Untitled, Christopher Wool (2009). All images via Gagosian Gallery.

On view through July 30th at Gagosian Gallery in Rome is an exhibition of eight new paintings by New York artist Christopher Wool. In these new works, Wool continues to experiment with the fundamentals of abstract painting, while furthering his use of new tactics for application and negation. Adhering to a mostly black-and-white palette and an array of techniques including over-painting, silkscreen, spray paint, stenciling, rolling, dripping, dragging, reproduction and deletion, the past decade has seen Wool increasingly focus on the gestural and painterly qualities of his work.

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Anna Gaskell, Untitled (turns Gravity) #1, 2010, archival pigment print on aluminum, 35 x 57 inches © Anna Gaskell, all images via Yvon Lambert.

Yvon Lambert, New York, is currently showing their second solo exhibition of the work of Anna Gaskell.  Known for her uneasy, often menacing photographs of young and pubescent girls in ambiguous narratives, this exhibition marks a slight imagistic departure.  Her earlier works referenced Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and allusions to the realms of fairy tale and cinema, but are replaced by scenes that are more grounded, casting them in an ominousness potentially intensified by their comparative realism.

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Man in the Mirror (2010) by Marc Quinn, via The Guardian.

Currently on view at White Cube Hoxton Square is “Allanah, Buck, Catman, Chelsea, Michael, Pamela, and Thomas,” a new body of work by British artist Marc Quinn. The exhibit brings together new sculptures by the artist which depict individuals after having gone through extreme amounts of plastic surgery including hormone therapy, piercings, implants and transplants. The works emphasize Quinn’s continual interest in society’s obsession with the body and how it can be transformed.

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Anselm Kiefer, Unfruchtbare Landschaften, 1969, 60 x 45 x 7 cm, 12 pages, black and white photographs, surgical instrument, ink and paper on bound cardboard. All images courtesy the artist and Yvon Lambert Gallery.

Currently on view at Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris, through June 26 2010, is “Unfruchtbaren Landschaften” by Anselm Kiefer. The phrase, which translates to “Barren Landscape,” encapsulates the heavy and frangible works on view. Among the works, which take the form of cardboard books filled with photographs, watercolor, text, and ephemera, are many that were conceived in the late 1960s and early 70s. Enigmatic clues are scattered among cliches, both provocative and disturbing. The works serve as visions, heavily freighted with memories and symbols, inserted into and born of the sociopolitical context of World War II Germany. The exhibition’s eponymous phrase is scribbled in shaky script, conveying a feeling of school-boy-like nostalgia.

Installation view, Anselm Kiefer, Unfruchtbare Landschaften at Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris.

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Rodney Graham’s “Dance!!!!!” (2008) © 303 Gallery

Last week “Music and Dance,” a new series by Rodney Graham, opened at 303 Gallery. Art Observed was on site at the show, which presents a series of lightboxes depicting scenes of archetypes and activity.  Each work encapsulates a disconnection from the very object it is depicting, thereby questioning the status of the object.

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Art 41 Basel, entrance view. All images by Art Observed unless otherwise noted.

AO was on site yesterday at Art 41 Basel, Switzerland, to see the 56 installations exhibited by the eleventh Art Unlimited, a museum-like forum for sizable and high-priced pieces. Installations of established masters and up-and-comers alike are characteristically oversized this year, with six pieces taking up over 200 square meters.  Despite the diversity of work, galleries, and featured artists, a distinct tonal resonance pervades Art Unlimited.  The lustrous style favored by Art Unlimited’s formative years gives way to a bold, rustic minimalism.  Although an intellectual understatement saturates this year’s Art Basel, Art Unlimited is hardly a quaint affair.  Economists and art experts alike are predicting major acquisitions for the international art elite, with a Giacometti and a Bourgeois notably up for grabs.

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Untitled (Skull) (1982) by Jean-Michel Basquiat, via Fondation Beyeler.

Currently on view at the Fondation Beyeler is a large retrospective devoted to the work of Jean Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)  in celebration of the museum’s fiftieth anniversary. The exhibition bring together over 100 paintings, works on paper, and pieces from renowned museums and collections throughout the world. Basquiat’s works are colorful, playful, incorporating a range of everyday objects, and poetic slogans commenting on contemporary society and social injustice.

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Field, Ai Weiwei.  Ming Dynasty-patterned Chinese ceramic structure in front Art 41 Basel’s entrance, with White Cube‘s Jay Jopling in the background, sitting at the fountain.

Art 41 Basel begins this week in Switzerland.  The international art show, featuring approximately 300 galleries and 2,500 artists, coming from 30 countries and every continent, will take place from June 16 to June 20.  Media include painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, video, and editioned works.  Over 60,000 gallerists, art collectors, art dealers, artists, curators, and reporters will flock to the banks of the Rhine, at the border between Switzerland, France, and Germany, to view the works of established masters and up-and-coming talents alike.

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Video still from Episode 3, artwork by Renzo Martens

One of the highlights of the current Berlin Biennial is the work of a young Dutch artist – Renzo Martens. Titled Episode 3 (2008), Martens’s 90-minute video constitutes a challenging portrait of contemporary media and capitalist exploitative foundation that continues to run a deep division between North and South. Martens takes a candid, often tragically ironic, approach in exposing and criticizing First-World self-righteous image.

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Breathing Room III (2010) by Antony Gormley, via White Cube

Currently on view at the White Cube, Mason’s Yard in London is an exhibition of new works by Antony Gormley. The artist has created a new-site specific installation and a new series of cast-iron block work sculptures. The works aim to depict how time engages with objects and how in turn objects influence human beings.

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No Title (We embrace them), Raymond Pettibon (2010). All images via Gladstone Gallery

On view at Gladstone Gallery Brussels is a collection of new works on paper by renowned Southern California artist Raymond Pettibon. This exhibition further delves into Pettibon’s fascination with American culture and iconography, with an assortment of drawings executed in his signature style. Combining imagery and text from a wide array of sources, Pettibon has increasingly explored new applications of color and collage, creating densely fragmented scenes that inspect the disjointed and sometimes sinister impulses at work in past and present constructions of Americana.

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Important Russian Art at Sotheby’s via Artdaily

On June 9, at 7 p.m. the inaugural sale of Important Russian Art at Sotheby’s, London kicked off a much anticipated series of Russian- themed sales taking place at Christie’s, Bonhams and MacDougall Auction House – a unique enterprise specializing in Russian art exclusively.  The sale at Sotheby’s brought in £10.4 million ($15 million) , nearly meeting its £11.3 million ($16.3 million) high estimate.

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Brown Skin, Stanislava Kovalcikova, 2010; Green Face Bar, Peter Doig and Chris Ofili, 2000; Past Tense, Embah, 2010; Port of Spain, Peter Doig and Chris Ofili, 2000. Installation view, ‘Self-Consciousness,’ via VeneKlasen Werner.

‘Self-Consciousness’ at VeneKlasen Werner, Berlin, features the portraits of 41 international artists.  Curators Hiltons Als and Peter Doig selected pieces that represent the diversity and evolution of modern portraiture: artists come from several generations, use varying media, and range from established to outsider.  ‘Self-Consciousness’ juxtaposes distinct artists and their work in such a way that questions the definable qualities of portraiture.  Despite myriad styles and genres, many of the artists share a common exploration of themes of sexuality, race, and gender.  Among the featured artists are Boscoe Holder, Giorgio de Chirico, Alice Neel, Glenn Ligon, and Chris Ofili.

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Oranienplatz 17, Berlin – Kreuzberg. All images by Art Observed unless otherwise noted.

Of the circuit of international biennials, Berlin’s event remains one of the most unpredictable and fresh contemporary art forums around. Opening to the general public on June 11th, the Kathrin Rhomberg-curated Berlin Biennal is titled: what is waiting out there.  The exhibition cites its crux in the ambiguity of reality, space, and time: out there. Spreading its reach across six venues–4 in Kreuzberg district, 2 in Mitte)–the Biennial unfolds into an artistic treasure hunt, both in terms of the pieces it presents, and in the unusual environments Rhomberg has selected for the exhibitions. Berlin’s eclectic atmosphere serves as a natural complement to the aesthetics and emotions of the show.

Sprawling across the 2nd floor Oranienplatz 17 gallery is a work by Marcus Geiger, titled Kommune. Image via Welt.de

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Sigmar Polke in his studio, 2007.  Albrecht Fuchs for The New York Times.

Sigmar Polke, the founder of the Capitalist Realism (Kapitalistischen Realismus) movement in Germany in 1963,  passed away yesterday in Cologne, Germany. Polke was 69, and passed away due to complications of cancer, as his dealer Erhard Klein confirmed. Polke was a painter, photographer, and printmaker who created multi-layered works combining elements from American Pop art, abstraction, parodies of consumer society, and a subversive use of materials. Polke’s experimentation with technology, and his hybridization of artistic influences was highly influential for generations of German artists.

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Half Gallery, opening reception. Image by ArtObserved.

AO was on site June 8th for the opening of “A Ways A Way,” the new exhibition at Half Gallery.  Curated by Meredith Darrow and Devendra Banhart, A Ways A Way offers synoptic views of work by artists Scott Campbell, William Eadon, Kevin Long, Megan Marrin, Keegan McHargue, Fabrizio Moretti, Angeline Rivas, Adam Tullie, and Banhart himself.  Coming from various corners of the artistic field, these men and women form a motley roster of familiar names: in addition to be being creators of fine art, Campbell is a renowned tattoo artist, Eadon is a deisgner, Long skateboards and plays guitar, Moretti is the drummer for The Strokes and Little Joy, Rivas and Tullie co-own Cavern Collection, Banhart is a singer-songwriter, Marrin works in mixed-media, and McHargue choreographs.  In attendance last night were Cynthia Rowley, Kathy Grayson, and a repletion of artists, gallerists, friends, and passerby.  Viewers spilled jocundly onto the surrounding sidewalk, chatting and enjoying a lovely night outside of the diminutive, buzzing gallery.

Anonymous Portrait, Fabrizio Moretti, 2010. Image by Oskar Proctor for ArtObserved.

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Lisa Yuskavage, Walking the Dog, 2009, oil on linen, 77 x 65 inches, 195.6 x 165.1cm, courtesy of Greengrassi Gallery.

Currently on view at Greengrassi Gallery in London is a solo exhibition of oil paintings by Lisa Yuskavage. This show is Yuskavage’s fourth, solo exhibition at Greengrassi. A new series of paintings are featured depicting realistic, yet often exaggerated, sexualized female figures set in whimsical interiors and landscapes. The fictional world created by the juxtaposition of highly erotic figures in such fantastical environments establishes an unsettling mood.

Lisa Yuskavage, Piggyback Ride, 2009, oil on linen, 60 x 50 inches, 152.4 x 127 x 5.1cm, courtesy of Greengrassi Gallery.

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Title to be Determined, Nate Lowman, 2010, bulletproof glass and bullets (detail view). Images by J. Swan for Art Observed.

On view at Andrea Rosen Gallery is the unusual pairing of artists Karla Black and Nate Lowman, two artists whose works address a general groundlessness, or rather, whose works evinces an almost petulant objection to groundlessness.  In partnership with Mary Mary and Maccarone, this exhibition, closing June 19th, displays recent works of painting and sculpture, executed in materials ranging from traditional alkyd paint on canvas to its self-conscious coupling with retired gas pumps, to guileful manipulations of paper that serve to threaten the material’s core integrity.

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Installation view, Yoshitomo Nara, 2010. All images via Tomio Koyama Gallery.

Yoshitomo Nara has unveiled his first series of ceramic sculptures at Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo.  Nara has been studying sculpture for the past year at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, where he created almost 20 pieces.  Nara’s new work maintains his characteristic stylization of children, a trademark painter A.R. Penk has described as “angelic.” Like Nara’s drawings, his sculptures seem both innocent and disconcerting: lines are thick and simple, colors are bold and basic, eyes are either closed or blank.  Nara’s subjects, however, often cry, bleed, possess fangs, and brandish knives.  Of this conflation of puerility and severity, Nara explains, “I kind of see the children among other, bigger, bad people all around them, who are holding bigger knives…”

Installation view, Yoshitomo Nara, 2010

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Installation view, Jorge Pardo, 2010. All images via Friedrich Petzel Gallery.

Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York City, presents a new installation by Jorge Pardo, a porous maze furnished with images from the internet.  Pardo’s structures form narrow passageways through which observers must walk, an action reminiscent of negotiating library stacks.  Observers navigate an amalgamation of memories and images, taking in landscapes, monuments, and faces out of context.  The curving nature of the piece and the carefully cataloged bank of information lend the gallery a cerebral nature.

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Portrait with a Golden Mask, Marina Abramovic (2010) All images via Sean Kelly Gallery.

Currently on view at Sean Kelly Gallery is “Marina Abramovic: Personal Archaeology.”  While the Abramovic retrospective at MoMA recently ended, this show continues until mid-June. Compared with MoMA, the relatively smaller space and the less crowded galleries at Sean Kelly Gallery gives the viewer a chance to engage with Abramovic’s work in a more intimate setting. Personal Archaelogy presents many of the iconic works of this seminal performance artist from the 1970s up until the present day.

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Installation view, “Stranger Than Fiction.” All photographs by Keith Lew.

Last Friday, June 4th, ArtObserved was on site for the opening of “Stranger than Fiction,” the MFA thesis show of photography students of the Yale University School of Art. Curated by  the co-founders of Helac & Wirth Art Advisory  Soraja Helac and Sabrina Wirthand, the show is hosted at artist-run gallery space 25CPW on the Upper West Side. The opening was packed with dealers, collectors, and art students alike. The MFA program is directed by Tod Papageorge and taught by artists Gregory Crewdson and Richard Benson. The nine graduates come from eclectic backgrounds and are working with diverse subjects and distinctive styles.

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Blackboard Tableau #1, Vija Celmins, 2007-2010. 3 found tablets, 7 made tablets, wood, paper, string, acrylic, alkyd oil, and pastel. Image via McKee Gallery.

Vija Celmins’ first gallery show in nine years features paintings, prints, and sculptures.  At the core of the exhibition are Celmins’ assemblages of neatly arranged objects that recall an outmoded and cerebral academic youth: globes, maps, tablets, and books, are bronze-cast or painted. Celmins presents 16 such objects, in addition to 4 paintings and 9 new prints.  Her exhibition at the McKee Gallery characteristically combines the personal and terrestrial with the cosmic.

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Shooting into the Corner, Anish Kapoor, 2009. Image via Scai the Bathhouse.

Anish Kapoor has installed five new sculptures at Scai the Bathhouse, Tokyo.  This is the third time Kapoor has exhibited his sculptures at the Japanese contemporary art gallery.  Although from Mumbai, India, Scai’s location prompted Kapoor to draw inspiration from Japanese craft, and to collaborate with an urushi lacquerware artist.

Untitled, Anish Kapoor, 2009. Image via Scai the Bathhouse.

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