Franz Ackermann, Black Hand Monument (2013/14), via White Cube

Known for his chaotic and dense compositions of color and imagery, Franz Ackermann has been depicting utopian realms that have never been and will never be approached. Glorious and pompous in his use of color, Ackermann orchestrates a wide range of materials to create what could be summarized as the heroic underlying of chaos. By combining photographic elements and schematic color arrangements as his primary tool, Ackermann presents an array of topographies of non-existing lands.

Franz Ackermann, 9 X 9 X 9 (Installation View), via White Cube (more…)

Alexandre Singh, The Humans (Still) (2013), via Sprüth Magers 

Sprüth Magers London is currently presenting The Humans, an exhibition documenting the creation and the staging process of Alexander Singh’s play of the same name. Commissioned by Witte de With of Rotterdam and Performa 13 of New York, The Humans marks a tour-de-force in Singh’s career as a visual artist. Blending modern theatre with Greek tragedy, performance art and installation; this three-hour play tells the story of two characters–Tophole and Pantalingua– two vagabond spirits that are striving to prevent the creation of the Earth. Believing that the Creator of such an Earth could only be a vain and self-centered maniac, the duo finds themselves amongst Humans with all of their obnoxiousness and mischievousness–among them sculptor Charles Ray.

Alexandre Singh, Vernon Montgomery Spruce (2014), via Sprüth Magers

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The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the current art market, and analyzes the risks and rewards of investing money in contemporary art.  “The new moneyed rich are looking for alternatives to help hedge their bets against any loss in value of their money and the rising risks of concentrating too much of their wealth in stocks,” says Jerry Slusiewicz, president of Pacific Financial Planners. (more…)

The heirs of Peggy Guggenheim have filed a lawsuit against the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation, alleging that the foundation has failed to comply with the conditions of her gifts, and has placed her collection in storage to make room for various exhibitions in her Venice estate.   “They are totally disrespecting my great grandmother’s legacy… it’s appalling; it’s a big disappointment,” says Sindbad Rumney, the great grandson of Peggy Guggenheim.  “Basically… what we’ve [discovered] is that if you have the right amount of money and you have a collection, you can show it at the Peggy Guggenheim in Venice.” (more…)

The recently opened Collier Schorr exhibition at 303 Gallery suggests a fresh dialogue on appropriation, a trend in art that has been associated with photographic work more often than any other medium since the 80s, and is here taken up again by a long-time photographer. Instead of Richard Prince’s infamous rephotographing of Marlboro ads or Jeff Koons’ re-sculpting of the kitsch, though, Schorr’s practice stands closer to the likes of Sherrie Levine or Barbara Kruger, presenting new discussions on feminism, the female body and its place in the contemporary aesthetic discourse.

Collier Schorr, The Bricks (2013), Courtesy of Collier Schorr and 303 Gallery, New York (more…)

Chilean architect Smiljan Radic has won the competition to design the 2014 Serpentine Pavilion in London’s Hyde Park, set to open June 26th.  Radic’s design, resembling a series of large stones and pillars, will be semi-translucent, and will host a number of events and site-specific projects.  “Radic is a key protagonist of an amazing architectural explosion in Chile,” the Serpentine said in the statement. “While enigmatically archaic, in the tradition of romantic follies, Radic’s designs for the Pavilion also look excitingly futuristic, appearing like an alien space pod that has come to rest on a Neolithic site.” (more…)

Frank Thiel, Perito Moreno #161 (2012/13), via Sean Kelly Gallery

Nowhere is a Place, currently on view at Sean Kelly Gallery, showcases the latest work of German photographer Frank Thiel. For his fifth solo show with the gallery, Thiel presents a grand departure from his best known subject, the disintegrating architectural landscape of Berlin, instead focusing his lens on the glaciers of the Argentine Patagonia. Traveling to Los Glaciares National Park in 2011 and 2012, Thiel captures the colossal ice fields in vivid high definition, printed on a massive scale meant to match his subject’s monumentality.

Frank Thiel, Perito Moreno #91, (2012/13), via Sean Kelly Gallery (more…)

Richard Tuttle, a work from Looking for the Map, via Art Observed

On view at Pace New York from February 7th through March 15th is an exhibition comprised of drawings and studies artist Richard Tuttle has made to prepare for his large-scale commission at the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, opening in October of this year.

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The New York Times delves into the work and life of Oscar Murillo, charting the artist’s meteoric rise over the past two years, and his current popularity on the market.  “I came to this by simply working,” Murillo says. “It’s the market, and that has nothing to do with me. I’m just trying to keep things normal. I’ve had to live below my means for so long that I’m keeping it that way.” (more…)

The ongoing struggle for control at Sotheby’s has taken a new turn, with the auction house rejecting the board nominations proposed by Daniel Loeb’s Third Point LLC, and in turn naming Jessica Bibliowicz and Kevin Conroy for board seats. “The composition of your Board is something Sotheby’s takes very seriously, as the experience and expertise of its directors have been and will continue to be important to enabling the Company’s success,” the company said in an open letter to shareholders. (more…)

Ed Ruscha will be featured as part of the High Line Art program’s ongoing commission series this summer, installing his 1977 piece that reads “Honey, I Twisted Through More Damn Traffic Today,” at 10th and West 22nd.  “It has an intimate quality and is a piece you can experience by just walking by it,” said Cecilia Alemani, director of High Line Art.  The piece will go on view May 6th, and is Ruscha’s first ever public art installation in New York.  (more…)

An Alexander Calder sculpture previous installed at Gramercy Park in New York has been installed in Maastricht for this year’s edition of TEFAF Maastricht.  The installation was organized by dealer Christophe van der Weghe, and is for sale for about $20 million. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at Gaugin’s travels to French Polynesia later in his life, and his search “for the childhood of mankind,” a series of travels covered in MoMA’s current show Gaugin: Metamorphoses, curated by Starr Figura, with assistance from Lotte Johnson. (more…)

The international art market had a near-record year last year, with just under $66 billion in sales worldwide, Bloomberg reports, an 8% increase from last year.  This includes an 11% increase in contemporary art, bolstered by monumental sales for works by Warhol, Koons and Bacon at the end of last year. (more…)

Photographer Collier Schorr is profiled in the New York Times this week, following the opening of her newest show at 303 earlier this month.  “I don’t know what to do until I meet them,” Schorr says of engaging with the models she shoots. “Who are you? I’m going to take that picture.” (more…)

Hannah Höch, Staatshäupter (Heads of State) (1930), all images courtesy Whitechapel Gallery

Over 100 works from major international collections by Dada artist Hannah Höch have been compiled for the first major exhibition of her work in Britain, on view at Whitechapel Gallery through March 23, 2014.  Best known for helping originate 20th century photomontage, Höch first gained attention during the Berlin Dada movement of the 1920s in Weimar Germany, cutting out images from fashion magazines and placing them together to create comical social commentaries. Athough many of her colleagues have been given more attention in traditional written art history, Höch was recognized – albeit reluctantly – by better known artists such as George Grosz, Theo van Doesburg, Piet Mondrian, and Kurt Schwitters.

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The Wall Street Journal spotlights Jane McSweeney as its “Donor of the Day” in a recent article, tracing her positions on the MoMA film board, the Board of Directors for MoMA Ps1, and her work with the Art Production Fund.  “I literally breathe deeper when I’m around art,” said Ms. McSweeney. “It makes me feel that there are great possibilities on the earth.” (more…)

The newest commission for the Sculpture Committee of the Fund for Park Avenue are now on view for the 2014 season, a series of swirling, ambitious sculptures by Alice Aycock.  “The notion is that there is this big wind that moves up and down the avenue, and that it makes the forms or blows the forms and leaves it in its wake,” said the artist. (more…)

The New York Times traces the prominent presence of transgender narratives in the Whitney Biennial this year, using the thread to examine a broader presence of trans people in the pop culture landscape.  The article comes on the heels of the Biennial’s opening, and the presentation of Relationships, a piece by artists and romantic partners Rhys Ernst and Zackary Drucker that traces their respective gender transitions. (more…)

A long rumored merger between MOCA North Miami and the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach is moving forward, the Miami Herald reports.  MOCANoMi officials are apparently in the final stages of talks over moving the museum collection to Miami Beach.  “At this time, we feel confident that a collaboration with the Bass could make a lot of sense,” says MOCANoMi curator and interim director Alex Gartenfeld. (more…)

The Prada Foundation has announced its planned exhibition for the 2015 Venice Biennale, focusing on sound art and the relationship between art objects and musical instruments.  The Art or Sound will take place at the Serenissima at the Ca’ Corner della Regina palazzo, from June 7 to November 3, 2014, and will include works by John Cage, Richard Artschwager and Laurie Anderson.   (more…)

Rock Climbing Wall at DISown, via Art Observed

Dis has always had one foot in the world of fashion.  Its close ties to Hood by Air and Telfar Clemens notwithstanding, the New York-based collective has a long history of covering contemporary fashion and arts with a similarly detached eye, always seeking to underline the commodity culture lurking behind the guise of both “high arts.”  Now, the group is taking its longtime skirting of the line between art and commerce to a new level, opening its “retail diffusion” shop DisOwn at Red Bull Studios this week during Armory Week.

DISown at Red Bull Studios (Installation View), via Dis (more…)

Glenn Ligon is interviewed in The Independent this week, as the artist prepares to open a new show at Thomas Dane Gallery in London, and recounts an experience meeting President Barack Obama, in which the president told the artist he owned several of Ligon’s works.  “I thought to myself, ‘the President of the United States knows what’s in his house,'” he says. “It’s not just decoration. He looks at it and knows when it’s not there. It was touching to realize that visual art is an integral part of his and his family’s life. It’s not just window dressing, not something you have to talk about because people expect you to. It was a really great way to meet him.” (more…)

The Venice Biennale will reportedly move its opening date up a month, The Art Newspaper reports.  Scheduled to open on May 9th next year, the new dates are forcing art fairs to readjust their scheduling plans for that summer.  “We haven’t finalized the 2015 dates yet, but we’re aware of the potential crunch points in the calendar next year and are looking to make a decision in the forthcoming weeks,” says a spokeswoman for Frieze. (more…)