Street artist Swoon is currently working on a new piece at the corner of Houston and Bowery in downtown New York,part of the Groundswell Community Mural Project. Taking on the themes of destruction and renewal brought last year by Hurricane Sandy, the piece looks to feautre several swells of populist imagery, centered by a ghostly female figure. (more…)
The 2013 edition of Art Review’s annual Power 100 is out, documenting the most powerful players in the art world today, with Sheikha Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, the head of Qatar’s powerful Museum Authority, taking the number one position. Al Thani has rocketed up the list in past years, especially after paying a reported $250 million for one of Cézanne’s The Card Players in 2012, and after considering her government’s rumored $1 billion budget for acquisitions. The top spots on the list are rounded off by David Zwirner at #2, Iwan Wirth at #3, Larry Gagosian at #4, and Serpentine co-directors Hans Ulrich Obrist and Julia Peyton-Jones sharing the #5 spot. (more…)
Another activist investor is making waves at Sotheby’s. Richard McGuire, the head of Marcato Capital Management LLC (currently the third-ranking stockholder at the company) is apparently engaged in behind the scenes talks to convince the auction house to sell off its New York and London locations, while unlocking money from its smaller dealings in art finance and dealing. Some have anticipated such a move could free up to $1.3 billion in cash, enough to buy back nearly a third of the company’s stock. “Sotheby’s is committed to healthy two-way communication with its investors and welcomes thoughtful suggestions as we pursue our common goal of a strong, growing, competitive Sotheby’s open to new opportunities,” said company spokesman Andrew Gully. (more…)
The Economist profiles the recent release of Geordie Greig’s Breakfast with Lucian, a biography of the famously reclusive painter Lucian Freud. Delving into the artist’s private, occasionally impulsive lifestyle, the book is proffered as an intriguing read, recalling stories of sordid love affairs, and Freud’s notorious gambling streak. (more…)
Jon Rafman, I am alone but not lonely, (2013), via Zach Feuer
The artist Jon Rafman continually explores processes of archiving and history-making, storytelling and expression online, trawling the deeper recesses of gaming and message board communities to explore how these groups express senses of their own identities, their own mythologies, and their own senses of being. It’s this sense of recording and presentation that marks Rafman’s current show at Zach Feuer, which sees the artist examining the shared sense of history and presentation for various communities through written dialogues, amateur film, and image.
Bertrand Lavier, Dino (1984), Yvon Lambert, all photo by Caroline Claisse for Artobserved.
Contemporary and conceptual art spring forth once again within the Grand Palais in Paris yesterday for the first day of the Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain, or FIAC. Starting off as the Frieze Art Fair in London ends, it is the 40th year that FIAC has been held in France. Below is a photoset from the fair.
Ai Weiwei, Iron Tree (2013), neugerriemschneider, photo by Caroline Claisse for Artobserved.
(more…)
Sir Anthony Caro, via New York Times
The widely recognized British sculptor Sir Anthony Caro passed away today after suffering a heart attack. He was 89. A former assistant to Henry Moore, Caro first made a name for himself in the 1950’s and 60’s, creating roughly rendered, abstract structures which he used as a gradual transition away from the traditionally figurative work of the medium. “I have been trying to eliminate references and make truly abstract sculpture, composing the parts of the pieces like notes in music,” he said in 1975.
Sir Anthony Caro, Déjeuner sur l’herbe II (1989), via Tate Modern (more…)
Harvest, 2013. All images courtesy the Gladstone Gallery.
Now through October 26 Damián Ortega will be on view at the Gladstone Gallery’s 21st Street Location in New York City. Ortega’s photography, installation and sculptural work resonate with an early career as a political cartoonist. Through explosion and disassemblies, Ortega seeks to pry apart the underpinnings of the appliances and structures that establish the material element of human existence. His work engages themes of space, movement and situation in an attempt to dislocate conditions of the mundane. Damián Ortega is considered one of the most prominent artists of the new Mexican generation, and has held solo shows throughout Europe, North and South America.
FIAC at the Grand Palais, via Grand Palais
Following close on the heels of last week’s blockbuster Frieze art fair in London, the French capital of Paris will take its turn in the art-world spotlight, opening the doors of the Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain (FIAC) for its 40th edition. It’s a markedly different affair from the high-profile glitz of the comparatively younger Frieze franchise, but will nevertheless boast an impressive lineup of galleries, installations, performances and spotlights that place the fair among the top events of the contemporary art calendar.
Neo Rauch, Das Bannende, Neo Rauch, (2013), Courtesy Galerie Eigen+Art (more…)
For the first time since its inception in 1984, the Turner Prize exhibition is being held outside of England. A former Army barracks in Ebrington, Derry holds the latest exhibition, with four artists up for the prize: Laure Prouvost, Tino Sehgal, David Shrigley, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. The £25,000 prize will be awarded to the winner on December 2nd, while £5,000 goes to each shortlisted artist. The exhibition starts today, October 23rd, and runs until January 5th, 2014.
(more…)
The alleged Romanian ringleader, Radu Dogaru, admits to stealing paintings from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam, but now claims that the masterworks he stole may be forgeries set up in a plot to collect insurance money, Bloomberg reports. Since Dogaru stole the paintings in less than three minutes, his attorney, Catalin Dancu, believes that the artworks could not have been authentic because no entity would be that lackadaisical with the stolen works. “The answer,” Dancu contends, “is that they’re either irresponsible, in which case they have to pay, or the paintings were perfect copies and someone duped the insurance company.”
(more…)
The exhibition series Musée de la danse: Three Collective Gestures is being shown as part the performance program at the Museum of Modern Art. The first, 20 Dancers for the XX Century, has already been conducted, and Levée des conflits extended/Suspension of Conflicts Extended will be performed this upcoming Friday through Sunday the 25th to 27th. The piece, choreographed in 2010 by Boris Charmatz, revolves around 24 dancers continuously performing 25 movements. The final installation the following weekend involves the dance performance Flip Book and then a response that that piece by Boris Charmatz, Valda Setterfield, and Claire Bishop on November 2nd.
(more…)
William Kentridge, Untitled (Drum Machine) (2012), via Marian Goodman
On September 17th, Marian Goodman Gallery opened its new exhibition of films, drawings, sculpture, and prints by William Kentridge. Entitled “Second-hand Reading,” the exhibition will continue through October 26, 2013. Emerging from a series of projects Kentridge started in 2012 called Six Drawing Lessons, originally showed at The Norton Lectures series at Harvard University that year, the works capture the artist developing a concept of the studio as a place of deep meaning, placing an emphasis on work in the studio as a significant act. During that time he also created his sound installation and breathing machine, entitled The Refusal of Time. (more…)
Geraldo de Barros, Composição Concreta (1953), Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth
Currently on view at Hauser & Wirth‘s upper east side town house is Sensitive Geometries: Brazil 1950s – 1980s, a two-floor installation that presents a range of artists working in an abstract idiom through the radically liberalized postwar decades in Brazil, encompassing multiple generations and artistic movements. Wide scale cultural changes in the wake of World War II, including the reinstatement of democratic rule, a flourishing economy and increased international exchange, inspired an artistic revolution that would ultimately mark Brazil as the epicenter of contemporary art it is today.
João José Costa, Untitled (1959), Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth (more…)
The New York Times checks in on Marina Abramovic‘s efforts towards establishing a 33,000 square foot institute in Hudson, New York “perhaps the most ambitious project yet of her outrageous, audacious four-decade career.'” (more…)
All photos by Caroline Claisse for ArtObserved.
The last visitors have filtered out, the gallerists have begun packing up and preparing sold works for buyers, and another year of the Frieze London Art Fair has concluded, following another action-packed week of new works, special commissions, sales, auctions and openings that once again placed London at the center of the contemporary art world’s cross hairs.
Work by Pierre Huyghe at Esther Schipper (more…)
Georg Baselitz, BDM Gruppe (2012), via Thaddeus Ropac
On view at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac’s recently opened Paris Pantin location is an exhibition of new sculptures and paintings by German artist Georg Baselitz. The sculptures are sculpted from wood and cast in bronze, and the paintings are part of his new series in black. (more…)
John McCracken, Fair (2011), via David Zwirner
Currently on view in New York are two exquisite Minimalist shows of note, regarding both their historicity and their potential influence on emerging currents: Anne Truitt at Matthew Marks on 22nd street & John McCracken at David Zwirner’s 20th Street location. The prospect of seeing this work in proximity and in such volume is a rare event, and offers an intriguing opportunity for comparison and commentary, joining forces both minimalism’s heart and its periphery, namely the powerful metaphysical concerns within. (more…)
Robert Mapplethorpe, Lindsay Key (1985), via Thaddeus Ropac
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Salzburg is currently presenting an exhibition of works by American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, as part of the gallery’s celebration of its 30th anniversary. This exhibition is the latest addition to the gallery’s ongoing series dedicated to Mapplethorpe’s career.
Robert Mapplethorpe, (Installation View), courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Salzburg (more…)
Mark Tansey, The Raw and the Framed (1995), via Christie’s
The last major auction of Frieze Week in London concluded this evening at Christie’s, a strong sale that saw nearly all of the 55 lots on sale finding a buyer, bringing the total sales for the evening up to £27,788,900, placing the auction house as the clear leader in a week of busy auctions and impressive sales figures.
Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Nets (T.W.A.) (2000), via Christie’s (more…)
Mike Kelley, Torture Table (1992), via Skarstedt Gallery
Exploring the darker aspects of American post-modernism and urbanization, New York’s Skarstedt Gallery is presenting a tightly curated show of work by Mike Kelley, Cady Noland, Richard Prince, and Christopher Wool, exploring the artists’ various approaches to the contemporary images of American culture and economics. Titled Murdered Out, the group show is inspired by an urban slang term, referring to a car painted all black matte. Taking this turn, the show explores American culture “through a masked, or ‘blackened-out’ lens.” (more…)
Acquavella Galleries New York. All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.
Running alongside the hustle and bustle of Frieze’s Contemporary Art proceedings next door, the Frieze Masters section is showing an exceedingly strong set of galleries and works, albeit somewhat removed from the spotlight its adjacent fair receives each year. Mixing classic works by artists like Francis Bacon and Picasso with works by still active artists like Robert Long and Richard Serra, the fair offered a more subdued, but equally impressive offering. (more…)
Walter Dahn, Walter (1984/85), via Venus Over Manhattan
Walter Dahn’s 4th Time Around (My Back Pages), an exhibition curated by Richard Prince, is a presentation of paintings, “anti-silkscreens,” and rare bronze sculptures by artist Walter Dahn, presenting a taste of his artistic practice since 1981. The title of the exhibition is derived two Bob Dylan songs, both favorites of the two artists (who have been friends since the late 80’s early 90’s).
Walter Dahn, 4th Time Around (My Back Pages) (Installation View), via Venus Over Manhattan Gallery
(more…)
Jeppe Hein, 360Ëš Illusion III (2007), via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed
Currently on view at Saint Agnes in Berlin, Gallery Johann König presents YOU, a striking selection of new works by Danish-born, Berlin-based artist Jeppe Hein, continuing the artist’s unique exploration into the phenomena of the human visual system, and its role in defining a body in space.
Jeppe Hein, YOU (Installation View), via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed
Concerning himself with the perceptual investigations of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Hein’s work is an investigation into the act of “embodied experience,” expressed not merely through a series of trompe l’oeil trickeries, but rather in complex optical illusions that force the viewer into a visual and physical relationship with space itself. Best expressed through his enormous mirrored projects, the body is as much a part of the work as the eye, using its physical presence and the perceptual inputs tied to the brain as a way to subvert an easily codified version of reality.
Jeppe Hein, 360Ëš Illusion III (2007), via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed
