A recent chemistry study by scientists at the University of Antwerp has uncovered evidence showing that the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh have slowly but surely been changing colors over the course of a century due to a rare lead pigment used for red paints that gradually fades when exposed to light.  “Normally, the idea is these paintings are there for a hundred years, or five hundred years, and they’re static – nothing really changes,” says researcher Koen Janssens. “But the opposite is actually true when you look in detail.” (more…)

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Just Sour) (1982), By Kent Pell from The Schorr Family Collection © The Estate Of Jean-Michel Basquiat, ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York 2014

Now through June 13, the Acquavella Gallery is hosting an exhibition entirely dedicated to Jean-Michel Basquiat’s works on paper. The show, curated by Fred Hoffman, includes 22 drawings and one painting from the collection of Herbert and Lenore Schorr, a pair of Basquiat’s earliest collectors and friends, and dedicated predominantly to the artist’s works on paper, revealing a range and complexity few associate with Basquiat’s work.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Unttitled (1981), By Kent Pell from The Schorr Family Collection © The Estate Of Jean-Michel Basquiat, ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York 2014

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Julian Schnabel, Untitled (los Patos Del Buen Retiro II) (1991), via Art Observed

It’s not difficult to make links between young painters currently working today and Julian Schnabel.  The improvisatory, often deconstructive approach to the canvas as such pervades much of the medium’s current practice, and as if by some tacit understanding, few artists can be seen at as many shows of young painters as Schnabel himself, a man who seems invested not only in the next generation of New York artists (his patronage of the BHQF, for example, among others), but also in his impact on them. (more…)

Nate Lowman, This Is Your Brain On Drugs Again, via Art Observed

Nate Lowman’s current solo show is notable in its subtlety.  Once a maker of enormous reproductions of vinyl, consumer-grade bullet hole decals and canvases covered with smiley-faces, Lowman’s new work currently on view at Maccarone Gallery takes a different tack entirely.  Lightly painted, cut canvases and pixelated cut-outs dot the works, rendering soft, pastel forms that mark a notable break from the often harsh images of urban decay he so often selected as the subject of his past practice.

Nate Lowman, Rave the Painforest (Installation View), via Art Observed (more…)

Ali Banisadr, Ran (2014), all images courtesy Sperone Westwater

Currently on view at Sperone Westwater in New York is an exhibition of new works by Iranian painter Ali Banisadr.  Entitled Motherboard, the exhibition is Banisadr’s first solo show at at the gallery, and will remain on view through April 19, 2014.

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David Salle, Ghost 1 (1992), © David Salle, VAGA, NY. Courtesy, Skarstedt New York

Currently on view at Skarstedt Gallery’s uptown space is a series of 13 works by David Salle, from his Ghost Paintings series.  Executed in 1992, these busy, color-inflected works were created from a series of photographs, documenting improvised actions with an enormous white sheet.  Taken as a whole, the works create a dialogue on the image as the result of a series of practices, processes and flows, rendering a final piece that belies its mode of creation in subtle ways. (more…)

Tacita Dean, c/o Jolyon, 2012-2013 (detail), courtesy Frith Street Gallery

The current exhibition on view at Frith Street Gallery in London features Tacita Dean’s 2012-2013 projects, JG  (a 26.5 minute film shot on 35mm anamorphic film) and c/o Jolyon, a series of 100 original postcards of pre-war Kassel in Germany, overpainted with contemporary scenes from the same place.

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Street artist Banksy has announced a monthlong exhibition on the streets of New York City, beginning this week.  In a message posted on the artist’s website, Banksy revealed that his show Better Out Than In, would be spread across the city, with each work accompanied by a toll free phone number viewers can call to hear witty descriptions of the work.  The first piece has already appeared at 18 Allen Street downtown.  “Hello, and welcome to Lower Manhattan,” the recorded message says. “Before you, you will see a ‘spray art’ by the artist Ban-sky (sp). Or maybe not; it’s probably been painted over by now.” (more…)

The accusations and investigations surrounding the Knoedler Gallery, and the arrest of dealer Glafira Rosales have taken a new turn, with the identification of the forger of at least 63 works attributed to Modernist masters like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.  Artist Pei-Shen Qian, is a Chinese painter living in Queens, who fled his country in the wake of the cultural revolution, and who has eked out a living selling forged works to Rosales for over 15 years.  His payment for these works rarely exceeded several thousand dollars, even though some of the works sold for millions.  “I didn’t know he had this kind of a good technique,” said Qian’s friend and fellow artist Zhang Hongtu. “He had some talent, but I don’t believe he can paint in the same style as a Jackson Pollock; it’s not easy to copy this kind of style.” (more…)

The Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles is nearing completion on a yearlong restoration of Jackson Pollack’s Mural.  Using new technologies and approaches on the $140 million work, the work has been analyzed by a series of noninvasive x-rays and other approaches to determine not only the original composition of the work, but also other efforts in doctoring or restoring the work in the past.  “From the chemical composition and buildup of paints, we are unlocking evidence of Pollock’s creative process, his choice of materials, and any alterations through time,” says conservation analyst Alan Phenix. (more…)

Alex Israel, Self-Portrait (2013), via Peres Projects

Los Angeles-based Alex Israel makes work that seems constantly engaged with his home city, the Californian metropolis that plays home to so many of image-driven outlets of the culture industry.  Borrowing from the high-gloss, high production-value world of the Hollywood studio systems and culture corporations, Israel’s works explore the trappings and conventions of celebrity, perception and fame in the context of a city so actively engaged in the manipulation of each.

Alex Israel, Self-Portraits (Installation View), via Peres Projects (more…)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is about to open its newest commission for its rooftop garden, a spattered-red work by Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi that plays on the images of blood, and leads a series of works currently on view across New York that play with similarly violent imagery.  Responding to bombings in Lahore and Boston, the artist intended the works to provide a moment of reflection, playing against the pristine backdrop of Central Park. (more…)

Sabine Moritz, Mother (2010), via Marian Goodman

Limbo, the state of being suspended in time, between past and future, repose and action, is the title of Sabine Moritz’s first solo show with Marian Goodman Gallery in Paris.  Spread over two floors, the exhibition includes eighteen oil on canvas paintings, and over sixty drawings, a dense body of work started in late 2001.  Moritz, who lives and works in Cologne, Germany, was on her way to New York City on September 11th, when her plane was diverted up to Nova Scotia. For three days she was stuck in this remote landscape, with thousands of other displaced travelers, watching the events and its aftermath unfold. This period of waiting and disconnect, gave her time to reflect about the changing nature of borders, conflict, and the technology of war.

Sabine Moritz, Limbo (Installation View), via Marian Goodman

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