Half Gallery, opening reception. Image by ArtObserved.

AO was on site June 8th for the opening of “A Ways A Way,” the new exhibition at Half Gallery.  Curated by Meredith Darrow and Devendra Banhart, A Ways A Way offers synoptic views of work by artists Scott Campbell, William Eadon, Kevin Long, Megan Marrin, Keegan McHargue, Fabrizio Moretti, Angeline Rivas, Adam Tullie, and Banhart himself.  Coming from various corners of the artistic field, these men and women form a motley roster of familiar names: in addition to be being creators of fine art, Campbell is a renowned tattoo artist, Eadon is a deisgner, Long skateboards and plays guitar, Moretti is the drummer for The Strokes and Little Joy, Rivas and Tullie co-own Cavern Collection, Banhart is a singer-songwriter, Marrin works in mixed-media, and McHargue choreographs.  In attendance last night were Cynthia Rowley, Kathy Grayson, and a repletion of artists, gallerists, friends, and passerby.  Viewers spilled jocundly onto the surrounding sidewalk, chatting and enjoying a lovely night outside of the diminutive, buzzing gallery.

Anonymous Portrait, Fabrizio Moretti, 2010. Image by Oskar Proctor for ArtObserved.

Text, images, words form the artists, and an interview after the jump…
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The Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City via panoramio.com

Mexico City opens a new 3,300 sq. m, $20 million contemporary art museum [TheArtNewspaper]
Sculptor Richard Serra awarded the Order of Arts and Letters of Spain [ArtDaily]
A Sotheby’s video offers refreshing transparency into its process in the current environment [Sotheby’s]
In more video, Takashi Murakami on money and art, New York vs. Tokyo and more [TMagazine – The Moment]
And finally, video of Damien Hirst on his Statuephilia installation in London [Aarting]

Tom Sachs opens his online store [tomsachs.org via supertouch]
Gallerist/web presence Edward Winkleman announces his book ‘How to Start and Run a Commercial Art Gallery’ [edwardwinkleman]
The Louvre finds 3 possible Leonardo Da Vinci drawings on the back of his painting [Bloomberg]

Gallerist Mellissa Bent, artist Hope Atherton and artist Georgia Sagri make the scene at Rivington Arms via ArtForum

On the closing of Lower East Side Gallery Rivington Arms [ArtForum] more on this here [NYObserver]
Similarly, the International Asian Art Fair is canceled [ArtInfo] Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin Miami, opened in 2005, will also close [ArtLurker]

The installation entitled ‘Moscow on the Move’ via the Guardian

Dasha Zhukova and the Moscow Garage organize a 17-artist public video installation which includes work by Doug Aitken, Fischli and Weiss and Pippilotti Rist [GuardianUK]

Mirabelle Marden and Melissa Bent via Artnet

Rivington Arms, the young, trend setting gallery that opened in a retail space on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side in 2001, before moving to its current space off the Bowery, is closing in January.  The partners, Mirabelle Marden, 29, and Melissa Bent, 31, are fixtures not just in art but also in fashion (they have been featured in Uniqlo ads throughout the city, in Vogue and the New York Times Style section) and in the New York social scene.  The duo cited causes for the breakup that were unrelated to the economy: “It had to do with where each of us wanted to take the gallery.  We are not ending because we are getting crushed out.”

Rivington Arms to Close [ArtInfo]
Rivington Arms to Close [ArtForum]
Rivington Arms to Close as Partners Differ on Gallery’s Future [Bloomberg]
Rivington Arms

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