Pierre Huyghe, Zoodram 5 (2011)

Following a year of strong solo exhibitions and special projects in the United States and abroad, Pierre Huyghe has opened a the first major retrospective devoted to his work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, pulling together a combination of his most ambitious videos, sculptures and installation environments, allowing a broad few of the artist’s continued interests in fluctuations of time, space and matter as expressed within the gallery environment.  Huyghe’s retrospective, which first opened in Paris, early last year, finally makes it to U.S. soil, bringing with it a group of 50 projects culled from the artist’s 20 year career. (more…)

Paul Cézanne, Vue Sur L’estaque Et Le Château D’if (circa 1881-1885), via Christie’s

The Christie’s Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist Sales have concluded in London, bringing to close the week of auctions.  In comparison with Sotheby’s record-setting auction last evening, the Christie’s sale seemed content to rely on a strong selection of curated works, putting together a 44 lot auction that ultimately brought in a final sales tally of £80,375,000.  There were few blockbuster lots in comparison with Sotheby’s and its selection of Monets, but a steady stream of sales in the auction house’s surrealism sale kept the auction houses in close competition, bringing in sales of £66,656,000 in its own right.

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Printed Matter at LA Art Book Fair, via Art Observed

Last weekend, capitalizing on the high-profile proceedings of the Art Los Angeles Contemporary Fair across town, Printed Matter presented the third edition of its quickly growing LA Art Book Fair.  Held near MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary space in Downtown Los Angeles, the event gathered an impressive crowd to its over 40,000 square feet of exhibition space to browse homemade zines, printed editions and other limited works from a wide range of artists, writers and creators, including over 100 booths from California-based publishers and artists. (more…)

Leigh Morse, the former gallery director who was convicted of selling over 70 works from the estates of artists like Robert De Niro Sr. and never notifying the beneficiaries, is in the news this week, after failing to pay the $1.7 million in restitution ordered by the court. “Her restitution tab to date is over a million dollars. She has paid, to date, $22,000, in cash, 2.2 percent,” says Prosecutor Kenn Kern. “What’s so unbelievably upsetting and appalling is that every time you give very clear directions somehow we end up back here.” (more…)

New York Magazine columnist Jerry Saltz is the first art critic to receive a National Magazine Award for a Column, following the announcement of the American Society of Magazine Editors’s annual awards.   (more…)

Artist Nick Cave has announced plans for a parade utilizing the artist’s colorful and imaginative costumes through the underprivileged neighborhoods of Shreveport, Louisiana, thanks in part to a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. (more…)

The New York Times takes a look at the growing number of services catering to financial investment and speculation in the art market, particularly the tech-focused art storage company Uovo, or the market insights platform ArtRank, both of which seem to prioritize contemporary art as a source of financial wealth over a source of intellectual edification.  These new companies demonstrate “something about the way art is functioning, which is less about the artwork saying something or doing something and more about the artwork representing a value,” says one artist, speaking anonymously. (more…)

Sturtevant, Duchamp Relâche (1967)

The Museum of Modern Art is hosting the first US exhibition focusing on the work of the late Sturtevant, one of the foremost artists to initiate conversations on commodification and appropriation of artworks, after the late artist was the subject of various solo shows in Europe. Born Elaine Horan in Ohio, Sturtevant always chose to remain discrete about her biography, so much that her year of birth is still a matter of discussion. (more…)

Berlinde de Bruyckere, 028 (2007), all images courtesy S.M.A.K and © Mirjam Devriendt

Currently on view at S.M.A.K. in Ghent, Belgium is the first mid-career presentation of the ouevre of Berlinde De Bruyckere (1964, Ghent) and the first solo exhibition of her work in Belgium since 2002. Entitled Sculptures & Drawings. 2000-2014, the exhibition is an interwoven series of associations of form and content, presented through the mediums of painting, drawing, and installation art.

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The New York Times takes a look at the collection of modern masterpieces soon to go on view at Paris’s Fondation Louis Vuitton.  The exhibition has been in the works for several years but was downplayed when the museum first opened its doors last year, and will feature a number of landmark works, including Edvard Munch’s The Scream on loan from Oslo, as well as Matisse’s The Dance, which has not been seen in Paris in 15 years.  “The foundation indeed aims to be contemporary,” artistic director Suzanne Pagé said. “But it doesn’t want to ignore the history of art, as it is seen in these major works of the 20th century, which continue to be a vital reference for artists today.” (more…)

A canvas by 17th Century French artist Claude Lorrain is the subject of a recent export ban placed by UK Minister of Culture Ed Vaizey, while the government seeks to find a buyer to keep the painting in the country.  “It is of outstanding beauty and it would be tremendous to see it permanently on display in a UK gallery where it can be appreciated by all,” Vaizey said. (more…)

A pair of classic bronze works have been revealed to be the work of Michelangelo, after an extensive research undertaking in Cambridge, a discovery that would make the sculptures the only surviving bronzes by the artist in the world.  “They are clearly masterpieces,” says Victoria Avery, keeper of applied arts at the Fitzwilliam Museum. “The modelling is superb, they are so powerful and so compelling, so whoever made them had to be superb.” (more…)

A group of protestors, working under the name Liberate Tate, showered the Tate Britain with fake pound notes this weekend, continuing the series of protests over the museum’s British Petroleum sponsorship.  “It’s time for the arts to draw a line,” says one protestor.  “Oil companies are a whole category of unacceptable partners for public arts, like tobacco and arms companies.”  (more…)

Claude Monet, Le Grand Canal (1908), via Sotheby’s

The Impressionist and Modern Auction week has begun in London, as Sotheby’s closes its doors on a strong set of evening sales.  It was the first sale since the auction house announced its increase in rates for 2015, but buyers seemed undeterred by the price increases, bring the final sales tally for the 54 lot sale to an impressive £170,274,000. (more…)

Rineke Dijkstra, Selected Works (Installation View), all images courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery Paris

On view at Marian Goodman’s Paris exhibition space is the third exhibition from Dutch photographer and filmmaker Rineke Dijkstra, composed of of two new videos filmed in Russia.  Dijkstra became internationally known for her beach portraits of teenagers on the beaches of South Carolina, Poland, and Ukraine during the 1990’s, but she has also been producing lesser-known video portraits since 1996. The videos on display here, focusing on young ballerinas, were commissioned by Manifesta (European Biennial of Contemporary Art) for its most recent edition in 2014.

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Paramount Ranch 2, via Art Observed

Tucked away in the mountain ranges outside of Santa Monica, the Paramount Ranch is a relic of the Golden Age of the Hollywood studio system, a massive film set and town used to shoot Westerns.  It’s just this history that makes the landscape a fittingly Californian location to stage an art fair.  Now in its sophomore year, Paramount Ranch offers a unique take on the fair experience: galleries and artists are invited to participate, steering away from any formal application process, and the selection of works often leans towards the more imaginative and immediate.

Haciencda at Paramount Ranch 2, via Art Observed (more…)

Claude Monet, Le Grand Canal (1908), via Sotheby’s

Picking up where last week’s Old Masters auctions in New York City left off, the art market’s attention turns to London this week, as Christie’s and Sotheby’s prepare a set of Impressionist and Modern auctions.   (more…)

Artist Andres Serrano, whose notorious work Piss Christ was removed from the Associated Press image archives after the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices, speaks out in Creative Time Reports this week, defending unconditional free expression in the arts and in contemporary political discourse.  “Unfortunately, times like these show us the true limits of people’s taste for debate, even in an ostensibly free society,” he writes.  “We have only to look to our shared human history to find that the artists and thinkers who have most advanced civilization in the direction of freedom and equality were often unpopular in their day. They questioned, they analyzed, they regularly offended. Without them we would surely be lost.” (more…)

In the run-up to this week’s Impressionist and Modern auctions in London, The Guardian looks at the current state of the market, and how works like Claude Monet’s Le Grand Canal (est. £20 milltion – £30 million), have come to be valued so highly in the growing market.  “There is such intense demand for the very best and the rarest,” says Jay Vincze, the international director and head of impressionist art at Christie’s, “This is the kind of painting that will appeal to a masterpiece buyer. Someone who wants the best of everything.” (more…)

A major ring of forgers focused on Old Masters works has been uncovered in Spain, with over 27 pieces priced to sell for over €1.2 million confiscated in the city of Castellón.  The works varied widely in quality, including a number of Goya etchings which were, in fact, photocopies of the artist’s work.   (more…)

The New York Times profiles Dick Polich, the foundry owner and metalworker who has worked closely with some of the world’s most ambitious contemporary artists, including Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Jasper Johns, Louise Nevelson, and Frank Stella.  “He told me, ‘You’re trying to push the envelope, and I’ll go there with you,’” says sculptor Rona Pondick. “And then he said, ‘And while I’m going there with you, can I show you a few things I’m playing around with?’ ” (more…)

John Waters, Beverly Hills John (2012)

Marianne Boesky Gallery is hosting its third collaboration with John Waters, a pioneer of American camp and “trash culture” since the 1970’s, particularly through his feature breakthrough Pink Flamingos in 1972.  Throughout his career, Waters has constantly redefined the elements that constitute American culture, at a time when the nation was premature to notions such as homosexuality or kitsch, and used these often marginalized cultures within a studied cinematic and artistic framework.

John Waters, Still from Kiddie Flamingos (2014) (more…)

Agnolo Bronzino, Portrait Of A Young Man With A Book, Via Christie’s

Old Masters Week has concluded in New York, following a set of auctions over the past few days that saw mixed results at both Sotheby’s and Christie’s. (more…)

Polly Apfelbaum, HWP 10-20 (2014), via Art Observed

The White Columns Annual offers a particularly resonant opening note for New York’s art world each year.  Refusing an overly objective approach to the curation of a “year in review” style group show, the event encourages, and even emphasizes subjectivity, turning the keys over to one group or person each year.  This year, the all-female art collective Cleopatra’s has been handed the reigns for the Annual’s 9th Edition, with the end result being a colorful, expansive show that is at turns somber, wry and compelling. (more…)