The New York Times interviews artist Maria Hassabi this week, as her piece Plastic gains increasing attention at MoMA this month for its placement of shifting, gradually moving bodies across the floors and stairwells of the institution.  “It was really important for me, while making the work, to keep thinking of the three-dimensionality,” says Ms. Hassabi, “to know there would be people everywhere around us, that people were going to ignore us, and that somewhere in there, somebody would stay and pay attention to us.” (more…)

The FT profiles Andrew Butterfield this week, a dealer known for his impressive work in researching and rediscovering lost Old Masters works.  In the story, Butterfield discusses some of his greatest finds, like a rare Donatello sculpture, and how these works can go overlooked for so long.  “Often what you’re looking at is literally covered in paint from later periods,” he says. “Varnish is a very common mode of second-tier restorers. It’s an easy and a cheap way of solving problems. You’re getting rid of any imperfections. But you’re also getting rid of the perfections.” (more…)

A Francis Bacon painting has been discovered on the back of two paintings by Irish artist Tony O’Malley.  O’Malley seems to have divided the wooden board backing his works, on which Bacon’s piece, Figure, is painted, to create two other paintings, but the pair have recently been reunited, and are being sold at Christie’s in London as a set, estimated at £20,000- £30,000.  “Now these paintings, and the lost Bacon study, will be reunited and viewed together for the first time in almost 60 years,” the auction house said in a statement. (more…)

The Kunsthaus in Zurich is facing criticism over its construction over a 14th Century Jewish cemetary, and its inclusion of works from the collection of Nazi arms dealer Emil Georg Bührle.  “We were playing with open cards about the past when the vote took place in 2012,” said Björn Quellenberg, a spokesman for the Kunsthaus. “That was the time to discuss it.”  (more…)

The Annual sales reports from TEFAF (The European Fine Art Fair) this year have 2015’s total sales figure at $63.8 billion, a 7% decline from 2014.  “The main reason for the negative growth is that the bigger the market gets, the harder it is to keep growing at as fast a pace,” says economist Clare McAndrew, who presented the report. (more…)

Karen Kilimnik, the adoration of the cats (2015), via 303 Gallery

In her eleventh exhibition with 303 Gallery, on view through March 26th, Karen Kilimnik returns to her historically-motivated sense of sarcasm and self-awareness, dissecting the convoluted theoretical foundations of contemporary art, in a trademark language that plays on, and resonates with, notions and concepts of kitsch.  Kilimnik’s uncompromising fascination with the imperviousness of pre-20th century European extravagance, and its depictions in the art of the era, as well as that of modernity, blossom through her own collage techniques here, combining flippant references with lush environs to create critically de-centered works.

Karen Kilimnik (Installation View), via 303 Gallery

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Tom Wesselmann, San Francisco Nude with Green Wall (1959) All images © Estate of Tom Wesselmann/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY, photo c/o David Zwirner

For its current exhibition in London, David Zwirner‘s Grafton Street gallery compiled a collection of thirty collages. created between 1959 and 1964, by the late Pop artist Tom Wesselmann, works that mark a significant point in the artist’s career as a leading figure of the Pop art movement, just at the point where he was transitioning from brusque abstraction to an interest in the commodity formats and spatial confines of the canvas.  Wesselmann’s later career, which consists of bold, graphically vivid works is hinted at through these collages, exposing the growth of his iconic style, and his interest in capturing interiors, landscapes, and female nudes. (more…)

Gagosian Gallery has announced plans to open a gallery in San Francisco, across the street from the newly renovated SFMoMA.  “This makes sense with the new museum opening and with the emerging collector base in Silicon Valley,” Larry Gagosian said. (more…)

Calvin Marcus, Automatic Drawing #4 (2015), via Art Observed

Marking the artist’s first exhibition with David Kordansky, Calvin Marcus has brought his own unique brand of deeply personal, witty surrealism to bear in Los Angeles, exhibiting a body of mixed-media paintings, drawing, fabric work and readymade sculptures that incorporate a subtle blend of humor into the artist’s carefully designed and shifting craft. (more…)

Albert Oehlen (Installation View) All images Courtesy the Gagosian Gallery

In his work, German artist Albert Oehlen concerns himself with illustrating and exploring the process of painting itself.  From the early 1980’s on, he has combined tenants of figurative and abstract practice in reaction to the Neo-Expressionist trends in painting during the time, eventually Oehlen turning his experiments with various mediums and modes of painting more fully towards abstract painting.  Oehlen frequently approaches painting through a set of restrictions he imposes upon himself: to work at a deliberately slow pace, with only one color, or with unfamiliar or non-typical tools (his fingers, brushes, collage, and in this instance, aluminum-panels instead of canvas).  With a new series of works at Gagosian’s Grosvenor Hill location in London, Oehlen reveals a series of works drawing on digital processes incorporated into the act of painting, continuing certain explorations he began with line painting during the 1990’s, and reflecting his ongoing concerns with constantly testing the boundaries of the medium and its relation to broader modes of production.

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The New York Times notes Hauser Wirth & Schimmel’s efforts to preserve the original graffiti and murals painted on its new Los Angeles home.  “You can walk in this neighborhood, which you can’t in a lot of other parts of L.A., and we wanted to integrate that and open it up, so people can cut through,” says senior director Stacen Berg. “Maybe they never go into the galleries, but they still interact with something, even if they’re just on their way to get coffee.” (more…)

An article in The Guardian this week sees a group of Iranian artists living abroad discussing what their national heritage means for their art, both in terms of their own practice, and the expectations that many have for their work’s content as a result, often dealing with subtle demands to acquiesce towards ideological expectations.  “The problem now about working in the US is that you are faced with this duality, with this dilemma,” says artist Nicky Nodjoumi.  “Either you are truly an artist without the notion of being from Iran; but at the same time if you are Iranian you have to show some symbol of identity in order to be accepted in the art scene. Not as a universal artist but as an Iranian artist.” (more…)

Despite military oppression and censorship in Thailand, Reuters reports on an increasingly strong art scene developing in the nation’s capital, Bangkok.  “It’s because they can’t talk about it that they’re creating,” says Gili Back, a cafe and gallery owner.  “You’ll see a lot more graffiti and street art where people are having their say on walls.” (more…)

Emmanuel Perrotin is opening a gallery space in Seoul, South Korea, the Art Newspaper reports.  “The space will be inaugurated with an exhibition of French artist Laurent Grasso’s work on 28 April, followed by a solo show dedicated to Kaws in June,” a gallery spokeswoman told the publication. (more…)

Yayoi Kusama is debuting new work at the Honolulu Biennial, a series of snail sculptures adorned with her signature dot patterns.  “Hawaii is the place I have been admiring at a distance,” the artist says. “I have never visited, but I think it dynamically stimulates my dreams, and I am eager to absorb Hawaii’s beauty fully into my mind.” (more…)

As the Moscow Subway system opens its 200th Station, Deutsch Welle takes a look at the impressive architecture and art exhibitions installed within its expansive, efficient structure, including a massive tribute to artist Piet Mondrian in the newly completed Rumyantsevo station. (more…)

Vanity Fair has an expansive article on the issues at the heart of the Picasso estate, noting the massive body of work the artist left behind (all without a will), the frequent conflicts among family members to maintain and manage his works, and the lack of proper authentication resources over the artist’s work.  “The heirs have decided not to publish for the time being a catalogue raisonné as objects surface still which were not catalogued,” says one dealer, nothing that authentication requests “are very often not professionally formulated. On the average 900 requests are filed yearly. Verifications of the information provided sometimes can be labor-intensive. Artworks need often to be examined in the flesh.” (more…)

Daniel Richter, Flowers of Romance (2015), all photos courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac

Now through March 12^th, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Salzburg presents a solo exhibition of Daniel Richter’s new work, Half-Naked Truth, a collection of two separate groups of paintings produced in parallel over the course of the last two years.  Richter’s first experimentation with oil crayons, the show sees an intriguing new movement for the artist, lending his figures an almost crude demarcation or delineation of space in relation to each other. Though the themes of closeness and movement remain consistent with Richter’s earlier works, there is a quality of abstraction in these series that pushes towards testing the boundaries of the act of painting, as well as the artist’s signature use of bright colors and stark contrast from form to form that further his project in each series. (more…)

Frank Stella at the joint Marianne Boesky and Dominique Lévy Booth, via Art Observed

Returning to its home at the Park Avenue Armory, the ADAA Art Show opened its doors this past weekend for another year of sales and specially-focused exhibitions, offering a more curatorial take on the Armory Week fair show.  Dealing almost exclusively in curated booths or solo artist exhibitions, the fair’s manageable layout and sharply delineated booths offered an adventurous walk for the interested fairgoer, dropping historical perspective or new aesthetic links between artists and movements. (more…)

For the 9th consecutive year, the British Museum has topped the list of the UK’s most visited attractions, the BBC reports.  “More people visited the V&A, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, combined, than visited Venice,” claims Bernard Donoghue, director of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions. (more…)

Tomás Saraceno is featured in the Financial Times this week, detailing his work with the minuscule movements and actions of spiders that he magnifies through scanning and amplification techniques, including a recent project where he created amplified “jam sessions” between spiders and human participants.  “When spiders pluck the strings of their webs and beat on leaves, they make tiny vibrations. You have percussion, strings, an entire orchestra,” he writes.  “I invited musicians and writers to perform their work in the studio to see how the spiders communicated with them. Sometimes the spiders were shy and made little sound in response but sometimes they got very excited by what was going on around them.” (more…)

Mikhail Piotrovsky, the director of the State Hermitage Museum, has expressed his desire to help rebuild the historical site of Palmyra, destroyed by ISIL rebels last year, using museum artifacts and working in conjunction with other museums to help restore the site.  “Ancient culture was destroyed by Christians—it took the Renaissance to gather it up piece by piece,” he says. “Right now, this understanding of the sacredness of culture is eroding everywhere.” (more…)

The New York Times notes increased pressure on galleries to help fund museum exhibitions of their artists.  “It’s really gotten out of hand,” says Lawrence Luhring of Luhring Augustine gallery. “It’s the brazenness of it — just the expectation of ‘How are you going to contribute?’” (more…)

Christie’s and the Mugrabi family have announced a settlement to their pending lawsuit, resolving the issue before their dispute over a recently purchased Basquiat went to court.  “Christie’s, Jombihis Corporation and the Mugrabi family are very pleased to have reached an agreement in principle to resolve the litigation,” a joint statement reads.  “We all look forward to continuing our long and fruitful relationship together.” (more…)