La Couleur en Avant at MAMAC, Nice. Martial Raysse, Nissa Bella (1964)  All pictures by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

The Museum of  Modern and Contemporary Art—MAMAC—in Nice, France is showing Arret sur image (which translates to ‘stop on image’) through October 23rd, and La Couleur en Avant (‘the color before’) through November 27th. Both exhibitions represent modern and contemporary artists, with an emphasis on the colors and fluidity within the contemporary. In Le Couleur en Avant, sculptures by Yves Klein and paintings by Henri Matisse, among others, are juxtaposed to show their influence on the pop art of Martial Raysse. Arret sur image, held in Ponchettes Gallery, displays work by living artists such as Gilbert and George, Robert Longo, and Barbara Kruger, expanding on the thematic influence of color in a contemporary context. The work in Ponchettes Gallery remains in MAMAC’s permanent collection.

Arret sur image by MAMAC at Galerie des Ponchettes, Nice.

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Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ed Ruscha drive around, talk about art, in multi-gallery project Pacific Standard Time’s newest ad [AO Newslink]

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David Byrne and Pace Gallery set to open Tight Spot, a 48-by-20-foot inflatable globe under the High Line on 25th Street in Chelsea, New York [AO Newslink]

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The Selby takes a look inside the home of New York artist Aaron Young [AO Newslink]

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Police arrest four alleged terrorists in Goteborg, Sweden’s 2nd largest city, and evacuate arts center during the Goteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art on Saturday [AO Newslink]

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As the first set of auctions following Lucian Freud’s death approaches, Sotheby’s to sell the painter’s 1952 work, Boy’s Head, for an estimated £4m [AO Newslink]

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All images by Peter Tiso for Art Observed, unless otherwise noted.

The experience of entering Cosmic Voodoo Circus, a new exhibition by Sanford Biggers that opened last night at SculptureCenter, is somewhat like entering a flea circus. A large sculpture inspired by traditional African spirit sculpture towers above the dwarfed crowd as an empty, motorized trapeze occasionally swings overhead.

A video entitled Shake (2011), is the center of the show; it stars Brazilian-born, Germany-based choreographer/clown/stuntman/DJ Ricardo Castillo as he journeys through Brazil. With his skin painted silver and his feet clad in knee-high platform boots, Castillo shines against a background of favelas, colonial palaces, and the roaring ocean. Funded by a Creative Time travel grant, Shake is the second portion of a trilogy, the first part of which will be on view in Biggers’ upcoming exhibition at Brooklyn Museum, opening September 23.

Artist Sanford Biggers, on the right, greets a friend.

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Teengirl Fantasy at MoMA PS1 Warm Up. All photos for Art Observed by Joachim Azoulay.

For the summer’s final ‘Warm Up’ at MoMA PS1, the all-afternoon courtyard party kept entertained by music from Kenny Dope, Tanlines, Syd tha Kyd, Teengirl Fantasy, and Physical Therapy. Some of the acts had been rescheduled from their earlier performances slated for August 27th, due to Hurricane Irene. Aside from dancing, art enthusiasts enjoyed drinks throughout the space, admiring a room of mirrors or playing ping pong. And while the anticipated 9/11 exhibition was off limits, the first floor shown the works of Francis Alÿs: A Story of Deception.

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An itinerary for a pilgrimage to the remote art mecca of Marfa, Texas [AO Newslink]

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News that the Tate Modern extension may be delayed with 2nd phase to begin in 2016 due to lack of funds, but also, that the Tate family of galleries had its most successful year ever, making it the second most attended art institution behind the Louvre [AO Newslink]

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Christie’s New York to sell in November $25 million worth of art from the Norton collection including works by Matthew Barney, Robert Gober, Takashi Murakami, Kara Walker and Paul McCarthy. [AO Newslink]

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Carlito Carvalhosa, Sum of Days (2010). Via MoMA

The Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) presents Carlito Carvalhosa: Sum of Days, a large-scale interactive installation that engages the visitor’s visual, tactile and auditory senses. Brazilian artist Carlito Carvalhosa (born 1961) has suspended a lengthy, white, semi-transparent fabric from the spiral-like support attached to the ceiling of MoMA’s Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium, draping a nearly 20 meter tall stucture. The fabric loosely touches the ground forming an elliptical walkway, the audience invited to walk through the installation and touch the fabric walls. Ceiling-mounted microphones record each days’ background noises which are then played back the following day. This “accumulation” of sound through time is reflected through the title Sum of Days. The installation also includes the occasional live music performance.

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The Dia Foundation acquires 541 West 22nd Street in Chelsea as an annex for $11.5 million [AO Newslink]

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All photographs by Tom Vinetz, © Kienholz Collection of Kawamura Memorial Museum, Sakura, Japan, courtesy L.A. Louver, Venice, CA and The Pace Gallery, New York unless otherwise noted.

Imagine entering an expansive, lowly-lit room, shoes crunching on a sandy dirt floor. You follow the footprints into the ever-expanding room. The scene feels as though you’ve stumbled into a movie set: five cars are parked in a circle, dramatic lighting emanates from headlights, framing the central scene. Tinny blues rift from one of the automobile radios, immersing you more fully in the tableau. Among trees and other vegetation, you are drawn inside until you encounter a horrific life-size scene: five white figures attacking an African American man.

What you have seen is not a dream, it is Edward Kienholz’s work Five Car Stud. Created between 1969 and 1972, its current showing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) marks the first time the work has been shown since its inclusion in documenta 5 in Kassel, Germany in 1972.

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Subodh Gupta, Ali Baba (2011)

The major exhibition Paris-Delhi-Bombay, currently on view at Centre Pompidou through September 19th, displays work by nearly 50 artists mainly based or born in India. Many emerging and high-profile Indian artists have been showing recently in Paris—both the work at Indian Summer, organized at Ecole des Beaux Arts, and Anish Kapoor‘s monumental intervention at the Grand Palais, have included work by Indian artists both already established in Europe as well as those still up-and-coming.

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On the impact China has on art sales globally: “Chinese auction houses are now selling works at a pace formerly associated with those in London and New York” with “[Chinese collectors responsible for] some $8.3 billion in sales, which would make them the world leader.” [AO Newslink]

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Pipilotti Rist will hang 300 pairs of white underwear along the Southbank on the Thames during her solo show at the Hayward Gallery: “they will look like whipped cream. Or sheep’s heads, with the legs of the pants forming the eyes.” [AO Newslink]

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Installation view. All images courtesy of Cheim and Read unless otherwise noted.

For the first time in its fifteen years, Cheim and Read is showcasing all of its female artists, including Louise Bourgeois, Jenny Holzer, and Diane Arbus, for a celebratory exhibition. Less of a critical show on feminism, the exhibition is more of a simple gathering of varied artists. “The Women in Our Life: A Fifteen Year Anniversary Exhibition” reminds us of the voice and vision of some of these major players in contemporary art.

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Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker defaced in Buenos Aires at the Plaza de los dos Congresos by vandals who write: ‘Think what good it did you to think so much before it’s over’ [AO Newslink]

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Turner Prize winner Steve McQueen premiered his film “Shame” in Venice yesterday alongside Michael Fassbender who stars in the film with Carey Mulligan [AO Newslink]

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Omer Fast, 5000 Feet is the Best (2011). Digital film still, via The Model

On view at The Model in Sligo, Ireland through November 27th is “The Tunnel,” a large-scale installation and major solo exhibition of Israeli video artist Omer Fast. Three installations occupy The Model’s atrium and gallery space including a two part version of his newest film project, 5000 Feet is the Best, which was commissioned by The Model, Dublin Contemporary 2011, the Hermes Foundation, and the Kadist Foundation. 5000 Feet is the Best will be presented as a unique version specific to The Model, including both the original film and multi-media installation components. Fast is known for his films that weave together multiple narratives using documentary and dramatization methods to explore the complexity in presenting truth, leading the viewer to the realization that fact and fiction are undeniably intertwined.

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Matthew Barney interviewed at his studio in Long Island City on the eve of his first solo exhibition in New York in 5 years, opening on September 17th at Gladstone Gallery [AO Newslink]

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Josh Tonsfeldt, Untitled (2011), via Harris Lieberman

Bodies and their attendant messes, the connection between the artist and the viewer, and the complicated processes of making and looking at art are all covered in this wide-ranging exhibition which was organized by West Street Gallery but is hosted by Harris Lieberman in Chelsea. The press release tells us that the show was was inspired by William Wegman‘s videos from the 1970s, four of which play in a loop on a television in the installation. One of these, Milk/Floor (1970-78), shows the artist dribbling milk from his mouth and his iconic dog lapping it up, setting the tone for the show by poking fun at the often absurd relationship between the artist (dribbling the milk) and the public (lapping it up). The rest of the works further probe this moment of connection.

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Gallery in Berlin discovers four paintings by Otto Dix worth over $1 million [AO Newslink]

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