Germany is setting up resources to help professionals in creative fields with reporting and dealing with sexual harassment and assault. “Those affected need a protected space where they can speak openly and seek advice anonymously, without needing to worry about negative consequences,”German Culture Minister Monika Grütters says. “An initiative like this shouldn’t fail because of a lack of funds.”  (more…)

LaToya Ruby Frazier, Andrea Holding her daughter Nephratitioustide the Social Network Banquet Hall (2016 / 2017), all images via Gavin Brown’s

In her self-titled solo debut at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, artist LaToya Ruby Frazier illustrates an American landscape where dualities intertwine, marring the boundaries separating joy from despair or abundance from nothingness. Her depictions of secluded interiors, occupied by domestic clutters and family histories translate into stories of struggle, while barren deserts under the California sun encapsulate human ardor. Spanning her two decade photographic practice, Frazier’s three-floor presentation at the gallery’s spacious Harlem location introduces one series on each floor. Complimented by the accents of the building’s previous life as a brewery, the photographer’s black and white gelatin silver prints explore dichotomies of public and private, meditating on the role of the camera lens as a witness of our profound and collective moments, be those experienced firsthand or communally mediated. (more…)

Christie’s is selling a Jackson Pollock drip painting in its London sale of Contemporary art, estimated to sell for around $18.2m. “With its opulent, marbled galaxy of dripped, splashed and spattered paint, Number 21, 1950 is a beautiful and important work from the peak of Jackson Pollock’s iconic ‘drip period’,” the company said in a statement. (more…)

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation is funding the replacement of all 309 incandescent light bulbs with LED bulbs in Chris Burden’s iconic Urban Light at LACMA, retrofitting it to make the installation more energy efficient.  “The switch from incandescent light bulbs to LED bulbs in Urban Light will save approximately 3,173,047 kilowatt hours of electricity over the next 10 years, which is enough to power about 295 average American homes in a year,” the foundation says. (more…)

Louise Nevelson, Dawn’s Presence – Three (1975), via Art Observed

Spread across the rooms of Pace Gallery’s West 24th Street location, Louise Nevelson’s iconic wood sculptures draw the viewer through various geometric planes, familiar cultural forms and intriguing variations on a theme.  The artist’s work has hung in the walls of Pace over 20 times in the past 50 years, and returns here with a particular focus on her pieces from the late 1950’s onwards, a point where her particular artistic voice was beginning to fully develop.   (more…)

A new study by Amy Whitaker, an assistant professor in visual arts management at New York University, states that artists should begin investing in their own work, and fighting for equity in their pieces. “Our analysis shows that the people most rewarded by a system like this one are those who are the earliest to take a bet on the art,” Whitaker says. “What’s exciting is that this is an idea which arises from within the arts, as opposed to being imposed on the arts by financial actors.” (more…)

Robert Irwin is profiled in the LA Times this week, as the 89 year-old artist reflects on his career and describes his worldview. “Beauty is all around you,” he says. “You open your eyes in the morning, the world is totally formed. You haven’t done anything other than be. It’s all around you. The whole idea is being able to recognize it, and pay attention to it, articulate it.” (more…)

A piece in Barron’s this week looks at the current global economy, and speculates that the art market could continue to boom in 2018, especially following the new tax laws passed by the Trump administration. “The wealth effect is a huge driver” says Evan Beard, National Art Services Executive at U.S. Trust. (more…)

Developer Aby Rosen is featuring a series of new “skyscraper lofts” in his 100 East Third Street location, which will be targeted towards art collectors. The building features open-plan layouts and customizable lighting structures to show work in each home. (more…)

Zach Bruder, Edening On (2017), courtesy Magenta Plains.

There is little doubt that Zach Bruder is seriously invested in space; both the tangible area delimited by the stretcher and the real and imagined places rendered on the canvas are of utmost importance to the Cleveland-born painter. The eight works included in Edening On, Bruder’s first solo exhibition at Magenta Plains in New York, flaunt the artist’s ability to render different spatial dimensions, finding a humorous irony and cohesive unity in their discordance. (more…)

Rita Ackermann, Hip Shot (2016-2017), via Marlborough Contemporary

Body Matters, currently on view at Marlborough Contemporary is a two piece art exhibition featuring the work of Rita Ackermann and Carol Rama. The juxtaposition of each artist’s works, which mine brusque gestures and varied approaches to the construction of the art object, creates a dialogue between the two artists, and an almost maniac motion of ideas and eras. The composition of each work inhabits a space amid the figurative and the abstract, where human form disappears and reappears with flashes of color and movement. The concordance of imagery of psychosexual fantasies, dark distortions and transgressive glitches initiates a conversation that honors and liberates the beauty of the female form. (more…)

Thrush Holmes at Beers London, via Art Observed

For early entries in the art world’s annual calendar of art fairs, exhibitions and selling events, few can compare with the proceedings of Zona Maco during Mexico City’s annual art week.  Now in its 15th year, the landmark fair for much of Latin American has grown even larger, expanding to host 170 galleries from around the globe within the confines of the Centro Banamex in the city, offering a program of conferences with international guests, a section with specialized publications and editorials, and the widest program of parallel activities with exhibitions at the most outstanding galleries and museums in the country.

Marco Maggi at Pierro Achtugarry, via Art Observed

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Picasso’s stepdaughter Catherine Hutin-Blay is planning to a museum dedicated to the artist and his second wife, her mother Jacqueline. “Most of the works have been neither previously exhibited nor published,” saysJanie Cohen, a Picasso expert and the director of the Fleming Museum of Art at the University of Vermont of the pieces in Hutin-Blay’s collection. “These are works that remained with the artist throughout his life.”  (more…)

Leonardo DiCaprio has invested in Magnus, the art app start-up billing itself as “Shazam for Art.” “I am proud to partner with Magnus as the app continues to educate people everywhere about the art around them,” he said in a statement. (more…)

Art News has the transcript from a lengthy discussion with Larry Gagosian that took place this week at the 92nd Street Y, including the gallerist’s favorite artists, and his vision for his personal collection of works.  “I don’t have the means to do that or really the ambition to do that [found a private museum,” he says. “But I would like it to be—I would like it to live on as a collection.” (more…)

Despite a demonetization trend, India’s art market continues to grow, and is now valued at $223m, the Art Newspaper reports.  “Historically, India hasn’t been the easiest market to navigate, primarily on account of poorly managed processes and administrative hurdles. This, however, is evolving and has cleared a fair distance,” says Arvind Vijaymohan, the chief executive of the art advisory and data firm Artery India. (more…)

Brett Littman, head of the Drawing Center, will leave his post to lead the Noguchi Museum, Art News reports. “The museum’s commitment to the fullness and multi-disciplinary aspects of Noguchi’s vision, to his pacifism and his championing of workers rights and racial equality, to the City of New York, and to the international cultural creative community of which Isamu Noguchi was­­ such an integral part is absolutely inspiring,” Littman said in a statement.

Sotheby’s is suing a New York art collector over his failure to pay for a $6.5 million Keith Haring purchased in May 2017.  Anatole Shagalov refused to pay for the work, forcing the auction house to resell it.  Sotheby’s is now demanding the difference between the work’s sale price and Shagalov’s bid.  The collector claims he was on a payment plan for the work, which some have outright rejected. “Sotheby’s occasionally gives installment payment plans but it does that in writing and it requires the installment payments to be made,” says litigator John Cahill. “There is nothing in writing and he never made any payments.” (more…)

As the Getty begins a drive in search of new patrons, many in Los Angeles are concerned the museum may pull donors away from other institutions. “From the viewpoint of a philanthropy adviser, it’s better that donors have more opportunities,” says Scott Stover, the president of the Los Angeles-based firm Global Art Development. “But if I were working at a major museum here, such as Lacma, I would be pretty angry. There are limited funds, and it continues to be a very competitive environment.” (more…)

A federal judge has thrown out a case over the ownership of Pablo Picasso’s The Actor, leaving it in the collection the The Met. “The Met welcomes the court’s thorough and well-reasoned decision dismissing the plaintiff’s claim to Picasso’s The Actor, which has been an important part of the museum’s collection since 1952,” the museum said in a statement. (more…)

Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier has appeared for questioning in Geneva over accusations of fraud in his sale of more than $2 billion worth of artwork to Dmitry Rybolovlev, Bloomberg reports. “This is about a complaint that led nowhere in Monaco, Singapore or Bern,” says David Bitton, Bouvier’s lawyer. (more…)

Jasper Johns gets a lengthy profile in the NYT this week, as the artist prepares to open a major career retrospective at The Broad in Los Angeles.  “What Johns did was he presented a new model,” Richard Serra says of the artist. “There was an abrupt shift. It was sort of like the Beatles kicking out Elvis.” (more…)

Sotheby’s is leading its spring Impressionist and Modern Sale in London with a £14 million Pablo Picasso, Art Market Monitor reports. “This powerful portrait exemplifies Picasso’s creative force in his final years and represents the culmination of a life-long obsession,” says Helena Newman, Global Co-Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department & Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe. (more…)

Heimo Zobernig, Untitled (2017). All images courtesy Petzel Gallery.

Now through February 17, Petzel Gallery is currently hosting a pair of shows by Heimo Zobernig. Chess painting, on view at the gallery’s Chelsea location, recasts and re-creates the artist’s previous show at the MIT List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, MA. Through an emphasis on the gallery’s architecture and spatial arrangements in each show, Zobernig facilitates a confrontation with the constructed, theatrical experience of visiting an art exhibition.

Heimo Zobernig, nework (Installation View)

Heimo Zobernig, Untitled (2017)

In chess painting, a show on view at the gallery’s 18th Street location, the artist makes use of discreet installations to draw visitor’s attention to the act of viewing. His large-scale, primed monochrome canvasses hang atop rolls of black photography paper. This black-and-white palette remains consistent throughout the exhibition, with repurposed mobile podiums adorned with cozy, black-and-white checkered faux-fur blankets. These platforms resemble daybeds, inviting visitors to relax and remain in the space of the gallery, furnishing the exhibition space with the promise of comfort and leisure.

Heimo Zobernig, Chess Painting (Installation View)

Concurrently, more work by Zobernig will be exhibited at the gallery’s Upper East Side location through February 24. In nework, the artist exhibits nine new text paintings. Since 1986, Zobernig has used the sans serif typeface in his catalog and poster designs. In 1993, for a group exhibition, Zobernig subdivided the letters of the show’s title (REAL) into four fields using orange, brown, gray, black, and white in reference to Robert Indiana’s LOVE paintings. One year later, the REAL pictures were produced in the same colors. Eventually, Zobernig extended the color scale of the REAL images and began to incorporate the German word EGAL (“whatever”) into this work with lettering. In these, new works, the words EGAL and REAL overlap to fill the canvas and essentially interrupt and cancel each other out. The words are written into and on top of one another, thus their meaning disappears.

Heimo Zobernig, Untitled (2017)

Zobernig’s work is situated within the impact of Modernism and emphasizes a questioning of the institutional mechanisms that contribute to the exhibition of artwork. Through an emphasis on the structure of the exhibition space, including the light, architecture, and structure of the gallery, Zobernig presents a holistic but subtly challenging experience of encountering the art work in the structure of the museum.

Zobernig was born in Austria in 1958. He has exhibited widely and in various international institutions, including solo shows in Cologne, Sweden, at the Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Kunsthaus Graz, and two solo exhibitions at the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon. His work was presented in the Austrian pavilion at the Venice Biennale. He lives and works in Vienna.

— A. Corrigan

Related Links:
Exhibition Page [Petzel Gallery]