‪‬Guggenheim and city of Helsinki conclude study for possible waterfront site for €140 million ($179 million) museum, to feature “a stronger focus on architecture and design than other Guggenheim affiliates” [AO Newslink]
Francis Picabia, Printemps (1942-43)
Currently being shown at Michael Werner Gallery in New York is an exhibition of the French surrealist/Dadaist painter Francis Picabia. The exhibition has a particular focus on the artists’ later works, during which he explored methods of painting beyond the conventional and expected of the time. While Picabia’s work stands alongside the exploratory French artists and thinkers of the early 20th century, it is also branded in his unique sensibilities, constantly changing and seemingly never satisfied.
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David Hockney, A Bigger Splash (1967). All images via Artnet.
Not only is the Getty the hub of activities for the Southern California-wide Pacific Standard Time (PST) programming, but it is also host to a number of events and exhibitions, including Greetings from L.A.: Artists and Publics, 1950-1980, From Start to Finish: De Wain Valentine’s Gray Column, In Focus: Los Angeles, 1945-1980, and performances for the Performance and Public Art Festival that will take place later in January. It has also mounted the large-scale, historical exhibition Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950 -1970. With 79 works by 47 artists, the exhibition charts the unique artistic innovations that have come to define the Los Angeles art scene as well as helped to shape some of the most important art movements from the second half of the 20th century.
Tate Modern’s Chief Curator Sheena Wagstaff moves to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum Board, in anticipation of appropriating the former Whitney Building on Madison Avenue for contemporary art exhibitions in 2015. [AO Newslink]
T Magazine features Chinati Foundation artists in Marfa, Texas [AO Newslink]
All photos on site for Art Observed by Elene Damenia.
Five tons of porcelain sunflower seeds—made in China—cover the floor of Mary Boone Gallery in Ai Weiwei‘s latest installment of Sunflower Seeds. Ai Weiwei employed nearly 1,600 artisans for two years in the traditional porcelain-producing city of Jingdezhen in northern Jiangxi, China, to individually craft and paint each actual-size seed by hand. Proclaimed one of the most influential artists of 2011 by several authorities, the work explores social, political, and economic issues of contemporary China. The seemingly uniform floor covering is composed of millions of the unique seeds, drawing attention to the role of the individual versus the masses, as well as China’s history of mass-production and export.
Billy Childish, Sibelius Among Saplings (2011). All images courtesy Lehmann Maupin gallery.
Lehmann Maupin in New York is currently presenting work by Billy Childish, a cult artist who has been an integral part of the contemporary cultural landscape for the past 35 years. Curated by Matthew Higgs of White Columns, the exhibition is appropriately christened I am the Billy Childish, presenting a series of the artist’s recent paintings alongside a selection of his copious musical and literary projects.
Billy Childish sings at his opening at Lehmann Maupin
‪‬George Clooney to make movie of art historians involved in World War II, an adaptation of the 2009 book “The Monuments Men” by Robert Edsel [AO Newslink]
‪‬Yayoi Kusama collaborates with Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton for a range of goods to debut this July [AO Newslink]
With an 11% investment return for 2011 the Mei Moses Art Index shows the art market beating the S&P 500 for the second consecutive year, and the sixth overall since 2001 [AO Newslink]
Gert and Uwe Tobias, Untitled (2011). All images courtesy of Maureen Paley, London.
The work of Gert and Uwe Tobias is currently on view at Maureen Paley, London. The identical twin brothers collaboratively create large scale woodcuts, mixed-media works, and ceramic sculptures. The artists draw from a multitude of inspirational sources to create pieces that are visually stunning and technically innovative, appearing at the same time both playful and haunting. Decorative patterns, bold colors, and textile qualities are visual characteristics ever present in their abstracted cartoon-like figures, heavily influenced by the Eastern European folk art of their homeland, Transylvania.
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Andy Warhol, Shadows (1978-79), installation view. All photos via Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Andy Warhol’s silkscreened series Shadows is on view now at Washington’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Shadows was created during the last decade of Warhol’s life and consists of 102 prints of shadows produced in his studio. The paintings are exhibited on an uninterrupted wall, providing a unique opportunity to view the series curving through the museum’s galleries. The Shadow series departs from Warhol’s usual pop style as he generated the shadows himself in his studio, creating abstract forms not normally seen in his work.
Installation view. All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse.
The Tate Modern‘s exhibition ‘Panorama,’ featuring the work of living German artist Gerhard Richter, will be coming to an end after thee months. The exhibition pays homage to Richter’s variant inspirations, spanning 50 years of work and 14 rooms, providing an all-encompassing display of his oeuvre. Works include photo-realist paintings, landscapes, cloud, squeegee, and history paintings, with less conventionally displayed glass and mirror constructions from the 1980s, as well as his first Color Chart from 1966. One noted work, the 20-meter-long Stroke (on Red) (1980) was developed from a photograph of a brush stroke. This is its first exhibition outside of Germany.
Two French art advisers resign from the Louvre’s committee after Leonardo da Vinci’s 500-year-old “The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne” was deemed overcleaned, thus too bright to retain Renaissance sfumato and overall art historical accuracy [AO Newslink]
Denver woman punches, scratches, and after removing her pants, physically slides down Clyfford Sill painting “1957 J No. 2,” estimated at between $30 and $40 million. [AO Newslink]
Sanford Biggers, Chesire (2008)
The art of Sanford Biggers is a pastiche of cultural signifiers, stacking symbols and tropes from the African-American experience together for a wide contextual palette of juxtapositions. Such is the nature of Blossom, seeing its Brooklyn debut as part of Sanford Biggers: Sweet Funk—An Introspective at the Brooklyn Museum. Referencing lynchings, Buddhist enlightenment, and the artist’s musical identity, all while making conscious aesthetic and situational ties to the early 20th century landscapes of the American West, the poetic piece functions as an example of Biggers’ densely multi-cultural work that speaks to both broad senses of American identity and the artist’s own personal experience.
Sanford Biggers, Blossom (2007)
Josef Albers, Homage to the Square (1957). All images courtesy of Galleria Civica di Modena.
Currently on display at the Galleria Civica di Modena is the first retrospective exhibition held in Italy dedicated to the artist, designer, and teacher, Joseph Albers. The large scale retrospective takes up both exhibition spaces within the Galleria Civica to display a survey of Albers’ legacy.
Russian anarchist art collective Voina (meaning War) set fire to police cars in St. Petersburg on New Year’s Eve an art form and ‘gift’ to political prisoners [AO Newslink]
David Hockney criticizes Damien Hirst’s use of assistants, claiming it insults skillful craftsmen [AO Newslink]
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Piotr Uklański, Untitled (Better than Truth) (2011)
Polish-born artist Piotr UklaÅ„ski is currently showing Midsummer Night’s Dream on the Caribbean island of St. Barthélemy, a Gagosian Gallery exhibition hosted by the Eden Rock Gallery. The opening reception took place over the holidays on December 29th, though the work has been on view since December 21st, and is up through January 31st. Art Observed was on site to visit the exhibition, which is positioned in likely the most iconic hotel on the island, the Eden Rock. St. Barths swells with international travelers from around the world through the New Year’s holiday and boasts likely the largest collection of mega-yachts on the planet during this time, as such, this pop up exhibition of UklaÅ„ski works in this location was well timed and positioned by Gagosian Gallery. UklaÅ„ski works in a variety of mediums, including sculpture, photography, performance, and film, directing and producing his first feature-length in 2006. Midsummer Night’s Dream showcases the artist’s new ‘pottery paintings,’ three-dimensional compositions of assorted ceramics, paying homage to various themes and artists of post-war Poland, as well as his grandmother. “My grandmother did hard labor in a ceramic factory in Communist Poland. This St Barths exhibition would be her Midsummer Night’s Dream,” UklaÅ„ski states in the press release.
