Israeli Shipping mogul Eyal Ofer has made a £10 million donation to the Tate Modern, bringing the museum within reach of its £215 million fundraising drive to fund a major expansion program. “I am delighted that the Eyal Ofer Family Foundation has chosen to make such a major contribution towards Tate Modern’s future.” Says Sir Nicholas Serota, the Tate’s current director. “It is exciting to see such outstanding philanthropy continuing from one generation to the next. The generosity of Eyal Ofer and his family will help to make Tate Modern a truly 21st-century museum.”  (more…)

The Tate Modern has announced a selection of new exhibitions focusing on artists from the African continent.  Featuring retrospectives of work by Sudan’s Ibrahim El-Salahi, 82, and the Lebanese artist Saloua Raouda Choucair, as well as a large-scale installation by Meschac Gaba (where the artist created his own, fictional museum), the move underlines the museum’s more global view towards the contemporary landscape.  “These are all exhibitions that 20 or 30 years ago were quite impossible,” says Tate Modern director, Chris Dercon. “At some point it will be absolutely normal and absolutely necessary to have all these kinds of work, all these artists, together in one museum.” (more…)

Mark di Suvero, Little Dancer (Installation View), via Paula Cooper Gallery

Mark di Suvero is an American abstract expressionist sculptor that often works in kinetics, incorporating dynamic movements to add an element of illusive grace to his monumental sculptures. Continuing his exhibition partnership with Paula Cooper Gallery in New York, the artist is currently exhibiting a new sculpture, Little Dancer, as well as a number of other works in both sculpture and canvas.

Mark di Suvero, Little Dancer (Installation View), via Paula Cooper Gallery (more…)

The inaugural Nouvelles Vagues exhibition in Paris this month will showcase the innovative and increasingly spectacular work of 53 international, freelance curators selected from a pool of 1,600. The state-funded Palais de Tokyo and 31 independent Parisian galleries are holding the event through to September 9th. Among the highly anticipated pavilions are Catalan artist Marti Anson’s house built in the Palais de Tokyo, curated by France’s Marie Griffay, and the exhibitions at Galerie 1900-2000 on the Left Bank, curated by French artist Laurent Grasso.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal

Takashi Murakami (Installation View), via Galerie Perrotin Hong Kong

After 20 years of collaboration, Galerie Perrotin Hong Kong and Takashi Murakami present what will be the artist’s 9th solo show at the gallery, featuring new paintings he created under his alter-ego Mr. Dob, as well as self-portraits of Murakami surrounded by his own characters.

(more…)

Jeff Koons has partnered with Champagne makers Dom Pérignon to release an extremely limited edition packaging design or the company’s 2003 Rosé.  Made in stainless steel, the design is a miniature of Koons’ Balloon Venus, and is available for the price of $20,000 a bottle.  “I’m very proud of the ‘Balloon Venus,’” says Koons. “It’s a work that I enjoy and I think really represents my oeuvre of work. ‘Balloon Venus’ represents the continuation of life’s energy. A great vintage also represents the vintages that will come, and so it’s about the continuation of something. It’s a continued creative process.” (more…)

Artist Maurizio Cattelan’s Toiletpaper magazine, done in collaboration with photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari, has just announced a special edition of collaboratively designed sweatshirts with Italian fashion house MSGM.  Incorporating a number of images from the magazine, the sweatshirts work between a nostalgia for past italian fashions and an irreverent take on the sweatshirt itself.  “I don’t like nostalgia,” says designer Massimo Giorgetti. “I prefer irony.” (more…)

Controversially held for centuries outside of China, two bronze zodiac statues looted from Beijing’s summer palace were returned by François-Henri Pinault on Friday.  The Christie’s owner first promised to return the heads in April, during a visit to the country by president Hollande and a number of ranking French businessmen.  “This donation is a token of our family’s appreciation for China as well as our passion for the preservation of art and cultural heritage,” Mr. Pinault said in a statement. (more…)

James Franco, Psycho Nacirema, (still) (2013), courtesy Pace London

On view at Pace London is an exhibition of works by American actor James Franco, presented by Scottish artist Douglas Gordon entitled Psycho Nacirema. The exhibition, which marks Franco’s first major gallery exhibition in the United Kingdom, continues Franco’s intriguing explorations of celebrity, cultural symbols, and obsession.

(more…)

The last of artist Thomas Hirschhorn’s monument structures, constructed in in tribute to writer Antonio Gramsci, opens today at the Forest Houses housing project in the South Bronx.  Consisting of a library, performance space and Internet access point, the Gramsci Monument will stand all summer, welcoming all visitors to engage with the writings of the Italian anarchist at a space constructed by Forest Houses residents.  “I tell them, ‘This is not to serve your community, per se, but it is to serve art, and my reasons for wanting to do these things are purely personal artistic reasons,’” Hirschhorn says. “My goal or my dream is not so much about changing the situation of the people who help me, but about showing the power of art to make people think about issues they otherwise wouldn’t have thought about.” (more…)

The invasion of financiers in the art market, the introduction of art as investment, and the internet have altered the value system of works at auction, placing a new emphasis on the reassurance of well-known artists and established sales records. The new ethos can be see in in recent sales of Giacometti’s L’Homme qui march I,’ which sold for over £65 million at Sotheby’s, London in February 2010. The sculpture was an edition of six, with four additional ‘artist proofs.’ The existence of editions allows for direct price comparisons and understanding of the piece’s artistic standing.

(more…)

Painter John Constable’s 1821 canvas The Hay Wain, widely regarded as one of Britain’s most iconic paintings, has been a attacked by a protestor from the group Fathers4Justice.  The alleged protestor, 41 year old Tim Haries, was arrested on charges of attaching a small photograph of a young boy to the work while it was on view at The National Gallery.  “A member of the Gallery’s security team quickly intervened and called for assistance. The photograph was approximately 4 inches wide, and the back had been coated with glue.”  Said a Gallery spokesman. (more…)

Alex Katz, Yellow Seagull (2000), courtesy MdM Mönchsberg

The Museum der Moderne Mönchsberg in Salzburg, Austria has collaborated with the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine to present a comprehensive view of work by Alex Katz. Mostly drawn from the collection of over 700 of Katz’s works held by the Colby College Museum of Art, the exhibition also includes a number of paintings on loan from European museums and private collections.

(more…)

Haroon Mirza, Pavilion for Optimisation (2013), via Lisson Gallery

In one of the pale, white rooms of Lisson Gallery’s current show of works by Haroon Mirza, a light continually goes on and off, accompanied by a bizarre whooshing noise.  The sound is that of an ant, walking across a small copper plate buried inside of an ant farm, and mixed together with the sounds of a shower head draining into a plastic bin.  At turns confusing, surreal and immersive, the viewer cannot help but linger in this minimal environment, seeking to understand the subtle links between action and reaction. (more…)

Ugo Rondinone, Soul (Installation View), via Gladstone Gallery

Gladstone Gallery is currently presenting a series of new works by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone, exploringhuman creativity, expression and individuation through a series of primitive stone sculptures, collectively titled Soul.  Complementing the artist’s enormous sculptural installation Human Nature, on view at Rockefeller Center, the exhibition features a series of individually carved stone statues. (more…)

This coming November, the Dia Foundation will auction a number of its works in order to increase its resources for further acquisitions. The decision follows the Foundation’s recent purchase of the Alcamo Marble building, for its new Chelsea location.  “Dia cannot be a mausoleum, (…) It needs to grow and develop” says Dia director, Philippe Vergne. Among the works to be sold are pieces by Cy Twombly, Barnett Newman, and Richard Chamberlain.  (more…)

Financial Times editor Simon Schama recently sat down with artist Grayson Perry for an interview covering the artist’s new exhibition at the Royal Academy in London.  Discussing his influences and practice, the artist goes on to discuss the broader context of British art in the global community. “We are all so desperate to hunt for Englishness, to try and connect to the European renaissance, that we are missing our own brilliant contribution to world culture, which is to say, “Oh come off it!” That’s what we do, hold complex ideas and manage to be ambiguous in a humane way, to celebrate humanity while at the same time satirising it, that’s what makes us English.” (more…)

A new website, titled BitPremier, is currently offering a number of luxury goods for purchase using the digital currency BitCoins. The initial offering of products on the site include works by Peter Beard and LeRoy Neiman.  “This is a way for them to diversify their assets into bitcoins. At this point, it’s a lot easier to sell a $1 million painting to get bitcoins than trying to buy a million dollars of bitcoins on an exchange.”  Says Bitpremier founder Alan Silbert. (more…)

New York’s Harris Lieberman Gallery, which has operated in the city for 7 years has closed, after finishing its last show on June 15th. “We had a great seven years,” said co-founder Jessie Washburne-Harris, “but we decided it was time to make a change”  Ms. Washburne-Harris will join Metro Pictures as a director beginning July 15th. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on Oslo’s burgeoning art scene, which is taking major strides to become a global capital for contemporary art.  Combining a relatively small and close knit community with major efforts to increase the Norwegian city’s cultural offering, the city is already attracting major attention.  “It’s because Oslo’s small. In New York, if you want certain kinds of materials, there are so many rules, and it’s so difficult to get things done sometimes,” says painter Ida Ekblad. (more…)

Jake and Dinos Chapman, Great deeds – against the dead!, (2003), via Yoshii Gallery

From May 1^st until June 29^th the Yoshii Gallery, New York is exhibiting a series of works entitled Insult to Injury by Jake and Dinos Chapman. For Insult to Injury, the artists reworked Francisco de Goya’s The Disasters of War, a set of 80 etchings, by changing all the visible faces of victims to heads of clowns and puppies.

Jake and Dinos Chapman, Nobody Knows Why, (2003), via Yoshii Gallery

(more…)

Jeff Koons, Gazing Ball (Snowman), (2013), via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

The counterpoint to Gagosian Gallery’s survey of recent work by Jeff Koons, David Zwirner is currently presenting a markedly more subdued set of works by the American artist.  Consisting of a cohesive series of plaster and steel sculptures, Gazing Ball fuses Koons’ signature approach to American kitsch and the art historical with a new sense of minimalism.

Jeff Koons, Gazing Ball (Farnese Hercules), (2013), via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed (more…)

The Whitney’s new building, scheduled to be finished in 2015, was affected by hurricane Sandy’s floods last year, forcing “significative adjustments.” Located at the intersection of Gansevoort and Washington Streets, the building is just one block away from the river, raising concerns about the possibility of future floods. As a preventive measure, the Whitney has committed to bring top-specialists to remodel the walls, lobby, and basement, to make them waterproof. In consequence, the museum has also increased its capital goal by $40 million to a total expense of $760 million. In this regard, Adam D. Weinberg–the Whitney’s director–says that “77 percent of the total [has] been raised. About half of the additional funds will pay for flood mitigation, […] the other half will cover unexpected costs.” (more…)

Ellsworth Kelly, Curves on White (Four Panels) (2011), via Matthew Marks Gallery

Capping off a trio of New York shows this spring, Ellsworth Kelly has brought a his work to Matthew Marks Gallery, taking up all three of the gallery’s New York City locations with a series of new paintings and sculptures that illustrate the artist’s continued interest in location, color and form.

Ellsworth Kelly, At Ninety (Installation View), via Matthew Marks Gallery (more…)