The Independent Art Fair (Installation View), all photos via Elene Damenia Art Observed

The Independent Art Fair opened its doors last evening for its vernissage, welcoming collectors and press to the increasingly popular fair at Chelsea’s Center 548 on 22nd Street.  With a markedly looser atmosphere, and a closely selected group of 50 galleries and non-profits, the Independent has moved into a desirable niche position between the bigger fairs uptown, and the list of exhibitors made this more than apparent.  Big names dotted the floors of the space, with Gavin Brown’s Enterprise returning to the fair, alongside Untitled, Balice Hertling and Michael Werner, all of which brought first-class works to the sale.

Andra Ursuta at Ramiken Crucible, via Art Observed (more…)

Chuck Close is in the Wall Street Journal this week, discussing his recently renovated apartment in the East Village.  Close bought the apartment in 2011, and has installed a number of works from his collection, as well as painting the walls a bright red, inspired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  “All artworks that interest me are constructed,” he says.  “They don’t have to be massive works. They just have to engage me.” (more…)

John Baldessari is featured in this month’s edition of “My Favorite Things” in the Wall Street Journal, in which he shows off some of his favorite art works, possessions and gifts from friends, including an enormous chili pod given to him from Tom Waits, a postcard drawing from Sol LeWitt, and another from the creator of Spongebob Squarepants. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on musician and artist Charlemagne Palestine’s special sound installation in the stairwell of the Whitney Museum for this year’s Biennial.  Featuring a set of speakers ascending the museum staircase, covered in stuffed animals and fabric, the work plays off the reverberant nature of Eli Breuer’s concrete architecture.  “I’ve been coming to the museum since it was built, and I’ve always loved the staircase,” says Palestine. “This particular kind of concrete has a fantastic resonance. It’s Taj Mahal-esque.” (more…)

Margaret Lee at Jack Hanley (Installation View), via Art Observed

Currently on view, Closer to right than wrong/ Closer to wrong than right is Margaret Lee’s second solo show at Jack Hanley Gallery. For the exhibition, Lee—co-founder of the Lower East Side gallery 47 Canal, an arbiter of art-world cool—has assembled a showroom of sorts, featuring an array of furniture-like pieces festooned with a uniform black and white Dalmatian print. While Lee’s previous work frequently dealt in a brash take on domestic objects, such as eggplant or cucumber-shaped telephones, the tone of the current exhibition is comparatively subdued. A tongue-in-cheek minimalism prevails, with polka dots turning the installation’s assorted objects—a chair, a lamp, a side table, and even a painting on the wall—into the sort of kitsch that undermines what could otherwise be mistaken as a serious design sensibility.

Margaret Lee at Jack Hanley (Installation View), via Art Observed (more…)

Peter Doig sits down with the Financial Times this week for the newspaper’s Lunch with the FT segment, and discusses his life as a painter, as well as his childhood split between Trinidad, Canada and the UK.  “My thinking is always between places. Something I would like to achieve in my paintings is a place in between places.” (more…)

Bjarne Melgaarde, via Art Observed

Plurality suits the Whitney Biennial.  It’s long embraced the diffuse narratives and varied identities of a nation as broad and intricate as the United States, and this year is no different, with 103 participants (both artists and several collectives) from around the country.  But the 2014 event, and the last to take place in the Whitney’s Marcel Breuer-designed space on Madison and 75th, has taken this interest in the varied artistic practices and themes dominating the American contemporary, and opened it to even wider dialogues, welcoming three separate curators (Michelle Grabner, Anthony Elms and Stuart Comer) with varying backgrounds to each select one floor of the museum, and explore their own particular concerns.  The result is a set of three almost completely separate thematic projects, each of which leaves itself open to dialogue with the floors nearby.

Works by John Mason, via Art Observed (more…)

Outside the 2014 Armory Show, via Art Observed

The doors of The Armory Show opened this morning for its VIP preview, welcoming collectors and press from around the world to Piers 92 and 94 on Manhattan’s West Side.  This year, the fair welcomes 205 galleries to its annual selling event, down again from last year’s 214 in what seems to be a running trend to trim the fat at the larger fairs worldwide.

Armory Show (Installation View), via Art Observed (more…)

Aki Sasamoto, Sunny in the Furnace, via Aki Sasamoto

Late this week, amid the hustle and bustle of Armory Week in New York, The Kitchen will open artist Aki Sasamoto’s newest performance, Sunny in the Furnace, running from March 6th to the 8th in the organization’s theatre space.  Incorporating Sasamoto’s playful, intricate series of object-oriented encounters and reflections, the work will see her expand her practice onto a larger scale, incorporating the work of fellow artists Sam Ekwurtzel, Jessica Weinstein, Pau Atela, and Madeline Best, as well as live music by percussionist John Bollinger. taking Sasamoto’s recurring focus on memory and material to new levels of complexity.

Aki spoke with Art Observed this past week to preview her show, and talk a bit about her personal creative process. (more…)

Jonathan Meese, Selbstportrait mit eisernem Kreuz (2001), all images courtesy MdM

On view at the Museum der Moderne Münchsberg is a unique exhibition of paintings by contemporary German artist Jonathan Meese, whose works are mainly focused on controversial issues within contemporary German history.

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Outside last year’s Armory show, via Art Observed

As March rolls into New York, so too does the art world, as the city prepares for the 2014 edition of Armory Week, capped by The Armory Show on Piers 92 and 94 of Manhattan’s West Side, and complemented by a series of additional events, fairs and openings around the city.

Serge Alain Nitegeka, Exterior I: Studio Study I (2013), via The Armory Show (more…)

Dealer David Zwirner was on Charlie Rose this past week, discussing the current state of the art market, the “philosophy” behind the artists that he chooses to work with, and his taste in minimalism.  “Minimalism brought modernism to its natural conclusion,” he says. “The intellectual rigor of bringing a work to its logical consequence, and trying to find the pure, absolute form is very appealing to anyone in my position.” (more…)

A group of artists have donated works to a benefit auction for the legal defense fees of Maximo Caminero, the Miami artist accused of breaking a vase at the exhibition of works by Ai Weiwei at the Perez Art Museum.   “We do not support the act, but we support the intention,” said painter Danilo Gonzalez. (more…)

The New York Times takes a look at the contemporary art market, and the purported bubble many dealers and analysts have pointed to over the sale of blockbuster works by Koons, Richter and Warhol, among others.  But the article also hears out dealers who maintain that the market has never been stronger.  “Things are different now,” says art advsor Allan Schwartzman. “There’s a momentum in the market that’s dictated by the top players. It’s trophy-driven. There are often six competitors for the major lots at auctions, which indicates to me there isn’t a bubble. Contemporary art has never been supported like this before.”   (more…)

Christian Jankowski, Heavy Weight History (Syrenka), (2013), all images courtesy Lisson Gallery

On view at Lisson Gallery in London is an installation composed of a 25-minute film and a series of photographs by German artist Christian Jankowski. Entitled “Heavy Weight History,” the images depict a group of Polish champion weightlifters trying to lift up public sculptures and memorials in Warsaw, Poland.

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ArtNews has published a profile on Michelle Grabner, the sculptor and curator tapped to curate this year’s Whitney Biennial.  “One of the interesting things about including an artist is that they really understand process from within, and I think that affects how Michelle approaches the works of art she selects and the exhibition itself,” says Whitney chief curator Donna De Salvo. “She has been a curator at a pioneering gallery, but also she is incredibly well published and has engagement with artists across the country. A mix of all those aspects were needed for participation in the Biennial.” (more…)

Damien Hirst’s Other Criteria is looking to expand.  The West End London shop is looking to sell its £435,000 lease and seek a larger space in the neighborhood.  Other Criteria is also reportedly planning to open a location in New York’s Soho neighborhood later this year.   (more…)

Matthew Barney, River of Fundament (still) (2014), Courtesy BAM credit: Hugo Glendinning

Matthew Barney’s newest film, River of Fundament, is a spectacle, to say the least.  Clocking in at just under 6-hours, the film is in turns a surreal voyage through the Egyptian afterlife, the American automotive industry, and the respective encounters of Barney and composer Jonathan Bepler’s with their various subjects, all turned inwards on the film’s own internal logic and unleashed in jarring blasts of viscera, atonal operatics and monumental, ritualistic performance happenings taking part in Detroit, Los Angeles and New York.

Matthew Barney, River of Fundament (still) (2014), Courtesy BAM credit: Hugo Glendinning (more…)

The New York Times has a published a preview piece on next week’s opening for the Whitney Biennial, which will open concurrently with Armory Week next Friday.  The 77th edition of the event will be the last in the Whitney’s current home before it moves to its new location in the Meatpacking District, and features the collaborative vision of three separate curators, each of which are occupying a single floor of the museum.  “It’s as if you’re on your laptop and have three windows open,” said Stuart Comer, one of the curators and the head of media and performance at MoMA. “It’s not a collaboration but a conversation, a dialogue.” (more…)

Daniel Loeb is pushing for three seats on the board at Sotheby’s, preparing for a proxy fight to wrest additional control of the company for his Third Point Hedge Fund.  “All shareholders will benefit from further depth of experience in Sotheby’s key business building block: luxury customer relationship development,” Third Point said in its regulatory filing this week. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the demanding logistics of moving Mike Kelley’s recently-closed show at MoMAPS1.  The show, which will open again next month in Los Angeles, required a multi-day deconstruction process, moving more than 200 individual works, and disassembling some of the show’s enormous sculptures.   “It’s one of the most complex exhibitions we’ve ever undertaken,” said PS1’s Peter Eleey, “It’s a very fine-toothed coordination.” (more…)

The New York Times profiles the work and career of Xu Zhen, this year’s artist-in-residence at The Armory Show in New York.  A conceptualist noted for his departure from previous generations of Chinese art and his playful skewering of retail economics (including one work where he constructed a fully functioning supermarket), Xu will show a number of works at the show, and is working on a public project with New York’s Citibike Public Bicycle Program. (more…)

Creative Time has announced the opening dates for Kara Walker’s installation at Williamsburg’s former Domino Sugar Factory.  A Subtlety will open on May 10th, and will be free and open to the public.  “Walker’s physically and conceptually expansive work will respond to both the building and its history, exploring a radical range of subject matter and marking a major departure from her practice to date,” the organization said in a release.  Creative Time will also focus it spring gala around the opening of the event, honoring Walker. (more…)

Eva Hesse, June 1959, all images courtesy Hamburger Kunsthalle

On view at Hamburger Kunsthalle is a solo exhibition of works by Jewish German-born Eva Hesse, one of the most prominent female artists of the 20th century. Entitled One More than One. the display is composed of art objects and sculptures made from polyester, fiberglass and latex, illustrating textural juxtapositions between hard and soft, fragility and sturdiness. The exhibition will continue through March 2, 2014.

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