Still from PST video with John Baldessari and Jason Schwartzman. Via CalArts.

Began by the Getty Foundation nearly ten years ago, the Pacific Standard Time (PST) initiative has done well, to say the least, with the most recent issue of Artforum almost completely devoted to art in L.A. While PST-related programming began in early September, the weekend of October 1st was the highly anticipated official “opening weekend,” with sixteen exhibitions opening across the city.

More text and images after the jump…
(more…)

‪‬Carsten Höller installs 102 foot slide, “a happiness-producing machine,” through the floors of the New Museum for his upcoming retrospective [AO Newslink]

(more…)

‪‬Tacita Dean unveils ‘Film,’ a 35 mm film on a 13 meter tall screen as the 2011 Unilever series commission at the Tate Modern [AO Newslink]

(more…)

Suspect may have panicked and trashed 5 stolen masterworks following “one of the biggest art heists ever” in Paris last May. The works stolen from the Musée d’Art Moderne were Dove with Green Peas by Pablo Picasso, Pastoral by Henri Matisse, Olive Tree near l’Estaque by Georges Braque, Still Life with Candlestick by Fernand Leger and Woman with Fan by Amedeo Modigliani. [AO Newslink]

(more…)

Carter, Throughout (2011). All images courtesy of Marc Jancou Contemporary

On view now at Marc Jancou Contemporary is Forthcoming, an exhibition of new work by the Swiss artist Carter. Open through November 12^th—now extended through December 23rd—Forthcoming is the inaugural show at Mr. Jancou’s new Geneva gallery, simply called Jancou. Carter is known for using a variety of media, and although this is an exhibition of works on paper, each was made using a combination of materials and techniques. His work often explores the idea of the self and the shifting concept of identity, with Forthcoming examining the idea of anonymity in particular.

More text and images after the jump…
(more…)

Two oil paintings by Pablo Picasso, “Tete de cheval” (1962) and “Verre et pichet” (1944), both stolen from Pfaeffikon, near Zurich, in 2008, and loaned by the Sprengel Museum in Hannover, Germany have reportedly been found in Serbia [AO Newslink]

(more…)

Artist to give birth in Bushwick, Brooklyn gallery as part of a performance art work [AO Newslink]

(more…)

Petite danseuse de quatorze ans by Edgar Degas to headline Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art November 1st evening sale at an estimated $25-$30 million [AO Newslink]

(more…)

London dealer Jay Jopling is profiled by the Guardian as Frieze week is set to begin [AO Newslink]

(more…)

‪Artist Michael Heizer to move 340-ton boulder for permanent installation at LACMA; a $10 million, 9 night journey from quarry through Los Angeles [AO Newslink]

(more…)

‪‬

Auction brewings: A 1961 Roy Lichtenstein could go for $35 million at November 8th auction at Christie’s; a Picasso is estimated to sell for $25 million at Sotheby’s [AO Newslinks]

(more…)

‪‬

On the Chinese factor within the art market: “The Chinese stars initially anointed by the West are still the segment’s top sellers, but the Chinese are also seeking out lesser-known artists whose works center on potent themes like political corruption.” [AO Newslink]

(more…)

Opening night. All images for Art Observed on site by Ana Marjanovic.

Rosy Keyser’s solo exhibition Promethean Dub is on view now at the Peter Blum gallery in Chelsea. Using both traditional and nontraditional materials on her abstract canvases, including house paint, enamel, and mica, Keyser explores the theme of rebirth and sustainability. As explained in the press release, the title of Promethean Dub refers to the “myth of Prometheus, who was responsible for endowing humankind with the fire of life and the musical genre Dub, born of poverty and ingenuity, a means of creating new sounds by reformatting preexisting songs.”

More text and images after the jump…

(more…)

–>
Photos for Art Observed on site by Samuel Sveen.

Art Observed was on site for the Whitney Studio Party, the after-party of the Whitney Museum‘s annual gala. In honor of Calvin Tomkins—the New Yorker writer and profiler of 95 artists—dinner was followed by a dance party down the hall in the larger warehouse space at Pier 57 on the west side. As ?uestlove spun all night, guests danced and drank among various socialites and artists, including Nate Lowman and Ryan McNamara.

–>
?uestlove

More photos after the jump…
–>
(more…)

–>
ASCO artists, self-portrait series

“ASCO: Elite of the Obscure” comes highly recommended as a way of experiencing a movement that is often neglected within a larger art history context. As noted within the Los Angeles exhibition’s literature, ASCO takes its name from “the forceful Spanish word for disgust and nausea,” and was a movement primarily active from 1972 to 1987. Much of the work featured describes both the joys and hardships of being Latino in a Hollywood culture, a traditionally Caucasian experience. The work—a combination of sketches, collaged photos, graffiti, and even costumes—falls in the tradition of Dadaism and Surrealist art of the 1920s and 1930s, but with a particular Chicano psyche.

More text and images after the jump…

(more…)

‪‬

Neo Rauch to donate all graphical works from 1992 and on, establishing new foundation in hometown of Aschersleben, Germany [AO Newslink]

(more…)

Gerhard Richter provides some frank statements on the art market and the upcoming sale of his work at auction during the press conference for his soon to open show at the Tate Modern “It’s just as absurd as the banking crisis” [AO Newslink]

(more…)

Video on site for Art Observed by Samuel Sveen.

A glowing sky over Greenpoint in Brooklyn drew several thousand art and light enthusiasts for the Bring To Light | Nuit Blanche New York 2011 light festival, a one-night event on October 1st. Wandering a playground and weaving through dark warehouse alleys, even out onto the India Street Pier, visitors could see over 50 installations—depending on how hard they looked—including sculptures, light projections, interactive installations, and live music and performances by both established and emerging artists. ‘Nuit Blanche’ translates to ‘white night’ or ‘all-nighter,’ a European tradition turned art festival ten years ago in Paris. New York’s second annual installment was joined by not only Paris, but also Brussels and Toronto in a simultaneous night of light, an effort to “re-imagine public space and civic life.”

Photo set after the jump…
(more…)

Rikrit Tiravanija, (Untitled) 2008-2011 (the map of the land of feeling), (2011). Via Carolina Nitsch

Currently on view at the Carolina Nitsch Project Room is Rikrit Tiravanija’s print project (Untitled) 2008-2011 (the map of the land of feeling) I-III, a three-part scroll three feet high and totaling 84 feet in length. The scroll took three years to complete, created using various techniques of screen-printing, offset lithography, and inkjet printing, finally producing elaborate layers that chronicle the artist’s physical and temporal passage of the last 20 years of his life. Tiravanija lives a perpetual negotiation of cultures, born to Thai parents in Buenos Aires and raised in Argentina, Bangkok, Ethiopia, and Canada. His career as an artist maintains his constant state of itinerancy and is gracefully recorded as “the map of the land of feeling.”

 More text and images after the jump…

(more…)

Courtyard ‘zinester’ tent at MoMA PS1. All photos on site for Art Observed by Samuel Sveen.

Over 200 exhibitors, ranging from artists and zinesters to antique booksellers and international publishers, tabled their wares at MoMA PS1 this weekend. Free admission was granted throughout the museum, with the book fair beginning in the courtyard and extending to the first and third floors, while other exhibitions were also on view—in particular, the 9/11 exhibition on the second floor. The sixth annual event was presented by Printed Matter, Inc., and also included several performances, talks, and book-signings.

More photos after the jump…
(more…)

Interview with William Acquavella about life, the day of Lucian Freud’s death [AO Newslink]

(more…)

Young gallerists are looking beyond Chelsea [AO Newslink]

(more…)

An hour by hour, interactive feature on a typical day of Jeffrey Deitch, Director of LA MoCA [AO Newslink]

(more…)

Terence Koh x Opening Ceremony release a new collaboration in the form of a “furry sneaker” [AO Newslink]

(more…)