Andy Warhol, Self Portrait, 1967 (est. £3-5 million, realized £10.8 million ), via Christies.com

Wednesday evening’s sale of Post-War and Contemporary art at Christie’s London brought in £61.4 million against a high estimate of £52 million for fifty-eight of sixty-three lots sold (a Tom Wesselmann painting was withdrawn). The auction had a sell through rate of 92% by lot and 98% by value, and, as was the case with Sotheby’s, the evening’s total was the highest realized for a Contemporary sale at Christie’s London since the market’s peak in June 2008. The auction house reported that they had over 160 registered telephone bidders with twenty-one countries represented. The top lot was Andy Warhol‘s red and white self portrait that sold for more than double its high presale estimate of £5 million after a bidding war between Jose Mugrabi and Larry Gagosian. Mr. Gagosian took the canvas home for £10.8 million (with fees).

The Warhol self portrait installed in the sale’s room at Christie’s London, via Art Observed

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Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild, 1990 (est. £5-7 million, realized £7.2 million ), via Sothebys.com

February’s Contemporary Art auctions began Tuesday night at Sotheby’s London. The auction house offered fifty-nine lots (a work by Anslem Kiefer was withdrawn) with a presale estimate of £30-43 million. The sale just beat its high estimate, raising £44.4 million with a 91.5% sell-through rate by lot and 95% by value. Sotheby’s noted that this is the strongest sell-through rate they’ve had in several seasons and that combined with the Contemporary offerings at the “Looking Closely” sale last week, the auction house has sold £88.2 million worth of Contemporary art in 2011 thusfar, making it the most successful Contemporary sales season at Sotheby’s London since July 2008.

Tobias Meyer standing in front of Andy Warhol‘s Marilyns at Sotheby’s London, via Art Observed

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Installation view. Dangerious Book Four Boys. Photo by Zain Burgess, Art Observed

Peres Projects presents James Franco‘s now infamous foray into art, The Dangerous Book Four Boys, initially shown at the Clocktower Gallery in NYC. The press release mildly proclaims that this is Franco’s first European solo show.  While technically true, this seems a wholly redundant statement as Franco takes over the cultural world, his films almost constantly being released, a 2011 Oscar nod and, as for art, his General Hospital work at LA MoMA last year still might be the crossover leap heard ’round the world. “I’ve been spending most weekends in L.A. shooting pre-taped stuff for the Oscars and this is the first weekend I wasn’t doing that,” Franco said at The Dangerous Book Four Boys opening.  The continued critical acceptance of Dangerous Boys, while not yet universal critical acclaim, is solely one facet of Franco’s creative dispersion.

James Franco, Untitled (Double third portrait polaroids); (detail of 15 photos) (2009). Via Peres Projects

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Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild, 1990 (est. £5-7 million), via Sothebys.com

The February auctions continue this week in London with Contemporary Art sales at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips de Pury. The day after Valentine’s Day buyers can cozy up to sixty lots at the Sotheby’s Contemporary art evening sale that are estimated to bring upwards of £30 million. The following night Christie’s will offer sixty-four lots that are expected to fetch £36-52 million. Phillips de Pury closes the week’s auctions with a twenty-nine lot sale that carries an estimate of £5.8-8.5 million. Christie’s is the only house to have officially released their 2010 global sales figures, and the numbers are impressive. The company sold £3.3 billion (or $5 billion) worth of art last year, more than any previous year in their 245-year history. Cheyenne Westphal, Sotheby’s Chairman of Contemporary Art London, revealed that the firm sold $845 million worth of Contemporary art in 2010 and that this is the third-highest total at the company in the field. At November’s Contemporary art auctions Phillips de Pury debuted a sparkling new gallery space on Park Avenue in New York and had the biggest sale of the week when Andy Warhol’s Men in Her Life sold for $63.4 million. It was a good year for Contemporary art, and the results of this week’s sales are expected to indicate whether the market will continue to recover in 2011 as it did in 2010.

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Andy Warhol, Nine Multicoloured Marilyns (Reversal Series), 1979-1986 (est. £2-3 million), via Sothebys.com

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Terence Koh, nothingtoodooterencekoh (2011) All photos by Art Observed unless otherwise noted.

Chinese-Canadian artist and Lower East side fixture Terence Koh opened his first solo show nothingtoodooterencekoh in New York (February 12th through March 19th 2011) at Mary Boone Gallery with a serene performance in which he circumnavigated a perfectly conical pile of crystalline salt rocks. Moving excruciatingly slowly and delicately, Koh made several rounds as onlookers such as Vito Schnabel observed in almost complete silence.

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RETNA “The Hallelujah World Tour” (2011). All photos by Art Observed

In the 1980’s Jean-Michel Basquiat became one of the most significant artists of that decade and those that followed in part through his art being recontextualized by his travels from the gritty world of the street into the paths of the wealthy, famous and fashionable.  Many years later, the fashion and media elite diligently cultivate a similar paradigm, and in a scale that is immediately as grand a display as it ever was in the time of Basquiat.  What is notable here perhaps however, in RETNA’s recent exhibition, is that rather than the artist being serendipitously integrated with the scene, the scene is now constructed in formidable scope and scale and seems to plug the artist in.  The result is something that, if not significant for the art itself, is considerable as a reflection of how art can be marketed.

The New York debut of LA – based street artist and muralist RETNA’s exhibition “The Hallelujah World Tour” in the West Village on Thursday night, opened to a spectacle worthy of its positioning during fashion week, drawing a packed and trendy crowd to the warehouse space located almost at the water’s edge. Returning from a sold-out show in Art Basel Miami Beach (also likely the world nexus of art merging with fashion and commerce), RETNA’s work was here received by a diverse mob of invited New York insiders who were able to be granted access by the best in class, and no doubt expensive, PR teams checking in attendees at the door.

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Francis Bacon, Three Studies for Portrait of Lucian Freud, 1964 (est. £7–9 million, realized £23 million), via Sothebys.com

This evening’s Sotheby’s 60-lot auction of works from the collection of Geneva-based collector George Kostalitz brought in an astounding £93.5 million against a high presale estimate of £54 million. All sixty works were sold, and lot after lot exceeded expectations during the most exciting of this week’s auctions. Fetching £23 million against a high estimate of £9 million, Francis Bacon’s Three Studies for Portrait of Lucian Freud was the top lot and is believed to have been bought by Cologne-based dealer Alex Lachmann.

Tobias Meyer conducting the “Looking Closely” auction at Sotheby’s London on Thursday evening, photo by Art Observed

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Pierre Bonnard, Terrasse à Vernon, 1923 (est. £3–4 million, realized £7.2 million ), via Christies.com

Christie’s London hosted two back-to-back sales on Wednesday evening that brought in a combined total of £84.9 million. The forty-five lot Impressionist and Modern sale realized £61.9 million for thirty-five lots sold. The estimate of £54-80 million for that auction included a Franz Marc painting that was withdrawn from the sale (it carried an estimate of £900,000-1.4 million). Thirty-one lots at the “Art of the Surreal” sale that immediately followed realized £23 million for twenty-five lots sold. Including a withdrawn De Chirico, the Surreal sale carried a presale estimate of £19-28 million. Bidding stopped at £5.8 million for a featured Gauguin painting (est. £7-10 million) that carried the highest presale estimate of any work offered at both sales. Instead, the evening’s top lot was a fresh-to-market Bonnard painting that broke the auction record for the artist when it sold for £7.2 million against a high presale estimate of £4 million. At the press conference the auction house revealed that the seller of the painting intended to use the proceeds to purchase land in France in order to “save horses.”

The sale room at Christie’s London on Wednesday evening, via Art Observed

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Alberto Giacometti, Grand Buste de Diego Avec Bras, executed 1957, cast 1958 (est. £3.5–5 million, bought in), via Sothebys.com

Tuesday evening’s forty-two lot sale of Impressionist and Modern Art at Sotheby’s London brought in £68.8 million (or $111 million) for thirty-two lots sold. The auction house reports being “very pleased” with the total, which is the fourth highest ever in the department at the London location. The featured lot, Picasso’s La Lecture, exceeded its presale estimate after slow, thoughtful bidding by at least seven interested parties that increased in increments of £500,000. It sold to a telephone bidder for £25.2 million against a presale estimate of £12-18 million (estimates do not include the buyers premium, prices realized do). The real surprise, though, came when both Giacometti lots which carried the second and third highest presale estimates failed to sell. Bidding for an oil on canvas portrait of the artist’s brother ended at £2.7 million and a bronze sculpture of the same subject passed at £3.2 million.

The sale room at Sotheby’s London on Tuesday, via Art Observed

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Francesco Vezzoli, Jesus Christ Superstar, Light box (2011). Photo by Sei Eun Lee, Art Observed

Francesco Vezzoli holds his first solo exhibition Sacrilegio in New York at the 21st Street Gagosian Gallery through March 12th. Vezzoli has enlarged several Madonna and Child paintings by 15th and 16th century artists Giovanni Bellini, Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea Mantegna, and Sandro Botticelli, reinterpreting them within a contemporary context by replacing the virginal faces with supermodels Claudia Schiffer, Tatjana Patitz, Cindy Crawford, Christie Brinkley, Naomi Campbell, and Kim Alexis.

Francesco Vezzoli, Crying portrait of Kim Alexis as a Renaissance Madonna with Holy Child (after Giovanni Bellini) (2010). Via Gagosian Gallery

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Tony Cragg at the private view of Figure out/figure in at Le Louvre in Paris, all photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

Currently on view at the Louvre in Paris are a group of sculptures by leading British contemporary artist Tony Cragg. The works are displayed as a counterpoint to the retrospective of Bavarian-born Austrian sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt. Cragg’s sculptures are exhibited in the Cour Marly and the Cour Puget. A featured work of the exhibition is Versus (2010), a work especially commissioned to be displayed under I.M. Pei’s pyramid. The work will be stationed there for one year.

Dealer Thaddaeus Ropac with Elbow (2008)

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Jim Campbell, Scattered Light (2010). All photos on site by C. Claisse, of Art Observed.

New media artist Jim Campbell brings his signature light sculptures to Madison Square Park, illuminating the lawns with works that draw inspiration from life in New York City. The largest of his three works on view is Scattered Light, incorporating 1,600 light bulbs implanted with LEDs and suspended in a huge three-dimensional grid, spanning 50’ in length and 16’ in width and height. The M.I.T. graduate has twenty years’ experience as an electrical engineer in Silicon Valley and created custom circuitry which pixilated video of Grand Central Station pedestrians, projecting them onto his LED grid. The result is shadowy, life-size figures moving through three dimensional space, visible from far away, yet progressively more abstract as one moves closer to the work. Scattered Light is Campbell’s largest and arguably most ambitious work to date.

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Erwin Wurm, with his Big Suit (2010) – all photos by C. Claisse for Art Observed

Currently on view at Thaddeus Ropac Gallery in Paris are two shows: Drawings from 2000–2010 by Tom Sachs and Yes Biological by Erwin Wurm. Tom Sach’s fifth solo show at the gallery, this time he presents a symbolic group of works spanning the last decade of his oeuvre, referring to central themes in American culture and society. Elsewhere in the gallery, visitors can stumble upon Erwin Wurm’s massive sculptures. The Austrian artist’s works often rely upon viewer participation, occasionally even prompting spectators to add their own pose.

Tom Sachs with his McDonald’s Hamburger Prep (2009)

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Banksy, Save or Delete Jungle Book, 2001 (est. £60,000-80,000, realized £78,000), via Bonhams

Tuesday night’s auction of Urban Art at Bonhams in London – the fourth auction of its kind the house has mounted – realized just over £455,000 for 51 of 67 lots sold. Attesting to interest in the artist following the release of his film Exit Through the Gift Shop, ten Banksy lots offered at the sale accounted for approximately half of the evening’s earnings. The top lot was Banksy’s Save or Delete Jungle Book, which sold for £78,000 against presale estimates of £60,000-80,000. The image was created for a poster campaign about deforestation but was never circulated due to copyright issues with Disney.

Shepard Fairey, Peace Goddess on Wood, 2008 (est. £8,000-12,000, realized £27,600), via Bonhams

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Installation image, all photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed unless otherwise noted

Currently on view at the Palais de Toyko is Fresh Hell, a group exhibition curated by British-born New York-based artist Adam McEwen.  Shedding a bit of dark humor on the city of Paris, McEwen brings together medieval sculpture and conceptual work from artists long forgotten as well as contemporary artists, pondering just what sort of position and creative endeavors an artist can make in today’s world. The works deal with morbidity, decay, and notions of ‘the end,’ making Death the principle theme.

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Daniel Templon and the artist Jonathan Meese at Daniel Templon Gallery all photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

Art Observed was on site to meet German artist Jonathan Meese for his opening reception at the Daniel Templon Gallery in Paris. Renowned for his unconventional and at times rebellious behavior in the Berlin art scene, the St. Neutralité exhibition marks the first opening for the artist after a two-year hiatus from gallery shows. Now 40, Meese returns filling two venues of the gallery—the Rue Beaubourg exhibits the artist’s recent paintings, and the Impasse Beaubourg houses an installation of new and old sculptures. Citing Paris as the “City of Love,” Meese chose it as the debut home for his new “lighter,” more humorous works.

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Inauguration of Mathaf, view from outside – All photos by Art Observed unless otherwise noted

Art Observed was on site for the inauguration of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar. Under the presence of His Highness, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, art world luminaries, cultural dignitaries, and around 80 artists gathered together for the opening ceremony this past week.  Mathaf—Arabic for “museum”—is the first institution of its kind in the region focusing entirely on Arab art and creativity. The museum has been one of the most highly anticipated museums of the year and will open to the general public on December 30th, 2010.

Mathaf inauguration, view of the museum from outside

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Francesco Clemente, Irons and Rainbows, 2010. © Francesco Clemente via Mary Boone Gallery

Francesco Clemente’s A Private Geography has entered it’s final week at the Fifth Avenue location of the Mary Boone Gallery.  The show consists of the artist’s most recent works on paper and is presented as a sampling of Clemente’s haunting meditations.

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Anselm Kiefer, Winter Ade Scheiden Tut Weh Aberdein Scheiden Macht, Dass Mein Herz Lacht (Goodbye, Winter, Parting Hurts But Your Departure Makes My Heart Cheer), 2010
Listed at $100,000

Last night at the Lehmann Maupin Gallery on Chrystie street in the Lower East Side of New York, West-Village-based Foundation for Contemporary Arts held a benefit auction selling nearly 200 paintings and sculptures.  All proceeds went to programs of the FCA, “hoping to assist and encourage innovation, experimentation and potential in the arts,” this year providing 14 grants to artists, of $25k each.

A view from the balcony

The benefit was extremely well attended, with some of the artists joining as well. The large number of works represented a variety of globally well-known artists, including Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Ed Ruscha, Brice Marden, Francesco Clemente, Bruce High Quality Foundation, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Julie Mehretu, James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein, David Salle, Frank Stella, Elizabeth Neel, Julian Opie, Cecily Brown, Vija Celmins, Robert Gober, Nate Lowman, Dan Colen, Dana Schutz, Kara Walker, and T.J. Wilcox, to name a few.

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If one were to squeeze the last four years at Art Basel Miami Beach into a quick few words, it might read something like this: 2006 was good. 2007 was maniacally successful. 2008 was crash and burn. 2009 was a bit lackluster.  Considering the lingering gray economic climate, how would one describe the 9^th edition of the fair, year 2010? The general verdict was this year’s fair was strong and consistent, in terms of art, sales, and attendance.

The Gallerist Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Booth G7

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Another view of the main lobby, A Scott Campbell “tropical fantasy” (represented by the Miami based OHWOW Gallery) is the top center work

Art Observed was on site at the Soho Beach House Miami during the week of Art Basel Miami Beach for a tour of the 150 work art collection assembled for the private club and hotel.    Keeping a close connection with the artistic community has been an important part of the strategy for the Soho house brand, which has multiple locations in England as well as in New York and newly in Los Angeles, Berlin and Miami Beach.   This week marked the first Art Basel Miami Beach for the location and it hit the ground running,  hosting some important events such as dinners for White Cube and Victoria Miro galleries and a W Magazine event.

A John Baldessari on the left and a Friends With You on the right, in a hallway on the main floor

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Michael Stipe and Jeffrey Deitch – all photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

Jefferson Hack and hotelier Andre Balazs exclusively presented the first large scale screening of the 3-D video art installation Evolution (Megaplex), created by the artist and filmmaker Marco Brambilla at the Standard Hotel and Spa during the week of Art Basel Miami Beach.  Overlooking Biscayne Bay from hotel grounds, hundreds of notable guests had some drinks and watched with 3D glasses an impressively intricate montage of kinetic imagery.   Brambilla is known in part recently for his permanent video installation, Civilization at the Standard Hotel  in New York and also for his collaboration with Kanye West on his video for the single Power.

Guests view the Evolution projection at the Standard Hotel and Spa

Jay Jopling

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Art Observed kicked its shoes off to experience The “Island” trip; a one night, site-specific exhibition on a deserted island in front of the Mondrian hotel. The mysterious event, which did not disclose its departure point until the day of, was organized by Shamim M.Morin (LAND) and Aaron Bondaroff/ Al Moran  of Miami’s OHWOW gallery.  The demand was needless to say very high for this event, and as such, the queue for the boats was a bit reminiscent of some of the final scenes in the movie Titanic.  The project however, was by most accounts, extremely special.  The installation featured works of fifteen artist including Terence Koh, Hanna Liden and Luis Gispert.  A boat brought the guests from the Mondrian hotel to the Flagler Memorial Island where artists “were doing site-specific projects in the foliage, sandbars and water”.

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Art Observed was at the Swiss Institute on Thursday night for the launch of BallyLove , designed by the Swiss artist Philippe Decrauzat. The minimalist, constructivist artist collaborated with the Swiss Institute and the Swiss fashion house Bally for BallyLove, manipulating the imagery of fashion brand, showing black and white repetitive patterns on a wide range products.

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