The most recent issue of Vanity Fair is causing a commotion in the art world this week, following its nude photograph of Jeff Koons exercising on a fitness machine. “Koons, at 59, has already begun a strict exercise-and-diet regimen so that he will have a shot at working undiminished into his 80s, as Picasso did,” the article notes. (more…)
Following concerns over possible damages during a renovation at the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York, Pablo Picasso’s immense stage curtain painting Le Tricorne will be moved to the New York Historical Society. “It’s going to be at a good home, where even more people will see it,” Landmarks Conservancy President Peg Breen said. (more…)
The New York Times notes an increased trend for galleries around the world to embrace unique exhibition spaces and showing rooms, favoring houses, industrial spaces and other new spaces over the traditional gallery. “A house feels more exclusive and private than standing around in a gallery,” said Stuart Lochhead, the director of Daniel Katz Ltd., which recently set up shop in a 5-story townhouse in London . “Someone would feel comfortable in a space like this after stepping off a G5 from Los Angeles.” (more…)
The Swiss Art Awards have kicked off the proceedings around Art Basel this week, as eight artists, one architectural collective, and one curator have received the prize’s $27,765 award. Winners include: BITNIK (Carmen Weisskopf and Domagoji Smolji), Vancessa Billy, Kim Seob Boninsegni, Claudia Comte, Emilie Ding, Andreas Hochuli, Emanuel Rossetti, Jules Spinatsch, CKÖ (Daniel Lütolf and Sarah Widmer), and Emilie Bujès. (more…)
The Telegraph takes a look inside the former home of late artist Louise Bourgeois, which will be reopened as a research center and exhibition space next year, and which was the site of the artist’s legendary work ethic. “She would stay up for three days in a row, hyper,” says her former assistant Jerry Gorovoy. “We tried different sleeping pills, nothing worked. My days would start at ten, and sometimes she’d been sitting there since six waiting for me. ‘You’re late’ she’d say, in the black skirt and shirt she wore every day.” (more…)
The Independent profiles Celia Paul, a painter who for years has lived in the shadow of her former lover Lucian Freud, and who has worked tirelessly in pursuit of her craft, including sending her young son to live with his grandmother so that she could continue her work. “An artist has to be very selfish,” she says. “Being ruthless has been painful at times but my son is very close to me, and he has a very close relationship with his grandmother.” (more…)
Bloomberg takes a look at the current arts community in Cuba, and its long, robust tradition of arts over the past century. The article also goes on to discuss a loophole in the U.S. embargo which allowed America collectors to purchase artworks and prints under the classification of “informational material,” and which led to a surge in the market during the 1990’s. “The arrival of foreign collectors sounded an alarm for the Cuban government,” says dealer Luis Miret Pérez. (more…)
Writer Paul Levy is in The Telegraph this week, writing on the unique experience of seeing his own portrait put up for auction later this month at Christie’s in London. Levy was the subject of two portraits painted by artist Howard Hodgkin, one of which led to a bizarre encounter with Charles Saatchi, the original purchaser of one of the works. “I greeted an old friend who was then secretary of the RA,” Levy writes. “He was talking to someone vaguely familiar, who turned to me and said: ‘You don’t recognise me. But you’re the first thing I see every morning.’ That is how I learnt that my portrait hung in Charles Saatchi’s bedroom.” (more…)
When the famous artist Lucian Freud died in 2011, he left behind assets of £95 million, none of which went to his daughter Lucy Freud nor her siblings. Allegedly enduring a difficult childhood with a detached father of multiple affairs, Lucy Freud still believes she is a rightful heir to the fortune and continues to speak up for her siblings,”I don’t believe Dad had it in him to be specifically derogatory to us as a group. I don’t believe he would have done it.”
Artist Shirin Neshat has ventured into the field of choreography, planning an an interpretation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest alongside Polish choreographer Krzysztof Pastor for the Dutch National Ballet. The dance will feature Pastor’s choreography alongside video footage captured by Neshat. “We shot most of the film in Holland and now we’re watching the rehearsals and carefully going back between the dancers and the editing room,” she says. (more…)
Part of the fanfare surrounding Jeff Koons’s retrospective at the Whitney, H&M will turn its 5th Avenue shop into a miniature Jeff Koons exhibition, featuring a special purse branded with the artist’s signature Balloon Dog. “The partnership with H&M was really exciting for me,” Koons says, “and the chance to showcase one of my most popular works to a new generation of people was inspiring.” (more…)
Newly released documents in a civil court case against Ann Freedman have shown that one of the forged Jackson Pollock paintings purchased by the former Knoedler Gallery director herself had misspelled that name of the artist as “Pollok.” “Freedman, Knoedler and their so-called ‘experts’ claim not to have seen forgeries even when it was literally (mis)spelled out for them,” lawyer John Cahill quipped in an email to the New York Times. (more…)
Over the past several days, Ai Weiwei has been posting and reposting images to his Instagram of both himself and supporters around the world, holding their legs up to mimic the aiming of a rifle. The phenomenon has viewers puzzled, comparing it to a classic Chinese communist ballet, and other classic photo memes like “planking” in equal parts. (more…)
Richard Prince, Cheese & Crackers (2008), via Art Observed
Showing for the first time since Richard Prince settled his lawsuit with photographer Patrick Cariou over several of the source photographs, Gagosian’s uptown location is currently presenting Canal Zone, the series of photo and paint collages that sat at the center of the legal dispute for the first time since 2008. (more…)
The Guggenheim’s currently under construction space in Abu Dhabi is hosting a preview exhibition of its collection, showing 16 works in the exhibition “Seeing Through Light: Selections From the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Collection” at Manarat later this year. “It is small in nature because the space, a temporary exhibition gallery used to foster audience engagement for the three museums, is only about 15,000 square feet,” says Curator Susan Davidson. (more…)
MOCA is drawing criticism this week, following the loan of a Frank Stella painting to a Culver City art gallery, which many have called a conflict of interest. The work Ctesiphon I, was loaned to Honor Fraser Gallery with approval of the Acquisition and Collection Committee. “MOCA is committed to loan artworks to encourage public enjoyment of objects,” MOCA said in an official statement. “MOCA lends to commercial art galleries only on a case-by-case basis.” (more…)
Iwan Wirth is interviewed in the Financial Times this week, discussing his gallery’s newest project space in Somerset, England, and his penchant for unique gallery environments. “I like art that is less decorative and I like spaces that have some spikes,” he says. (more…)
David Shrigely is interviewed in the Financial Times this week, as he prepares to open his specially commissioned installation at Sketch Restaurant in London. In the interview, Shrigley discusses his choices for the restaurant, and his education as an environmental artist in Glasgow. “I really enjoyed art school but I didn’t do very well,” he says. “They all thought I wasn’t taking it seriously, but I was. They just didn’t think I was a very talented artist.” (more…)
The New York Times profiles Gertrude, a recently organized project that holds salons for the viewing and discussion of art. Taking famed art its and Paris social lynchpin Gertrude Stein as its inspiration, the organization allows interested groups to gather for the appreciation and examination of art. “If you do a high-level description of what the art world is, you have the commercial side of the art world, which is about selling art work, and then you have institutions on the other end of the spectrum, with education as the main goal,” said founder Kenneth Schlenker. “What we want to offer is something in the middle that’s an educational experience and a social one.” (more…)
An Henri Matisse painting from the collection of Cornelius Gurlitt has been confirmed as Nazi loot, the Art Newspaper reports. A task-force has uncovered that the 1921 work Femme Assise was taken from the collection of the Paris-based dealer Paul Rosenberg. “Even though it could not be documented with absolute certainty how the work came into [Cornelius Gurlitt’s father] Hildebrand Gurlitt’s possession, the task force has concluded that the work is Nazi loot and was taken from its rightful owner Paul Rosenberg,” says researcher Ingeborg Berggreen Merkel. (more…)
Frieze London has announced its “Projects” section for the 2014 edition of the fair in Regent’s Park. Curated by Nicola Lees, the seven projects located both on-site and around London will include a “living stage” by Nick Mauss, where ballets will be performed each day, and a secret map of the fair routes by Sophia Al Maria, underlining conspiracies hidden throughout. The presentations will also feature a reconstructed musical performance from the career of conceptual comedian Andy Kaufman, enacted by Jonathan Berger. (more…)
Darren Bader at Andrew Kreps (Installation View), all images courtesy Andrew Kreps Gallery
Working at the intersection of installation, sculpture, and writing, Darren Bader’s newest exhibition at the Andrew Kreps Gallery forces viewers to question authorship as well as the relationships between creator, viewer, and object. The gallery describes the exhibition as being made up of three shows, distinct but occupying the same space: a show on the walls, Photographs I Like; a show on the floor, To Have and to Hold; and a show on a piece of paper at the front desk.
Over £50 million worth of works by Cy Twombly have been donated to the Tate by the Cy Twombly foundation, ranking as one of the most valuable gifts the museum has ever received. “It ranks alongside Rothko’s gift of the Seagram mural paintings in 1970 and together with Twombly’s cycle of paintings The Four Seasons 1993-5, acquired in 2002,” Tate Director Sir Nicholas Serota said of the acquisition. “His gives an enduring place in London to the work of one of the great painters of the second half of the 20th century.” (more…)
RoseLee Goldberg, the curator and art historian founded who founded Performa is in the New York Times this week, reliving some of her favorite moments from the ten-year history of the festival, including performances by Jesper Just, Mike Kelley and Francesco Vezzoli. (more…)
