The Wall Street Journal interviews Larry Gagosian as Gagosian Gallery prepares to open a 17,760-square-foot space near Le Bourget airport in northern Paris, designed by Jean Nouvel. He discusses the gallery’s expansion and the state of the market: “I don’t feel like we’re in a bubble, but the nature of bubbles is that you never see them.” (more…)
Image: Matthew Higgs introducing performers Malcolm Mooney and Sun Foot. All images by Heather Hannig for ArtObserved.
The Seventh Annual NY Art Book Fair opened last night at Moma/P.S. 1., presented by Printed Matter, Inc., with a performance by Malcolm Mooney and Sun Foot. The fair presents artists’ books, catalogs, monographs, periodicals, and zines presented by 283 international presses, booksellers, antiquarians, artists, and independent publishers from twenty-six countries. Lucy Lippard and Paul Chan are the keynote speakers for this year’s Contemporary Artists’ Books Conference. (more…)
Images: Larry Gagosian via Phaidon and Ronald Perelman via Forbes
Larry Gagosian and Ronald Perelman filed lawsuits against each other last week in the New York State Supreme Court. The two have had a business relationship and friendship for over twenty years. The following is a further detailed account of the two cases.
Larry Gagosian’s art gallery empire, due to open an outpost in Rio this month and another at Paris’s Le Bourget airport, will soon exceed The Tate Modern with respect to exhibition space.
In his most recent show at Gagosian Gallery in Paris, Out of the Blue, Into the Black, New York based artist Dan Colen is the second part of a show in memory of his close friend Dash Snow. Out of the Blue, Into the Black continues where Come Out Come Out Wherever You Are (2009) left off, and is comprised of paintings, installation, and a sculpture. Art Observed’s Jonathan Beer was able to catch up with the artist bef0re the show’s opening on June 10.
Dan Colen, Out of the Blue, Into the Black (2012), Installation View. All photos courtesy of Gagosian, Paris.
For his inaugural solo show at the Paris Gallery, Gagosian presents the exhibit, “Out of the Blue, Into the Black” featuring new works by Dan Colen. The New York artist, known for his participation in the Downtown art scene of the early 2000s, here memorializes his late friend and fellow artist Dash Snow in a tripartite installation of paintings and sculpture. The exhibition title, as well as those of the objects within it, references the opening and closing songs from Neil Young’s seminal 1979 album, Rust Never Sleeps: “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” and “My My, Hey Hey (Into the Blue)”—confronting the fear of obsolescence and death in an elegiac tribute that is both celebratory and somber, hopeful and despondent.
Larry Gagosian enlists architect Annabelle Selldorf to help open a café including new gallery space at his flagship Gagosian Gallery on 980 Madison Avenue.
Cy Twombly, The Last Paintings installation view. All photos on site for Art Observed by Megan Hoetger.
The Last Paintings and Photographs of legendary 20th century artist Cy Twombly, currently on view now at Gagosian Gallery, include some of the final paintings by the artist, as well as a large collection of photographs amassed over nearly 60 years.
Thomas Ruff, 3D_ma.r.s.04 (2012). All images from ma.r.s : © 2012 Thomas Ruff/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona, courtesy Gagosian Gallery.
Thomas Ruff exhibits for the first time with Gagosian Gallery presenting two exhibitions, ma.r.s. and nudes, at the gallery’s two London spaces on Britannia Street and Davies Street, respectively. Ruff’s unique style involves various photographic experiments, often working in series and using sourced imagery combined with an assortment of photographic tools and techniques: composite picture-making apparatus, star light system for night-vision, hand-tinting, stereoscopy, digital retouching, and photomontage. “The difference between my predecessors and me is that they believed to have captured reality and I believe to have created a picture. We all lost, bit by bit, the belief in this so-called objective capturing of real reality,” says Ruff in the press release.
Internal email communications from Gagosian Gallery come forth during lawsuit involving the sale of a Lichtenstein by the Cowles family [AO Newslink]
Damien Hirst video interviewed by TIME about his use of assistants, the origin of the spot challenge, and the meaning of his art overall: “That’s the world. You have these massive polarities and extremes all the time, and I try to make work that reflects that.” [AO Newslink]
Lawsuit filed against Larry Gagosian for $14 million by 93-year-old collector Jan Cowles, whose daughter alledgedly sold works to Gagosian without Jan’s knowledge from 2008-2009, including a Lichtenstein allegedly damaged then resold. Another Cowles’-owned work,”Innocent Eye Test” by Mark Tansey, was previously embroiled in $4 million ownership suit [AO Newslink]
Gagosian Gallery announces ‘Damien Hirst: The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011,’ to be shown at all 11 galleries worldwide, simultaneously [AO Newslink]
Gagosian Gallery quietly releases info on its representation of the visual art of recording legend Bob Dylan [AO Newslink]
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Gagosian Gallery now represents critically acclaimed Chinese painter Zeng Fanzhi [AO Newslink]
Glenn Brown, Layered Portrait (After Rembrandt) 7 (2008), via Gagosian Gallery
On display through July 23rd 2011 at Genevas’s Gagosian Gallery, are etchings by the artist Glenn Brown. Known for his appropriation of images, here Brown employs portraits by Lucien Freud, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Urs Graf. By first digitally altering the source images and then layering his reworked interpretations, Brown creates composite paintings which serve as the basis for his etchings.
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Elizabeth Peyton, Isa (2010), courtesy of Gagosian Gallery
The recently opened Paris branch of the Gagosian Gallery presents a collection of recent work by the much loved American contemporary artist Elizabeth Peyton. The small presentation of paintings and drawings represents the artist’s first solo exhibition in Paris.
Peyton’s work, consisting mostly of small “jewel-like” portraits, is surprisingly immediate and fresh although her subjects maintain a considerable distance from the viewer. Her works present both contemporary and historical subjects, some of whom have been rendered from photographs and others from life, often Peyton’s own friends.
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Image via New York Times.
Celebrated painter Cy Twombly died today at the age of 83. Twombly passed away from cancer in Rome, where he has been living since 1957. Known as somewhat of a recluse, Twombly usually did not write about his work or give interviews. One of the exceptions to this was made in 2008 when Twombly spoke to Nick Serota, director of the Tate. “I had my freedom and that was nice,” he said.
Born Edwin Parker Twombly, Jr. in 1928 in Lexington, Virginia, and nicknamed “Cy” by his father, the artist was known for his calligraphic style. Writer, critic and assistant professor at the San Francisco Art Institute Claire Daigle writes, “Twombly arrived in Manhattan in 1950 while the New York School painting of Pollock and de Kooning was in full swing. Upon Robert Rauschenberg’s encouragement, Twombly joined him for the 1951–1952 sessions at Black Mountain College near Asheville, North Carolina – a liberal refuge [staffed by] influential teachers present at this time [such as] Charles Olson, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell and John Cage.” In 2001, Twombly won the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale.
Cy Twombly, Untitled, (Peony Blossom Painting), 2007. Image courtesy Gagosian Gallery.
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Installation view of John Chamberlain sculptures at the Gagosian, all images courtesy of the Gagosian Gallery
Gagosian‘s 24th Street location is currently exhibiting a selection of works by American sculptor John Chamberlain, in conjunction with their show in London, which closed recently. Chamberlain’s industrial-style sculptures are made up of used-car parts that he terms “art supplies,” here he continues a technique begun in the late 1950’s that results in beautiful objects that contrast with the mundane origin of their material. The two Gagosian shows are the artist’s first with the gallery following a rumored dispute over the use of a Belgian fabricator for his most recent pieces, the work was refused by former representation Pace but purchased by Gagosian for $20 million.
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John Chamberlain, AWESOMEMEATLOAF (2011)
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Arshile Gorky, Untitled (Study for Pastoral) 1947 via Gagosian
Arshile Gorky‘s ‘1947,’ currently on view at Gagosian‘s Madison Avenue location, operated around the recent discovery of a painting, Untitled (Pastoral), that was produced in this same year but has otherwise never before been exhibited. Hidden for sixty-four years, resting beneath Pastoral on the same stretcher, the work was only uncovered in 2010 during a reframing. Surrounding this new work, the exhibition also shows paintings and drawings drawn from the world’s collections of Gorky – most of which haven’t featured in New York shows for twenty years.
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Marie-Thérèse avec une guirlande (1937) by Pablo Picasso, via Gagosian Gallery
Currently on view at Gagosian Gallery in New York is Picasso and Marie-Thérèse: L’amour fou, an exhibition which reveals the paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures inspired by Marie-Thérèse Walter, one of the most inspiring models of Picasso’s life. The exhibition is a love story of the artist and his muse told through art and is curated by the renowned Picasso biographer, John Richardson in collaboration with Marie-Thérèse’s granddaughter, art historian Diana Widmaier Picasso. It spans the years from 1927 to 1940 and includes several works which have never before been exhibited in the United States.
Following the success of Picasso: Mosqueteros in New York in 2009 and Picasso: The Mediterranean Years in London in 2010, the exhibit presents the next chapter in a continuous exploration of Picasso’s fundamental themes.
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Mark Tansey, Invisible Hand (2011), via Gagosian
Painter Mark Tansey shows recent work at the Gagosian Gallery Beverly Hills through May 27th. Known for his monochromatic composite figurative paintings, Tansey has chosen works done in ultramarine to display in the gallery. His work is well known for crossing the boundaries of illustration and perception- works seem to depict single narratives or settings, but when given a second look, the figures begin to separate from one another and an assortment of new narratives form on the canvas.
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Yayoi Kusama, Reach Up to the Universe, Dotted Pumpkin (2010). All images via Gagosian Gallery.
Following a solemn exhibition of black and white photographs by Gregory Crewdson at the Gagosian Gallery Rome is a psychedelic installation of recent works by Yayoi Kusama, on view now through May 7th. Five bold canvases, including two self portraits, are hung in the main gallery. Around the floor’s perimeter are dozens of highly polished and reflective chrome balls that are a later incarnation of a piece Kusama presented at the 33rd Venice Biennale in 1966 (though back then she was not invited to do so).
Yayoi Kusama, Installation View at Gagosian Gallery Rome
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