Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #368: The wall is divided vertically into five equal parts. The center part is divided horizontally and vertically into four equal parts. Within each part are three-inch (7.5 cm) wide parallel bands of lines in four directions in four colors. In each of the other parts, three-inch (7.5 cm) bands of lines in one of the four directions. The bands are drawn in color and India ink washes. Red, yellow, blue, ink, India ink 3” (1982), via Art Observed

Spread across all three of Paula Cooper’s Chelsea spaces, the gallery has embarked on a major celebration of the work of Sol LeWitt, posing a series of exhibitions that explores the range of the artist’s conceptual oeuvre, both as a solo artist, and in his historical impact on the development and evolution of art in both the 2oth and 21st Century.  Combining this diverse range of perspectives and interpretations of the artist’s work, the show is a fittingly nuanced exploration of an artist whose work continues to influence the progression of the field today, almost fifty years after his first exhibitions of work.

Sol LeWitt, (rip) R724, The area of Florence between the Piazza della Unita Italiana la chiesa S. Frediano and il Porticato dell ‘Ospedale di S. Maria Nuova (1976), via Paula Cooper

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Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #1271 Scribbles 12 (2007), all photos via Quincy Childs for Art Observed

The Drawing Center in New York is currently presenting selections from the collection of Sol LeWitt, offering a glimpse into the creative inspirations of one of the Post-War era’s central figures.  Showcasing an array of memorabilia and art including Japanese woodblock prints, hand-colored tourist photographs, and letters from his contemporaries, the show traces a lifetime of intellectual exchange and exploration by the pioneer of minimalist and conceptual practice. (more…)

Monika Grzymala, Raumzeichnung (outside/inside) (2016), via Lisson Gallery

Working in close collaboration with The Drawing Room, Lisson Gallery’s has brought together a selection of pieces that explore the more conceptual reaches of the drawing process, not only exploring drawing as a condition of ideation or practice for smaller works, but as a method of experiencing, and segmenting, space itself.  Titled Line, the show is a strong investigation of space and memory, time and flow, extended “off the page,” as the press release reads. (more…)

Lee Ufan, From Line No. 800117 (1980), all photos via Art Observed

Blum & Poe’s close ties to the history and proliferation of Asian art in the United States cannot be ignored, having advocated for and built a market around Japanese and Korean artists like Takashi Murakami and Lee Ufan during the 1990’s.  Since then, the gallery has become an inextricable link between the continents, a point explored in the gallery’s most recent exhibition, Dansaekhwa and Minimalism, currently on view at the gallery’s Culver City location.

Kwon Young-woo, Untitled (1982), via Art Observed (more…)

Sol LeWitt, Drawing Series I,II,III,IIII (Drawings for Xerox Book) 24 Drawings (1968), via Art Observed

In 1968, a group of artists interested in the material limits of art practice, and the interrelations between text, language and action launched The Xerox Book, a published art book culling contributions from Carl Andre, Robert Barry, Douglas Huebler, Joseph Kosuth, Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris, and Lawrence Weiner to be printed and copied as an easily distributed art work.  Presented at Paula Cooper’s 21st Street Location in New York, The Xerox Book is a return to this landmark publication, incorporating a series of works and objects drawn from or inspired by each artist’s contributions.

The Xerox Book (Installation View) © Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Photo: Steven Probert

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Carl Andre in His Time (Installation View), via Art Observed

Taking the minimalist exercises of Carl Andre as its starting point, Mnuchin Gallery has opened an exhibition taking the structural interests and shared visions of the New York school of minimalism during the 1960’s and 70’s as its core focus.  Titled Carl Andre in his Time, the exhibition presents pieces by Donald Judd, Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, Sol LeWitt and more, each locked into conversation with Andre’s work.

John Chamberlain, Honest 508 (1973-74), via Art Observed

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Summer Group Show (Installation View), via Marian Goodman

The group exhibition at Marian Goodman Gallery revives an excitement for the accomplishments of formal, conceptual and technical art practices during the mid to late 20th century, presenting a lively exhibition that groups together an overlapping group of six prolific artists: Sol LeWitt, Gerhard Richter, Fred Sandback, Anne Truitt, John McCracken and Lawrence Weiner, one is privy to the continuing reverberations of works that defined both minimalist and conceptual techniques in contemporary art practice, often passing from one school to the other while redefining notions of structure, method, dimensionality, and form.  Stoic in its midtown location, the exhibition presents an impressive collection of conceptual and minimalist classics, offering continuing pivots and critically advanced methodological expectations of non-referential visual forms.

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Sol LeWitt, Cut Torn Folded Ripped (Installation View), via James Cohan

A pioneering force in post-war American art, Sol LeWitt’s geometric explorations of space, image and meaning was foundational in the development of both the conceptual and minimalist schools of artistic practice.  Perhaps most famous for his “wall drawings,” the artist also explored a range of paper and sculptural techniques over the course of his career.

Sol LeWitt, A Square of Chicago without a Circle and Triangle (1979), via James Cohan

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Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #467. All images courtesy Galerie Marian Goodman.

Galerie Marian Goodman in Paris is hosting an exhibition of Sol LeWitt’s wall drawings and other work, through January 26th. LeWitt, credited as the father of conceptual minimalism, has been widely exhibited internationally since 1965. The work of this American-born artist encompasses a variety of mediums and styles. Pyramides is a series of wall drawings conceived between the years of 1985-1994. Four floor-to ceiling geometric shapes etched directly onto the walls of the gallery represent some of LeWitt’s most recognizable and iconic work.

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Contemporary artists are once again exploring the medium of wallpaper, hearkening back to the wall-based works of Andy Warhol and Sol LeWitt in the 1960’s.  Using new developments in digital printing and , many artists are using the classic decorative material to move beyond the canvas and explore new modes of exhibition and presentation in their works.  “Artists are becoming more interested in that line between what’s art and what’s part of your everyday life, and wallpaper becomes this weird fuzzy space—is it art, or is it decoration?” Says 29-year-old Brooklyn artist Gregg Louis. (more…)

Carte Blanche (Installation View), courtesy Galerie Seguin and Paula Cooper Gallery

Each year, Galerie Patrick Seguin in Paris opens its doors to international galleries of note from the United States, Europe, and the rest of the world.  With no limits or constraints placed upon the guest curators, “Carte Blanche” allows a broad international audience exposure not only to great works from around the world, but also a taste of the various curatorial approaches and personal idioms of each invited gallery.

Bruce Conner – CROSSROADS (1976), courtesy Galerie Seguin and Paula Cooper Gallery

This year, the invitation was extended to Paula Cooper Gallery in New York City, who chose a selection of artists from their early years as the first art gallery in the Soho neighborhood of Manhattan.  First opened in 1968, the gallery has continued to grow with its hometown, now recognized as one of the premier art spaces in the city.

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Lynda Benglis sculptures and Hans Hurting paintings at Cheim & Read’s booth at Frieze Masters. All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed unless otherwise noted

Frieze Masters and Frieze London concluded on October 14th, with both fairs reporting solid sales on the high end. This year, there was a distinct focus on curated booths and curatorial projects and less of an overt feeling of commercialization. Frieze Masters in particular focused on serious connoisseurship and an academic approach, both of which translated into a successful fair for dealers.

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Image: Daniel Buren, “Le Décor et son Double”. Photo Dirk Pauwels via S.M.A.K.

In 1986, French artist Daniel Buren created an installation for the home of collectors Annick and Anton Herbert called “Le Décor et son Double”. He installed a copy of the room in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ghent. This second copy was recently conserved and acquired by the museum (now renamed S.M.A.K.) and is being exhibited once again.

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Collector sues Chicago gallery for losing signed instructions for Sol LeWitt’s “Wall Drawing #448”, “The unique nature of Sol LeWitt’s wall drawings renders their accompanying certificates of authenticity critical to the works’ value,” reads the complaint.

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Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild at Galerie Sho Booth, Pier 92

On the third and final day of the Armory Show 2012 both spirits and sales were high amongst the 228 exhibitors. Besides the notable success of David Zwirner’s solo booth by Michael Riedel, which sold out entirely in the first 30 minutes of the fair, many of the other galleries also benefited from the sales of their high-ticket items throughout the three-day exhibition. Art Observed spoke with representatives from various exhibitors including the Susan Sheehan Gallery, Spanierman Modern, Meredith Ward Fine Art, Art in General, Sprüth Magers, and the Gary Snyder Gallery. (more…)

Dan Flavin, in honor of Harold Joachim in pink, yellow, blue and green fluorescent light 8′ high and wide (1977)

The Morgan Library & Museum is currently exhibiting Dan Flavin: Drawing, a retrospective of the Dan Flavin’s works on paper, from pencil to charcoal to watercolor. Primarily comprised of pieces made by the artist himself and a group from his personal collection, this body of work demonstrates Flavin’s abilities as a draftsman, as well as an installation artist. More than one hundred of Flavin’s own pieces are on view, starting with his abstract expressionist watercolors from the 1950s and ending with pictures of sailboats made with conté crayon in the late 80s and early 90s. Also included in this collection are a series of plans that the artist made in preparation of his renowned fluorescent light installations.

Dan Flavin, untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim) 3 (1977)

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‪‬120 early Sol Lewitt photos displayed permanently on exterior walls of Mondrian SoHo hotel [AO Newslink]

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Jenny Holzer accepts the Outstanding Contributions to the Arts Award.  All photos on site for Art Observed by Nicholas Wirth.

Americans for the Arts held their 2011 National Arts Awards at the grand Cipriani 42nd Street venue on Monday night, honoring “artists and art leaders who exhibit exemplary national leadership and whose work demonstrates extraordinary artistic achievement.” Awards were bestowed upon artists Frank Stella and Jenny Holzer, as well as Beverley Taylor Sorenson, President Obama’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, Gabourey Sidibe, and Wells Fargo & Company.  The annual gala dinner named Sol Lewitt the featured artist, showcasing his work throughout the space, while guests such as Richard Phillips, Will Cotton, and Jeff Koons mingled in black-tie.

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Sol Lewitt Installation at City Hall Park, all images courtesy of Gautier Pellegrin for Art Observed.

27 career spanning works from the late conceptual artist Sol LeWitt are now on view at City Hall Park through December 2nd. Curated from museums and private collections around the the world, the landmark exhibition Sol LeWitt: Structures, 1965-2006 is the first outdoor career survey of the groundbreaking artist’s conceptual work.

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The New York Times surveys this summer’s selection of outdoor sculpture in New York City [AO Newslink]

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Lawrence Weiner, At a Distance to the Foreground (1999). All images Nicolas Linnert for Art Observed.

Closing this week is Paula Cooper Gallery’s group exhibition Locations, a showcase of work by fifteen artists involving mapping and locality. At a moment when art and its surrounding socioeconomic structure have moved steadily to occupy a global, deterritorialized sphere, this arrangement of works is distinctive in its look back to a mid-century Modernist practice regarding spatial surroundings.

Installation view at Paula Cooper Gallery.

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Installation view of Elemental at Paula Cooper Gallery. All images via Paula Cooper Gallery.

On view now through April 16th at the Paula Cooper Gallery is a group exhibition titled Elemental. What binds the selected works of Carl Andre, Jennifer Bartlett, Donald Judd, Sherrie Levine, Sol LeWitt and Robert Wilson is the use of “repeated elements arranged in a sequential structure.” The gallery notes that this strategy is often associated with minimal art, and the show pairs pieces by three pioneers of Minimalism with works by what the exhibition is defining as representatives of the second (and possibly third) generation of Minimalists.

Donald Judd, Untitled (1982)

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Julie Mehretu, Untitled 1, 2001 (est. $600-800,000), via Sothebys.com

Almost two years to the day after Lehman Brothers filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, the bank will auction off hundreds of artworks worth some $16 million in hopes of raising funds for its creditors. There will be an auction at Sotheby’s New York on September 25 followed by an auction at Christie’s London on September 29. The smallest of the three auctions will be held at Freeman’s in Philadelphia on November 7 and will focus on the Lehman’s Contemporary Art holdings.

Damien Hirst, We’ve Got Style (The Vessel Collection Blue/Green), 1993 (est. $800,000-1,200,000) via Sothebys.com

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Installation of Sol Lewitt’s ”Wall Drawing #422” (November 1984) via Magasin 3

Currently on view at Magasin 3 Konsthall is “Seven Wall Drawings” by Sol Lewitt.  The exhibition, spanning the artists’ prolific career, takes the line as its theme. It is a motif to which Lewitt constantly returned, working, according to the exhibition’s curator Elisabeth Melqvist, “with exceptional consequence.”

Installation View: Sol Lewitt, ”Wall Drawing #51” (June 1970)

Ten thousand lines, measuring a total of 22 meters, cover the gallery’s walls from floor to ceiling. These lines truly reflect the creativity that can exist within a simple restriction. ”The descriptions and instructions sound bone dry but the result is startling,” shares Mellqvist. “It is beautiful, chaotic and overwhelming.” In addition to his investigation of possible line combinations, Lewitt also expanded his formal language in later years to encompass geometric shapes and color.

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