Columbia University has announced plans for an Uptown Triennial, based around artists living, working and showing in Upper Manhattan.  “It’s really an important initiative for the gallery, the university, and the broader community,” says director and chief curator of Columbia’s Wallach Art Gallery, Deborah Cullen.  “It’s a no-brainer, really, to have a format, a regular mechanism for the gallery to work with the boarder community. . . . Our neighbors, the local community should be our first audience.” (more…)

Erwin Wurm, Modernist Pickle (2016), via Art Observed

Currently on view at Lehmann Maupin’s Chelsea exhibition space, Austrian artist Erwin Wurm is presenting a concise summary of his recent work, installing a range of sculptures in his broad practice that explore the act of both participation and subversion in the landscape of modernity.  Including both quasi-participatory work alongside a series of more static pieces, the show allows Wurm to run through an impressive range of both his practice, and his broader critical project. (more…)

Willem Dafoe will play Vincent Van Gogh in a new biopic directed by Julian Schnabel, centered around the artist’s time in Arles and Auvers-sur-Oise, France.  “This is a film about painting and a painter and their relationship to infinity. It is told by a painter. It contains what I felt were essential moments in his life, this is not the official history – it’s my version. One that I hope could make you closer to him,” Schnabel says. (more…)

The Guardian has a piece analyzing the implications for last week’s auction sales in New York, and what the record-setting Basquiat piece holds for the broader health of the art market. The piece points to continued growth among Asian collectors, and hints that a market recovery might be on its way. (more…)

John Baldessari welcomes the LA Times into his studio this week, as he prepares for a series of new exhibitions, and continues to make new works.  “I’m just messy, I don’t put things away,” he says of his cluttered studio. “I don’t throw things away in my mind, either; I keep them there.” (more…)

Jason Rhoades, My Madinah. In pursuit of my ermitage… (2004), via Art Observed

Exploring a range of works from the career of Jason Rhoades, Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles has assembled a challenging exhibition for its spring calendar, one that feels particularly resonant in the tense geopolitical situations of 2017.  Installations, 1994-2006, drives at Rhoades’s shared language of consumption and mythology, space and commerce, as a fertile site for the investigation of the modern world, and the cultural collisions stemming from its increasing interconnectivity.   (more…)

The New York Times has a piece on recent museum projects in Los Angeles, many of which are based around the renovation of previously abandoned or disused spaces.   “When you find something this beautiful, you want to preserve and restore it,” said Maurice Marciano, founder of the Marciano Art foundation. (more…)

UK Culture minister Matt Hancock has vocally opposed providing centralized government funding for the arts.  “The worst thing that we can do is to incentivize local authorities to reduce further their arts funding by saying that we will replace it with central government money,” he says.  “To solve one problem, that at the moment is only in some local authority areas, we would incentivise other local authorities to do the wrong thing.” (more…)

The Art Newspaper profiles Mass MOCA’s major new expansion project, set to open next week, and its focus on long-running projects and monumental installations.  “What would you do if you had the opportunity to have not just a one-night stand, but a deep commitment that would go on for ten, 15, 25 years?” says Joseph Thompson, the museum director. (more…)

Hauser & Wirth is using its newly renovated rooftop space at its 22nd Street location to host a summer film series, focused around presenting “a vibrant collection of cinematic works that illustrate the many ways in which the moving image provides a rich source of inspiration for visual artists.”  Matthew Day Jackson will take on the curatorial role for the first edition of the event, held June 7th. (more…)

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (1982), via Sotheby’s

A pair of auctions capped off the May Evening Sales this evening, as Phillips and Sotheby’s concluded their respective Post-War and Contemporary marquee sales.  Notching a number of impressive records at both auction houses, the evening was an impressively strong final night for a week that made good on promises for the market’s slow but steady recovery. (more…)

Cy Twombly, Leda and the Swan (1962), via Christie’s

The week’s long stream of major auction sales saw another strong outing by Christie’s last night, with the auction house cruising through a 71 lot outing to reach a final tally of $448.1 million with only a handful of pieces going unsold.  The sale, which saw an overwhelming push from American buyers, meets early rumblings about a recovering market, and hints at continued growth over the coming months. (more…)

Josh Smith has “parted ways” with Luhring Augustine, Art News reports, after several years working together.  The gallery has also added Sanya Kantarovsky to its roster of artists.   (more…)

Françoise Nyssen has been named France’s new Culture Minister, formerly of the country’s famed Actes Sud publishing house.  “I hope she’ll have the means to create a visionary cultural policy that gives a social link in a divided and bruised country,” says artist Laurent Grasso. “Artists are rarely consulted [on policy]; I hope that she will receive some of us for a discussion.”  (more…)

The New York Times looks at the appeal of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work, and the factors that have contributed to his work achieving such high prices in past years.  “As the market was accelerating, you had distinguished connoisseurs of modern art who had no hesitation about putting Basquiat beside Picasso,” says Jeffrey Deitch. “Already he was in a different league than almost any other contemporary artist.” (more…)

Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition with Plane in Projection (1915), via Sotheby’s

The Impressionist and Modern Sale at Sotheby’s this past evening has closed out the early week’s offerings in that market, capping a $173.8 million sale that saw few major highlights or sparks in bidding, a marked contrast from the occasional fireworks of Monday’s sale at Christie’s.  Despite early claims by Sotheby’s that the auction market was gradually strengthening again after several tepid sales in past months, the past evening’s outing in New York saw somewhat modest results that paled in comparison.  The sale’s sell-through rate hovered at 74%, tempered by the early withdrawal of an Egon Schiele work some had anticipated would reach over $30 million. (more…)

The Hirshhorn has smashed attendance figures with its recently closed Yayoi Kusama Infinity Rooms exhibition, notching a total of 475,000 visitors to the museum over the last several months.  The figure is the highest-recorded spring attendance number since the museum opened, and double its average attendance.

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Abby Bangser, who was named artistic director of Frieze Art Fairs for the Americas and Asia in 2015, is moving to a new post at the Dia Art Foundaion, Art News reports.  The new post will aid in strategic partnerships and outreach, alongside managing far-reaching works like Walter de Maria’s The Lightning Field in New Mexico, among other projects.  “As Dia evolves, the need for strategic planning and focused partnerships becomes even more critical to support our mission,” Dia’s director, Jessica Morgan, says. (more…)

The divorce proceedings for billionaire Harry Macklowe and his wife Linda see the developer claiming he paid for every work in their art collection (valued at over $1 billion), despite the works being listed under Linda’s name in various documents.  “He also swore that he has paid for every painting, sculpture, antiquity, photograph, graphic and tapestry in their collection since he and Linda Macklowe were married 58 years ago,” a representative said of his assertion under oath during proceedings. (more…)

Contantin Brancusi, La Muse Endormie (1913), via Christie’s

The first auction of the week has come and gone in New York, as Christie’s notched an impressive outing for its Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale, confirming expectations of a solid return of buying interest in the secondary market.   Considering the past several outings for the auction houses in London and New York, where only a handful of buyers were reportedly keeping the market afloat, this week’s sales hit a different note entirely, with ample phone bids that saw one major auction record fall with Constantin Brancusi’s La Muse Endormie demolishing expectations at over $57 million, and marquee lots performing quite well over the course of the evening.  (more…)

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (1982), via Sothebys

Following a bustling two weeks of sales and shows, focus returns to New York City this week for a marathon run of auction sales that will set the stage for the summer season, offering one a chance for collectors to get their hands on marquee works before Art Basel in June marks a break in market action before the fall auction season.  Five sales in a stretch of only four days should offer buyers a range of options, with both Impressionist/Modern and Post-War/Contemporary categories seeing ample opportunities to buy.

Pablo Picasso, Femme assise, robe bleue (1939), via Christie’s (more…)

Mark Bradford, 105194 (2016), via Art Observed

Since his announcement as the solo artist for this year’s U.S. Pavilion Venice Biennale, Mark Bradford has been working intently on a series of works for this week’s opening proceedings in the Giardini.  Yet even as he labored to complete a body of new paintings and sculpture in response to his selection as a chief representative of the United States, the troubling election of Donald Trump as president sent shockwaves through his work, and perhaps equally the framework through which it will be viewed.  Originally charted as a process of reflection and response to his past life and work, and the socially-engaged energies that the artist has long embraced, notes of American political strife, rage and uncertainty now seem to preclude the exhibition. (more…)

An article in the WSJ this week notes the increased willingness for sellers to put trophy works on the auction block this week, as signs of a recovering market hint at strong outings this week in New York.  “The market isn’t frothy, but it’s strong and sensible,” said Robert Manley, Phillips’ world-wide co-head of 20th century and contemporary art. (more…)

As MoMA prepares to open the landmark Robert Rauschenberg retrospective this month, the NYT has a lengthy profile piece on the artist, charting his early development as an artist, and his relentlessly inventive drive, including pilfering his friends’ objects to make some of his iconic combines.  “The next time I saw it was at the Leo Castelli Gallery,” artist Dorothea Rockburne recalls of finding her own quilt in Rauschenberg’s work Bed. “My first thought was: Son of a bitch! We were close friends.” (more…)