Artist Raymond Pettibon is interviewed in The Guardian this week, and discusses his recent work, his stance against the US government, and his thoughts on his logo design for Black Flag being one of the most tattooed images of all time.  “I don’t know which is worse sometimes… I’ve never encouraged anyone to get one. I don’t know how those things work. Some things become iconic for whatever reason and people have the logo on their arms, or wherever, but a lot of them don’t even know their music.” (more…)

Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, The Appearance of Collage #6 (2012), Courtesy Pace Gallery

Though Soviet-born artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov are New York-based, they were little known in the New York art scene until this Fall season.  Popular in Europe, their 2013 New York tour started with their successfully-launched, 8th rendition of the floating installation, “The Ship of Tolerance”, at the Dumbo Arts Festival.  Ilya Kabakov, a former childrens’ book illustrator and graphic artist did his conceptual art work in secrecy until he accepted a grant to work in Austria and grew to prominence in Europe.  Upon arriving to New York, he reconnected with his distant cousin, Emilia, a former pianist and linguist, and presently an art advisor and curator. She helped him navigate the arts scene in New York and the two soon began collaborating. They married in 1992 and have been sharing credits ever since on everything they have produced with the exception of several of Ilya’s paintings. (more…)

Larry Gagosian’s proposed space in the Mayfair neighborhood of London has been approved, and will take up residence after renovations headed by Caruso St John, the firm responsible for the refurbishment of Tate Britain.  “We’re really excited to be working with Gagosian to create a preeminent commercial art gallery for London and we are delighted that Westminster City Council has given us the go-ahead,” says Ian Morrison, development director for Grosvenor’s London. (more…)

Louise Lawler, Detail, Chicago (placed and pulled) (2011-2013), via Casey Kaplan

The arrangement of works for Liam Gillick and Louise Lawler’s current show at Casey Kaplan in New York is an interesting one: long strings of Gillick’s text hang from the ceilings of the space, while long, blurred images from Lawler’s archival image collection are stretched across the walls.  It seems an almost deliberate attempt to escape the stationary logic of the art object, constantly forcing the viewer to move between rooms and works, always reappraising position and meaning as they go.

Louise Lawler and Liam Gillick (Installation View), via Casey Kaplan (more…)

Rosemarie Trockel, Copy Me (2013), via Gladstone Gallery

On view at Gladstone Gallery in New York is an exhibition of new work by German artist Rosemarie Trockel, featuring a series of wool paintings and wall sculptures, as well as ceramics, drawings, videos and collages, alluding to the short but dense history of twentieth century abstraction and conceptualism.

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Jacob Kassay, Untitled (2013), Courtesy 303 Gallery

Now on view at 303 Gallery is the space’s first exhibition of works by Jacob Kassay. Composed entirely of new works, IJK opened on November 1st and will remain on view through December 20, 2013.

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Ry Rocklen at Night Court, via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

Ry Rocklen loves sports, or rather, he likes winning. “I love the pageantry of it,” he says, walking past a table constructed entirely out of materials used in sports trophies: shining columns, golden basketballs and baseball players, and imitation marble.  The pieces could be seen at Rocklen’s installation Night Court, a commission for Absolut’s beachfront space on Miami Beach during Art Week.  “The pieces originally come from a series called Trophy Modern that I opened earlier this year,” Rocklen says.  “And when I was offered the commission for this show, I thought I would try and take it a little further.” (more…)

Two of Damien Hirst’s Dot artworks have been stolen from a West London art gallery, valued at about $54,000.  Police believe that a single person stole the two prints from the Exhibitionist Gallery, where gallery manager, Nathan Engelbrecht, told the BBC that he was scouring around “trying to find new artwork for the Christmas season.’’  (more…)

Amy Cappellazzo, Christie’s Chairman of Postwar and Contemporary Art Development, has announced that she will be leaving the company this February to work as a private dealer.  Cappellazzo joined the auction house in 2001, and is frequently touted as the reason Christie’s has experienced such profound success in the past years, but has decided to focus on more private sales and transactions.  “When I think about private sales,” she said in 2012, “I think about matchmaking—it’s literally about arranging love.”  (more…)

Richard, First Communion of Anemic Young Girls In The Snow and other works (Installation View), via Interstate Projects

For the past month, Interstate Gallery in Bushwick has acted as the first physical base for Richard, a predominantly Internet-focused catalog of objects and items centered around new possibilities and interpretations of the readymade art object in the 21st century.  Turning the work of Marcel Duchamp once more towards a populist, group project, Richard challenges the concepts of labor and potentials for the the readymade in new perspectives of art practice and conceptual operation.

Richard, First Communion of Anemic Young Girls In The Snow and other works (Installation View), via Interstate Projects (more…)

Former Turner Prize winner Steve McQueen is included on the shortlist of Hugo Boss Prize finalists, alongside Camille Henrot, this year’s Venice Biennale Silver Lion winner for most promising new artist, Charline Von Heyl, and several others.  The winner will receive a $100,000 prize, as well as an exhibition at the Guggenheim. (more…)

The Art Show, the annually presented fair taking place concurrently with The Armory Show has announced its 26th edition, featuring 72 booths that include 34 solo artist booths and 38 thematic exhibitions.  Highlights include a show of new works by Jacob Kassay at 303 Gallery, and holographic works by James Turrell at Pace.  (more…)

Brendan Lynch, Coming Home (2013), via Art Observed

Located just off the main strip of Lincoln Road, the office building at 1632 Pennsylvania Avenue in Miami Beach has a lot going for it.  Gently curving walls, a white and teal color scheme, and ample space for movement and installation.  It was just this space that Brooklyn collective The Still House Group took over for its annual pop-up show during Art Basel Miami Beach.

Alex Perweiller and Zachary Susskind at Straight II DVD, via Art Observed (more…)

Sarah Lucas, Nice Tits (2011), Copyright of the artist, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ

English sculptor, photographer, and installation artist Sarah Lucas has long been labeled as the “wildest” member of the Young British Artists who emerged in the 1990s, with a career of pieces that has openly and aggressively challenged sexual identities, psychological states, and cultural images of the body through her evocative and often grotesque assemblages and Situations. Entitled SITUATION Absolute Beach Man Rubble, her current retrospective at Whitechapel Gallery examines this ongoing interest in the body and its cultural reifications.

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A Dallas collector is suing Sotheby’s auction house over the disclosure of what was supposed to be the private sale of a Mark Rothko.  Marguerite Hoffman, widow of soft-drinks bottling magnate Robert K. Hoffman, filed a lawsuit against the auction house when the work was resold several years later, and used her name heavily in the work’s marketing materials.   (more…)

Christie’s is preparing for its first sale in India next week, pulling heavily from the collection of the late Mumbai-based curator Kekoo Gandhy and his wife, Khorshed Gandhy.  The works include a number of high-profile Indian artists, including Ram Kumar and Syed Haider Raza. (more…)

Jeff Koons, Elephant Sculpture, which sold for $20 million at David Zwirner Gallery

Another year has come and gone for the dizzying spectacle that is Art Basel Miami Beach, which closed its doors last night after 5 hectic days of art sales, exhibitions, special events, parties and appearances.  The following is a summary of the Main Fair with a photoset and newslinks.

Piet Mondrian, Komposition II, with red, 1926, at Helly Nahmad Gallery (more…)

Andrea Pinheiro, via Cooper Cole Gallery

Perhaps one of the best located of the fairs during Miami Beach’s annual December Basel onslaught, Untitled Miami once again set up  on the Miami Beach, bringing a number of smaller galleries from the United States and abroad into the fray of Miami Art Week.  Taking cues from last year’s successful week of sales,curator Omar Lopez-Chahoud brought forth another carefully chosen group of galleries and contributing artists for the fair, emphasizing both overall cohesion and stylistic divergence at its picturesque beachfront location.

Rachel Foullon at Halsey McKay, via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed (more…)

A car designed by Keith Haring, photos by Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

The iconic Herzog & de Meuron-designed parking garage at 1111 Lincoln Road is a beacon of Miami Beach’s car culture, with a tony parking fee that guarantees one of the finest collections of automobiles parked in one location in the city on any given night.  Taking  inspiration from the boldly designed structure, Adam Lindemann and his team at New York’s Venus Over Manhattan have opened the space up to one of the more interesting thematic shows of this year’s Art Basel festivities: Piston Head, a show of artist-designed cars. (more…)

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NADA, via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

Another year of Art Basel Miami Beach means another year of the New Art Dealers Alliance Fair, which opened its doors yesterday for the first day of its run at the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach.

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Tony Matelli at Marlborough Chelsea, via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed (more…)

VIP’s prepare to enter at Art Basel, via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

Another year of Art Basel Miami Beach is officially in full swing after a bustling first day of sales, exhibitions, installations and parties has wrapped up.   The crowds were out in earnest for the press and VIP previews yesterday, as the convention center opened its doors to welcome in a swarm of interested collectors who made no delay in picking up some of the most significant pieces.  Collectors and art advisors could be seen frantically talking to cell phones, and dealers jotted down quick figures as the first hours of the fair counted up a solid series of sales.

Anish Kapoor at Lisson Gallery, via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

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The collaboration between Ai Weiwei and Alcatraz National Park has been officially announced, with the Chinese artist installing a number of site-specific works that respond to the former prison’s long history.  “The misconception of totalitarianism is that freedom can be imprisoned,” Ai said in a statement. “This is not the case. When you constrain freedom, freedom will take flight and land on a windowsill.”  The show will run September 27, 2014 to April 26, 2015. (more…)

The newest issue of W Magazine is out, featuring a cover shot of actor George Clooney dressed by artist Yayoi Kusama.  Dressed in Kusama’s signature polka dots, Clooney is also profiled in the issue, promoting his film The Monuments Men, about a group of American G.I.s stealing masterpiece artworks back from the Nazis.  “Art takes different forms,” Clooney says in the interview. “But it represents something that is basic in all of us—our history.” (more…)

Martin Creed, Work No. 1690: Self-portrait (2013), Courtesy Hauser & Wirth and Gavin Brown’s Enterprise

On November 8th, Hauser & Wirth and Gavin Brown’s enterprise opened parallel solo exhibitions in New York City featuring works by Scottish artist Martin Creed. The exhibitions will present new works in addition to selections from the past thirty years of his career. The display will remain on view at the two New York locations through December 21st 2013.

Martin Creed at Gavin Brown (Installation View), via Gavin Brown

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