Ragnar Kjartansson, A Lot of Sorrow (2014), via Art Observed

Last year, Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson was invited to perform at MoMA PS1 for the museum’s ongoing Sunday performance series.  He answered with a six hour long performance piece in which Brooklyn rock act The National repeatedly played the same song, Sorrow, over and over again.  Fighting off exhaustion, boredom, and the occasional flubbed note, the piece ran throughout the day, with the band never pausing to take a break.  The result is a single-channel video work by the artist, currently on view at Luhring Augustine’s Bushwick location.

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A new project in Puerto Rico, executed by Allora and Calzadilla in conjunction with the Dia Foundation, is stirring debate for its use of a Dan Flavin sculpture in a manner some feel is inappropriate for the artist’s work.  Puerto Rican Light (Cueva Vientos) places a 1965 Flavin light sculpture in a remote limestone cave on the Southwest coast of the island, which has already drawn some criticism.  “My role at Dia is to bring validity to both the present and the past,” says curator Yasmil Raymond. “There are people who will undoubtedly see this as a provocation from the perspective of post-colonialism. But I think others will see it as a homage to Flavin and to his evocation of this island.” (more…)

Artist Gabriel Orozco will be honored this week with the Americas Society Cultural Achievement Award, a prize that acknowledges the artist’s ongoing commitment to the development and perpetuation of a global language for Latin American contemporary art.  “As we prepare to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of our organizations in 2015, the creation of the first Americas Society Cultural Achievement Award reaffirms our commitment to highlight and support culture in the hemisphere,” says Americas Society and Council of the Americas President and CEO Susan Segal. “Gabriel Orozco is a truly worthy recipient of this very important recognition.”  (more…)

Nam June Paik, Reclining Buddha (1994), via Art Observed

Nam June Paik’s ongoing retrospective, Becoming Robot at the Asia Society is considerably minimal in execution.  The exhibition takes up only a few small rooms in the uptown museum, including a full room dedicated to his (color feedback work) and another dedicated to his continued collaborations with cellist Charlotte Moorman.  But the selection of works on view make up for their spare arrangement with their depth and multi-textual possibilities, not to mention their strong correlations to the tech-centered art of the present day. (more…)

Yoko Ono is profiled in the Wall Street Journal this week, as the artist reflects on her career, and offers advice for young artists following in her footsteps.  “Artists should adhere to what we are, instead of being sidetracked by other desires,” she says.  “We’re supposed to have that independence. But many artists today are, you know, going with this gallery, with that museum, and thinking too much about monetary success, which means they can’t be free. A life of not being challenged and only hearing what you want to hear is being dead.” (more…)

The Telegraph takes a special look inside the home of late painter Lucian Freud’s home in Kensington, where the artist spent the last twenty years of life.  “He was a good cook, very fond of game, but he never ate carbs,” says former assistant David Dawson. He knew he needed to be light on his feet.” (more…)

The Hirshhorn’s new director, Melissa Chiu, is profiled in the New York Times this week, highlighting her aims at expanding the Hirshhorn’s international and experimental art offerings, and her efforts at placing the museum in the spotlight as a major patron of experimental works and forms.  “The whole art world ecology has changed,” says Ms. Chiu. “The art world has become truly transnational.” (more…)

The New York Times profiles a new effort underway in the Netherlands to encourage public arts patronage through a subscription-based service.  The program, titled We Are Public, offers low-price access to a range of cultural events, while promising to contribute â‚¬18,000 to local arts institutions.  “There’s a tendency on all levels of society that people want to take more control over what’s going on, and people are collectively funding stuff they think is important,” says co-founder Bas Morsch. (more…)

Artist Ryan McNamara will bring his 2013 Performa Commission to Miami Beach this year for Art Basel’s U.S. fair.  The piece, MEÆŽM 4 Miami: A Story Ballet About the Internet, explores notions of information conveyance and data clutter.  “I saw Ryan’s stunning performance at the Performa Biennale in New York last November and was astounded by the way in which MEÆŽM redefines the audience experience,” says Director Marc Spiegler, “making physical the virtual experience of link-clicking, and simultaneously incorporating many decades and styles of dance.”  (more…)

Peter Brant has announced the focus of his newest exhibition at the Connecticut-based Brant Foundation Art Study Center, which will center around the works of Cady Noland, Larry Clark, Richard Prince and Christopher Wool.  Deliverance, as the show is titled, will open November 10th, and will feature work from 1970 through 1997.  “It’s when they were really exploring the same kind of themes, and when they each produced some of their best work,” Mr. Brant says. (more…)

Alberto Giacometti, Chariot (1951-52), via Sotheby’s

As temperatures begin to drop and the art world looks to begin winding down the Fall 2014 Season, the major auction houses are opening their doors for two consecutive weeks of major sales, beginning on Tuesday with Sotheby’s Evening Auction of Modern and Impressionist Masterpieces, and followed close behind with Christie’s sale of Impressionist and Modernist works the next night.  Initial estimates for the week’s sales are already promising major dividends for both auction houses, with several important works expected to break major auction sales records. (more…)

Steve McQueen, Ashes (2014), all images courtesy of the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery

On view currently at Thomas Dane Gallery are two new works from Steve McQueen, together making up an exhibition entitled Ashes. The first is an immersive projection with sound and the second is a new sculptural work entitled Broken Column, both produced in 2014.

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Mario Merz, Pyramid (1997-2000), via Pace Gallery

With auctions this week in London centered around the post-war Italian landscape, Pace Gallery has culled together an exhibition of works of artist Mario Merz, featuring a series of sculptural and painted works that illustrate the artist’s broad conceptual scope and his varying interests in the nature of architecture, materiality and space.

Mario Merz (Installation), via Art Observed (more…)

Stephen Shore at 303 Gallery (Installation View)

Since the early 70’s Stephen Shore has been photographing narratives that never fully reveal their endings, positioning his camera somewhere between a noncommittal viewer and a localized resident of the space he shoots. His current exhibition at 303 Gallery adds another phase to the pioneer photographer’s career, stretching out into two controversial territories, series of work that coincides with the bitter political and social turmoil of their politics: photographs documenting the current state of the Israeli-Palestinian border on the West Bank, and the lives of Ukranian Holocaust survivors. (more…)

Duane Hanson, Baton Twirler (1971), all images courtesy Sotheby’s

On view at S|2, Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Gallery in London, is a selection of sculptures from American artist Duane Hanson’s most important series of works, the artist’s fiercely evocative and startlingly realistic images of “Middle Americans.” The show marks Hanson’s first exhibition in London in fifteen years, and will remain on view through November 7th.

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