AO Art Observed™

New MOCA Director, Jeffrey Deitch. Via LATimes

More on  MOCA’s new director, Jeffrey Deitch, who brings his more business-oriented background to the Museum in LA: [Bloomberg] Deitch’s contract with the museum has certain safeguards against conflicts of interest that might arise from his foot in the business world– among the new rules, Deitch must notify the museum’s board of anything he adds to or sells from his collection. [LATimes]

Eli Broad and his Broad Art Foundation reveal that they are considering 3 different Westside locations on which to build and endow a museum for his art collection. The third site was recently revealed as being a ten-acre parcel on the campus of West LA College in Culver City.  [LA Times]

Works by Picasso and Henri Rousseau have been stolen from a private villa in the South of France, marking the country’s second major art robbery in that week– (work by impressionist painter Edgar Degas was stolen from the Cantini Museum in Marseilles only days before). [FT]

To stay apprised of the latest relevant news of the art world…

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Richard Wright’s winning wall painting, via TimesOnline

Last night, Richard Wright was announced the winner of the prestigious Turner Prize at a ceremony in Tate Britain. Wright’s highly intricate gold-leaf painting that won him the prize can be seen across one wall of the Turner Prize exhibition currently on display at Tate Britain through January 6, 2010.   Wright lives in Glasgow and so follows an illustrious line of Scotland-based winners – from Douglas Gordon back in 1996 to Martin Creed in 2001 and Simon Starling in 2005. At 49, Wright is the oldest man to win the prize since the under-50 age limit was imposed in 1991.

Wright rejected painting on canvas in the late 1980s and has become best known for his wall paintings which are temporarily crafted onto walls in overlooked places with the knowledge that they will soon be erased – almost everything Wright has created since this decision has been destroyed. His paintings combine graphic imagery and intricate patterning from sources as varied as Medieval painting, graphics and typography.

Four artists, working a variety of media, were in contention for the prize – Enrico David, Roger Hiorns, Lucy Skaer, and Richard Wright – Hiorns had been the critics’ favorite going into the competition.

Andrew Dickson, Arts Editor of the Guardian, talks to Turner Prize winner Richard Wright, Stephen Deuchar, Carol Ann Duffy, and 2001 Turner winner Martin Creed via The Guardian

Richard Wright: 2009 Turner Prize Winner [The Guardian]
A Turner Prize Winner Who Takes Viewers By Surprise [NY Times]
Turner Prize Winner Richard Wright Shocks World  – Actual Art [Daily Mail]
Richard Wright Who Wrecks His Own Work Wins Turner Prize [Bloomberg]
I’d Like Him to Do My Living Room Wall [TimesOnline]
School of Art [BBC News]
You could call Wright’s art Minimalist, but it is also luxurious [Independent]
Richard Wright Wins Turner Prize [Financial Times]
Fresco Painter Richard Wright Wins Turner Prize [Reuters]

Richard Wright’s untitled wall painting, via Times UK

Now on view at Tate Britain is an exhibition of the four artists shortlisted for this year’s Turner Prize, Britain’s most prestigious – and most controversial – art prize. Featuring Enrico David, Roger Hiorns, Lucy Skaer, and Richard Wright, the exhibition showcases both works for which the artists were nominated as well as new works. The winner of the prize will be announced on December 7, 2009, via a live televised broadcast. Though the Turner Prize has been awarded to well-regarded artists including Anish Kapoor, Rachel Whiteread, and Wolfgang Tillmans, it has been the source of controversy for its attentions to unconventional YBAs like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. This year’s nominees, however, have been noted for their lack of shock tactics. Gone are Emin’s dirty sheets and used condoms, replaced by Wright’s delicate wall drawing and Skaer’s archaeological assemblages.

Lucy Skaer’s ‘Black Alphabet’ via Tate

more images, news and relevant links after the jump…

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Jeff Koons’s giant rabbit at the Covent Garden in London via Hypebeast

A giant helium-filled Jeff Koons balloon made its UK debut on October 8th, the inflatable rabbit floated above central London, it will be displayed in Covent garden [The Independent]
Coinciding with the Frieze fair, the 10th Turbine Hall commission launches, Baldessari’s retrospective opening the same day, Hayward Gallery presents Ed Ruscha, Turner Prize coming up and many other shows and openings, turn London into the center of attention [Guardian UK]
Frieze art fair excites not merely the International art scene, but also the social diaries of those who like to mingle with the rich and famous [Guardian UK] the contemporary art event even has installations to turn its visitors into the subjects of the artwork. [The Independent] Only displaying works by contemporary living artists, Frieze has been considered 1-dimensional in the past. Frieze helps London take over the art world in October [The Independent]- but not without competition, as FIAC, the Parisian fair, is to begin next week and may steal the battle as art collectors in today’s economic climate are forced to pick which fairs they will be attending [The Wall Street Journal]

Unrecognized work by Leonardo Da Vinci via Antiques Trade Gazette

A drawing sold at auction for $19,000 in the late 1990s is now attracting attention for its authorship, if by Leonardo Da Vinci, a theory that recent research strongly suggests, the work could be worth as much as $147 million [Bloomberg]
The Wapping Project in London, often compared to Tate Modern, is expanding with the opening of the Wapping Project Bankside- a new gallery reminiscent of a New York loft to feature film, video and photography almost “a stone’s throw” from Tate [The Moment]
The Whitney Museum of American Art’s plans for a second Renzo Piana location have advanced [The New York Times]

To stay apprised of most of the relevant art news for this past week … (more…)

Kirsten Dunst on the set of a production by Takashi Murakami in collaboration with McG via aarting

Tate Modern’s “Pop Life: Art in a Material World,” features a video that is a collaboration between McG – famous Hollywood director, and Murakami – Japan’s king of pop art: starring actress Kirsten Dunst on the streets of Akihabara in Tokyo for “Turning Japanese” by rock band The Vapors [The Wall Street Journal]
A 1984 work by Chinese artist Li Keran sold for $940,000, the most for a print at a Hong Kong auction, where bidding led by mainland buyers has taken many prices several times above estimates [Bloomberg]
Sotheby’s Asia sales in Hong Kong revealed that demand for Chinese paintings, while firm, is mixed; as the market is still vulnerable, less pricey, quality pieces were the ones to realize numbers higher than their estimates [Reuters]
Works including those by Renoir, Pollock, Degas and Rembrandt stolen from the home of a retired Harvard Medical School professor and collector, and his business partner; only authentic pieces were taken, leaving behind impeccable reproductions [Boston Globe via Art Market Monitor] in related Uncooperative and unable to produce evidence that the stolen art existed, Angelo Amadio and Dr. Ralph Kennaugh, become suspects of the theft to which allegedly they are victims [ArtDaily]

Tracey Emin via Guardian UK

Discouraged by British government’s top rate tax, Tracey Emin threatens to abandon England for France where she claims the politicians understand the importance of supporting culture and art [Guardian UK] in related At the London’s Frieze Art Fair, in the booth of New York’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery, Tracey Emin, known for her confessional artwork, is offering to make customized artworks based on answers to fifteen personal questions [Artinfo]
Fanjul paintings nationalized by Cuba in an exhibit in Museo del Prado in Madrid involve legal consequences as the Museum is being investigated by the US department of state for illegal trafficking of a work of art owned by US citizen confiscated by Cuban government [The Art Newspaper]
Turner Prize exhibit at Tate Britain in London this time startles the viewers with the lack of now expected blood, outrage and other shock factors [Bloomberg]
The Bloomberg administration makes an announcement of its plan to give nonprofit cultural groups access to gallery and theater space in city owned properties and help artists develop business plans [Crain's Business]

Donald Judd concrete constructions in Marfa Texas via Hip-Ster-Krit

6 of 15 concrete constructions built by Donald Judd in Marfa Texas required repair and conservation work, October 10th the works will once again be open to the public [Artinfo]
A look at the Chinese Gao brothers who are shocking their country with brave, politically challenging art works, such as a life-size sculpture of Mao whose body is only reunited with his head on ’special occasions’ [The New York Times]
When most artists’ prices are decreasing in a recession, a few go up: Italian Maurizio Cattelan is one of those who thrive in the tough economic times, an analysis of his work reveals some truths on the variables of the art market [The Economist]

Damien Hirst posing in front of his work via ARTblog +

A portrait of Damien Hirst built through an interview: his influences, unusual artistic paths (such as painting) and mediums to come, and a subjective depiction of the artist’s personality [Times Online] in related Hirst tells BBC that he will not be producing large scale installations and will rather concentrate solely on painting by applying oil to the canvas with his hands, something he has been secretly doing these recent years [BBC] and in related the FT reports that Hirst lays off much of his staff, closes two studios and is actually making paintings himself; while the galleries give no comments on the unsold works worth millions [Financial Times]
As art fairs struggle to retain exhibitors, a new modern and contemporary fair in Abu Dhabi signs up forty-eight names, including PaceWildenstein, Gagosian, Acquavella and White Cube [Lindsay Pollock] related 50 paintings from the New York Guggenheim Museum to be shown in Abu Dhabi [Arts Abu Dhabi]

‘Fuego Flores’ by Jean Michel Basquiat via Auction Publicity

Sotheby’s October Contemporary Art Auction, estimated to realize in excess of £9 million, will include works by leading artists, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Anish Kapoor, Andy Warhol, Chris Ofili, Damien Hirst, Gerhard Richter, Antony Gormley and Yan Pei-Ming [Auction Publicity]
Following in the footsteps of Anselm Kiefer and Toni Morrison, Umberto Eco has been named the next guest curator at the Louvre; the show “Vertige de la Liste” (Vertigo of Lists) will revolve around his chosen theme “the list” [Artinfo] in related news, talks are underway to open a McDonald’s restaurant and a McCafé at the Louvre next month [Telegraph]
An art dealer from Stockholm, Sweden has been accused of faking works by heavyweight modernists including Georges Braque, Alberto Giacometti, Edvard Munch, and Egon Schiele [Artnet]

Child of lonely – performance by Terence Koh October 6 at Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery, Photo Olivier Zahm via purple DIARY

Terence Koh prepared his first solo show at the Parisian gallery Thaddaeus Ropac, which takes a form of an imaginary opera in eight acts, the first act taking place October 6, 2009 [The Art Newspaper]
The four artists shortlisted for Turner Prize 2009 are: Enrico David, Roger Hiorns, Lucy Skaer and Richard Wright; the winner is to be announced December 7th [Turner Prize 2009]
Jerry Saltz writes about new galleries emerging despite the economic crises, provides a list of new galleries to see and comments on the effects of the recession on the female artists [New York mag]

The current state of the building to house Sperone Westwater and the computer rendering of it via Lindsay Pollock

A concrete foundation is rising at the site of the future Sperone Westwater gallery designed by the British architect Sir Norman Foster on the Bowery; the 10 story building will rise only one block away from New Museum [Lindsay Pollock]
As opposed to expanding outside their home in LA, Tim Blum and Jeff Poe open a new 21,000 square foot space conveniently located in front of their existing gallery on South La Cienga Boulevard, Los Angeles [Los Angeles Times]

Jacket designed by JR via The World’s Best Ever

A jacket from JR’s Face2Face Project comes in a limited edition of only 100 [The World's Best Ever] in related A video interview with JR in Paris about his project Women are Heroes, which allows the viewers to call a number and hear an interview with one of the chosen women for the project [Vernissage TV]
An interview with Dasha Zhukova that notes her easy acceptance in the art world [Guardian UK]
28 as opposed to 40 exhibitors had pulled out of the Frieze Art Fair, yet despite the equally disappointing numbers, many lesser known, but in no way inferior galleries, will get a shot at the famous art fair [Telegraph]

Miranda July via Vice

Miranda July creates a series of photographs to imitate and bring attention to the extras in iconic movies [Vice]
An Italian professor, Dr Seracini, has been working on technology that can enable the search for the largest painting Leonardo da Vinci ever painted – The Battle of Anghiari, a work he believes to be hidden underneath the frescoes in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio [The New York Times]
MoMA received an unexpected gift this month – an estate, estimated to be worth more than $10 million, belonging to the late Michael H. Dunn, a bachelor from Derby, Vermont [The New Yorker]

Richard Wright’s ‘Untitled’ via Gagosian Gallery

On view now at Gagosian Gallery’s Davies Street location in London is an exhibition of the work of Richard Wright, one of four artists shortlisted for this year’s Turner Prize. The highlight of the show is a site-specific painting on the ceiling made with silver leaf. Many of Wright’s works are created in situ, responding to  the architectural layout, often working with overlooked places, with the overall design of the work evolving until its completion. The exhibition also includes a number of works on paper.

Richard Wright [Gagosian Gallery]
Turner Prize 2009: Richard Wright [Tate]
Gagosian Gallery Exhibits Richard Wright [Huliq]
EXHIBITION: Richard Wright [Digital Arts]

Installation view of Richard Wright’s untitled ceiling work, via Gagosian Gallery

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“Extremities (smooth, smooth),” Pipilotti Rist’s contribution to “Walking in My Mind,” the Hayward Gallery. via The Guardian.

Currently showing at the Hayward Gallery are the minds of ten artists — or, at least, how the artists feel they can represent the melding of product and creative process.  Ten installation artists from around the world are featured in the show.  Some are relative newcomers who are showing new pieces at the Hayward, like Swedish Bo Christian Larsson and Japanese Chiharu Shiota, who exhibit for the first time in London, and Dutch artist Mark Manders, who shows for the first time in a major British exhibition. Others are more well-established, including Yayoi Kusama and Turner prize-winner Keith Tyson, as well as the late controversial American artist Jason Rhoades.  Also exhibiting are Charles Avery (UK), Thomas Hirschhorn (Switzerland), and Pipilotti Rist (Switzerland).

Related links:
Hayward Gallery: Walking in My Mind
Art Review: Walking in My Mind Hayward Gallery, London SE1 [The Observer]
Thoughts go astray at the Hayward Gallery’s Walking in My Mind show [The Guardian]
Dark delights from the lonely mind of Japanese genius Yoshitomo Nara [The Independent]

Yoshitomo Nara in “Walking in My Mind.” Via The Guardian.

more pictures and story after the jump…

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Gilbert & George, “Jackshit,” at White Cube Mason’s Yard.

The White Cube is hosting Gilbert & George’s “Jack Freak Pictures,” the largest series ever by the artists.  Both the Hoxton and Mason’s Yard galleries will be home to the paint collection, of selections also showed at Berlin’s Arndt & Partner.  The exhibition quite literally makes freaks of Jack as in the Union Jack.  Set in the East End of London, “Jack Freak Pictures” is peopled with medals, maps, street-signs and other recognizable symbols of British identity.  The series is in line with other works by Gilbert & George, who subsume identity questions surrounding sexuality, religion, and nation into the provocative colors which their grid pictures confine.

Related links:
White Cube – JACK FREAK PICTURES
Gilbert & George, the Terrible Two, Freak Out in London Shows [Bloomberg]
Gilbert and George: the odd couple [The Guardian]
How Gilbert and George make history [The Guardian]
Gilbert & George: The Jack Freak Pictures, White Cube [The Independent]
Gilbert & George: ‘There’s nothing wrong with patriotism’ [Independent]
Gilbert and George’s Jack Freak Pictures Arrive in Berlin for First Solo Exhibition in 14 Years [Artdaily]
Arndt & Partner – Jack Freak Pictures

The Telegraph on Gilbert & George’s “Jack Freak Pictures,” currently showing at White Cube.

More images and story after the jump…

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Os Gemeos at work on their mural in at Houston and Elizabeth via The Art Collectors

Brazilian street art duo Os Gemeos are completing a mural on the corner of Houston and Bowery in New York on the site of the Keith Haring tribute memorial [The Art Collectors]
A rare interview with Bruce Nauman after he was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale [The Art Newspaper]
The British Museum has raised 2/3 of the $200 million for its new Herzog & de Meuron-designed wing [Bloomberg]

Hirst’s recurring butterfly imagery adorns Lance Armstrong’s bike frame via Designweek

With perhaps one of the more thought provoking of the Livestrong bike creations, Damien Hirst has designed the bike Lance Armstrong will use during the final stage of the Tour de France with his recurring mortality metaphor of butterflies [Galerie Perrotin]
A breakdown of ArtNews’s Top 200 Collectors: 81% collect contemporary, 34% collect modern, 9% collect Impressionist, and 9% collect Old Masters [ArtNews]

Digital rendering of Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne’s menagerie on New York’s Park Avenue via NY Times

From Sept. 13 through Nov. 20, Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne’s animal menagerie will adorn the medians between 52nd and 57th Streets in Midtown Manhattan [NY Times]

Franz West’s The Ego and the Id via the The Public Art Fund

In related, Franz West’s 20 foot ‘The Ego and the Id’ will be installed Central Park at 5th Ave & 60th tomorrow, on loan from Amalia Dayan and Adam Lindemann through March [PublicArtFund]
BBC1 announces a four-part documentary focusing on Picasso, Dali, Matisse and Warhol, airing next year [BBC]
The Castlestone art fund is buying Post War art from deceased and non-producing artists such as Picasso and Warhol as it posits that pricing has dropped 20-40% from last year [International Advisor via ArtMarketMonitor] and a related email gaffe from Castlestone [ArtNewspaper]

Performance view of Anselm Kiefer’s ‘Am Anfang’ via Opera de Paris

German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer directed and designed, ‘Am Anfang,’ or ‘At the Beginning,’ for the Opera de Bastille in Paris, is currently running [TheGuardian]
In related, contemporary artist Zhang Huan will design and direct a 250 year anniversary production of Handel’s Semele in Brussels for the 2009/10 season [ArtDaily]

A new Banksy mural in Africa via SlamxHype

A number of Banksy murals in Africa have popped up, possibly in Mali [World's Best Ever] and related, 120,000 have visited the artist’s exhibition in his hometown of Bristol [BBC Bristol via FAD]
Charles Saatchi has replaced his Abstract America show his Kings Road gallery for an installation promoting the Jaguar XJ [Vogue]

John Morton at the site of his sound installation in Central Park via NY Times

A pedestrian tunnel in Central Park is the site of an immersive sound installation by John Morton [NY Times]
A brush fire near Getty Center caused Getty museum officials to evacuate 1,600 visitors and 800 employees [LA Times]

Michael Jackson series by Andy Warhol via ArtDaily

A portrait of Michael Jackson by Andy Warhol is dropped from a NY auction after overwhelming inquiries [ArtDaily]
Phillips de Pury & Company is launching a series of new theme auctions, including 21st century art and “New York, New York” [Artdaily]
Abu Dhabi Art, a new art fair, will debut in November [Artinfo]

A “plinther” participant in Antony Gormley’s One & Other via The Guardian

Antony Gormley’s ‘One&Other’ continues its 100-day run on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square in London [One & Other (livefeed)]
In related participatory British art, 23 museum visitors sufferred minor injuries during Robert Morris’s recent Bodyspacemotionthings reprisal at the Tate Modern [ArtInfo]
The Tate announces the judges of the 2010 Turner Prize [The Art Newspaper]

David Zwirner via Art Info

An interview with power gallerist David Zwirner [WSJ] and more here [WSJ]
Jerry Saltz on the controversial Adel Abdessemed video of animals killing animals on display at David Zwirner [NYMag]
The Turner Prize Shortlist is announced [ArtDaily]
ArtPrize out of Grand Rapids, Michigan will award nearly $1/2 million to its winners [ArtPrize]
Art Basel announces eight works for its public art projects [ArtDaily]
A walk through Peter Brant’s new contemporary exhibition space in Greenwich, complete with a Jeff Koons sighting [NewYorker]

An annotated view of Roxy Paine’s ‘Maelstrom’ at the Met’s Roof Garden [NYMagazine]

A self portrait of Vincent Van Gogh

Book asserts that Paul Gauguin and his sword were the cause of Van Gogh’s lost ear[NYTimes] and more here’ [TelegraphUK]

A self-portrait of Paul Gauguin

And a refute of the assertion here [Bloomberg] and another non-believer here [GuardianUK]

Art Collector Nicolas Berggruen

Nicolas Berggruen to open private museum in Berlin [ArtNewspaper]
The Getty Museum will cut 205 people from its work force [NYTimes]
Sotheby’s cuts its dividends and plans to cut more jobs [Bloomberg]
Art + Auction publisher Louise T. Blouin MacBain cuts executive salaries [NYPost]

A work by Nam June Paik via  albrightknox.org

The Smithsonian receives the complete Nam June Paik archives [ArtInfo]

‘Burn, Baby, Burn’ by Roberto Matta

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has acquired a 10′ x 30′ work by Roberto Matta [CultureMonster]

JR in Brazil

JR shows up in Brazil with more installations [WoosterCollective]
California Judge dismisses suit against MOCA regarding Takashi Murakami prints [LATimes]
NYTimes has an article on the resurgence of private sales amidst high profile failures at auctions [NYTimes]
New York Magazine on opportunities to be had in the art world [NYMag]
And an anonymous forecast on artists by their contemporaries [NYMag]
Impressionist works and their value [Economist]

Installation view of Rothko’s ‘Seagram Murals’ via MSNBC

Tate Liverpool exhibits Rothko’s Seagram Murals after a 20-year absence [Artdaily]
Rochelle Steiner, under whose tenure Olafur Eliasson’s “New York City Waterfalls” was sponsored, leaves the Public Art Fund [NY Times] and in related, Sotheby’s CEO takes big paycuts in the wake of the market downturn [Bloomberg]

Alex James, bassist of Blur via The Mirror

Blur’s Alex James to judge Charles Saatchi’s art-star reality TV show [The Mirror]
Jonathan Jones on how consumerism spawned Warhol and Pop art and thus the shallowness of contemporary art [Guardian]
Vanity Fair’s imagined conversations overheard at a MoMA party [VanityFair]
A new show at Paris’s Musee d’Art Moderne acknowledges how Italian Surrealist Giorgio de Chirico sold backdated copies of his own work [Bloomberg]

Patti Smith via The Art Newspaper

Patti Smith, whose Polaroids are showing at Robert Miller gallery, on her early career as an artist and why she feels Jeff Koons’s work is “just litter upon the earth” [The Art Newspaper]

Andy Warhol’s BMW Art Car via W Magazine

The BMW Art Car series by artists such as Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg to appear at New York’s Grand Central Terminal starting March 24 [W Magazine]
Chinese art dealer who sabotaged Christie’s sale of bronzes during the Yves Saint Laurent sale weeps at his shattered credibility [Bloomberg]

Steve McQueen modeling for T Magazine

A brief profile of Turner prize winning film artist Steve McQueen’s fashion aesthetic [The Moment]
The Las Vegas Sun does a post-mortem on the Las Vegas Art Museum, which closed last month [Las Vegas sun via ArtsJournal]

Trailer for ‘Guest of Cindy Sherman’ via Entertainment Weekly

Soon to open in New York, an art world outsider chronicles his relationship with an art world insider in the film ‘Guest of Cindy Sherman’ [Entertainment Weekly]
Susan Moore looks at the recent emergence of a homegrown art scene in the United Arab Emirates [Financial Times]

Collectors Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant via Artnet

Art in America and Interview Magazine owner Peter Brant opens his private collection to the public, by appointment only, at the Brant Foundation Art Study Center [NY Times]
How the former CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland was unable to secure an immense 16,000 piece art collection obtained during a takeover of ABN Amro as that bank’s CEO deftly transferred ownership to a foundation before the merger [TimesUK]
Turner Prize winning sculptor Antony Gormley announces first public art installation for Scotland [TheScotsman]

Laura Hoptman, Massimiliano Gioni and Lauren Cornell, curators at the New Museum of Contemporary Art via NY Times

A preview of the New Museum’s inaugural triennial, “The Generational: Younger Than Jesus” [NY Times]
Hans Ulrich Obrist’s book “The Conversation Series” includes interviews with artist such as Wolfgang Tillmans and Gilbert and George [ArtInfo]

A peek at Pierogi Gallery’s new annex, the Boiler via NY Times

Williamsburg’s Pierogi Gallery opens new annex, The Boiler [NY Times]
Chelsea galleries, including Andrea Rosen, Barbara Gladstone, Mary Boone and Matthew Marks, to show work at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana, Cuba [The Art Newspaper]

Anish Kapoor’s ‘Temenos’ via AnishKapoor

Construction begins on first of five of Anish Kapoor outdoor sculptures in the UK: the ‘world’s biggest art project’ [DesignWeek]

Portrait of Pope Benedict XIV by Pierre Subleyras via NY Mag

Old masters prove to be a bellwether in the market downturn [Financial Times] as such, The Metropolitan Museum acquires a Renaissance portrait of Pope Benedict XIV for nearly $1 million amidst financial woes [NY Mag] and this painting also is featured here in a separate video discussion on the resilience of old master paintings [Sotheby's]

Larry Gagosian via Askmen

An aggressive attempt to get the story behind Larry Gagosian, possibly the most influential yet enigmatic figure in the art world [NYTimes]

A Donald Judd installation in Marfa, TX via Drexel, University

On the stark, quirky, top art pilgrimage destination of Marfa, TX [Chicago Tribune]
Art is moving out of the hands corporations [FT]

After the Tate, New York on the Bowery, and a slum in Kenya, street artist JR appears in Cambodia [WoosterCollective via the World's Best Ever]
Nick Cohen’s critique of Nicolas Bourriaud’s curated vision of a “globalised cultural state” at the Tate’s ‘Ultramodern’ [ObserverUK]

Initial work on Raven’s Row in London via RavensRow

Alex Sainsbury opens non-profit exhibition space Raven Row’s in London [FT]

Richard Prince via Interview

Richard Prince donates “one of the most valuable and distinctive modern libraries in private hands” [TimesUK]
The Museum of Modern Art has relaunched a decidedly more interactive website [FastCompany]

Bruce Nauman via National Gallery of Australia

Bruce Nauman will represent the United States [ArtDaily] and John Baldessari (and Yoko Ono) to be awarded the Golden Lions at the 53rd Venice Biennale this year [ArtInfo]

Charles Saatchi via the Times UK

Charles Saatchi grants a rare interview: “art is my only extravagance” and another interview from Turner Prize winning Film director Steve McQueen [TimesUK]

David Zwirner with Simon de Pury via the Swiss Institute

On the resilient and very active power dealer David Zwirner: “Many people have cash on hand and they are waiting for first-rate objects” [Bloomberg]

Maria Baibakova via the Guardian UK

On Maria Baibakova, young Russian heiress addition to the art world (not Daria “Dasha” Zhukova) [TheIndependent]
Will Gompertz on Joseph Beuys, his Duchampian influence and other noteworthy points such as the myth of the inception of his art at the hands of Tartars in the Crimean War [GuardianUK]

PR photo of Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth, via the Guardian UK.

Noted British sculptor and Turner Prize winner Antony Gormley is seeking to recruit up to 2,400 volunteers to participate in his latest work, One & Other, atop Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth.

Participants will have an entire hour atop the plinth, and are free to do anything legal. Gormley has commented that he expects there to be “naked riots,” and that he would be “upset if at least one person did not take their clothes off.” The only requirements for partake in One and Other are that participants are over 16 years of age and are residents of the UK while the show is on display. Applications will be accepted through a website designed for that purpose, and Sky Arts will broadcast coverage of the plinth. Video coverage of the plinth will also be streaming live at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The website will notify participants in three tranches starting in April.

On the motivation and objective behind the ’sculpture,’ Gormley had this to say:

“The idea behind One & Other is a simple one. Through elevation onto the plinth and removal from the common ground, the body becomes a metaphor, symbol, emblem – a point of reference, focus and thought. In the context of Trafalgar Square with its military, valedictory and male historical statues to specific individuals, this elevation of everyday life to the position formerly occupied by monumental art allows us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability and particularity of the individual in contemporary society. It could be tragic but it could also be funny.” — via the Guardian UK

Gormley won the opportunity to display One and Other through a process run by the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group. Other artists who have exhibited on the plinth include Marc Quinn, Rachel Whiteread and Thomas Schutte.

Sculpture site: One and Other
Antony Gormley’s Fourth Plinth: make an exhibition of yourself [Times UK]
Antony Gormley wants you for the fourth plinth [Guardian UK]
Trafalgar Square fourth plinth art ‘will cause arrests’ [Telegraph UK]
Gormley on his plinth: ‘I would be very upset if nobody took their clothes off’ [Independent]
Gormley Invites Brits to Lord Over Trafalgar Square [ArtInfo]
Volunteer plea for plinth artwork [BBC]
Gormley puts public on pedestal [BBC]

Mark Leckey receiving the Turner Prize, via the Guardian

The only male among the four artists selected as nominees for this year’s Turner Prize emerged as the winner of what is widely considered Britain’s most important contemporary arts competition, held at the Tate Britain museum for the last 24 years. Mark Leckey’s Cinema in the Round clinched the Turner Prize, joining the ranks of Damien Hirst, Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry, Rachel Whiteread,  the Chapman Brothers, Tomma Abts, Steve McQueen, among many other now prominent artists.  The Turner Prize is awarded to the best artist under 50 by a jury which changes every year.  Leckey’s works included films that examined the role of movies and other media in the daily lives of viewers, and how they see themselves.  Cinema in the Round examined this theme in depth, referencing external cultural imagery drawn from such as sources as Felix the Cat, Homer Simpson, Titanic the movie and Philip Guston.  Leckey beat out fellow artists Runa Islam, Cathy Wilkes, and Goshka Macuga for the £25,000 prize, which was presented by musician Nick Cave.  The other competitors took home £5,000 as consolation prize.

Official Site: Turner Prize 2008
Video: ‘I want a TV show,’ Interview with Mark Leckey [Guardian]
Photos: Turner prize 2008: Happy go Leckey [Guardian]
Modest art: out goes the controversy as magpie of the artworld steals the show [Guardian]
‘Felix the Cat’ Artist Mark Leckey Wins Turner Prize [Bloomberg]
Mark Leckey Wins Prestigious 2008 Turner Prize – World’s Top Contemporary Art Award [ArtDaily]

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Place (Village) 2006-08, via New York Times

British artist Rachel Whiteread’s installation Place (Village) (2006-08) is currently on view for the first time in The United States at The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  This recent work is the centerpiece of an exhibition simply titled Rachel Whiteread which also features a selection of the artist’s earlier pieces including casts of doors, the insides of boxes, and wood flooring, as well as drawings and collages.

Museum of Fine Arts Press Release for Rachel Whiteread
A Talk with Rachel Whiteread [Time]
Rachel Whiteread at MFA [Big Red & Shiny]
Rachel Whiteread – Hidden Corners of the Neighborhood [NYT]
Whiteread at MFA – It Takes a Village [HubArts]
Rachel Whiteread’s Dramatic Installation [ArtDaily]
Missed Oppurtunity at The MFA [Boston Globe]

More information and pictures after the jump… (more…)

Richard Prince ‘Nurse Hat Chair’ via Wallpaper

Richard Prince, in collaboration with Richard Prince, curates a furniture exhibit in Paris with his ‘Nurse Hat Chair’ [Wallpaper]
A reputed Jackson Pollock painting of questionable authenticity, purchased for $5 in 1992, goes on sale in Toronto for $50 million US [ArtInfo] Oct. 31
Terence Koh, artist on a bike, interviewed [Dejour Magazine]
A guide to London gallerist Steve Lazarides, now showing on the Bowery, and the Outsiders art movement [IndependentUK]
‘Pulse Park’ is a public art light installation in Madison Park, Manhattan that senses heart rates [NYMag]
Turner Prize winning video artist Steve McQueen interviewed [Scotland on Sunday]
The state of Sotheby’s art lending business [NYMag]

‘I give you all my money 2008′ by Cathy Wilkes, a finalist at 2008’s Turner Prize, via Guardian

The Turner Prize is exhibiting this year’s finalists starting September 30th at the Tate Britain, in London. Founded in London in 1984 to support the development of contemporary artists under 50 years of age, the prize is widely considered one of the art world’s highest honors. This year’s finalists are Runa Islam, Goshka Macuga, Mark Leckey and Cathy Wilkes–the first time in the prize’s history that three of its four nominees are women. The works shown run the gamut from installation art to film.  Past award recipients have included Wolfgang Tillmans, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor and Steve McQueen.

Turner Prize page at the Tate Britain
A mannequin on a toilet and dry porridge – it’s the Turner Prize [Independent]
The Turner Prize 2008: who cares who wins? [Telegraph]
Turner Prize Nominees Offer Supermarket Checkouts, Broken China [Bloomberg]
Video: Take a tour of the Turner prize 2008 [Guardian]
Turner Prize 2008: Who’s Who [Guardian]
Dummies and china compete for Turner [Financial Times]
Turner fight begins again [Financial Times]
Nurses and Curses: Adrian Searle on this year’s Turner Prize finalists [Guardian]

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