Michelangelo Pistoletto has been tapped as the next artist to show at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. “I am very pleased to be presenting a comprehensive show of my work within a place brimming with history, tradition, and craft,” he said of the show, opening this September. “I look forward to seeing my art in an entirely new context.” (more…)
Willem de Kooning, Untitled XXVIII (1977), via Phillips
Sales resumed for New York’s fall auction weeks yesterday evening, as a Sunday sale at Phillips combined early 20th Century works and contemporary artists in a brisk sale that began strong but stumbled towards the later half of the sale, as 9 of 52 lots ultimately went unsold, achieving a final tally of $66.9 million (just within estimate). (more…)
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Pistoletto Politico (Installation View), via Luxembourg and Dayan
The Years of Lead, between the late 1960’s and early 1980’s, were a divisive, violent time for the nation of Italy, reflecting the severe growing pains of a country recovering from the horrors of World War II while contending with rapidly shifting power flows and political ideologies that split much of Europe. With the economy at a standstill, and bloodshed in the streets, the country was forced to take a hard look at itself, evaluating its own identity and divided society.
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Pistoletto Politico (Installation View), via Luxembourg and Dayan
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Exhibition view, 2012 courtesy Linnea West
Michelangelo Pistoletto invites us to complete his latest artworks in the Simon Lee Gallery with images of ourselves. This is his second exhibition in the gallery (entitled Lavoro), of his ‘mirror works’, which are constructed of reflected stainless steel so the final product is forced to change every time someone enters into close proximity of the work.
Lavoro is Italian for ‘work’ ; the mirror medium is superimposed with silk screened prints of construction materials and elements of a building site. The entire gallery floor is interspersed with thematic elements such as erratically placed ladders and stacks of crates which, in turn, interact with the mirrored images exhibited around the room, changing what can be viewed while the spectator is in motion.
The WSJ reports on a vineyard in Tuscany that has been commissioning projects by well-known contemporary artists for over a decade. Lorenza Sebasti and Marco Pallanti, the husband and wife owners, started their first of 12 commissions at the vineyard with a work by Michelangelo Pistoletto, at a rate of about one per year. The works are created in situ among stone buildings and 18th-century villas. Artists who have commissioned works include Louise Bourgeios, Daniel Buren and Anish Kapoor, among others. (more…)
Allora & Calzadilla, Umbrella and Bell (2011), front; Anish Kapoor, Untitled (2011), behind. At Lisson Gallery, booth J1. All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse.
International collectors and art enthusiasts filled the Miami Beach Convention Center for the Wednesday preview of Art Basel Miami Beach 2011. While the maze of gallery booths could seem overwhelming, buyers were able to navigate through for a solid day of sales and works placed on reserve. Larger galleries such as Gagosian, David Zwirner, and Sprüth Magers sold several works and editions thereof. Speaking with Neil Wenman of Hauser & Wirth, “We’ve had a great response on the opening day. In particular for works by Thomas Houseago, Rashid Johnson, Paul McCarthy, Matthew Day Jackson, Richard Jackson—all works sold and all available editions.” Jenny Holzer’s new paintings at Sprüth Magers sold for upwards of $300,000, as well as Condos and Krugers at the booth. Lesser-known galleries were pleased to gain the exposure the fair offers; if not selling right away, interest was high and therefore also prospects for the remainder of the fair. Gallery Arratia Beer said the crowd was very engaged and informed, also saying, “The fair feels very international. It’s also good to see young internationals here too.” The newer Latin American presence was reportedly strong, both exhibiting and buying, as expected in Miami as opposed to the Frieze or FIAC fairs across the Atlantic earlier this year. Celebrities on hand included Julian Schnable, Eli Broad, Brett Rattner, Naomi Campbell, and Sean Combs/P. Diddy.
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Michelangelo Pistoletto, Lavatore – impalcatura (2008-2011). All images via Simon Lee Gallery.
His second exhibition at Simon Lee Gallery, Michelangelo Pistoletto uses a process-as-product aesthetic to address themes of production, labor, and inevitably, deconstruction. The exhibition, titled Lavoro (Italian for to work or to operate), displays objects of construction as a means of revealing the art inherent to the tools that produce it, revisiting the artist’s fascination with ideas of assembly and process, and the socio-political implications thereof.
More text and images after the jump…
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Installation view (2011), all images via Serpentine Gallery
Currently showing at the Serpentine Gallery is Michelangelo Pistoletto‘s sprawling labyrinth of one continuous roll of corrugated cardboard. Custom made for the space, the chest-high installation snakes in and out of each room, constantly diverting the viewer’s course and occasionally taking them to one of several main focus points at which large mirrors (a motif repeatedly used by the artist) are located.
More images and story after the jump…
Installation image, all photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed unless otherwise noted
Currently on view at the Palais de Toyko is Fresh Hell, a group exhibition curated by British-born New York-based artist Adam McEwen. Shedding a bit of dark humor on the city of Paris, McEwen brings together medieval sculpture and conceptual work from artists long forgotten as well as contemporary artists, pondering just what sort of position and creative endeavors an artist can make in today’s world. The works deal with morbidity, decay, and notions of ‘the end,’ making Death the principle theme.
More text and images after the jump…
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mappamondo (Globe), 1966-1968. Via NY Times
Prior to being encased in the metal cage above, Michelangelo Pistoletto‘s solid newspaper Globe was rolled through the streets of Philadelphia as a recreation of the artist’s first ‘walking sculpture.’ Using mirrors, public performance, and sculptures like the newspaper ball, the Italian artist includes his audience as a core function of his work. Spanning his early years, from 1956-1974, From One to Many at the Philadelphia Museum of Art captures the evolution of Pistoletto’s participatory art with over 100 works, from the Mirroring Paintings, Minus Objects, and Rags, to various footage of Happening-esque enactments by his acting troup Lo Zoo, with a portion also devoted to his all inclusive art-community Citadellarte which he founded in 1998.
More text and images after the jump…
Team Gallery Booth at Art Basel 2010, Image via Art Basel.
AO is on site at Art Basel, Switzerland, where Wednesday marked the official, public opening of the international show. On the roster was an inaugural Conversation Series speech by Paul McCarthy, an Art Film at Stadtkino Basel, and an Artist’s Talk with Rodney Graham at Kunstmuseum. If the congenial and thronged atmosphere hadn’t tipped us off to the anticipation surrounding this year’s exhibitions, Tuesday’s sales would have been a clear indication. A $15 million Picasso 1960 plaster maquette, Personnage, was snatched up immediately from Krugier Gallery by one of the VIP guests (an American collector) invited to Basel’s early opening, as was a line drawing by the same artist, one by Egon Schiele, and paintings by Max Ernst and Paul Klee. Sara Kay of the Geneva- and New York-based Kugier Gallery was unable to disclose the buyer of yesterday’s Picasso sale, but ten minutes after the purchase’s confirmation noted to Art Info that “[The] piece went to a very important collector with the best modern masters. This is museum-quality, not trophy-level. It’s a very serious piece.” Skarstedt Gallery also enjoyed a meritorious patronage yesterday, with sales including a Christopher Wool painting, Untitled, for $800,000, a Barbara Kruger photograph for $700,000, a Cindy Sherman piece for $500,000, and two works by George Condo: The Madman and The Colorful Banker, which fetched $375,000 and $225,000, respectively. Hufkens Gallery sold a Louise Bourgeois etching, A Baudelaire (#7), which the late artist completed several months before her death in May, for $650,000 to a European collector. Cheim & Read boasted a lucrative afternoon as well, with sales including a $2 million Joan Mitchell abstraction, a $125,000 Sam Francis drawing, a $100,000 Ghada Amer painting, Paradise, and a 28-strong Bourgeois watercolor series, Les Fleurs. Lisson Gallery sold two Anish Kapoor‘s for $742,000. Richard Prince‘s Student Nurse brought Gagosian $4.2 million, and Paul McCarthy’s bronze suites–Sneezy and Dopey–yielded Hauser & Wirth a combined total of $3 million. Blum & Poe sold a dyptich by Takashi Murakami for $1 million. White Cube reportedly sold six of Damien Hirst‘s new paintings, as well as Hirst’s “Memories of Love,” valued at $3.48 million. Lehmann Maupin sold two neon works by Tracey Emin, each for $74,000.
Damien Hirst, ““Memories of Love,” at White Cube’s booth, sold for $3.48 million. Image by Art Observed.
More images and text after the jump…
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George Condo, Cocktail Drinker (1995) All images via Luhring Augustine
In commemoration of their 25th anniversary, Luhring Augustine is hosting an exhibition titled, “Twenty Five.” The show pulls together works from the gallery’s past and present by artists including Janine Antoni, Nobuyoshi Araki, Janet Cardiff and Georges Bures Miller, Larry Clark, George Condo, Gregory Crewdson, William Daniels, Günter Förg, Zarina Hashmi, Johannes Kahrs, Jon Kessler, Martin Kippenberger, Ragnar Kjartansson, Luisa Lambri, Glenn Ligon, Paul McCarthy, Yasumasa Morimura, Daido Moriyama, Reinhard Mucha, David Musgrave, Cady Nolan, Alberta Oehlen, Ed Paschke, Jack Pierson, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Stephen Prina, Pipilotti Rist, Josh Smith, Joel Sternfeld, Tunga, Guido van der Werve, Rachel Whiteread, Christopher Williams, Steve Wolfe, and Christopher Wool.
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Spiegel in Kabine mit Passtücken (Spiegel von Michelangelo Pistoletto), Franz West (1996) Image Via Museum Ludwig
Currently on view at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne is Auto-Theatre – the first major European retrospective of Franz West. For this exhibition, West himself grouped over 40 works in themed constellations allowing the visitor to experience the sheer complexity and singularity of his oeuvre. The title Autotheater (Auto-Theatre) points to the performative, interactive dimension of his work and included are the West’s earliest Adaptives (Passstücke) and collages from the 1970s, papier-mâché sculptures, furniture and site-specific installations, his picture walls from the Eighties and his latest sculptures for public spaces.
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Michaelangelo Pistoletto’s performance of ‘Seventeen Less One’ at the Venice Biennale, photo by ArtObserved
The 53rd Venice Biennale is now open to the public after a press preview June 4-6. During that time, Art Observed was on site and also has collected some of the relevant news stories covering the event from the global press.
U.S. representative Bruce Nauman won the Golden Lion for best national participation for his exhibition ‘Topological Gardens,’ curated by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Also receiving Golden Lions are Yoko Ono, John Baldessari, and Tobias Rehberger, who won the best artist award for his work ‘What you love also makes you cry.’ Highlights of the Biennale include Britain’s Steve McQueen’s film ‘Giardini,’ which portrays the Biennale Gardens when not used as exhibition space, Liam Gillick at the German Pavilion, covered by AO here, Elmgreem and Dragset’s ‘The Collectors’ at the Danish and Nordic Pavilions, and ‘Making Worlds,’ the International Art Exhibition curated by Daniel Birnbaum, both covered by AO here.
On the Biennale:
Venice Biennale 2009: the opening day [GuardianUK]
Venice Biennale 2009 [Vernissage TV]
On your vaporetto to the far pavilions [GuardianUK]
Venice Biennale is a glimpse of the future [TimesUK]
Venice Biennale 2009: A photographer’s view [GuardianUK]
Trading places [Financial Times]
Venice Biennale Opens Showing Works by Over 90 Artists from all Over the World [Artdaily]
A More Serene Biennale [NY Times]
This, That, and the Other [Artforum]
It’s Reigning Men [ArtForum]
Blasblog From Venice: And So It Begins [Style.com]
“Art Is Everywhere” [Style.com]
The Venice Biennale opens with top honors for a German artist [Deutsche Welle via Art Review]
Over and Over: Art That Never Stops [NY Times]
On Bruce Naumann and the US Pavillion:
Bruce Nauman wins a Golden Lion at Venice Biennale [LA Times]
Venice is doubly enamored of Bruce Nauman [LA Times]
Venice Biennial: Hear the U.S. Roar [Wall Street Journal]
Shaking up the world of art for decades [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Golden Lion for the Best National Participation Awarded to the U.S. Representation [Artdaily]
Nauman Tops Venice Biennale, Wins Golden Lion: Martin Gayford [Bloomberg]
On Pinault’s innaugaration of his new museum:
Francois Pinault Opens The New Punta della Dogana Contemporary Art Centre in Venice [Artdaily]
How the French Charles Saatchi became the merchant of Venice [Guardian]
Pinault’s Venice Empire Grows With Cool Contemporary-Art Museum [Bloomberg]
On Steven McQueen, representing the UK at the Biennale:
Steve McQueen at the Venice Biennale: Private view with Adrian Searle [Guardian]
Art Charities Collaborate to Fund Steve McQueen’s Giardini for Venice [Artdaily]
Steve McQueen found something new in Venice [Guardian]
Steve McQueen’s “Giardini” at the Venice Biennale [IFC]
Steve McQueen lets Venice Biennale viewer do the feeling with Giardini [Times]
On Swoon’s Swimming Cities of the Serrenisma,video from the New York Landing of her boat in previously in Long Island City covered by Art Observed here:
Barging in to Venice [New York]
Swoon in Venice, Italy [dailyDuJour]
Barging in to Venice [New York Magazine]
And more:
Venice Biennale: Flashing Lights [NY Times]
Venice Biennale: Ships in the Sky [NY Times]
Venice Biennale: Listening to Art [NY Times]
Rauschenberg at the Guggenheim in Venice [Financial Times]
United Arab Emirates confronts stereotypes in Venice Biennale debut [GuardianUK]
Ukraine pavilion is a Venice Biennale knockout [TimesUK]
more photos and story after the jump…
