Actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s charity foundation held a charity auction this week at Christie’s, in New York, realizing a staggering $38.5 Million in sales, and surging past estimates of $13-18 Million.  Benefitting several conservation projects for endangered species around the world, the auction allowed money paid over the estimated value to be counted as a tax deductible contribution, encouraging rampant spending that set impressive auction records for artists Rob Pruitt, Robert Longo, Mark Grotjahn, and several others.  As DiCaprio said before the event began: “bid as if the fate of the planet depends on us.”  (more…)

The Guardian reports on Damien Hirst’s recent appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, where the artist admitted to getting so drunk after winning the Turner Prize’s £20,000 grand prize that he woke up in the morning forgetting where he had left the check.  Measuring his creative successes against the dangerous lives of Romantic-era legends like Egon Schiele and Joseph Turner, the newspaper uses Hirst to question the nature of the artist in an increasingly stabile, safe society. (more…)

Luxury aviation company VistaJet recently commissioned artist Tom Sachs, working in collaboration with former assistant Van Neistat, to create a series of flight safety videos to be shown onboard the company’s fleet of airplanes.  Taking inspiration from Todd Haynes’s 1987 cult classic Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, which was shot with a cast of only Barbie dolls, the duo created a short using stop motion and dolls to reconceptualize the traditional airline safety film. (more…)

The Ammersee home of German painter Georg Baselitz has been raided by German tax officials, who seized several crates of files as part of investigation into tax evasion.  The artist was implicated in tax dodging after his name appeared on a list of secret bank account holders with the Swiss bank UBS.  Baselitz had been quoted earlier this year as saying: “Despite all the taxes people pay, there supposedly isn’t any money in this country for art.” (more…)

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Hannibal, seized by U.S. authorities during the investigation of Brazilian collector, former banker and convicted embezzler Edemar Cid Ferreira, has cast light on the use of fine art as an outlet for money laundering.  The current market for blue-chip fine art is often conducted with few questions asked, opening the door for an easy disposal of illicitly got income.  “You can have a transaction where the seller is listed as ‘private collection’ and the buyer is listed as ‘private collection,’ ” says Sharon Cohen Levin, chief of the asset forfeiture unit of the United States attorney’s office. “In any other business, no one would be able to get away with this.” (more…)

Financial Times reports on the growing popularity of performance works at major art fairs, helping the traditionally market-centered proceedings to rebrand themselves as cultural events.  The trend is especially notable at this year’s edition of Frieze New York, where nearly every piece covering the fair has reported on Tino Seghal’s Ann Lee, of particular note because the work is sold via oral contract, in which Seghal explains to the buyer how to re-enact the work.  “I’m an expert and even I get tired after seeing 180 booths. But performance can capture viewers’ attention.”  Says Frieze Projects curator Cecilia Alemani. (more…)

Tate Britain has recently hung a pair of paintings by British artist Mary Beale, depicting her young son, as part of the museum’s efforts to get more female artists on its gallery walls.  The effort has already brought out a number of rarely seen works from the museum’s collection, and falls in line with museum’s new chronological hanging strategy.  “We are aware that in the past we have under-achieved in presenting the work of women artists,” says head of displays Chris Stephens. “This time in every section we have looked at all the women artists in the collection, and asked why not?, instead of why?” (more…)

Following MoMA’s announced re-evaluation of its plan to demolish the former American Folk Art Museum, The New York Times has published an editorial examining the Museum’s impact on Midtown, and the distinct design of the Folk Art Museum in contrast with MoMA’s sleek facade, and the problems MoMA’s design currently presents for the art it exhibits. “Economic development encourages the proliferation of glass giants, tourism and ever bigger museums, but not always smart streets or better culture.” says writer Michael Kimmelman. (more…)

Elizabeth Peyton, Jonas Kaufmann, March 2013, NYC (2013), via Gavin Brown’s Enterprise

Gavin Brown’s west-side gallery is currently playing home to a new set of works by artist Elizabeth Peyton, continuing the artist’s ongoing series of portraiture through a series of works taken from the New York Metropolitan Opera, as well as Peyton’s well-documented self-portraits and depictions of celebrities.   (more…)

Francis Bacon, Study from Portrait of P.L. (1962), courtesy of Sotheby’s

After last week’s busy schedule of fairs (Frieze, Collective Design Fair, Pulse, Nada, Wishmeme, Cutlog, and many more) the contemporary art hub of New York City will serve as the stage for another set of high-profile art sales this week, as Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips host their Evening Post-war and Contemporary Art Sales. Sotheby’s will hold their sale of 64 lots on May 14th, Christie’s on the 15th with 72 lots and Phillips on the 16th with 38 lots, featuring the familiar auctions and price tags for by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter and Agnes Martin, alongside a number of newcomers and unique pieces that define this month’s evening auctions as a major event.

Gerhard Richter, Domplatz Mailand (1968), courtesy of Sotheby’s (more…)

The Art Newspaper has published an article by Whatever Press on the increasing clout of art fairs worldwide, noting the diverse contemporary art offerings for visitors, bringing galleries from around the world to a single location.  The downside, it notes, is the distracting, overwhelming environment not conducive to experiencing works past a superficial sampling.  “Fairs are great for a scan of the pulse of the moment. One thing they are not is ideal for looking at art.”  Says Maxwell Anderson, the director of the Dallas Museum of Art.

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Artists Jake and Dinos Chapman will bring three monumental dinosaur sculptures to London this summer, part of a series of sculptural installations that will also include work by Antony Gormley and Robert Indiana.  “Art is an essential part of vitality of the City of London, a draw for workers and visitors alike, a major contributing factor in our economic vibrancy and the kernel of the cultural brio of the Square Mile.”  Says John Scott, chairman of the City of London Corporation’s arts advisory board. (more…)

The Financial Times has published a profile on gallerist Daniella Luxembourg of Luxembourg and Dayan, highlighting her early life in Israel, and her new approaches to exhibition outside of her two successful gallery spaces in New York and London.  Luxembourg’s pop-up gallery, titled Oko, has been gaining attention lately, with a recent show of work by Julian Schnabel, and an upcoming show of work by Dan Colen this week.  “It’s a different intellectual dialogue, another way of engaging people,” Luxembourg said. “When I was working in the auction business, so much money was spent on dinners, marketing, publicity and entertaining … this is another way of working.” (more…)

Outside the NADA Art Fair

The NADA Art Fair opened yesterday for its second annual New York event, bringing over 70 galleries and exhibitors to downtown Manhattan’s Basketball City for a diverse exhibition of new works by artists around the globe.

Alex Da Corte at Joe Sheftel (more…)

Artist James Turrell will open three shows in the next month, bringing his light works to viewers nation wide.  The artist has major retrospectives scheduled to open at the Guggenheim, LACMA, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.  The ambitious series exhibitions has called for challenging constructions at the museums, recreating spaces from Turrell’s exacting specifications.  “We have trained our dry-wallers that they are working with art, not drywall,” says Bradley Johnson, chief architect for the construction project at LACMA.  (more…)

In the wake of Cooper Union’s contentious decision to begin charging admission, The New York Times has published an in-depth study of the school’s finances, particularly its ownership of the land under the Chrysler Building.  While the land earns a rent of $9 Million a year, it would be difficult to sell in an emergency, yet comprises 84% of the school’s assets.  Combined with the debts accrued for the construction of the school’s new campus building, the article paints a bleak picture of the storied institution’s finances.  “There was never any sense of giving back. Cooper never asked. We always thought Cooper didn’t need the money because it had the Chrysler Building. Forty years ago, I would have stressed to students that someone had to make it possible for you to come here for free.”  Says trustee Thomas Driscoll. (more…)

Artist Eric Fischl spoke with the Wall Street Journal this week about his upcoming book, Bad Boy: My Life On and Off the Canvas, as well as his career and work.  “I thought I was opening up a pretty wide door. I thought that I was offering something I wish had taken a greater hold than it did. Which is that you turn to art to connect to other people, and you connect through common experience and emotional experience and life experience. It’s something that gives form to all the more difficult aspects of our lives.”  He says. (more…)

The Knoedler Gallery, which shut its doors almost two years ago, is being sued again over the sale of a false artwork.  This time, the gallery is in court over the sale of a forged Clyfford Still work, sold for $4.3 Million to collector Nicholas F. Taubman.  The Gallery has responded, claiming it has never knowingly sold a false work.  “The Taubman complaint relies on the same unproven and baseless claims contained in the prior lawsuits.” Said Knoedler lawyer Charles D. Schmerler. (more…)

Marcel Dzama, The Chessmen (2010), courtesy David Zwirner London

Currently on view at David Zwirner gallery in London is a solo exhibition of new work by Marcel Dzama, spanning a diverse range of media that centers on the aesthetic and thematic elements of Chess. The exhibition, entitled Puppets, Pawns, and Prophets opened on April 5th and will continue through May 11th, 2013.

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Takashi Murakami, Fate (2013), via Blum and Poe

In conjunction with the world premiere of his first full-length film, Jellyfish Eyes, on April 8th in Los Angeles, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is presenting a selection of new paintings and sculpture at Blum and Poe Gallery.  Showcasing new techniques and styles that the artist has developed since his major exhibition of new work, Ego, which was on view in Doha, Qatar.

Takashi Murakami, Arhat (Installation View), 2013 Blum & Poe, Los Angeles ©2013 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Image courtesy of the artist and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (more…)

The Museum of Modern Art has announced that it will partner with architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro to reevaluate the expansion plan that threatens to destroy the former home of the American Folk Art Museum.  In a statement, released yesterday, MoMA said: “The principals of Diller Scofidio + Renfro have asked that they be given the time and latitude to carefully consider the entirety of the site, including the former American Folk Art Museum building, in devising an architectural solution to the inherent challenges of the project. We readily agreed to consider a range of options, and look forward to seeing their results.” (more…)

Paul McCarthy, Balloon Dog (2013) at Frieze New York. All photos by Hannah Palmer Egan.

Art Observed was on-site yesterday to document the opening preview of Frieze New York’s second-annual art fair on Randall’s Island.  Despite noteworthy absences from several important blue-chip galleries at its sophomore showing, the fair still offered a healthy mix of art from across the contemporary spectrum, from larger-than-life to the predictably banal, and occasionally both at the same time. Perhaps the perfect example, visitors arriving by ferry are immediately confronted by Paul McCarthy’sBalloon Dog. It’s 80 feet tall and fire-engine red.  Continuing on inside, over 180 galleries compete for attendees’ attention.

Martha Friedman, Amygdalas (2013).

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Tracey Emin’s Roman Standard, a single bronze bird mounted atop a 13 foot pole, has been unveiled in New York’s Petrosino Square.  A collaboration between the Art Production Fund, White Cube and Lehmann Maupin, the piece is intended as a point of contemplation.  “Most public sculptures are a symbol of power which I find oppressive and dark,” said Emin. “I wanted something that had a magic and an alchemy, something which would appear and disappear and not dominate.”  (more…)