Global contemporary art events and news observed from New York City. Suggestion? Email us.

New York – Sara VanDerBeek: “Pieced Quilts, Wrapped Forms” at Metro Pictures Through October 29th, 2016

Saturday, October 1st, 2016

Sara VanDerBeek, Labryinth (2016), via Art Observed
Sara VanDerBeek, Labryinth (2016), via Art Observed

Sara VanDerBeek’s work has long operated at the intersections of process and practice, history and modernity, as the artist allows her investigation of chosen images and art forms to bleed into the image itself.  This mode of practice, pulling diverse material interests into a linear mode of production,  welcomes a nuanced and often multifaceted approach to the cultural and historical contexts of her subject matter, a focus that sits at the center of the artist’s current solo show at Metro Pictures.

Sara VanDerBeek, Pieced Quilts, Wrapped Forms (Installation View), via Art Observed
Sara VanDerBeek, Pieced Quilts, Wrapped Forms (Installation View), via Art Observed

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Berlin – “Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens” at Sprüth Magers Through April 2nd, 2016

Wednesday, February 24th, 2016

Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens (Installation view), via Sprüth Magers
Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens (Installation view), via Sprüth Magers

For the most recent new exhibition in Berlin, Sprüth Magers has brought together work from thirteen artists under the title Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens.  Curated by Goodroom and Johannes Fricke Waldthausen, the exhibition features works by Lizzie Fitch/Ryan Trecartin, Andy Hope 1930, Oliver Laric, Jon Rafman, and Andro Wekua, among others.  Intended to navigate visitors through the intersecting narratives within the realm of surrealist animation, abstraction and the ideas of “New Materialism” as expressed through the greater logistics of the world wide web, the exhibition references the notion of the screen as a critical tool of the conscious and unconscious, as well as a surface for projections of communication and technological abstraction.   (more…)

New York: “Photo-Poetics: An Anthology” at The Guggenheim Museum Through March 23rd, 2016

Saturday, January 23rd, 2016

Anne Collier, May/Jun 2009 (Cindy Sherman, Mark Seliger) (2009), all photos via Osman Can Yerebakan for Art Observed
Anne Collier, May/Jun 2009 (Cindy Sherman, Mark Seliger) (2009), all photos via Osman Can Yerebakan for Art Observed

The Guggenheim’s Photo-Poetics: An Anthology, curated by Jennifer Blessing, senior photography curator at the museum, delves into methods utilized by artists to diverge from traditional notions of photography as a chronicle of tangible reality.  Such capturing of verité leaves the stage for investigation of process, material, and expression in works by ten contemporary photographers, spanning three floors at the museum’s side galleries, and guiding viewers through various sections containing selections of work by a single artist, among them Sara VanDerBeek, Erin Shirreff and Kathrin Sonntag to name a few. (more…)

AO On Site (with photoset) – New York: Benefit for The Foundation for Contemporary Arts held at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, Lower East Side, Thursday, December 9th, 2010

Friday, December 10th, 2010


Anselm Kiefer, Winter Ade Scheiden Tut Weh Aberdein Scheiden Macht, Dass Mein Herz Lacht (Goodbye, Winter, Parting Hurts But Your Departure Makes My Heart Cheer), 2010
Listed at $100,000

Last night at the Lehmann Maupin Gallery on Chrystie street in the Lower East Side of New York, West-Village-based Foundation for Contemporary Arts held a benefit auction selling nearly 200 paintings and sculptures.  All proceeds went to programs of the FCA, “hoping to assist and encourage innovation, experimentation and potential in the arts,” this year providing 14 grants to artists, of $25k each.


A view from the balcony

The benefit was extremely well attended, with some of the artists joining as well. The large number of works represented a variety of globally well-known artists, including Damien Hirst, Andy WarholJasper JohnsEd RuschaBrice Marden, Francesco ClementeBruce High Quality FoundationJake and Dinos ChapmanJulie Mehretu, James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein, David Salle, Frank StellaElizabeth NeelJulian OpieCecily Brown, Vija Celmins, Robert GoberNate Lowman, Dan ColenDana Schutz, Kara Walker, and T.J. Wilcox, to name a few.

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AO On Site – New York: Knight’s Move at SculptureCenter, through July 26, 2010

Sunday, May 9th, 2010


Uri Aran, All This Is Yours, (Detail), Mixed Media, 2010.

Over 900 people were in attendance at the opening last Sunday, May 2 for “Knight’s Move,” the new show at SculptureCenter, running through July 26, 2010. The exhibition brings together artists prominent to the dialog of New York’s recent past as well as those at the very beginning of their careers.  Curated by Fionn Meade, this survey of new sculpture in New York embodies an informed yet playful and questioning view of the contemporary.  Working within this theme, the exhibition’s title refers to the chess piece whose move is tactical, stealthy, and surprising.

The exhibited artists include Uri Aran, David Brooks, Nikolas Gambaroff, Tamar Halpern, Alex Hubbard, Esther Kläs, Daniel Lefcourt, Joanna Malinowska, Ohad Meromi, Virginia Poundstone, Cassie Raihl, Erin Shirreff, Alexandre Singh, Matt Sheridan Smith, Mika Tajima, Tom Thayer, Sara VanDerBeek, and Allyson Vieira.


No Neck Blues Band performs on David Brook’s installation in SculptureCenter courtyard. All opening images by Su Beyazit, courtesy of SculptureCenter.

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