Andy Warhol’s former uptown home at 1342 Lexington Avenue has just sold for $5.5 million, just two years after its owners purchased it for $3.5 million, and spent $1 million on a full refurbishment and restoration.  Warhol lived in the apartment from 1959 to 1974, a time that marked some of his most iconic works.  “Whenever we had an open house, we’d get lines of people who just wanted to come by and take photos,” said broker Glenn Minnick. (more…)

Artist Jeff Koons is interviewed in the New York Times Magazine, discussing his recent collaboration with champagne maker Dom Pérignon, his recent work, and his interest in art history.  “If we look at human history, the only narrative of human history that we have is our genes and our DNA. Every other narrative is developed by political motivations. So the true human history is our genes and DNA. There’s an aspect of consciousness — consciousness is making connections. The way art works is connections. The more connections something makes, the more it imitates life itself.”   He says. (more…)

Chris Johanson, Being in My Life (2013), Courtesy of MOCA Pacific Design Center

In keeping with Los Angeles-based artist Chris Johanson’s aim to create “peaceful” art, Within The River of Time is my Mind presents a serene body of new painting, sculpture, and found wood, site-specific installation at is on display at MOCA‘s Pacific Design Center through October 13^th.  The solo exhibition, organized by art critic and guest curator Andrew Berardini, corresponds with the release of Chris Johanson, the most recent monograph in Phaidon’s celebrated Contemporary Artist series. (more…)

Headed by the architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron and with a $200 million budget, the restoration of the Park Avenue Armory is in excellent hands. The New York Times reports that the refurbishment of the Armory, expected to be complete in 2018, has continued almost uninterrupted since the Park Avenue Conservancy signed a 99-year lease with the state 7 years ago. Yet it was only in the year 2000 that the Park Avenue Armory made the list of the world’s top 100 most endangered structures, according to the World Monuments Fund. When completed, the Park Avenue Armory would “visibly straddle past and present while being actively used. It will be living, lived-in history.” (more…)

Alex Ito, Magic Mountain (2013), via Fireplace Project

On view at The Fireplace Project in East Hampton, New York is a collection of works created this year by The Still House Group, an artist-run organization based in Red Hook, Brooklyn made up of eight permanent artists and a different resident artist each summer.

Louis Eisner, Box 8 (2013), via Fireplace Project

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Filmmaker and artist Steve McQueen has taken top awards at the Toronto International Film Festival for his newest work, 12 Years a Slave.  Announced this week as the People’s Choice Award-winner, his film documents the life of Solomon Northrup, a black American kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. (more…)

Artist Matthew Day Jackson is profiled in the New York Times Magazine this week, profiling the artist’s impressive series of projects, his longtime love of drag racing, and the experience of living in contemporary America.  “I just recognize that we live in an extraordinarily violent place. And that the boundaries between the haves and the have-nots and those who are and those who are not are usually defined by violence.”  (more…)

Tom Sachs, Barbie Slave Ship (2013), via Artist’s Website

The opening of the Lyon Biennale last week has garnished a considerable spotlight in the art world so far, thanks in part to artist Tom Sach’s challenging, monumental new sculpture, Barbie Slave Ship, which takes the iconic brand American dolls for a sinister twist.  Examining structures of control and exploitation, the enormous, scale-model ship is a chillingly bizarre “playset” of sorts, complete with pink flags and an onboard “grog” bar, complete with full-size liquor bottles.

Tom Sachs, Barbie Slave Ship (2013), via Artist’s Website (more…)

In a recent segment, BloombergTV reviews the current state of Sotheby’s, examining the auction house’s current issues with activist investors Daniel Loeb and others, who have together taken a 15% stake in the company.  Emphasizing Sotheby’s position in the market, and its sole rival, Christie’s, the segment goes on to detail the house’s “untapped pockets of value.”  “It’s widely expected that they (investors) will focus on the brand, the real estate story, the balance sheet.  What’s not clear is whether they will agree.”  Says Bloomberg’s Su Keenan. (more…)

Artist Michelangelo Pistoletto and Sculptor Antony Gormley have been awarded the highest honor for artists in Japan, the Praemium Imperiale.  Recognized by the Japan Art Association, the prize recognizes artist’s lifelong achievements and contributions to the arts.  The awards will be presented at a ceremony on October 16th. (more…)

Cary Leibowitz, Hey! I’m Not Deppressed Anymore (2013), Courtesy INVISIBLE-EXPORTS, New York

“Hey! I’m not depressed anymore.” So reads one of the simplistic, shaped canvases currently on view at Cary Leibowitz’s new show at Invisible-Exports.  It’s familiar territory for the artist, whose signature conflations of text and paint frequently dwell on the comical neuroses inherent in modern living, scaled appropriately for the New York art world.  It was Leibowitz, of course, whose enormous wooden sign sat outside the Armory Show earlier this year, reading “I Need to Start Seeing a Therapist,” blowing his work up to monumental scale for the equally daunting size of the exhibition contained within Piers 92 and 94. (more…)

The ongoing Istanbul Biennial has raised the ire of artists and activists over its tactical departure from a number of culturally and politically contested areas, following the massive protests this summer in Gezi Park.  Originally intended to meet the waves of gentrification currently sweeping through the city, the fair has moved its exhibitions to some of the city’s most established galleries.  “You lose time when you send things by email and try to get permission. It was the opposite during Gezi. People were improvising; they were very fast and very efficient at organising collectively. The biennial could learn from that.”   Says Artist Ahmet Ögüt, who runs the Tate-funded art school for refugees, Silent University. (more…)

Artist Tacita Dean was recently interviewed by The Guardian, profiling the artist’s fascination with Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, her interactions with writer JG Ballard over the work, and the resulting video work she is currently exhibiting  at Frith Street Gallery in London, alongside a series of postcards depicting the changing German city of Kassel.  “What you see here no longer exists.”  She says. (more…)

The New Art Dealer’s Alliance has announced the exhibitors list for this year’s edition of the fair, held concurrently with Art Basel Miami Beach.  This year’s fair features a group of 80 galleries, with a high number of spaces from NADA’s home city of New York, including Feature Inc. and Zach Feuer, among many others.  The fair will also feature a special exhibition section from 11 galleries worldwide, including Rob Tuffnell in London, SculptureCenter in New York, and XYZ Collective in Tokyo. (more…)

After months of investigation and court proceedings, Long Island dealer Glafira Rosales has plead guilty to the sale of over $30 million in fake artworks attributed to Rothko, Pollock, and others. Rosales also plead guilty to charges of fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion in a New York courtroom Monday.  “I agreed with others to sell works of art claimed to be created by various expressionist artists including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell, and to make false representations as to the authenticity and provenance of those works,” Rosales said. “These works of art were actually fakes created by an individual residing in Queens.” (more…)

Rumored since earlier this summer, Sotheby’s Uptown New York headquarters is now officially on the real estate market, following the recent share acquisition by activist investors.  The auction house has already entertained several bids for the space, but has not disclosed an asking price.  “It’s premature to speculate, as the process is still continuing.”  Said spokesman Andrew Gully. (more…)

Capitalizing on the current interest in early European and American Modernist movements, the Guggenheim has announced plans for an exhibition focusing on the pioneering work of the Futurist movement in Italy.  “Italian Futurism, 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe,” will open February 21st, and will be accompanied by an auction of early modernist works at Sotheby’s.  “It’s time to re-evaluate and broaden our notion of what avant-garde means,” said curator Vivien Greene.   (more…)

The contentious sale of a Thomas Cole painting by the William Seward House Historical Museum has caught the attention of the State Attorney General’s office, which issued a statement questioning the sale, and maintaining the museum’s obligations to maintain the work.  In response, the museum has announced intentions for “a plan to safeguard the painting and protect the long term financial viability and well-being of the Museum.” (more…)

A recent statement by Sotheby’s Auction House head Bill Ruprecht has analysts forecasting a potential attempt at a share buy back, following the purchase of sizable share percentages by a number of activist investors. “Sotheby’s is committed to healthy two-way communication with our shareholders as we pursue our common goal of a strong, growing, competitive Sotheby’s open to new opportunities.” Ruprecht said.

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Edvard Munch, The Scream (1893), Courtesy Munch Museet

Edvard Munch is enjoying somewhat of a timely spotlight, having just has his iconic 1895 pastel The Scream set the global auction record at almost $120 million last May, just one year short of what would be the 150th year since his birth.  This correlation is not lost on the Norwegian city of Oslo, where Munch grew up, and 2013 has been dedicated to the pioneering abstractionist, with a pair of landmark shows compiling almost 300 works from Munch’s groundbreaking career in Oslo, Paris, and Berlin.

Edvard Munch, Workers on Their Way Home (1913-1914), Courtesy Munch Museet (more…)

Maurizio Cattelan, KAPUTT (Installation View), via Fondation Beyeler

KAPUTT, an installation by Italian-born sculptor, painter, and installation artist, Maurizio Cattelan is currently on display at the Fondation Beyeler until October 6th. Known for his humor and morbid imagery, especially in his use of taxidermied animals, Cattelan has been described as “as one of the great post-Duchampian artists, and a smartass, too” by Jonathan P. Binstock, curator of contemporary art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.  This installation draws upon many of the themes found in the artist’s previous work, and viewers may be reminded of the numerous tongue in cheek sculptures Cattelan has already exhibited at the Vienna Secession; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Kunsthalle Basel; MoMA and MoMA PS 1, New York; Museum Fridericianum, Kassel; The Tate Gallery, London; and Moderna Museet, Stockholm. (more…)

A selection of more than 150 works from the collection of Geneva dealer Jan Krugier will be on sale this November at Christies in New York. The auction will include works by Picasso, Kandinsky and Giaccometti. “Because of his connection with the Picasso family, no one could compete with him in terms of the volume and breadth of works in different media he was able to sell.” Says dealer Richard Nagy.
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Gilbert0 Zorio, (Installation view), Photo: Peter Malet, courtesy Blain|Southern

A collection of major works selected from the long-running career of Gilberto Zorio is currently on view at Blain|Southern gallery in London Hanover Square. The show includes recent works, new site-specific installations, and important sculptures from the 1960s. Zorio’s first UK exhibition in five years, this show offers a wide range of examples of his work, revealing his evolution as an artist, both marking his profound impression on the Arte Povera movement and showcasing his extension beyond the influential Italian movement.

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A Dutch foundation has surrendered ownership rights to stolen works by Picasso, Monet, Matisse, and other modern masters in exchange for a $24 million insurance settlement – indicating a loss of hope in recovering the works intact.  In a trail complicated by a confusion of claims and counterclaims, the actions of ringleader Radu Dogaru are currently being investigated along with those of  three other defendants and his mother Olga, who claims to have burnt all seven paintings in her Carcaliu home, in an effort to protect her son. The trial has been closely watched by the art world in hopes that it will shed light on whether or not the paintings and drawings stolen from Rotterdam’s Kunsthal museum still exist. (more…)