Seeking to strengthen its international ties, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced the “Global Museum Leaders Colloquium,” a two-week program next April that will bring over a dozen museum heads from institutions in Asia, Africa and Latin America to the table, discussing the shared challenges and issues museums are facing worldwide.. “It’s all about promoting international collaboration,” said Met Director Thomas P. Campbell. (more…)

The impending departure of Jeffrey Deitch from MOCA has cast light on the numerous challenges that the museum faces as it begins its search for a new director.  Debates over curatorial capacity and fundraising were frequent points of contention during Deitch’s tenure, and will likely pose new hurdles when the museum begins to talk to potential candidates.  “Whoever they get to replace Jeffrey Deitch will need to have an absolute guarantee of complete curatorial freedom to do the shows they want, when they want,” says former Museum of Contemporary Art board member Dean Valentine, who currently serves on the advisory board at the Hammer Museum. (more…)

Dan Colen, To Be Titled (2011), via New York Times

Snarky and straightforward, the press release for Zach Feuer and UNTITLED’s joint g roup show Jew York speaks with a hint of exasperation, a feeling of exhaustion over the bumper crop of cultural explorations and increasingly globalized scope of the contemporary art world: “There’s nobody left to survey, and nowhere left to do it.  So we figured our only option was to do a show of Jews, and do it in New York.” (more…)

American sculptor Walter De Maria, via LA Times

Walter De Maria, the New York sculptor known for his monumental sculptures that helped pioneer the conceptual, minimalist and land art movements of the mid to late twentieth century, has passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 77.

Walter De Maria, The Broken Kilometer (1977), via New York Magazine (more…)

Alfred Jensen, Twelve Events in a Dual Universe (1978) ©ARS, NY and DACS, London 2013, Photo: Linda Nylind, Courtesy Hayward Gallery

Currently on view at the Hayward Gallery at Southbank Centre in London is a new exhibition of work entitled Alternative Guide to the Universe, a compilation of works by artists who taught themselves their crafts, focusing on work that offers a new perspective on our socially accepted conventions of artistic practice and cultural perception.

Lee Godie. Lee and Cameo on a chair… (early to mid 1970s), © the artist, Courtesy Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Collection

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Artist Katharina Fritsch’s Hahn/Cock has been unveiled on London’s Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.  The unveiling yesterday caps several months of debate and protest over the deceptively subversive statue, and Mayor Boris Johnson took the opportunity to make several double-entendre driven quips about Prime Minister David Cameron.  “If you were to Google the sculpture in a few years’ time,” Johnson said, “search engines would collapse at the behest of the prime minister. Er, quite properly of course.” (more…)

Painter Peter Doig is profiled in the New York Times, in advance of his retrospective exhibition at the Scottish National Galleries in Edinburgh.  Speaking from a rented studio in Manhattan, the artist discusses his new paintings, his studio and home in Trinidad, and the start-stop nature of his creative process.  “Sometimes you get so frustrated, you end up washing off or scraping off what you spent hours or days applying,” he said. “By going backward, you see something you could have never achieved by going forward.” (more…)

Maurice and Paul Marciano, known as the co-founders of Guess Jeans, have purchased the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, with the intent of turning the space into a museum for their contemporary art collection.  The property was purchased by the Maurice and Paul Marciano Art Foundation, for the price of $8 million. “We have been looking for a home for the collection,” said William F. Payne, a spokesman for the foundation. “It’s a legacy project for the family.” (more…)

Subodh Gupta, What does the vessel contain, that the river does not (2012) (Installation View), via Hauser & Wirth

Following its success at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, New Delhi-based artist Subodh Gupta’s sculpture What does the vessel contain, that the river does not is on view for the first time outside of India at Hauser & Wirth, Savile Row, London through July 27^th.

Subodh Gupta, What does the vessel contain, that the river does not (2012) (Installation View), via Hauser & Wirth (more…)

In response to the massive public response drawn by its current Rain Room installation, the Museum of Modern Art will keep the work by Random International open until midnight this Sunday, July 28th, its closing day.  The work has attracted over 65,000 visitors since it opened in May, and has seen wait times of up to nine hours during busy days to stand inside the stream of pouring water. (more…)

Thomas Houseago, Roman Masks III, (2013) Courtesy Gagosian Gallery

Currently on display at Gagosian Gallery in London is an exhibition of new sculpture by British contemporary sculptor Thomas Houseago entitled Roman Figures.  Showcasing a continuation of the artist’s signature, rugged forms and unique approach to figuration, the exhibition is a strong continuation of Houseago’s celebrated practice.

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A light installation by James Turrell has been uncovered in a Malibu Beach House, the Wall Street Journal reports.  The work had sat dormant in the guest house of late art collector Sydney Goldfarb’s Malibu home, and was uncovered when resident Tobey Cotsen visited Turrell’s current show at LACMA, where she realized that she had a Turrell of her own.  The work has since been confirmed by the artist’s studio.  “Where have I seen that before?” She said to herself during the exhibition. “I’ve seen it in my house.” (more…)

MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch has officially announced his resignation, leaving the museum three years into his five year contract.  The museum has already formed a search party to locate his replacement, but Deitch will remain on board until a new director is found, helping to smoothen the transition, as well as to aid in the completion of MOCA’s ambitious $100 million endowment fundraising campaign, expected to conclude this fall.  “As colleagues, friends and great admirers of Jeffrey Deitch’s talent, we respect his decision and thank him for his tremendous dedication,” said MOCA Board co-chair David Johnson. “His efforts have helped to solidify MOCA’s financial stability while changing the way Angelenos, and those around the world, engage with contemporary art.” (more…)

Per Kirkeby, Untitled (2012), via Michael Werner

A tangible sense of degradation runs through the canvases of artist Per Kirkeby, currently on view at Michael Werner in London.  Walking a fine line between impressionist figuration and pure abstraction, his works seem balanced on a pin, teetering between a fully realized environment and complete structural breakdown, a process the artist acknowledges as “an ongoing process of sedimentation.”  The first exhibition of new work since his 2009 retrospective at Tate Modern, Kirkeby’s new exhibition sees him returning to the same interrogations and explorations of the natural environment, as well as his own interpretation of it.

Per Kirkeby, Recent Paintings (Installation View), via Michael Werner (more…)

Rhizome has announced its list of 2013 Commission Award Winners, including its first round of award recipients for the Tumblr Internet Art Award.  Projects run the spectrum of internet and performance based works, including an online television show by Colin Self and American Medium, an app design by Aaron Meyers and Lauren McCarthy titled God’s Eyes (where one user at a time is granted omniscient access to all other user’s camera phones), a new visualization system for net art collective The Jogging, and even a one-week national tour by performance art/musical duo Extreme Animals. (more…)

The FIAC art fair, occurring late this October, will also serve as the ground for the first major exhibitions of work from the collection of François Pinault.  Titled Triple Locked: Works from the Pinault Collection, the exhibition will feature over 50 works from artists Michelangelo Pistoletto, Diana Thater, Bill Viola, Damien Hirst, Julie Mehretu and Chen Zhen, among many more.   (more…)

Painter Eric Fischl sat down with the LA Times this past weekend to discuss his career, the communication of art, his recent memoir, Bad Boy, and his self-described “search for normal.”  “I think the process of aging and using art as a life process for learning, understanding, evolving, etc. … it seemed like I had reached a point where I could take a lot of what I accomplished and I could let go of a lot of things, so maybe it would be recent.”  He says. (more…)

Today The New York Times profiled Maria Baibakova, the strategic director for ArtsSpace, among other positions. Ms Baibakova recently reemerged onto the art scene following a two year break in which she received an M.B.A from Harvard Business School. The 27 year old Russian heiress is perhaps best known for Red October, a temporary, nonprofit art space she opened in an old Moscow chocolate factory in December 2008 through her company, Baibakov Art Projects. Read more at The New York Times.         

A selection of ancient Japanese erotic paintings, titled “shunga” or “spring pictures” are currently on view at Sotheby’s Hong Kong location.  Considered somewhat taboo in Japan, the exhibition of works from the collection of Uragami Mitsuru struggled to find a home for its exhibition before Sotheby’s offered its location.  “The Tokyo National Museum hesitated to show it and so far I haven’t been able to get the Mori Museum to agree apart from a few works. In bookshops you can see these images but why can’t the real exhibit show? It’s nonsense,” Uragami said at the exhibition. (more…)

The Artist Pension Trust, cited as the largest collection of contemporary art in the world, is currently looking to sell off 5,000 works from its collection, the Telegraph reports.  The sale of works will cut the fund’s collection nearly in half, and will go to benefit both the artists in the trust, as well as the operating costs of the trust. “We are hoping to place works privately with institutions through our team of curators,” say Moti Shniberg, a trust co-founder. “Otherwise, interested buyers can contact us. The works are all listed on the Trust’s website.” (more…)

Paul and Damon McCarthy, Rebel Dabble Babble (Installation View), via Hauser and Wirth

Hauser and Wirth, continuing its ongoing focus on California artist Paul McCarthy, is currently presenting a new video and sculptural installation by the artist, titled Rebel Dabble Babble.  Taking the real life relationships between Nick Ray, James Dean (played by James Franco) and Natalie Wood during the making of Rebel Without a Cause as the inspiration for the work, McCarthy and his son Damon have created an immersive, savagely warped exploration into the film, its creation, and the decaying image of Americana that it sought to depict, while challenging the interplay between a cultural artifact and its production.

Paul and Damon McCarthy, Rebel Dabble Babble (Installation View), via Hauser and Wirth

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James Turrell, Prado, Red (1968), Courtesy of Almine Rech

James Turrell is a pioneer in perceptual art using light as his medium, and Almine Rech Paris, capitalizing on the artist’s current nationwide exhibition in his native United States, is currently presenting  his seventh exhibition in its gallery. Shown across three rooms, this collection offers insight into Turrell’s celestial inspiration for his abstract pieces.

James Turrell (Installation View), Courtesy of Almine Rech (more…)

In an effort to increase attendance and community engagement, the recently opened Maxxi Museum (National Museum for the Art of the 21st Century) in Rome is branching out, hosting lectures and classes on a variety of subjects in design, art, fashion, and music. “We need the public to animate this space,” said Giovanna Melandri, president of the foundation that runs the Museum. (more…)

Berggruen Museum head Olivier Berggruen is featured in the Wall Street Journal this week, after the reopening of his institution after a two year renovation.  Focusing on both 20th century masters like Picasso, Matisse, Paul Cézanne and Paul Klee, the museum also focuses on evolution of the art market itself, and consists of 165 works sold by Olivier’s father Heinz to the city of Berlin in 2000 for around $100 million. “He thought of paintings and works of art as illustrations for stories,” says Olivier of his father. (more…)