Rare bust of Auguste Rodin recovered after 13 years. The portrait, by Rodin’s lover Camille Claudel, is worth an estimated €1 million. “For the moment, the two men are having trouble explaining the origin of the bronze,” a police source told the French daily, Le Parisien.
Louis Vuitton further developing its collaboration with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, is to open seven pop-up shops around the world. Beginning with the New York location debut on July 10, the boutiques are to be designed in polka dots and feature new spotted apparel and accessories.
Installation view, Kukje Gallery (2012). All images courtesy Kukje Gallery.
The Kukje Gallery in Seoul is currently the host of 14 works from “Personages,” Louis Bourgeois’ early sculptural series created in the 1940s and 1950’s. Also on view is the installation “Peaux De Lapins, Chiffons Ferrailles Vendre,” from her “Cells” series, created much later in her career in 2006. By showing these two installations alongside each other, the exhibition aims to create connections between biographical themes and architectural sensibilities that permeate Bourgeois’ work over an extensive career manifested in distinctively different forms.
Installation view, Kukje Gallery (2012).
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The NY Times looks back on this past week’s London auctions, examining the unusually careful bidding. Despite some successful standouts, the auctions produced lower-than-expected results for Sotheby’s and Christie’s.
New equestrian statue of the Duke of Cumberland to be made of soap and displayed in Cavendish Square in London, beginning on July 10th. The artist Meekyoung Shin is replicating a bronze sculpture that occupied the same location from 1770 to 1868.
Michael Heizer‘s “Levitated Mass” opens to the public at LACMA. The 340-ton boulder suspends just above a channel, allowing visitors to walk under the sculpture and see it from multiple angles. The reclusive artist poses the question: “When do you get to see the bottoms of sculptures?”
Visitors traverse Jeppe Hein‘s “Invisible Labyrinth” (2005) via The Independent
A new exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London is eliciting a good degree of attention among members of the public and press alike. Titled “Invisible: Art of the Unseen 1957-2012”, this joint showing contains otherwise empty rooms, save for a number of blank canvases and empty pedestals. The exhibit’s purpose however is less to display and showcase than it is to survey past and current ideas related to the unknown and push the boundaries of art as we know or perceive it.
Tom Friedman‘s “Untitled (A Curse)” via the Independent
Francesco Clemente, The Artificial Princess (2012). All photos by Ryann Donnelly taken on site for Art Observed
Francesco Clemente’s show of new work, Nostalgia/Utopia is on view through June 30 at Mary Boone’s Chelsea gallery in New York City. The large-scale works exemplify his signature style laid by languid, painterly expressions. Referencing Colonial Baroque, Afro-Brazilian, Indian, and urban American cultural imagery, the otherwise undefined subjects are accompanied by three dimensional objects attached directly to their canvases.
Property owned by Anish Kapoor, designer of the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower for 2012 Olympics in London, is occupied by protesters. The group, called Bread and Circuses, plans to hold arts events in the empty Georgian house.
Francis Bacon’s full length Study for a Self-Portrait is up for sale at Christie’s following a dramatic last appearance in 2008. The work is expected to fetch £20 million ($31.2 million).
$150,000 Dalà Stolen From Adam Lindemann’s Venus Over Manhattan Gallery. Police sources say “surveillance cameras show a man wearing a dark shirt with white polka dots enter the gallery with a black cloth bag. He was later seen on camera leaving the gallery with the painting.”
Jason Martin, Yaba (2011). All images courtesy of Lisson Gallery.
“Infinitive,” on view now at Lisson Gallery though June 23, showcases a selection of Jason Martin’s signature monochromatic gestural paintings, and bold new cast works. Also included is a massive sculptural work, which brings Martin’s fascination with material into three dimensionality.
Jason Martin, Behemoth (2011).
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Regen Projects to upgrade to a 20,000 square foot space in Central Hollywood. The new building, designed by architect Michael Maltzan, will open with a multi-artist show on September 22, 2012.
American artist, LeRoy Neiman, popular for his bright colored depictions of sporting events, died at age 91 in New York yesterday, June 20th. While overall not receiving the critical acclaim and presence at auction as contemporaries with similar name recognition, his overall popularity in a way seemed to transcend the vagaries of the contemporary art scene. He painted and sketched an expansive range of subjects spanning from athletes to wild animals, to jazz musicians to presidents. Close friends with Hugh Hefner, Mr. Neiman was a prolific contributor for Playboy Magazine. Mr. Neiman further contributed to fashion magazines such Vogue in his early years and appeared in three “Rocky” movies because of his ties to the boxing world. His longtime friendship with Muhammad Ali dates back to the boxer’s time as Cassius Clay.
“Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present” trailer released: “The hardest thing is to do something which is close to nothing.”
Pablo Picasso, Femme Assise (1949) which sold for £8.5 million
In London yesterday, Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale totaled £92.5 million – close to the high pre-sale estimate of £108.7 million. Of the 70 lots offered only 14 did not sell, determining a sell through rate of 80%. Nearly a third of the artworks, 27 to be exact, sold for over £1 million achieving sales of 84% by value. Two artist records were set in the process, making Christie’s inaugural sale this season in London a notable one.
René Magritte, Les jours gigantesques (1928) which sold to Wilbur Ross for £7.2 million, nine times its low hammer-price estimate
T Magazine exposes the ‘punk, haute glam and horror’ blend that is the life of artist Kembra Pfahler, “I would rather do concerts in the parking lots of 7-11’s across the country than do a show at the Louvre.”
The NY Times reports on art experts’ growing apprehension over authenticating original works, fearing potential lawsuits. “Art scholarship is fighting a losing battle against commerce,” says Peter R. Stern, an art lawyer in New York who advises his clients to withhold unsolicited opinions.
Ai Weiwei warned by police to stay away from his court hearing in Beijing. With his lawyer missing, the Chinese artist and activist is fighting allegations of having unpaid back taxes. Denying the accusations, Ai says that “the price that the authorities will pay for blatantly violating the law is now too large… This case has always been a fabricated case.”
Donations to arts organizations in the U.S. totaled $13.1 billion in 2011, a 4.1% increase from the year before. “Giving is going up modestly along with a modest economic recovery, but it’s going to take some time,” says Una Osili, research director at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy.
Marc Chagall, Noce et Musique (1939) which sold for £2.5 million
Last night at Sotheby’s marked the opening night of three straight weeks of art auctions in London. The evening achieved a few exceptional and even record breaking sales, yet it did not compare with the astonishing May auctions held previously this year in New York. Out of the 48 lots offered only 33 of them sold – a sell through rate of 69%. Still, Sotheby’s total sales for the night reached £75 million – above their low estimate of £73 million.
Domenico Gnoli, Ritratto di Luis T (1967) All images courtesy Luxembourg & Dayan unless otherwise noted.
Prodigious Italian artist Domenico Gnoli left behind only several dozen paintings when he met an early fate – at age 36 – in April 1970. Eighteen of those important works are currently on display in the first U.S. exhibition dedicated to the artist in over 40 years. The paintings are primarily acrylic mixed with sand; finely detailed and close cropped, they are intimate portraits of a very certain place and time.
Wim Delvoye – Gallery View – Galerie Perrotin
Belgian neo-conceptualist Wim Delvoye is known for his re-interpretations of classic art. By taking the classic symbols of Romantic and Gothic sacred art (crucifixes, towering spires, mythological sculpture) and twisting their forms into the shapes and forms of contemporary art and science. His recent show, “Rorschach” at Galerie Perrotin in Paris, extended this practice, offering a selection of works that continued to use sacred and classical art to turn a lens on modernity.
