David Hockney – A Closer Winter Tunnel, February–March (2006), Guggenheim Bilbao

British painter David Hockney has, over the course of his 50 year career, continually pushed the conceptions of landscape painting, exploring various approaches to form, color and composition that mirror his ongoing fascination with shifting technologies and cultural perception. Now, his work is being shown at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao as the second venue of a major exhibition of the Yorkshire native’s work, including a large collection of works done in his home town.

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Anish Kapoor with his work, Vertigo (2008), via Guggenheim Bilbao

Currently showing at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain is an exhibit of works by Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor. Kapoor is known for his simple, large, monochromatic pieces. His work has been shown internationally and is featured in many large cities around the world. According to the gallery’s website, this show is the first large-scale exhibition of Kapoor’s work shown in Spain.

Shooting into the Corner (2008-09) by Anish Kapoor, via A World to Win

More text and images 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]

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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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Juan Muñoz’s Hanging Figure, part of the retrospective of his work now showing at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. Image courtesy of the Museum.

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia is hosting a retrospective of the works of Juan Muñoz.  The show is rotating between the Tate Modern, Guggenheim Bilbao, and Serralves Foundation and will leave its current home on August 31, 2009.  This the most complete retrospective of the artist’s work to date, even featuring works never before exhibited.  The retrospective spans sixteen years, since Muñoz’s first solo exhibition in 1984 to the last piece he finished before his death in 2001.  The retrospective  is organized and curated in collaboration with Tate Modern.

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Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia – Exhibitions
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Juan Muñoz [artist page]

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Juan Muñoz, Conversation Piece, courtesy of the Museum.

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Untitled (Peonias series) by Cy Twombly, on display at the Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain

100 of Cy Twombly’s works, including paintings, drawings and sculptures are on display at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, marking the most comprehensive show the artist has had in thus far in Spain and highlighting the tremendous influence Cy Twombly has had on postwar art. Curated by Carmen Gimenez, Guggenheim Bilbao’s curator of 20th Century art, the exhibition is a joint effort between that museum and the Tate Modern, and is arranged in roughly chronological order, featuring some well known Twombly pieces.

Nine Discourses on Commodus (1963), a recent acquisition belonging to the Guggenheim Bilbao’s permanent collection, is a nine piece polyptych that is also a central piece in the exhibition. Meant to be viewed together, the panels are a meditation on Commodus, a Roman Emperor and son of Marcus Aurelius, reflecting Twombly’s career-long interest in antiquity and mythology. Ferragosto (1961), a five piece set which was actually the first series of paintings conceived as such by Twombly. The series, which unlike Commodus can be viewed as separate pieces unto themselves, was previously spread across the collections of several museums and private collections; the display at the Guggenheim is thus a unique opportunity to see them all at once. Quattro Stagioni (1993-5), a series currently housed at the Tate Modern in London which revolves around seasonal themes, symbols and colors, is another important series on display.

Many of the works are on loan from renowned arts institutions, including the Tate Modern in London, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris as well as from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Menil Collection of Houston and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., among others. The exhibit occupies the entire second floor, and a gallery on the first floor of the landmark museum designed by Frank Gehry, a setting which is a work of art itself and can be seen to interact with the works in the exhibit.

CY TWOMBLY
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Guggenheim Museum
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Bilbao, Bizkaia, Spain
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through February 15, 2009

Artist Page: Cy Twombly at the Gagosian Gallery
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Exhibit page: Cy Twombly at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
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Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Celebrates Cy Twombly’s 80th Birthday with Exhibition [ArtDaily]
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Previously on ArtObserved: GO SEE: CY TWOMBLY AT TATE MODERN, UK, THROUGH SEPTEMBER 14

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Cai Guo-Qiang “I want to believe” via I Love This World

Cai Guo-Qiang has “I Want To Believe” at Beijing’s National Art Museum for the Olympics [Artdaily]
and the artist was also behind the pyrotechnics at the opening ceremony [art 21]
Electronic band Underworld produces an art exhibition [NYSun]
In the tail of an embezzlement inquiry, Guggenheim Bilbao admits to a $6.17M loss due to the purchase of Richard Serra works in dollars versus euros [The Art Newspaper]
In Bern, Switzerland Paul McCarthy’s work ‘Complex Shit’ – a massive, inflatable depiction of dog feces – breaks from its moorings and knocks out a power line and some windows before crashing into a children’s home [GuardianUK] more here [The Independent]

Marc Jacobs channels Andy Warhol via Interview Magazine

Interview Magazine, founded by Warhol, dedicates this month to Warhol [Interview Magazine]
Bilbao Guggenheim makes a $156M expansion into the countryside, more here [Reuters] [NYTimes]
Tracey Emin’s 1st retrospective will be in Edinburgh [Times Online]
Steve McQueen, an artist working primarily in film, represent Britain at Venice Biennale [Guardian]
A major Goya was in the end painted by his pupil [Independent]
Victor Pinchuk and Carlos Slim Helu newly make Top 10 of top 200 art collectors [ArtNews]