A still from Steve McQueen’s “Giardini” (2009), on view at Marian Goodman Gallery through March 6.

Through March 6, New York’s Marian Goodman Gallery is showing two films by Steve McQueen.  This is the American debut of “Giardini,” the 30-minute, two-projection film which premiered at the 2009 Venice Biennale and is set on its grounds. “Static” (2009) is showing for the first time, made specifically for the exhibition and centered around the Statue of Liberty. Perspective and national monument are satirized and subverted, recreated in this new exhibition.

A still from Steve McQueen’s “Static” (2009), on view at Marian Goodman Gallery, along with “Giardini,” through March 6.

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Untitled (GUT/1361), 2008

Last Thursday, ArtObserved were on site at Team Gallery for the opening of an exhibition of new work by twin brothers and artistic collaborators, Gert and Uwe Tobias. The title of the exhibition, “Come and See Before the Tourists Will Do – The Mystery of Transylvania,” was originally used by the brothers in 2004 to describe a body of works that acted as mock-advertising for low-budget horror movies set in their native Transylvania. Initially it was a reaction the Romanian governments proposal to build a “Dracula Park” in order to encourage tourism in the area. In this rendition of the series they chose a number of European vampire film titles from which to construct their lively woodcut “posters” around. The works are very much informed by folklore and regional mythologies and thus are concerned with the construction of cultural identity.

Artist Uwe Tobias (right) at the opening of Come and See Before the Tourists Do – The Mystery of Transylvania at Team Gallery on February 11, 2010. Photographs by Oskar Proctor.

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The Raising of Lazarus, 2007 (David Zwirner Gallery)

Chris Ofili’s familiar hits are brought together with his more mature recent works for the first time in a mid-career survey at the Tate Britain, London, through 16 May 2010. The collective effect of the show is a kaleidoscope of wild humor, brilliant color and raw energy. What is striking about the exhibition is its unique position within the growing contemporary canon: firstly, Ofili is unusual as a painter in a conceptual era, and, secondly, he is intensely concerned with the aesthetic. The paintings in this exhibition are richly ornamented; their surfaces are imaginatively constructed from such incongruous materials as elephant dung (Ofili’s signature), map pins and glitter. The paintings are structural and highly tactile, and the viewing experience is a sensory event. This perhaps most evident in The Upper Room, a collaboration with the architect David Adjaye to design an independent and enclosed viewing space. The audience is guided down a barely lit corridor into a dim, yet glittering chamber that enhances the spiritually of viewing paintings which reference both the Christian and Hindu faiths.

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An exhibition of work by British-born artist Anthony McCall is currently being exhibited at both the Sean Kelly Gallery in New York through January 30th, 2010 and Gallery Thomas Zander in Koln, Germany through February 20th, 2010.  Entitled ‘Leaving (with Two-minute Silence),’ McCall’s new work of  ‘solid light’ presentations are comprised of digital videos of carefully choreographed, intersecting lines and curves. The collections of intersecting shapes are projected in dark, haze-filled rooms and result in three-dimensional forms, constructed purely from light. The exhibition is interactive, and as the viewers move in and out of the projected light beams,  they must reconcile their perceived sense of fixed, three dimensional objects with the actual mutable properties that light possesses.

McCall’s work emphasizes the sculptural qualities of beams of light.

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Eberhard Schrammen, “Maskottchen (Mascot)” (c. 1924), in “Bauhaus 1919-1933” at MoMA. Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin Photo: Gunter Lepkowski © Estate Eberhard Schrammen

Complementing the Maholy-Nagy exhibition in Frankfurt showing at Shirn Kunsthalle through February 7, 2010, New York’s Museum of Modern Art is celebrating the early-20th century Bauhaus collective in a show which runs in the Joan and Preston Robert Tisch Gallery through January 25, 2010. This presentation of the highly influential German school comprises 400 works, many of which have never before been exhibited publicly in the United States. Drawn from both private and public collections, including 80 works from MoMA’s holdings, the show also features 150 pieces from the three German Bauhaus collections, Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, and Klassik Stiftung Weimar. The exhibition comes to MoMA after an earlier version at Berlin’s Martin-Gropius Bau, which showed from July 22 to October 4, 2009.

Vasily Kandinsky, “Schwarze Form (Black form)” (1923), via MoMA. Private collection. Courtesy Neue Galerie New York. Photo: Jeffrey Sturges © 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

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An annual event at both Basel and Miami Beach since 2004, Art Basel Conversations has hosted platform discussions ranging from single artists exploring their practice to larger panels including the leading players of the art world.  This week the renowned Beijing artist Ai Weiwei initiated the series at the new Oceanfront area at Art Basel Miami Beach.  Ai Weiwei, whose courageous voice has earned him the label as a dissident to be watched by the Chinese government, opened-up to his audience and moderator Philip Tinari about merging art and activism and the challenges he has faced in his efforts to speak freely in a land of oppression.

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Shepard Fairey in front of his work at STAGES

STAGES, the fundraising exhibition organized by Lance Armstrong‘s Livestrong, has come to Miami after runs in Paris and New York. ArtObserved was at the opening last night at the exhibition brought together by O.H.W.O.W. Lance Armstrong was in attendance, as were several of the artists involved, including Shepard Fairey, who DJed for a time, Rosson Crow, KAWS, Dustin Yellin, Erik Parker, José Parda, and others.

Tom Sach’s work at STAGES

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Visitors at Art Abu Dhabi, via Linsay Pollack

Last week at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, the inaugural Art Abu Dhabi brought major figures from the international art world to the to rich capital of the United Arab Emirates.  A boutique fair in comparison to Frieze, Dubai, Basel, and Miami, the event showcased only fifty galleries. The event was nevertheless international and high-profile displaying masterworks by Alexander Calder, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons et al many of which had never before been shown in the region.

Princess Michael of Kent at Galerie Gmurzynska and viewer looking at Gursky, via artforum

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An excerpt of an earlier collaborative performance at The New Museum’s Younger Than Jesus show

On November 20th, ArtObserved attended a Performa event that was unlike many others. The evening started out engulfed in the crowd of stylish audiences, which noisily filled the small entrance lobby and occasionally poured out onto the sidewalk for a smoke or some air. As many languages resonated across miniature gallery, anticipation seemed to rise to a crecendo. Needless to say, The Kitchen filled to capacity.

The artist, a young French native who is now based in Berlin, shuffled in and out of the performance space beyond the large black doors. Hurried, yet composed, he let escape an occasional smile to the public.

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Preview of Yeondoo Jung’s piece - Cinemagician, commissioned by Performa 09 and presented at Asia Society. Video courtesy of Asia Society

On November 19th and 20th, Asia Society hosted one of 9 individual artists commissioned to conceive a piece of interactive art specifically for the 3nd Performa Biennial that has been remastering the landscape of New York art scene for the last two weeks. Yeondoo Jung’s Cinemagician is a project of one of the most prominent Korean artists working today. Combining theater, cinema, and performance, Jung create a trompe d’oeil effect that is both highly innovative and amusing. He tackles the often overlooked process behind creating a video work, art form that increasingly pervades modern practice. By allowing the audiences to witness first hand the making of Jung’s video work, he activates the space between the artist and the public. Jung recognizes the importance of the creative process to the final product and thus implicates the audience in actively participating in creating the work. (more…)

William Kentridge’s ‘I Am Not Me, The Horse Is Not Mine,’ Photo by Paula Court, Courtesy of Performa

On November 9th, as part of Performa 09, William Kentridge presented ‘I Am Not Me, The Horse Is Not Mine,’ a lecture and animated performance that is related to his upcoming production of Dmitri Shostakovich’s 1928 opera ‘The Nose,’ at the Metropolitan Opera. The opera is based on the short story by Gogol of the same name about a man whose nose runs away from him and takes on a life of its own. Central to the story and Kentridge’s performance are the ideas of divided selves and authorial doubt. As Kentridge relays the story, an animated version of himself comes onstage, leading him to pause repeatedly and look over his shoulder, to walk over and quizzically inspect his doppelgänger.

William Kentridge’s ‘I Am Not Me, The Horse Is Not Mine,’ Photo by Paula Court, Courtesy of Performa

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Large Vase of Flowers, Jeff Koons. Sold by Benedict Tashcen to Dominique Levy for $5,682,500. All images via Christie’s

Last night Christie’s, New York brought-in a total of $74,151,500 from the sale of 39 lots at their Post War & Contemporary sale. While this figure falls within the pre-sale estimate of $64 – 88 million, and an impressive 21 lots sold for over the $1million mark, the sum is still a strong step down in comparison to that acquired from last year’s Fall Contemporary Auction at Christie’s which brought in $113.6million for a 43 lot sale.  In the end, major marquee works went unsold.  After a remarkable Impressionist and Modern auction at Sotheby’s last week, rumors were flying that the Art Market was flourishing once again – however, it now appears that the art world may have spoken too soon.

Reflection (What does your soul look like),Peter Doig

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Artist, Nicolas Pol, poses infront of one of his works at the opening party for his show, “The Martus Maw”

Lastnight ArtObserved was on site at the opening of “The Martus Maw;” the first US exhibition featuring the “wild and raw” work of the emerging French artist Nicolas Pol. Housed in an old meat market at 80 Essex Street in New York’s Lower East Side, the private party recalled an art gathering of the Warhol era when openings were not just for the art crowd but included prominent pop culture figures of the time from the worlds of art, fashion, literati, music and social scenes – an element typical to shows produced by Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld’s company, Feedback Production Ltd. Vladimir, son of French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld, has a penchant for working with emerging talents to promote and produce their shows and provide a platform for them to sell their art – this is Vladimir’s fourth show and follows an exhibition of works by Richard Hambleton that previewed in an equally star-studded affair in September this year.

Puaka Crusade, Nicolas Pol

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Jeune Arabe, Kees Van Dongen (1877) sold for $13.8 million – a new record for the artist

In contrast to the slim pickings made available to buyers at Christie’s Modern and Impressionist Evening sale on November 3, last night’s sale at Sotheby’s offered many iconic works that had bidders excited and which resulted in an auction that Simon Shaw, Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Department in New York described as “a shot in the arm for the art market. A real vote of confidence.” The evening’s auctioneer Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art, commented that after all his time at Sotheby’s he had never seen such an active sale. And indeed it was, with a grand total of $181,760,000 over a high-end estimate of $163,600,000, this sale marked the first time since May 2006 that Sotheby’s in New York have exceeded their top estimate.

L’Homme qui Chavire, Alberto Giacometti – an instantly recognizable icon of the modern era cast in 1951. Sold for a remarkable $19,346,500.

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Arshile Gorky’s “Waterfall” (1942-43). Image courtesy of the museum. © 2009 Estate of Arshile Gorky / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is currently showing a retrospective of Arshile Gorky’s work. Closing in January, the exhibition includes “creative chambers” which explore thirty years of Gorky’s artistic evolution in still-life, from Cubism to Surrealism. After it closes in Philadelphia, the show will travel to Tate Modern and LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

Gorky’s “Water of the Mill,” courtesy of PMA. © 2009 Estate of Arshile Gorky / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

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Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain, Paris via fiac.com

The action at France’s biggest art fair, Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain (FIAC) in Paris came to a stand still on Saturday, October 24. The aftermath of FIAC, much like Frieze before it, is buzzing with discussion surrounding sales – big and small. On Saturday Bloomberg News reported that Piet Mondrian’s abstract Composition With Blue, Red and Yellow, valued between $30 and $40 million, was put on hold while a wealthy buyer made up their mind. Similarly, it seems the Pablo Picasso painting, Femme Ecrivant, was reserved by a potential buyer during the first few hours of FIAC’s VIP preview on October 21.

Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve – photo by Art Observed

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Portrait of Geoff Dyer Talking, Francis Bacon (1966) at FIAC, Paris

If Frieze opened willing to court the unavoidable media speculation about sales or the lack of them: FIAC, and the exhibitors it houses this year, have in the early stages proved characteristically reticent. Not to mention laconic. At least on the surface. This morning there was little sign that much of Paris and beyond would descend on the Grand Palais and the Cour Carrée du Louvre at noon.

Frieze Art Fair entrance in Regent’s Park, London

Art Observed is currently on site at the seventh edition of Europe’s largest contemporary art fair: Frieze which is on show in London’s Regent’s Park through October 18th.  The 164 exhibiting galleries represent the most exciting contemporary artists working today and for the past two years Frieze Art Fair has attracted over 60,000 visitors over the three day period for which it is active.  In addition to this, the fair not only attracts curators and collectors but encourages participation by all: over the three days the fair presents a curated program of talks, artists’ commissions and film projects, many of which are interactive or performative and encourage visitors to engage with art and artists directly.

A view of the booth of Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin with work from Xavier Veilhan in the foreground and Duane Hanson in the background at Frieze Art Fair via abcnews.go.com

Related Links:
Art out of the ordinary [TimesOnline]
Frieze gets off to fizz-popping start [The Guardian]
A chair you can actually sit on [WSJ]
Autumn Fairs Are a Barometer of the Art Market [NYTimes]
Abramovic, Paltrow browse at Freize as buyers haggle [Bloomberg]
Chill of recession hits London Frieze art bonanza [Reuters.com]
Introducing the Frieze Art Fair [Telegraph.co.uk]
Party of the Weel: No sign of the Crunch at Frieze Art Fair [The Independent]
Recession chill hits Frieze Art Fair [Channel4.com]
Roll up for moody modern masterpieces:it’s the Frieze art fair [The Guardian]
Frieze Art Fair Opens to Steady Sales, Gray Art [WSJ]
Frieze Art fair: test your knowledge. A quiz to find out if you’re an art aficionado or Frieze faker [The Guardian]
London Calling a Spate of Artists to their Openings [NYTimes]
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Minutes before the silent auction begin

Held in Sotheby’s New York on October 7th, 2009, the 18th Annual Take Home a Nude event manages yet again to attract not merely those who belong to the social circles of the art world, but also guests and celebrities who may not immediately connote that world. A wide variety of works and artists were represented at the event, and although some of the names, such as those of Jeff Koons and Eric Fischl could contribute to an environment of favoritism, there was pleasantly enough no hierarchy in the curatorship, neither of the event, nor the show.

Related Links:
Take Home a Nude [New York Academy of Art]
Liev Schreiber eyes “Take Home a Nude” benefit at Sotheby’s [NY Daily News]
Take Home a Nude [Interview]
About Last Night… The “Take Home a Nude” Benefit Auction [PaperMag]

Dustin Yellin, Anatomy No 2, presented as one of the works on “Take Home a Nude”, this piece is almost a 3 dimensional painting trapped in a rubber box

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‘Mark Leckey in the Long Tail,’ Amy C. Elliott © 2009

Last weekend was the fifth performance in the Museum of Modern Art’s Performance Exhibition Series.  British artist Mark Leckey, who won the Turner Prize last year, gave the North American premier of ‘Mark Leckey in the Long Tail,’ described as ‘part lecture, part monologue, and part living sculpture.’ The Long Tail is an idea originally described by Wired’s Chris Anderson, which explains business and broadcast distribution adhering to a 20-80 Pareto curve, with the top 20% of items vastly more popular.  As the Internet disseminates media and corporate hegemony, countless niches have opened up and been made readily accessible to consumers. Companies like Amazon.com and Netflix are able to offer more items at lesser volumes.  Those niche interests represent the Long Tail.

Leckey’s talk applied the theory of the Long Tail to his own research of images. Beginning with a photo of a Felix the Cat sculpture in an NBC studio, Leckey explained how he was able to discover the origins of the photo and the meaning behind its mise-en-scène through exploring varied, and often quite small, communities online.

Performance 5: Mark Leckey [MoMA]
Mark Leckey [Gavin Brown’s Enterprise]
The Long Tail [Wired]
Interview with Mark Leckey [Rhizome]
Mark Lecky in the Long Tail at MoMA [ArtReview]
Mark Leckey Wags the Long Tail [Artinfo]
Mark Leckey in a Long Tail World [Frieze]
Arts Watch [The Lowdown]
An American Tail [ArtForum]
Mark Leckey wins UK’s 2008 Turner Prize [ArtObserved]

‘Mark Leckey in the Long Tail,’ courtesy Amy C. Elliott © 2009

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Artist Ida Ekblad with Michael Nevin, editor-in-chief, and Julia Dippelhofer, managing editor of the journal. Photo courtesy Kathy Lo of the journal.

ArtObserved was on hand last Wednesday, September 9, 2009 for the opening of Ida Ekblad’s ‘Salty Sap Green Black’ at The Journal Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The exhibition features a number of sculptural works collectively titled ‘The Gold Bug Drift (NYC),’ which take their title, and process, from Edgar Allen Poe’s story ‘The Gold Bug,’ in which the main character is bitten by a gold bug and goes searching for treasure. Ekblad’s sculptures are made of “gems and treasures” she found while on “drifts” throughout New York City, which are placed in vessels of concrete as they are discovered and carried around the city until completion.

the journal/The Journal Gallery
Ida Ekblad
Europäisch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (featuring Ida Ekblad) [Gavin Brown’s enterprise]
Ida Ekblad at The Journal Gallery [Existing Visual]
Ida Ekblad Solo Exhibition [Norway]

Ida Ekblad’s ‘Salty Sap Green Black’ via the journal/The Journal Gallery

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The opening of Juergen Teller’s ‘Paradis’ at Lehmann Maupin Gallery all photos by ArtObserved or courtesy of the gallery

Last week marked the start of the new gallery season with a number of Chelsea galleries opening their doors on Thursday night. Coinciding with Fashion Week was the opening at Lehmann Maupin of Juergen Teller’s fifth exhibition with the gallery, ‘Paradis.’ Originally commissioned for the French magazine Paradis, the exhibition features Charlotte Rampling and Raquel Zimmermann, whom Teller has photographed previously, alone and nude in the Musée du Louvre.

Juergen Teller: Paradis [Lehmann Maupin]
Photographer Juergen Teller: “It’s Time for You to Take Your Clothes Off” [Wall Street Journal]
Lehmann Maupin – Juergen Teller: Paradis Photography Exhibition [Freshness]
Bringing Humanity To The Fashion World [Style.com]
Cathy Horyn & Juergen Teller Talk Paradis [Elle]

Juergen Teller’s ‘Paradis’ via Lehmann Maupin Gallery

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Kate Levant compromised an exhibit at Zach Feuer Gallery in New York.  Having opened July 16 2009, the exhibition closed September 4.  Last two days of the duration of the show turned Zach Feuer Gallery into a space where Blood Drive was conducted. A Yale MFA student, Kate Levant assembled works by six artists: Noel Anderson, BOBO, Brian Faucette, Michael E. Smith, Elaine Stocki and Jacques Vidal. The show received amount of press coverage unusual for an artist still in school.

Related Links:
Blood Work [New York Magazine]
There Will Be Blood [ArtInfo]
Studio Visit/Group Shows [The New York Times]
Blood Art Sex Magik Too Hot For Yale [Gawker]
Kate Levant: Blood Drive (bio, press release) [Zach Feuer Gallery]
Kate Levant’s “Blood Drive” at Zach Feuer [James Wagner]

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On September 3, 2009 Deitch Projects hosted openings for two shows that will run concurrently till mid October and end of September. In the gallery’s space at 18 Wooster Street an exhibition  of Tauba Auerbach’s works will run through October 17, 2009. Titled “HERE AND NOW/AND NOWHERE” the show is comprised of paintings, sculptures and photographs by the artist. At the center of the gallery is a musical instrument,”Auerglass”, an organ for two. It is conceived by the artist and her friend Cameron Mesirow- a musician from the Glasser band. The organ requires two people to play. Each of the two players gets every other note. An opening Glasser performance will be held on September 11th at Deitch Projects and will be consequently held at 5p.m. for the duration of the show.

Related Links:
Tauba Auerbach HERE AND NOW/AND NOWHERE [Deitch]
Tauba Auerbach and Glasser at Deitch [xlr8r]
Tauba Auerbach [Tauba Auerbach]

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