A recent article in The Economist analyzes Amazon’s entry into the art marketplace, pointing out the ongoing history of art sales online, and the still paltry percentage of the market’s total sales (less than 2% according to insurer Hiscox).  Noting a desire for face to face interaction in high price sales, the magazine points out that large scale sales often happen as a result of longtime client-dealer relations, instead of broad demand for a more accessible purchasing platform. (more…)

The chairman of the Pace Gallery, Arne Glimcher, has been appointed to the rank of Officer in the National Order of the Legion of Honor by decree of the President of the French Republic.  The highest honor bestowed on either French citizen or foreigner, Glimcher joins the ranks of fellow Americans Thomas Edison, Simon Newcomb, and John Singer Sargent, as thanks for his “exemplary commitment to the vitality of art worldwide.” (more…)

Sotheby’s auction house has appointed Patrick S. McClymont, a former partner and managing director at Goldman and Sachs, as its new Chief Financial Officer, beginning October 7th.  McClymont replaces current CFO William S. Sheridan at the post, who has served the company for 17 years.  “I have had the privilege of working with a highly skilled, highly professional finance, investor relations and information technology team at Sotheby’s that I invested in and helped build, and they deserve an enormous amount of credit for all that we accomplished. It has been a true pleasure to be part of Sotheby’s and now I look forward to spending more time with my family and focusing on charitable work,” Sheridan remarked. (more…)

The New York Times profiles the tactics and approaches of the Art Loss Register, an independent investigation agency that specializes in locating and returning stolen or lost works of art around the world.  Accused of occasionally crossing ethical and legal lines, the agency has nevertheless maintained a reputation for its top-notch database and effectiveness. “When you’re doing a sting operation, for example,” Says company owner Julian Radcliffe, “you don’t say, ‘By the way, I’m lying to you.’ ” (more…)

The Financial Times has published an interview with Zeng Fanzhi, the Chinese painter who currently sits as one of the most expensive contemporary Asian artists.  Documenting his unique style, the interview goes on to detail Fanzhi’s early struggles as an artist in China, and his early life in Wuhan, a city known for its prominent role in The Cultural Revolution.  “At the time everyone wore the same clothes but my mother liked beautiful things and she sometimes wore a bit of colour – some pink flowers on her clothes,” Zeng says. “For that she was persecuted for her ‘petit bourgeois sentimentalism’ – that experience affected my whole family deeply.” (more…)

John Riepenhoff, Physical Pizza Networking Theory (2013), with the artist, right, in conversation with Andrew Kuo, and director, Pascal Spengemann, in conversation behind them, via Ben Richards for Art Observed

Everybody loves pizza, but the Marlborough Broome Street Gallery loves it even more. With PIZZA TIME!, the new downtown project space from one of New York’s most recognized galleries gives a multimedia homage to the pizza pie.  Supervised by Marlborough Director Pierre Levai’s young son Max, the show signals another step forward for a gallery in the midst of reinventing itself, signing new talent like Rashaad Newsome and duo Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe, and pursuing new ground for the storied institution.

Andrew Kuo, Slice 8/23/13 (2013), via Ben Richards for Art Observed

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The Morgan Library has announced an ambitious plan to digitize its full collection of drawings and make them available online.  The project is expected to reach completion by October of next year, and will yield over 10,000 individual images by the likes of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Dürer, for free access on the Morgan’s site.  The digitization “is critical to our institutional goal of promoting drawings scholarship and reaching out to an ever larger audience,”said William M. Griswold, the museum’s director. (more…)

Charline von Heyl, Carlotta (2013), via Petzel Gallery

On view at the Friedrich Petzel Gallery is an exhibition of new works by German abstract painter Charline von Heyl, marking her seventh solo exhibition at the gallery, and a continuation of her intricately layered practices on canvas.   (more…)

Philanthropist and collector Leonard A. Lauder, who recently donated an impressive selection of early Modernist works to the Metropolitan Museum, has added another masterwork to his gift, Fernand Léger’s The Village.  “Leonard Lauder is dedicated to creating the greatest collection of Cubist art in the world and to ensuring that these works will be accessible to the millions of people who visit the Met.”  said Museum director and CEO Thomas P. Campbell. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on the recent opening of Galerie Perrotin’s New York space, which shares the building at 909 Madison Avenue (a former Bank of New York branch) with Dominique Lévy Gallery.  With three spaces in Paris, and one in Hong Kong, Emmanuel Perrotin’s growing gallery network has finally found root in New York’s fertile art world. “For many artists around the world, their New York show is their most important,” He said.  It is, according to him,  “the dream of every ambitious gallerist, because within one kilometer of this gallery, you have more collectors than anywhere else in the world.” (more…)

The 27 year-old, Columbian-born Oscar Murillo is the focus of a spotlight in Bloomberg, detailing his recent addition to the David Zwirner roster, and the quickly rising prices for his works.  “He’s had the quickest upward trajectory for his age of any artist I’ve seen in 25 years,” said dealer and writer Kenny Schachter. “There’s a lot of money to be made trading Oscar Murillo at this point.” (more…)

Los Angeles collector and patron Eli Broad is at the top of a new list detailing the top art collectors around the world, titled Larry’s List.  Contrasting with the annually published ARTnews assessment, Larry’s List ranks collectors based on Internet presence, institutional engagement, art fair participation, communications platforms, and the physical visibility and scale of their collection.  A full 60-page report will be published later this year. (more…)

Smithsonian Institution director G. Wayne Clough has announced his intentions to step down as the head of the national museum and research network next year, providing the institution with time to find his successor.  “When I became secretary in 2008, I believed strongly that the Smithsonian had enormous untapped potential, especially in digital technology, to reach millions of people and serve as a resource for those who cannot visit Washington,” He said. “I am confident that with our initiatives under way in bioconservation, education, digitization and fund-raising, this is the right time to announce my plans for next fall so that an orderly transition can begin.” (more…)

Speaking on the state of contemporary art, Grayson Perry has called the majority of contemporary art “rubbish.”  Speaking during the inaugural Radio 4 Reith Lecture, Perry began by discussing his own appeal as an artist.  “Although we live in an era where anything can be art, not everything is art.  I think the art world is happy to dig down into the lower regions of society for a bit of gritty reality, but what it’s frightened of is the middle classes with good taste, often. Maybe I appeal to too many of those people.”  He continued:  “At any one moment most of the art being made is awful.” (more…)

John Baldessari, Man Fixing Curlers in Woman’s Hair (2013), all images by Sophie Kitching for Art Observed unless otherwise noted

On view at Sprüth Magers Berlin is a solo exhibition of new works by L.A.-based John Baldessari: large-format storyboard canvases he created in 2013.

The opening for John Baldessari’s Storyboard (in 4 Parts)
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With the Eli Broad Museum set to open across the street from MOCA sometime next fall, the high-profile collector and patron has announced his intentions to withdraw his annual contribution of $3 million to MOCA, effectively stepping back from his longtime role as the museum’s leading supporter.  Even so, Broad has expressed excitement about the potentials for his museum and its effects on MOCA, noting that it will increase the draw of art lovers to the area.  “They’re excited about it. They know that we’re going to be a great attraction, we’re going to spend time and energy and marketing getting attendance, and they’re going to be the beneficiary of all that,” he said. (more…)

This year’s ArtPrize awards are now underway, with the public voting on works in 16 categories to distribute over $560,000 in prizes.  Held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the award was created by one Rick DeVos, a philanthropist looking to shake things up in the small town. “I wanted to help develop a creative culture, one that’s open to new experiences and ideas,” DeVos said. “We’re very Midwestern here in Grand Rapids. Everybody does their thing and goes about their business. ArtPrize disrupts that.” (more…)

Andy Warhol’s former uptown home at 1342 Lexington Avenue has just sold for $5.5 million, just two years after its owners purchased it for $3.5 million, and spent $1 million on a full refurbishment and restoration.  Warhol lived in the apartment from 1959 to 1974, a time that marked some of his most iconic works.  “Whenever we had an open house, we’d get lines of people who just wanted to come by and take photos,” said broker Glenn Minnick. (more…)

Artist Jeff Koons is interviewed in the New York Times Magazine, discussing his recent collaboration with champagne maker Dom Pérignon, his recent work, and his interest in art history.  “If we look at human history, the only narrative of human history that we have is our genes and our DNA. Every other narrative is developed by political motivations. So the true human history is our genes and DNA. There’s an aspect of consciousness — consciousness is making connections. The way art works is connections. The more connections something makes, the more it imitates life itself.”   He says. (more…)

Chris Johanson, Being in My Life (2013), Courtesy of MOCA Pacific Design Center

In keeping with Los Angeles-based artist Chris Johanson’s aim to create “peaceful” art, Within The River of Time is my Mind presents a serene body of new painting, sculpture, and found wood, site-specific installation at is on display at MOCA‘s Pacific Design Center through October 13^th.  The solo exhibition, organized by art critic and guest curator Andrew Berardini, corresponds with the release of Chris Johanson, the most recent monograph in Phaidon’s celebrated Contemporary Artist series. (more…)

Headed by the architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron and with a $200 million budget, the restoration of the Park Avenue Armory is in excellent hands. The New York Times reports that the refurbishment of the Armory, expected to be complete in 2018, has continued almost uninterrupted since the Park Avenue Conservancy signed a 99-year lease with the state 7 years ago. Yet it was only in the year 2000 that the Park Avenue Armory made the list of the world’s top 100 most endangered structures, according to the World Monuments Fund. When completed, the Park Avenue Armory would “visibly straddle past and present while being actively used. It will be living, lived-in history.” (more…)

Alex Ito, Magic Mountain (2013), via Fireplace Project

On view at The Fireplace Project in East Hampton, New York is a collection of works created this year by The Still House Group, an artist-run organization based in Red Hook, Brooklyn made up of eight permanent artists and a different resident artist each summer.

Louis Eisner, Box 8 (2013), via Fireplace Project

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Filmmaker and artist Steve McQueen has taken top awards at the Toronto International Film Festival for his newest work, 12 Years a Slave.  Announced this week as the People’s Choice Award-winner, his film documents the life of Solomon Northrup, a black American kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. (more…)

Artist Matthew Day Jackson is profiled in the New York Times Magazine this week, profiling the artist’s impressive series of projects, his longtime love of drag racing, and the experience of living in contemporary America.  “I just recognize that we live in an extraordinarily violent place. And that the boundaries between the haves and the have-nots and those who are and those who are not are usually defined by violence.”  (more…)