Subodh Gupta, Untitled (detail), 2007-2008 via Serpentine Gallery

The new survey exhibition “Indian Highway” at London’s Serpentine Gallery reveals an inspiring and passionate array of Indian contemporary artists. The show highlights work done by fifteen artists from all over the country working in a variety of media from painting and photography to installation and performance.  Such a rich range of artwork captures the theme of the exhibition reflecting on India’s rapid economic development and the challenges of balancing the traditional, rural, and the religious with a new industrial society.

Indian Highway
Serpentine Gallery, London
Through February 22, 2009
Exhibition Page: Indian Highway

Press: An Eye-popping passage to India [The Guardian]
Serpentine Gallery Presents Major Exhibition: Indian Highway [Artdaily]

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Confrontation 1 (1988) by Gerhard Richter, via Tate

Gerhard Richter, 76, one of the most prominent living painters, will have his work shown at the National Portrait Gallery in London, marking the first time the artist has had a single show covering his entire oeuvre.  Gerhard Richter Portraits will feature 35 works by the painter, known for producing photo-realistic paintings, traced from slides, photographic prints, magazine cut outs, and other sources.  Richter has recently had exhibitions at London’s Serpentine (as covered by AO here) and a retrospective in Edinburgh (as covered by AO here.) Richter is also especially known for his portraits, a famous example being his portrayal of the Kennedy assassination and of Jacqueline Kennedy following her husband’s death.  Richter’s work stands in stark contrast to that of Andy Warhol, his contemporary, who often glamorized his portrait subjects–Richter’s work focused on moments of quiet reflection, and his subjects have at times been the recent victim of some sort of tragedy, as with the Kennedys.

Curated by Paul Moorhouse, the exhibit covers the period from the 1960s to the present, and includes a work that has not been previously exhibited. Additionally, a special installation of Richter’s acclaimed 48 Portraits, a series of portraits of important historical figures which increased the artist’s fame after it was displayed at the 1972 Venice Biennale.

Artist page: Gerhard Richter
Exhibit page: Gerhard Richter Portraits at National Portrait Gallery
Gallery hosts first Richter portrait show [Guardian]
National Portrait Gallery in London Announces Gerhard Richter Portrait Exhibition [ArtDaily]
Richter Paintings of Kennedy’s Killing to Be Reunited in London [Bloomberg]

Bust of Diego (1955) by Alberto Giacometti, via the Tate Museum

Alberto Giacometti left an indelible mark on 20th century sculpture, influencing two generations of artists since his death in 1966.  The Swiss sculptor and painter is so influential, in fact, that his likeness appears next to ‘Three Men Walking,’ one of his most famous works, on the Swiss 100 Franc bill.  Giacometti’s work is the focus of an extensive, large-scale retrospective at Kunstal Rotterdam, marking the first time the artist’s work is displayed in the Netherlands in over 20 years.  The exhibition, organized exclusively for the Kunsthal by the artist’s estate, covers his entire oeuvre of paintings, drawings, and sculptures, and is the latest installment in a series of retrospectives of major 20th century sculptors such as Hnery Moore, Isamu Noguchi, and Jean Tinguely.

Giacometti, whose father was also a painter, studied art in Paris with Antoine Bourdelle, where he also later was inspired by his discovery of Cubism as well as art from Africa and the Pacific Islands, whose forms and aesthetic were a crucial influence for many of his contemporaries.  Later, Giacometti became an influential sculptor in the Surrealist movement, before melding his classical training and more modern experimentation to create groundbreaking representations of the human body and its fragility, the subject he has become best known for and which he continued to explore for the rest of his life and career.

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI RETROSPECTIVE
through February 8th, 2009
Kunsthal Rotterdam
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Exhibition Page: Alberto Giacometti

more story and images after the jump…

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Improvisation 19 (1910) by Wassily Kandinsky, on display at Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany

The Lenbachhaus in Munich drawing on support from the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York which have pooled their collectively large collections of works by Wassily Kandinsky to mount a major retrospective of the oft-overlooked artist’s oeuvre, re-examining his influence on subsequent generations of artists and aesthetic schools.  The retrospective features a total of 95 works from all periods of Kandinsky’s five decade career, focusing on the major, large scale pieces that were instrumental in Kandinsky’s own evolution as an artist.  Kandinsky was a founding pioneer of Abstract Expressionism, through his works as well as his theoretical treatises and writings.   His methodical approach to conveying abstraction through color, line and form demonstrates a very sharp intellect that also has the ability to create accessible works of art, an ability which has been successfully replicated by very few abstract painters since his death in 1944.

Those unable to make it to Munich before the end of the exhibition will be able to view it April 8th to August 10th, 2009 at the Pompidou in Paris, and from September 18th to January 10th, 2009 at the Guggenheim in New York.  Each leg of the exhibit will emphasize works in that particular museum’s Kandinsky collection: the artist’s Blue Rider period is strongly represented at the Lenbachhaus, while the Pompidou will exhibit numerous pieces from his time in Weimar Germany (heavily influenced by the Bauhaus movement of the time). The Guggenheim’s collection, in turn, heavily features pieces from Kandinsky’s Parisian sojourn. The three museums, which individually have the three largest Kandinsky collections, have pooled their resources to create an retrospective of unprecedented scale. Pieces from private collections and other museums in Russia, Switzerland, the United States and other countries were also added to the pool, offering spectators a unique opportunity to view multiple seminal works of art in one viewing.

KANDINSKY: ABSOLUTE. ABSTRACT.
Stadtische Museum, Lenbachhaus,
Munich, Bavaria, Germany
through February 22nd, 2009

Museum Website: Lenbachhaus
Exhibition Page: Kandinsky: Absolute. Abstract.
Treatise by Artist: ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’
Kandinsky Gallery at the Guggenheim Musem
The overlooked great in the history of modern art: an artist who found new levels of meaning [GuardianUK]

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Lucian Freud “Sally Clarke” “David, Pluto and Eli” and “Woman Sleeping” at Acquavella Gallery

Spectacle ensues as Pamela Anderson and David LaChapelle visit 303 Gallery at Art Basel Miami Beach

This year’s Art Basel Miami Beach began with a great deal of trepidation over where the level of sales would be in comparison to that of last year.  While volume was undeniably less this year, there was still a minimum level of sales completed which seemed to determine the event’s eventual success.   The art fair seemed to normalize to a level where the high quality of art that was brought down could be viewed, and in some cases purchased, at more measured, civilized pace.  Similarly, the corresponding events had a tone that was neither frantic nor somber; in some cases they were anticlimactic, elsewhere they were just fun.  The art market players are resting for a bit now after so much work and festivities in one short set of days, and few regretted the trip.

Eli Broad, Jay-Z Tour Slower Miami Art Fair, Collectors Haggle [Bloomberg]
Art Basel Miami Beach 2008 Roundup [Artinfo]
Miami Memories 2008 [Artnet]
Exceptionally High Quality at Art Basel Miami Beach 2008 [ArtDaily]
Feeling the pinch in the Miami vice [TimesUK]
Fair Enough [ArtForum]
The art market: Strong voting for the art party [FinancialTimes]
Slowdown In The Art Market [Forbes]
Art Basel Miami Beach 2008 [Vernissage.tv]
At Fairs by the Beach, the Sands of Creativity [NYTimes]
Art Basel Miami Beach | Under Construction [NYTimes]
Soft landings in hard times [ArtNewspaper]
Loyal buyers secure a positive start [ArtNewspaper]
David Lynch’s diamond dome [ArtNewspaper]
Basel sees a bright side [MiamiHerald]
Art Basel sales show slowdown in tough economic year [MiamiHerald]
Kmart Special Time at Art Basel Miami [NYMag]
Terence Koh Dazzles Art Basel Miami With Thrilling Nonperformance [NYMag]
Seven Things We Learned at Art Basel Miami [NYMag]
Miami ///The Recap: Art Basel’s Amazing “It Ain’t Fair” [SuperTouch]
Miami ///WTF?!? Files ///Takashi Murakami Gets Loose at Art Basel [Supertouch]
Art Basel: Cartier Dreams, Forbes Yacht Party, Caviar & Grace Jones [BlackBook]
Art Basel: Actually, It Was Awesome [BlackBook]

more AO original photos after the jump…

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Artist Ryan McGinley on left; Cory Kennedy in middle, and Milk Gallery’s Jenn Wirtz on end.

THE WAR IS ON!! Paintball players dashing around the sand pit.

For collectors, artists, gallerists, curators, and socialites alike, tensions were high during this year’s Art Basel. Whether attempting to turn profits, counting every Obama or Mao representation between Wynwood and Convention Center, hotel party-hopping in SoBe (from NY Times to Visionaire, Le Baron in Florida room, to Pamela Anderson at Fountainbleu), and/or ignoring the pesky word “recession,” everyone was visibly fatigued by Saturday night in Miami.  Hence, it was sheer brilliance on the behalf of Accompanied Literary Society, Create The Group, and Moet to host an “Art War” paintball fight at the Raleigh Hotel on Saturday night, letting a select group of artistas, collectors and art aficionados get down and dirty in the sandy oasis. While providing artists with paintguns and an open bar may sound as risky as endorsing kids to play baseball with rocks, the event proceeded flawlessly, as well as safely. Hotelier Andre Balazs showed off his executive prowess by skillfully organizing and managing his team, artists Aaron Young and Ryan McGinley seemed particularly boisterous high-fiving and jumping around, while Glenn O’Brien opted to watch from the sidelines. “In an atmosphere in which artists are losing galleries, [the event] was really about pride and supporting other artists,” said Brooke Geahan. (In particular, the event was officially feting artist Andrew Cramer.)

Better yet, each team’s outfit was personalized, The Raleigh Stags wore their own trademark brand attached to their appendages, while others personalized theirs DIY-style with permanent marker; better yet, several female contestants decided to creatively hack off the legs of their baggy jumpers and convert their outfits into tiny short-shorts. This being the art world, most decided the best accessory to paint guns was cigarettes (well, alcohol and cigarettes).

What ensued? Paint slinging, merriment, shouting, drinking, champagne shaking, and laughing. After the “war” concluded and the crowd dissipated slowly, a select few including Brooke Geahan, Horatio Silva, Todd Eberle, Aaron Young, Paul Sevigny, and Rebecca Guinness sat back in the oasis, watching the fire and sipping champagne. Post-war, Geahan stated, “it felt really, truly like a community.” At least in the attendees’ memories, while many of last week’s soirees blurred together in one, this event closed Basel with a delightful yet innocuous bang.

Words By Faith-Ann Young
Pictures By Ilhan Kim and Faith-Ann Young / Patrick McMullen

Aaron Young getting his back signed by Javier Peres

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Boden Sea, Uttwill by Hiroshi Sugimoto on display now at the Gagosian Gallery via Artnet.

Fourteen photographs from the Seascapes series by Hiroshi Sugimoto are on display at the Gagosian Gallery through March 7, 2009.  The exhibition entitled 7 Days / 7 Nights is comprised of photographs of the sea and its horizon taken at various locations around the globe.  The photos, like all of Sugimoto’s work, were taken using a late 19th century large-format camera with extremely long exposures.  The results are works that display the unchanging nature of the sea while still revealing its subtle idiosyncrasies.  The artist is also the subject of a traveling retrospective now on display at the Lucerne Museum of Art. Included are several of the artist’s famed works including several photos from the 1976 Dioramas series. The series Dioramas consists of photographs taken of natural history museum displays, the subjects appear as real animals until examined further. Like much of Sugimoto’s work Dioramas is an attempt to intrigue the viewer into taking a more methodical approach at viewing the photo and its subjects. These works along with several others will be on display at the Lucerne Museum of Art through January 25, 2009.

Sugimoto at Four Venues [Art: 21]
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7 Days / 7 Nights Press Release [Gagosian Gallery]
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Hiroshi Sugimoto “Seven Days / Seven Nights” [NY Art Beat]
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Hiroshi Sugimoto Press Release [Lucerne Museum of Art]
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Hiroshi Sugimoto Retrospective at the Lucerne Museum of Art [Raw Art] (more…)

more photos after the jump…

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Grayson Perry; Entrance To The Forest; 2002; Victoria Miro Gallery; London -Photos by ArtObserved

“The surprise is the business we are doing. Frankly, people are expressing more confidence in the art market than the government or Wall Street right now,” said Sean Kelly of Sean Kelly Gallery. The night of December 2nd, Vernissage attendees glittered and Piper Heidsieck champagne flowed.  More importantly, buyers were in attendance, asking questions and indeed, according to most of the galleries interviewed for this article, buying.  On Thursday afternoon, Douglas Baxter, President of Pace Wildenstein professed “We’ve met expectations.” Also on Thursday, when asked his feelings on sales from the night before, a representative at Cheim & Read insisted his artists have been selling well, pointing to Jack Pierson sculpture and a pile of William Eggleston’s photos.  Margherita Belaief of Peres Projects had the same confidence, “It’s hard to say so early but in general, Dash Snow’s pieces are selling strong.”  While hesitant to disclose precise numbers, the overall sentiment of the top galleries was optimistic.

However, it’s important to note while the larger known artists have been selling strong, some galleries have reported some difficulty selling lesser known artist pieces.  Alfons Klosterfelde at Klosterfelde was most direct: “People are asking more questions and really want to know the details,” but he said pointedly as of Thursday, “there have been less sales” and Klosterfelde remarked the pieces sold were from the gallery’s more known artists.

Photos and Writing by Faith-Ann Young

more pictures and story after the jump…

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Portrait of Bindo Altoviti, by Girolamo da Carpi, via Sotheby’s; Sold for £3.065 million.

Bucking the months-long trend of disappointing auction results, this week’s Old Masters auctions in London (Christie’s on December 2nd and
Sotheby’s on Dec. 3) managed to sell close to the higher end of their expected price range–at least for one auction house.

Sotheby’s Old Masters painting sale raised  £13.3 million against a pre-sale estimate range of  £9.5 to £13.5 million.  Seven new artist records were set, as 61.5% of the offerings were sold by lot, and 71.7% sold by value. A portrait of Bindo Altoviti, a Florentine banker, fetched  just over £3 million compared to top end estimates of  £300,000. The portrait was painted on marble during the Italian renaissance, depicting one of its major business and arts figures, and has been passed down since the late 18th century within a Swiss collector family.  The top lot was easily A Young Woman in a Red Jacket Feeding a Parrot by Frans van Mieris the Elder, which was sold for £3.6 million versus top end estimates of £700,000. Another high-priced lot that beat its estimate was a rare coastal landscape piece by Jan Brueghel the Elder, which went for £1.07 million pounds against top end estimates of £700,000.

Observers attribute the success of the Old Masters auctions to the fact that the genre did not see the astronomical price appreciation that became common in more contemporary art markets. Additionally, Sotheby’s priced the lots less aggressively than Christie’s, its counterpart, which saw less dazzling results–detailed after the jump.  Aggressive estimates have been blamed for the dismal Russian art auctions last week in London, as covered previously in ArtObserved.

Catalogue: Sotheby’s Old Masters Evening Sale
Can Old Masters Weather the Economic Storm? [Wall Street Journal]
Banker Portrait Fetches 15 Times Forecast at London Art Auction [Bloomberg]
Painting Found in Attic Fetches $4.2 Million in Old-Master Test [Bloomberg]
Old Master Paintings Realise GBP13,334,000 at Sotheby’s [ArtDaily]
Tiepolo Masterpiece – Previously Hidden in the Attic of a Chateau in France – Sells for $4,227,780 [ArtDaily]
Old Masters Show the Market Up [ArtMarketMonitor]
Old master sales show resilience amid art weakness [Reuters]

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Jonathan Meese outside Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac with one of his sculptures, via Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac.

Now on display at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Salzburg, Austria is German artist Jonathan Meese’s most recent sculptural works. Meese has been known in particular as a performance and installation artist but has recently renewed his artistic focus on the classic forms of painting, drawing, and sculpture. Though varied are his mediums Meese’s works are known to employ a constant theme of symbols, signs, and badges that serve as figurative allusions to characters in history, fictional literature, and current pop culture that are as varied as Stalin and Scarlet Johannson.  The artist’s work also serves as a reflection and reconstruction of German history and mythology.  This exploration has lent the artist to be compared to fellow German artist Anselm Kiefer whose work, especially that of the 1970’s, drew substantial inspiration from the history of Nazi Germany.
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Press Release [Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac]
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Jonathan Meese at Thaddaeus Ropac [Contemporary Art Daily]
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Ich bin ein artist [TheMoment]

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Mark Leckey receiving the Turner Prize, via the Guardian

The only male among the four artists selected as nominees for this year’s Turner Prize emerged as the winner of what is widely considered Britain’s most important contemporary arts competition, held at the Tate Britain museum for the last 24 years. Mark Leckey’s Cinema in the Round clinched the Turner Prize, joining the ranks of Damien Hirst, Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry, Rachel Whiteread,  the Chapman Brothers, Tomma Abts, Steve McQueen, among many other now prominent artists.  The Turner Prize is awarded to the best artist under 50 by a jury which changes every year.  Leckey’s works included films that examined the role of movies and other media in the daily lives of viewers, and how they see themselves.  Cinema in the Round examined this theme in depth, referencing external cultural imagery drawn from such as sources as Felix the Cat, Homer Simpson, Titanic the movie and Philip Guston.  Leckey beat out fellow artists Runa Islam, Cathy Wilkes, and Goshka Macuga for the £25,000 prize, which was presented by musician Nick Cave.  The other competitors took home £5,000 as consolation prize.

Official Site: Turner Prize 2008
Video: ‘I want a TV show,’ Interview with Mark Leckey [Guardian]
Photos: Turner prize 2008: Happy go Leckey [Guardian]
Modest art: out goes the controversy as magpie of the artworld steals the show [Guardian]
‘Felix the Cat’ Artist Mark Leckey Wins Turner Prize [Bloomberg]
Mark Leckey Wins Prestigious 2008 Turner Prize – World’s Top Contemporary Art Award [ArtDaily]

more pictures after the jump…

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A beach towel by Ed Ruscha via the Art Production Fund

Just in time for Art Basel Miami Beach, new beach towels by Ed Ruscha, Karen Kilimnik, Raymond Pettibon and Julian Schnabel are ready, catch them at the Raleigh Hotel [Art Production Fund]
A Page Six roundup of some of the Art Basel Miami Beach parties, as usual, the Raleigh hotel is front and center [NYPost]

“Paysage, le mur rose” (Landscape, the Pink Wall) by Henri Matisse via Artsjournal

France gives back Henri Matisse painting, once seized by Nazi SS officer, proceeds from sale to go to British charity for medical rescue in Israel [Artsjournal] more here [AP]

Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar via The New York Times

Qatar opens the 41,000 square foot, IM Pei designed Museum of Islamic Art in Doha; Robert de Niro, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and London dealer Jay Jopling attend festivities [NewYork Times]

Portrait of a lady as Flora , by Italian master Giambattista Tiepolo

A lost painting by Giambattista Tiepolo, discovered in a chateau attic, may sell for £1m at Christie’s sale in London next week [FinancialTimes]
City of San Francisco not accepting $1 billion gift to build space to show Gap Inc. founder Don Fisher’s 1,000 work strong collection due to aesthetics of architecture [Bloomberg]
A review of Calvin Tomkins’s ‘Lives of the Artists’ which profiles headliners such as Hirst, Cindy Sherman, Schnabel, Serra, Koons, Currin and others [NYObserver)

Portrait Ria Munk III – by Gustav Klimt via Linz Presse

Lentos Museum in Austria may have to give a $10 million Gustav Klimt painting to heirs of Holocaust victim [Bloomberg]

The artist Steve McQueen via GuardianUK

Turner prize winning video artist Steve McQueen interviewed, and more, on his new film, ‘Hunger’ [GuardianUK]

The rag market in Moscow, by Vladimir Makovsky. Sold for £1.33 million. Picture via the Guardian.

Russian art collectors, who have been keen participants in the art market for the better part of this decade, have largely kept their distance from this year’s series of Russian art auctions in London.  For the past nine years, the Russian art auctions typically attracted highly competitive bidding from Russian oligarchs and their representatives.  Activity is now dwindling markedly, correlating roughly but unmistakably with the net worth of Russia’s billionaires, who have lost tens of billions due to massive equity and commodity market declines of roughly 2/3 off their highs.

MacDougall Arts’ auction, a Russian art specialist, sold just under 40% of the works on offer, raising £7 million less than its presale low estimate of £12 million.  Sotheby’s, the market leader for Russian art, fared somewhat better, selling £25 million worth of art (albiet against an estimate of £30m to £43m) and setting nine artist records, which was the third highest total for a series of Russian Art sales at Sotheby’s.  Christie’s sold £3 million worth of art, while Bonham’s sold a third of its offerings, collecting £1.7 million.  Many of the pieces on sale were from the collection of Monika, Princess of Hanover, Countess zu Solms-Laubach, a German aristocrat and distant relative of the British royal family.  Her collection fetched £1.95 million, almost twice its estimate of £1.1 million, providing some solace to Sotheby’s, who sold most of her works.  Egyptian Girl, by Vasili Polenov (shown below), also provided a bright spot when it sold for £1.05 million pounds, more than triple its top estimate and setting an artist record. The Joker by Mikhail Klodt (shown below), was sold for £313,000, well over its top estimate of £180,000, while The Clearing by Ivan Shishkin (shown below) topped its £200,000 estimate when it sold for £289,000.

Sotheby’s Russian sales signal duller art market [Financial Times]
Sotheby’s 2008 November Series of Russian Art Sales Total $37.9 Million [Art Daily]
Russians Shun 60% of London Art Sale, Wait for Prices to Drop [Bloomberg]
Princess Collection Shines at London Russia-Art Sale [Bloomberg]
Bargain Buy: Christiet’s Sells Russian Painting for 10 Pounds [Bloomberg]
Russian Art Week at Christie’s in London [Art Daily]

more pictures after the jump…

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Still from Kaikai Kiki Animation Episode 1, Planting the Seeds 2007 via LA Times.

Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is set to open an animation studio in Los Angeles next summer, 2009.  The studio, which should accommodate roughly 30 employees, will take up approximately 9,000 square foot (6,220 square feet on the first floor and 2,760 square feet on the second level) in a building on North Highland Avenue and will be operated by Kaikai Kiki, Murakami’s production and management company.

Murakami said in a statement: “This studio represents a great step in the evolution of Kaikai Kiki and gives me a closer proximity to the community of artists with whom I hope to collaborate as I continue my explorations of animated and live-action film.”

The new studio’s first major project will be an animated feature-length film based on the series of  shorts, “Planting the Seeds,” that premiered last winter at Murakami’s MoCA exhibition.  Kaikai Kiki has already produced the music video for Kanye West’s Good Morning (as covered by Art Observed here.)

Murakami, who, like Andy Warhol, is known for blurring the boundaries between high and low art, created the superflat monogram for Louis Vuitton and his animated characters are also featured in Louis Vuitton advertisements.

Murakami animation studio coming to LA [LA Times]

Videos and images after the jump… (more…)

Amy Winehouse by unknown artist, on RCA Secret postcard, via BBC

2,700 postcards composed by a combination of famous and emerging artists were sold at the Royal College of the Arts’ Secret postcard event this past Saturday, November 22nd, in London.  Every year, students from the college contribute original pieces of art on postcards, along with many of the worlds top artists and assorted other notables, to raise funds for the school. The RCA has managed to raise close to £1 million from the sale of the postcards since 1994, when a student came up with the idea.

Cards sell for £40 each, and are unmarked and unsigned; the viewer or buyer does not know who created it, leading to the possibility of acquiring works by the likes of Damien Hirst, Peter Doig, or Manolo Blahnik very inexpensively.  Postcards have been resold for princely sums at major auction houses. A card by Hirst was sold for £15,600 in 2004, while a Doig original sold for £42,000 in 2000.  “Keeping the works anonymous is a very clever idea because potential buyers have to use their own powers of discrimination,” noted artist and regular contributor Grayson Perry said. “They must look at art works closely rather than read labels, a habit they might find rewarding at any exhibition.”

While readers have missed out on this year’s sale, which was held on November 13th, they can always look forward to 2009.

Exhibition page: RCA Secret
Secret art postcards go on sale [BBC]
Lucky dip in secret postcard sale [GuardianUK]
In London, Purchase a Postcard Worth 42,000 British Pounds [IHT]

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Emmanuel Perrotin, Gallerist and Founder, Artists’ Dreams, via ParisArt

Emmanuel Perrotin, owner of the Paris and Miami based Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, has announced the formation of Artists’ Dreams, a vehicle which will allow investors to finance expensive pieces by leading artists. Perrotin has syndicated investments in several artistic pieces, reaching out to his wide network in the collecting community to fund works such as Piotr Uklanski’s Untitled (Floor Dance) piece, which was exhibited at the Guggenheim in 2007.

As competition intensifies among artists, this new venture tries to fill a gap by allowing emerging artists to compete more effectively with brand name artists such as Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, who often use very expensive materials and processes in their productions. Works financed through Artists’ Dreams will be sold exclusively through Perrotin’s two galleries, and investors will see returns on their investments out of the dealer’s cut once the work is sold. Perrotin has raised €2 million, and is also planning similar vehicles in conjunction with museums and other dealers, under similar terms. Perrotin has been building on his success recently, having regained the right to represent Damien Hirst as his client, and presenting two shows curated by Pharrell Williams (of N.E.R.D and The Neptunes) at his Miami and Paris galleries, as covered by ArtObserved (see below).

Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin
Dealer sets up company to fund artists’ production [The Art Newspaper]
Damien Hirst to reinstate representation with Parisian gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin [ArtObserved]
Go See: Pharrell Williams, ‘Perspective,’ Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris thourgh January 10th, 2009 [ArtObserved]

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Eli Broad, Billionaire Philanthropist and Art Collector, via LA Times

In an apparent reversal from his statements earlier this year, billionaire philanthropist and patron of the arts Eli Broad is now opening a 25,000 square foot museum in the new headquarters for his eponymous foundation, the Broad Art Foundation.  This news comes just nine months after the Los Angeles County Museum of Art opened the 60,000 square foot Broad Contemporary Art Museum, built through $56 million dollars provided by Mr. Broad, proprietor of a 2,000 piece collection of post-war art.  Jean Michel Basquiat, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, and Damien Hirst figure among the many seminal artists whose works are owned by the foundation.  Eli Broad had been outspokenly calling the art market bubble for some time now and recent auction performance in the past month or two has proved him to be somewhat prescient.   Broad has felt that the market is returning to normal levels perhaps as he has recently been reinvigorating purchasing activity.  Mr. Broad’s most recent acquisitions include: Bantam by Robert Rauschenberg ($2.6 million), Wishing Well by Jeff Koons ($2.2 million), and Desire by Ed Ruscha ($2.4 million), all acquired at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale on November 11th (as covered by AO here).

The new facility would include the proposed museum, administrative headquarters for his organization, and storage for the pieces of his collection that aren’t on loan to museums. “We want a new headquarters, a space to have works that are not on loan to others at any given moment available for study by curators and scholars,” the foundation’s spokeswoman said in an article published in Bloomberg.  Broad has expressed that he would like the new headquarters to open within 3 years.

Gensler has been designated as the architect and consultant on the project, with a site in Beverly Hills and two other undisclosed locations under review. The Beverly Hills location would be at the corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards, a few miles away from the LACMA museum that bears his name. Some observers question whether the new museum would introduce too much competition to existing contemporary arts venues, especially the Broad Museum at LACMA and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), where Broad was a founding trustee. MoCA especially is in a very fragile position: the museum is in a severe fiscal crisis after suffering huge losses to its endowment in the recent market downturn.  Broad has announced a plan to provide $30 million to MoCA over several years to help keep the museum from closing.

The Broad Art Foundation
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Los Angeles County Museum of Art
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Eli Broad Plans Another Art Space [New York Times]
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Broad Decides to Build His Own Museum [New York Times]
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Billionaire Broad Proposes Beverly Hills Art Museum [Bloomberg]
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Eli Broad’s Museum to Keep Art Out of `Basement’ [Bloomberg]
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Eli Broad’s art collection needs a home, so he’ll build it [LA Times]
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MOCA faces serious financial problems [LA Times]
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Saving MOCA: Eli Broad offers $30 million to MOCA in Op-Ed [LA Times]
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Eli Broad to Build Museum in Los Angeles [ArtForum]

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Kanye West uses Kaws for his cover art (Takashi Murakami has also had the privilege) [theartcollectors]
Art collector Aby Rosen’s Core Club, featuring works by such artists as Jean-Michel Basquiat and De Kooning, owes its founding members funds [NYPost]
A closer look into the ramifications of the art “crash” [WallStreetJournal]

“Tobacco vs Red Chief” (1981-2) by Jean-Michel Basquiat via UBS Art Collectio

A new collection at the Tate Modern in London titled “UBS Openings: Paintings from the 1980s”, which opened last week, centers on Neo-Expressionist paintings, a departure from the minimalist and conceptual artwork that preceded this period. Artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Salle, Alex Katz, Julian Schnabel, and Christopher Le Brun sought to return to historical narratives executed in a vibrant, energetic fashion contributing to powerful results in large-scale, figurative paintings.

The collection draws on works from the reserves of the Tate Collection as well as the UBS Art Collection and includes works such as Basquiat’s “Tobacco vs Red Chief” (1981-2), David Salle’s “My Subjectivity” (1981), Julian Schnabel’s “Humanity Asleep” (1982) painted over a surface of broken plates, Christopher Le Brun’s “Dream, Think, Speak (1981-2) and Clemente’s Self Portrait (1984).  The exhibition has been curated by Matthew Gale, Head of Displays of the Tate Modern.

UBS Openings: Paintings from the 1980s – Tate Modern
Through April 13, 2009

Paintings from the 1980s [Financial Times]
UBS Openings: Paintings from the 1980’s [Tate Modern Website]
UBS Openings: Paintings from the 1980s at Tate Modern [Art Daily]

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Still from ‘Sigh,’ an installation by Sam Taylor-Wood, on display at “Yes I No,” via White Cube Gallery

“Yes I No,” a show by Sam Taylor-Wood, is currently on display at White Cube Gallery, in Mason’s Yard, London. The show contains three sets of photographs, and a large-scale film installation. ‘Sigh,’ the installation, features the BBC Concert Orchestra playing a classical piece, without their instruments. The orchestra members, who are filmed in plain clothes and in multiple takes and at various angles, are miming the performance, highlighting the relationship between the viewer’s aural perception of the music and the visuals of the musicians’ and conductor’s performing the music.

Taylor-Wood, who rose to prominence in the 1990s along with Damien Hirst, Tracy Emin, and other members of the Young British Artists movement, is known for pieces exploring themes of absence and mortality.

YES I NO by Sam Taylor-Wood – through November 29th, 2008
White Cube
Mason’s Yard, London

Taylor-Wood’s Mimed Music, Serra’s Metal Maze: London Galleries [Bloomberg]
Visual art review: Sam Taylor-Wood, No 1 the Piazza, Covent Garden/White Cube, London [Guardian]
Q&A – Sam Taylor-Wood, artist [GuardianUK]
Sam Taylor-Wood, YBA artist turned filmaker (and wife of White Cube Gallery owner Jay Jopling), to direct John Lennon film [AO Newslinks]
Exhibition Page: Yes I No
Press Release: Yes I No
Artist Page: Sam Taylor-Wood

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Photos by ArtObserved

Last night RxArt hosted its annual “Party 2008″ (formerly the RxArt Ball) in honor of Jeff Koons at Milk Gallery in Chelsea, New York. RxArt promotes optimal healing through exposure to original fine art in patient, procedure, and examination rooms of healthcare facilities. By curating artistic installations in hospital settings, they provide a surrounding which helps to relieve stress and anxiety in patients, families, and staff. A festive silent auction, hosted by Larry Gagosian, Antonio Homen, and Lazaro Hernandez & Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler, the event was well attended by art enthusiasts, fashion darlings and RxArt supporters all in good spirits. Works were set up along the walls from well-known artists such as Will Cotton, Inka Essenhigh, Hilary Harkness, Terence Koh, Nate Lowman, Delia Brown, Terry Richardson, Rob Pruitt, Ed Ruscha, Kehinde Wiley and Tom Sachs.

Guests at the launch of Timo’s neckwear collection, which took place prior to the auction, in the Phillips de Pury space upstairs, were also in attendance. Seen in the crowd at the RxArt benefit were designers Cynthia Rowley, Kai Kuhn and Sue Stemp, Opening Ceremony founders Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, social fixtures Genevieve Jones, Derek Blasberg, Emma Snowdon-Jones, and Victoria and Vanessa Traina, gallerists Gavin Brown, Barbara Wilhelm Dwek, Amy Greenspon and Melissa Bent and artists Rita Ackermann, Dan Colen and Terry Richardson (with girlfriend Jen Brill).

Each corner of the gallery was closed as the auction, both online and live, closed in sections, as the lights literally went out and the art was swiftly removed by art handlers over the course of the evening. The timed element lent a thrill to the cocktail party and auction.

RxArt Official Website
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RXArt Parties at Milk Gallery [WWD]
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Lazaro Hernandez Gets Outbid [VanityFair]
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When Terry met Barry [men.Style.com]
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Prescription Strength [Style.com]

more photos after the jump…

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Diane Brown, President of RxArt and artist Terry Richardson at last year’s RxArt Ball via Style.com

RxArt is hosting “The Party 2008” (formerly the RxArt Ball) in honor of Jeff Koons tonight from 7pm to 10pm at the A Milk Gallery Project located at 450 West 15th Street in New York City. The event is part cocktail party, part silent auction and is expected to be a festive evening attracting artists, designers, and socialites alike. The gracious co-chairs for this year are Larry Gagosian of Gagosian Gallery, Antonio Homen of Sonnabend Gallery, and Lazaro Hernandez & Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler. All guests will receive a copy of the the limited edition puzzle by Dan Colen. Tickets are available online here.

RxArt Official Website

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‘Hamm Bergswerk OST’ (2008) by Andreas Gursky, via Matthew Marks Gallery

Andreas Gursky’s sixth exhibition at Matthew Marks Gallery is currently on display. The exhibit features five photographs, all taken within the last two years including two pictures of Cocoon, a massive nightclub in Frankfurt designed by Gursky’s friend Sven Vath, a well known electronic musician and DJ. The club’s name inspires its architecture, as it mimics a hive or the imagined insides of a cocoon, and the photographs depict swarms of people dancing, extending the metaphor. The Cocoon pieces follow Gursky’s interest in electronic music, and previous photographs of large raves and electronic music concerts. ‘Hamm Bergswerk OST’ was shot in a coal mine close to Dusseldorf, Gursky’s home town, depicting the ceiling of one of the mine’s locker rooms, where the miners store their clothes in an unconventional way. While the exhibition is small, the scale of the photographs is very large, typically towering over the viewer, with broad panoramas full of absorbing detail that immerses the spectator.

ANDREAS GURSKY
through December 23rd, 2008
Matthew Marks Gallery
523 W 24th Street
New York, NY

Exhibition page: Andreas Gursky
Press Release: Andreas Gursky at Mathew Marks Gallery
Artist Page: Andreas Gursky
No glow sticks required [GQ]

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