Philanthropist and collector Leonard A. Lauder, who recently donated an impressive selection of early Modernist works to the Metropolitan Museum, has added another masterwork to his gift, Fernand Léger’s The Village.  “Leonard Lauder is dedicated to creating the greatest collection of Cubist art in the world and to ensuring that these works will be accessible to the millions of people who visit the Met.”  said Museum director and CEO Thomas P. Campbell. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on the recent opening of Galerie Perrotin’s New York space, which shares the building at 909 Madison Avenue (a former Bank of New York branch) with Dominique Lévy Gallery.  With three spaces in Paris, and one in Hong Kong, Emmanuel Perrotin’s growing gallery network has finally found root in New York’s fertile art world. “For many artists around the world, their New York show is their most important,” He said.  It is, according to him,  “the dream of every ambitious gallerist, because within one kilometer of this gallery, you have more collectors than anywhere else in the world.” (more…)

The 27 year-old, Columbian-born Oscar Murillo is the focus of a spotlight in Bloomberg, detailing his recent addition to the David Zwirner roster, and the quickly rising prices for his works.  “He’s had the quickest upward trajectory for his age of any artist I’ve seen in 25 years,” said dealer and writer Kenny Schachter. “There’s a lot of money to be made trading Oscar Murillo at this point.” (more…)

Los Angeles collector and patron Eli Broad is at the top of a new list detailing the top art collectors around the world, titled Larry’s List.  Contrasting with the annually published ARTnews assessment, Larry’s List ranks collectors based on Internet presence, institutional engagement, art fair participation, communications platforms, and the physical visibility and scale of their collection.  A full 60-page report will be published later this year. (more…)

Smithsonian Institution director G. Wayne Clough has announced his intentions to step down as the head of the national museum and research network next year, providing the institution with time to find his successor.  “When I became secretary in 2008, I believed strongly that the Smithsonian had enormous untapped potential, especially in digital technology, to reach millions of people and serve as a resource for those who cannot visit Washington,” He said. “I am confident that with our initiatives under way in bioconservation, education, digitization and fund-raising, this is the right time to announce my plans for next fall so that an orderly transition can begin.” (more…)

Speaking on the state of contemporary art, Grayson Perry has called the majority of contemporary art “rubbish.”  Speaking during the inaugural Radio 4 Reith Lecture, Perry began by discussing his own appeal as an artist.  “Although we live in an era where anything can be art, not everything is art.  I think the art world is happy to dig down into the lower regions of society for a bit of gritty reality, but what it’s frightened of is the middle classes with good taste, often. Maybe I appeal to too many of those people.”  He continued:  “At any one moment most of the art being made is awful.” (more…)

John Baldessari, Man Fixing Curlers in Woman’s Hair (2013), all images by Sophie Kitching for Art Observed unless otherwise noted

On view at Sprüth Magers Berlin is a solo exhibition of new works by L.A.-based John Baldessari: large-format storyboard canvases he created in 2013.

The opening for John Baldessari’s Storyboard (in 4 Parts)
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With the Eli Broad Museum set to open across the street from MOCA sometime next fall, the high-profile collector and patron has announced his intentions to withdraw his annual contribution of $3 million to MOCA, effectively stepping back from his longtime role as the museum’s leading supporter.  Even so, Broad has expressed excitement about the potentials for his museum and its effects on MOCA, noting that it will increase the draw of art lovers to the area.  “They’re excited about it. They know that we’re going to be a great attraction, we’re going to spend time and energy and marketing getting attendance, and they’re going to be the beneficiary of all that,” he said. (more…)

This year’s ArtPrize awards are now underway, with the public voting on works in 16 categories to distribute over $560,000 in prizes.  Held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the award was created by one Rick DeVos, a philanthropist looking to shake things up in the small town. “I wanted to help develop a creative culture, one that’s open to new experiences and ideas,” DeVos said. “We’re very Midwestern here in Grand Rapids. Everybody does their thing and goes about their business. ArtPrize disrupts that.” (more…)

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…)