A Jeff Koons exhibition planned to open this year at the Louvre has been canceled after a reported “lack of funding,” according to Artforum. The exhibition had been previously reported to consist of a number of the artist’s balloon animal sculptures. (more…)
Beverly Hills-based United Talent Agency has announced that it is launching a new wing focused on fine art, which will be headed by lawyer Josh Roth. While the agency has no plans to broker sales, it will focus on many tasks traditionally handled by galleries, such as managing financial negotiations, overseeing commissions, and other tasks. “We believe there is room for a serious, professional representation structure in the art world, one that helps artists gain greater control of their careers and opens the doors to new and better opportunities,” Roth said in a statement. (more…)
Ryder Ripps, Heater (2014), via Art Observed
If there’s one thing that can be said about Ryder Ripps, it’s that the artist loves context. Over the past few years, the artist has produced a number of timely and often razor-sharp critiques on the notions of authorship and production in the digital sphere, including his “WhoDat.Biz” troll of Kanye West, and his recent, controversial Ace Hotel performance piece, in which the artist hired a group of “sensual masseuses” to draw pictures for him to protest what he saw as an inequitable payment situation. (more…)
Ryan McNamara, Performance Plaque (2014)
Ryan McNamara star has rapidly been on the rise in the past years, as his infamous performance commissions, among which are his breakthrough Performa 09 piece A Fag Could Do That and his McLaren Award-winning performance MEEM, which the artist brought to Miami Beach last December. Following the immense success of his recentresidency, McNamara is making his comeback to New York at Mary Boone Gallery’s Midtown location with an exhibition that delves into the tangible aspects of performance art, the remains of a performance (body parts, clothing, and materials), which are left behind following a piece. (more…)
Harmony Korine, Fex Chex (2014), all images Courtesy Gagosian Gallery
Currently on view at Gagosian Beverly Hills is a group of new paintings by American film director, producer, screenwriter, author, and artist Harmony Korine. Although he is primarily working within the mediums of film and writing, Korine has recently begun publicly displaying his works, immense, swirling compositions composed in a variety of techniques and palettes.
Mamma Andersson, Behind the Curtain (Installation View)
Currently on view at David Zwirner is Behind the Curtain, a new body of work by one of the most recognized contemporary artists from Sweden, Mamma Andersson. The Stockholm-based artist has gained international acclaim in recent years with her solo shows in Aspen Museum of Art, Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin and a mid-career survey that travelled to Finland and UK after its Swedish premiere several years ago. (more…)
Mark Bradford, Biting the Book (2013), via Phillips
Following a pair of major auctions the previous evenings, the Phillips Contemporary and Evening Sale in London has concluded the first Contemporary market week of the year, capping a 30-lot sale at the auction house’s new 30 Berkeley Square to the final result of £17.7 million, with only five of the works going unsold.
Francis Bacon, Study for a Head (1955), via Christie’s
Another night of sales has come and gone in London, following the conclusion of Christie’s Contemporary Evening Sale, a somewhat textbook outing that saw the auction house forego a reliance on high-achieving works in favor of a series of strong selling works to reach a final tally of £117,142,500. (more…)
The Tate Modern is will launch a two day “dance marathon” this May, inviting a range of modern dance performers to exhibit and teach within the museum space. “The whole feel of it over the 48 hours will be about this constant transformation,” says curator Catherine Wood. “It will be partly a presentation of focused works of choreography and then a spreading of more pop-up things, through the collection gallery and the public spaces.” (more…)
The Rudolf Staechelin Family Trust, which owned the record-setting Paul Gauguin painting that sold last week in Switzerland, has withdrawn its collection from the Kunstmuseum Basel, and is seeking a new partner institution. “These works, which had been integral to our exhibitions, will be sorely missed at the Kunstmuseum, and we are painfully reminded that permanent loans are still loans; the people of Basel do not own them, and they may be taken away at any moment and for whatever reason,” the museum said in a statement. (more…)
The trial for Pierre Le Guennec, a former handyman for Pablo Picasso, and his wife has begun. The pair recently revealed an enormous trove of works by the artist they claim they were given in the 1970’s, and which state prosecutors claim they stole. If convicted of theft, they could face up to five years in prison and a €375,000 fine. (more…)
Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild (1983), via Sotheby’s
The Contemporary Evening sale at Sotheby’s has concluded, following a sale of works that was fairly by the book in comparison with past auctions, with the exception of a massive new auction record for artist Gerhard Richter just one day after his 83rd birthday. Despite a lack of exceptionally competitive bidding, the 77-lot sale still brought in impressive returns, finishing at a tally of £123,515,250. (more…)
Francis Bacon, Two Studies for Self-Portrait (1977), via Sotheby’s
Concluding a three week series of auctions, the Contemporary Evening Sales are set to take place in London in the coming evenings, offering a perspective on the strength of the market as 2015’s art season gets underway.
The auctions begin on Tuesday, February 10th, with Sotheby’s Evening sale. The 77-lot sale is carrying a presale estimate of £89.7 million to £127.1 million, led by a large-scale Gerhard Richter Abstraktes Bild from 1986, which is estimated to sell for £14 million to £20 million. Also topping the list is a rare Francis Bacon double self-portrait, executed in 1977 and carrying a £13 million to £18 million presale estimate. The painting, executed just weeks after the suicide of his partner George Dyer, is already commanding impressive buzz, and may turn out to be the night’s most coveted lot. A Lucio Fontana “slit” work also sits at the top of the sale offerings, estimated at £5 million to £7 million. (more…)
Kehinde Wiley is in New York Magazine this week, showcasing gowns from the spring fashion season worn by a number of female models the artist painted for his soon to open Brooklyn Museum exhibition. “What we wanted to do was to play up the real world within the language of glamour,” Wiley says. “I wanted to have a reprise of that moment, to go back to this idea of fashion and art having something in common, the idea that fashion could change the perception of an individual.” (more…)
Kurimanzutto at Zona Maco, via Zona Maco
Just one week after the hectic schedule of Art Week in Los Angeles, the fair scene has headed south, setting up shop in Mexico City for a selection of fairs, exhibitions and special projects that have helped establish Mexico’s capital as a swiftly-growing arts hub for both Latin America and the international market. (more…)
An article in The Art Newspaper this week examines the strategies and impacts of museum’s undertaking collection and implementation strategies for video games and computer programs, as well as utilizing game platforms and structures to encourage engagement. “It’s an innovative way to get the public interested in collections, especially audiences that wouldn’t normally engage with them,” says Stella Wisdom, the British Library’s digital curator. “There’s a lot of potential for creative industries to work with cultural institutions and vice versa. We’re just at the start of a journey.” (more…)
A group of artists including Tomma Abts, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Anish Kapoor, and Jeremy Deller have issued a statement condemning Cuba’s treatment of artist Tania Bruguera, following her performance several weeks ago in Havana. “In her work Tania Bruguera frequently addresses issues embedded in Cuba’s social, political and economic history. But her aim is not a question of direct political action but to open our eyes to the injustices and social issues in the world and to expose the mechanisms of power and protocol that shape human behavior,” the letter reads. (more…)
The Louvre Abu Dhabi has purchased an iconic portrait of George Washington, executed by portrait artist Gilbert Stuart from Los Angeles’s Armand Hammer Foundation. The work will hang in a gallery featuring work exploring the notion of prominent individuality, alongside the Jacques-Louis David ’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps. (more…)
MoMA has announced that it will remain open all weekend, offering late night, discounted admission for the last weekend of the popular Matisse Cut-Outs exhibition. The show closes on Tuesday. (more…)
An exhibition of work by Peter Doig has been announced at the Palazzetto Tito in Venice, coinciding with the opening the Biennale later this year. The exhibition will feature a number of Doig’s large scale works, as well as several intimate pieces. (more…)
MoMA has announced the winner of its yearly Young Architects Program design contest, a “party artifact” titled COSMO and designed by Spanish architect Andrés Jaque. “This year’s proposal takes one of the Young Architects Program’s essential requirements–providing a water feature for leisure and fun–and highlights water itself as a scarce resource,” said Pedro Gadanho, Curator in MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design. “Relying on off-the-shelf components from agro-industrial origin, an exuberant mobile architecture celebrates water-purification processes and turns their intricate visualization into an unusual backdrop for the Warm Up sessions.” (more…)
Artist Mickalene Thomas is interviewed in the New York Magazine this week for the paper’s ongoing “21 Questions” segment, discussing her favorite New York sushi restaurants, her methods of working, and her nostalgia for the old Times Square. “’It’s interesting because it was a really sort of crazy under-culture of different types of people walking around expressing themselves, and trying to make their dreams happen. Now you just don’t have that anymore.” (more…)