Considering a recent figure counting a total of 278 art fairs happening each year around the world, the New York Times looks at the successes of Arco in Madrid this past weekend, and the fair’s increasingly global focus in attempt to sidestep a struggling Spanish economy.    “We sell mostly to museums and foundations at Arco,” said Galeria Vermelho director Marina Buendia. “We’ve been at Arco for six years and things are getting better.”  (more…)

A group of nine collectors have filed a lawsuit against the Keith Haring Foundation, claiming that the organization’s judgement of works in their collections has “wrongfully destroyed” their value.  The lawsuit, which seeks $40 million in damages, has been flatly rejected by the foundation.  Its lawyer, Michael Ward Stout, claims, “We believe that the allegations are not supportable, and we will address them going forward.”  (more…)

Artist Mickalene Thomas premiered a film eulogizing her late mother on HBO last night, titled Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman.  Capitalizing on the film’s release, Thomas has also published an essay and a number of new paintings and photographs of her mother on Creative Time Reports. “As an artist I have always been astonished not only by my mother’s strength and tenacity but also by her sustained elegance and charisma in spite of harsh obstacles,” she writes. (more…)

Georg Baselitz is profiled in The Telegraph this week, as the artist prepares for three concurrent shows in London over the next few months.  Speaking the anniversary of the bombing of his hometown, Dresden, Baselitz reflects on how the violence of World War II found its way into his art: “the degree of destruction I’ve seen, which I’ve been surrounded by, is no longer comprehensible. It was so radical, so absolute. Today you’d ask: how could it even happen? But that was my time.” (more…)

Darren Almond, Fullmoon at Volcanic Archipelago (2013)

Photographer Darren Almond is currently exhibiting a selection of works from both his “Fullmoon” and “Present Form” series, alongside a group of small bronze sculptures at White Cube’s location in the Bermondsey neighborhood of London. The works will remain on view through April 13, 2014. Over a period of 13 years, Almond has worked on a photographic series entitled Fullmoon picturing scenes from every continent, all taken under the light of a full moon. Utilizing long exposure times and well-placed cameras, the images capture details within the darkness that the human eye is normally unable to see, all while adding an eerily surreal atmosphere to the environments on view, stuck somewhere between the bright light of day and dark night. These works represent a continuing effort by Almond to follow themes of geology, myth, and history alongside his fascinations with time and light themselves.

Darren Almond, To Leave a Light Impression (2013), all photos via White Cube

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The FIAC Art Fair will launch a Los Angeles edition in April of 2015, bringing the organization to the US for the first time.  The inaugural fair will include about 150 exhibitors, and chose Los Angeles for its “extremely dynamic” location and proximity to Asia and Latin America, according to director Jean-Daniel Compain. (more…)

Donald Judd, Untitled (Schellman 24), (1961-1978)

Now through March 1^st, the David Zwirner gallery hosts a group exhibition of the printed works of Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, and Fred Sandback. The three artists’ shared Minimalist aesthetics unite this work of prints made between 1961 and 1994. Though predominantly known for their three dimensional work, printmaking and drawing were significant practices for all three artists throughout their respective careers, and ultimately helped to shape and reshape their practices throughout their broader body of work. (more…)

YaÅŸam ÅžaÅŸmazer, via Osman Can Yerebakan for Art Observed

The winter conditions in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul often border on excessive damp and gloom, but the coastal city’s burgeoning art scene maintains the city’s status as a location for adventurous art-lovers year-round, particularly given the strength of several shows currently on view across the city.  Mostly located around the Taksim area of the city, art spaces in Istanbul have been popping up at a remarkable pace, marking the city as a destination for the global art cognoscenti, while introducing young Turkish artists to the wider market. (more…)

The Economist reports on an ongoing restoration effort towards several Mark Rothko paintings previously on view at Harvard’s Holyoke Center.  The paintings, badly damaged by sunlight, have undergone rigorous chemical analysis, using various samples to determine the reaction times and fading of color that would have brought the works to their current state. (more…)

Animal New York reports that this year’s edition of the Bruce High Quality Foundation’s Brucennial will be the collective’s last, as it shifts its attention to its University operations and other projects.  The Brucennial, set to open on March 7th, will also focus solely on women artists.  “We’ve grown this show big enough to command an audience of thousands and thousands of visitors, not to mention media attention,” the organization said in an e-mail statement. “So for The Last Brucennial, we will spotlight all women artists.” (more…)

Laure Prouvost, For Forgetting (Installation View), via Art Observed

Laure Prouvost has a lot to say.  Creating multifaceted, occasionally dizzying multimedia installations using wood, paint, video and various props, the 2013 Turner Prize Winner’s work is hyper-loaded in its signifiers and subjects, moving rapidly from the divine to the profane and back, all expressed with a masterful storytelling bent.  It’s just this line, in fact, that the artist makes express use of in her first U.S. installation, occupying the lobby of the New Museum, telling a lightning-fast narrative of identity theft and financial scamming in the post-digital economy.

Laure Prouvost, For Forgetting, 2014 (still). Installation and video. Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist and MOTINTERNATIONAL, London and Brussels (more…)

The LA Times takes a look at the Menil Drawing Institute, set to open in 2017.  The new museum, designed by Johnston Marklee & Associates, will sit at the southern edge of the Menil Campus, and boasts a number of striking features, including a thin, plate-steel roof and a special public space shaped by illusory curves in the shape of the building.   (more…)

James Franco has written an op-ed piece in the New York Times this week, examining actor Shia Lebeouf’s recent performance piece in Los Angeles.  Noting LeBeouf’s performance as a potential attempt to take back his public persona from the entertainment industry.  “Any artist, regardless of his field, can experience distance between his true self and his public persona,” he writes. “But because film actors typically experience fame in greater measure, our personas can feel at the mercy of forces far beyond our control. Our rebellion against the hand that feeds us can instigate a frenzy of commentary that sets in motion a feedback loop: acting out, followed by negative publicity, followed by acting out in response to that publicity, followed by more publicity, and so on.” (more…)

Richard Artschwager, Running Man (triple), (2013), Photo by Rober McKeever, Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery

Gagosian’s Upper East Side Gallery is currently featuring the final works of the late Richard Artschwager. This exhibition coincides with the final destination of Artschwager’s traveling Retrospective, Richard Artschwager!, which just ended at Munich’s Haus der Kunst in January. Organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Yale University Art Gallery, the comprehensive display of Artschwager’s life’s work was his second retrospective, the Whitney having exhibited an earlier iteration in 1988. Collectively titled No More Running Man, the works on view at Gagosian swerve in and out of generic categorization, at once painting and sculpture, to systematically present the enigmatic leitmotif of the Running Man. While one will find echoes of the past in these works, they represent the evolution of a highly protean and prolific master, whose style and subject resisted singularity for over sixty years.

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The Los Angeles-based Blum & Poe Gallery has announced that it will open its first gallery space in New York, on the Upper East Side.  The new space will be helmed by Andrea Neustein, the daughter of artist Joshua Neustein.  The gallery currently boasts Carroll Dunham, Takashi Murakami, and Jim Shaw  among its roster. (more…)

The NADA Art Fair has announced its list of exhibitors for the 2014 edition of the fair in New York, returning to Basketball City on Pier 36 in Manhattan, and running concurrently with the Frieze New York Art Fair this May.  The list of over 80 galleries includes The Hole, Invisible-Exports, Marlborough Chelsea, and more. (more…)

Keith Sonnier, Ba-O-Ba (1970), Caterina Verde, Keith Sonnier/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pulling works from the beginning and current periods of the artist’s career, Pace Gallery is currently presenting two bodies of work by artist Keith Sonnier, showcasing an extended perspective on the artist’s work and its evolution.  Working alongside fellow post-conceptual artists interested in the capabilities for light and lighting in installations and mounted works, Sonnier first embraced the use of neon in his pieces in the late 1960’s, using panes of glass and wrapped neon lighting to emphasize the interplays and gradual shadings of color caused by reflection and spacing.  A number of seminal works from this period are exhibited here, including  Ba-o-Ba V, and Neon Wrapping Incandescent, influential pieces that marked Sonnier’s newfound interest in the capabilities for light in a sculptural work. (more…)

The Hammer Museum has named its list of artists for Made in L.A., which will open in June.  The list of 35 artists participating in the exhibition include Piero Golia, Tony Greene, Wu Tsang, and project space Public Fiction.     (more…)

The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC has announced that it will be taken over by the National Gallery of Art and George Washington University, part of a new plan for the longstanding arts institution.  The plan would see the Corcoran School of Art and Design made part of George Washington University, with the University covering the millions of dollars in much-needed renovations.  “There is no way to continue the Corcoran as we knew it or as we know it,” said Peggy Loar, interim director and president of the Corcoran. “That’s going to be the kernel of pain for some people.” (more…)

Sol Lewitt, Horizontal Progression #6 (1991), via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

Sol Lewitt, considered by many as the founding father of conceptual modernism, is regarded as one of the most influential artists of the last half of the 20^th century. The cube, as a “grammatical device” from which Lewitt’s work often develops speaks to his ambition to reduce art to its essentials, and approach the relationship between artistic creation and the mechanization of thought.  Lewitt is also known for his large-scale two and three-dimensional works, particularly his wall drawings executed in 1968. In these wall drawings, predetermined line-making procedures and formulas typically associated with commercial production were enlisted in the installation of this work across galleries. (more…)

Maximo Caminero, a 51-year old artist living in Miami has been arrested after reportedly smashing one of Ai Weiwei’s painted Ming vases on view at the Perez Art Museum.  The destruction of the vase was said to have been over the lack of local artists on view at the Miami Museum. “The argument does not support the act,” Ai Weiwei said in an interview over the incident. “It doesn’t sound right. His argument doesn’t make much sense. If he really had a point, he should choose another way, because this will bring him trouble to destroy property that does not belong to him.”

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An article in The Art Newspaper analyzes the potential vote on Scottish Independence this year, and the potential impacts an independent Scotland may have on the nation’s art collection.  If Scotland changes its tax structure to more heavily impact the wealthy, some are worried that lending collectors are likely to remove their works from Scottish museums, moving them south.  The National Galleries of Scotland board chair Ben Thomson, however, is more optimistic. “We are extremely confident that we will continue to enjoy very positive support from the Scottish government for our ongoing collaborations with private collectors,” he says. (more…)

Thomas Struth, Ride, Anaheim, California (2013), via Marian Goodman

German Thomas Struth is presenting a series of new photos this month at Marian Goodman’s New York gallery space, presenting a series of recent works, among which are 5 large format photos made at Disneyland, part of a recent series the 59-year old photographer is currently working on.

Thomas Struth, Mountain, Anaheim, California, (2013) via Marian Goodman (more…)

Art collective DIS has announced a special collaboration with artist Lizzie Fitch, titled DISown; an art retail installation featuring “products” from Ryan Trecartin, Jon Rafman, Bjarne Melgaard, Telfar and Hood By Air.  Similar to a high-scale fashion house’s diffusion lines for retail, DISown will sell products from each of these artists and designers anywhere from $50-$500.  The event will be curated by Agatha Wara, and will open on March 6th at Red Bull Studios in New York. (more…)