Shirazeh Houshiary, Exuviae (2016-2017), via Ondine Charlesworth for Art Observed

Iranian-born, London-based artist Shirazeh Houshiary returns to Lisson Gallery this month for a show of new works at the gallery’s New York location on 24th Street in Chelsea, continuing her nuanced exploration of architectural and gestural interactions.  Reflecting on physical and immaterial qualities that shape art and human life, the artist’s work in her new show draws on dualities of structure and chance, friction and fluidity, and the nuances of space that both bound and interact with the work itself.

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Thomas Hirschhorn, DE-PIXELATION (detail) (Installation View), via Art Observed

Complementing his large-scale sculptural practice and near-constant interrogation of the state of mass media, political power and imagery, Gladstone Gallery is currently presenting a body of works by Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn.  Marking a continued investigation of the act of depiction, the strategies of control and dissemination in modern media, and the utility  of horror that often underwrites modern image creation, the artist has created a body of pixelated collages, culling together scenes of modern sectarian violence with a sense of constant instability and unease.  (more…)

Gilbert & George, Beardfence (2016). via Art Observed

Marking the 35th Anniversary of their collaborative practice, the famed British duo Gilbert & George have opened a show of new works at Lehmann Maupin in New York City, continuing their recent, enigmatic exploration of more violent, grotesque themes through their familiar blend of pop iconography and deep personal engagement with their work.  Long-billed as a “living sculpture,” this new selection of works by the pair explore their own visages, embellished with surreal beards in each image. (more…)

Camillle Henrot, Days Are Dogs (Installation View), via Art Observed

Camille Henrot works better on a grand scale.  The Golden Lion-winning French artist, whose enigmatic and playful sculptures, paintings and installations dwell on the phenomenology of life, and an often overwhelming range of lived experience, seems to draw additional strength from working with as much space as possible, perhaps best seen in her last show at Metro Pictures in New York, where a range of concepts and ideas allowed the viewer to move effortlessly through experiences of neurosis, guilt, pain and anger through to more primal emotions, and on through to a coy fusion of the two in the language of modernity.   (more…)

Chris Burden, via Art Observed

For its newest exhibition on view at its 24th Street exhibition space in New York, Gagosian Gallery takes a look to the west, embracing the recent potency of Los Angeles’s fine arts community with a show of works that both spotlight the gallery’s representation of artists currently working in the Californian metropolis, while simultaneously exploring the cultural landscape and iconographies of a city that has shaped their work as much as they have shaped its perception in the art world.  Drawing on work from Alex Israel, Mary Weatherford, Jonas Wood and others, the show is a striking introduction to the Californian artists currently working with Gagosian, and the shared lineage of Californian art that the gallery has long participated in supporting. (more…)

Peter Doig, Red House (1995-1996), final price $21,127,500, via Phillips

Throwing its hat into the ring on a bustling week of sales in New York, Phillips concluded its offering in the 20th Century and Contemporary Auctions , bringing a final tally of $113.9 million for its 44-lot sale.  The Phillips event was a quick affair, running mechanically through its offerings to achieve its result, with only a small handful of works going unsold. (more…)

Roy Lichtenstein, Female Head (1977) final price: $24,501,500, via Sotheby’s

The final hammer has fallen and the doors have closed on the final major art sales of 2017, as Sotheby’s concluded its Contemporary Evening Sale tonight at its York Ave location in New York.  Capping a 74-lot offering with a steady, well-run sale, the auction house achieved a final tally of $310,229,350, bringing the week’s marathon auctions to a close

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Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi (circa 1500) final price: $450,312,500, via Christie’s

Capping its second major sale of the week, and likely one of the more momentous sales of work in recent history, Christie’s capped an astronomical sale this evening in New York, complementing its Contemporary offerings with the much trumpeted Leonardo Da Vinci work Salvator Mundi to reach a record sale total of $785,942,250.

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Claude Monet, Les Glaçons, Bennecourt (1893), via Sotheby’s

Following a landmark sale last evening at Christie’s, Sotheby’s took its turn this past evening in the Impressionist and Modern category, pursuing the exceptional results its rival notched over the course of the evening.  Tonight was no different, as the auction house led a wild sprint through its 67-lot sale to reach a final tally of $269,718,600. (more…)

Fernand Léger, Contraste de formes (1913), final price: $70,062,500, via Christie’s

The first of the fall’s New York auctions kicked off this evening, as Christie’s capped the first of the week’s Impressionist and Modern Evening sales, surging out of the gate with a strong series of sales that set an impressive tempo for the week, and laid down an impressive challenge to the other auction houses.  Notching a final sales total of $480,414,000, Christie’s sent a strong message of stability in a year marked by uneven, unpredictable auction sales. (more…)

Marcel Broodthaers, Un Jardin d’Hiver (1974), via Art Observed

Few artists’ work have left such subtle, yet enduring legacy on the landscape of modern installation, institutional critique and socially-engaged work as Belgian artist and poet Marcel Broodthaers’s work has.  Branching out into uniquely self-aware, narrative spatial arrangements and installations the artist referred to as Décors, Broodthaers’s late work mined the language of the gallery and the museum to turn its perspective both outwards and inwards at the same time, often launching stark engagements with the political and social underpinnings of the art world that ultimately supported and carried his work. (more…)

Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi (circa 1500), via Christie’s

As the weather grows increasingly chilly, the art world turns its blue-chip market attention towards New York City once again, where a final series of major Impressionist/Modern and Post-War/Contemporary Evening Sales will open at the major auction houses, once again offering a test of the market’s current strength.  With a last flourish on a year that has packed ample surprises into its market proceedings, this final sale will feature a series of landmark works, chief among them the offering of an extremely rare Leonardo Da Vinci canvas, a work that has already created a storm of chatter among art world insiders. (more…)

Barbara Kruger, FOREVER (Installation View). All images via Anna Corrigan for Art Observed.

Now through December 22, Sprüth Magers Berlin is presenting FOREVER, a new site-specific work by Barbara Kruger. For this exhibition, the artist has created an immersive room-wrap and several new vinyl works, which together take over all four walls and the floor of the gallery’s main exhibition room. The language around which this exhibition centers reflects Kruger’s bold and distinctive voice, one which has come to define her work over the course of her 40-year career. (more…)

Oldenburg/van Bruggen, Shelf Life (Installation View), via Art Observed

After 12 years, pop master Claes Oldenburg returns to Pace Gallery for a show of new works this month, united under the title Shelf Life.  Incorporating a a range of sculptural techniques and objects into a swirling series of “still life” arrangements, the artist’s work re-contextualizes his own range and output as a sculptor into the broader landscape of his own life.  Shown under the name “Oldenburg/van Bruggen” the exhibition feels like something of a tribute to the artist’s late wife Coosje van Bruggen, with whom he built a range of sculptures and projects appearing in smaller scales throughout the exhibition. (more…)

Melike Kara, naked words, (2017), All images by Anna Corrigan for Art Observed.

Through November 3rd, Berlin gallery Peres Projects is currently hosting Köpek, a solo exhibition by artist Melike Kara. For this exhibition, the artist addresses questions of identity, belonging, and alienation through  photography, sculpture, and painting, ultimately articulating the multiplicities at the heart of belonging through a series of illustrations of anonymous human, animal, and material groups. (more…)

The Bass in Miami Beach. Photo by Robin Hill : Courtesy of The Bass.

Located in the center of Miami Beach’s rapidly expanding art and architectural hub, The Bass Museum has finally reopened after an ambitious renovation spearheaded by principal architect David Gauld. The $12 million renovation and expansion, which adds 4,100 square feet to the existing 8,700 square feet exhibition space, as well as a brand new 5,200 square feet wing for educational programming, is the second major renovation the museum has undertaken since opening in 1964. The Bass (which was originally named the Bass Museum of Art) went through an expansion of 16,000 square feet in 2001 under the creative consultancy of Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, whose team then had included Gauld. In the new space, the New York-based architect’s vision suggests commitment to authenticity, while expanding towards new horizons in the museum-going experience. The additions of new programmable space merges with the building’s monumental integrity and refined Art-Deco façade, allowing a sophisticated vision of a global contemporary art museum under the welcoming dome of a landmark institution that has catered to local residents in Miami Beach for decades.

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Alex Schweder and Ward Shelley, The Newcomers, via Performa

Returning for another year of dynamic events, expansive projects, installations and performances spread throughout New York City this month, the wildly popular Performa Performance Art Biennial is set to touch down once again this year.  Curated once again by founder RoseLee Goldberg, Performa spans the next three weeks, bringing with it a sudden charge of energy and life to a city preparing for the subdued energy of the winter months. (more…)

Wim Delvoye, Twisted Cement Truck (2017), via Art Observed

Taking over the spacious downtown location of Galerie Perrotin, Belgian artist Wim Delvoye has returned to New York City, capping his sixth one-person show with the gallery and his first singular presentation at Perrotin New York with a body of new works that continue his irreverent and critically-nuanced practice.  Continuing his formal deconstructions and spatial riddles with a series of works made during preparations for an exhibition at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, the show sees Delvoye engaging broadly with the history of Iranian art, and the modern landscape of the Middle East.  (more…)

Walter Swennen, Demasiadas Palabras (2017)  all images Copyright Walter Swennen Courtesy the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels.

In his third solo exhibition in New York, Belgian artist Walter Swennen delivers a broad range of takes on his text and poetry-based work, splashing doses of humor and introspection into each canvas spread across Gladstone Gallery, on which bright, cartoonish colors and existential subjectivities build a delicate, yet compelling balance. From the title bewtie (a riff on the word “beautiful” that also manages to sound Flemish), to Swennen’s utilization of language to problematize the banal, this exhibition chronicles his sense of absurdity embedded in mundane elements, and most particularly in language, as a crucial part of the ritual of the everyday. (more…)

Film Still. Image courtesy Sprüth Magers.

Now through December 22, Sprüth Magers Berlin presents Jon Rafman’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. Dream Journal ’16-’17 is an hour-long, freeform and loosely connected series of narratives examining the impact of technology on society and consciousness. Jon Rafman’s work examines the impact of technology and virtual reality on contemporary consciousness. He is recognized for his use of interdisciplinary and multi-medial forms, including various virtual platforms and online worlds, to critically explore the present moment. For this work, Rafman has designed an immersive viewing experience, complete with shag carpet and anthropomorphized sculptural seating.

Installation View. Image by Anna Corrigan for Art Observed.

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Gilbert & George, The General Jungle or Carrying on Sculpting (Installation View), all images courtesy Lévy Gorvy

Now through November 18, Lévy Gorvy’s London exhibition space is hosting The General Jungle or Carrying on Sculpting, a collection of seminal works by artist duo Gilbert & George. This show is comprised of 23 monumental, multi-panel pieces, one of the first manifestations of Gilbert & George’s ‘Art for All’ manifesto, and a landmark entry in their early collaborations, which began fifty years ago this month. This is the first exhibition in the United Kingdom to feature this body of work, first presented at the Sonnabend Gallery in New York in the early 1970’s. (more…)

Pat Steir, Little Red One (2016), all images via Osman Can Yerebakan for Art Observed

In ancient Greek, the word kairos defined the moment of opportunity to make a decision.  Kairos, which lends its name to New York-based painter Pat Steir’s current exhibition at Lévy Gorvy, encapsulates a Proustian interpretation of time that is subjective and cerebral, as opposed to a sequential grasp. Although they represent binary notions at first sight, chance and precision are two pivotal elements in Steir’s work, and given her decision to name her exhibition after a term associated with philosophy of time, she tends to perfect the balance between these two opposites. Created over the last two years, paintings at Steir’s first exhibition with the gallery after the Upper East Side powerhouse announced representation of her last year. (more…)

Stanley Whitney, Drawings (Installation View), via Art Observed

Lisson Gallery’s second New York location kicked off the fall art season this past week with a striking exhibition of drawings and small-scale works by Stanley Whitney, a charged entry in the season’s landscape of exhibitions that rings a powerful chord against the backdrop of the U.S.’s turbulent and increasingly violent, racially-tinged struggles.  Spread across the walls of the gallery’s small project space, the show is an impressive entry in the artist’s oeuvre, combining his energetic, colorful sensibilities with a more cutting socio-political and critical lens, one that brings his work into tight focus against the backdrop of current events. (more…)

Outside the Grand Palais, all photos via Andrea Nguyen for Art Observed

As Wednesday evening drags into the late night in Paris, the first day of FIAC has concluded, bringing with it a steady stream of sales and projects that once again places the French art fair at the center of the fall exhibition calendar. The city’s marquee art fair, FIAC opened to strong praise from its attendees, and a number of show-stopping works, arranged under the equally striking architecture of the Grand Palais.

FIAC, via Art Observed

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