Yayoi Kusama at Victoria Miro, via Andrea Nguyen for Art Observed

Spread out along the spacious aisles and picturesque dome of the Grand Palais in Paris, the Foire internationale d’art contemporain, also known as FIAC, has returned once again for another year of sales and exhibitions in the French capital. With Wednesday evening slowly dragging into the late hours, the fair’s VIP opening is now concluded, once again garnering strong praise and enthusiastic response from its attendees. This year, the list of galleries brings together exhibitors from 25 countries, marking its 46th edition with a fitting reflection of its storied history, one echoed by the prestigious locale of the Grand Palais. With an exacting selection of modern art, contemporary art, and design galleries, among the most emblematic of the international scene, the fair’s opening hours once again underscored its vitality in the modern fair circuit. (more…)

Sadie Benning, Blow Up #26 (2018), via Kaufman Repetto

Returning to the French capital for another year of exhibitions inside the iconic expanses of the Grand Palais, the Foire International Art Contemporain, or FIAC, opens its doors today in Paris.  The fair, which has operated for over 45 years in the city, has undergone several facelifts over the course of its lifetime, with its most recent editions courting a healthy mix of contemporary and modern works alongside more classical and historical modes, making it one of the world’s more ambitiously curated programs. (more…)

John Giorno, via Sperone Westwater

Artist John Giorno, the poet and artist whose practice turned poetry towards a living, breathing mode of art, separated from the page, has passed away at the age of 82 in his home in Lower Manhattan.  A longtime fixture in the New York art scene, Giorno would explore a range of techniques and modes for promoting his work outside the book or magazine.  He founded Giorno Poetry Systems, a nonprofit foundation, and designed a mass communication system called Dial-A-Poem, which allowed for people to call in and hear orated poetry over the phone.   (more…)

Paul Chan, Khara En Tria (Joyer in 3) (2019), via Greene Naftali

On view this month at Greene Naftali in Chelsea, artist Paul Chan makes his fourth solo entry in the gallery program, featuring a new series of works Chan calls “Bathers.” Marking new iterations and elaborations on his prior work, the show explores space and movement through simple materials. (more…)

Janiva Ellis, Wokey Doke (2019), via 47 Canal

There’s a remarkable concept of balance and duality in the work of Janiva Ellis, moments of sublime beauty and fragile, held states that seem to make the moments of bizarre surrealism and sinister iconographies all the more unnerving.  For her most recent show, ‘Tip Drill,’ on view at New York’s 47 Canal Gallery through October 20th, the artist continues her practice of elaborate systems of tension and release. (more…)

Sophie Kitching, Untitled (Plume) (2019), via Kiosk

Known for its shop selling a range of meticulously curated and enigmatic products, the online platform Kiosk has traveled widely, orchestrating various projects and pop-ups, not to mention an inclusion in MoMA PS1’s Greater New York show that spotlighted its daring vision and unique approach to the fine lines traditional distinctions between shop and art gallery, product and art object.  (more…)

Dan Graham, via Art Observed

After a whirlwind few hours in London, the Frieze Art Fair is underway, and the doors are open for the public. Opening its doors this week for its 17th edition in Regent’s Park, Frieze London has once again turned the art world’s collective eye towards the British capital for the next week, as sales and installations across its spacious halls make for a fitting center to one of the city’s busiest art events. (more…)

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Four Big (1982), final price: £8,605,250 via Christie’s

Capping off a week of auctions amid the hustle and bustle of London’s Frieze Week, Christie’s capped off a procedural auction in the British capital tonight, selling 41 of 46 lots to reach a final total of £64,507,125, a mark that seemed notably underwhelming after a string of works sold under estimate or near its low bound. A last note before the auctions in New York next month, the sale seemed to hint at more instability further down in the market, especially as the Britain’s exit from the E.U. grows increasingly confused, and increasingly perilous.

Sigmar Polke, Alpenveilchen/Flowers (1967), final price: £5,654,250, via Christie’s

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Banksy, Devolved Parliament (2009), final price £9,879,500, via Sotheby’s

Taking over from Phillips steady sale last night in London, Sotheby’s launched its own take on the Contemporary Art Market, albeit one with a little more unpredictability. The sale, one of the first since Sotheby’s formally became a privately traded company, saw 5 of works go unsold, and one massive record, as Banksy demolished his previous auction high, ultimately landing the auction house at a final tally of £54,386,250. (more…)

Alex Katz, Blue Umbrella I (1972), final price: £3,375,000 via Phillips

Marking the first of a trio of sales this weekend in London, Phillips Auction House made a strong opening note on a bustling week of sales last night, pulling interested buyers to its Berkeley Square location for a 43-lot offering that saw strong results and a £25,877,250 final on the night, with only 3 works on offer going unsold.

Hurvin Anderson, Beaver Lake (1998) final price: £2,175,000, via Phillips

The sale opened with a string of underpriced lots that surged beyond initial estimates, often doubling or tripling their price, among them pieces by Simone Leigh (£175,000), Nathaniel Mary Quinn (£212,500) and Tschabalala Self (£275,000). A George Condo work also performed well at £471,000, before the first pass of the evening on a Mark Grotjahn Butterfly. The sale regained its composure quickly, however, as the sale’s prized Mark Bradford finished at £1,935,000, followed close behind by a Hurvin Anderson piece that sold for the final price of £2,175,000.

Mark Bradford, Value 35 (2010), final price: £1,935,000 via Phillips

The sale continued at a brisk pace over the next lots, bringing up the evening’s cover lot, an Alex Katz painting that sold quickly over estimate to the tune of £3,375,000, while a Rudolf Stingel held its ground in the next lot at £1,035,000. Momentum carried the works through the meat of the auction, with a KAWS sculpture finishing above estimate for a final price of £1,455,000, and a Thomas Schütte work, Maschine, settling at the final of £1,215,000, squarely within estimated range. A Gerhard Richter Abstraktes Bild also performed well in the following lot, closing above estimate at £1,695,000. The sale was systematic from this point on, works selling quickly to bring the sale cruising to a strong conclusion.

The next auction is this evening at Sotheby’s.

KAWS, At This Time (2013), final price: £1,455,000, via Phillips

— D. Creahan

Read More:
Phillips 20th Century and Contemporary Evening Sale [Auction Page]

Cindy Sherman, Untitled #603 (2019), via Metro Pictures

As the summer weather fades slowly into the dim light and changing leaves of autumn in London, the art world once again gears up for the annual return of Frieze to Regent’s Park this week, bringing with it its reputation for presenting the best of international contemporary art by emerging and established artists, and its signature program of dynamic commissions, talks and films, all unified under the fair’s bespoke tent design at the heart of the British capital.  Opening Wednesday with its VIP previews, the fair will offer a unique look at the state of the British art market, and that of the EU more broadly, while providing a platform for artists in Europe and abroad to explore and express new concepts and ideas in art practice. (more…)

Alex Katz, Blue Umbrella I (1972), via Phillips

Opening alongside the bustling aisles of Frieze London this week, the Contemporary Art Market will give a test of its secondary branch in the British capital this week. Kicking off a trio of auctions at the major auction houses, this week should provide ample chance for bidders to show just how confident they are on the current state of Britain, its place in the European art market, and how Brexit might have changed those forecasts. With a hard deadline of October 31st looming, this week should provide ample evidence of just how buyers are feeling with major changes just over the horizon. (more…)

Amy Sherald, Sometimes the King is a Woman (2019), via Hauser & Wirth

This fall in New York, artist Amy Sherald, the artist tapped for First Lady Michelle Obama’s commanding, cool portrait for the National Archives, opens a show of new works at Hauser & Wirth, her first with the gallery. Titled ‘the heart of the matter…,’ the show debuts two paintings that reach a new, monumental scale for the artist, with monochromatic backgrounds that evolve into fully realized scenes referencing quintessential Americana, as well as a series of portraits that continue her iconic exploration of the contemporary black experience.   (more…)

Liz Glynn, To Write (2016/2017), via Paula Cooper

Over the course of the last few years, artist Liz Glynn has explored techniques in the production and presentation of technological objects and tools, seeking to explore and understand how disparate pieces and parts of a cultural milieu, particularly the tools used to construct, them, might provide a richer understanding of the culture itself. A sort of self-styled archaeological proposition, Technological Tools, as Glynn calls them, take center-stage at her current exhibition at Paula Cooper in New York, now on view through October 12th. (more…)

Graphzine Exhibit, via Art Observed

The leaves are slowly beginning to change in New York City, the fall equinox is on its way, and like clockwork, the time has once again come for the New York Art Book Fair to set up shop inside the halls and yards of MoMA PS1, kicking off its fourteenth annual edition of a unique and energetic exhibition of young artists, publishers, writers and thinkers, each representing a small part of the national and international art publishing community.  Always free and open to the public, the event draws more than 35,000 individuals including book lovers, collectors, artists, and art world professionals each year. (more…)

Judith Hopf, Tongue as a Wall Piece (2019), via Metro Pictures

Taking over the ground floor of Metro Pictures Gallery for her first exhibition with the space, the Berlin-based artist Judith Hopf has orchestrated a range of works drawing on surreal juxtapositions of space and material, narrative and image that marks a strong opening to the fall season. Comprised of three different sculptural series–Walls, Tongues, and Pears–the works on view further Hopf’s practice of employing everyday construction materials and common manufacturing processes to investigate the social dynamics of the contemporary built environment and its influence on human behavior. (more…)

Elaine Cameron-Weir, it thought you were someone else it thought you were me bounded by strings in the distorted phases of a topological superfluid a mysterious density half-speed vortices and long walls (2019), via JTT

On view this month at JTT Gallery in downtown Manhattan, artist Elaine Cameron-Weir has orchestrated a taut but conceptually nuanced exhibition, continuing her exploration of varied sculptural tropes, studied investigations of materiality and scale, and subtle, evolving narrative forms that hint at the artist’s rigorous process and abilities.

Elaine Cameron-Weir, it thought you were someone else it thought you were me bounded by strings in the distorted phases of a topological superfluid a mysterious density half-speed vortices and long walls (detail) (2019), via JTT (more…)

Roe Ethridge, Nathalie with Hot Dog and Flag (2014), via Andrew Kreps

Currently on view at Andrew Kreps’s new 22 Cortlandt Alley exhibition space in the thriving TriBeCa arts district, photographer Roe Ethridge has opened a show of new works continuing his unique approach to the construction of the portrait, winding together strange environmental elements, a broad range of characters, and cultural milieu that act to disrupt and reshape the understanding of any one framing.

Roe Ethridge, Sanctuary 2 (Installation View), via Andrew Kreps

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John Giorno, Do the Undone (Installation View), via Sperone Westwater

Opened this month at Sperone Westwater, celebrated poet and artist John Giorno has unleashed a selection of new sculptural works, canvases and other pieces centered around his ongoing explorations of language, energy and space. Having lived and worked on The Bowery for over 50 years, the show marks something of a return home for the artist, emphasizing his presence on the famed street while also emphatically marking his a renewed vivaciousness in his work. (more…)

March Avery, Sofa Companions (1967), via Blum & Poe

Currently on view at Blum & Poe through the end of this week, the New York based artist March Avery marks her first solo exhibition with the gallery, and uses the platform to develop a masterful exhibition around still moments and subtle gestures, a fitting first intro to the artist’s body of work, which now spans over five decades. (more…)

Nick van Woert, Untitled (detail) (2019), via Art Observed

Opening a show of new works at GRIMM New York under the title Body Parts, artist Nick van Woert returns to the city with a studied and at times strange investigation of embodiment, persona and material, arranging assemblages of human limbs, cast off materials and furniture to create a striking investigation of humanity and its functions in social space. (more…)

Dis, January 9, 2008 (2019), via Project Native Informant

The New York collective Dis has long reveled in a mixture of the politically-incisive and the socially-mischievous, putting further a body of work that dwells on revolution and change, modes of sociality in the digital age, and the mass-media phenomena that populate the world around us. After a year in which the group moved back into online publishing, embracing a “pivot to video,” trumpeted by social media giant Facebook (which, ironically, was later revealed to be based on a false premise), the collective has opened a show in London at Project Native Informant, compiling a range of recent works that explore the idea of the 2008 economic crisis as a missed opportunity for economic revolution. (more…)

Berta Fischer (Installation View), via James Fuentes

Marking his second exhibition with the Berlin-based painter, James Fuentes’s current exhibition of works by Berta Fischer brings a summery energy to downtown, a selection of brightly-colored, technically impressive arrangements that underscore the artist’s abilities in the sculptural medium. (more…)

Elizabeth Murray, DuckWabbit (1992), via Pace Gallery

The work of American painter Elizabeth Murray gets its first UK exhibition this summer in London, with Camden Arts Centre showcasing an impressive selection of the artist’s work from across her multifaceted career. Documenting Murray’s continued engagement with the languages of abstraction and conceptualism, the artist’s work delves into various iterations of painterly expression, from studies in violent action to nuanced investigations of the canvas as a form and medium in and of itself. (more…)