Naked Portrait with Reflection, Lucian Freud (1980) via Artinfo

Christie’s held its Postwar and Contemporary Evening sale on Monday, June 30th, setting new records and selling 83% of the lots. The four largest sales came from Jeff Koons, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and Andy Warhol. Other artists who were featured in the finely curated sale were Mark Rothko, Gerhard Richter, and Gilbert and George just to name a few. Out of the 48 lots that sold, 30 of them made over $1 million, and the total sale raised $172 million. This is Christie’s best result for a post-war and contemporary art sale in Europe.
Bacon Self-Portraits Fetch $34.5 Million at London Art Auction [Bloomberg]
Koons sculpture highlights record-breaking art sale [APF]
Koons record as London art sales draw to close [Reuters]
Christie’s London Bests Own Contemporary Record [Artinfo]
Record price for Koons sculpture [BBC]
Christie’s Post War and Contemporary Art Sale [Christie’s]
Bacon Triptych Sells for $34.4 Million in London [NYTimes]
Dead Artists Breathe Life Into Auctions [Wall Street Journal]
Koons’s ‘Balloon Flower’ sits in St. James Square before sale at Christie’s June 30th [Art Observed]

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Untitled, Willem de Kooning (1984) via Artinfo

Sold for about $5.6 million.
Estimate was $2.4 million – $4 million.

The Contemporary Art sale at Phillips de Pury and Company monday had some disappointing news to report when 34% of the lots went unsold. Even some of the top by Xang Xiagang and Paul McCarthy found themselves unable to sell. Damien Hirst, who sold 3 of his 4 works in the auction, managed to barely meet his estimate on the ones sold.

Contemporary Market Bruised but Resilient After London Sales [Artinfo]
Market news: London’s contemporary art sales [Telegraph]
McCarthy, Zhang Flop in Tepid London Contemporary-Art Auction [Bloomberg]
London Contemporary Week Lurches Into Action at Phillips [Artinfo]

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Image via Telegraph UK

Award-winning sculptor Antony Gormley will present his work “One And Other” in Trafalgar Square, London as he was recently chosen for the Fourth Plinth commission. His piece will occupy the Fourth Plinth for 100 consecutive days, for 24 hours, by members of the public who volunteered to stand for an hour. This will allow 2,400 people to participate in this piece.

Next on the Trafalgar Square plinth: the public [Times Online]
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London Mayor Offers to Be Living Artwork for Gormley [Bloomberg]
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Gormley’s human exhibit wins battle of Trafalgar [Independent]
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Antony Gormley will ask Trafalgar Square volunteers to climb plinth for art [Telegraph UK]
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Public art — literally — for London’s Trafalgar Square [AFP]
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Trafalgar Square: The People’s Plinth – A Portrait of our Time [Independent]

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Study for Head of George Dyer, Francis Bacon (1967) via NYTimes

Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Sale in London took place yesterday on July 1st and brought in an encouraging total of $188.8 million.  Francis Bacon’s painting of the profile of his lover and companion, George Dyer, was a highlight of the auction. This intimate portrait based on a photograph by John Deakin, was originally predicted to collect $15.5 million, but sold at a much higher $27.4 million to an anonymous collector. Although the sellers of the Bacon painting were kept anonymous, the New York Tims reported that experts speculate that it was sold by Ian and Mercedes Stouker, London Philanthropists.  Other impressive results of the sale achieved records for 11 different artists, and included the high profile sale of a Basquiat painting from seller U2, and an Andy Warhol from seller John McEnroe. The sold-out collection from the German industrialist, Walther Lauffs, which included work from Yves Klein, was another highlight of the show.

Sotheby’s July 2008 Contemporary Art Evening Sale Triumphs [Artdaily]
U2’s Jean-Michel Basquiat work on Sotheby’s block for $17.7M [Art Observed]
Bacon Stars, 10 Records Set at Sotheby’s; U2 Sell Art [Bloomberg]
Anish Kapoor sculpture attracts $3.87 mn at Sotheby’s sale [Economic Times]
Ten Works Set Records at Sotheby’s Contemporary Auctions [NYSun]
Sotheby’s contemporary art sale reaches £94.7 million [International Herald Tribune]
Contemporary Art Evening Auction Results [Sotheby’s]
Bacon Is Again a Top Draw at Auction [NYTimes]

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Your Dogs, 2008 via Maureen Paley

German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans has an exhibition at Maureen Paley gallery in London’s East End. His first solo exhibition in the UK since 2005, it offers new work as well as older, rarely viewed video. This exhibit is a combination of traditional photographs, photographic sculptures, photocopies and video. Two themes recurring throughout both floors of Tillmans’ work are the photograph as an object and the interaction of nature and man-made objects.

Wolfgang Tillmans, Maureen Paley Gallery [Maureen Paley]
Wolfgang Tillmans [ArtNews]
Wolfgang Tillmans at Maureen Paley [SHOWstudio]
Wolfgang Tillmans at Maureen Paley [Dazed Digital]
Wolfgang Tillmans – Maureen Paley Gallery [Photoicon]
Discover ‘Lighter’, the new solo exhibition from Wolfgang Tillmans [London is Free]

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New York City Waterfalls, Olafur Eliasson via NYTimes

Danish Artist, Olafur Eliasson has completed his $15.5 million New York City Waterfalls project. This sublime installation consists of four free-standing cataracts that have been transformed into 90 to 120 feet of falling water. The waterfalls started flowing yesterday, June 26th and will continue through October 13th.

Olafur Eliasson’s The New York City Waterfalls in New York [Artdaily]
Niagara’s New Rivals -For a Time, Anyway [Wall Street Journal]
The Falls Guy [NYMag]
Olafur Eliasson set to make a splash in Manhattan with waterfalls [Guardian UK]
Eliasson’s Waterfalls Make Instant Monuments for N.Y. Harbor [Bloomberg]
Cascades, Sing the City Energetic [NYTimes]
‘Waterfalls’ art installation to shower East River [NYDaily News]

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Chant 2, Bridget Riley (1967) via Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s is holding its Contemporary Art Evening Auction on Tuesday, July 1st at its New Bond St. location in London. The sale’s highlights include works from Francis Bacon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Antony Gormley, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, Gerhard Richter, Bridget Riley, Andy Warhol and a number of other notable contemporary artists. The complete body of works for this sale will be on view at Sotheby’s New Bond St. galleries Monday, June 30 from 9am-7pm and Tuesday, July 1 from 9am-12noon.

Bridget Riley’s piece, Chant 2, a unique color painting which will be in the sale, was part of a show which won the artist the esteemed International Prize for Painting at the 34th Venice Biennale in 1968 .

Estimate: $4,000,000 – $6,000,000 (Pictured above)

London Contemporary Art Evening Auction [Sotheby’s]

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“Too Far Too Close”, Os Gemeos at Deitch Gallery via Art Observed

On June 28th, the doors opened at 18 Wooster St in New York to reveal the fantastical world of Os Gemeos. The twin brothers that make up Os Gemeos, Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo, are having their second show at Deitch, called “Too Far Too Close”. The artist duo, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, has successfully altered the space into a colorful world filled with chimerical portraits, music, and scenes straight from the intimate minds of Os Gemeos.

Sharing a brain: Os Gemeos [GQ]
Os Gemeos: Too Far Too Close [Deitch]
Os Gemeos’s Homepage [Lost Art]
Bomb – It: International Graffiti Documentary [Bomb-It]
Os Gemeos “Too Far Too Close” [NYArtbeat]

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Paul McCarthy’s “Spinning Room” (2008) at the Whitney Museum of American Art via NYTimes

An exhibition of new and barely seen works from one of America’s most important artists, Paul McCarthy, is open at the Whitney Museum of American Art. McCarthy, who increased his notoriety when he transformed the Maccarone Gallery into a chocolate factory last November, now has “Central Symmetrical Rotation Movement Three Installations, Two Films” at the Whitney through October 12. The show was curated by Chrissie Iles and is designed by McCarthy, in part to address the viewer’s sense of perception.

Whitney to Present Paul McCarthy: Central Symmetrical Rotation Movement [Artdaily]
A Trip Through the Revolving Doors of Perception [NYTimes]
On View Now: Paul McCarthy [The Whitney]
Maccarone now officially home of Peter Paul Chocolates [ArtObserved]
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Louise Bourgeois via Artatien
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The iconic artist, Louise Bourgeois, is honored by the culmination two major events. Her exhibit at the Guggenheim in New York recently opened on June 27th. June 25th was the theatrical premier of “Louise Bourgeois:The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine”, a documentary about her life and work at the Film Forum.

New Louise Bourgeois Documentary Film to Premiere at New York’s Film Forum [Artdaily]
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Louise Bourgeois at the Guggenheim [The Art Newspaper]
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Portrait of a Haunted Artist Who Befriended Giant Spiders [NY Times]
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‘Louise Bourgeois’: An Intimate Look at a Provocateur [NYSun]
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The Guggenheim Museum: Louise Bourgeois [Guggenheim]
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Raw Materials of a Life, Revealed by Sculpture [NYTimes]
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Louise Bourgeios at the Guggenheim [NYTimes]
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`Cumuls,’ Dolls Recall Daddy Dearest in Louise Bourgeois Show [Bloomberg]
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For Your Distorted Pleasure: Louise Bourgeois [NYTimes]
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Bourgeois Looms Large at the Guggenheim [NY artbeat]

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Nine Multicolored Marilyns, Andy Warhol (1979-1986) via Phillips

Phillips de Pury & Company is holding it’s Contemporary Art Sale on June 29 and 30. The sale highlights works from Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Willem de Kooning, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Paul McCarthy, and many other distinguished contemporary artists.

Phillips Contemporary Art Sale [Phillips]

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Balloon Flower (Magenta), Jeff Koons via flickr W10

Jeff Koons’ magenta colored Balloon Flower sits in St. James Square waiting to be sold on Monday, June 30th, at Christie’s London. From the series Celebration, the enormous flower was previously owned by the Rachofsky Collection in Texas. It has been deemed the highlight of Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Sale, and is estimated to fetch $23.5 million.

Koons Dallas ‘Flower’ may fetch $23.5 Million at Christie’s London June 30th [artobserved]
Jeff Koons Sculpture May Fetch 12 Million Pounds at Christie’s [Bloomberg]
Win One, Lose One for Dallas Museum [NYTimes]

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A Christie’s worker takes a closer look at Monet’s Le basin aux nymphaes via yahoo

At Christie’s auction yesterday Monet’s water-lily painting, Le basin aux nymphaes, sold to an anonymous collector for $80.5 million, well over the estimated $35 to $47 million. This is a record breaking sale for the artist, and a tell tale sign that there is some life in many sectors of the art market. The other big sale of the evening was Degas’, Danseuses a la barre, which sold for $26.5 million.

A Monet Sets a Record: $80.4 Million [NYTimes]
Monet fetches record $80.5m [FinancialTimes]
Christie’s in London Sells Monet Masterpiece for $ 80.5 Million A Record for the Artist [artdaily]
Monet record smashed as art market boom goes on [Forbes]
$80M A Whole Lot of Monet [NYPost]
A lot of Monet as Christie’s sells waterlilies for record £41 million [Times Online UK]
Monet record smashed as art market boom goes on [Guardian UK]
In London, Will Moderns Move? [NYSun]
AO Preview: Christie’s London Impressionist and Modern Art [ArtObserved]

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A visitor looks at Rembrandt Laughing at the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam via daylife

The Rembrandt self-portrait, once thought to be a knockoff, has recently been confirmed by the Rembrandt Research Project to be authentic. Rembrandt Laughing was originally estimated to be worth $3,100 but sold for $4.5 million in an English auction house last October.  The painting’s current estimated value is $30,000,000 to $40,000,000.

Rembrandt confirmed a genuine item [Bloomberg]
A Rembrandt, Really [NYTimes]
The Rembrandt House Museum Presents Today “Rembrandt Laughing” in Amsterdam [Artdaily]
‘Rembrandt Laughing’ is self-portrait [Chicago Tribune]

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Le bassin aux nympheas, Claude Monet (1919) via Christie’s

Christie’s London will conduct its Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale this Tuesday, June 24.  The sale will feature work from artists such headliners as Monet, Degas, Giacometti, Goncharova, Bonnard, Picasso, as well as many other notables. Viewing of the works on the block will continue until the day of the show.

Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale [Christie’s]

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Damien Hirst, The Golden Calf via artdaily

Sotheby’s in London has recently announced that Damien Hirst will be auctioning off a number of newly created works at the sale: ‘Beautiful Inside My Head Forever’ on September 15 and 16. The highlight of the sale is Hirst’s Golden Calf, which is an 18-carat gold encrusted bull submerged in a tank of formadehyde, is expected to sell for $16 to $24 million. This Sotheby’s sale is comprised exclusively of works made by Damien Hirst during the past two years.

Hirst’s Golden Calf Is Pricey Per Pound [NYTimes]
The Golden Calf by Damien Hirst Headlines Groundbreaking Auction of Work by Artist [artdaily]
Damien Hirst to Auction Own Works at Sotheby’s [artinfo]
Damien Hirst to sell £12 million ‘Golden Calf’ artwork at auction [TIMESOnline UK]
Dropping the Other Calf [TIME]
Hirst to Offer `Golden Calf’ for 12 Million Pounds at Sotheby’s [Bloomberg]

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Guggenheim Vilnius Museum via ejpress

The government of Lithuania has approved the construction of a new contemporary art museum for its capital, Vilnius.  If the project reaches it’s fund raising goals, the museum would be a joint project between the Guggenheim and the Russian State Hermitage Museum. The renowned Iraqi architect, Zaha Hadid has been selected to design the building, which is projected to open in 2013.

The Guggenheim Goes East Again [TIME]
Coming Soon: Guggenheim Vilnius [NYSun]
New Hermitage-Guggenheim museum in Vilnius to house centre on ‘Litvaks’ [EJPress]
Lithuania Approves Guggenheim Project [NYTimes]
Zaha Hadid to Design Planned Museum in Lithuania [Bloomberg]

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Charles Saatchi via arts guardian.co.uk

In an event reminiscent of seminal moments in the YBA (Young British Artist) scene years ago, three students from the Royal Academy met good fortune when the affluent collector, Charles Saatchi, bought out the majority of all their works.  The chosen three, Angus Danders-Dunnachie, Jill Mason, and Carla Busuttil are names that we will likely hear again.  Saatchi has created a reputation for himself by making early purchases that helped jump-start the careers of the now famous Damien Hirst, Tracy Emin, Jake and Dinos Champan, and Natasha Kissell.

Charles Saatchi Buys Student Art at Royal Academy Show [Artinfo]
Saatchi Taps Young Artists [nytimes]
Charles Saatchi makes three artists’ fortunes at art show [timesonline.uk]

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Image via Telegraph UK

The Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago presents a collection of retrospective work of the influential contemporary artist Jeff Koons, through September 21st.  This is his first major U.S. exhibit in 15 years which contains 60 paintings and sculptures of his most iconic work, including many of his recent works.

Jeff Koons: First Major US Museum Survey in Fifteen Years at Chicago’s MCA [Art Daily]
Jeff Koons exhibit opens at Museum of Contemporary Art [Chicago Tribune]
Jeff Koons opens first major US exhibit after 15 years [International Herald Tribune]
A Jeff Koons Retrospective [The New Yorker] (more…)

Amy Winehouse via musikxtrema

Roman Abramovich pays Amy Winehouse $2 million to open girlfriend Daria Zhukova’s 8,000 square meter Moscow gallery [Ria Novosti]
Tom Sachs Interview[artinfo] and double show review [NYTimes]
Two Picasso prints ($612K) stolen from Brazil museum by force [Int. Herald Tribune]
Sotheby’s floating $300 million of convertible notes [Bloomberg]
1.27 Million pound record for indian art sale[Bloomberg]
London new mayor keeping art on fourth plinth[artinfo]

Untitled (Pecho/Oreja), Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1983 via artdaily

The band U2 is projected to receive up to 6 million pounds ($17.7 million) for the sale of a painting done by Jean-Michel Basquiat. The painting, Untitled (Pecho/Oreja), was acquired by U2 at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York in 1989, and has been hanging up in their Dublin studio for almost 20 years. The painting goes up for sale at Sotheby’s on July 1st.

U2’s Basquiat Painting May Fetch 6 Million Pounds at Sotheby’s [Bloomberg]
U2 selling Basquiat masterpiece [BBC]
Sotheby’s to Offer Untitled (Pecho/Oreja) by Jean-Michel Basquiat on Behalf of the Members of U2 [artdaily]

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Chanel’s Mobile Art – First Stop, Hong Kong via Museum Lab

The Pritzker prize winning, Iraqi-born, Zaha Hadid is the name marking Chanel’s newest and (potentially) most audacious endeavor to date in the merger of art and fashion. The project is a “portable” exhibition of contemporary art. The Mobile Art project, which is essentially a globe trotting collapsable pavilion, was designed by Hadid and has thus far served to bring contemporary art to the general public at its first world location: Tokyo, Japan.

Moving Pictures [NY Times]
Mobile Art Exclusive [Wallpaper]
Chanel Mobile Art
Quilty Pleasures [The National]
Zaha Hadid [DesignBoom]

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Jake (left) and Dinos Chapman with their work Fucking Hell 2008 via The Independent

From May 30th to July 12th the news collection from the Chapman brothers, If Hitler Had Been a Hippy How Happy Would We Be will be on display at the White Cube Gallery in Mason’s Yard London.  The show includes a remake of the Chapmans’ original piece Hell entitled F****** Hell and the defacement of watercolors created by the hand of Hitler and a series of classic oil portraits.

White Cube Gallery
The Chapmans journey to Hell and back [Times Online]
Hitler gets Chapman treatment as Hell rises from the ashes [Guardian UK]
Jake and Dinos Chapman go to work on ‘abject’ Hitler art [Times Online]
Chapman brothers’ Hell back from the flames [Telegraph UK]
Chapman Brothers Draw on Hitler [Artinfo]

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partying at the Art Basel via the New York Times

The 39th Annual Art Basel, visited by 60,000 guests over the course of the fair, proved to be a very successful showcase of the world’s most famous artists. Basel, on the Rhine where Switzerland meets France and Germany, created a perfect setting for wealthy collectors, art enthusiasts, and 300 international exhibitors to network and indulge among the most stylish and cultured of the art world.

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Brad Pitt Buys Table at Art Basel; Mittal, Abramovich Browse [Bloomberg]
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The 39th Edition of Art Basel Closes With Outstanding Results [artdaily]
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Ellsworth Kelly, Basking in Basel [New York Times]
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Pre-Partying With the Jet Set of the Art World [New York Times]
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Russians Help Art Basel Shake Economic Woe, Falling U.S. Demand [Bloomberg]
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The Art Fair Explosion and Its Fallout [WSJ]
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In Basel, Contemporary Art Enjoys a Bounty of Friends [NYTimes]
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Picture perfect [Financial times]
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Art Basel, Switzerland, Is On, Right Now [Art Observed]

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