The Guardian interviews Tracey Emin this week, as the artist showcases a series of new works she made while undergoing cancer treatment. “I say something and it’s considered to be ‘a confession,’” she says. “I’m not confessing that I had cancer, I’m not confessing that I’ve got a urostomy bag. I have had cancer and I have a urostomy bag. It’s a statement.” (more…)

James Turrell will unveil a new skyspace in the Colorado town of Green Mountain Falls. The work will go on view this July. (more…)

Agnes Martin, The Distillation of Color (Installation View), via Art Observed

Marking the most recent in its exhibitions from the estate of Agnes Martin, Pace Gallery’s The Distillation of Color delves back into the artist’s tightly-honed minimalism to explore her nuanced investigations of color, allowing subtle bands and hints at varied shades to pervade her works. For Martin, painting was defined by an ongoing exploration of its capacity to express a vision of beauty born of intuitive inspiration. In this most recent show, the gallery takes this concept and pushes it into the very notion of color as sensation.  (more…)

Rachel Libeskind at Signs and symbols, via Art Observed

After a year off, the New Art Dealers Alliance has relaunched its ongoing New York exhibition project, the third edition of NADA House, returning to Governors Island with 66 galleries, non-profits, artist-run spaces, and curators, presenting over 100 artists. The collaborative, public exhibition, now open and running through to August, continues in an expanded format, with gallery presentations in over 50 rooms in three neighboring turn-of-the-century colonial revival buildings.

Ken Grimes at Ricco/Maresca Gallery via Art Observed

(more…)

Wangechi Mutu (Installation View), via Gladstone

Entering Gladstone Gallery in New York, artist Wangechi Mutu’s surreal, serpentine sculptures greet the viewer with a mixture of minimalist, elegant beauty and unnerving, otherworldly poise, somewhere between lyrical, classical sculpture and the surreal forms of H.R. Giger. Drawing upon her sculptural practice, a core aspect of her work, this installation brings to life otherworldly alternatives to the systemic modes of representation portrayed throughout global traditions in art. Through an incisive re-examination of relations between the body, the natural world, and social forces, the works in this exhibition represent a new kind of hybridized humanity and iconography through the artist’s intuitive and forward-thinking eye.

(more…)

Rashid Johnson at Hauser & Wirth, via Art Observed

Over a year since the last iteration of the Frieze art fair took place in Los Angeles, and coming down on the other side of the turbulence of the last year under the Covid-19 pandemic, Frieze New York has touched down at The Shed on Manhattan’s West Side, a re-entry into the annual run of blue-chip events that have been few and far between, or confined to an online edition for the last year. Here, with an abundance of caution and a range of measures put in place to limit the number of attendees in the space at a given time, the fair still made something of a return to its old form.  (more…)

A 1917 Egon Schiele restituted by Museum Ludwig in Cologne will go on sale at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern sale May 12th in New York, with an estimate of $2.5 million–$3.5 million. (more…)

A piece in the New York Times this week looks at the current turbulence at MOCA LA, and Klaus Biesenbach’s attempts to move beyond it. “We’re coming out of a year of a lot of internal focus, pause, reflection,” he says. “Every day is a chance to improve.” (more…)

The estate of Isamu Noguchi has left Pace Gallery to join White Cube. “Isamu Noguchi’s extraordinary oeuvre places him among the masters of Modern sculpture,” says Jay Jopling, the founder and chief executive of White Cube. (more…)

Former MoMA PS1 curator Peter Eleey has joined the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, Art News reports. “I am thrilled to join UCCA and its terrific team during this exciting period of the museum’s growth,” he says. “I look forward to working together with the staff to engage new audiences and build on UCCA’s pioneering legacy of vibrant programming.” (more…)

Eli Broad, the billionaire art collector, entrepreneur and philanthropist, has passed away at the age of 87. Broad was a force in Los Angeles, redefining and reshaping the city’s art scene.“As a businessman Eli saw around corners, as a philanthropist he saw the problems in the world and tried to fix them, as a citizen he saw the possibility in our shared community, and as a husband, father and friend he saw the potential in each of us,” says Gerun Riley, president of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. (more…)

Mathieu Malouf at House of Gaga, via Art Observed

It’s been a challenge to imagine the same art world in the wake of Covid-19. Even as spaces start to reopen and events prepare for their first outings in over a year, the needed precautions and considerations have made for both questions and reinventions of just what a massive show or fair might look like. Enter the 2021 edition of Zona Maco, a notably reduced affair by comparison with previous years, the exhibition has spread out across a series of galleries and temporary in Mexico City, allowing for a more engaged approach towards the city while cutting back on the large-crowds of the usual Banamex crush.  (more…)

Marie-Josée Kravis, the current president emerita of MoMA, will replace Leon Black as chair of the museum’s board, the New York Times reports.“I know it’s a huge responsibility,” she said during a meeting this week. “I will try to live up to it.” (more…)

Jeff Koons has joined Pace Gallery, ending his long relationship with both David Zwirner and Gagosian Gallery. “I always liked the idea of having more of a home gallery, that if people were interested in work they would know directly where to go,” Koons says. (more…)

The Armory Show is planning a September edition in New York, running from September 9th – 12th. “For over 25 years, the Armory Show has been a cornerstone of New York City’s cultural scene and an economic driver for the global art market,” says director Nicole Berry. “We believe NYC will emerge from this pandemic stronger than ever, and we’re excited to anchor the fall arts season at this pivotal moment when the city’s cultural organizations are reopening and experiencing art in-person is becoming possible again for everyone.” (more…)

The Maine Attorney General has alleged that the lawyers handling Robert Indiana’s estate were significantly overpaid after charging $8.4 million to handle the artist’s legal matters. “The attorney general remains concerned that the very existence of the foundation is threatened by the liquidation of estate assets,” the office says. (more…)

The Andy Warhol Foundation has filed an en banc petition with the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reconsider a court ruling against it over a Warhol depiction of Prince. “We respectfully disagree with the panel’s decision in this case,” says Roman Martinez, of Latham & Watkins, which represents the foundation. “The fair use doctrine plays an essential role in protecting free expression and advancing core First Amendment values.  We are hopeful the Second Circuit will reconsider its ruling and confirm that Andy Warhol’s transformative works of art are fully protected by law.” (more…)

Simon Denny, Mine (2021), via Petzel

Currently on at Petzel Gallery in New York, artist Simon Denny has launched a new body of work under the title Mine. The product of a multi-year project exploring themes of technology, labor, and humanity’s relationship with the earth, Mine touches down in New York in a fitting time for consideration, as Amazon workers contend with failed unionization efforts, cryptocurrency once again dominates the news cycle and we move further into the post-digital landscape. (more…)

Art handling firms UOVO and Crozier have both announced expansion plans, with UOVO opening a facility in Miami, and Crozier making an acquisition of British logistics company Martinspeed. (more…)

A group of researchers are claiming they have created a shade of white said to be the “whitest on record.”  (more…)

Arghavan Khosravi, On Being a Woman (2021), via Rachel Uffner

Curently on at Rachel Uffner in New York, artist Arghavan Khosravi’s marks her first solo exhibition at the gallery with an impressive selection of new works building upon previous explorations of techniques taken from historical painting genres — such the use of stacked perspective in Persian miniature painting — while also incorporating new sculptural and three-dimensional elements that further emphasize qualities of illusion and artifice. Titled In Between Places, the show is a striking introduction to the artist’s work. (more…)

Rirkrit Tiravanija has joined David Zwirner, the gallery has announced, and will open a show in Hong Kong in 2022. “Rirkrit Tiravanija is a longtime friend,” Zwirner says. “I have known him as long as I have had a gallery, and have been collecting his work since the early 1990s. Rirkrit is a transformational artist.” (more…)

A Claude Monet work, Le Bassin aux Nymphéas, estimated at $40 million, will close out Sotheby’s New York Impressionist and modern art evening sale May 12. (more…)

Senior Curator Mia Locks is out at MOCA LA after reporting resistance over diversity initiatives at the museum. “MOCA’s leadership is not yet ready to fully embrace IDEA,” she said in an email, referring to a new initiative designed to promote inclusion and diversity. (more…)