The recently announced dissolution of the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC is looking to take longer than anticipated, NPR reports.  Concerns over the architecture of the space and any intended changes or repairs will require an extensive review process, and the logistics of George Washington University taking over the Corcoran’s art school while the National Gallery of Art takes over the collection.  “The minute you start touching that building, which is to get the infrastructure of that building straightened out, there will be major ADA problems, Americans with Disabilities Act problems,” says former Corcoran director David Levy, “because that building was built at a time when nobody thought about those things.” (more…)

The Wall Street Journal looks at the growing market for prints, drawings and sketches by major artists, which can command impressive sales figures, and have even paid off for many investors in the high-demand state of the current auction market. Prints and sketches by Warhol and Calder, among others, have doubled or tripled in price in a matter of a few years.  “These are the names everybody knows—they feel safe for people, especially when no one quite knows exactly how long a good run is going to last,” said Meredith Hilferty, director of Rago Arts & Auction Center in New Jersey. (more…)

Tate Britain head Penelope Curtis is under attack this week by critic Waldemar Januszczak, who has called for the museum director to step down or be replaced, citing low attendance and a series of allegedly poor exhibition plans.  “I first noticed what an appalling exhibition-maker she was when she co-curated the Modern British Sculpture show at the Royal Academy in 2011,” Januszczak wrote. “It was, quite simply, one of the worst exhibitions I have ever seen. Subsequent shows at Tate Britain have continued the trend.” (more…)

A recent article in the Financial Times traces the past 40 years of the art market in conjunction with the term “the art world,” and questions the state of the market as the increased focus on art as an investment opportunity continues to drive blue-chip artists to ever-higher sales records. (more…)

Laurie Simmons, How We See/Look 1/Julia (2014)

Currently on at Salon 94 Bowery is an exhibition of new photos by Laurie Simmons, based on her research on a subgenre of Japanese cosplay called “Kigurumi,” in which characters called “Dollers” or “Kiggers” change their identities, often flipping genders or becoming cartoon characters, by wearing onesie spandex suits and cartoonish masks.

(more…)

The Guggenheim Museum seems to have won its dispute with Paul McCarthy and Mike Bouchet. The artists’ Bilbao photo installation (featuring a photo of the museum as a battleship) has been removed removed after the Guggenheim stated its disapproval.  The Guggenheim has stated that it “respects the artists’ rights and it likewise protects its own image rights.” (more…)

Cécile Eluard, daughter of surrealist poet Paul Eluard, is interviewed in the Guardian this week, recounting her experiences growing up surrounded by some of the most famous artists of the day, including Max Ernst, Dali, and Pablo Picasso, who would take her to boxing matches.  “He never got old,” Eluard says of Picasso. “I never felt the 40-odd years between us. We would go and have a swim in Vallauris, I would come and visit him whenever I liked in his studio in rue des Grands Augustins in Paris. He would show me his little sculptures made of bric-à-brac. He was so alive, so earthy, so absolutely not abstract!”   (more…)

Peter Coffin, Untitled (Unfinished Hand Holding a Bell Bubble) (2013), via Art Observed

Currently on view at CANADA Gallery in New York is a selection of works from Agathe Snow, Peter Coffin and Willy Le Maitre, and featuring a bizarre series of assemblage, sculpture and photography appropriately titled The Weird Show.  Spread out along the gallery’s long, narrow rooms, the group of works on view offer a look at the work of the trio through a similar framework of pastiched cultural formats. (more…)

A recent installation by Paul McCarthy and Mike Bouchet in Bilbao, Spain has raised the ire of the Guggenheim Museum.  Depicting the museum’s Frank Gehry-designed facade covered in guns as if it was a battleship, Powered A-Hole Spanish Donkey Sport Dick Drink Donkey Dong Dongs Sunscreen Model has drawn a removal notice from the museum, which claims copyright over the museum’s image.  “We believe that the image displayed on the said property includes connotations that discredit this institution, so we urge you to withdraw the said canvas ASAP,” Alba Urresola, the Guggenheim’s associate director of legal and internal control, said in a notice sent to Bouchet’s gallery.  (more…)

A new documentary on Ai Weiwei, The Fake Case, is preparing for release, profiling the artist’s release from his 81-day detention under the Chinese state, the artist’s response after his imprisonment, and his preparation for S.A.C.R.E.D., a series of works that documented his time while he was held without bail for tax evasion, a charge one person in his film notes doesn’t even exist in China.  “Nobody in China would believe it, because nobody pays taxes in China anyways, so there’s no such thing,” they say. (more…)

A new venture has opened its doors in London, allowing interested buyers to purchase shares in art on view, and to take the work home to show for a fraction of each year.  Called My Art Invest, investors can buy shares in works for as little as $8, with share value determined by an artist’s market value, including works by Basquiat and Damien Hirst.  “We want to democratise art,” says Tom-David Bastok, My Art Invest’s 25-year-old founder. “For me, it’s very, very, very important that everybody can put a foot in the art market.” (more…)

This spring, three shows of work by artist Ai Weiwei are opening in London, Berlin and New York, with a major retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, an exhibition at Lisson Gallery in London, and the largest exhibition of the artist’s work to date at the Martin-Gropius Bau in Berlin.  The exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum includes the artist’s S.A.C.R.E.D. works, half-sized dioramas depicting his 81-day imprisonment that commanded major critical attention at the Venice Biennale last year.  The exhibitions come with a hope that Chinese tourists may be exposed to Ai’s work outside his own country.   “Because my work is banned from being shown inside China, the only way they can become aware of it is from the outside,” he said. (more…)

Several iconic works by both Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat will be at auction this May in New York, the Wall Street Journal reports, including a 1981 painting by Basquiat at Christie’s which has never been resold, and has never before been exhibited publicly.  It is valued at $20 million.  Also on sale is Warhol’s Six Self-Portraits series from 1986, which is valued at $25 million, and is selling at Sotheby’s. (more…)

Rudolf Stingel, Untitled (2010), all images courtesy Gagosian Gallery

Painter Rudolf Stingel is currently on view at Gagosian Gallery, presenting an exhibition of the artist’s monumental landscapes. Although several of the works were exhibited in 2010 in Berlin at the Neue Nationalgalerie, this exhibition at Gagosian New York represents their U.S. premier.

(more…)

Longtime auction market veteran Edward Dolman is returning from a three year stint at the Qatar Museums Authority to head Phillips, the perennial third-place auction house, and to challenge the long-running dominance of Sotheby’s and Christie’s.  “It’s certainly been tried before,” he said in a telephone interview with the New York Times. “I’ve always thought it would be good for everyone to offer clients more options, especially with the significant growth in the number of collectors there are now from all over the world.”    (more…)

The Silicon Valley Contemporary Art Fair opens this week, marking the first major art fair in the region, and the first concerted effort by the broader art market to cater to the new wealthy class of the U.S. tech sector.  The fair features over 1,000 on sale from over 300 artist, valued at over $100 million, and will feature a program of tech and performance centered works from artists like Marina Abramovic. (more…)

Richard Serra has unveiled a massive new public installation in Qatar, funded by the Qatari Museums Authority.   Stretching across the desert, the metal plates of East-West/West-East are all of identical height, and all match the height of the gypsum plateaus that sit to either side of the piece.  The project coincides with Serra’s first solo exhibition in the Middle East at Al RIWAQ DOHA Exhibition Space and QMA Gallery at Katara. (more…)

Hauser and Wirth has opened its newest gallery this spring in an unexpected location, an 18th-century farmhouse in Somerset, England.  Just outside the town of Bruton, the gallery space underlines the gallerists continued commitment to museum-quality spaces, similar to its renovated space on 18^th Street in New York. (more…)

The dispute between Third Point and Sotheby’s has taken a new turn, as the fund launches Value Sotheby’s, a website dedicated to stating the case against the current management at the auction house.  “Despite management touting a “record year” in 2013, Sotheby’s company health is not what the Company would lead you to believe,” the site notes, before citing figures from the embattled company’s past year. (more…)

As the art market continues to see record highs at auctions each season, many collectors are digging deeper into the history books to find historically significant artists that may command a high price at auction. “Whether the artists are old, dead or overlooked, people are turning over all the stones,” says Wendy Cromwell of Cromwell Art LLC and president of the Association of Professional Art Advisors. “It’s a function of a global market. Dealers have to have new material all the time.” (more…)

The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami has filed suit against North Miami for breach of contract, claiming that the city has allegedly ceased funding and maintenance to the museum as it pursues a merger with the Bass Museum in Miami Beach.   “The city’s neglect has put the very existence of our institution at risk,” says MOCA NoMi trustee Irma Braman. “And our current building has been an impediment to our services and mission for too long. We are dedicated to serving our public and we hope the city will move forward with us in a collegial and productive conversation so that MOCA can maintain a vibrant presence in North Miami and throughout the region.” (more…)

Corresponding with the opening of Mike Kelley’s retrospective at MOCA in Los Angeles, Opening Ceremony has released a series of t-shirts featuring artwork from Kelley’s works.  Graphics from The Poltergeist, Monkey Island, and other early projects will adorn shirts and bags, now on sale at the MOCA Store and at the Opening Ceremony locations. (more…)

Dan Graham, Slice (2013), via Art Observed

It’s been some time since Marian Goodman has hosted solo exhibitions in New York by Dan Graham, Giuseppe Penone, Danh Vo or Jeff Wall, and the gallery seems to have noticed, opening a four-artist show with a considerable amount of new work from each of the aforementioned, offering a welcome opportunity to catch up on the recent work of these significant artists.

Jeff Wall, Monologue (2013), via Art Observed (more…)

Oscar Murillo, Distribution Center (Installation View), via Art Observed

The newly opened Los Angeles Gallery The Mistake Room is inaugurating its downtown space with Oscar Murillo’s Distribution Center, a show of recent works by the artist.  Murillo, who is only 28, is perhaps best known for his large-scale paintings, if not for his young age and recent rise to the upper echelons of the art market. Here, his signature style is quickly noted, with canvases bordering on sculptural assemblage, debris and ephemera from his studio and travels are directly transplanted on to the canvas. Even in their installation, very few works happen to hang directly on the wall. Instead, they litter the floor and table surfaces like large, mis-matched carpet tiles, creating a kind of multi-layered horizontal work across the length of the room.

Oscar Murillo, Untitled (2014), via Art Observed (more…)