Luke O’Halloran, Ace of Clubs (2021), via Art Observed

Bungalow’s inaugural pop-up space on Orchard Street presents a show of young artists that is equal bits fest and flesh. As you enter the gallery, a re-CAPTCHA inspired work by Mira Dayal cryptically sets the tone. Imbibe, it reads, as if a catechism for absorbing the bounty that awaits. A vertiginous work nearby, presented by Thomas Blair (2021) seems to wink at you with its illusory moiré hatchings. Adjusting your eyes beyond the painting’s edge reveals a beguiling charade of subversion and submission. This is nowhere more apparent than in an untitled work of Justine Neuberger’s where blushing pastels attempt to soften the taut brawn of a BDSM tussle. The deftness in draughtsmanship is something to marvel at, as equally are the brawling scenes of domination on display. Shards of pink and yellow by Kiyoshi Kaneshiro (2021) resound with unexpected harmony as the porcelain shrapnel inheres a composition that is at once fragile and fraught.  (more…)

The White House has turned its regulatory attention towards the art world, calling out “built-in opacity, lack of stable and predictable pricing, and inherent cross-border transportability of goods sold, make the market optimal for illicit value transfer, sanctions evasion, and corruption,” in a recent report.  (more…)

The Desert X Biennial will return to Saudia Arabia for its second edition, Art Newspaper reports. “Following the success of the inaugural edition in 2020, Desert X AlUla is continuing in sustaining the artistic and natural heritage of the region by placing visionary contemporary works by Saudi and international artists amidst this extraordinary and majestic desert landscape,” says Nora Aldabal, arts and creative planning director at the Royal Commission for AlUla, the government body run on behalf of the Crown Prince. (more…)

Nicolas Party, Trees (2020), via Karma

Currently on view at Karma’s New York exhibition space, artist Nicolas Party is presenting Watercolor, a solo exhibition of around fifty recent watercolor paintings by the artist that underscores his commitment to the medium and his interest in expanding its grammar and possibilities. The show, which marks a specific focus in the artist’s broader output, offers a fascinating look into Party’s more subtle and small-scale compositions. (more…)

Vivarium (Installation View), via Anfisa Vrubel for Art Observed

Tucked away on a quiet side street in the heart of Mexico City’s San Miguel Chapultepec neighborhood, the new JO-HS Gallery is a stone’s throw away from the frenetic energy of the city, and yet a world apart. Draped by a cascade of ivy, the two-story modernist building that houses the gallery was designed by the architect Carlos Herrera in 1981, and served as his studio and workspace for several decades. It was recently taken over and renovated by Elisabeth Johs, curator and owner of the eponymous gallery. Inspired by the vibrant art and culture scene in Mexico City, Johs set out to create a new type of cultural space that would be a hybrid between a gallery, studio space, and artist residency. (more…)

Jenny Morgan at Mother Gallery

With the proceedings of Art Week Miami winding on, the halls at the Miami Beach Convention Center continue to draw massive crowds of both buyers and visitors, its luxe appointments and impressive stock of established blue chip works commanding big headlines and even bigger price tags. But across Biscayne Bay, the New Art Dealers Alliance had kicked off its annual take on the Miami Fair Week. NADA Miami, set up inside the Ice Palace Film Studios, puts itself forward as showcasing new art and to celebrating the rising talents from around the globe, exploring new or underexposed art that is not typical of the “art establishment,” by their words. NADA Miami is also the one of the only major American art fairs to be produced by a non-profit organization, and is recognized as a much needed alternative assembly of the world’s youngest and strongest art galleries dealing with emerging contemporary art.

Hou Zichao at Downs & Ross

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Urs Fischer at Sadie Coles HQ

With the conclusion of a challenging year of recovery for the International art world, this year’s edition of the Art Basel fair franchise comes as a welcome return, following a subdued 2020. Bringing together the global art community for a week of fairs, exhibitions and parties on the streets of Miami and Miami Beach, the fair and its satellites has once again opened in full swing, spanning the streets and halls of the city. At the center of the week’s proceedings is, of course, the Art Basel event, the mega-fair spanning the Miami Beach Convention Center’s recently renovated halls.  With precautions in place for Covid-19 concerns under the spectre of the Omicron variant, the fair still managed to bring forth an impressive and well-presented event. 

Yoshitomo Nara at Blum and Poe

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Dealer Jeffrey Deitch will represent the estate of Rammellzee, the prolific graffiti artist, painter, philosopher, and musician.  “Rammellzee was not at all focused on the art world when we met or aware of how if functioned but was essentially just looking for a platform and an audience for his ideas. I decided to take Ramm under my wing, so to speak, and introduced him to some of the friends I was making downtown, like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Charlie Ahearn, Edit deAk, and Patti Astor. All saw he was brilliant and believed he was a fascinating artist who should be known and shown,” says his contemporary, musician Fab 5 Freddy. (more…)

A piece in Art Newspaper this week documents the string of Los Angeles galleries setting up shop in New York. “I think the move is giving us the chance to work more closely and be in more constant dialogue with the best institutions in the country,” says dealer François Ghebaly, who is opening a space in the city. “Selling art at this moment is not difficult, it’s more a question of who we want to sell to.” (more…)

Andy Dixon at Over The Influence, via Art Observed

Located just off the beachside drag of Ocean Drive, amid the sandy hills of Miami Beach and the Atlantic Ocean, Untitled Art Fair has once again raised its posts and opened its doors for its annual show during Miami Art Week. Place amid meandering beachgoers and booming soundsystems, as well as the annual throng of Art Basel Miami Beach visitors, the fair has one of the more unique positions in a week full of unique offerings, one that balances some of the most familiar sights of the city with the impressive work on view inside.

Untitled Art Fair, via Art Observed

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A piece in the New York Times this week documents galleries’ recent trend towards preselling works at their fair booths, and the craft of selling work at a fair more broadly. “Managing expectations is an art,” says David Zwirner. “You’ll be successful in this industry if you master that. If you don’t, you won’t.” (more…)

The Art Newspaper has a piece this week on the collection of billionaire Larry Ellison, which includes four Van Gogh works, most notably one that hung in the hotel room of JFK the night before the president’s assassination in Dallas. (more…)

Maria Lassnig, Napoleon und Brigitte Bardot (1961), via Petzel

On view this month at Petzel Gallery in New York, the gallery presents a meticulously curated look at the work of Maria Lassnig during her time in Paris. Maria Lassnig: The Paris Years, 1960–68, showcases a range of pieces rarely seen in the U.S., a formative set of works that show her exploring and honing what would become her iconic mode of portraiture and abstraction.  (more…)

New York’s Department of Cultural Affairs will give the Brooklyn Museum a capital infusion of $50 million, making it the largest gift in museum history. “I’m really grateful to the mayor and the commissioner of Cultural Affairs,” says director Anne Pasternak. “When I came to them with this very big idea, they actually took the meeting, and they took it seriously.” (more…)

Frieze has tapped Christine Messineo as director of both its LA and NYC fair events. “As a former exhibitor, I understand the commercial, educational and creative dynamics that make Frieze a unique place for discovery,” she says. “I’m excited to embark on this venture in both cities, places I love and have called home.” (more…)

The Garage in Moscow will launch a massive expansion project, headed by SANAA. “Garage has always had a strong focus on the architecture of public spaces and their history, and this is very much in line with our practice. The Hexagon has a particular charm and we have tried to retain that in our design,” say architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa.  (more…)

LACMA curator Christine Y. Kim has been named the inaugural Christine Y. Britton Family Curator-at-Large for the Tate Modern. “Christine is a hugely talented and experienced curator, with a reputation for showcasing the incredible diversity of North American contemporary art,” says Tate director of collections Gregoir Muir. “I’m delighted that she’ll be joining the team in this role. As an American living in the United States, Christine will also bring on-the-ground expertise to Tate’s activities in the region.” (more…)

Frank Stella has an interview this week with the New York Times, as he installs a new sculpture outside of the World Trade Center, and reflects on the course of his career. “People used to talk about artists and say things like, ‘Oh, now he’s lost it,’” he says. “And what now seems like minuscule phases and changes in the work were at the time the end of a career. It was kind of a joke. But it was serious in the way people reacted to it.” (more…)

Art critic Dave Hickey, a writer known for his keen critical eye and prolific output, has passed away at the age of 82. “People despise critics because people despise weakness,” Hickey was quoted in 2002, “and criticism is the weakest thing you can do in writing.” (more…)

Experts have revealed a fifth version of painter John Constable’s The Glebe Farm, and will go on sale at Sotheby’s. “It’s amazing, really, that in this day and age these things happen and there are still these great masterpieces out there, undiscovered and unknown,” says Julian Gascoigne, director of early British paintings at Sotheby’s. (more…)

The Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Biennale will be handed over to Estonia this year, part of a project to welcome new nations into the Giardini. “The one-time transfer of the pavilion shows our appreciation for Estonia in the field of the visual arts, while at the same time giving the Netherlands the opportunity to step out of our comfort zone and see what freedom it gives us when we step outside the walls of the pavilion,” says Eelco van der Lingen, Director of the Mondriaan Fund, which helped oversee the project. (more…)

Artists Julie Mehretu and Kehinde Wiley will create new credit card designs for American Express’s U.S. Platinum Card, part of a project by American Express that also includes a $1 million gift to the Studio Museun.“We are so thrilled and honored that American Express will support the Studio Museum so we can offer deeply meaningful experiences to audiences in Harlem and beyond,” Thelma Golden, the Studio Museum’s director and chief curator. (more…)

Lehmann Maupin is expanding in Seoul, moving to a larger gallery in the Hannam-dong area of the city. “We have seen a growth in young collectors who’ve been behind their screens for the past 14 months, and they are now contributing to a real buzz in the art scene,” says Rachel Lehmann. “The biggest supporters of Korean artists are the Koreans,” she adds. (more…)

David Salle, Sky King (1998), via Art Observed

Open now at the Brant Foundation Art Study Center, painter David Salle is the subject of comprehensive survey of the the artist’s work, exploring a selection of works culled from both the Brant Collections and from a series of international loans. Underscoring the artist’s continued investigation and elaboration on a range of visual languages and histories of painterly craft, particularly in his exploration and visual mash-ups and shifting perceptual frames, the show showcases Salle’s evolution, over 40 years across a broad, yet a tightly controlled visual syntax.

David Salle, Ice Flow (2001), via Art Observed

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