Nicholas Serota has reportedly won an additional £6 million in government funding for the Tate Modern expansion set to open next year. The move is particularly noteworthy, as it comes in the midst of widespread cuts to arts funding around the nation. (more…)
Andy Warhol, One Dollar Bill (1962), via Sotheby’s
The results are in for Sotheby’s Evening Sale tonight, drawing the first half of the 2015 market year to a close with a mixed sale that saw impressive strength in unexpected places and a number of major letdowns at the higher end of the sale, ultimately closing on a final tally of £130,376,500, well shy of the £203 million mark the auction house had trumpeted earlier this month, with 9 of the 58 lots going unsold. (more…)
Artist David Shrigley has designed the new mascot for Scottish soccer club Partick Thistle, a disturbingly rendered sun icon with a comically menacing face, a figure that some in the media have called “terrifying.” (more…)
The Guardian takes another look at Grayson Perry’s recently completed home design in Essex, the fittingly-titled A House for Essex, which he calls a monument to “thwarted female intelligence,” and executed as a sacred communion with an imagined Essex woman named Julie May Cope. (more…)
An article this week in the Financial Times forecasts a “grim” outlook for UK Museums in the face of harsh budget cuts and austerity measures. Those in the field note that while museums seem to be at a stronger state than ever within the British Nation, operational budget cuts threaten to hamper continued development and harm future plans. “Museums are ironically better than ever before, better presented, better run and in better condition,” says Stephen Deuchar, chief executive of the Art Fund. “It’s just at the point where we ought to be reaping all the benefit from that investment that revenue funding is being cut back at a worrying pace.” (more…)
The annual study by The UK’s Association of Leading Visitor Attractions shows a 7% increase in museum visits by the British in 2014, topped by The British Museum (6.7 million visitors) and National Gallery (6.4 million). The news comes in the middle of an election season in which many have called for an end to austerity measures affecting British arts institutions. (more…)
Mark Bradford, Biting the Book (2013), via Phillips
Following a pair of major auctions the previous evenings, the Phillips Contemporary and Evening Sale in London has concluded the first Contemporary market week of the year, capping a 30-lot sale at the auction house’s new 30 Berkeley Square to the final result of £17.7 million, with only five of the works going unsold.
Paul McCarthy, WS SC (Installation View), all images courtesy Hauser & Wirth
Currently on through Saturday at Hauser & Wirth’s London exhibition space is an exhibition of new paintings by multimedia artist, sculptor, and performance artist Paul McCarthy, marking the artist’s first exhibition devoted entirely to painting since the 1980s. Continuing his work with the narratives of Snow White, McCarthy delves deeper into the formats and genres of Hollywood film production.
A Picasso canvas that has never before been exhibited will go on view this week in London. The 1901 self-portrait is being exhibited at Ordovas Gallery, alongside works by Jeff Koons, Francis Bacon and Damien Hirst. (more…)
A trio of sculptures by Jake and Dinos Chapman are set to be installed at Hampstead Heath in London. The rudimentary sculptures of a group of dinosaurs, titled The good the bad and the ugly, were previously installed at the Gherkin building. Installed next month, they will constitute the largest piece of public art the park has seen since 2005, when Giancario Neri’s The Writer was placed on view. (more…)
Hauser and Wirth has opened its newest gallery this spring in an unexpected location, an 18th-century farmhouse in Somerset, England. Just outside the town of Bruton, the gallery space underlines the gallerists continued commitment to museum-quality spaces, similar to its renovated space on 18th Street in New York. (more…)
Georg Baselitz, Untitled (2013), all images courtesy Gagosian Gallery
On view at Gagosian London is an exhibition of recent works by German painter Georg Baselitz, focusing the artist’s distinct style through a series of paintings focused on the self-portrait, while paying direct homage to the gestural figures of Willem de Kooning. The exhibition will remain on view through March 29, 2014.
Dana Schutz, Yawn 2 (2012), Courtesy Hepworth Wakefield Gallery
At The Hepworth Wakefield Gallery in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, is the first solo show in the UK for young artist Dana Schutz. Mostly made up of new paintings and drawings, the exhibition includes 20 vibrantly colored works depicting absurd, hypothetical situations.
Martin Creed, Work No. 1690: Self-portrait (2013), Courtesy Hauser & Wirth and Gavin Brown’s Enterprise
On November 8th, Hauser & Wirth and Gavin Brown’s enterprise opened parallel solo exhibitions in New York City featuring works by Scottish artist Martin Creed. The exhibitions will present new works in addition to selections from the past thirty years of his career. The display will remain on view at the two New York locations through December 21st 2013.
Martin Creed at Gavin Brown (Installation View), via Gavin Brown
The British government export ban has been placed on a 17th century self-portrait by Anthony Van Dyck, giving time for British galleries to raise the £12.5 million needed to keep the painting in the country. “I hope that placing a temporary export bar on this magnificent painting will allow time for a UK buyer to come forward and ensure it remains here in the UK.” Said British Cultural Minister Ed Vaizey.
Sotheby’s director Philip Hook has unveiled a new guide, welcoming the uninitiated into the often “meaningless” terminology embraced by the institutional art world. Exploring the meaning of overused words like “important” (“historically significant but hard to sell”), Breakfast at Sotheby’s: An A-Z of the Art World offers a look into the language of the commercial art world. “They are words the meaning of which has become twisted by the desire to energize banality, to elevate mediocrity, or simply to make a sale.” (more…)
Part of the 2013 London Design Festival, Alex de Rijke of dRMM Architects and Dean of Architecture at the Royal College of Art has created a complex, interlocking staircase installation on the grounds in front of the Tate Modern. Endless Stair will open on Friday, and is open to the public during the day. It closes on October 10th. (more…)
As social attitudes towards country living shift in the United Kingdom, more and more artists are abandoning city life for residence and working space in the countryside, where inexpensive living and the economic struggles of small British towns have paved new modes of work and living for British artists. “I can negotiate having a social life living in a city, or I can be an artist. I found I can’t do both … Britain has become so complex to be poor in. At least if I am skint here, I can look at the mountains.” Says artist Bedwyr Williams. (more…)
Gary Hume, Blackbird (1998), all images courtesy Tate Britain
The Tate Britain is currently presenting an exhibition of works by British painter Gary Hume, created throughout his career. On display are 24 recent paintings, rare works never before seen in the UK, as well some of his most well-known pieces, offering a pointed view of his minimalist style and challenging aesthetic practice.
The restoration of artist William Morris’s home in London has uncovered a full wall, Pre-Raphaelite mural, believed to have been painted by Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Elizabeth Siddal, Ford Madox Brown and Morris himself. The work was discovered under layers of paint, completely unbeknownst to those working on redeveloping the house. “In the morning we had one and a half murky figures, in the evening we had an entire wall covered in a pre-Raphaelite painting of international importance,” property manager James Breslin. (more…)
London’s Mayfair district, traditionally known for its boutique shops and high-end British art galleries, is seeing a number of American dealers moving in, The New York Times reports. Gagosian, Pace, David Zwirner and more have opened spaces in the area, seeking to provide an even greater global offering for potential artists and customers in a vibrant market. “We’re all chasing the same artists,” says Marc Glimcher, president of Pace. “But the intensity of interest in art in London is long-lasting. You can get 10 reviews in 10 different newspapers. And besides the new collectors and galleries, there is a very vibrant museum community.” (more…)
With the Syrian civil war raging around them, a group of artists have smuggled their works out of the country for a survey exhibition in London, risking life and limb to get their works abroad for a show at P21 Gallery in Euston, opening this week. “I travelled to Lebanon and Jordan twice to take work smuggled over the border,” said Fadi Haddad of support group Mosaic Syria. “The artists are worried that they could be traced if the work is stopped at a checkpoint. Some haven’t signed their work. The security police wouldn’t understand their message but they’d still see it as a danger. One artist went to Lebanon to remake her work just to avoid trouble from the authorities.” (more…)
Billed as the world’s largest art exhibition, the newly announced Art Everywhere project will turn billboards and poster sites around the United Kingdom into exhibition spaces for works from the national collection. The project is curated in part by the British public, who will vote on their favorite works from a curated shortlist. Damien Hirst has offered a work for exhibition, and is a vocal supporter of the project. “Art is for everyone, and everyone who has access to it will benefit from it. This project is amazing and gives the public a voice and an opportunity to choose what they want to see on their streets.“ He says. (more…)
