Though nothing official has been decided, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California are in talks to form a possible partnership. The deal could potentially alleviate MOCA’s fiscal instability by linking it to the ambitious university, which has pledged to raise $6 billion by 2018 as part of a fundraising project. However, USC provost Elizabeth Garrett told the Los Angeles Times that talks “are very preliminary at this time,” and MOCA spokesman Lyn Winter shared similar statements.  (more…)

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, The Secret Societies group show, courtesy Schirn Kunsthalle

At a ceremony held in Kiev, Ukraine, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye was announced winner of the Future Generation Art Prize, funded by Ukrainian collector Viktor Pinchuk’s foundation and worth $100,000. Yiadom-Boakye, born and working in London, was shortlisted for her portrait paintings of mainly black subjects, which through cultural context have taken on a political charge. Her work is urgent, sweeping, and dark. Yiadom-Boakye says each work takes her less than a day to complete, because “it’s about a certain kind of urgency and capturing that time frame.”

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Ai Weiwei, Forge, He Xie detail, courtesy Mary Boone Gallery

Ai Weiwei‘s Forge is single show across both of Mary Boone Gallery’s Fifth Avenue and Chelsea locations, with installation, video and sculpture that provides a comprehensive look into recent work, and which runs concurrently with his exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum. Ai is an artist, human rights activist, and Chinese dissident who produces thoughtfully provocative, political work. Forge falls firmly in that tradition.

Ai was born in Beijing in 1957 and attended the Beijing Film academy before moving to New York in 1981. He graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1983 and returned to China in 1993, where he currently lives. Though his website and blog have been brutally censored, Ai remains active on Twitter, and video transmissions from him are frequently released, including a recent take on ‘Gangnam Style’ in which he dances, waving around handcuffs.

Exhibition view, Ai Weiwei, Forge, courtesy Mary Boone Gallery

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Inside the occupation of the tower.  All images courtesy the Students for a Free Cooper Union, unless otherwise noted.

Earlier this week, Art Observed reported that students at Cooper Union, the country’s only traditionally tuition-free art school, have barricaded themselves into the top floor of their school in an act of protest against the school’s recent economic scandal. Last year, after years of hiding its financial situation, the school’s administration revealed that they are in a $17 million debt that could leave students paying tuition as soon as 2018.

Although there has been minimal response thusfar from the school’s administration regarding the students’ actions, support has steadily grown, especially from faculty members. The media response to the students’ actions has been far-reaching, from early coverage by Art in America to mainstream media sources including MSNBC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, and The Rachel Maddow Show.

Art Observed’s Jennifer Lindblad reached out to occupying students to hear their experiences and reflections so far.

Occupiers receive a delivery by balloon at the Cooper Union Foundation Building on Tuesday, December 4th. Photo by Phoebe Pundyk for Art Observed.

Click through for more images, text, and exclusive interview…

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In an announcement strategically planned to coincide with Art Basel Miami Beach 2012, the Knight Foundation announced Monday, December 3rd that it would commit $23 million in new funding for arts and culture endeavors in South Florida. Institutions and groups receiving the funding run the gamut from small, community groups and individuals to more established cultural institutions.  (more…)

In a record-breaking auction, the black chalk “Head of a Young Apostle” by Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael), sold Tuesday, December 4th, 2012 for $47.8 million. This is the highest price paid for any work on paper, and the second highest for any Old Master, after Ruben’s “Massacre of the Innocents” which raised $78.2 million at Sotheby’s in 2002. The highest bidder was Natasha Mendelsohn, who bids on behalf of clients for Sotheby’s (BID) London.  (more…)

Art Basel Miami Beach VIP Preview Entrance, all photos on site for Art Observed by Erica Schwartzberg

On Wednesday, December 5th, 2012, Art Basel Miami Beach hosted its 11th annual VIP Preview at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Organizers claim Art Basel Miami has surpassed its Swiss sister Art Basel in size and popularity, though it has yet to surpass attendance figures (62,500 people in 2010). This year, 680 galleries competed to show at Art Basel Miami and 257 were selected. More than 2,000 artists are represented and attendance is expected to top last year’s 55,000 figure. Though definitive sales reports are difficult to pin down (Art Basel Miami never releases official records), $2.5 billion worth of art was on offer in 2011, and several galleries reported record sales. VIP guests include business magnates Steve Wynn, who purchased a Roy Lichtenstein, and Eli Broad, who purchased a Jeff Koons sculpture. Newsprint mogul Peter Brant gave Owen Wilson a tour, and Will Ferrell ceded the stage to his wife Viveca, who sits on the board of the Los Angeles County Museum. Also spotted: Sean “Puffy” Combs purchasing an Ivan Navarro sculpture, Diane von Furstenberg, comedian/actress Chelsea Handler, and music mogul Russell Simmons. The following is a photoset from the 2012 Art Basel Miami Beach VIP Preview.

Jesús Rafael Soto, Cubo de Roma, Galeria Elvira Gonzalez

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All photos on site for Art Observed by Erica Schwartzberg

UNTITLED. art fair is celebrating their first year at Art Basel Miami. Under the art direction of New York-based curator Omar Lopez-Chahoud, a beachfront pavilion was designed by architecture firm K/R (John Keenen and Terence Riley) to house a collection of international works by contemporary artists presented by 50 invited galleries. The space aims to emphasize the viewer’s experience  while creating context for the works. “It is about creating a conversation,” says Lopez-Chahoud, “and thereby offering collectors a sense of discovery, diversity, and quality with an international perspective.” UNTITLED. is open through Sunday, December 9th.

Paco Cao, mid-session of a seance, Eternal Rest at (Art) Amalgamated

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Chuck Close, Installation View, Courtesy of Pace Gallery

Pace Gallery in New York is home to Chuck Close’s first gallery show in the city since 2009. The gallery has represented Close since 1977. This latest exhibition features some of the artist’s newest pieces such as Cindy (2012) (a portrait of photographer Cindy Sherman) along with some of Close’s older works. (more…)

As part of the Guggenheim‘s performing-arts Works & Process series, fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi brings Sergei Prokofiev’s suspenseful, timeless classic to life in front of Will Cotton‘s newly commissioned, candy-coated installation. Cotton’s largest painting to date (30′ x 11’) is set with a gingerbread castle inhabited by the wolf and his friends. George Manahan conducts the Juilliard Ensemble. (more…)

Steven Murphy, CEO of Christie’s, ranked No. 1 on Art + Auction’s Power 100 list, (which will be released today at a party at the Haven Lounge in Miami). Murphy has built the auction house’s online functionality and attracted new clients. Larry Gagosian, David Zwirner, Marc Glimcher, Christian Deydier, Eli Broad and Emmanuel Perrotin also ranked in the top ten.
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Jeffrey Gundlach, bond investor and art collector, catalyzed the return of his stolen artwork by telling authorities to check who had Googled his grandmother’s name. Earlier this year, $10 million in artworks were stolen from his home, along with paintings made by his grandmother, Helen Fuchs. It turned out that two parties had searched on Google for “Helen Fuchs” – Gundlach and the thieves, who were subsequently apprehended. (more…)

Cooper Union students have barricaded themselves inside the school in protest of possible plans by the school to start charging tuition. “We’ve got plenty of food, we’re not planning on leaving until these demands are met,” she said. “Until we’re forcibly removed, we are not leaving” said Kristi Cavataro, a junior. The school is trying to maintain financial stability and a high caliber academic program. (more…)

As announced by Jude Law at the Tate Britain, the winner of the 2012 Turner Prize is Elizabeth Price. Price was nominated for her solo exhibition at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, in which she presented a trilogy of video installations. Her work, THE WOOLWORTH’S CHOIR OF 1979 2012 is a complex, multi-layered video she describes as something that morphs into a “PowerPoint lecture, to something that looks like an infomercial to something that feels like a cinematic melodrama”. Black and white photographs of 19th century churches intermingle with web clips of pop performances and news footage of the 1979 Woolworth’s furniture fire, giving the viewer an immersive, guided tour through the debris of consumer culture. Each year, the Turner prize (worth $40,000) is presented to an artist under 50 years old, living, working or born in Britain for an outstanding exhibition in the previous 12 months. (more…)

Art Basel Miami Beach 2011 photo by ArtObserved

Despite the large number of exhibitors from New York who are in recovery from Hurricane Sandy, almost  every Chelsea gallery scheduled to exhibit will be at this year’s 11th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach week. Events begin as early as today, Monday, December 3rd and run through Sunday, December 9th. Exhibitors and artists are preparing for a flurry of activity, with a multitude of fairs, some old, some new; public installations, exhibitions, collaborations and of course, parties centering around the Delano, The W, Soho Beach House, The Deauville, The Raleigh, The Standard and others. Check out the detailed schedule of events below.

Visionaire Magazine party at Delano Hotel 2011 photo by ArtObserved

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The LA Times profiles three high level curatorial posts that are vacant and may cease to exist at Los Angeles Museums. Notably the controversy over the firing of Paul Schimmel from LAMoCA; The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach laid off Cecilia Fajardo-Hill and did not re-fill the position; and Douglas Fogle, Chief Curator at The Hammer left, but that museum is actively looking for a replacement. (more…)

The Turner Prize will be announced this evening by Jude Law at at the Tate Britain.  Here is video of the exhibited work. (more…)

The Martos Gallery’s Suzanne Geiss is bringing legal action against hedge fund manager Jarett Posner, claiming that he said he would sell his 1984 Keith Haring for $1.6 million. She filed papers in the Manhattan Supreme Court to force Posner to transact the deal. “There was never a sale. I’ve never heard of anything like this in my life,” Posner said. “I’ve never met the person, never agreed to anything.” (more…)

Sia performs live. All photos by C. Dalaeli for ArtObserved

Performa’s Relâche—The Party welcomed more than 500 guests on Thursday evening. Event co-chairs RoseLee Goldberg, Julie Blakeslee and John Spong, Toby Devan Lewis, Andrea & Marc Glimcher, Wendy Fisher, Amanda & Glenn Fuhrman, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, and Cindy Sherman helped organized the black and white haute couture themed party, a tribute to Francis Picabia and Erik Satie, and their groundbreaking 1924 Surrealist performance Relâche in Paris. The party was honoring Milly Glimcher, art historian and curator of “Happenings: New York, 1958–1963” at the Pace Gallery, 2012.

Aerial acrobat performance (more…)

A portrait of Miami in Tom Wolfe’s new novel, “Back to Blood”, seems timely with Art Basel approaching this week.  Brett Sokol, arts editor at Ocean Drive Magazine, profiles the changes in Miami’s art scene, which are filled with drama, power and money. Wolfe’s new novel is loosely based the true stories of the forgeries discovered in the Bass Museum’s permanent collection and on the story of how collector Jorge Pérez donated $35 million to the MAM . It was subsequently renamed Pérez Art Museum Miami, which created severe opposition to what board members deemed an egotistical move. “None of this is the behavior of a money-bedazzled and unsophisticated art crowd — quite the opposite”, Sokol says. (more…)

Exhibition view, Joseph Beuys, Iphigenie, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, all photos via Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac

Curated by Jörg Schellmann, director of Edition Schellmann, the first exhibition shown in the new performing arts-dedicated space within Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Paris Pantin, is a collection of works by renowned German artist Joseph Beuys. The exhibition, entitled Iphigenie, inaugurated Thaddeus Ropac’s massive new space in the suburbs of Paris on October 17th, 2012 and will continue through January 27th, 2013.

Exhibition view, Joseph Beuys, Iphigenie, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac

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VICE Magazine interviews Marina Abramović about her view on what constitutes a performance, on young artists and fashion: VICE: “I put some crystals in my cleavage because I know you use crystals in your work.” Abramović: “I’ve never put crystals in my cleavage, but OK.” (more…)

Yingmei Duan, “Happy Yingmei,” 2011/2012, Art of Change, photo by Linda Nylind, all images courtesy Southbank Centre London

The first major exhibition to focus on contemporary installation and performance art from China, “Art of Change: New Directions from China” opened September 7th at the Southbank Centre in London. The exhibition traces the artistic development of a selection of some of the most innovative artists from  China, spanning in time from the 1980s until today.

Chen Zhen, “Purification Room,” 2000/2012, Art of Change, photo by Linda Nylind

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Maurizio Cattelan, “Catttelan,” 1994, neon, 90 x 47 x 3.5; 40 x 40 x 3.5, Courtesy Collezione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo

On September 25th 2012, the Whitechapel Gallery in London opened a special exhibition composed of works from the Collection Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, one of the most prominent private collections in Europe. The gallery’s year-long series, Think Twice, is divided into four parts, the first of which is dedicated to works of Maurizio Cattelan – many of which have not been seen in the UK for over 20 years – on display until December 2nd, 2012.

Maurizio Cattelan, “Bidibidobidiboo,” 1996, Taxidermied squirrel, ceramic, Formica, wood, paint and steel, Courtesy Collezione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo

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