Another article on the Obama Presidency’s attack on 1031 “Like-Kind” Exchanges is on Bloomberg this week, focusing on collector Steven Edlis and his use of the loophole to acquire works he then donates. “Stefan Edlis has been generous but many people who will take advantage of this will not be generous,”says critic Robert Storr, dean of the Yale University School of Art. (more…)
As President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft actions continue, the Chinese Government is looking for additional ways to crack down on corruption in its party hierarchy, with a main target being art and literary prizes. “The ministry of culture will carry out a comprehensive rectification of literary and art awards. A number of awards will be cancelled or streamlined, with an overall reduction of more than 60 per cent,” the Communist Party said in a statement. (more…)
Against the backdrop of critical backlash over MoMA’s recent Björk exhibition, The Art Newspaper sits down with Glenn Lowry for a frank and lengthy interview, charting his vision for the museum, and his acknowledgement of issues of overcrowding often leveled on the museum. “My background is as a historian of Islamic art, so of course I lament the loss of solitude,” Lowry says. “But I am also a pragmatist; solitude is probably gone regardless. Had our attendance grown by 25% or 30%, which is what we figured it would with the 2004 expansion, you would still have had those moments. Will the [next] expansion solve all those problems? No, it’s not going to solve everything, but it will enable us to show a great deal more of our collection and in many different ways.” (more…)
Gabriel Orozco, Fleurs Fantômes (2014-2015), all photos by S. Kitching for Art Observed
Gabriel Orozco‘s ‘Fleurs Fantômes’ (‘Phantom Flowers’) is a long-term large-scale monographic exhibition (2014-2016) in the Château-de-Chaumont. Entrusted with the third special commission by Centre-Val de Loire Region for the Domaine of Chaumont-sur Loire, Gabriel Orozco created a new body of work inspired by the wallpapers adorning the once occupied private apartments of the Château.
A pair of Francis Bacon self-portraits that have been considered missing since they were painted in the mid-1970’s have been found, and are going on sale at Sotheby’s this July in London, estimated at £15 million each. “Marlborough Fine Art kept a photographic archive and so both of these paintings appeared in a book on Bacon’s self-portraits but, apart from being reproduced in books, they’ve not been seen,” says Sotheby’s Oliver Barker. “We knew of the existence of the paintings but simply had no idea where they could be.” (more…)
Following numerous set-backs and a potential cancellation, the second Kiev Biennial will open this September, the Art Newspaper reports. The rescheduled event will be hosted at the Visual Culture Research Center, a target in the past for right-wing protests and activists. Speaking of the Euromaidan revolution, Curator Georg Schöllhammer noted that the political upheaval in the country “spoke loudly about what the people of the Ukraine want to get rid of. I think we have to follow that.” (more…)
Part of the celebrations surrounding the opening of the Whitney Museum this week, the Empire State building will display colored lighting schemes centered around famous works from the museum collection. The lighting, which goes live Saturday, is designed by acclaimed designer Mark Brickman. “We’re dealing with Andy Warhol and Elizabeth Murray and Rothko,” Brickman says of the challenge. “Giants.” (more…)
Lauren Cornell, the Curator of this year’s New Museum Triennial, is interviewed in Dazed this week, reflecting on her origins in experimental film, her work with Rhizome, and her work in addressing gender and sexuality as a curator. “I think it seems especially hard or frustrating to come up as a young artist now in an art world that seems to think of itself as ‘over’ inequality, while consistently rewarding white men more than anyone else,” she says. “In this context, it’s important to create spaces for ongoing inequalities to be named and dealt with constructively.” (more…)
Outside the New Whitney Museum, via Art Observed
When the Whitney’s migration downtown was first announced, the anxiety and anticipation over its move away from the Breuer building on 75th and Madison was palpable, to say the least. But as the initial reviews of the space begin to trickle in, the move downtown seems to have made all of the difference for one of the bastions of American fine arts. Sure enough, the museum, which opens its Renzo Piano-designed doors to the public on May 1st, has created the conditions for something truly incredible in the Meatpacking District, an effortless, flowing viewing experience that manages to tie the museum’s impressive holdings together with the skylines and scenic views of its iconic hometown.
John Storr, via Art Observed (more…)
The New York Times looks at the current practices of “Like-Kind Exchange” on the fine art market, a tax provision allowing collectors and art flippers to defer taxes on sales income by using proceeds to buy an even more expensive work, and the attention it’s currently receiving from tax regulators. “If you are doing five transactions over 25 years,” says advisor Josh Baer, “each time buying something more expensive, each time you don’t pay the capital gains tax on the way. At the end of the day you are way ahead.” (more…)
A new study on the use of digital technologies in American art museums is set for release this week, an in-depth study that looks at museum projects nationwide and their effectiveness in incorporating new immersive media. The study covers 41 museum projects, from a “digital census” of French sculpture at Dallas’s Nasher Center to new iPad based wall labeling at the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts. (more…)
Cai Guo-Qiang is interviewed in the Wall Street Journal this week, and gives his personal take on the current state of contemporary art in China. “Even though the art market is doing better than it did in the 1980s, the artworks that it generates do not have as much soul and strength to their works as the early avant-garde movements [did] in the 1980s,” he says. (more…)
Controversy has struck at the Venice Biennale this year, after the Kenyan government officially denounced its national pavilion at the exhibition this year, and accused the curators awarded to the space of misrepresenting themselves as affiliated with the nation’s arts community while presenting a predominantly Chinese body of artists. “We hereby declare that the artists are in no way Kenyan,” a statement from the Kenyan government states. “Neither through birth nor naturalization and have no business using OUR NAME or flying OUR FLAG at the art Olympics. We demand that the government act by not only stopping the use of the Kenyan name and flying of the Kenyan flag at the Venice Biennale but also demanding the false information be pulled down from all publicity material including the Venice Biennale website.” (more…)
The MAK Vienna has purchased artist Harm van den Dorpel’s Event Listeners screen-saver work with Bitcoins, making it the first museum in the world to use the digitally-centered currency. The work will be shown at this year’s inaugural Vienna Biennale, running June 11 to October 4. (more…)
Auction houses in China are pushing further into the Modern and Impressionist Markets, the South China Morning Post reports, part of an attempt at beating a sales slump that has plagued the market in recent months. “Selling Impressionist and modern art will be great business for us, as the artworks are traditionally very highly priced,” says Hu Yanyan, president of China Guardian Auctions and China Guardian (HK) Auctions. (more…)
The strikes over the National Gallery in London’s plans to privatize its workforce are continuing this week, with artist Ryan Gander joining the protestors outside the museum. The current protests have requested a delay in any decision to privatize until after the national elections on May 7th. (more…)
Bloomberg takes a look at the difficulties behind financing large-scale art projects, including the issues often facing galleries when it comes to selling the completed pieces, focusing the study on artist Alice Aycock’s public installation on Park Ave. “It’s a long-term financial investment,” says Aycock’s gallerist, Thomas Schulte. “One work by Aycock cost $350,000 alone in production costs, and took over a year to make, and in that particular case we needed another year to sell it.” (more…)
Tate Modern Director Chris Dercon will leave the museum to head up Berlin’s experimental theatre landmark, the Volksbühne in 2017, The Guardian reports. “Chris Dercon is helping to open Tate Modern to a wider world and more diverse audiences through his support for a more international programme, photography, live performance and film,” says Tate head Nicolas Serota. “We look forward to working with him on the opening of the new Tate Modern and until he takes up his appointment in Berlin in 2017.” (more…)
The Financial Times profiles Iranian artist Shirin Neshat as she prepares to open a career retrospective at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. and Baku, Azerbaijan. “As an Iranian in exile, she has always been very articulate about the idea of a condition of diaspora and, with that, the complexity of feeling connected to a culture, but living outside it,” says Director Melissa Chiu. “It’s a very personal approach to history, through Shirin’s own eyes.” (more…)
The Midnight Moment video art screenings in New York will continue this May, with the showing of Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests on the immense video billboards of Times Square. The screen tests on view will feature a variety of Factory regulars, including Edie Sedgwick, Susan Sontag and Lou Reed. (more…)
Printed Matter is leaving its current space at 195 Tenth Avenue, which is has occupied for the last 10 years, and moving to a new, two-level space at the corner of Eleventh Avenue and 26th Street this September, the organization announced this week. The new building will double its current space, and will allow a more diverse series of events to be held on-site. “Printed Matter’s new location will provide us with the much-needed space to facilitate our many different programs and services,” says Printed Matter Board Chair Philip Aarons. “In the past 10 years we’ve more than doubled in size as an organization, and it has become clear that we have simply out-grown our current space. We are thrilled by the prospects and opportunities our new home will provide in the fulfillment and furthering of our mission.” (more…)
James Meyer, the former assistant to Jasper Johns convicted of stealing and plotting to sell works from the artist’s studio, has been sentenced to over a year in prison. “I am truly devastated that I destroyed the close relationship that I had with the man who was my mentor, employer and friend since I was 21-years-old,” Meyer said in court. (more…)
The fully realized design proposals for the Guggenheim Helsinki are set to be unveiled at the Kunsthalle Helsinki today, marking the next step in the museum’s proposed expansion to Finland. “We hope this exhibition and its programs will inspire the Finnish public to engage with the possibilities of a Guggenheim museum in Helsinki, and to think about the potential of a prominent site on their waterfront,” says Guggenheim Director Richard Armstrong. (more…)
The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at this year’s Venice Biennale will go to Ghanian artist El Anatsui. “The Golden Lion Award acknowledges not just his recent successes internationally, but also his artistic influence amongst two generations of artists working in West Africa,” says Biennale Director Paolo Baratta. “It is also an acknowledgment of the sustained, crucial work he has done as an artist, mentor and teacher for the past forty-five years.” (more…)