Vik Muniz, Beach (Postcards From Nowhere) (2014) Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema & Jenkins Co., New York

Sikkema Jenkins Co. is currently presenting Album, an exhibition of recent works by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz. Known for his bold and attention-grabbing works which he creates by incorporating an array of materials such as garbage, chocolate and diamonds, Muniz uses familiar images from art history as well as the collective memory of contemporary culture to create powerful large-scale assemblages that pay direct tribute to the history of painting and sculpture in equal measure.    In this exhibition, the artist focuses on memory, both collective and personal, using photography itself as a production tool. Separated into two series, Postcards from Nowhere and the eponymous Album, the work allows Muniz to investigate how memory is an endless notion that is in constant flux.

Vik Muniz, Wedding (Album) (2013), Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema & Jenkins Co., New York (more…)

Alex Katz, Nabil’s Loft (1976), all images courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac

On view at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Pantin, is a retrospective of paintings by American figurative and Pop artist Alex Katz.  The monographic exhibition is composed of around one hundred works, including paintings from the 60’s and 70’s, as well as more recent works through to the present. The exhibition will remain on view through July 12, 2014.

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Sigmar Polke, Untitled (Heron) (1966), via Michael Werner

Presented for the first time in almost twenty years, Sigmar Polke’s works on paper are currently installed at Michael Werner Gallery. Including a number  drawings that have never been exhibited before, Sigmar Polke: Early Works on Paper suggests a distinctive look at the German master’s less known drawings, ink compositions and sketched out ideas, through a collection of nearly a hundred works created by the artist in the 1960’s. (more…)

Frieze New York has announced that it will restate artist Allen Ruppersberg’s work Al’s Grand Hotel, a 1971 installation that saw the artist turning a Los Angeles house into a gallery, performance space and functioning hotel.  “My hope is that the hotel at Frieze will function as a space where people can physically and mentally take a break from the bombardment of the other galleries at the fair and walk into a time capsule where you can almost jump back to 1971,” says curator Cecilia Alemani. (more…)

Helly Nahmad was sentenced Wednesday to a year in prison for his role in an illegal gambling ring, the New York Post reports.  “The record here before me reveals that the defendant has contempt for the law — and that he believes the rules apply to everyone else,” Judge Jesse Furman said. (more…)

Martin Creed, Work No. 1092, Mothers (2011), Courtesy Hayward Gallery.

A sheet of A4 paper crumbled into a tight ball, an image of several pots of variously colored and shaped cactuses and a large rotating steel beam bearing the word “MOTHERS”  – these are just some of the eclectic works currently on show at London’s Hayward Gallery for What’s the point of it?, a survey of British artist Martin Creed’s equally playful and thought-provoking works.

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Frances Stark (Installation View), via Art Observed

Currently on view at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise in New York is an exhibition featuring new work from Jennifer Bornstein, Judith Bernstein and Frances Stark.  While the work presented by each of these three artists is diverse in their concerns, they all possess a monumentality fitting to the large-scale environs of GBE.

Judith Bernstein via Art Observed (more…)