Jill Magid, Still from The Capitol Shooter: Breaking News (2011).

In her first solo exhibition in Los Angeles, New York-based artist Jill Magid presents a dramatic-script-turned-multimedia-installtion in her Failed States. Drawing on the experimental narrative of her recent book (also titled Failed States), Magid inverts the oft-cited feminist phrase “the personal is political” to explore how the political might be made personal, or, how that which seems far away might be brought closer to our bodies and our experiences.

Jill Magid, Failed States installation view (2012). All images courtesy of Megan Hoetger for Art Observed.

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‬The dates of the showing of Christian Marclay’s “The Clock” in New York are released.  The overwhelmingly popular mash-up video work will screen for free at the Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium on Broadway from July 13 to August 1.

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The Guardian, by looking into Vyner Street galleries, examines macro factors causing East End of London galleries to move West, “The East End has only really flourished during a boom…in 2005 it felt like a critical hub. As the galleries I really admired moved out, collectors came less and less,” says Fred Mann, owner of Fred Ltd, one of the latest galleries to move West.

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‬Lehmann Maupin Gallery to open Hong Kong location, deeming it “more positioned as a destination” than other Asian cities. “…We recognize there is an opportunity for the promotion of our artists’ work…[and] to contribute to the growth of Hong Kong’s gallery infrastructure,” say founders Rachel Lehmann and David Maupin.

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‬Andrea Rosen Gallery to expand on 24th Street, Chelsea to a new venue named Gallery 2. “We’ll begin in September with an artist whom I can’t name just yet. It will be the artist’s first solo show in New York,” says Rosen.

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Photos for Art Observed by Charles Shoener

On Monday evening creative unit FAMNYC and international auction company Phillips de Pury came together to host a charity auction at The Intercourse, a new studio in Red Hook founded by artist Dustin Yellin.  The offered exhibition, titled “The Exquisite Corpse Project”, was sold both silently and live with a portion of the proceeds benefiting ART Start, an organization helping to foster creativity among unprivileged youth.  A group of ART Start’s very own One Mic students also gave an intermediate performance at the event.

The live auction items, at left: Ross Bleckner, Thomas McDonell, Sebastian Errazuriz; at right: Dustin Yellin, Jordan Wolfson & Joey Frank

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Piano in the Rain, a solo exhibition by painter Dana Schutz, opened at Friedrich Petzel Gallery on May 2^nd.  Schutz’s signature blend of cubist figures, brightly colored scenery, and chaotic compositions is a stylistic combination reminiscent of the artwork produced by the German Expressionist groups of the early 20^th Century.  Similar to the way that many of these groups found inspiration in the streets of Dresden and other large European cities, Schutz’s work also reflects troubles related to urban life; Heroin in the Wind shows a woman struggling with drug addiction while Small Apartment confronts the frustrating physical realities of city habitation. And as the title of the show suggests, each of these 13 paintings feature worlds fraught with troubles and instability and characters whose problems seem both common and insurmountable.

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‬Photographer Nan Goldin awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal for lifetime achievement in the arts. As Luc Sante chairman of the selection committee remarks, Goldin created a medium “halfway between still photography and cinema.”

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Storied art dealer Michael Werner has donated a collection of 130 works to the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris. “[His] gift represents the most significant enrichment…since the bequest made by Dr Maurice Girardin in 1953, which led to the creation of the Institution,” says Fabrice Hergott, gallery director.

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Anish Kapoor, Untitled (2012) installation view, Gladstone Gallery, West 21st Street. All photos on site for Art Observed by Perrin Lathrop.

Anish Kapoor’s current solo exhibition at Gladstone Gallery confronts visitors with two opposing sides to the artist’s three decade long investigation into the nature of objectness. A veritable global art star, with a Venice Biennale Pavilion (1990), a Turner Prize (1991) and countless prestigious public art commissions under his belt, Kapoor is known for his perception bending works that verge on spectacle. In the Indian-born, London-based artist’s first show in New York in four years his new works expand across two gallery spaces on West 24th and 21st Streets. As an artist interested in the metaphysical polarities inherent in individual objects, Kapoor invests these two galleries with both organic and highly engineered approaches to the materiality of form.

Anish Kapoor, installation view, Gladstone Gallery, West 24th Street.

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The chair-raft. All photos on site for Art Observed by Samuel Sveen.

16 reclaimed boats make up the second summer of the Boggsville Boatel at Marina 59, an artful floating hotel in the Far Rockaways about an hour outside of Manhattan. Constance Hockaday created the project last year with the help of Flux Factory, taking a bit of loose inspiration from the 19th century floating brothel of Nancy Boggs outside of Portland, Oregon. This year Angie Kang and Orien McNeill organized 23 artists to convert an additional fleet of abandoned boats into accommodating art spaces. The artists were able to live on the boats for a two month residency, reconstructing and customizing the boats, building a community on the docks. Encouraged to be ‘adventure ready’—the suggested packing list includes sleeping bags and liquor—Art Observed was on site for the opening night, May 19.

Art adorns a hull

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‬Lindsay Lohan stars in Richard Phillips’ new short film “First Point,” premiering at Art Basel next week. “Because of the actor and the popular culture dimensions…it will give people…a real sense of instability…Is it a film? Is it an art video? It refuses to announce itself as either,” says Phillips.

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Top collector Dakis Joannou’s DESTE foundation debuts its “destefashioncollection” exhibition in the window displays at Barneys New York. “We have incredible customers who come from the art world…that’s a big part of our customer base. To have that communication…is part of our uniqueness,” says Barneys CEO Mark Lee.

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‬The Tate has revealed its 2013 program, which will include exhibitions of LS Lowry at Tate Britain, Marc Chagall in Liverpool, and a major Roy Lichtenstein at retrospective at The Tate Modern as well as shows of Gary Hume and Paul Klee.

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Live painting of models Ilva Heitmann and Maciej Markowicz by Marcy Rosewater for “People and Places”

This past weekend, Arts in Bushwick organized the 6th annual Bushwick Open Studios festival. Since its start in 2007, BOS has shared an expansive community of art with the public in hopes of promoting interaction and discussion.  This year there were over 500 participants, ranging in scale from multi-floor gallery spaces, street art, pop-up studios and personal apartments.

Oliver Warden’s “Untitled Box 2.0″ installation resembles a plain mirror at first, but reveals a live man inside (the artist) as soon as viewers flick on the box’s light switch. Photos for Art Observed by Elene Damenia and Lisa Marsova

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A self-portrait by the late Jean-Michel Basquiat is expected to fetch $20 million in the June 27 Christie’s International sale of postwar and contemporary art in London. “The vivid acrylic, oilstick and spray-paint canvas will be offered after another untitled 1981 work sold for an artist-record $16.3 million at Phillips de Pury & Co. in New York, on May 10.”

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‬BBC News comments on the nature of “fake paintings”, referencing infamous art forgers like Han van Meergeren and John Myatt. “Forgers have a certain charm because they are seen to be rebelling against the establishment,” says Philip Mould, BBC presenter and art detective.

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Getty Research Institute (GRI) launches the Getty Research Portal, a free online search and access tool for art texts. “The mission of GRI is to further the understanding and appreciation of art. Supporting research and access to scholarly resources is the most important part,” says Thomas W. Gaehtgens, Director.

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Artist Damien Hirst designs community of higher-priced eco-homes in North Devon. “Damien is a local developer who truly cares and wants to create an exemplary development,” says architect Mike Rundell.

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Tauba Auerbach, Installation View (2012). All photos taken by Ryann Donnelly for Art Observed

Tauba Auerbach’s first one-person exhibition, Float is on view at Paula Cooper’s Chelsea gallery in New York City through June 9. Included in the show are Auerbach’s signature fold paintings, new monochromatic weavings, and sculptural objects modeled after prismatic crystals, and marbled onyx. Her work is endowed with a general threat to logic, as she strives consistently and elegantly toward the destruction of our limited visual perceptions.

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This summer the recently opened Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London celebrates its 12^th anniversary.  Since 2000, this architectural event has featured temporary structures by such designers as Zaha Hadid and Jean Nouvel.  This year, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, along with Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron (Herzog & de Meuron), known for their design of the Tate Modern and previous collaboration with Ai on Beijing’s Bird Nest National Stadium, has dug down into the Kensington Gardens to create an underground pavilion commemorating its long history.

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‬Agata Olek yarn bombs Antony Gormley iron men sculptures, part of his Another Place series on Crosby beach, UK. “By covering them and giving them a new skin, I made them more alive,” says Olek.

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‬High-profile artists such as Jeff Koons invited to teach for a day at NYC public schools as part of Visual Arts Appreciation Week, started by the nonprofit Studio in a School.

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After a 10 month lockout, the contract dispute between NY art handlers and Sotheby’s has been resolved. The new agreement includes an increase in compensation and preserves health/retirement benefits.

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