Sigmar Polke, Untitled (1985), via Michael Werner

Marking a timely overlap with the artist’s February 13th birthday, Michael Werner Gallery is currently showing a series of paintings from Sigmar Polke’s Pour series, delving into the artist’s relentlessly inventive and exploratory approach to the canvas.  Primarily focused around works from the later years of the artist’s career, particularly the late 1990’s, the gallery exhibition also welcomes a deeper engagement with time, offering several early works drawing on techniques that Polke would later expand on, underlining his expansive and often self-reflective inclinations towards his own body of work.

Sigmar Polke, Pour Paintings on Paper (Installation View), via Michael Werner

(more…)

A.R. Penck, Elektrischer Stuhl (1960), all photos via Osman Can Yerebakan

Climbing up the winding staircase of Michael Werner Gallery’s Upper East Side townhouse and entering the exhibition space, one is immediately faced with Elektrischer Stuhl (Electric Chair), a painting of a man being executed before a group of mourners.  The work, by Neo-Expressionist painter A.R. Penck, perhaps best embodies the artist’s combination of abrasive political gesture with his particular sense of aesthetic operation.  Early Works, on view at the gallery through September 3rd, outlines the body of Penck’s work in Dresden in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, when the influential artist suffered under the harsh social and political climate prevailing in East Germany.  It was during this period that the artist was the subject of an embargo by the government on his works, ultimately leading him to flee his hometown for Cologne, where he received a marked degree of critical and commercial acclaim.

A.R. Penck, Standart-Modell/CCCP-Studie (1972-73) (more…)

Peter Doig, Horse and Rider (2014)

Following his solo exhibition at Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa that coincided with the 56th Venice Biennale, Peter Doig is the subject of an exhibition at Michael Werner‘s Upper East Side townhouse with his new body of work.  Featuring works from the artist’s Italian debut, the selection of pieces at the gallery includes works Doig created in 2015, reflecting the Trinidad-based artist’s most recent artistic endeavors, and an expansion of his increasingly fluid and expressive hand. (more…)

James Lee Byars, The Figure of Death (1987), via Art Observed

This summer, Michael Werner Gallery’s New York location exhibits a pair of sculptures from James Lee Byars; The Figure of Death (1987) and The Moon Column (1990) are shown concurrently with two other exhibitions of Byars’ work, The Diamond Floor and The Poetic Conceit and Other Works, on view at the gallery’s London and Berlin locales, respectively. (more…)

The New York Times reports on how artists are increasingly making large scale work, galvanizing a trend in commercial galleries in London, Los Angeles and New York to provide massive spaces in which to show it, formerly the role of the museum.  With the increase in not only monumental sculpture and installation, video pieces also require large amounts of space, often incorporating multi-channel projections. (more…)

Lynda Benglis sculptures and Hans Hurting paintings at Cheim & Read’s booth at Frieze Masters. All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed unless otherwise noted

Frieze Masters and Frieze London concluded on October 14th, with both fairs reporting solid sales on the high end. This year, there was a distinct focus on curated booths and curatorial projects and less of an overt feeling of commercialization. Frieze Masters in particular focused on serious connoisseurship and an academic approach, both of which translated into a successful fair for dealers.

(more…)

Image:  Peter Doig, Painting for Wall Painters (Prosperity P.o.S.), 2010-2012, Courtesy Michael Werner Gallery

In the inauguration of Michael Werner Gallery’s new location, an exhibition of new works by Turner Prize nominee and Wolfgang Hahn Prize recipient Peter Doig opened on September 27th (his first solo exhibition in London since 2008) at 22 Upper Brook Street in Mayfair, London.

(more…)

Storied art dealer Michael Werner has donated a collection of 130 works to the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris. “[His] gift represents the most significant enrichment…since the bequest made by Dr Maurice Girardin in 1953, which led to the creation of the Institution,” says Fabrice Hergott, gallery director.

(more…)

Francis Picabia, Printemps (1942-43)

Currently being shown at Michael Werner Gallery in New York is an exhibition of the French surrealist/Dadaist painter Francis Picabia. The exhibition has a particular focus on the artists’ later works, during which he explored methods of painting beyond the conventional and expected of the time. While Picabia’s work stands alongside the exploratory French artists and thinkers of the early 20th century, it is also branded in his unique sensibilities, constantly changing and seemingly never satisfied.

(more…)