Anish Kapoor, untitled work from 2000 at Axel Vervoordt via Art Observed
There was a pensive, yet hopeful, mood to Frieze 2024 that mirrored Eva Langret’s vision for reflection, progression and inclusion and it showed itself the works of the artists it showcased, both inside and beyond the tent. Zanele Muholi’s, ‘Bambatha I’ (2023) sculptural piece showed the artist in the body of a serpentine creature, which turned out to be a metaphor for her battles with fibroids and gender dysphoria. Similarly Divine Southgate-Smith at Nicoletti, explored how human recollections encourage our understanding of time, space and empowerment. Joining her in this beyond the tent was Juliana Cerqueira Leite with her three sculptures, ‘Shovel’, ‘Button’ and ‘Sand’ (2024) which focused on universal, physical gestures.
The French Exit group show brought to life by the curatorial eye of Mattias Vendelmans invites a dialogue between artists and their muses, considering just what happens when one skips the farewell in search of something more enticing after dark. How does the basic notion of privacy and vulnerability continue to pique our curiosity? Spanning works from oil paintings and sculptures to pen and paper, from Baudelairean Paris to the suburbs of 1930s Stockholm, an ongoing exploration of organic tenderness and bestiality in human nature unfolds.
“To approach this new chapter differently, instead of viewing it as a carte blanche, we embraced the challenge of considering the many existing peripheral elements while exploring the centre as a void,” begins Minsuk Cho: this year’s chosen designer of the annual Serpentine Pavilion. With a background in hospitality, commercial and visual art projects across South Korea, Mass Studio’s founder brings a layered understanding of human interaction with one’s environment to this year’s installation.
Art Basel, the premier international art fair, returned to its namesake city of Basel, Switzerland, from June 13 to June 16, 2024. Known as the cornerstone of the global art calendar, Art Basel in Basel once again brought together the best of the contemporary art world, featuring an unparalleled array of galleries, artworks, and immersive experiences.
Chronos, the latest solo exhibition of works by the painter Maria Kreyn opened during the inaugural week of the 60th Venice Biennale, showcasing a series of ten new large-scale paintings. Set against the backdrop of the historic St. George’s Anglican Church in Venice, the paintings depict brooding tempests – the proverbial meeting of sky and sea at once turbulent and serene. Influenced by mythology and the sublime, Kreyn’s works are meditations on the fantastic forces of the natural world, as well as humanity’s inextricable entwinement with it. The storied church setting heightens the sense of the mystical and transcendent, turning each painting into a kind of altarpiece that invites prolonged contemplation.
Frank Stella, Gobba, zoppa e collorto (1985), from “Frank Stella: A Retrospective” (2015-2016) at the Whitney Museum.
The art world mourns the loss of pioneering artist, Frank Stella (1936-2024), who was known for working with a myriad of mediums, including painting, sculpture and printmaking. He was, and continues to be, one of the most influential figures of contemporary art. His way of reinventing and reinterpreting artistic mediums defined him as a visionary, unable to be easily corralled or categorized by his chosen industry.Â
Wide shot of David Zwirner booth at Frieze NY 2024, featuring a dual show of various works by Nate Lowman and Franz West.
After selling out in 2023, Frieze returns to The Shed in Manhattan for the 2024 installment of their annual Art Fair, spanning May 1 – 5, 2024. Bringing together the world’s leading galleries to showcase ambitious solo, group and themed presentations by pioneering artists, Frieze NY offers the opportunity to not only discover up-and-coming talent, but to also engage with the who’s who of the art world.
Movimento dos Artistas Huni Kuin at Venice Biennale 2024
The 60th International Art Exhibition, known as the Venice Biennale, is set to run from April 20 to November 24, 2024. This year’s theme, “Stranieri Ovunque” or “Foreigners Everywhere,” is curated by Adriano Pedrosa, marking a significant milestone as the first South American curator of the Biennale Arte. The event is hosted at Venice’s historic Giardini and Arsenale venues, which have been central to the Biennale since its earliest editions. The theme explores the concepts of intersectionality, displacement, and the reevaluation of geographical margins in the art world. (more…)
The Vitruvian Man (c. 1487) is a study of the proportions of the human body inscribed within the absolute forms of a circle and a square, using metalpoint, pen and ink, with touches of watercolour on paper. One of Leonardo Da Vinci’s best-known works, the drawing is stored in the Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia in Italy, and only rarely exhibited due to its fragility as a work on paper.
Influenced by the theories of Roman architect Vitruvius in his treaty “De Architectura†(1st century BC), Da Vinci drew a male figure with his hands and feet touching the perimeter of a circle, his navel at its precise center. Another position is superimposed with his feet standing on the base of a square while his arms extend outwards, the area directly below the navel as the center of the square, per Da Vinci’s own findings.
“Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind” exhibition at Tate Modern, is on until September 1st and is an expansive journey through Yoko Ono’s artistic legacy, blending music, installations, photography, and interactive performance art. This landmark showcase, the UK’s most extensive collection of Ono’s work, spans her groundbreaking contributions from the early 1950s to today, highlighting her role as a pioneer in avant-garde art circles worldwide. (more…)
From 1st March to 25th May 2024, Skarstedt’s London Gallery presents a solo exhibition featuring the work of American artist Jeff Koons. The show includes five mural-sized paintings crafted between 2001 and 2013 drawn from Koons’ series: Easyfun-Ethereal, Antiquity, and Popeye. (more…)
At Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in Los Angeles, “Live(s) on Air” is on from February 24 to May 4, 2024, featuring new works by Tomás Saraceno. This exhibit explores the theme of eco-social interdependence with a collection that includes sculpture, works on paper, and film. It aims to engage viewers in thinking about the impact of humans on the environment and paths toward coexistence on Earth.(more…)
AO was on the ground at the fifth edition of Frieze Los Angeles, held from February 29th to March 3rd, 2024, at Santa Monica Airport, which brought together over 95 galleries exhibiting contemporary art from various regions, showcasing the city’s role in the global art landscape. (more…)
AO is on-site at Perrotin, which inaugurated its new Los Angeles gallery with an exhibition featuring Japanese artist Izumi Kato, running from February 28 to March 23, 2024. Kato’s work, known for incorporating elements of both ancient traditions and modern themes, aligns with Los Angeles’s landscape, which includes both natural and urban environments. The artist’s figures, created in his Tokyo studio, are displayed in a setting that reflects the coexistence of contrasting elements, a theme prevalent in Kato’s art.
Untitled Art Fair revisited its Miami Beach location, again on the beach just off Ocean Drive. The fair opened on Wednesday the 6th of December and concluded on Sunday the 10th. The fair featured curated presentations, live events, artist performances, and more. This edition hosted 160 exhibitors from 38 countries, showcasing works by nearly 600 artists. The programming encompassed artist projects, performances, and panel discussions as part of the Untitled Art Podcast, with an emphasis on digital innovation and inclusivity.
Annie Duncan, Johansson Projects, Untitled Miami 2023Â (more…)
NADA Miami 2023, the 21st edition of the art fair presented by the New Art Dealers Alliance, showcased a diverse array of galleries from over 50 cities globally, including more than 85 NADA members and 34 first-time exhibitors. The fair was held at Ice Palace Studios and featured a variety of art forms, from traditional to mixed media, reflecting on contemporary societal themes, identity, and the human condition. (more…)
Hernan Bas’s “The Conceptualists” series at the Bass Museum in Miami Beach presents a unique exploration into themes of queerness, desire, the occult, and the absurd. The series, inspired by the unusual hobbies and activities people took up during the pandemic, features fictitious conceptual artists performing eccentric behaviors. This approach offers a perspective on the boundaries and perceptions of conceptual art, questioning the very definition of artistic expression. (more…)
Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 is currently taking place from December 8 to December 10, 2023, at the Miami Beach Convention Center. This edition features 277 international galleries, with a notable presence from North and Latin America, including 25 galleries participating for the first time. The event includes different sectors such as the Meridians, dedicated to large-scale artworks, and the Kabinett, with curated installations. Additionally, the Conversations program offers live debates on art and culture, with a focus on Latin America. The fair also collaborates with various institutions and collections for events across Miami Beach. (more…)
Modern art is full of determined characters. The ones who find success are visionary, changing the face of the contemporary art scene. Marina Abramović‘s exhibition at the Royal Academy marks the first retrospective of a female artist in the institution’s 255 years. The exhibition is one of the largest, occupying the academy’s previously unused rooms. While it was initially planned for September 2020, due to Covid-19 it was postponed numerous times. During this period Abramović suffered an embolism which prevented her from performing in the show as initially planned. It’s an unfortunate reality for an artist who is usually so generous with herself as a performer. (more…)
Cover images courtesy of Ola Wilk via Maria Kreyn; and Ellen Frances.
For its first artist-on-artist interview, Art Observed sat down with New York-based painter Maria Kreyn and multidisciplinary artist and performer Ellen Frances to talk about their individual practices and their collaboration for the opening of Kreyn’s solo show Untune a String at The Hole in Tribeca earlier this month. In their conversation with Art Observed, the two artists discuss the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration, the enduring resonance of classical artistic and literary forms, and their visions for the future. (more…)
Henry Taylor, I Got Brothers All Ova The World But They Forget We’re Related (2023), via Hauser & Wirth
Marking its inaugural outing at its new Paris exhibition space, Hauser & Wirth looks west to the work of critically acclaimed Los Angeles artist Henry Taylor, whose major career survey arrives at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York on 4 October 2023 and will remain on view through January 2024. Taylor’s exhibition in Paris, the artist’s first prominent show in France, comprises a wide range of over 30 paintings, sculptures and works on paper encompassing the remarkable breadth of his practice. (more…)
Izumi Kato at Perrotin
