Tauba Auerbach gives Nowness a look at her recent book collaboration with Printed Matter. Titled 2,3, the piece utilizes die-cut pages to create a series of intricately folded paper sculptures inside its covers. (more…)
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Tauba Auerbach’s work does much with its slight physical moorings. Utilizing sparse, repeated patterns, meticulously executed sculptural objects and a nuanced eye for her selected materials and colors, Auerbach’s work creates delicate structural harmonies and ordered, meditative pieces that create a sense of calm despite their geometrically-complex, constantly evolving surfaces. This method is executed to great effect in the artist’s just-opened exhibition at Paula Cooper’s 21st Street location, compiling selections from several ongoing series of the artist’s work, as well as new sculptural elements, a library of texts, and several new publications from Auerbach’s Diagonal Press publishing house, included in the gallery bookstore. (more…)
Willem de Kooning, Untitled XXVIII (1977), via Phillips
Sales resumed for New York’s fall auction weeks yesterday evening, as a Sunday sale at Phillips combined early 20th Century works and contemporary artists in a brisk sale that began strong but stumbled towards the later half of the sale, as 9 of 52 lots ultimately went unsold, achieving a final tally of $66.9 million (just within estimate). (more…)
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All images by A.M. Ekstrand for ArtObserved, on location at Art Basel Miami Beach Fair.
Art Basel returned once again in Miami Beach this past week for the 11th annual Art Basel Miami Beach Fair. Featuring over 300 galleries representing 36 countries around the world, the show has exhibited marked growth from last year’s event, with well over 2,000 artists flocking to exhibit at what has become the internationally-renowned closing party for the world art market each year. It is of course always an irony that tens of thousands will fly down for the events and parties, with many of them never visiting the vast aggregation of what it said to be roughly $1.5 billion worth of art in one (large) room, a collection that few museums in the world could compete with. Below is a selection of some of the works we thought to be notable from the fair.
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Terry Richardson and Pharrell Williams at OHWOW It Ain’t Fair 2012 photo by Aviva for Art Observed
On December 7th, 2012, at 743 Washington Avenue (on the Miami Beach side and not across the bay in the design district) OHWOW inaugurated the fifth and last edition of It Ain’t Fair (IAF), a venue for avant-garde art across all media. It began in 2008 in Miami, concurrent with the main fair, as another way to view work by emerging artists such as Tauba Auerbach, Ashley Bickerton, Cyprien Gaillard, Clayton Patterson and others.
Atmosphere at OHWOW It Aint Fair Miami 2012, all photos by E. Schwartzberg for ArtObserved unless otherwise noted
Despite the large number of exhibitors from New York who are in recovery from Hurricane Sandy, almost every Chelsea gallery scheduled to exhibit will be at this year’s 11th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach week. Events begin as early as today, Monday, December 3rd and run through Sunday, December 9th. Exhibitors and artists are preparing for a flurry of activity, with a multitude of fairs, some old, some new; public installations, exhibitions, collaborations and of course, parties centering around the Delano, The W, Soho Beach House, The Deauville, The Raleigh, The Standard and others. Check out the detailed schedule of events below.
Visionaire Magazine party at Delano Hotel 2011 photo by ArtObserved
On Thursday night, boutique auction house Phillips de Pury & Co. hosted the final Contemporary Art Evening Sale in a blockbuster week for the art market. Tallying $79.9 million against its projected estimate of $73 to $110 million, Phillips de Pury’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael McGinnis, stated “we’re happy with the competition and prices,” especially after the third consecutive night of Contemporary Art sales. McGinnis reflected on the evening saying ” it was a small and deliberate sale, with works specifically chosen to compliment the week.”
Andy Warhol Mao courtesy Phillips de Pury & Co.
Despite achieving just over its low estimates for the sale, Phillips de Pury had a sell by value of 98% and a sell by lot of 83%. With a very carefully selected 35 lots offered, only six artworks failed to find a buyer. However, all of the lots had third party guarantees, of which there were five guarantors.
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Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Olympics (1984) which sold for a record-breaking price of £6 million
This evening in London, Phillips de Pury‘s Contemporary Art Evening exceeded pre-sale estimates of £15.1- £21.1 million, with sales totaling £23.4 million. Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat‘s Olympics (1984) at £6 million broke the record for a Warhol-Basquiat collaboration. With three pieces in the auction selling for over a million pounds, the take was over twice the amount received just a year ago for the auction house. Of 30 original lots, 2 were withdrawn (including a Cindy Sherman piece) and 4 were passed on. Although the total sum was not as large as the sales of either Christie’s or Sotheby’s, it was the only auction house to surpass pre-sale estimates for this week.
Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat, Thin Lips, 1984-85 (est. $1.1-1.6 million, bought in), via Phillipsdepury.com
The week’s Contemporary art sales in London got off to a lukewarm start on Wednesday at Phillips de Pury. The evening sale realized $12.9 million against estimates of $15.6-22.7 million, and 12 of the 35 lots offered failed to find buyers. The auction’s featured lot – Jeff Koons‘s rendition of stacked trash cans punctuated by inflatable toys – sold for $3.3 million against a low estimate of $3.1 million (prices realized include the buyer’s premium, estimates do not). A collaborative work by Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat that was expected to fetch at least $1.1 million was bought in, as were works by George Condo, Lucio Fontana, Cindy Sherman, and Paula Rego.
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Tauba Auerbach, Quarry, ‘Whitney On-Site: New Commissions, 2010.’ Photograph by Danielle Canter, via The Whitney.
Currently on view at the corner of Gansevoort and Washington streets is Tauba Auerbach‘s Quarry; an installation at the South-end of the High Line, where the Whitney Museum expects to open their downtown branch in 2015. The exhibit, which runs from July 18 though August 29, 2010, is the second installment of the three-part series ‘Whitney On-Site: New Commissions,’ a project anticipating the start of construction on the museum’s new building, currently scheduled for next Spring.
–> Picture Industry (Goodbye to All That), Installation view, Regen Projects II, Los Angeles. All images courtesy of Regen Projects.
Currently on view at Regen Projects, Los Angeles, is the group show Picture Industry (Goodbye to All That), curated by artist Walead Beshty. ‘Picture Industry’ refers both to the physical setting and the conceptual pretext within which the show is presented, with Los Angeles as the focus in terms of both place and content. Included in the exhibition are works by Tauba Auerbach, Thomas Barrow, Carol Bove, Troy Brauntuch, Tony Conrad, Abraham Cruzvillegas, De Rijke / De Rooij, Liz Deschenes, Isa Genzken, Wade Guyton, Robert Heinecken, Karen Kilimnik, Imi Knoebel, Michael Krebber, Glenn Ligon, Erlea Maneros Zabala, Albert Oehlen, Manfred Pernice, Seth Price, Richard Prince, Josephine Pryde, R.H. Quaytman, Eileen Quinlan, Miljohn Ruperto, Michael Snow, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Charline Von Heyl, Kelley Walker, James Welling, Christopher Williams & Christopher Wool.
Country Life, Jack Pierson (2010) goes under the hammer at White Columns Live Benefit Auction, 2010. All photos by Oskar Proctor for ArtObserved.
The generosity was very evident on Saturday, May 15, when a crowd of artists, collectors and other art-world regulars packed into White Columns‘ West Village headquarters for the not-for-profit’s Annual Benefit Auction. Organized by the gallery to benefit their ongoing mission to support and expose emerging artists, the evening showcased a live auction that included work by long-time supporters of the gallery such as Anne Collier, Peter Doig, Adam McEwen, Rob Pruitt and Rirkrit Tiravanija. The live portion of the sale was complimented by a silent auction of work donated by coveted artists David Byrne, Spencer Sweeney, Andy Coolquitt and Joan Jonas, alongside contributions from newcomers such as Amy Yao and Ned Vena.
The top lots from the evening’s live auction were Peter Doig’s Musicians of the British Empire, a painting dedicated to his long-time friend Billy Childish, which sold for $62,000, and Mary Heilmann’sFor Malcolm, another of the night’s music-inspired lots, which earned $22,000. Other highlights in the live sale included Wade Guyton’sUntitled, one of the sale’s lots to incorporate a record sleeve, fetched $9,500 and Anne Collier’s photograph of two copies of Norman Mailer’s book ‘Marilyn’ on her studio floor raised $19,000. The remainder of the evening was given over to the silent auction, during which time attendees can jot their bidder numbers on clipboards next to works. The works that generated the most frenzied competition in this section were the contributions of Andy Coolquit, Shio Kusaka, and Tauba Auerbach. White Columns’ famous xerox prints – 11” x 8 ½” prints produced in signed editions of 50 copies – saw great competition, most notable in this category were Ann Craven’sHeart of Gold, Adam McEwen’s Unisex and Elizabeth Peyton’s Flaubert in Egypt (After Delacroix). Another work to be picked up through the silent auction was Nigel Cooke’stitle, (2007-08) which was purchased for $6,800, approximately $4,000 over its estimated retail value.
White Columns Director, Matthew Higgs, commands the impressive sale of Peter Doig’s Musicians of the British Empire, Peter Doig (2010) Retail value: $25,000+ Price Realized: $62,000
More images and video of live auctions after the jump….. (more…)
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Masters of the Universe, Tim Noble & Sue Webster (1998-2000). All photographs by Oskar Proctor for ArtObserved.
“Skin Fruit,” the much-anticipated, Jeff Koons-curated exhibition featuring million-dollar works by the biggest names in contemporary art continues at the New Museum through June 6, 2010. The New Museum’s questionable decision to exhibit works from the collection of one of its trustees, Greek billionaire Dakis Joannou, resulted in an art world controversy that threatened to upstage the show itself from the very beginning. When a large mix of celebrities and art-world-insiders flooded the Museum for the opening reception – attendees included Cyndi Lauper, U2’s the Edge, and collectors Don and Mera Rubell – the irony of placing the ritzy collection in a museum that was once championed for its promotion of the underdog was only exaggerated. And the critics responded accordingly. Christian Viveros-Fauné lambasted that the show is totally wrong for our times “in just about every possible way.” According to the exhibition press release, the featured works by Franz West, Charles Ray, Matthew Barney, Richard Prince, Robert Gober, Mike Kelley, Paul McCarthy, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Kiki Smith, Kara Walker, Maurizio Cattelan, Tauba Auerbach, Chris Ofili, Dan Colen and Terence Koh, amongst others, aim to “evoke the tensions between exterior and interior, between what we see and what we consume” – a curatorial spin critics say was invented in an effort to disguise a “rudderless display of art as trophy hunting” as an art exhibition. While this may be true, Skin Fruit essentially offers the common man an opportunity to view important works from one of the finest and most original collections of contemporary art in the world that have rarely, or never been seen in New York.
Revolution Counter-Revolution, Charles Ray (1990/2010)
Photo-essay and full round-up of links after the jump…. (more…)
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All images and text by Eric Forman for ArtObserved
Last Saturday at the New Museum, new media arts organization Rhizome presented Seven on Seven, a day-long conference showcasing seven collaborations between one artist and one “technologist.” Each pair had only 24 hours to conceive an idea and whip up a prototype. The event referenced “9 Evenings,” a famous 1966 collaboration between artists and engineers organized by Robert Rauschenberg and Billy Klüver. That group had 10 months and came up with many influential technological “firsts.” Seven on Seven had more modest aims, and the results, though uneven, were varied and entertaining, most straddling the line between functional social experiment and pop-up work of art. Rhizome executive director Lauren Cornell curated the pairings and many of the participators gushed about the fun they had brainstorming together. The audience, a packed house of well-heeled digerati who paid what some said were “exclusionary” amounts for tickets, seemed to enjoy the proceedings, not least the cocktail reception in the New Museum’s sleek Sky Room. Some grumblers asserted that networking was the true raison d’eÌ‚tre of the event, although there was widespread admiration for what the participators pulled off in such a short time.
More images, related links and a full report of the proceedings after the jump…. (more…)
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Curators Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari announce the artist list for the Whitney Biennial, 2010 – video by Pierce Jackson via Whitney.org
Today the Whitney Museum of American Art announced the list of fifty-five artists who will participate in the upcoming Whitney Biennial, 2010, which is to take over the Museum from February 25 through May 30 2010. The Biennial is the Whitney’s signature panoramic survey of the latest in American art that blends well established artists together with a predominance of emerging artists from all over the country. This is the 75th in the ongoing series of Biennials and Annuals presented by the Whitney since 1932. Traditionally the Whitney Biennial seeks to reflect the way in which art is shaped by the particular historical moment in which it was created and so in 2010 the curators, Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari, have told us to expect works reflecting diverse responses to the anxiety and optimism of the past two years.
More text, related links and a full list of participating artists after the jump…..
Kathy Grayson, center, at the opening of ‘New York Minute’ via Depart Foundation
New York City has been the center of the contemporary art world for over half a century, and while contemporary art production and dissemination has been influenced by globalization, with new centers of of activity gaining recognition around the world in cities such as Berlin, Moscow, or Shanghai, there’s still something about New York that attracts new and established artists alike. ‘New York Minute’ is an exhibition produced by the young Italian philanthropist Pierpaolo Barzan’s DEPART Foundation to bring the energy and sense of community found in New York’s downtown art scene to Rome, hosted by Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma (MACRO).
‘New York Minute’ brings together sixty artists who live and work in New York, or are involved in its extended network, and showcases new tendencies in art that have developed out of that community. Curated by Kathy Grayson, director of New York’s Deitch Projects, the exhibition groups those new tendencies under three headings: the brash and gritty street punk aesthetic of artists such as Dash Snow, Terence Koh, Aurel Schmidt, the rainbow inflected wild figuration of Assume Vivid Astro Focus, Paper Rad, or Jules de Balincourt, and the new abstractions of artists including Tauba Auerbach, Xylor Jane, and Dan Colen.
The opening night brought thousands of young Romans looking to vibe on the energy brought to the city by the New York contingent. Kathy Grayson answered ArtObserved’s questions about what makes the New York scene so special, how ‘New York Minute’ is spreading its infectious communal energy, and what the plans are for the future.
On September 3, 2009 Deitch Projects hosted openings for two shows that will run concurrently till mid October and end of September. In the gallery’s space at 18 Wooster Street an exhibition of Tauba Auerbach’s works will run through October 17, 2009. Titled “HERE AND NOW/AND NOWHERE” the show is comprised of paintings, sculptures and photographs by the artist. At the center of the gallery is a musical instrument,”Auerglass”, an organ for two. It is conceived by the artist and her friend Cameron Mesirow- a musician from the Glasser band. The organ requires two people to play. Each of the two players gets every other note. An opening Glasser performance will be held on September 11th at Deitch Projects and will be consequently held at 5p.m. for the duration of the show.
Julien Fronsacq (Palais de Tokyo, Paris), Olivier Sailliard (Musée de la Mode et du Textile, Paris),and Hans Ulrich Obrist (Serpentine Gallery, London) model for Yohji Yamamoto’s Y, via ArtJetSet