Artist Rob Pruitt has collaborated with J. Crew to produce a series of t-shirts. The “Rash Guard” shirts feature his trademark smiley faces and color gradients, and sales will benefit the Skin Cancer Foundation. “Seeing my art on a rash guard is like seeing my art on a human body as opposed to a canvas. I like how it changes from person to person.” (more…)
The Church of the Ascension in Morningside Heights is looking to sell its building at West 108th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam, leaving residents concerned about the future of a Keith Haring mural that snakes throughout the building. “They know the Harings are here but they don’t really care about them,” resident Denis McFarling says of developers who have come to view the building. “They don’t really know how unique they are.” (more…)
The Washington Post writes on the increasing prominence of galleries in Harlem, as a smaller arts scene blossoms uptown. “We have an ever-changing gallery landscape in Harlem. I’ve seen a number of galleries come and go, succeed and fail over the years,” says Harlem-based curator Omo Misha. “We’re seeing another shift now that will be a positive one for the community and the artist community overall. We’re seeing an influx of new galleries opening and the new ones and those already here will be a destination for art.” (more…)
Barron’s looks at the current auction market, and the unexpected surge in Chinese buyers, with the country’s buyers now taking a 35% share of the global fine art market. “I think the current trend is more a result of a maturing Chinese art market that has remained subdued for more than five years and where collectors and investors are again seeing opportunities,” ArtTactic’s Anders Petterson says. “With limited investment options available,” he adds, Chinese’s wealthy are “likely to increasingly look at art as an alternative investment.” (more…)
Juergen Teller is set to curate a show of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs this fall in London, selecting a series of pieces for a show at Alison Jacques gallery that will coincide with what would have been the artist’s 70th birthday.“I am excited to see how Juergen will bring his edge, energy and unique vision to a new reading of Robert’s work,” Jacques says. (more…)
Francis Alÿs, Paradox of Praxis 5: Sometimes we dream as we live & sometimes we live as we dream Ciudad Juárez, México (2013), via David Zwirner
This month, Francis Alÿs returns to London for his first exhibition in the city in over 15 years, opening his third exhibition of work with David Zwirner Gallery. Focusing on the intense political history and narco-violence that has plagued the North Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez for over a decade, the artist’s particular investigative style leaves the experience of this corruption and murder-torn border town distinctly inconclusive, a point that only contributes to the already tragic nature of its story.
Francis Alÿs, Untitled (2013), via David Zwirner
Christopher Knowles, House (2016), via Art Observed
A staple of the summer arts calendar, Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center hosted its annual benefit and auction this past weekend, bringing a score of artists, benefactors and revelers to the center’s scenic Long Island property. Launching the event in collaboration with the Bruce High-Quality Foundation, which seems to be slowly but surely returning to a more concrete, object-oriented practice after several years almost exclusively focused around the BHQFU, the event featured As We Lay Dying, a new selection of works and performances spread out across the Watermill grounds, executed in conjunction with a series of sound installations by composer and artist Anohni. (more…)
The Art Newspaper recaps the divisive issues surrounding the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, as the controversial evictions that the massive construction projects caused underscore continued inequalities and political unrest in the Brazilian city. The article particularly traces how the artists working with the event are viewing their work and involvement. “It is rather unfortunate that the Olympics are happening now,” says Adriana Varejão. “Athletes are coming from all over the world for this, and I want to welcome them to my city with this work.” (more…)
Creative Time has added seven new board members to its board of directors, among them artist/actor Waris Ahluwalia and Trevor Paglen. “I’m thrilled to welcome such a diverse and internationally recognized new class of board members,” says executive director Katie Hollander. “The depth and breadth of their experience is an enormous asset to us as we continue to expand and consider new opportunities for artists and for Creative Time.” (more…)
Bloomberg has an article on Sotheby’s increasingly broad lending practices, which have grown from $682 million to almost $1 billion in recent years, a point that some consider extremely inviting for those looking to launder money. “One way to launder is to use art as a security for a loan,” says David Hall, former special prosecutor for the FBI Art Crime Team. “The level of scrutiny you’ll receive from a bank is much higher than you will receive from an auction house.” (more…)
Taikang Life, one of China’s largest insurance companies, now owns a 13.5% stake in Sotheby’s, CNN reports. The company is run by Chen Dongsheng, who is also the founder of China Guardian Auctions, the country’s first government-run auction house. Taikang has not disclosed whether it will seek an active position in the company. (more…)
Miami’s Bass Museum is set to reopen during Art Basel Miami Beach in December, drawing its $12 million renovation to a close with a major museum show by Ugo Rondinone. “It used to be that going to a museum was akin to going to church,” she said. “Now museums are places where people gather,” says director Silvia Karman Cubina. (more…)
Gagosian is now representing Jeff Wall, who leaves Marian Goodman after 25 years. “He would like to be seen more widely as an American artist,” says Gagosian director Mark Francis. “I think that may be something we can do well.”
The Tate has been ordered to reveal how much sponsorship money it has received in the last five years from British Petroleum, a victory for activists who have harshly criticized the museum for its role in greenwashing the oil company’s image. “Oil branding of art is a threat to our galleries and our climate,” says Anna Galkina of the activist organization Platform. “Tate has tried to hide how embarrassingly low BP sponsorship fees were. We’re delighted that the information tribunal ruled against Tate’s secrecy.” (more…)
The Tate Modern has announced that it will borrow a major Rauschenberg assemblage, Monogram, which features a full-size stuffed Angora goat bound to a canvas, for the artist’s retrospective later this year. “Rauschenberg is one of those artists who, in the decade after the second world war, truly transformed the nature of artistic practice, smashing through the boundaries of different media,” says Tate Director Frances Morris. (more…)
David Salle has published a collection of his essays and writings on art, written during the past several years in conjunction with his painting work. “I like the challenge of finding a verbal equivalent for certain states of looking,” he says, “and taking apart what it is someone made.” (more…)
Sotheby’s has landed a major collection for its fall auctions, selling works from the holdings of Steven and Ann Ames, including a pair of Gerhard Richter works valued at $20-$30 million each. “They have a Richter from every major period and a de Kooning from every major period,” says Amy Cappellazzo, chairwoman of Sotheby’s fine art division. “That’s an immense and important study about painting.” (more…)
The New York Times reports that billionaire J. Tomilson Hill is opening a museum in Chelsea, where he wants to show his $800 million collection, and to use the space for arts education. “They’re cutting out arts programs in the public schools,” he says. “These are kids who wouldn’t even think The Frick was accessible to them,” Mr. Hill said. (more…)
Three Christie’s employees have left the company, shortly after the auction house announced its sales had dropped last year from $4.5 billion to $3 billion in the past year. “As a private company, we don’t comment on speculation around our employees,” the company said in a statement. “However, like any business, we continue to review the deployment of resources and focus investment on areas of growth so as to best to serve our clients.” (more…)
Richard Serra, NJ-1 (2016), via Art Observed
Spread across both of Gagosian’s Chelsea exhibition spaces, Richard Serra’s immense spatial investigations have returned to New York City, marking a continuation and expansion of the artist’s already tightly honed sculptural language. Consisting of a total of only four works, the gallery is showing Serra’s immense rolled steel work NJ-1 in its 21st Street space, while giving over its 24th Street gallery to a trio of Serra’s pressed steel installations, a pairing that sees him returning to his precise visual vocabulary while pushing its expressive limits.
Richard Serra, Every Which Way (2015), via Art Observed (more…)
Alex Katz, Fall (2015), via Thaddaeus Ropac
Continuing his recent surge of output, Alex Katz has brought a new series of landscapes to Thaddaeus Ropac’s Paris Marais exhibition space. Bringing his attention yet again to the landscapes of Maine, the artist’s work here presents his calm, subdued style in a fitting conversation with the untouched curves and lines of Northern New England.
Alex Katz, New Landsacpes (Installation View), via Thaddaeus Ropac
Brian Belott, Untitled (After Guston) (1995), via Art Observed
Gavin Brown’s 291 Grand Street location is playing home to the gallery’s summer exhibition this month, a cunning and often comical play on art history curated by painter Brian Belott. Inviting a group of artists to take their own improvisational runs on various artists from the last 100 years of painting and sculpture, the show plays on the memory of Glenn Gould, whose own takes on popular figures and music themes equally expressed his own artistic brilliance.
Bobo, The Legendary Impetus Behind Wegmans (2016), via Art Observed
Roxy Paine, Meeting (2016), via Art Observed
The concept of “the narrative” is one that feels increasingly relevant in a contemporary art context defined in part by gestures and approaches that owe much to the last 60 years of creative practice. Considering the work in relation to an isolated other, a sort of phantom context that either motivates, grounds or produces the work in question ultimately seems to be one such strategy for re-invigoration of the techniques used in creating the object itself. This is the strategy through which the current group exhibition at Pierogi’s LES Gallery space, False Narratives, presents its artists, compiling work that not only explores the construction of ulterior situations and modes for the work itself, but equally questions these narratives as unreliable.
Brian Conley, Decipherment of Linear X (2004), via Art Observed