Ai Weiwei, Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (2010), via Phillips

Sales have concluded at tonight’s Contemporary and Post-War Evening Sale at Phillips Auction House in London, capping a strong outing by the company that saw 10 of the 53 lots going unsold.  With somewhat sluggish proceedings and a few surprises, the auction seems to be something of a stumble in Phillips’ attempts to challenge the larger auction houses this week.

Sigmar Polke, Carnival (1979), via Phillips (more…)

The Financial Times charts the ambitious efforts and long time frame for bringing an artist’s Catalog Raisonné to fruition, the effects this effort can often have on an artist’s market, and the resulting disputes over authenticity of works that may occur as a result.  “The authentication of individual works clearly belongs in the purview of the individual author or foundation,” says Deborah Aaronson, Phaidon’s group publisher, who just published the final volume in Andy Warhol’s Catalog Raisonné. “Authentication is clearly a huge issue with Warhol, so it’s not our policy to get caught up with those things.” (more…)

The Independent Art Fair has announced its plans to move downtown, and will open the 2016 edition of the popular Armory Week art fair at Spring Studios in TriBeCa March 3rd.  “We’re excited about the Spring/Independent partnership, as it will allow us to take the fair to a new and exciting dimension by hosting it in an extraordinary environment that the art world has yet to experience,” says fair Co-Founder, Elizabeth Dee In our new home at Spring, Independent will be even more adventurous in support of galleries’ and artists’ projects with the flexibility the space allows.” (more…)

Doug Aitken is interviewed in the Financial Times this week, as he opens the newest edition of Station to Station at The Barbican in London.  “Culture is the language that will bring us into the future,” Aitken says.  “But at the same time it is being surrounded by this conservative, capitalist system, which makes it harder than ever for individuals who have voices to push them as far as they can go.” (more…)

Yves Klein, Peinture de feu couleur sans titre (FC 27) (1962), via Christie’s

Following strong but subdued outings last week during the London summer sales, attention turns to the Contemporary market in the UK, as a trio of sales this week will usher in the summer months.  The sales start tomorrow, spanning three nights in the British capital, and drawing the first half of the year’s major sales to a close.

Andy Warhol, One Dollar Bill (1962), via Sotheby’s (more…)

Serpentine Pavilion, via Serpentine Galleries

The Serpentine Pavilion, the annual summer architecture project hosted by Serpentine Galleries, has opened in London, a swirling series of multicolored chambers and hallways by Spanish architecture firm SelgasCano (the first commission from a Spanish firm) resting on the lawn outside of the museum galleries. (more…)

Huma Bhabha at Salon 94 (Installation View)

Huma Bhabha’s new body of work is currently on view at both Lower East Side locations of Salon 94, showing the Pakistani-born and New York-based artist resuming her sculpture focused multi-media practice, pulling from vast inspirational sources, with her third exhibition at the gallery.  Spanning over centuries, religions, cultures and disciplines; Bhabha’s influences generate works of art that are hybrids of various methodologies. Not dictated by historical or cultural hierarchy, threads Bhabha weaves into her practice articulate on set modes of history writing, problematizing its embedded dynamics. Dystopian or utopian depending on viewers’ perception, Bhabha’s assemblies – most notably her robust sculptures – revoke remnants of a somber future that draws nourishment from its past. (more…)

Herzog de Meuron has announced plans to redevelop Berlin’s famous art squat Tacheles, located in the Mittes district of the city.  The plans have sparked renewed protests over gentrification fears in the city.   (more…)

The Serpentine has announced a Build Your Own Pavilion contest for young and aspiring architects, aged 8 to 14, inviting them to try their hand at executing their own unique architectural design.  “The platform and workshops give an insight to the basic principles of architectural design and workshop students will be given the Pavilion brief and a toolkit that begins with sketching by hand, working with simple modeling materials and progressing to 3D design and print technologies,” the Serpentine says. (more…)

Gallerist Jonathan Green has found a previously unknown pastel work by Claude Monet taped to the inside of another two works he purchased at auction last year.  “We were very excited,” Green told the Guardian. “Pastels by him are incredibly rare. These are a pointer to his future. You can see his fascination with light.” (more…)

An arrest warrant for Artist Shepard Fairey has been issued in the city of Detroit, alleging that the artist has caused over $9,000 in damages from various tags and murals he left in the city.  Fairey’s public recognition “does not take away the fact that he is also a vandal,” says Police Sgt. Rebecca McKay. (more…)

A muralist and designer is suing Starbucks, following the coffee company’s allegedly unlicensed use of her signature style.  Painter Maya Hayuk was approached by the corporation late last year, and declined an offer to work with them on a campaign, but sued when Starbucks rolled out new branding that seemed strikingly similar to her own work.  “Starbucks brazenly created artwork that is substantially similar to one or more of Hayuk’s copyrighted works,” the lawsuit claims. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal notes the growing number of volunteer museum docents and tour guides among the baby boomer generation, and problems with managing the volunteer staff that often comes with the territory.  “There was this culture of resistance,”says Hirshhorn Museum spokeswoman Kelly Carnes of volunteers who opposed changes in the tour guide structure. “They really felt entitled after spending enough time here not to make any changes from the way they had previously done things.” (more…)

François Pinault is reportedly looking to Paris for the potential site of a museum housing his collection of art, WWD reports.  “He has met with [Paris mayor] Anne Hidalgo, who expressed her interest,” says a source close to Pinault. “They are looking together.” (more…)

New shoes from artist Takashi Murakami and Vans hit stores this weekend, a collaboration that sees the artist’s signature flowers and skulls adorning the skateboard shoe company’s iconic slip-ons.  The collaboration also features a number of limited-edition skateboard decks and t-shirts. (more…)

Artist Cady Noland has repudiated another one of her past works this month, sabotaging a $1.4 million sale for Log Cabin Blank with Screw Eyes and Cafe Door, a work which she denounced after learning of the new owner’s plans to restore the piece’s rotted wood.  “Noland angrily denounced the restoration of the artwork without her knowledge and approval,” a complaint collector Scott Mueller filed in New York Federal Court this Monday. “She further stated that any effort to display or sell the sculpture must include notice that the piece was remade without the artist’s consent, that it now consists of unoriginal materials, and that she does not approve of the work.” (more…)

Collector Bert Kreuk has won his lawsuit with Danh Vo, forcing the artist the create a room-sized installation work, after the artist delivered a much smaller-sized work.  Kreuk will pay the artist $350,000 for the piece, but Vo must deliver the piece by a set date.  If not, will be fined $10,000 for each day after he fails to produce the work.     (more…)

Rhizome has opened its 2015 admissions process for its net art microgrants, small financial contributions for projects and new work created online.  The open call runs through July, with winners announced in early August. (more…)

An outcry by Irish cultural and business elite has led to a postponed Old Masters sale at Christie’s, which was planning to sell a selection of works taken from a crumbling home outside of Dublin.  An initial offer by a group of donors to purchase the pieces led to a hold on the sale, which included works by Rubens and Francesco Guardi. (more…)

Rob Pruitt, Esprit de Corps (Hokuskai’s Great Wave) (2015), via Art Observed

Rob Pruitt turned 50 this year, and marked the occasion with the opening of this summer’s bi-annual artist retrospective at the Brant Foundation Art Study Center in Greenwich, the sprawling complex owned by magazine mogul Peter Brant, just across the street from his family home.  The show, taking its suburban locales and high art context as a point of departure, is a remarkable distillation of Pruitt’s practice over the last decades, and welcomes a renewed perspective on the artist’s own personal history in relation to his work. (more…)

Richard Dorment, the head arts critic at The Telegraph who is retiring after serving at the position for over 30 years, has an article in the newspaper this week, reviewing the changes in contemporary art since he began writing, and his thoughts on writers unwilling to accept the new in the world of art. “Had the same critics been writing about film, sport, or the stock market they’d have been rumbled in a week,” he notes. (more…)

The Guardian looks back at the final degree shows for a number of prominent British artists, including David Shrigley, Gillian Wearing and Tracey Emin, including humorous anecdotes and reflections from the artists on their future careers.  “I remember saying, if I have one exhibition when I leave I will be happy,” Wearing says.  “That’s all I expected.” (more…)

The New York Times looks at the contemporary performance art scene in Belgrade, Serbia, where a group of young artists are continuing the city’s rich history in the medium, centered around the Galerija 12 Hub.  “The way they work with the artists, how they present the artists and how they think about the common good of the independent sphere is what I think makes a huge difference between the Hub and other spaces,” says choreographer Acin Thelander.   (more…)

Bruce Nauman, Pencil lift / Mr. Rogers (2013), all photos by Sophie Kitching for Art Observed

Bruce Nauman presented a major solo exhibition at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris, his first in France in the last 15 years. Imagined for the bright and airy building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, the show features a selection of large-scale works, exploring the complex relationship between time, body, voice and surroundings.

The highly influential American-born artist established his studio in New Mexico in the late 1970s. The experience of his workspace has been a subject matter for a number of his works ranging from installation, performance, video, sound and sculpture. The broad array of media in Nauman’s Å“uvre is masterfully presented in this exhibition which brings in resonance iconic works from the 70s, 80s and 90s along with very recent productions, in an ongoing dialogue between reality and its representation, performance and its documentation, repetition and memory.

(more…)