Richard Serra, NJ-2 (2016), via Art Observed

Richard Serra’s works are nothing if not an experience; curving, twisting forms that wind the viewer through space, while taking an active hand on shaping the space itself.   Throughout the artist’s career, he has continued to create works that challenge conventional understanding of form, and re-conceptualize notions of gravity in play with his objects.  Working within this familiar domain, Serra is currently presenting three unique, large-scale steel sculptures at Gagosian Britannia Street, London. On view through March 10th, 2017 his new works highlight his mastery of material, and his unique ability to continually pursue a sense of creative vitality.  In some sense, his works here: NJ-2 (previously on view in New York), Rounds: Equal Weight, Unequal Measure, and Rotate, exist as portals of some sort, gateways into a repositioned experience of space, and the act of viewing work within a given series of physical constraints. (more…)

Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, Attesa (1964-1965), via Cardi Gallery

The return of Mexico City’s increasingly vital art week this February signals the first wave of 2017’s major fair events, as much of the world’s contemporary art world converges on the sprawling Mexican capital.  Centered around the large-scale Zona Maco fair and its smaller, younger sister fair Material at the Expo Reforma, the week offers a wide range of events and openings accompanying the market-focused proceedings. (more…)

Breaking into Paris’s Museum of Modern Art and stealing over $112 million in paintings was “one of my easiest and biggest heists,” according to Vjeran Tomic, whose outline of his theft points to a poorly maintained museum security system.   (more…)

The New York Times looks at the recent health of The Met, and its reported $40 million budget deficit that has the institution struggling to decide on its next steps.  “One benefit from all this: It’s brought the departments together with the administration to sit down at a common table, and that’s something,” says Keith Christiansen, the chairman of the Met’s European paintings department.  “Now what do we do to move forward and make sure the mission of the museum is not compromised?”   (more…)

The Museum of Modern Art has made its subtle commentary on the current attempts by Donald Trump to issue an immigration ban, hanging works by artists from the affected nations in its fifth-floor permanent-collection galleries.  (more…)

Mark Leckey, The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things (2013), via Art Observed

British artist Mark Leckey has brought a dense, timely exhibition to bear on the second and third floors of MoMA PS1 this month, as the artist’s first comprehensive U.S. survey brings a range of perspectives on the pace and content of a digitized life.  Questioning and playfully subverting the varied symbolic systems and technological structures that facilitate the landscape of modern life, Leckey’s exhibition is a fitting opening note of 2017, challenging hierarchies of power and image-making in a time when the consistency and reliability of information has become an increasingly troubled subject.

Mark Leckey, GreenScreenRefrigerator (2008-2016), via Art Observed

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Henry Moore, Warrior with Shield (1953—1954), all images courtesy Hauser & Wirth

Taking a historically nuanced approach towards the vastly influential career of British sculptor Henry Moore, Hauser & Wirth is currently presenting an exhibition of early works on paper by the artist.  Exploring the artist’s graphic practice in the years directly following the end of WWII, the exhibition traces Moore’s ongoing engagement with the world of literature, and his engagement with the broader artistic spheres as he continued to hone and develop his practice.  Organized by the Henry Moore Foundation and curated by the artist’s daughter, Mary, the exhibition traces Moore’s impressive creative spirit, and the ever-shifting craft of an artist continuing to work through wartime. (more…)

Miguel Ángel Cárdenas, Green Couple (1966), via Kelly Lee for Art Observed

Spanning a wide range of pieces, including paintings, video, drawing and assemblages by the Colombian-Dutch artist Miguel Ángel Cárdenas, Andrea Rosen’s current exhibition offers a concise examination of the artist’s formal evolution and shifting compositional interests.  Born and raised in Colombia, the artist moved to Amsterdam during the early 1960’s, offering his own interpretation of the threads of pop and conceptual practice dominating the conversations of European practice during the era.   (more…)

Performa has added Joyce Liu and Ivan Pun, and promoted current board member Richard Chang as president of its board.  “In just a little over 10 years, Performa has made remarkable contributions advancing the scholarship and prominence of live performance, and I look forward to working with RoseLee Goldberg and the entire Board and staff to forge new relationships around the globe to support Performa’s ambitious mission and programs,” Chang said in a statement. (more…)

The Uffizi Galleries in Florence has committed to exhibiting more works by female artists, beginning with an examination of Suor Plautilla Nelli, a 16th Century nun regarded as Florence’s first-known female Renaissance painter.  The decision was made in part following conversations with the famed feminist art collective Guerilla Girls.  “This is not just a special initiative to do for three or five years. I don’t know if I’m still going to be director, but I think we could easily go on for 20 years,” says director Eike Schmidt. (more…)

Adam Chinn, the minority partner in Art Agency, Partners, will take on the mantle of COO at Sotheby’s, Art Market Monitor reports.  Formerly head of transaction support, Chinn will continue to look to improve the company’s margins on sales. (more…)

MoMA has appointed Kate Lewis as chief conservator of its David Booth Conservation Center and Department.  Glenn Lowry states that Lewis “will provide exemplary leadership to the museum’s conservation department in order to ensure that its vital work will continue in advancing our state-of-the-art conservation program, and in developing the most innovative conservation practice and scientific research.” (more…)

More than five years after the fallout of the Knoedler Gallery fraud cases, dealer Glafira Rosales was sentenced to time served on Tuesday, closing a major part of the ongoing court cases over the sale of fake 20th Century paintings.  Rosales was granted leniency in the case over reports that she had been abused by her partner, Jose Carlos Bergantiños Diaz. (more…)

The Public Art Fund is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year, and will mark the occasion with an expansive series of video pieces shown across video screens in all five boroughs of New York.  Exhibiting artists include Cory Arcangel, Awol Erizku and Casey Jane Ellison.   (more…)

Lisson Gallery is preparing to release a 1,000-page text celebrating its 50th anniversary, and will embark on a series of special exhibitions underscoring its continued dedication to conceptual and forward-thinking practices.   (more…)

The Dia Art Foundation has added six works by Anne Truitt to its permanent collection, and will put the pieces on long-term view at Dia:Beacon.  “When we bring an artist into our group, which is not very large, we want to bring them in at least at the level of those who have come in in recent years,” Dia’s director, Jessica Morgan, says. (more…)

The Louvre has been temporarily closed after a knife attack on a soldier in the museum that officials are saying was of a “terrorist nature.”  Two men have been apprehended after the attack.  (more…)

The UK has seen a 2 million visitor drop in museum attendance in the past year, The Guardian reports, with the highest rate of decline coming from educational trips.  “These figures are clearly disappointing,” says Alistair Brown, a spokesperson for the Museums Association.  “As schools come under greater pressure, they are finding it harder to devote time to out-of-class activities such as museum visits. Children are increasingly missing out on valuable experiences that bring history, science and culture to life and expose them to new ideas.” (more…)

Ari Wiseman, the deputy director of the Guggenheim Museum, is stepping down to pursue an independent design studio project with his brother in Los Angeles.  The pair’s Frogtown district space will open in 2018. (more…)

Miles Coolidge, Coal Seam, Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel #3 (2013), via Peter Blum

A pairing of large photo works of coal mine walls with smaller photochemical pieces, Peter Blum’s exhibition of works by Miles Coolidge reinvigorates a dialogue around 20th century inquiries into chemistry, art production, and process imagery, presenting shared sensations of something physically visceral, all realized via inkjet pigment or liquid chemicals, realized in a manner evoking the sublime. (more…)

Jane Freilicher, Window (2011), via Art Observed

The city of New York has always served as a grand subject for artists, its towering skyline spreading its shadow over the Hudson and the minds of its resident artists.  At Derek Eller Gallery this month, three of these artists are the subject of an exhibition examining this same impact on their respective practices, framed in particular by the meditative oil paintings of Jane Freilicher.  The artist is joined by Daniel Heidkamp and Mira Dancy, both of whom offer their own interpretations of modern life, both in the city, and beyond.   (more…)

MoMA has released the full list of acquisitions made in the past year, tallying a large-scale painting by Mark Bradford and James Turrell’s Meeting among its new pieces.
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Hannah van Bart, Untitled (2016), via Art Observed

Hannah van Bart’s works serve as particularly intricate visual experiences, often twisting interior and exterior architectural forms around the human body (frequently female), presenting the human figure in a manner that subverts the canvas’s illusions of depth, and the human brain’s understanding of flat surfaces.  Her paintings, presented at Marianne Boesky this month, present themselves as something of a variation on theme as a result, allowing the viewer to trace the artist’s varied explorations of her subjects, and their varied relationships to the world around them.

Hannah van Bart, Untitled (2016), via Art Observed

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Tracey Hejailan-Amon, the New York socialite suing her former husband Maurice Alain Amon after he moved his art collection to avoid her claims during divorce, has lost her case.  Amon’s art collection, including works by Basquiat and Warhol, was moved from the couple’s New York apartment shortly before filing.   (more…)