Inglett Gallery via Katya Kazakina/Bloomberg

As galleries in Chelsea, the Lower East Side and Brooklyn regain power and cleanup begins, reports about the extent of the damage are slowly emerging. Basements flooded and water surged into first floor spaces, often several feet high, damaging everything. Several galleries had just mounted new shows, and some, like Andrea Rosen, were about to inaugurate expanded or newly acquired spaces.

Major museums closed, and some quickly reopened, giving people a place to gather and power up – like MoMA/PS 1 – or just a respite from the storm – like the Met. The New Museum was in the part of Manhattan without power and just reopened in the past day.

In Red Hook, artist Dustin Yellin lost everything – artwork, including early pieces, as well as recent renovations completed on the $3.7 million building that houses the The Intercourse, a non profit hub for artists through exhibitions, studio residencies, magazine and lecture and workshop series that opened earlier this year.

Red Hook Flooding via The Art Newspaper

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Fischli / Weiss, DÜNNWANDIGE RÖHRE AUS TON, LIEGEND, 2012, courtesy of Sprueth Magers

Peter Fischli and David Weiss currently have an exhibition at the Sprueth Magers gallery in London, which displays somber overtones coinciding with Weiss’ untimely death in April of this year.

An array of clean-cut unfired clay and industrial-looking rubber has been meticulously molded and scrupulously carved to mimic everyday objects of construction in the form of “walls, corners and tubes”. The works, executed between 2010 and 2012, and are connected to the group of works that the artists displayed at the 54th Venice Biennial in 2011. The clean, particular presentation of the scaled objects on virgin white plinths is a visual departure from earlier works.

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A New York supreme court judge has ruled that auction houses must disclose both consignors and buyers in order to create a binding sale contract. In a supply-driven art market that relies on confidentiality, Christie’s (although not a party involved in the original case) is appealing the decision, stating “we take issue with the Court’s opinion and are reviewing our legal options”.  (more…)

The Joan Mitchell Foundation is offering financial help for visual artists affected by the hurricane. It is providing emergency assistance to painters and sculptors affected by natural disasters and can provide information about other organizations that also may be able to assist. (more…)

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Architectural Record revisits MoMA’s 2010 exhibition, “Rising Currents”, which addressed climate change and its effect on rising sea levels. Architects, landscape architects, and engineers imagined the future of the coastlines of New York Harbor in New York and New Jersey. (more…)

MoMA and the American Institute for Conservation Collections Emergency Response Team will host a seminar on preservation and conservation of water-damaged artwork at the museum on Sunday from noon until 2:00 p.m. (more…)

Anish Kapoor, Installation view 2012, courtesy Lisson Gallery

Anish Kapoor’s current exhibition at the Lisson Gallery is a major exhibition of new works. Occupying both the gallery’s spaces on Bell Street, London, the exhibition marks 30 years of Lisson Gallery working together with the Turner-prize winning artist and provides a thorough examination of Kapoor’s most recent work.

Anish Kapoor, Installation view 2012, courtesy Lisson Gallery

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The Bloomberg Commission: Giuseppe Penone Whitechapel Gallery, Installation View, Photo: David Parry / PA Wire, all photos courtesy of Whitechapel Gallery

Work by Italian artist Giuseppe Penone is being highlighted at two locations in London(although not an organized collaboration), the longer of which will remain until August 2013. Spazio di Luce, created by Giuseppe Penone  for the Bloomberg Commission, opened at the Whitechapel Gallery in London on September 5th and will remain installed until August of next year, while Intersecting Gaze/Sguardo Incrociato is taking place currently at Gagosian Gallery at Davies Street London and will remain until November 27th, 2012. The works continue along themes Penone has been exploring throughout his 40-year long career, this time specifically exhibiting the idea that, in Penone’s words, “The stretching of a branch through space in search of light has the same structure as a glance.”

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The Drawing Center is set to open next week with a postponment date of Wednesday November 7th in its new space across the street at 35 Wooster with three shows: Guillermo Kuitca: Diarios, José António Suárez Londoño: The Yearbooks and In Deed: Certificates of Authenticity in Art. (more…)

As part of LACMA’s tribute to Ed Ruscha at their Art+Film gala this year (the artist also has an exhibition on view), filmmaker Lance Acord created a short film entitled “Ed Ruscha, Woody, and the World’s Hottest Pepper”, produced by Park Pictures and LACMA.  Watch the film via LACMA

Museums take part in a panel discussion to show that developments are on schedule for Abu Dhabi, as the museums’ plans have been delayed due to economic and political issues. Frank Gehry, who designed the Guggenheim there, will speak at the Abu Dhabi Art Fair (7-10 November), as will Jean Nouvel and Norman Foster, who designed the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Zayed National Museum, respectively. The fair has western gallery exhibitors such as Lisson, Hauser & Wirth, Thaddeus Ropac and Gagosian. (more…)

Joseph Kosuth, Neon, 1965

All images courtesy MACRO Rome.

MACRO, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, has filled its expansive Enel Hall with close to 70 illuminated works for its show Neon: the Luminous Matter of Art.  An exhibition dedicated solely to the use of neon, the show brings together 50 artists who have worked with the medium in contemporary practice. The sculptures, installations and textual works lay the art-historical framework for conceptual practice based on semiotics while also (more literally) paying homage to the medium’s origins as material for signage.

Delving into the past 50 years, on view are works by Dan Flavin, Joseph Kosuth, Tracy Emin, and Jason Rhoades, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Maurizio Cattelan, Spencer Finch, Dan Flavin, Claire Fontaine, Piero Golia, Douglas Gordon, Alfredo Jaar, Gyula Kosice, Mario Merz, François Morellet, Bruce Nauman and Keith Sonnier, among many others.

Bruce Nauman, Raw/War, 1970, MACRO Rome.

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Sotheby’s has announced that it will postpone its Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, previously scheduled for Monday 5 November, until Thursday 8 November at 7 pm. The exhibition will open Thursday, 1 November 2012 at 10 am, as scheduled. The auction house cited anticipated travel delays as the reason for the change.

Christie’s has not announced any changes in its sale dates.
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The Hugo Boss Prize has been awarded to Vietnamese-born conceptual artist Danh Vo, 37, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation announced today. The award, founded in 1996, grants $100,000 to the winning artist. Mr. Vo’s family fled South Vietnam at an early age and he was raised in Denmark. (more…)

Pacific Standard Time, the massive collaboration among Southern California museums, has generated revenue of almost 10 times the Getty’s initial investment of $12 million. Total visitor spending is estimated at $111.5 million and state and local taxes generated an estimated $19.4 million. The Getty stated that they will use this study as a benchmark to measure the economic impact of future shows. (more…)

The Art Newspaper reports that Nicholas Penny, the director of London’s National Gallery, described the temporarily-installed works by Yinka Shonibare and Elmgreen & Dragset in Trafalgar Square as “antagonistic to the architectural character of the square”, making the plinth like “a stage, which can be used ironically, farcically [and] inappropriately”. (more…)

Theaster Gates – Raising Goliath (2012), courtesy White Cube Gallery

The work of Theaster Gates addresses social engagement using shared images of American life as a way to challenge cultural norms and to subvert singular readings of American history.  White Cube Bermondsey is hosting a major installation by the Chicago-based artist, entitled “My Labor is My Protest.”  Blending the cultural, social and personal, the show is a bold statement on the roles of identity and meaning in the construction of history and art history.

Theaster Gates – My Labor Is My Protest (Installation View) (2012), courtesy White Cube Gallery (more…)

Tales of the deluge: Chelsea galleries in shock following the impact of 4-5 feet of water at street level. “I would say that perhaps 2% of my inventory escaped damage.” (more…)

Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pritzker Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago, announced a major gift of $10 million from Helen and Sam Zell on behalf of the Zell Family Foundation to create The Zell Fund for Artistic Excellence. Helen Zell was Chair of the MCA Board from 2004-08. (more…)

Ai Weiwei plans to return $1.3 million he received from supporters to fight his legal battle against Chinese authorities. He raised the money as a bond to contest a $2.4-million fine for tax evasion. He lost his final appeal against the Bejing authorities last month. (more…)

Forbes details a murky case of non-transparency involving art-loan trading by commodities trader Eugenio Leo and his wife Jody Meyer. Leo was sentenced to 5 years in prison and fined $3,431,750 in restitution; Meyer was sentenced to 5 years’ probation and $431,750 in restitution.
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The Hugo Boss Prize dinner at the Guggenheim scheduled for Thursday has been cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy, but the committee will announce the winner tomorrow regardless. The 2012 nominees are Trisha Donnelly, Rashid Johnson, Monika Sosnowska, Qiu Zhijie, Danh Vo and Tris Vonna-Michell. (more…)

Jane Lombard of Lombard Freid Gallery in Chelsea via Businessweek

Several events have been cancelled or postponed due to flooding from Hurricane Sandy, as the city assesses damages. Below is a list of damage reports, cancellations and closures. (more…)

Adel Abdessemed, Coup de tête [based on Zinédine Zidane] 2012, courtesy Centre Pompidou

Adel Abdessemed’s exhibition, Je Suis Innocent,  at the Centre Pompidou in Paris showcases work from 1990-2012, which spans the majority of Abdessemed’s artistic career. Born in born 1971 in Constantine, Algeria, Abdessemed often makes reference to violent histories and the taboos of modern culture with shocking and jarring imagery that he creates through a variety of media.

Adel Abdessemed, Je Suis Innocent, courtesy Centre Pompidou

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