Democracy in America: The National Campaign at the Park Avenue Armory via Art Observed

Creative Time is presenting a week-long exhibition of public artworks at the convergence center for Democracy in America: The National Campaign at the Park Avenue Armory. Curated by Nato Thompson. The exhibition houses work done by over 40 artists, including Jon Kessler, Allison Smith, and Chris Stain. Democracy in America: The National Campaign is a multi-phased initiative that has traveled across the country collecting artistic interpretation of the country’s view on political democracy.  Site-specific projects that look at issues of democracy were created by artists Rodney McMillan, Olga Koumoundouros, Mark Tribe, Steve Powers, and Sharon Hayes and are now on view at the Armory, as well as ongoing mobile projects, such as Tactical Magic’s Ice Cream truck. The week-long exhibition is happening in conjunction with a series of performances, speeches by artists and political leaders, and viewer participatory projects. Creative Time calls the yearlong program, Democracy in America: The National Campaign, one of its largest public art initiatives through out its 34-year history.

Art Observed Exclusive Video of the opening:
Rachel Mason’s performance for the opening night at the Park Avenue Armory [Art Observed]

Convergence Center at Park Avenue Armory [Creative Time]
Nato Thompson on “Democracy in America” [Artinfo]
Democracy in America: Convergence Center at Park Avenue Armory [Flavorpill]
Democracy in America Convergence Center [ArtCal]
Creative Time’s Democracy in America Convergence Center [WorldsBestEver]

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An untitled 1969 work by Mark Rothko via Telegraph The painting, created a year before the artist committed suicide, displays the dark color palette the artist primarily used during his last years of life a period that was said to be increasingly lonely and isolating for the artist.

Opening today at the Tate Modern is retrospective of abstract expressionist Mark Rothko. The Latvian-born American artist has not had an solo exhibition in the UK in over 20 years. The exhibit includes Tate’s permanent Rothko colletion that consists of nine paintings known as the Seagram murals. The paintings which are usually on display in what is known as the Rothko Room within the Tate have been moved to a larger space and joined by another six Seagram murals on loan from Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art in Japan and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. In 1958 the artist was commissioned by the Four Season’s restaurant in New York’s Seagram building to create the works, earning the paintings the name Seagram murals. However Rothko ultimately deemed a restaurant as an inappropriate place to display the works and did not hand them over. Instead the artist donated many of the works, including several to the Tate. The exhibition will also include the 1964 series Black-Form paintings, 1969 series Brown on Grey works on paper, as well as works from his last series before his death Black on Gray made in 1969-70.

Mark Rothko exhibition at Tate Modern, 26 September 2008 – 1 February 2009 [Tate Modern]
Bacon and Rothko in London [New York Sun]
How Mark Rothko became an Anglophile [Times Online UK]
Rothko’s Humor Shown by Son as Tate Fetes Artist’s Darkest Work [Bloomberg]
In at the Deep End Rothko Video [Guardian]
Rothko’s Gloom Is Compelling at London’s Tate: Martin Gayford [Bloomberg]
Rothko’s murals reunited at Tate [BBC News]
Rothko exhibition opens at Tate Modern [Telegraph]
First Major Exhibition Dedicated to the Late Works of Mark Rothko at Tate Modern [Art Daily]
Current Exhibition: Rothko [Art Info]
The trouble with Mark Rothko’s genius [Times Online] (more…)

Yvonne Force Villareal from Art Production fund (left) and others attend the opening reception for Cecily Brown at Gagosian New York via Art Observed

Gagosian New York is currently showing a collection of new and recent work by British painter Cecily Brown. The exhibit, entitled Cecily Brown 2008, displays her signature style in which bold figures are covered in abstract layers. The displayed work mirrors Brown’s previous work in its attempt to expand abstract expressionism, combining the influence of Willem de Kooning with figurative influences Nicolas Poussin and Edouard Manet. The exhibit also includes a series of uncharacteristically small scale paintings which marks a unique transfiguration for the artist who is best known for her large-scale works. Art Observed was at the opening reception along artists John Currin, Francesco Clemente, and Hope Atherton, Art Production Fund’s Yvonne Force Villareal, Tim Hunt from the Warhol Foundation.

Cecily Brown Press Release [Gagosian]
Reading Between the Linens: Cecily Brown at Gagosian Gallery [NYSun]
Cecily Brown Exhibition [NY Art Beat]
Galleries Awaken From Summer Slumber [NYSun]

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Jenny Holzer’s light projection For the Guggenheim via Art Daily.

Jenny Holzer’s site-specific design for the facade of the Soloman R. Guggenheim museum is now on display. The Guggenheim commissioned the piece to mark the completion of the museum’s three-year restoration project.  The piece is a light projection of political statements about terrorism and the Iraq war along with poems by Nobel Prize recipient and Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska.  The work was inaugurated September 22 when Mayor Bloomberg switched on the installation causing the epigrams of white capital letters to cascade down the building.  The work entitled “For the Guggenheim” will be on display from sunset to 11 PM every Friday through December with a special showing on New Year’s Eve.
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Jenny Holzer to Light Up Facade of Guggenheim Museum [Art Info]
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Guggenheim Marks Completion of Restoration With First Public Viewing of Work by Artist Jenny Holzer [Art Daily]
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Guggenheim Museum to display text art to celebrate renovation [USA Today]
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Guggenheim Museum Marks Completion Of Building Restoration With First Public Viewing Of Commissioned Work By Artist Jenny Holzer [Guggenheim Press Release]

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Beauty, John McCracken (2006) via David Zwirner

David Zwirner opened a show of new work by artist John McCracken on September 11th. The exhibition houses nearly 100 pieces made by McCracken, many of which are components of multi-part sculptures. This is McCracken’s fourth solo exhibition at David Zwirner; he has also shown at S.M.A.K. in Ghent, Belgium in 2004 as well as a variety of group shows.  Born in Berkeley in 1934, John McCracken has been showing his conceptual, abstract, and minimalist sculptures since the 1960s. In concurrence with this David Zwirner show, Radius Books is publishing and making available for the first time, John McCracken: Sketchbook. This publication is filled with the artists working sketches from the 1960s. The author of the publication, Neville Wakefield, is an independent curator and has most recently put together a group show at MoMA P.S.1.

John McCracken at David Zwirner [David Zwirner]
John McCracken: Sketchbook [Radius Books]
John McCracken talk & book signing at David Zwirner [Art Slant]
David Zwirner: Press Release [Artinfo]

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Sam-Taylor Wood and Jay Jopling via Art Info.

“Young British Artist” couple Jay Jopling and Sam Taylor-Wood are separating after 11 years of marriage. The two have both been a constant force within the British contemporary art world.  Jopling’s White Cube gallery represents famed British artists Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, and the Chapman brothers among an international roster that includes Chuck Close, Andreas Gurksy and Jeff Wall.  Taylor-Wood is a Turner Prize winning artist whose photo and video work has included celebrities Elton John, Jude Law and Benicio Del Toro among others. The artist furthered her fame in 2002 when she created a video portrait of David Beckham sleeping. The announcement follows Jopling in the news alongside Damien Hirst’s record breaking sotheby’s auction last week in which the artist cut Jopling and other dealers out of the selling process. The couple has stated that no other parties were involved in the split which they have described as “amicable.” Jay Jopling and Sam Taylor-Wood have two daughters together.

Jay Jopling and Sam Taylor-Wood separate after 11 years [The Times UK]
Jay Jopling and Sam Taylor-Wood split after 11 years of marriage [Telegraph]
Art’s golden couple Sam Taylor-Wood and Jay Jopling split after 11 years of marriage [Daily Mail]
Jay Jopling and Sam Taylor-Wood Separate After 11 Years [Art Info]

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Love and Pain by Edvard Munch via Art Market Monitor.

Edvard Munch’s 1894 painting Love and Pain, known as Vampire, will be auctioned at Sotheby’s New York November 3, 2008. The piece has been in private hands for the past 70 years and will be the feature work during Sotheby’s evening sale of Impressionist and Modern Art. It is estimated that the painting will sell for $35 million surpassing the existing Munch record of $30.8 set this past May for Girls on a Bridge. The painting which is said to represent love, sex, and death shows a woman and man in embrace. It is one of four paintings by Munch that explores the same theme, the other three works are housed in institutions in Oslo and Gothenburg. Curiously, the work was painted within years of Bram Stoker publishing the hugely popular ‘Dracula’ which may have caused the painting to be effectively renamed in popular culture. [Coxsoft] Prior to its sale the work will be displayed at Sotheby’s London from October 3-7, and in Moscow from October 16-19.

Iconic Masterwork by Edvard Munch to be Sold by Sotheby’s New York on November 3, 2008 [Sotheby’s Press Release]
Munch’s Vampire to be auctioned [BBC News]
Munch’s Vampire Comes to Market [Art Market Monitor]
Munch’s Vampire Goes Up for Sale With $35 Million Estimate [Art Info]
Iconic Masterwork by Edvard Munch to be Sold by Sotheby’s New York in November [Art Daily]

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Daria “Dasha” Zhukova, via Guardian.

More on Roman Abramovich’s Dasha Zhukova, straight from Moscow onto the art scene, and more on her and the Moscow Garage here [Times Online] [Guardian] On Gagosian’s Moscow Chocolate factory, and more on Gagosian in Moscow here [Financial Times] [Art Info]
After the sale, perhaps the most insightful Hirst Sotheby’s auction and art market summary article we’ve found [The Economist]
Christie’s sale in Zurich to auction significant Peter Fischli/David Weiss shown at Tate Modern in 2007 [Art Daily]
With Francis Bacon at the currently at the Tate, a video interview from 1985 [Small Drawings via C-Monster]

Richard Armstrong, the new Director of the Guggenheim via NY Times.

As anticipated by Art Observed earlier this month in a report here, Richard Armstrong of the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh has been named the new Director of the Soloman R. Guggenheim Foundation and its flagship the Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.  The announcement made yesterday by the Board of Trustees follows an extensive seven-month international search. The search begin February 2008 after Thomas Krens resigned as Director of the Guggenheim after nearly 20 years. Armstrong served four years as Chief Curator and Curator of Contemporary Art at the Carnegie Museum prior to his appointment as director there. He has also worked previously as the curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art where he organized four biennials and as curator at La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, California.

Guggenheim Chooses a Curator, Not a Showman [NYTimes]
Guggenheim Foundation Names New Director Richard Armstrong [Art Daily]
Richard Armstrong appointed director of the Guggenheim [The Art Newspaper]

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Gerhard Richter’s 4900 Colours: Version II via Serpentine Gallery

London’s Serpentine Gallery is set to display celebrated German artist Gerhard Richter’s 4900 Colours: Version II today, September 23. The piece is comprised of 4900 brightly colored squares arranged randomly by a concept Richter has coined “controlled chance.” The squares have been painted on 100 aluminum panels. The panels can be viewed altogether as a single work of art that measures 69 square meters or the work can be displayed as 49 separate pieces. Serpentine will display the 4900 Colours: Version II as separate original works. The new piece strongly resembles both the artist’s previous color abstractions dating back to the 70’s as well as a recent stained glass piece the artist created for the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.

Richter Says Nouveau Riche Have Sent Art Market `to the Dogs’ [Bloomberg]
Gerhard Richter Brings 4900 Colors to Serpentine [Digital Art]
Richter’s all square at the Serpentine [Guardian UK]
Gerhard Richter: 4900 Colours: Version II [Serpentine Gallery]
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Opening reception for Doug Aitken ‘Migration’ at 303 Gallery photos by Art Observed

Art Observed was on site at the well attended opening reception for Doug Aitken’s new installations at 303 Gallery. His piece called ‘Migration’ is the first exhibition to inhabit the new 303 Gallery space on 21st Street but the opening also took place correspondingly at the gallery’s original 22nd street location. On 22nd street, a series of 30 abstract watercolors greet you when you first enter the brightly lit circular room, and lead you to the back gallery which houses a series of illuminated signs. The large-scale signs are lit up and filled with panoramic photos of our contemporary landscape.

‘Migration’, an audio-visual installation, is played on three large screens spaced throughout the new 21st Street gallery space. In the footage, Doug Aitken takes wild North American migratory animals out of their natural environment and juxtaposes them in roadside hotel and motel rooms, all the while supplementing the footage with a dramatic soundtrack. The guests at the opening reception spread out through the gallery in search of a preferred viewing vantage point; some standing in front of the screen, sitting on the ground, or mingling towards the front of the gallery. The exhibition will continue to be on view at547 W. 21 St through November 1st and 525 W. 22 St through November 8th.

Art Observed Exclusive Videos of the opening:
Opening reception for Doug Aitken: Migration at 303 Gallery [Art Observed]

Doug Aitken: Migration [303 Gallery]
303 Gallery current exhibitions [Artslant]
Doug Aitken at 303 Gallery [Supreme Management]
AO On Site: 303 Gallery’s 25th Anniversary Summer Celebration, Wednesday night, July 23 NYC [ArtObserved]

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KAWS with SpongeBob acrylic piece included in his exhibit Saturated, via hypebeast

This weekend marked the opening of Saturated, KAWS’ first solo show since 2002. The exhibition held at Miami’s Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin was curated by Pharrell Williams of N.E.R.D fame and included pop-art acrylic works inline with the artists signature style. The paintings’ subjects included animated icons SpongeBob SquarePants and the Smurfs. The collection like previous work by KAWS includes well known imagery as an attempt to be produce art that is universally understood, transcending languages and cultures. The artist who came to fame in the early 90’s through subverting images on billboard, bus shelter, and phone booth advertisements has previously reworked the animated icons The Simpons, Mickey Mouse, and Michelin Man among others.

Interview: KAWS [The Moment]
KAWS’ Saturated at Emmanuel Perrotin [The World’s Best Ever]
KAWS “Saturated” Show Opening [hypebeast]
Opening Nite: KAWS’ “Saturated” [supertouch]

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Soon-to-be-former Lehman Brothers corporate headquarters

Lehman Brothers may sell some or all of its 3,500-work corporate art collection [Bloomberg]
How the Wall Street firm implosion jeopardizes New York arts funding [NY Sun]
French art dealers, armed with currency arbitrage, settle into Manhattan [The Art Newspaper]
7 artists recontextualise the River Thames [GuardianUK]
Following ‘Pest Control,’ ‘Vermin,’ a second Banksy authentication group emerges [Art Info]
Five 17th century Dutch paintings stolen in 2002 at $4.2M of insurable value are recovered [BBC]

Dash Snow (co-author of NEST), Brian McPeck (of A.R.E. Weapons) and Kembra Pfahler (of The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black and author of Beautalism) at Santo’s Party House; photo taken by Bijoux Altamirano

Last Monday night, September 15th, AO was on site at Santo’s Party House for Deitch Projects’ book launch. Deitch Projects has released two new books, NEST by Dash Snow and Dan Colen and Beautalism by Kembra Pfahler. The celebration was kicked off by performances by The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, led by Kembra Pfahler, the author of Beautalism and frequent collaborator of Deitch projects, and a short set from TV Baby.

CURRENT READING: Nest: Dash Snow Dan Colen: Deitch Projects [The Imagist]
Nest and Beautalism Book Launch at Santos Party House [The World’s Best Ever]
Deitch projects book launch [ArtLoversNewYork]
Hint Tip: Deitch Projects [Hintmag]
Nest: July 26, 2007 to August 18, 2007 [Deitch Projects]
The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black [MySpace]

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Crucifixion (1933) by Francis Bacon, via the Tate Britain

In celebration of the centenary of the artist’s birth, the Tate Britain has put together a Francis Bacon retrospective encompassing 71 paintings covering the most important creative periods of the noted 20th century artist. The retrospective is the first in Britain since 1985, before the artist passed away in 1992. Bacon’s work forces the viewer to confront very disturbing, hyperfigurative images of mortality, lust, fear and violence, often incorporated gory, mangled or otherwise distorted depictions of human and animal anatomy. Bacon’s ‘Triptych’ (1976) recently set a record this May when Roman Abramovich (Russian billionaire and owner of Chelsea FC) bought it for $86.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York, earning him the distinction of being the most expensive postwar artist.

Major Celebration Heralding Francis Bacon’s Centenary Opens at Tate Gallery in London [ArtDaily]
Francis Bacon: ‘The man’s a bloody genius’ [Guardian]
Video Commentary from Chris Stephens, co-curator of the exhibition [Tate Britain]
Francis Bacon at the Tate Britain [Times Online]
Bacon’s Darkness in a New Light [Wall Street Journal]
Reviews roundup: Francis Bacon at Tate Britain [Guardian]
London set for Bacon centenary exhibition [AFP]
Bacon Show Has $6 Billion Art, Horror, Corpses [Bloomberg]
Francis Bacon claims his place at the top of the market [Art Newspaper]
Francis Bacon: touching the void, video review of the exhibit [Times Online]

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Baroque Egg with Bow (2006), Jeff Koons via Gagosian

New York art magnate Larry Gagosian brings an eclectic mix of avant-garde art to Moscow in his new show, For What You Are about to Receive. Entitled in spirit of the Bolshevik revolution, “Red October” is the name given to the former chocolate factory in which Gagosian Gallery will showcase over 100 works by approximately 50 post-war artists. Never-seen works by Jeff Koons, Anish Kapoor, Cy Twombly, Richard Serra, and Edward Ruscha will be included in addition to works by Roy Lichtenstein, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Takashi Murakami, Aaron Young, and Yayoi Kusama. A statement by the gallery maintains that the exhibition, “investigates the twin pillars of twentieth century art: the readymade and pure abstraction, reflecting on the sublime through a self-conscious engagement with material and process.” For What You Are about to Receive is Gagosian’s second showing in Moscow, following an auspicious exhibit at Barvikha Luxury Village one year earlier. The show also inaugurates “Red October” as a new contemporary arts center in Moscow, however, Gagosian denies inquiries about opening a permanent establishment in the city.

Gagosian Plans Moscow Show in Former Chocolate Factory [Artinfo]
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For What Your Are About to Receive [Gagosian]
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Gagosian To Host Second Moscow Exhibit [NYSun]
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Gagosian Gallery in Moscow [Artnet]

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Rendering of Herzog & de Meuron’s 56 Leonard St. tower including the site specific sculpture designed by artist Anish Kapoor via Andrea Schwan Inc.

The design for Pritzer Prize winning architects, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron’s Tribeca tower was released earlier this week. The $650 million project will be 57-stories high with condominiums ranging from 1,430 square feet to 6,360 square feet, and is projected to be open in 2010. The tower is said to house 145 residences each with its unique floor plan and complete with a private balcony. The translucent skyscraper will be the first high-rise commission for the Swiss architects, who have had their hand in designing the Beijing National Stadium in China for the recent 2008 Olympic games, the Tate Modern in London, and the de Young Museum in San Francisco. The contemporary artist Anish Kapoor has been commissioned to install one of his signature stainless steel, reflective sculptures on the ground floor. The tower will appear to be resting a top his sculpture, and will be the first permanent public artwork for the artist in New York City.

Construction Begins On Herzog & De Meuron’s 56 Leonard Street [Artdaily]
Olympic Bird’s Nest architects design NY high-rise [Associated Press]
A Stack of Houses [NYTimes]
Fantastical Form in TriBeCa: Herzog & de Meuron’s 56 Leonard St. [NYSun]
At 57 Stories, 56 Leonard St. to Tower Over Tribeca [Tribeca Tribune]
One’s Huge, the Other’s Crazy [NYMag]
Herzog & de Meuron reach for the sky [World Architecture News]
Herzog & de Meuron’s Plans Unveiled for New York City Tower [ArtForum]
New York Developer commissions Anish Kapoor for Herzog & de Meuron residential project in Tribeca [ArtObserved]

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Cubist Still Life by Arshile Gorky, one of the paintings stolen from the Los Angeles’s couples home via LA Times

An unidentified elderly couple of Enico, Los Angeles were at home preoccupied while a thief, or possible thieves, entered their home and stole an art collection worth millions of dollars. At least a dozen paintings were stolen including works by Marc Chagall, Hans Hofmann, Chaim Soutine, Arshile Gorky, Emil Nolde, Lyonel Feininger, Diego Rivera, and Kees van Dongen. Each stolen work was worth at least six figures, some of them closer to $1 million. While the theft occurred in August police waited until September to publicly announce the crime and the $200,000 reward for information leading to the return of the paintings. The couple remains unidentified by police as does the source of the reward money. It remains unclear if was a single thief, or a group. Police are also uncertain if it was a common thief-likely to pawn off the paintings immediately, or a more sophisticated thief with ties to collectors or criminal gangs specializing in pilfered artwork. Art theft is by FBI estimates is a $6-billion-a-year global industry.

Swift L.A. art heist claims couple’s collection worth millions [LA Times]
A Dozen Artworks Stolen from L.A. Collectors’ Home [ArtInfo]
Find stolen paintings, collect $200,000 [Two Coats of Paint]

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Tracey Emin and her sparrow, now returned via BBC

For second time in 3 months, Tracey Emin’s 4-inch Liverpool sparrow is stolen then returned [BBC]
Photo profile of collector / Art in America and Interview-owner Peter Brant [TMagazine-New York Times]
Art Basel commits Miami Beach for 3 years [ArtForum]
Midtown gallery sued after improperly safeguarded Dali’s are stolen [New York Post]
Oliafur Eliasson interviewed [GuardianUK]
New art fair Art Berlin Contemporary opens with 70 artists and 40 Berlin galleries [ArtReview]

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Strings, ‘An der Isar (2006) by Wolfgang Tillmans via Chantal Crousel

In his first solo exhibition in Paris since 2002’s Vue d’en Haut, with Strings German artist Wolfgang Tillmans continues his intricately planned configurations of photographs capturing seemingly unrelated people, landscapes and objects juxtaposed with found media, news clippings, photocopied documents and various other objects. The photographs, together with the other elements of each arrangement, take on an almost sculptural quality once taken in as a whole, with each piece contributing to a dialogue embodied in the assembled work. Tillmans’ pieces will be on exhibition at Paris’ Chantal Crousel Gallery from September 13th through October 25th.

STRINGS
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September 13 – October 25, 2008
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For more information, visit www.crousel.com

Wolfgang Tillmans, Strings [Crousel]
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Wolfgang Tillmans – Artist Bio [ArtInfo]

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Damien Hirst’s “The Golden Calf” / calf, 18 carat gold, glass, gold-plated steel, silicone and formaldehyde solution with Carrara marble plinth / Hammer Price with Buyer’s Premium: £10,345,250 via monstersandcritics

Sotheby’s quotes Damien Hirst as saying “I think the market is bigger than anyone knows. I love art, and this proves I’m not alone.” After much fanfare and controversy, and against the surreal backdrop of a severe financial market collapse led by Lehman Brothers buckling in the largest bankruptcy in US history, “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever” Damien Hirst’s direct-to-the-market auction by Sotheby’s London, was a conclusive success. Perhaps boosted in part by a recently lower British pound, the groundbreaking sale collected $127 million dollars (£70 million) on the first day, and an additional $72.9 million dollars (£40.9 million) on the second day for a grand total just shy of $200 million dollars, beating the previous record for the auction of a collection by a single artist formerly held by Picasso by roughly ten times, which fetched $20 million for an 88-work collection in 1993. Over three sessions, 218 of the 223 lots changed hands with some works sellng for well below their low estimates and others selling for multiples of high estimates.

Sotheby’s Website
Does Hirst auction point to a bull market in art? [WallStreetJournal]
Hirst’s Two Day Auction Raises 115.5 million pounds [Bloomberg]
Hirst auction beats 62 million pound estimate [BBC]
Hirst Auction a Paradigm-Smashing Success [CultureGrrl]
AO News roundup: Damien Hirst’s ‘Beautiful Inside My Head Forever’ auction at Sotheby’s London is happening right now [ArtObserved]
Jopling responds, and Hirst’s Sotheby’s sale bandwagon rolls on amidst the buzz and controversy [ArtObserved]
A disclosure of White Cube’s unsold Damien Hirst inventory before the artist’s controversial September 15th direct sale by Sotheby’s [ArtObserved]

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Holy War by David Lachapelle via ArtObserved

David Lachapelle’s “Auguries of Innocence” collection is everything but austere.  Overt images of violence, sexual practice, religious imagery, and glutenous materialism are synergized into monumental collages.
Notables in attendance included Andre Balazs, Gavin Brown, Hope Atherton, Amanda Lepore, and Tony Shafrazi. Lepore and Lachapelle have had a prolific history of collaboration, one of the most famous being Lachapelle’s New York exhibit “Artists and Prostitutes 1985-2005,” in which Lepore inhabited a voyeuristic themed life-sized set.
This is the fourth solo show Lachapelle has exhibited at Shafrazi Gallery, the first being his “All American” show in 2002. The exhibit will be open to the public until October 24.

David Lachapelle Official Website
“Less about the Lil Kim’s of the world and more about its lil problems” [Timeout NY]
Tony Shafrazi Official Website

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Damien Hirst poses beside his work of art ‘The Incredible Journey‘ at Sotheby’s in London on Monday, September 8 via Art Daily

Damien Hirst’s Sotheby’s sale, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, is taking place in London this afternoon and this evening.  The Sotheby’s sale is made up of 223 lots and estimated at over $115 million. There has been a flurry of more recent news and skepticism surrounding this controversial event as the Sotheby’s/Damien Hirst PR machine kicked into full gear. Perhaps most notable in the press buzz was that the globally respected Australian art critic, Robert Hughes, last week referred to Hirst’s artwork in the sale as “absurd” and “tacky commodities.” This press event was notable in that it actually elicited a response from Hirst himself. The Telegraph reports that Hughes has labeled Hirst’s formaldehyde tiger shark, which was sold by Charles Saatchi in 2004 for nearly $10,000,00, as “the world’s most over-rated marine organism.” Additionally, there was buzz in the press of Sotheby’s stock reacting to lower price estimates before the sale. Art Observed will have a roundup of the relevant news stories, a review of the sale, its results and ramifications when the auctions closes in a matter of hours.

Damien Hirst – Beautiful Inside My Head Forever (Evening Sale) [Sotheby’s]

Hirst’s Pricey Zoo Fills Sotheby’s With Bling: Martin Gayford and Sotheby’s Falls on Speculation Hirst’s Sale May Flop and Damien Hirst Sells Pickled Beasts, Pockets Profits: Interview [Bloomberg]

Hughes Denounces Hirst’s Art as “Absurd” and Hirst Hits Back at Hughes [ArtInfo]
Damien Hirst’s art ‘absurd’ and ‘tacky’, says critic Robert Hughes [Telegraph]
Hirst hits back at Aussie critic [Sydney Morning Herald]

Damien Hirst Presents His Works of Art In Historic Sale to be Held at Sotheby’s in London and Upcoming Sotheby’s Auction and Hirst’s Publishing Company, Other Criteria, Share Similar Aim, to Democratize Art [Art Daily]

Form a queue for Damien Hirst’s sale of the century and Commentary: Hirst betting his reputation on this sale and Does Damien Hirst’s auction at Sotheby’s mean the end of the gallery? [Times Online]

Day of the dead: Robert Hughes explains and Hirst’s auction does not demean the art world and Reformed Britart rebel takes time out with £65m sale [Guardian]

Bad Boy Makes Good and Hirst vs. Hughes [TIME]
Damien Hirst goes for broke at Sotheby’s [IHT]
The Gist: Damien Hirst’s ‘Beautiful Inside My Head Forever’ Sale [New York Mag]
The Midas touch that turns the art world lethally cold [Financial Times]
Damien Hirst: “I’m a Punk at Heart” [New York Observer]
Rembrandt? I’m just like him, says Hirst – it’s all about cash [Independent]
Report: Hirst Auction Critical To Market Confidence [NYSun]

Damien Hirst sale at Sotheby’s previously covered by Art Observed here, here, and here [Art Observed]

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Forbidden Love, Faile (2006) via TAC
Lot 230: Forbidden Love, Faile (2006) / Estimate: $21,700 – $36,100 / Hammer Price: $39,703

On Saturday, September 6th, Phillips de Pury & Company held it’s Saturday @ Phillips sale featuring some of the most notorious names in Street Art. Until now, there had never been a Street Art auction of this magnitude. Many of the artists featured at the September 6th Saturday @ Phillips had never been to auction before, because of the nature of their work, and the anonymity of Street artists. The end total including premium was just under $850,000. Those that sold for the most and exceeded their estimates were works by Faile, Andres Serrano, Carcel Dzama, Swoon, and Banksy. Although one of Banksy’s pieces sold for over double its estimate, the well-known street artist also had two pieces among the unsold lots.

Philips Results [The Art Collectors]
Street art bonanza at Phillips de Pury auction [Design Week]
Saturday @ Phillips [Phillips de Pury]
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