Jeanne-Claude and Christo via smh
Jeanne-Claude, the radical artist best known for the joint projects undertaken with her husband Christo – most notably the wrapping of the Pont Neuf in Paris and the installation of 7,503 vinyl gates with bright orange panels in Central Park in 2005 – dies at the age of 74 in New York City [Guardian] a review of some of the couple’s monumental art here [Guardian]
Jeff Koons’ train installation via artculture
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) reconsiders plans for a Jeff Koons sculpture involving a replica of a 70-ft 1944 Baldwin locomotive to hang from a crane and estimated to cost $25 million [LATimes]
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The skateboard decks designed by Damien Hirst for Supreme via The World’s Best Ever
Downtown New York culture institution Supreme releases a series of five individually designed skateboard decks designed by Damien Hirst featuring his spot paintings [The World’s Best Ever]
New York’s latest large-scale public art project, “Optimism,” is to be exhibited this fall and through the new year on the back of seven million MetroCards [NYTimes]
The fashion designer, turned TV-host, turned bookmaker, Todd Oldham talks to New York Magazine about his new office in lower Manhattan and his new book with which he hopes to create “little art nerds” [New York Magazine]
An aerial view of Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty†in Utah via NYTimes
Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty” has begun to emerge from under the water in which it was constructed in Utah in 1970. With this recent appearance come concerns regarding the work’s preservation and protection from natural and predatory forces [NYTimes]
A detailed examination of long-term totals for Contemporary art sales in New York reveals where we stand against the “new normal” in art sales [Art Market Monitor]
Next week Charles Saatchi will premier his new reality TV show, ‘The School of Saatchi,’ in which young artists will compete to win the grand prize of a place in a Saatchi group show at The Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Judges will include Tracey Emin; Barbican curator Kate Bush; and ‘The Saatchi of the North’ -Frank Cohen. [TimesOnline]
The Miami Museum of Art via the NYTimes
Nicolai Ouroussoff reviews the recently unveiled Herzog de Meuron design for the Miami Museum of Art [NYTimes]
Art Basel Miami Beach 2009 boasts 266 dealers from 33 countries. 60 exhibitors from last year are not returning, including Berlin’s Arndt & Partner and New York’s Skarstedt. While 65 new exhibitors have been added – most had been turned away in previous years [The Art Newspaper] in related news – after a year of abstinence, decadence is returning to Art Basel Miami Beach this year with a huge number of rival fairs, fashion parties, book signings, benefits, and a Sex Pistols concert on the beach [New York Magazine]
A tunnel installation in Abu Dhabi by JR from his website via TheWorldsBestEver
Heavyweight art dealers Gagosian, White Cube, Hauser & Wirth, L&M Arts, PaceWildenstein and Thaddaeus Ropac flew into AbuDhabi this week for the launch of Abu Dhabi Art Fair. Highlights included Jeff Koons‘ Diamond (Red) at Gagosian’s stand with a $12million price tag, and a solid-gold sculpture by Marc Quinn $3million from White Cube [Financial Times] – Friday afternoon of the fair was dominated by the NYU Abu Dhabi panel, “Collecting Today,†during which Larry Gagosian frankly discussed everything from childhood angst to his life as a collector [Lindsay Pollock] and is separately interviewed here, discussing markets, recessions and the new shape of the art world [The National]
The Eldridge Street Synagogue, a National Historic Landmark on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, has commissioned Kiki Smith and architect Deborah Gans to create a new east window [NYTimes]
Pope Benedict XVI welcomed more than 250 artists to the Sistine Chapel via NYTimes
In an effort to improve the Catholic Church’s engagement with contemporary artists the Vatican invited more than 250 artists, including Anish Kapoor, Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind, for an audience with Pope Benedict XVI in the Sistine Chapel during which he announced “it is your great responsibility to communicate beauty.†[BBC News]
A survey shows that though artists in the current economic climate have been more collaborative and creative, they have taken an incredible economic hit [ArtReview]
Former driver for art dealer charged with theft of works by Warhol and Picabia [Bloomberg]
In regards to restoration and artwork maintenance at the Whitney, when is replication appropriate? [NYObserver]
In related, Scott Rothkopf, senior editor of Artforum moves to full time curator at Whitney in advance of its expansion [NYTimes]
Os Gemeos’ The Stranger in Sao Paolo via The World’s Best Ever
The Brazilian twin brothers – ‘Os Gemeos’ – best known for their complicated graffiti murals, teamed-up with the French street theater company Plasticiens Volants in Sao Paolo for a performance of The Stranger [The World’s Best Ever]
