Kehinde Wiley is in New York Magazine this week, showcasing gowns from the spring fashion season worn by a number of female models the artist painted for his soon to open Brooklyn Museum exhibition.  “What we wanted to do was to play up the real world within the language of glamour,” Wiley says. “I wanted to have a reprise of that moment, to go back to this idea of fashion and art having something in common, the idea that fashion could change the perception of an individual.” (more…)

Paige Powell, a former girlfriend of Jean-Michel Basquiat, has released a series of polaroids of the young artist near the apex of his creative output, and sat down with Wall Street Journal this week to discuss the artist’s life and work. “He was so young and he was almost at the height of—you know, before he died—acknowledgement in the art world of his talent, his genius,” she says. “He had people coming at him all the time.” (more…)

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Manatee (1994), All images courtesy Pace Gallery

On view from May 9th until June 28th at Pace New York is an exhibition of seventeen large-format photographs by Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto from his most recent body of work. Entitled Still Life, the display gives a prime example of Sugimoto’s mastery of formally composed and exacting photography and printing processes.  Sugimoto has worked in a variety of approaches to still-life and architectural photography over the past years including old American movie palaces, drive-ins, and other structured works. He also formed an architectural practice himself in Tokyo, after receiving many requests to design structures such as restaurants and art museums.

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Still Life (Installation View)

Sugimoto compares the medium of photography as a record-making process to the fossilization process in nature – a moment suspended in time. His Polar Bear (1976) was the first photograph from his Diorama series, and many of the earlier silver gelatin prints also depict animals.  The works are surreal, black and white images of dioramas he photographed in natural history museums, playing on the distorted perspective of “nature” that humans believe to be true. Although the photographs appear to be realistic nature landscapes, they are actually artifically constructed, staged recreations of natural environments on display in museums. Many of the works are representations of animals, but no humans appear in any of the images – in a way, depicting a divide between humans and the natural environment.

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Still Life (Installation View)

The result of Sugimoto’s pieces is at times quite jarring, particularly in works where the separation between recreated environment and museum space suddenly comes into focus.  In several scenes, a notable line can be detected where a museum diorama gives way to painted display, and animals suspended in mid-action are placed in close proximity to a painted counterpart.  The result is a sudden realization of the meticulous placement of each object in the image, not by Sugimoto, but rather the institution which is striving to frame the diorama as a moment of authentic animal behavior.  The diorama, in turn, becomes as much an aesthetic project as it is an archival one, turning the intersection of scientific research and creative impulses into a definitive focal point.

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Still Life (Installation View)

The exhibition Hiroshi Sugimoto: Still Life is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue,Hiroshi Sugimoto: Dioramas, and the display will remain on view at Pace New York through June 28, 2014.

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Polar Bear (1976)

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Still Life (Installation View)

—E. Baker

Related Links:
Exhibition Page [Pace]

Andreas Gursky, Alba (1989), C-Print, Diasec, 87 x 108 7/8 x 2 3/8 inches (framed), Copyright: Andreas Gursky / DACS, 2014, Courtesy Sprüth Magers Berlin London

On view at Sprüth Magers London is an exhibition of important early landscapes from German photographer Andreas Gursky, created between the late 1980s and early 1990s. The photos were taken before Gursky began exploring the use of digital photography, and are simple in form and content, often titled after the location where they were taken. The exhibition will continue through June 21st.

(more…)

Robert Longo is profiled in the Wall Street Journal this week, in advance of the artist’s pair of upcoming shows in New York, on view at Petzel and Metro Pictures.  “The shows are interconnected in lots of personal ways—and lots of socially and politically relevant ways,” he says. “They’re more about drawing than anything else. In the past, many of my drawings were displayed behind glass, so a lot of people think they’re just photographs. This time, without the plexiglass, you can see the drawing more.” (more…)

Chuck Close, Untitled Torso Diptych (2001), all images courtesy Pace Gallery

Taking an inside look at the meticulous creative process of artist Chuck Close, Pace Gallery in New York presents an exhibition featuring Polaroids, daguerreotypes and an acrylic painting exploring the artist’s continually shifting approach to the human figure.  The exhibition focuses on “the body,” a subject long-investigated by the artist.  Born in 1940 in Monroe, Washington, Chuck Close is best known for his many renditions of the human face. Mostly large in scale and based on photographs, his works are in the permanent collections of major museums and galleries around the globe, and have been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions in more than 20 countries.

(more…)

Photographer Nan Goldin is profiled in The Guardian this week, as the artist prepares for the release of her new book, Eden and After.  Reviewing the impact of her early series The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, Goldin discusses ties between her work and the ubiquitous nightlife photography present on Instagram today.   “Most of that stuff is so easy and lacking in any kind of emotional depth or context,” she says. “Nowadays, people forget how radical my work was when it first appeared. Nobody else was doing what I did.” (more…)

Artist Richard Prince and photographer Patrick Cariou have reportedly settled their case over Prince’s alleged copyright infringement, The New York Times reports.  Prince, who had won a landmark “fair-use” ruling on a majority of the works in question (his Canal Zone series) last year, has settled the case in undisclosed terms, but court documents have indicated that he will not be forced to destroy the works in question. (more…)

Photographer Collier Schorr is profiled in the New York Times this week, following the opening of her newest show at 303 earlier this month.  “I don’t know what to do until I meet them,” Schorr says of engaging with the models she shoots. “Who are you? I’m going to take that picture.” (more…)

This past week, artist Richard Prince had his Instagram account deactivated for posting an image of his work Spiritual America (a nude photo of ten year-old Brooke Shields) on his account, then reinstated.  The artist recounts the experience on New York Magazine’s website:  “The thing goes black on your phone, and they have a little graphic username login. I could not, through my phone, reenter the world of Disney. It’s like Walt is behind me.” (more…)

Alex Prager, Crowd # 9 (Sunset), Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin

With a double show at Lehmann Maupin’s New York galleries, entitled Face in the Crowd, and another exhibition in Corcoran’s DC gallery, photographer Alex Prager has emerged from Los Angeles to take up major art world real estate this winter. Prager’s work is instantly recognizable, a savvy blend of mid-century nostalgia repackaged for our current moment, and it seems the rest of the fashion and art world have finally caught up with her. (more…)

Street artist JR has unveiled his recent collaboration with the New York City Ballet, an expansive vinyl photograph of 80 dancers installed on the floor of the Koch Theatre’s marble promenade.  The image, twisted to look like an enormous eye, is best viewed from higher up, in the cheaper seats of the theatre, and acts as something of an equalizing project for the space.  “Now you’re inviting everyone to come up there,” the artist said. “And I like that, that it breaks boundaries — that anyone should be on any floor, it doesn’t matter.” (more…)

Balthus, Untitled (1990 – 2000) ©Harumi Klossowska de Rola.  Courtesy Gagosian Gallery

Inaugurating a new ground-floor gallery at 976 Madison Avenue, Gagosian presents The Last Studies, a never before seen exhibition and the gallery’s first partnering with the Estate of Balthus – on display until December 21.

(more…)

William Eggleston, At Zenith I (1979-2013), © Eggleston Artistic Trust. Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery

On view at Gagosian in New York is a unique exhibition of works by William Eggleston photographed during a road trip he took from Georgia to Tennessee in 1978. These photos of the sky taken with an early disposable camera are meant to evoke the feeling and aesthetics of classical paintings. (more…)

Elad Lassry, Untitled (Artwork) (2013), via 303 Gallery

“What is the philosophical location of a picture?” asks the press release for Elad Lassry’s current show at 303 Gallery.  It’s a question that Lassry has posed for several years now, using appropriated and self-made photographs, colored frames and sculptural materials to recreate the 2-Dimensional image in a broader dialogue with its surroundings.  Complicating the assemblage of the photograph, Lassry boils it down to its raw elements, placing the viewer in a new awareness of the photograph itself as a physical object.

Elad Lassry (Installation View), via 303 Gallery (more…)

Laurel Nakadate, Portland, Oregon #1 (2012), via Leslie Tonkonow

Strangers and Relations is a two-part project by American photographer and filmmaker Laurel Nakadate, in which the artist photographs strangers she connected with through the Internet, and arranged to meet in 31 different states within the US. and parts of Europe. The exhibition is being held at Leslie Tonkonow in New York City. (more…)

Preview
Chuck Close, Prints: Process and Collaboration (Installation View), via White Cube

As part of a global tour featuring Chuck Close’s graphic works, curated by the Parrish Art Museum, USA, are currently on view at the White Cube Bermondsey South Galleries in London. Featuring a particular focus on Close’s prints, the exhibition brings a series of meticulously time-consuming works by the artist to light that stand strongly alongside his better-known, large-scale paintings.

(more…)

The closing of Christie’s online auction of works by Andy Warhol has seen the auction exceed expectations, pulling in a total of $2.3 million to benefit the Andy Warhol Foundation.  With an online attendance of over 65,000 visitors, bidding for a number of works was extremely competitive, as evidenced by the sale of Warhol’s lithograph of Marilyn Monroe’s lips for $112,500, over 40 times its estimated sale price.  Christie’s has already announced its next Warhol online auction in April, focusing on the artist’s time at Studio 54. (more…)