Russian artists Kirill Savchenkov and Alexandra Sukhareva will withdraw from the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale this year, leaving the national pavilion closed during the exhibition this year. “There is no place for art when civilians are dying under the fire of missiles, when citizens of Ukraine are hiding in shelters, when Russian protesters are getting silenced,” they wrote in a statement. (more…)

Tomás Saraceno, Silent Autumn (Installation View), via Tanya Bonakdar

On view this month at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York, artist Tomás Saraceno presents a body of new works that invite participants to attune to the intricacies of our entanglement with human, nonhuman and elemental forces. Across a spectrum of perceived realities and through works that connect differently with other beings and phenomena, Saraceno highlights how a considered co-existence encourages new ways of living together, while giving space to existing equitable collaborations with the atmosphere and wider environment. (more…)

Sayre Gomez, Halloween City (2022), via François Ghebaly

Currently on view at François Ghebaly’s Los Angeles exhibition space, artist Sayre Gomez continues his recent exploration of a unique approach to the cognitive mapping of late America, seen through the cultural and topographic specificity of Southern California’s urban sprawl. Continuing the exploration and depiction of ads, abandoned buildings, and other landscapes and scenes, Gomez’s work here, in Halloween City, takes on a particularly dark and dreary turn.  (more…)

H. R. Giger, HRGNYC (Installation View), via Lomex

Among the more hotly anticipated shows of the winter calendar in New York, Lomex is currently hosting a survey of works by  the renowned Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger, opening in the gallery on January 29, 2022. The largest exhibition of Giger’s work in New York in nearly three decades, HRGNYC draws from the breadth of his entire career and displays his manifold talents in a vast array of media. (more…)

Eddie R. Aparicio, Holbein En Crenshaw (Washington Blvd. and Crenshaw Blvd., LA, CA) (2018), all images via Aidan Chisholm for Art Observed

Hauser & Wirth presents “The New Bend,” a group exhibition exploring the intergenerational legacy of quilting as a gendered, raced and classed mode of social practice. Curated by Legacy Russell, Executive Director & Chief Curator of The Kitchen, the exhibition brings together twelve contemporary artists engaging with the Gee’s Bend Alabama quilting tradition: Anthony Akinbola, Eddie R. Aparicio, Dawn Williams Boyd, Diedrick Brackens, Tuesday Smillie, Tomashi Jackson, Genesis Jerez, Basil Kincaid, Eric N. Mack, Sojourner Truth Parsons, Qualeasha Wood, and Zadie Xa.

Tomashi Jackson, Among Fruits (Big Shane and the Farmer) (2021)

The New Bend renders apparent the enduring influence of the Gee’s Bend quilters, underscoring the weighty historical role of Black American women including Sarah Benning (b. 1933), Missouri Pettway (1902-1981), Lizzie Major (1922-2011), Sally Bennett Jones (1944-1988) and Mary Lee Bendolph (b.1935). Rooted in the hamlet of Gee’s Bend along the Alabama River in Wilcox County, this textile tradition extends from the 19th and 20th centuries to the present era, with contemporary artists mining the visual rhetoric and technical framework of quilting, while paying homage to the collective ethos of the communal practice. “The New Bend” highlights contemporary engagement with the Gee’s Bend legacy to posit the centrality of this tradition within Modernist art historical narratives of abstraction.

Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the pivotal exhibition “The Quilts at Gee’s Bend” at The Whitney Museum of Art (2002-2003), “The New Bend” attests to the continued relevance of this textile practice in the context of twenty-first-century digitization. Russell evokes the rhetoric of digitization and computation to understand the cooperative networks enacted through quilt-making today, in this era of the Web 2.0 marked by the proliferation of participatory platforms within the decentralized internet domain. “The New Bend” does not position textile art as a reversion to the handmade in our digital era, but rather harnesses the rhetoric of computation and coding to appreciate the layered dynamics of quilting as simultaneously personal and communal, conjuring collective memories while perhaps envisioning alternate futures. In Qualeasha Wood’s work, the artist reflects upon the dynamics of surveillance and control within non-neutral digital infrastructures to explore the polemics of hypervisibility of Black female subjectivities.Ctrl+Alt+Del (2021), views the dynamics of surveillance and control within non-neutral digital infrastructures to explore the polemics of hypervisibility of Black female subjectivities.

Qualeasha Wood, Ctrl+Alt+Del (2021)

The gallery statement underscores the legacy of Gee’s Bend extending beyond art historical discourse: “What the quilters of Gee’s Bend reveal via their transformative cooperative work is that they are both artists and technologists, contributing simultaneously to art history, as well as to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) practice. This duality exists in the work of each artist featured in this exhibition and many more beyond who continue to grow in this tradition.”

Anthony Akinbola, Jubilee (2021)

Basil Kincaid, Four Eyes One Vision (2021)

Entering the intimate, second-floor space of the Chelsea gallery, viewers encounter Dawn Williams Boyd’s The Right to (My) Life (2017), a mixed media tapestry capturing an anti-abortion rally. This vibrant figurative work situates textile art as a mode of political intervention, conjuring the legacy of quilting as a mode of political conscious-raising amidst the Civil Rights Movement, particularly following the emergence of The Freedom Quilting Bee in Rehoboth, Alabama in 1966. Anthony Akinbola builds upon the sampling tactics of Gee’s Bend quilters through his use of the Du Rag, a vernacular emblem of Black American culture, in his Jubilee (2021). From the architectural paneling of Eric N. Mack’s boy on the edge of the shoreline in DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX (2018) to the incorporation of soil from a former potato field in Tomashi Jackson’s Among Fruits (Big Shane and the Farmer) (2021), the vibrant works in “The New Bend” are enmeshed within a creative network encapsulating rich cultural heritage.

Dawn Williams Boyd, The Right to (My) Life (2017)

Diedrick Brackens, survival is a shrine, not the small space near the limit of life (2021)

– A. Chisholm

Related Links:
Exhibition Page [Hauser & Wirth]
Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers [Souls Grown Deep Foundation]

Ashley Bickerton, 0°36’06.2″N, 131°09’41.8″E 1 (2022), via Lehmann Maupin

This month, Lehmann Maupin presents Seascapes at the End of History, artist Ashley Bickerton’s sixth solo exhibition at the gallery, continuing the artist’s bold and expressive use of sculpture and natural iconographies to create striking, illusory effects. Posed as a reappraisal of the seascape genre, the exhibition features work first conceived of while living in New York City prior to the artist’s relocation to the Indonesian island of Bali in 1993. An avid surfer, Bickerton’s work here draws on resin, fiberglass, corten steel and other materials to blend industrial material with natural iconographies.  (more…)

You Find Yourself Alone in the Middle of a Forest, curated by Nora Lucia Boyd and featuring Opal Mae Ong and Tyler Krasowski

Continuing its own intriguing and honed perspective on booth its surroundings in Los Angeles and on the model of the art fair, SPRING/BREAK has once again made arrived in the California city, launching a supplementary event that offers an ample supply of artists and galleries presenting in a concept that stands as a stark contrast to the traditional fair model. Launching this year in a new location in Culver City that continues the fair’s collaboration with the Skylight group of properties, the new space continues the scrappy, raw atmosphere of past years in a location that places the fair in closer proximity to the goings-on at Frieze Los Angeles (more…)

Dan Graham, Stage Set for Music no. 2 for Glenn (2018), via Lisson

Artist, writer and curator Dan Graham, a vital force and vision in the development of conceptual art who used the language and grammar of architecture as a way to explore culture, space and perception, has passed away at the age of 79. The artist, whose body of work consistently defied easy classifications, often used architectural pavilions, glass and mirrors to shape and define the experience of space, allowing viewers to move through and into his pieces to experience peculiar constructions and arrangements of spatial relations.  (more…)

Tony Matelli at The Ranch, all images by Art Observed

As Frieze opens up shop for the week on the West Coast, the bevy of satellite fairs and event openings are underway across the city, including the always hotly anticipated Felix LA Art Fair, the brainchild of collector Dean Valentine that spreads works across the halls and rooms of the iconic Hollywood Roosevelt hotel. The show allows a unique mixture of intimate exhibitions and adventurous concepts that felt well-suited to the well-heeled patrons of the contemporary art market, both looking for a good piece of work and a unique experience while buying it.

Cynthia Talmadge at 56 Henry

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Chris Burden at Gagosian, all images via Art Observed

With the sun setting over the sprawling expanse of the Californian metropolis, the early hours of the third Frieze Los Angeles Art Fair are in the books, marking a much anticipated return after several years marked by logistical issues and the challenges of the pandemic. Opening this year at a new location on Wilshire Boulevard, the fair has doubled down on its vital engagement with the city, and with its thriving art scene, launching another strong event.   With strong sales reported and an energetic atmosphere across the fair, it would seem that the small-scale and focused approach of the fair had once again seen the fair brand making its case as an arbiter of thoughtful, curated approaches towards the market and its participants. (more…)

Pedro Coronal, Galeria de Arte Mexicano, all images by Anfisa Vrubel for Art Observed

The post-pandemic edition of ZonaMACO, the largest art fair in Latin America, came back this year with a revitalized and vibrant energy. Its location, Mexico City, has become a focal point in the art world and a haven for artists looking for creative possibilities. The Art Week brought together a dynamic assortment of art world insiders—emerging galleries and established cultural institutions, young artists and designers, and the usual cool kids on the scene. Surrounding the fair, the satellite events were bursting with activity, from gallery and museum openings to performances and parties, and the classic lunches at Contramar. (more…)

Sohrab Mohebbi will take over as director of SculptureCenter, where he previously served as curator. “We look forward to working with Sohrab to achieve a dynamic vision for SculptureCenter that we saw emerging in his curatorial work with our institution. He brings an energy, perspective, and deep understanding of global cultural movements from his extensive collegial relationships with artists and institutions worldwide. Mohebbi is uniquely qualified to lead us into an exciting new phase as we deliver on our mission to lead the conversation on contemporary art,” said SculptureCenter board chair Carol Bove. (more…)

A hotly anticipated program offering New York artists $1000 a month in guaranteed income has opened applications. “There are guaranteed income programs that have been launching across the country, many of them pilots to understand if this work has been working,” says Sarah Calderon, the executive director of the program Creatives Rebuild New York, which is driving the project. (more…)

The Hole has opened a new space in LA, just in time for Frieze, and will stage a “live” first installation this Tuesday, opening and hanging the works in the gallery during the scheduled opening reception of its first show. (more…)

Carmen Herrera, Untitled (Orange and Black) (1956), final price $1,179,000, via Phillips

Carmen Herrera, the Cuban-born painter who found success late in her career, has passed away at the age of 106. A pioneer and longtime explorer of hard-edged graphical abstraction and minimalist compositions, Herrera was a quiet but consistent voice in the development of 20th Century art, and a formative voice in the language of the postwar avant-garde.  (more…)

A piece in the New York Times notes that a number of collectors who made millions in crypto and NFTs are now competing for traditional, physical artworks on the secondary market. “The art market is always looking for a new territory to expand into and the NFT world is like the perfect gateway drug,” says Natasha Degen, chairwoman of art market studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “Anyone involved in a market like NFTs that is so volatile and speculative would have an easy time transitioning to the art world where those same dynamics occur.” (more…)

Alvaro Barrington, Win or lose/choose (2021), via Blum & Poe

Following several years of uncertainty raised by the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Frieze Art Fair returns to the sprawl of Los Angeles for a third year under the sunny skies of the Golden State. Having capped a pair of sold out editions before the pandemic began, this year’s edition takes up a new location and renewed vigor, emphasizing its role as a major part of the early weeks of the annual fair calendar. (more…)

Ai Weiwei has sparked outrage after posting a video likening vaccine mandates to authoritarianism. “For or against the vaccine should be individuals’ autonomous decision, made for themselves and according to their social interaction, so society does not have the right to make vaccine compulsory,” he says. “I had vaccines myself but I can completely identify myself with those who do not want to get vaccinated. If individuals are forced to be vaccinated through social pressure and public opinion, it will be a very dangerous social tendency.” (more…)

Caroline Larsen at The Hole NYC, all images by Anfisa Vrubel for Art Observed

Taking over the Centro Citibanamex for another year of exhibitions, the Zona Maco art fair opened this week to packed crowds and enthusiastic response. The fair, which marks its 18th year this year, has continued to grow and evolve since its early years, and this year’s edition was no different, with a strong list of exhibitors that made the excitement of a full edition after several years of challenges posed by Covid-19 all the more palpable. Aisles were packed for much of the early hours of the fair, with gallerists and museum directors, collectors and advisors weaving through each booth.  (more…)

Tomás Saraceno gets a NYT profile this week, as he prepares to open a show of work at The Shed. “He’s not afraid of scale,” says close friend Olafur Eliasson told me. “Ten meters, 20 meters, 30 meters — it doesn’t matter. He could scale things up easily. The other thing was how to work together. As architects, there is a division of labor. As soon as you’re not good at something, you find someone who is and have him do it, asking when you don’t know how to solve it. An artist goes down into the hyperlocal. A great architect is able to take a helicopter view.” (more…)

Kimberly Drew has joined Pace Gallery as Associate Director. “I am thrilled by the opportunity to join Pace’s team,” she says. “Over the course of my career, I’ve always been driven by opportunities to work alongside artists and in support of bringing new audiences to the world of contemporary art. Pace is a space that is vast in its offerings and always adapting and innovating. I look forward to the many lessons I will learn during this next chapter.” (more…)

Zhivago Duncan, Shield of Thought (2019 – 2020), via Zhivago Duncan

Rachel Whiteread, Untitled (November) (2020), via Gagosian

As winter coasts into the early weeks of February, the art world returns once more to the sprawling Mexico City metropolis for another year of art week, centered around the proceedings at Zona Maco Art Fair, and the surrounding areas. With Mexico City’s stature growing each year as a central hub of the global arts community, the week once again promises a range of impressive shows and openings alongside the thriving sales events at the main fair. (more…)

Damien Hirst has been accused of forgery by the English artist and writer Joe Machine, who claims the artist ripped off his own cherry blossom paintings. “I saw Hirst’s cherry blossom paintings and, for a moment, I thought I was looking at my own paintings,” Machine says. “I was doing my cherry blossom paintings years before his.”  (more…)

A piece in Vanity Fair reports on a recently uncovered ring centered around creating forged George Condo drawings.“George is a celebrated, world-famous artist, and it is unfortunate but unsurprising that an artist of his caliber would be the subject of attempts to benefit from his success in an illegitimate way,” says Cristopher Canizares, partner at Hauser & Wirth. (more…)