The European Parliament has asked the European Commission to tighten its framework on cross-border restitutions for looted art and cultural goods. “The first priority is to get some attention focused on the topic, then to map areas where progress could be achieved at the European Union level,” says representative Pavel Svoboda. (more…)
Artist Roberto Cuoghi is now represented by Hauser & Wirth gallery. “Cuoghi is already a legend among serious collectors and among his peers, and now our objective is to engage the widest possible audience in his ideas and work,” says partner Marc Payot. “While it’s impossible to draw direct parallels between Cuoghi and other artists, his attitude of full immersion and total commitment to his work resonate with many other artists in our program.” (more…)
The Armory Show has announced its list of talks and programs for its Live section, set to open with the fair on March 7th. The program has targeted a number of hot button issues in modern America, including identity, politics and feminism. (more…)
Stephanie Gabriel, previously a partner at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, will take over as director of Marianne Boesky Art News reports. “Stephanie brings with her an incredible record of gallery leadership and wide range of long-standing relationships with artists and curators that will prove invaluable to our growing operations,” Boesky said in a statement.” (more…)
Jasper Johns gets a NYT profile this week, as he embarks on several busy months, leading up to a maj0r retrospective of his work at The Whitney. The expansive piece charts the artist’s life and work, and his encounters in the post-war art scene in New York. (more…)
The Louvre is aiming to request a loan for Salvator Mundi, the Da Vinci work sold for $450 million in 2017, for a major retrospective on the artist’s work. “I confirm the Musée du Louvre has asked for the loan of the Salvator Mundi for its October exhibition and truly wishes to exhibit the artwork,” a spokeswoman for the Louvre says. (more…)
Nan Goldin will turn down a retrospective of her work at Britain’s National Portrait Gallery if it accepts a gift of £1 million from the Sackler family, threatening to boycott the gallery over its involvement in the manufacture of OxyContin. “I will not do the show,” Goldin says. “I have been invited to have a retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery and I have told them I would not do it if they take the Sackler money.” (more…)
Frank Stella is profiled in the NYT this week, showcasing his art collection and the group of works he will sell from it at Christie’s later this year. “It’s nice to come home and look at paintings. I don’t have to look at my own paintings. To me, it’s a relief,” he says. “I like seeing them and not worrying. I don’t have to adjust anything.” (more…)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced that it has handed over a first-century BC gilded coffin to the Manhattan district attorney for return to the Egyptian government upon discovering the item was looted in 2011. “I can tell you that the provenance file we provided to the Metropolitan Museum, to my best knowledge, was absolutely correct,” says Paris-based dealer Christophe Kunicki, the source who sold the item to The Met. “We want to know what is happening because we don’t understand what is happening. It’s absolutely unbelievable–it’s a terrible surprise for us.” (more…)
Marlene Dumas, James Baldwin (2014), all images via Art Observed
Delving into the life and work of the monumental American writer James Baldwin, Hilton Als has taken another turn as a curator at David Zwirner Gallery, mounting an exhibition that both explores and critiques the artist’s career, and his complicated relationship to the political landscape and social conflicts of the United States. The show, following up on Als’s exploration of the work of Alice Neel, is a nuanced review of Baldwin’s connections between Paris and New York and its diverse art scenes, in conjunction with his own aesthetic longings beyond that of his writing. (more…)
Felix Art Fair, all images via Art Observed
For a city that has embraced its emergence onto the global arts stage in recent years, its still an impressive feat that Los Angeles’s first major market week would open with four well-curated and diverse events, perhaps even more impressive that each would manage to express such a unique vision and concept in relation to the broader fabric of the week. From Frieze’s dynamic use of the Paramount Studios lots to SPRING/BREAK’s utilization of fruit stands downtown, the mixture of familiar forms in intriguing locales has helped define this whirlwind week in California.
Calvin Marcus at Clearing (more…)
Theo Triantafyllidis, Seamless (2017) at Transfer Gallery, all images via Art Observed
Opening up its own intriguing take on the landscape of Los Angeles and its ample supply of artists and galleries, SPRING/BREAK has brought its production to the City of Angels for the first time, launching a supplementary event that feels particularly resonant amid the hustle and bustle of Frieze week. (more…)
Junya Ishigami’s Pavilion Design
The design for the 2019 edition of the Serpentine Pavilion has been announced, with Japanese designer Junya Ishigami tapped to execute a light, illusory design appearing as if it was quite hefty and overpowering. “Possessing the weighty presence of slate roofs seen around the world, and simultaneously appearing so light it could blow away in the breeze, the cluster of scattered rock levitates, like a billowing piece of fabric,” his firm said in a statement. (more…)
John Baldessari at Marian Goodman, all images via Art Observed
As Thursday draws to a close, and the sun sets over the Pacific, the Frieze Los Angeles Art Fair has wrapped its first day of operation, closing on a a particularly strong and visually striking event that lived up to the anticipation many had afforded it. Installed around the enigmatic environs of the Paramount aquatic tank, the fair’s installation structure and emphasis on its normal uses lent the event a flair that likely will rarely be matched among the highest levels of the contemporary fair circuit. Its strange inclusion of a massive painted skyline against the rows of booths made for a captivating comment on the land of make-believe so many afford the city as a characteristic.
Frieze Los Angeles
Ken Price, L.A Bowl (1991) at Mathew Marks (more…)
Rachel Eulena Williams, Ceysson & Bénètière
Opening the week of art fairs in Los Angeles, the VIP preview for Art Los Angeles Contemporary has gotten underway at the Santa Monica Airport this evening. The tenth edition of the fair continues its place as a site for established and emerging galleries from around the world, with a strong focus on the city’s own arts communities. Outdating the Frieze art fair by a full decade, ALAC has long been a centerpiece in the landscape of Los Angeles’s contemporary arts scene. Now, the fair seems to have taken on a more boutique stature among the increasingly fragmented landscape of the city’s fair offerings. (more…)
Artist Theaster Gates and filmmaker Ava DuVernay will co-chair a new Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council for Prada, Art News reports. “Prada is committed to cultivating, recruiting, and retaining diverse talent to contribute to all departments of the company. In addition to amplifying voices of color within the industry we will help ensure that the fashion world is reflective of the world in which we live, and we are thrilled to be working with longtime collaborators Ava DuVernay and Theaster Gates on this important initiative,” the company said in a statement. (more…)
Serial art thief Stéphane Breitwieser the has been arrested again in Alsace. He has been under surveillance since 2016, and was found with €163,000 in cash stored in buckets at his mother’s house. (more…)
Artsy has alerted users to a potential data breach on its site, exposing information to hackers. “We have no evidence that commercial or financial information was involved, and to date we have not received reports from Artsy users of actual or attempted fraud as a result of this incident,” an alert email read. (more…)
Lehmann Maupin now represents Helen Pashgian, an artist associated with the Light and Space movement. “I cannot express how much it means to have Helen join the gallery,” says David Maupin. “My roots in Los Angeles have kept me tied to this generation of artists, who are among my earliest and most lasting influences in how I look at art.” (more…)
Dealer Mary Boone has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for tax avoidance. “I feel like a pariah,” she said. “I promise to be the best person that I can and to do good and affect lives in a positive way.” (more…)
Drawing Center curator Laura Hoptmann and painter Verne Dawson are profiled in the NYT’s ‘Show Us Your Wall’ series, showcasing a collection of works built up from a lifetime in the art world. “I never spent more than $20 on a work. This odd vase [with a damaged octopus on the front] I bought for 5 euros on a stoop sale in Paris and I’ve probably made 20 different paintings of it,” Dawson says. (more…)
The WSJ looks at the upcoming week in Los Angeles, and asks if the city is ready for a step onto the stage of the global art market. “Los Angeles has never had that choke-point week where the auction houses and galleries get the art world’s undivided attention, and we sell big,” says Muys Snijders, U.S. head of postwar and contemporary art for Bonhams, which does hold auctions in the city. “We’re clearly looking to see if Frieze L.A. could become that pinnacle.” (more…)
Nari Ward gets a profile in New York Magazine this week, as he opens his show at the New Museum. “With these shows we want to celebrate the artist, but there also has to be a bit of an argument to be made,” says curator Massimiliano Gioni says. “And the argument we felt could be made about his work was also how he participated in a generation at the beginning of the ’90s, which was part of the beginning of the internationalism of art.” (more…)