Ibrahim Mahama, Out of Bounds (2015), via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed

The first open hours have come and gone in the City of Bridges today, and the 56th edition of the Venice Biennale, All the World’s Futures is now open.  Welcoming 89 different countries to exhibit in the city, with 29 in the Arsenale, 31 in the Central Pavilion, and an additional 29 spread across in the City itself, the exhibition is a monumental affair, with a number of auxiliary events, openings and parties.

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The WSJ has an interview with Jeff Koons at the artist’s studio this week, which sees Koons revealing that his balloon animal sculptures were in part a way to communicate with his son, who left for Italy with the artist’s former wife, Ilona Staller, after their divorce.  “It was a way to be communicating with my son,” Koons says.  “I was thinking of him.” (more…)

A recent article in The New York Times reports on the state of photography in the secondary and auction markets, noting that, despite the popularity of the medium, sales for photography account for less than 2% of the global market.  “Many of these new buyers are looking for unique, high-quality trophy art which has been driving prices of postwar and contemporary art to new heights,” says Anders Petterson, the managing director of ArtTactic. “There has definitely been a trickle-down effect of this on the photo market. However, as most photographic works are selling in the lower- to medium-end of the price spectrum and often in larger editions, there isn’t the same allure of this market to many of these buyers.” (more…)

Sterling Ruby will end his representation with Hauser & Wirth this year, the Art Newspaper reports, after three years with the gallery.  Marc Payot, VP of Hauser & Wirth, stated the gallery remains on “very friendly terms” with Ruby. (more…)

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the California Resale Royalties Act is unconstitutional, but has allowed the law to remain on the books if the objectionable portion of the law is removed, keeping the resale royalty provided the sales take place within California.  Some speculate as to wether this may prevent major auctions from happening in the State.   (more…)

The Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow was investigated yesterday after a man with fake provenance was detained attempting to leave the country with a set of works valued at almost $50,000.  Initial reports speculate that Russian security may have discovered a plot in which wealthy collectors abroad are paying to smuggle the works with forged documents.  “The investigators have already left, and while the investigation is ongoing we will not comment further,” a representative of the gallery told The Guardian. (more…)

Claude Monet, Nymphéas (1905), via Art Observed

The first night of the bustling spring auction week is underway, as Sotheby’s concluded a somewhat unsteady sale last night of Impressionist and Modernist masterpieces that achieved a final of $368,344,000, well over the auction house estimate of $270,000,000.  The final tally saw 14 of the 64 lots go unsold over the course of the evening, which will be the last major Impressionist and Modern sale of the first half of the year on U.S. soil. (more…)

William Pope L., Trinket (Installation View), via MOCA

Inside the MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary building in Downtown Los Angeles, an immensely oversized American flag endlessly flutters in a synthetic breeze, held aloft by a series of industrial grade cooling fans.  The breeze is intense, and the force exerted on the delicate stitching holding the iconic stars and stripes together is gradually tearing apart, a powerful metaphor in a time when the nation is riddled by high levels of police brutality, harsh military involvement overseas and increasingly vitriolic partisanship. (more…)

The New Yorker has a profile on sculptor Charles Ray this week, the Californian sculptor known for his occasionally disturbing and lifelike works, including Huck and Jim a statue based on the inseparable pair of Mark Twin’s classic novel, which was initially intended for the plaza outside the new Whitney before it was declined over fears of controversy.  “I don’t want whatever becomes of it to be less than the original idea, and the original idea was for it to be there,” Ray tells the magazine. “I’m not naïve to the controversies this would generate—I told them that controversies would be a forest we had to navigate through.” (more…)

Claude Monet, Nymphéas (1905), via Sotheby’s

As the art world prepares to jet en masse to Italy this week for the opening of the Biennale Previews, the auction houses are also preparing for their biggest stage of the spring season, with two weeks of major evening sales in both the Impressionist/Modern and Post-War/Contemporary categories set to take place in New York. (more…)

Tania Brugera is one of the 2015 Herb Alpert Award recipients this year, but is unable to attend the awards ceremony, due to the revocation of her passport by the Cuban government.  “The Alpert Award could not come at a better moment,” the artist wrote in a statement to the organization. “The Cuban government does not like my artworks because I’m proposing that our relationship with politics is one where the script is not written for us, but is something we create with responsibility and honesty out of the desire to engage in our political destiny.” (more…)

A protest last Friday over labor rights at its Abu Dhabi construction site led the Guggenheim Museum to close early last Friday.  Protestors threw pamphlets over the museum’s iconic spiraling walkway, and unfurled a banner saying “Meet Workers’ Demands Now” on the ground floor, forcing the museum to shut its doors. “We share their concerns about worker welfare in the Gulf Region, but these kinds of disruptive activities run counter to our objective of building the cooperation and good will necessary to further change on an extremely complex geopolitical issue,” the museum said in a statement. (more…)

Isa Genzken, Geldbild I (2014)

Referred to as “one of the most important and influential female artists of the past 30 years” by MoMA on the occasion of her retrospective at the museum in 2013, Isa Genzken‘s new work is the subject of Hauser &Wirth’s current solo exhibition in London. Less known in the States compared to her artistic influence and recognition in Europe, Genzken has pursued a notably progressive career in the recent decade, building new bodies of work and showing in various international venues. (more…)

Robert Irwin, South South West (2014-2015), via Pace Gallery

Currently on view at Pace Gallery’s W. 25th Street location is a set of new, “site-conditioned” works by Light and Space pioneer Robert Irwin, continuing the artist’s ongoing experimentation with the perceptual capacities of fluorescent lighting, and the complementary reactions of color, shadow and spacing. (more…)

The Venice Biennale, via Art Observed

As May begins, the city of Venice is preparing for the the 56th edition of the Biennale, set to open doors to press this week.  With the sheer scale of events, openings and exhibitions set to open this coming Wednesday through Saturday, the art world will turn its attention to the City of Bridges in earnest. (more…)

Alex Katz is profiled in the Wall Street Journal this week, looking back on his lengthy career, and the level of success he has achieved in recent years.  “I just love putting it to people who didn’t like me,” Katz says. “There are people from 20, 30, 40 years ago that I love meeting on the street and saying hello. I don’t have to say anything, I just have to say hello, and my presence reminds them of their mistakes.” (more…)

The founders of Frieze, Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, are interviewed in the Wall Street Journal this week as they prepare to open this year’s edition in New York, reflecting on the early days of the fair, and how they first started their coverage of the art world in London during the 1990’s.  “You couldn’t get away from the feeling that something was happening in London, and though we really didn’t know anything about art or magazines, we just knew we had to respond to it,” Sharp says. (more…)

Adrian Ghenie will now be represented by Thaddaeus Ropac, with the news coming shortly before the artist opens his solo exhibition at the Romanian Pavilion.  Ghenie will open his first exhibition at Ropac’s Paris Marais gallery this October. (more…)

Market Watch has an interesting article this week on the tax status of Nazi-looted paintings returned to their rightful owners, noting the tax-free status of reparations payments from the German government, particularly in the case of Maria Altman’s reception of the Gustav Klimt masterwork Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer I, and attorney Randol Schoenberg’s move to get sales proceeds from the work equal status.   (more…)

Antony Gormley has unveiled a new sculptural installation in Florence, featuring more than 100 of the artist’s sculptures arranged in various patterns and lines around the historic Forte di Belvedere.  “They reflect the shadow side of any idea of human progress, confronting the viewer with an image redolent of the conflict of the past century,” Gormley says. (more…)

Artnet has published an extensive list of the “Top 200 Collectors” worldwide, including the collectors’ preferences and tastes as part of the survey.  Russian power couple Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova top this year’s list.   (more…)

Lisa Yuskavage is interviewed in The Paris Review this week, shortly after opening a show at David Zwirner earlier this month.  In the interivew, Yuskavage reveals some unconventional aspects behind her new work, including dabbling in online dating networks.  “It’s interesting because in order to make some of these paintings of men, I did something a few years ago—I didn’t realize why I was doing it at the time. I joined Grindr. I had a Grindr persona.”  Yuskavage tells the magazine.  “You didn’t think I was going to say that today, did you?” (more…)

Jeffrey Deitch is preparing to install an exhibition of street art in Coney Island this summer, including work by Mister Cartoon, Swoon, JR, Lee Quiñones, and Icy Signs, among others.  I’ve always loved the energy that comes out of the New York vernacular,” Deitch says, “and I’ve dreamed of doing a show in Coney Island since I first started going there in the ’70s.” (more…)

The trial over the alleged art fraud committed by San Francisco real estate developer Luke Brugnara took a strange turn this week, as Brugnara was sentenced to 21 days in jail for contempt of court and bullying witnesses.  Brugnara reportedly screamed for a mistrial during court proceedings, and accused dealer Rose Long, who testified that Brugnara took over $11 million in art and refused to pay for it, of being a “liar.”  “I think she’s probably got post-traumatic stress disorder now,” said presiding judge William Alsup. “I’m afraid it’s done mental damage, the way she’s been treated.” (more…)