AO Art Observed™

Desmond by Jean Michel Basquiat, up for auction at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Auction, via Christie’s

In addition to selling a rare portrait by Francis Bacon, Christie’s October 19 auction catalogue features a long list of post-war luminaries. Several portraits of Mao and Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol figure prominently among the auction’s offerings. A sculpture by Jeff Koons, as well as pieces by Jean Michel Basquiat, Gerhard Richter, Richard Prince, Anish Kapoor, Willem de Kooning, Lucian Freud and a plethora of other artists account for the rest of the lots. The priciest of 48 lots is expected to be Lucio Fontana’s canvas, Concetto spaziale, la fine di Dio, which should fetch around £12 million pounds ($21.8 million).

Christie’s: Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Christie’s: Press Release for Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Fontana work may fetch $21.8 million in Record Christie’s Sale [Bloomberg]
Bacon Portrait Expected to Sell for £7.5 million at Christie’s Auction in October [ArtObserved]

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Installation View via Matthew Marks Gallery

Painting: Now and Forever, Part II remains on view through August 15 as a joint exhibition at Matthew Marks Gallery, 522 West 22nd Street and Greene Naftali Gallery, 508 West 26th Street. The show is a reprisal of one held ten years ago, but from a different angle. The artists in the current show are Kai Althoff, Cosima von Bonin, Merlin Carpenter, Mathew Cerletty, Wojciech Fangor, Katharina Fritsch, Gelitin, Isa Genzken, Poul Gernes, Daan van Golden, Jack Goldstein, Rodney Graham, Wade Guyton, Richard Hawkins, Mary Heilmann, Sophie von Hellermann, Charline von Heyl, Ull Hohn, Sergej Jensen, Mike Kelley, Ellsworth Kelly, Karen Kilimnik, Martin Kippenberger, Michael Krebber, William Leavitt, Michel Majerus, Bjarne Melgaard, Laura Owens, Blinky Palermo, Stephen Prina, R.H. Quaytman, Ugo Rondinone, Paul Sharits, Josh Smith, Reena Spaulings, Lily van der Stokker, Atsuko Tanaka, Paul Thek, Anne Truitt, Kelley Walker, Christopher Wool, and Katharina Wulff.

Painting: Now and Forever, Part II [Artcal]
Painting Now and Forever, Part II at Green Naftali [Flavorpill]
Painting: Now and Forever, Part II at Green Naftali and Matthew Marks [Design Boom]
Painting: Now and Forever, Part II, in collaboration with Green Naftali Gallery [Matthew Marks]
Painting: Now and Forever, Part II [Village Voice]

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Guernica, Pablo Picasso (1937) via BBC

Picasso’s famous Guernica in ’stable but serious’ condition and deemed ‘too fragile to move,’ more here [Daily Telegraph] [The Guardian]
Bravo picked up Sarah Jessica Parker’s art reality show, covered in March by AO here [Gawker]
The Sun on Twombly’s first retrospective in 15 years, showing at the Tate Modern [NYSun]
Review of Richard Prince at Serpentine: ‘the coolest artist alive’ [Telegraph]
The Economist begins a summer series on collectors, starting with a historical view [The Economist]
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich finances Russia’s first retrospective by postwar artists in a 150 work show at his girlfriend ‘Dasha’ Zhukova’s galllery [Bloomberg]

Snow Scene at Argenteuil 1875 by Claude Monet (1840-1926) via Guardian

On view at Tate Britain: 18 masterpieces recently bequeathed to British National Gallery, including works by Degas, Freud, Monet, worth roughly $200,000,000 [GuardianUK]
The art/fashion, Vuitton/Richard Prince link in London [Bloomberg]
Mutualart.com’s Top Art Exhibitions for 2008 [Businessweek]
French art thief pleads guilty in botched $4.7M masterworks sale, indictment covered by AO here [NYSun] [AO]
2009 Turner Prize judges announced [TheArtNewspaper]
MOMA buys 3 Jasper Johns works for undisclosed sum (note: 2 years ago a Johns sold for $80M) [NYTimes]

Sculpture from “Art for the Masses”, Yue Minjun via Supertouchart

KAWS does a Yue Minjun figurine [Supertouchart]
Are commodity-rich buyers propping up the market for trophy art? [CNN]
Damien Hirst’s rumored collaboration with ultra-pricey cell phone brand Vertu [FashionWeekDaily]
Applications for an MA degree in art business see a strong increase [Financial Times]
Damien Hirst, other bold-faced names keep it swanky at Annabel’s in London for Richard Prince at Serpentine Gallery [The Independent]

Study for Head of George Dyer, Francis Bacon (1967) via NYTimes

Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Sale in London took place yesterday on July 1st and brought in an encouraging total of $188.8 million.  Francis Bacon’s painting of the profile of his lover and companion, George Dyer, was a highlight of the auction. This intimate portrait based on a photograph by John Deakin, was originally predicted to collect $15.5 million, but sold at a much higher $27.4 million to an anonymous collector. Although the sellers of the Bacon painting were kept anonymous, the New York Tims reported that experts speculate that it was sold by Ian and Mercedes Stouker, London Philanthropists.  Other impressive results of the sale achieved records for 11 different artists, and included the high profile sale of a Basquiat painting from seller U2, and an Andy Warhol from seller John McEnroe. The sold-out collection from the German industrialist, Walther Lauffs, which included work from Yves Klein, was another highlight of the show.

Sotheby’s July 2008 Contemporary Art Evening Sale Triumphs [Artdaily]
U2’s Jean-Michel Basquiat work on Sotheby’s block for $17.7M [Art Observed]
Bacon Stars, 10 Records Set at Sotheby’s; U2 Sell Art [Bloomberg]
Anish Kapoor sculpture attracts $3.87 mn at Sotheby’s sale [Economic Times]
Ten Works Set Records at Sotheby’s Contemporary Auctions [NYSun]
Sotheby’s contemporary art sale reaches £94.7 million [International Herald Tribune]
Contemporary Art Evening Auction Results [Sotheby's]
Bacon Is Again a Top Draw at Auction [NYTimes]

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Chant 2, Bridget Riley (1967) via Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s is holding its Contemporary Art Evening Auction on Tuesday, July 1st at its New Bond St. location in London. The sale’s highlights include works from Francis Bacon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Antony Gormley, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, Gerhard Richter, Bridget Riley, Andy Warhol and a number of other notable contemporary artists. The complete body of works for this sale will be on view at Sotheby’s New Bond St. galleries Monday, June 30 from 9am-7pm and Tuesday, July 1 from 9am-12noon.

Bridget Riley’s piece, Chant 2, a unique color painting which will be in the sale, was part of a show which won the artist the esteemed International Prize for Painting at the 34th Venice Biennale in 1968 .

Estimate: $4,000,000 - $6,000,000 (Pictured above)

London Contemporary Art Evening Auction [Sotheby's]

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Untitled (cowboy) 1998-99 via Serpentine Gallery

American artist Richard Prince follows his recent Guggenheim retrospective with Richard Prince: Continuation at Serpentine Gallery in London. This show will include recent work as well as Prince’s more established pieces from the past 30 years, such as his cowboy series, where the artist rephotographed and enlarged images of American masculinity from Marlboro cigarette advertisements.

Richard Prince [official website]
Richard Prince: Continuation [Serpentine Gallery]
Richard Prince at the Serpentine [red carnation]
Richard Prince and Marc Jacobs Create Expensive Purses [Elle UK]

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Millionaire Nurse, Richard Prince via Artnet

The record-setting Francis Bacon triptych wasn’t the only artwork purchased for large sums at Sotheby’s the other night. The evening sale, which amassed a total of $386 Million and came on the heels of a successful night at Christie’s was filled with powerhouse artwork and collectors –indicating that maybe not all Americans bearish on art.

Market Exuberance Surprises [International Herald Tribune]
Sotheby’s Stock Rises After Strong Contemporary Sales [Forbes]
Francis Bacon Triptych Tops Sales [Art Observed]
Sotheby’s begs the question - what recession? [New York Times]
$86 Million Corpse at Sotheby’s [Bloomberg]
The Scene at Sotheby’s [Wall Street Journal]
Bringing Home the Bacon [Artforum]

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Photo of Richard Prince courtesy of Revolver

The Guardian UK reports that Richard Prince recently sold the rights to his film concept to an unnamed buyer.

Picture the End of the World - [Guardian UK]

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Melissa Bent and Mirabelle Marden via Style.com

Interview with Melissa Bent, Mirabelle Marden, founders of Rivington Arms [Style.com]
Former Guggenheim director Krens looking for other New York projects[Bloomberg]
Emmanuel Perrotin’s review “La Louvre - Paris” exhibition by Gelitin [The Moment]
Ralph Rugoff’s blunt critique of Damien Hirst’s “decorative” £50m skull [The Independent]
Hirst work sells for 500 times €380 paid for it last year [The Independent]
A Rare Richard Prince Interview [Dejour Magazine via Raw art weblog]

Richard Prince Video Interview via VBS TV (Click for link)

VBS Tv’s series Art Talk, has a four part session with Richard Prince detailing his studio located in Rensselaerville, NY. The videos show Prince’s personal collection, local inspirations, and studio/hunting lodge. Additionally he opines on his methodology, what makes art successful or unsuccessful, and the public’s opinion of art in general.

Art Talk (VBS TV)

Damien Hirst “All You Need is Love” via Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s Lowers Estimate for (RED) Auction by 28% [Bloomberg]
Damage to Antiquities Caused by Tax Scheme Accounts for Art Raids [New York Times]
Ryan McGinley to Shoot Ads for Converse by John Varvatos [GQ Magazine]
Picasso Exceeds Auction Estimate at Christie’s London [Bloomberg]
Met Hires Headhunter to Find New Director [Wall Street Journal]
Guy Cogeval Appointed Director of Musée d’Orsay [Art Info]
Saatchi buys Contemporary Heinrich Himler portrait [UK News]
Richard Prince and Terry Richardson create artwork for controversial James Frey novel [New York Post]
Gerhard Richter at Serpentine Gallery in September [Guardian UK]

Farhad Moshiri’s gold-leafed toy guns via Portfolio

Dealers and Auction Houses Scour Middle East [Portfolio]
International Buyers Ignore Turmoil and Look to Art [Wall Street Journal]
Louis Vuitton and Richard Prince Collaborative Handbag [NY Sun]
Minimalists Artist, Martin Creed, First at Tate [Guardian]
Diversifying with Art Investment Strategies [Wall Street Journal]

Prince’s Cowboy Photo via pdnonline

On November 14th 2007, a photo from Richard Prince’s untitled cowboy collection sold at Sotheby’s in New York for a record-breaking $3,401,000. This is the most expensive photo sold at auction. The sale barely exceeded Andreas Gursky’s record of $3,340,000. It is notable however, as it is a photograph of a photograph.
Auction Info
Elite Choice

Image Courtesy of NY Times

Starting December 27th Richard Prince’s work debuted at the Eden Rock Hotel in St. Barthelemy in the French Virgin Islands. This is the first in a series of contemporary shows to grace the hotel in coming months.

Luxist.com
BlackBook Mag
Eden Rock Hotel