February 12th, 2016
Park Seo-Bo, Ecriture (æ法) No. 15-76 (1976) photo courtesy White Cube (George Darrell)
Considered one of the leading figures in contemporary Korean art, White Cube’s Mason’s Yard is currently presenting the work of Park Seo-Bo in his first solo show in the UK. Best known for his Ecriture series of paintings, which he began in the late 1960s, the artist’s work in the series has allowed for his body, mind and creative process to merge together to form works that fully breathe out into space and time. This exhibition traces the origins of these works, featuring 16 paintings made between 1967–81. Read More »
| Comments Off on London – Park Seo-Bo: “Ecriture (æ法) 1967-1981” at White Cube Through March 12th, 2016 | | 
February 11th, 2016
Peter Doig, The Architect’s Home in the Ravine (1991), via Christie’s
The first week of 2016’s Contemporary Art auctions concluded this evening, as Christie’s capped a solid sale of works that further disrupted any easy conclusions on a widely rumored market adjustment. All in all, the sale saw a strong sell-through rate, as only 7 of the sale’s 61 lots did not find a buyer, bringing in a final tally of £58,099,000. Buyers seemed particularly eager over the course of the night, clamoring for a sizable portion of the work on competitive bids and rapid back and forth between buyers and Jussi Pylkkanen (cheerfully referred to as “good-old-days” bidding by WSJ’s Kelly Crow), pushing the sale quickly through its procession of works. Read More »
| Comments Off on AO Auction Recap – London: Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale, February 11th, 2016 | |
February 10th, 2016
Lucian Freud, Pregnant Girl (1960-61), via Sotheby’s
The London Contemporary Auctions continued its mixed run this week, as Sotheby’s concludes this evening’s entry to mixed results. The 59-lot sale saw 11 works go unsold,not to mention a number of high-profile withdrawn lots, bringing a final tally of £69,461,000, a figure that sat squarely within the auction house’s presale estimates. Of particular note in the early moments of the sale was the withdrawal of the evening’s star Gerhard Richter lot, a move that left the auction house with a considerable gap in its initial estimates. Even so, the auction room was practically buzzing as the sale got underway.
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| Comments Off on AO Auction Recap – London: Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale, February 10th, 2016 | |
February 10th, 2016
Piero Manzoni, Achrome (1958), via Phillips
The week of Contemporary Sales is now underway in London, after Phillips concluded its first major auction of 2016, its “20th Century and Contemporary Art,” to uneven results this past evening, seeing 9 of 43 lots going unsold, and a final total of £24,590,500. Sales were decidedly reluctant this evening, despite the sale’s strong sell through this evening. Many works lingered at low estimate, or only achieved the low with the added premium and fees, a note that underscores realistic estimates set by Phillips, but perhaps a far less rabid buying market.
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| Comments Off on AO Auction Recap – London: Phillips 20th Century and Contemporary Evening Sale, February 9th, 2016 | |
February 10th, 2016
Catherine Opie, Cecilia, 2013 © Catherine Opie. Courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong
Two discernible genres in photography, portrait and documentation determine Catherine Opie’s current dual-gallery exhibition at Lehmann Maupin in New York. In her inaugural exhibition at the gallery, Opie comes in full throttle, presenting her well-regarded photo-portraits alongside a group of abstracted landscapes in Chelsea, as well as her documentation of the late Elizabeth Taylor’s L.A. mansion in the gallery’s Lower East Side location. Read More »
| Comments Off on New York – Catherine Opie: “Portraits and Landscapes” and “700 Nimes Road” at Lehmann Maupin Through February 20th, 2016 | |
February 9th, 2016
Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild (1990), via Sotheby’s
Taking up the second week of London’s early-year, marquee auctions, the Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sales are set to get underway this week with a trio of offerings that will again test the health and enthusiasm of the market in the face of what many have called a “cooling off.” Read More »
| Comments Off on AO Auction Preview – London Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sales, February 9th – 11th, 2016 | |
February 8th, 2016
Jan Peter Hammer at Labor Gallery, all photos via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed
As Sunday drew to a close, another week of fairs, openings and events concluded in Mexico City, centered around the Zona Maco and Material Art Fairs in the sprawling metropolis. Read More »
| Comments Off on AO On-Site: Mexico City Art Week, February 3rd – 7th, 2016 | |
February 8th, 2016
Borden Capalino, Say Mr. Sandman (2016)
Greeting the visitors at the entrance to Lisa Cooley during Active Ingredient, a group exhibition curated by the gallery’s long time collaborator Alex Fleming, is Colette Lumiere’s Sleeping in a Glass Cabinet. Portraying the renowned artist, known for such sleeping performances from inside a glass vitrine during the 1970’s, this 1991 print vividly summarizes the content of the exhibition, delving into a material reinvigoration and transformation of works and their compositional elements through exposure to time and space. Read More »
| Comments Off on New York – “Active Ingredient” at Lisa Cooley Through February 14th, 2016 | |
February 7th, 2016
Jonathan Borofsky, Acrylic on Unprimed Canvas with Bubble Wrap and Duct Tape at 2,680,377 (1978-80), all images via Osman Can Yerebakan for Art Observed
A large scale exhibition of historic work by artist Jonathan Borofsky is currently on view at Paula Cooper Gallery. Globally recognized for his large-scale, representational and industrious sculptures exploring and elaborating on the human condition in performative gestures, Borofsky’s work here exposes his cognition and subjective outlets. Compiled of modest scale sculpture, painting and print, the selection promises a studious route to the more remote corners of the artist’s practice. Read More »
| Comments Off on New York – Jonathan Borosfky at Paula Cooper Gallery Through February 13th, 2016 | |
February 4th, 2016
Pablo Picasso, TeÌ‚te de Femme (1935), via Sotheby’s
The first week of February’s auctions concluded last evening, following a difficult set of sales at Sotheby’s that saw tepid, occasionally concerning results, with 13 of the 37 Impressionist and Modern works going unsold, bringing a total of £78,308,000, while the auction house’s small but impressive selection of 16 Surrealist pieces saw 2 go unsold, bringing the modest sale a tally of £14,860,500. Read More »
| Comments Off on AO Auction Recap – London: Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist Sales, February 3rd, 2016 | |
