| Chinati: The Vision of Donald Judd |
Donald Judd at LACMA (Installation View), courtesy of LACMA
On view alongside LACMA’s permanent modern and contemporary collection is a peripheral gallery highlighting a selection of works by artist Donald Judd. Focusing on several of various mediums, the brief show revisits Judd’s focus on simplified geometric forms and the space created around his simple objects.
In a recent magazine interview with Vanity Fair, YBA veteran Tracey Emin has called out critics for judging her work much more harshly than her male counterparts. She also discussed Roman Standard, her recent project for Petrosino Square in New York that placed a single bird on top of a 13 foot pole. “What I’m saying through the piece is that strength isn’t always about being big.” She says. (more…)
Indian artist Subodh Gupta – Art Observed sat down with the Financial Times recently to discuss his new show at Hauser and Wirth , his youth in India, and his utilization of everyday materials. “I am always good in an unconventional space. The material tells a story. If it is broken, it comes from the reality of life.”
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Following the week’s record-setting contemporary art auctions, CNBC analysts weighed in on the current setting of the contemporary art market, criticizing the easy classification of the market as a bubble set to burst, and noting the ongoing theme of art market commentary asserting a link between money laundering and the increasing speculation on the art market. (more…)
In a drive to recover billions of dollars in assets pillaged by the Qaddafi family in Libya, the UK government and Interpol have confirmed that they will work to seize and return art to its rightful owners. The family’s assets, frozen shortly after Muamar Qaddafii initiated a crackdown on protestors in 2011, are thought to total around $168 billion, including art collections used to hide ill-gotten funds. “Art was probably bought through other organisations not affiliated with the regime or through investment groups,” says Libyan embassy spokesperson Ghazi Gheblawi. “It is something that should be investigated.” (more…)
Anish Kapoor spoke with The Guardian this week in the run-up to his new show of work, Kapoor in Berlin at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in the German capital, speaking about the countries’ support of the arts, and its stark contrast to Great Britain. “In Germany, it seems that the intellectual and aesthetic life are to be celebrated and are seen as part of a real and good education, whereas in Britain, traditionally – certainly since the Enlightenment – we’ve been afraid of anything intellectual, aesthetic, visual.” (more…)
Out of Memory (Installation View), courtesy of Marianne Boesky Gallery
Marianne Boesky Gallery is currently hosting a group exhibition titled Out of Memory, curated by Eleanor Cayre and including works by artists: AIDS-3D, Cory Arcangel, Nicolas Deshayes, Aleksandra Domanovic, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Louis Eisner, Roe Ethridge, Matias Faldbakken, Guyton/Walker, Yngve Holen, Alex Israel, Rashid Johnson, Josh Kline, Mark Leckey and many more, exploring ideas of production and presentation in a post-digital society.
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art is about to open its newest commission for its rooftop garden, a spattered-red work by Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi that plays on the images of blood, and leads a series of works currently on view across New York that play with similarly violent imagery. Responding to bombings in Lahore and Boston, the artist intended the works to provide a moment of reflection, playing against the pristine backdrop of Central Park. (more…)
Artist Mark di Suvero has been awarded a gold medal by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, alongside writer E.L. Doctorow, and honorary inductee Bob Dylan. The 100-year old award is given to two American citizens each year, rotating every six years between a pair of artistic disciplines. Past sculpture nominees have included Martin Puryear, Richard Serra and Louise Bourgeois. (more…)
Artist Ai Weiwei was on hand last week to film and upload a large fight on Beijng’s Ghost Street between ethnic Tibetan and ethnic Han Chinese street vendors. The video quickly went viral, gaining the attention of viewers worldwide. “I had arrived in the middle of the fight,” he said later. “I saw someone lying on the ground with blood.” (more…)
Cell Phone records released in the money laundering and illegal gambling case against Helly Nahmad have put his family’s art dealing business in the public spotlight, particularly one conversation: “Sometimes a bank needs a justification for a wire, right?” Mr. Nahmad said in a government account of a 2012 conversation. “We can just say, Oh, you are buying a painting. If they need justification, you know what I mean? You just be like, Oh yeah, I bought a, you know, Picasso drawing or something.” (more…)
Alexander Gilkes takes the Podium at Phillips to Begin the Auction
Last evening, Philips held its contemporary art sale at its Park Avenue headquarters, offering a total of 37 lots. The sale concludes a very successful run of strong contemporary art auctions in New York during the past week, and the saleroom was high in energy and anticipation as a result, a clear carryover of enthusiasm from the ground-breaking sale held at Christie’s the previous evening. (more…)
In two weeks, The Tate Modern will open “Exposed,” a show of work focusing on voyeurism and surveillance in the practice of contemporary photography. Pulling together 250 works from various artists and photographers, the show will examine the act and cultural impact of surveillance in the context of London’s position as the most surveilled city in the world. (more…)
Thomas Messer, the legendary former director of the Guggenheim Foundation, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 93. Messer, who came to the gallery in 1961, just two years after it moved into its signature building on Fifth Avenue, was instrumental in shaping the Guggenheim into the global institution it is today, developing its collection and tirelessly working to expand its mission. “Here we are, three decades later, with Guggenheims in Bilbao, Berlin, Venice, and soon to be Abu Dhabi. The foundation for all this was laid by Tom Messer. And I can tell you, he laid that foundation under budget.” said former Guggenheim President Peter Lawson-Johnston. (more…)
Pollock’s Number 19 Sells to Applause at Christie’s, via Charles Shoener for Art Observed
Christie’s contemporary evening sale made history last night in grand style, storming through its 72 lots to realize a world record $495 Million sales total that included new auction records for Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and 13 other artists, aided auction house’s impressively assembled catalog. Hailing a “new era in the art market,” according to auctioneer Jussi Pylkkanen, the show achieved an almost unheard of sell-through rate of 94%, with only four works failing to find buyers. The sale also continues Christie’s growing dominance in the auction market, eclipsing the previous night’s sale at Sotheby’s with little difficulty.
The top selling lot of the night, Jackson Pollock’s Number 19, 1948 (1948), via Christie’s
Andy Warhol (Installation View), via Alexandra Bregman for Art Observed
On May 12th, The Brant Foundation in Greenwich, Connecticut opened its first show of the year with a selection of works by Andy Warhol. Paper mogul and avid collector Peter Brant has been personally buying Warhol’s work since 1968, and has amassed a reported 200 paintings, prints, polaroid portraits and magazine covers, from which he has pulled for this impressive show. Mr. Brant co-curated the exhibition with Heiner Bastian, the latter of whom worked on the traveling Warhol retrospective of 2001-2002, which traveled from Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, London’s Tate Modern, and MOCA LA in Los Angeles. (more…)
On top of his widely recognized work as an artist and political activist, Ai Weiwei is also apparently a skilled barber. Weiwei was recently documented giving haircuts to several fellow diners at a Chinese restaurant by Beijing Cream. “I’ve given hundreds,” the artist said. “I could make a book out of it.” (more…)
A giant, inflatable rubber duck sculpture by artist Florentijn Hofman has been installed in the port of Hong Kong, bringing residents out in droves to see it floating in the harbor. While the duck has traveled to a number of cities around the world, the fervent response to its arrival in Hong Kong has bordered on cultural phenomenon, with restaurants making special rubber-duck themed foods and politicians praising the sculpture for the “limitless amounts of joy” it has brought to the city. (more…)
Despite widespread austerity measures across the Eurozone, many European nations are still heavily investing in national pavilions at this year’s prestigious Venice Biennale. Countries like Greece, the UK and Germany have earmarked comparable funds to their respective 2011 pavilions, despite budgetary constraints. “The participating countries will always put resources towards the realisation of their exhibitions in the national pavilions, or find other sources to cover the costs.” Says Jewish Museum deputy director Jens Hoffmann. (more…)
New York Magazine has published a thorough analysis of the inspirations behind Edward Hopper’s iconic painting, Nighthawks. Scouring the artist’s former midtown haunts, the article traces influences from the Flatiron Building’s curved window display to the storefronts of Greenwich avenue. “People want to find the real diner, but Hopper was a synthesizer,” says Carter Foster, the Whitney Museum curator who is preparing to open “Hopper Drawing,” a new show examining the artist’s creative practice. (more…)
World renowned auctioneer Tobias Meyer during the sale of the Yves Klein sculpture, which ultimately sold for $22 Million
Sotheby’s hosted its contemporary evening auctions last night, with Principal Auctioneer and Head of Contemporary art Tobias Meyer coaxing the audience through the sales with high energy and style. The sale, which totaled at $293.6 million, trumps last year’s spring auction of $266.6 million, while falling short of the auction house’s record high of $375 million last November. (more…)
Paul McCarthy’s 80-ft inflatable balloon dog, which welcomed visitors to the Frieze New York Art Fair last week, has sold for $950,000, dealers at Hauser and Wirth have confirmed. The piece commanded a fair amount of attention just outside Frieze’s main entrance. The other highly-noted work, Tino Seghal’s Ann Lee, also sold, commanding a price of $80,000. (more…)
Jay DeFeo, The Rose, (1958-66), via The Whitney
The story of painter Jay DeFeo, and her landmark work The Rose, has become something of a legend in the annals of American contemporary art. The work took over 8 years to complete, constructed through the continuous process of painting and chiseling at the canvas until its weight reached nearly one ton, and its removal from her apartment necessitated the removal of an exterior wall. Buried in storage for years at the Pasadena Museum of Art, the piece was nearly lost to antiquity before being rediscovered behind a hastily erected wall, and rushed to preservation. Now The Rose has returned to the spotlight, the centerpiece of a massive retrospective of the work of DeFeo, currently on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. (more…)
The Vatican City will be sponsoring pavilion at the Venice Biennale this year, and has just announced its list of exhibited artists, featuring photographer Josef Koudelka, multimedia group Studio Azzurro and the artist Lawrence Carroll. The pavilion, organized by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, will explore themes of “Creation, De-Creation and Re-Creation.” “We want to create an atmosphere of dialogue between art and faith,” Cardinal Ravasi said. (more…)
