The Guardian joins Frank Auerbach for a tour of the V&A’s John Constable show this week, as the artist reviews Constable’s longstanding influence on his work.  “With the passage of time,” he says, “Constable has meant more and more and more to me. It is not so much about the more well-known qualities – the clouds and the freshness and the light. It is more that I can’t think of another painter who has invested quite so much in every single image.” (more…)

Artist Glenn Ligon has created a specially-designed tote bag, for sale to benefit Harlem’s Studio Museum.  Based on the artist’s work Untitled (I am Somebody), the bag is co-designed with MZ Wallace, and is available for $225.  “It’s always been a favorite text of mine,” Ligon sayws. “When I was approached about an image for this project, I thought the message of that image and its history, and also how it works on the bag when I saw the sketches, that this is a perfect marriage of these two things.” (more…)

The New York Times reports on the opening of the third and final section of the High Line Park renovation, stretching a loop from 30th to 34th Street and looking out on to the Hudson River.  The $35 million renovation was recently the site of an expansive installation by artist Carol Bove, with more projects planned for the future. (more…)

Christopher Williams, Cutaway model Nikon EM. Shutter:/Electronically governed Seiko metal blade shutter vertical travel with speeds from 1/1000 to 1 second with a manual speed of 1/90th./Meter: Center-weighted Silicon Photo Diode, ASA 25-1600/EV2-18 (with ASA film and 1.8 lens)/Aperture Priority automatic exposure/Lens Mount: Nikon F mount, AI coupling (and later) only/Flash: Synchronization at 1/90 via hot shoe/Flash automation with Nikon SB-E or SB-10 flash units/Focusing: K type focusing screen, not user interchangeable, with 3mm diagonal split image rangefinder/Batteries: Two PX-76 or equivalent/Dimensions: 5.3 × 3.38 × 2.13 in. (135 × 86 × 54 mm), 16.2 oz (460g)/Photography by the Douglas M. Parker Studio, Glendale, California/September 9, 2007– September 13, 2007. via The Museum of Modern Art, 2014.

Now at the Museum of Modern Art through November 2nd, 2014, Christopher Williams: The Production Line of Happiness serves as a comprehensive overview of the 35-year-long career of the influential artist.  Part of the first wave of West Coast Conceptual artists, Christopher Williams graduated from the California Institute of the Arts and went on to become a preeminent conceptual artist and art professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.  His artistic legacy has fervently pursued notions of commercialism, production, capitalism, and process, and the execution of this retrospective very clearly outlines those themes.

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Absolut Vodka has rolled out a new marketing campaign heavily indebted to Andy Warhol’s own designs for the brand in the 1980’s, inscribing a limited edition bottle with a design the artist created for an Absolut print ad in 1985/86.  “Warhol is an icon and Absolut has a fantastic heritage of collaborating with him,” said Dan Brooks, creative director at the Sid Lee New York, the firm that created the campaign: “This is not about being back in the past, rummaging in the past. It’s about looking forward, reinventing.” (more…)

The Financial Times interviews painter Anselm Kiefer in his studio this week, discussing his ongoing approach to Germany’s turbulent history, his upcoming show at the Royal Academy in London, and his own relationship to his work.  “You cannot avoid beauty in a work of art,” he says.  “You can take the most terrible subject and automatically it becomes beautiful. What is sure is that I could never do art about Auschwitz. It is impossible because the subject is too big.” (more…)

The Financial Times analyzes the current protest fervor over the presence of sponsorship and advertising dollars currently at play in the contemporary art world, noting major disputes at the São Paolo and Gwangju Biennials, as well as the ongoing protests over BP’s sponsorship of the Tate.  “Creativity has become . . .instrumentalized both by capitalism and the nation state,” says São Paulo curator Charles Esche. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal interviews Jessica Morgan this week, the newly appointed director of New York’s Dia Foundation.  Morgan, who takes over for Philippe Vergne, recounts her earliest memories of art in her home, and some of her first ambitious projects, including a 2003 show at the Tate Modern.  “It was a bit of a grand failure, but we tried valiantly to make an exhibition that responded to the particular circumstances of Tate Modern and the notion of the museum as a public space.” (more…)

London’s Herald Street Gallery has announced plans to open a temporary space in Golden Square, the Soho area that has received notable attention from a number of galleries in the past several months.  Sadie Coles and Marian Goodman have both open spaces nearby in recent months, and this new exhibition space seems to have intentions on staying for some time.   “Programming will run into 2015,” says a gallery spokesman.

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Lehmann Maupin New York has filed a $10 million Wrongful Eviction lawsuit against its Chelsea landlord, 293 Tenth Ave. Corp., run by Michael Silvermintz.  The suit claims that Silvermintz’s firm sent an eviction notice late last year, but failed to produce the demolition permit required by the lease.  Since then, the gallery claims that the landlord has “engaged in a systematic pattern of conduct that unreasonably interferes with and obstructs plaintiff’s use and occupancy of the subject premises.”  (more…)

James Bishop, Slate (1972), All images courtesy David Zwirner Gallery

Now through October 25^th, David Zwirner’s 537 West 20^th Street location is showing a selection of both recent and historically significant work by James Bishop, an American artist who, through the characteristic opacity and ethereality of his work, has come to be known for the delicate language of abstraction his compositions reveal.  Bishop, working since the early 1960s, has forged a strongly individualistic language of space and form in his work, utilizing careful layerings of paint into geometric patterns in large-scale, shown here alongside small-scale works on paper, which Bishop has produced since 1986.

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Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Slim (2014), all images courtesy Pace London

Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based artist Nathaniel Mary Quinn presents his first major solo exhibition this month, on view at Pace Gallery’s London location. The artist’s works, large-scale abstract figurative works, are piecemeal constructions, representative of Quinn’s own identity and influenced by an enormously challenging upbringing.

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Frieze has announced the list of 20 artists who will be included in this year’s outdoor sculpture park, accompanying the fair proceedings in London’s Regent’s Park, among them Yayoi Kusama, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Martin Creed, and Thomas Schütte.  “Unique in the world’s art fairs, this year’s Frieze Sculpture Park is an intriguing and delightful breath of fresh air featuring artists from across three generations,” Curator Clare Lilley said in a statement.  (more…)

MoMA has announced details of There Will Never Be Silence, an album paying tribute to John Cage’s monumental work 4’33”, and examining the intersections of silence, sound, and the principles of modern recording.  The record, which will be available at MoMA PS1’s ArtBook Fair later this month, includes pieces by Gang Gang Dance, Kevin Beasley and Yasunao Tone.   (more…)

An anti-drug trade law blocking anonymous cash purchases and requiring more federal oversight on high-worth transactions in Mexico has had a stifling effect on the country’s art galleries, preventing the anonymous purchases that are often the norm at the high end of the market.   “This has obviously affected the sales. Because there are people who are afraid, and they say, ‘I’m going to wait,’ or, ‘I don’t want to buy,’ ” says auction house director, Luis C. Lopez Morton. “They feel uncomfortable. They feel that the government is watching them.” (more…)

Richard Prince’s recently executed series of prints, created using the actual photos of celebrities’ Instagram accounts, have been selling strongly in a private sale through Gagosian, the New York Post reports.  An unconfirmed report has priced the works at up to $100,000.   (more…)

The nation of Luxembourg has opened a new freeport within its borders, where valuables like fine art can be traded and stored without paying any taxes or customs.  “There are a lot more transactions in the art market and it has become far more global, with increasing numbers of collectors in Russia, the Middle East and China,” says Arts Economics researcher Clare McAndrew. (more…)

Dan Colen, The Pastoral Symphony (2012), all images © Dan Colen, Courtesy Gagosian Gallery, Photography by Christopher Burke

On view currently at Gagosian New York is an exhibition of new paintings by American artist Dan Colen, which aims to question the nature of painterly practice, particularly focusing on the intersections of materials, chance and the interactions of these elements with the actual intent of the artist.  The Miracle paintings are based on Disney stills, particularly from Fantasia, famous for its pairing of musical compositions with animated sequences.  In similar form, the pieces on view walk a fine line between abstraction and representation, drawing on the audience’s collective memory of the film.

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There’s any number of ways to approach Roman Opalka, whose work sits at the center of Dominique Lévy’s first show of the fall season (and the self-professed “most important show the gallery may ever host” according to Lévy herself).  One is through the visual content of his work, which is perhaps the most recognizable point of access.  Taking minimalist conceptual action to one of its natural conclusions, Opalka abandoned a gesturally abstract career in 1965, pursuing a new project: the painting, number by number, of the artist’s endless count to infinity.

Roman Opalka, Détail – Photo 5055607 (1965/1), via Dominique Lévy (more…)

The Tate Modern has announced the attendance figures from the just-closed Matisse Cut-Outs show, which tallied over 500 million visitors during its run, making it the most highly attended exhibition in museum history.  “The fact that the works have not been brought together for 40 years captured people’s imaginations,” said Director Nicholas Serota. (more…)

Continuing its ongoing series of artist collaborations, New York streetwear brand Supreme has announced a capsule collection incorporating the work of Raymond Pettibon.  The Californian artist will lend his work to a pair of skateboard decks, a hooded work jacket, a hooded sweatshirt, and two tee-shirts.   (more…)

John Baldessari, Your Name in Lights (2014), via Andrea Nguyen for Art Observed

Artist John Baldessari has brought his popular Your Name in Lights piece to Paris, allowing 100,000 people to submit their name in hopes of seeing it emblazoned on the façade of the Monnaie de Paris, shining out on the Seine between the Pont Neuf and Pont des Arts. (more…)

Wolfgang Tillmans’s Berlin gallery Between Bridges has embarked on a new project, creating an accommodating space for the appreciation of classic pop and dance albums.  “The Playback Room” as it is called, is currently featuring Colourbox, the 1980’s dance act behind “Pump Up the Volume.”  “Some records are just perfect artworks, but you just cannot go anywhere to listen to the way the musicians heard it at the mastering stage,” said Tillmans. “While you can play them on your stereo or iPhone there is never a space dedicated to them and you can never listen in studio quality.” (more…)

The Texas Department of Transportation has reached a decision to classify the Prada Marfa installation by Elmgreen and Dragset as a museum, thus saving it from a possible removal.  “TxDOT appreciates and values the cultural significance of Prada Marfa, and we are happy to have found a win-win solution that keeps it in its current location,” said department deputy executive John Barton. (more…)