is devoted to the renowned Italian film director Federico Fellini.  Vezzoli presents two new works which investigate the realms of illusion and and fiction in our everyday perception of reality.  The artist also incorporates themes which are present throughout Fellini’s work such as his love of celebrities, the ongoing presence of desire,  his continual references to the mass media, and the myths often found in social and political life.

Portrait Surréaliste d’Anita Ekberg (avant et après La Dolce Vita) (2008) by Francesco Vezzoli, via Jeu de Paume

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The Royal College of Art Secret Postcard fundraiser via The Guardian

-The Royal College of Art’s Secret 2009 event has 2,500 postcards for sale for £40, made by artists including Anish Kapoor, Grayson Perry and Yoko Ono.  Though buyers don’t know who the artist is until after they buy. [Times UK]

-Penelope Curtis has been appointed director of Tate Britain, the first woman to hold a directorship at Tate. [Guardian]

-Tracey Emin opens a new exhibition in New York, that, while popular, comes nowhere near the levels of sales or attendance she normal receives in Britain. [NY Times]

An artist’s rendering of Olafur Eliasson’s ‘Cirkelbroen’ bridge to be built in Copenhagen via Artinfo

-Olafur Eliasson has designed a bridge to be completed by 2012 in Copenhagen’s harbor. Called ‘Brikelbroen,’ the bridge is comprised of five circles that take pedestrians on a winding path rather than straight across. [Artinfo]

To stay apprised of most of the relevant art news for this past week… (more…)

Polar Bears of the Liro, Marc Quinn (2008) Sold within estimate range for £97,250

The Contemporary Sales at Phillips de Pury & Company on Saturday October 17 offered a truly diverse selection of works from premier Contemporary artists. The 43-lot evening sale included four unique works by Martin Kippenberger from the Bleich-Rossi Collection alongside exciting works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lucio Fontana, Steven Parrino, On Kawara, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Jonathan Meese. The Day sale kicked off with a charity auction of twenty-one works by internationally renowned artists, including Anselm Kiefer, Rudolf Stingel and Francesco Vezzoli, to benefit the EMERGENCY charitable organization. The total sales from the Day sale amounted to £2,643,713 and the Evening sale brought in £4,104,950 against a low estimate of £5 million.

Concetto Spaziale, Lucio Fontana (1958-60)

Related Links:
Phillips de Pury & Company Website
Full List of Auction Results [Phillips de Pury]
Basquiat sells as buyers get picky at Choosy at $6.7 million auction [Bloomberg]
Signs of Life in London’s Art Market [WSJ]
A Whole New Spectrum of Buyers [Art Market Monitor]

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A glimpse of the Sol LeWitt mural, ‘Swirls and Whirls,’ being constructed in the Columbus Circle subway station, via NY Times

A mural designed for the Columbus Circle subway station in New York by Sol LeWitt in 2007, just before his death, is nearly complete [NY Times]

In related, Turner Prize winner Richard Long designs the cover for the London Tube Map [FAD]
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid has seen visitor numbers quadruple since the opening of its Henri Matisse exhibit [Art Daily]
Following the success of earlier Beyond Limits exhibitions, Sotheby’s announces its fourth contemporary sculpture exhibit at Chatsworth including works by Henry Moore, Marc Quinn, Zhan Wang, among others [Auction Publicity]

Jeff Koons via the Telegraph UK

Jeff Koons sits for lunch with the Financial Times and discusses his love of inflatables and how the custody battle for his son has affected his work [Financial Times]
MoMA’s PS1 in Queens will soon reprise its Greater New York exhibit, which will be its 3rd [LindsayPollack]
On Miuccia Prada and her still to be built €25 million, 20,500 square meter Prada Foundation in a south Milan industrial complex [ArtNewspaper]
Sotheby’s CEO William Ruprecht sells 5% of his equity holdings; he retains a 1% stake in the company [Barron’s via Art Market Monitor]

The Starns Brothers’ cover for the fifth anniversary of T Magazine, via NY Times

T Magazine celebrates its fifth anniversary with specially designed covers by Mike and Doug Starns, Jeff Koons, Francesco Vezzoli, Jenny Holzer, and Frank Gehry [NYTimes T Magazine]
Christie’s abandons its plan to establish an art-investment fund and a lending division [Bloomberg]
In related, Leibovitz creditor Goldman Sachs has stepped in to help negotiate the photographer’s financial troubles with Art Capital Group [Artforum]
The recession in the art world has not stopped bartering of valuable works between contemporaries [TimesUK]

Creative Time’s short shorts for sale at Creative Time

Creative Time is selling limited edition short shorts, and the campy video is here [CreativeTime via Artnet on Twitter]
On collecting phenomenon Herb and Dorthy Vogel’s gift of 50 works to 50 US States [Wall Street Journal]
Interpol allows online access to its 34,000 work database of stolen art [ArtDaily]
In related, roughly 1,000 Alberto Giacometti counterfeit sculptures seized in Germany [GlobeandMail]

Dasha Zhukova via Style.com

Dasha Zhukova, rumored pregnant with 2008 top collector Roman Abramovich’s child, as new editor of Pop magazine has a Damien Hirst work on the cover [NYMag]
Russian oligarchs invest enough money in the Constructivist and Suprematist art of the beginning of 20th century to provoke forgeries, more than half of items bought of these movements are reported to be inauthentic [The Independent]
In related, as Princeton Architectural Press claims to have discovered Frida Kahlo’s lost archive, scholars involved with the artist’s work refute the possibility of it being authentic [GuardianUK]
A new high intensity x-ray developed by Cornell University has already revealed a lost NC Wyeth illustration [ArtInfo]

Stephen Power’s Hold My Own Iverson’s Arm

2007 Fulbright Scholar Stephen Powers, known as ESPO, is completing his Love Letter project, comprised of murals by multiple artists stretching across his home town of Philadelphia that can be seen from one train [A Love Letter For You]
Shepard Fairey calls his decision to graffiti-proof the brick walls of his studio personal preference and rebutts claims of hypocrisy [Street Level] and separately he is to unveil a large scale mural produced by the gallery Country Club at Art Basel Miami Beach [ArtDaily]
Are Museums crossing the line by granting curatorship to corporations? [The New York Times]

Terence Koh’s window display at Opening Ceremony which reads “The Whole Family” via this hearts on fire

Terence Koh sends a very Terence Koh letter regarding his latest project with Opening Ceremony, a window installation [Hint]
On the relatively accessible yet potentially financially rewarding decision to invest in the works of MA students [The Guardian]
The Bortolami Gallery building is up for sale at $6.1 million by collector Adam Lindemann as Stefania Bortolami prepares to move to another location in Chelsea [Lindsay Pollack]
Matthew Barney and Bjork buy a four bedroom townhouse in Brooklyn Heights listed for $4.2 million [NYMag]

Kate Moss by Damien Hirst is the new cover of Tar Magazine (anagram for “art”) [NY Times]
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Art funds launched in 2008, such as the London-based Art Trading Fund, are shelved due to failure to raise required funds [ArtNewspaper]
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Art:21, Art in Twenty-First Century is now available for free on Hulu [Hulu]

Russian Artist Andrea Molodkin, previously cited by AO here, prepares for Venice Biennale [Financial Times]
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Jeff Koons is speaking at Strand Books tonight at 7:00-8:30 in New York [Via FAD]
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New York Old Masters dealer Lawrence Salander is indicted and pleads guilty in $88 million charge [Bloomberg]

A look inside Rome’s MAXXI designed by Zaha Hadid via c-monster

A preview of the MAXXI in Rome, $108 million art museum designed by Zaha Hadid [c-monster]
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Adam Lindemann, financier, collector and author of Collecting Contemporary launches a new book from Taschen: Collecting Design [ArtInfo]

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Flash Art’s current cover featuring a portrait of Barack Obama by Marlene Dumas via Art Fag City

Marlene Dumas’s portrait of Barack Obama is the cover of Flash Art [Art Fag City]
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Madonna’s art collection is estimated at £80 million pounds [TimesUK]

A selection from the site via The World’s Best Ever

A timeline of modern & contemporary art artists by movement, school, style, period, theme & art prize [The-artists.org via The World’s Best Ever]
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Richard Serra to receive honorary degree from Pratt Institute at its 120th Commencement on May 18th [MediaBistro]

Interview with photographer Nan Goldin on why she is auctioning some of the curiosities she has collected [TelegraphUK]
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SFMOMA announces plans for a future expansion, doubling gallery space [SF Chronicle]

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A preview of SANAA’s design for the 2009 Serpentine Pavillion via Architect’s Journal

SANAA, the Japanese architectual duo behind the New Museum, release first glimpse of design for the 2009 Serpentine Pavilion [Architect’s Journal]
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Jim Dine donates 40 drawings influenced by Greek and Roman sculpture to the Morgan Library [Artinfo]

Julian Schnabel’s Picasso Femme au Chapeau will soon be sold by Christie’s [New York Times]
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The Mugrabis, a high impact, market-making collector family, may be addicted to the game of art [The Observer]

On March 19, The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture (GCCC) in Moscow celebrated the opening of A Certain State of the World? Highlights from the François Pinault Foundation Collection, an exhibition of international contemporary art from the collection of François Pinault curated by Caroline Bourgeois.  The show includes works -curated along themes of war, the society of spectacle and the globalized world- by thirty three top-ranking artists from North-America, Europe, Africa, the Middle-East and Asia, working with a variety of media.  Amid many noteworthy pieces, visitors can admire Jeff Koons’ famed Hanging Heart (1994-2006). Hanging Heart sold for $23.6 million on auction at Sotheby’s in November 2007 and was first publicly displayed at the inaugural exhibition of François Pinault’s Collection at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice.  Other artists included in the exhibition are: Chen Zen, Bill Viola, Francesco Vezzoli, Joana Vasconcelos, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Marion Tampon Lajarriette, Cindy Sherman, Paul Pfeiffer, Philipe Parreno, Takashi Murakami, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley, Kimsooja, Y.Z. Kami, Pierre Huyghe, Subodh Gupta, Johan Grimonprez, Loris Gréaud, Dan Flavin, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Liu Dahong, Maurizio Cattelan, Cao Fei, Carlos Amorales, Francis Alÿs, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla and Adel Abdessemed.

The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture
A Certain State of the World?
Highlights from the François Pinault Foundation Collection
Obraztsova street 19 A, Moscow
March 20 – June 14, 2009

RELATED LINKS

Gallery Website (in Russian) [The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture]
Interview with Daria Zhukova on the Eve of the Opening Night [Financial Times]
A Review of the Opening Night [Saatchi Gallery]
A Review by The Guardian [The Guardian]
Article on Russian Art World and the GCCC [The Economist]
Article on Daria Zhukova and the Exhibition [The First Post]
Article on Daria Zhukova and the Exhibition [The Times UK]
Exhibition Review [The Moscow Times]

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Francesco Vezzoli’s ‘Greed’ via Gagosian

The opening night of Francesco Vezzoli’s ‘GREED’ at Gagosian Gallery in Rome on February 6th was a timely spectacle marking the end of an era of excess and decadence. Vezzoli is well known (and well criticized at times) for his use of celebrities in his work, and ‘Greed’ is no exception. The exhibition centers around a faux perfume, called Greed, and features a 60-second commercial directed by Roman Polanski and starring Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams, and a serious of needlework ‘endorsements’ by several female artists (and art world hangers-on) such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Leonor Fini.  At the opening, appearances were made by the elite of the art and fashion worlds, including Miuccia Prada and Dasha Zhukova.

GREED, A New Fragrance by Francesco Vezzoli [Gagosian]
Francesco Vezzoli interview [Artinfo]
Roman Polanski interviewed by Francesco Vezzoli [Interview]
Eau de Hype: Francesco Vezzoli’s “Greed” at Gagosian in Rome. [C-Monster]
Francesco Vezzoli’s Eau de Faux [NYTimes]
The Smell of Success [Kempt]
‘Greed’ by Francesco Vezzoli, Rome [Wallpaper]
Rrose Sélavy’s Baby [ArtForum]

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