Anselm Kiefer, Merkaba (2011)

Anselm Kiefer presents his largest show in London yet, covering over 11,000 square feet of the new White Cube Bermondsey gallery, Il Mistero delle Cattedrali. With ties to Fulcanelli’s publication of the same name (published in 1926), the show explores his longtime fascination with alchemy and its processes, Kiefer bringing to light the mystical notions behind the pseudo-scientific procedure. “In the past the alchemists sped up this process with magical means. That was called magic,” Kiefer states. “As an artist I don’t do anything differently. I only accelerate the transformation that is already present in things. That is magic, as I understand it.”

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Ai Weiwei, Forever Bicycles (2012). All photos via Taipei Fine Arts Museum.

Ai Weiwei’s current exhibition and semi-retrospective at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Ai Weiwei, Absent, includes pieces dating back to 1983, including large-scale sculpture and a collection of 100 photographs divided into his two artistic phases—in the East Village, New York and in Beijing, China. “Whenever Ai had a spare moment he would fill it with pictures of the places he visited, people he met, the area he lived,” states the exhibition’s press release. This lends a feeling of immediacy and voyeurism to Ai’s photos, as the viewer is shown a glimpse of the artist’s life as he documents the lives of others.

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Ai Weiwei, Zhang Huan (1994)

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‪Lawsuit filed against Larry Gagosian for $14 million by 93-year-old collector Jan Cowles, whose daughter alledgedly sold works to Gagosian without Jan’s knowledge from 2008-2009, including a Lichtenstein allegedly damaged then resold. Another Cowles’-owned work,”Innocent Eye Test” by Mark Tansey, was previously embroiled in $4 million ownership suit [AO Newslink]

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Roberto Matta, Untitled (1983). All images courtesy of The Pace Gallery.

The Pace Gallery’s Matta: a Centennial Celebration commemorates the life and work of the Chilean-born artist Roberto Matta. The exhibition was organized in collaboration with his children (he is the father of artist Gordon Matta-Clark) and concentrates on work created towards the end of his career. Born in 1911, Matta was a seminal figure in the art world, and his legacy and work continue to resonate. Matta: a Centennial Celebration features 14 paintings, many of which have never been viewed outside of Europe.

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‪‬Artist Sterling Ruby and Pace Gallery part ways as reported by the Baer Faxt [AO Newslink]

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‪A new generation of ‘Young British Artists’: Jonny Briggs, Gabriella Boyd, Adeline de Monseignat, Max Dovey, Catherine Parsonage and Alison Stolwood feature in the 40-person Catlin Guide 2012, a subset of the London Art Fair [AO Newslink]

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‪Cy Twombly Foundation grants Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) $300,000 to artists-in-residence, honoring the recently deceased, Virginian-born contemporary artist, as well as VCCA Fellow and Advisory Councilman. [AO Newslink]

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‪‬Top Australian art dealer faces 87 charges for art investment fraud of 43 clients with losses of $8 million [AO Newslink]

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‪‬Anne Collier’s photo of a developing photo, ‘Developing Tray #2,’ to be displayed throughout February on High Line Billboard [AO Newslink]

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Jeff Wall, Boxing (2011)

Jeff Wall’s latest solo show at the Marian Goodman Gallery, New Photographs, consists of seven large scale photographs and four smaller ones. Most made within the past two years, the works are a continuation on the neo-realistic, documentary style parameters the artist has been working within in recent years, reflecting various pieces of a collective cultural fabric that Wall weaves throughout his ouvre.

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‪ In anticipation of The India Art Fair, a look into a growing foundation of India-based collectors [AO Newslink]

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‪‬NY Times on artist Dustin Yellin’s soon to open $3.7 million 24,000-square-foot “utopian art center” in Red Hook [AO Newslink]

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‪‬Musée d’Orsay threatens legal action against French lingerie company Etam for publicity stunt, “a serious infringement of the Orsay’s rights and the rights of others.” [AO Newslink]

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New York City amateur art dealer pleads guilty for forging authentication papers for fake Damien Hirst prints he had purchased on ebay: “LSD,” “Opium” and “Valium.” Silver reaped and ultimately repaid a total of $84,000, with an additional $20,000 on reserve and $7,000 in taxes. [AO Newslink]

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James Franco slated to play photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in Eliza Dukshu’s production, replacing her now-director brother. [AO Newslink]

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S.A.C Capital founder and art collector Steve A. Cohen joins Museum of Contemporary Art’s board of trustees, in addition to his current duties at the Painting and Sculpture Committee of the Museum of Modern Art [AO Newslink]

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‪‬Chinese artist Zhang Daqian tops auction market at $507 million, on top of Warhol and Picasso. Regarding Chinese artists, “They are on top because China is the No. 1 country at auction and the Chinese are buying their own artists,” says Artprice economist Martin Bremond [AO Newslink]

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‪‬The Velvet Underground sues Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts over trademark rights to Warhol’s banana image, claiming earned ownership by association [AO Newslink]

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‪‬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]

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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 20^th century.

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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]

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T Magazine features Chinati Foundation artists in Marfa, Texas [AO Newslink]

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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.

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