May 18th, 2015
Josh Reames at Johannes Vogt, all photos via Art Observed
NADA New York returned to the edge of the Lower East Side, drawing a diverse, hip crowd to the Basketball City complex. Free in price, NADA once again brought high-quality exhibitors and young artists, combining art from regional and international galleries alongside NYC Downtown heavy hitters. This year’s preview event was an engaging alternative to the bright lights and high prices of Frieze. Embodying the social, communal nature of the city’s young arts scene, NADA’s Preview day was filled with with conversation, friendly jokes and familial reunions. Maintaining the lightness of art openings opposed to the serious air of sales oriented art fairs, the galleries, their friends and artists will spend this weekend sipping drinks out of plastic cups while a roster of interdisciplinary performances, conversations and events take place. Read More »
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May 16th, 2015
Galeria Franco Noero, via Art Observed
The doors are open on Frieze New York, marking the early days of the summer art season with a major art event up the East River on Randall’s Island. Returning for its fourth year, the fair has come into its own as a dedicated staple in the New York Art Calendar, and its presentation this year seems to echo it, with a stripped back tent design that seemed to stretch out much longer than in previous years, but distilled the experience down to only three rows of booths, with the occasional inlet allowing for an enjoyable wander through the space. The VIP opening launched Wednesday morning for a quiet preview where a number of major collectors and celebrities strolled the aisles, among them Neil Patrick Harris, Mike Meyers, Uma Thurman, Leonardo DiCaprio and Richard Gere and François Pinault. Read More »
| Comments Off on AO On Site – New York: Frieze New York Art Fair on Randall’s Island May 14th-17th, 2015 | |
May 16th, 2015
Santa Maria della Misericordia church converted in THE MOSQUE: The First Mosque in the Historic City of Venice (2015) by Christoph Büchel, all photos by Sophie Kitching for Art Observed
Historically, there have been no mosques in the city of Venice. Despite the port city’s history as an open gateway to the East and a point of trade that facilitated new cultural, artistic and scientific developments to spread across Europe from trade with the Ottoman Empire and beyond, the city has never permitted the construction or reconstitution of a site of worship for its Muslim population. Today, in the heated political climate that surrounds international conflicts, not to mention the recent Italian (and, at large, European) controversy regarding immigration from Syria, Lebanon and other regions in North Africa and the Middle East, the prospects for a dedicated Islamic worship site seems even less likely. For the time being, however, the Venice Biennale has changed this scenario, as the Swiss-born, Iceland-based artist Christoph Büchel opened his frankly-titled installation THE MOSQUE: The First Mosque in the Historic City of Venice this month. Read More »
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May 14th, 2015
Francis Bacon, Seated Woman (1961), via Phillips
The Phillips Contemporary Evening sale has concluded, bringing to a close a week full of fireworks and smashed records with a relatively lackluster sales event that saw several impressive sales, countered by a number of less than exceptional performances. Of the sale’s 71 lots, 14 went unsold, and few others managed to surpass high estimates, bringing the final sales tally to a respectable $97,100,000. Read More »
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May 14th, 2015
Piet Mondrian, Composition No. III Red, Blue, Yellow, and Black (1929), via Art Observed
The auction week has come and gone, and Christie’s has closed out a major week for both its Impressionist/Modern and Contemporary Departments, as the combined sales of its three Evening events this week have collectively brought in well over a billion dollars in sales. This Evening, the Impressionist and Modern Evening sale added an exclamation point to the proceedings, bringing in a final tally of $202,608,000 that saw a major new record for Piet Mondrian. Read More »
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May 13th, 2015
Golden Lion for Best Pavilion amongst Rene Gabri and Ayreen Anastas, When counting loses its sense (2015), via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed
In 1915, during the clashes of WWI, the Ottoman Empire set out on a path of systemic destruction of its Armenian subjects, massacring male Armenians or forcing them into conscripted labor, while leading women, children and the infirm on arduous death marches off into the Syrian desert. The brutal and politically contentious genocide killed, on estimate, up to 1.5 million citizens, and stands as one of the Twentieth Century’s most horrific episodes of war. Even so, the political body of Turkey still refuses to acknowledge the term genocide in relation to these war crimes, and the historical scars of the killings run through the distributed population of the Armenian diaspora worldwide. Read More »
| Comments Off on Venice – ‘Armenity’ at the Armenian Pavilion for the Venice Biennale, Through November 22nd, 2015 | |
May 13th, 2015
Lucian Freud, Benefits Supervisor Resting (1994), via Art Observed
Christie’s has concluded the first days of Frieze week in style tonight, continuing its impressive performance over the course of the Contemporary Auction week with a strong sale tallying $658,532,000. Selling 72 of the 85 lots offered, the sale saw several major records fall during the course of the evening, signaling the intense enthusiasm for the contemporary market both in the U.S. and abroad. Read More »
| Comments Off on AO Auction Recap – New York: Christie’s Contemporary and Post-War Auction, May 13th, 2015 | |
May 13th, 2015
Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Rêvolutions (2015), French Pavilion, via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed
Running concurrently with the Central Pavilion’s curated exhibition, the respective National Pavilions on view at the Giardini and Arsenale are one of Venice’s defining aspects. Featuring important solo exhibitions for both emerging and career artists, carefully-curated group shows and special projects, each pavilion’s focus allows the international perspective of the Biennale to truly take shape. Read More »
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May 12th, 2015
Christopher Wool, Riot (1990), via Sotheby’s
Another night come and gone in New York, and another impressive evening auction in the books as Sotheby’s concludes its Contemporary and Post-War Evening Sale this Tuesday night with a final tally of $379,676,000, failing to top Christie’s impressive auction from one night prior despite some impressive sales records of its own. The 65-lot sale saw 8 of the works go unsold, for a final sell-through rate of 87.7%, a hard figure considering last evening’s single unsold lot out of 35. Read More »
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May 12th, 2015
Richard Tuttle, Aspect XII (2015), via Pace
As the New York art world returns home following the Biennale previews last week, the first days of the Frieze Art Fair are set to get underway. Opening its doors to VIPs this Wednesday, May 13th, the fair brings a number of events, openings and exhibitions along with it, marking the last major fair week in the U.S. for several months, and penultimate major fair week internationally before the slow summer months. Read More »
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