Artist Ai Weiwei, whose scale model recreations of his 2011 incarceration at this year’s Venice Biennale won him critical accolades, has spoken on his ordeal in a recent interview with Salon.  Recounting his experiences with his interrogators, Weiwei recounts conversations in which he began to teach his captors about conceptual art, Dadaism and protest.   “I explained art to them and then many times they said to me, ‘Weiwei, why whenever we talk about art and concepts do you get so excited that you keep talking? And why when we talk about facts, you say, ‘I don’t know’?’ But I say, ‘You know, I like to talk about art, and it makes me joyful and when I get to talk about art and explain I get very high spirits.’”  He says.

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Youssef Abdelke, a notable Syrian painter who has repeatedly spoken out against the Assad regime in his home country, has been released from a two month-long imprisonment by government authorities.  The 62 year old artist and former Syrian Communist Party Member had previously posted on his Facebook page that he “is healthy and in anticipation of leaving the palace of justice, free as [he] has always been.” (more…)

An all-night sculpture park has opened in the Norwegian capital of Oslo, filled with works from the collection of collector Christian Ringnes.  Overlooking the city, the newly appointed Ekeberg Park includes pieces from Marina Abramovic, James Turrell, Jenny Holzer and Louise Bourgeois, among others, and saw attendance at its opening event reach into the thousands.

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Josh Kline, Forever 27 (2013), Courtesy 47 Canal

Quality of Life is Josh Kline’s first solo exhibition since 2011, and directly follows his having organized this summer’s high-profile Pro-Bio group show at MoMA PS1. The exhibition acts as something of a statement of intent for the New York artist and deals with themes increasingly familiar within Kline’s growing body of work, looking at the commodification of identity and youth, alongside the forging of new, posthuman understandings of the body.

Josh Kline, Quality of Life (Installation View), via Sasha Patkin for Art Observed (more…)

Damien Hirst has unveiled his latest project, a children’s ABC’s book featuring a letter for letter survey of own work, and a different, corresponding font.  The artist spoke with The Guardian this week, discussing the book, his inspirations as a young artist, and his thoughts on “painting like a child.”  “The childlike quality of some of Picasso’s drawings is precisely what makes them so masterful and extraordinary; the ability to express complete visions, feelings and portraits through a continuous line.” (more…)

Frank Auerbach was recently interviewed in The Daily Telegraph, discussing his long career as a painter, the solitary life of painting, and his simple, unadorned opinions towards working on his canvases.  “People who turn out pictures and think, ‘How nice,’ and then go to the next picture seem terribly boring to me. You might as well work in a factory. The whole thing is about the struggle and the struggle makes it a fun activity.” (more…)

In an emailed press release today, the Saatchi Gallery in London has announced a broad collaborative partnership with the Tsukanova Family Foundation, a London-based charity organization.  The announcement comes after the highly successfully Breaking The Ice: Moscow Art 1960-80s exhibition at Saatchi earlier this year.  “We look forward to using the Gallery’s vast experience to further expand upon this through a series of shows over the course of the next 5 years,” says Igor Tsukanov, Co-Founder of TFF. (more…)

Elad Lassry, Untitled (Artwork) (2013), via 303 Gallery

“What is the philosophical location of a picture?” asks the press release for Elad Lassry’s current show at 303 Gallery.  It’s a question that Lassry has posed for several years now, using appropriated and self-made photographs, colored frames and sculptural materials to recreate the 2-Dimensional image in a broader dialogue with its surroundings.  Complicating the assemblage of the photograph, Lassry boils it down to its raw elements, placing the viewer in a new awareness of the photograph itself as a physical object.

Elad Lassry (Installation View), via 303 Gallery (more…)