National Portrait Gallery director unveils Tate’s operation to secure stolen Turners and £24m insurance [AO Newslink]

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A Carl Andre interview regarding “Things in Their Elements” and upcoming retrospective by Dia:Beacon in 2013 [AO Newslink]

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Artist-filmmaker Miranda July has cover of New York Times Magazine, to release “The Future” this summer [AO Newslink]

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Charles Saatchi “the original collector who deals” publishes new edition of “The History of the Saatchi Gallery” [AO Newslink]

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Mr. Brainwash of Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop plasters LA for new Red Hot Chili Peppers album (with cover by Damien Hirst) [AO Newslink]

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Elizabeth Peyton, Isa (2010), courtesy of Gagosian Gallery

The recently opened Paris branch of the Gagosian Gallery presents a collection of recent work by the much loved American contemporary artist Elizabeth Peyton. The small presentation of paintings and drawings represents the artist’s first solo exhibition in Paris.

Peyton’s work, consisting mostly of small “jewel-like” portraits, is surprisingly immediate and fresh although her subjects maintain a considerable distance from the viewer. Her works present both contemporary and historical subjects, some of whom have been rendered from photographs and others from life, often Peyton’s own friends.

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Klimt landscape estimated to sell for $25 million in Sotheby’s auction [AO Newslink]

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Omer Fast from “De Grote Boodschap” (2007), via NIMK.

American trained, Israeli born artist Omer Fast is currently showing three installation pieces for which he has become known; “Nostalgia” (2009), “The Casting” (2007), and “De Grote Boodschap” (2007), all at the Netherlands Media Art Institute.  All three works show Fast’s interest in the cinematic construction of narrative via documentary and film reenactment.

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Accused Picasso thief kept “small museum” of stolen art at home, with more Picassos, a Léger, Basquiat Photo [AO Newslink]

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Centre Pompidou permanently installs Calder’s Horizontal in front of façade [AO Newslink]

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German billionaire pays over $70 million for Holbein painting, outbids Staedel Museum in Frankfurt [AO Newslink]

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Relatum, Lee Ufan (1978). All images Nicolas Linnert for Art Observed unless otherwise noted.

The Guggenheim’s spiral galleries are currently showing Marking Infinity, a collection of work by artist and philosopher Lee Ufan. The retrospective reflects on the artist’s career from the 1960s to present. Filling the walls and floors of the Guggenheim are paintings on canvas, sculptures from steel plates and stones, and other mixed media installation works.

Installation view for Marking Infinity at the Guggenheim Museum, NY.

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L-R: Willem Dafoe, Marina Abramovic, Antony, Robert Wilson-shot during workshops at Teatro Real, Madrid Sept.2010 via Mif

Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, a piece that blends performance art, music, and theater is on view at the Manchester International Festival (Mif) until July 16th 2011. Resulting from the collaboration between  theater director Robert Wilson, Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic, actor Willem Dafoe, musician Antony Hegarty, and his group Antony & The Johnsons, the piece is inspired by both biographical data of Marina Abramovic, including her simulated death, and the cultural heritage of her home country. The content of Life and Death is accessible exclusively to the audience who purchase the tickets at the Lowry Theatre in Manchester.

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Ryan McGinley sued for copyright infringement, “Jah Jah” Gordon claims 150 of his photographs are based on her work [AO Newslink]

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Matthew Stone, Mindsharing Capabilities (2011), via Matthew Stone

Currently at Union Gallery, Matthew Stone follows up his previous show FOREVER RULES (PART I), with RULES FOREVER (PART II).  While PART I was made up of a a single open-sided oak dodecahedron accompanied photographic collages printed on birch plywood, PART II presents four oak and multimedia sculptures depicting “body origami, multidimensional and relational clusters that define the structure within and without.” Stone has said of his own work that he seeks to “revolve specifically around creative interactions and community, based on the idea that individual autonomy can successfully be combined with the power of collectivity.”  Stone often lectures on his personal philosophy of “Optimism as a Cultural Rebellion,” in which he views optimism as a way to counteract the “nihilistic paralysis” he interprets as being a product of Post-Modernism.

Matthew Stone, Forever Rules (2011), via Matthew Stone

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Takashi Murakami, currently showing at Gagosian UK: “Does he think he’s too expensive? ‘I think so, yes, honestly, yes'” – via Bloomberg [AO Newslink]

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Jennifer Rubell “worked in food, then wrote about food, and then became known as a ‘food artist'” – via NYMag [AO Newslink]

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Manhattan art dealers accused of selling forged Motherwell painting – via NYPost [AO Newslink]

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Guy Wildensien via The Independent

The French art collector Guy Wildenstein, has been charged by the French authorities with the concealment and breach of trust in reference to the 30 pieces of art work found in the Wildenstein Institute’s Paris storeroom. Multiple lawsuits against Guy have been taken out by the Wildenstein family, as they continue to fight amongst each other for their fortune.

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David Salle No Hard Feelings (2011), via Maureen Paley, London.

David Salle recently opened his first solo show at London’s Maureen Paley Gallery, and his first solo show in London in more than eight years.  In this exhibition the well-known and influential Salle presents a number of new paintings and older photography works.  The paintings are large in size, while the photographs are smaller; positioned in Paley’s expansive space, the works clearly display the breadth of Salle’s varied thematic and technical language.

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Alex Katz, Dancer 2, (2010), all images via Ulrich Ghezzi for Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac.

Alex Katz takes on the subject of dance in a series of paintings, drawings, and cartoons on view at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac. The show, titled “Face the Music”, runs until July 16th and features Katz’s signature figurative style. His dancers appear to be suspended in space, each caught in the moment of practicing. The gallery notes that his work lays “somewhere on the boundary between abstraction and realism” and these traits are easily seen in the portraits of the dancers.

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Yue Minjun, The Crowing with Thorns, 2009 via Pace Beijing

The Road, an exhibition of recent paintings by Chinese artist Yue Minjun (born 1962) is on view at the Pace Gallery, Beijing from June 6th to July 16th, 2011.  Minjun gained international recognition in the 1990’s for his political allegories, epitomized by rows of figures with grotesque smiles, commenting on Chinese communist ideology. The Road features Minjun’s signature grinning characters with strong reference to Christian iconography.

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Vija Celmins, Ocean Surface Woodcut (1992). Via Museum Ludwig.

The Museum Ludwig is presenting a comprehensive solo exhibition of Vija Celmins‘ works, titled “Desert, Sea and Stars.” This show will run through July 17th, and consists of sixty works by the American-Latvian artist, among them her graphite-on-paper depictions of minuscule subjects as spiderwebs or shells, and fragments of vast landscapes. Celmins’s use of photographies as the models for these drawings, gives a hint into her approach to the ideas of the sublime and transient in nature; where the frailness of objects, and the ongoing movements of wind and sea, render those captured glimpses as irrepeatable.

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Ben Vautier, Jeter Dieu à la mer (1962), featured at Exhibition: Le Temps de L’action/Acte 1 at Villa Arson Nice

Saturday, June 25th welcomed thousands of viewers to the French Riviera, where the work of local artists was unveiled for the long-awaited opening of L’Art Contemporain et la Côte d’Azur: Un territoire pour l’expérimentation, 1951-2011.  Artists “whose work was built or continues to flourish significantly” on the French Riviera are featured in the region’s major summer event, which features 1,000 works by over 200 painters, sculptors and media artists who have flocked to work in the French Riviera since 1951, including notables such as Yves Klein, Hans Hartung and Ellsworth Kelly.

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