The LA Times profiles three high level curatorial posts that are vacant and may cease to exist at Los Angeles Museums. Notably the controversy over the firing of Paul Schimmel from LAMoCA; The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach laid off Cecilia Fajardo-Hill and did not re-fill the position; and Douglas Fogle, Chief Curator at The Hammer left, but that museum is actively looking for a replacement. (more…)
The Turner Prize will be announced this evening by Jude Law at at the Tate Britain. Here is video of the exhibited work. (more…)
The Martos Gallery’s Suzanne Geiss is bringing legal action against hedge fund manager Jarett Posner, claiming that he said he would sell his 1984 Keith Haring for $1.6 million. She filed papers in the Manhattan Supreme Court to force Posner to transact the deal. “There was never a sale. I’ve never heard of anything like this in my life,” Posner said. “I’ve never met the person, never agreed to anything.” (more…)
Sia performs live. All photos by C. Dalaeli for ArtObserved
Performa’s Relâche—The Party welcomed more than 500 guests on Thursday evening. Event co-chairs RoseLee Goldberg, Julie Blakeslee and John Spong, Toby Devan Lewis, Andrea & Marc Glimcher, Wendy Fisher, Amanda & Glenn Fuhrman, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, and Cindy Sherman helped organized the black and white haute couture themed party, a tribute to Francis Picabia and Erik Satie, and their groundbreaking 1924 Surrealist performance Relâche in Paris. The party was honoring Milly Glimcher, art historian and curator of “Happenings: New York, 1958–1963” at the Pace Gallery, 2012.
Aerial acrobat performance (more…)
A portrait of Miami in Tom Wolfe’s new novel, “Back to Blood”, seems timely with Art Basel approaching this week. Brett Sokol, arts editor at Ocean Drive Magazine, profiles the changes in Miami’s art scene, which are filled with drama, power and money. Wolfe’s new novel is loosely based the true stories of the forgeries discovered in the Bass Museum’s permanent collection and on the story of how collector Jorge Pérez donated $35 million to the MAM . It was subsequently renamed Pérez Art Museum Miami, which created severe opposition to what board members deemed an egotistical move. “None of this is the behavior of a money-bedazzled and unsophisticated art crowd — quite the opposite”, Sokol says. (more…)
Exhibition view, Joseph Beuys, Iphigenie, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, all photos via Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
Curated by Jörg Schellmann, director of Edition Schellmann, the first exhibition shown in the new performing arts-dedicated space within Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Paris Pantin, is a collection of works by renowned German artist Joseph Beuys. The exhibition, entitled Iphigenie, inaugurated Thaddeus Ropac’s massive new space in the suburbs of Paris on October 17th, 2012 and will continue through January 27th, 2013.
Exhibition view, Joseph Beuys, Iphigenie, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
VICE Magazine interviews Marina Abramović about her view on what constitutes a performance, on young artists and fashion: VICE: “I put some crystals in my cleavage because I know you use crystals in your work.” Abramović: “I’ve never put crystals in my cleavage, but OK.” (more…)
Yingmei Duan, “Happy Yingmei,” 2011/2012, Art of Change, photo by Linda Nylind, all images courtesy Southbank Centre London
The first major exhibition to focus on contemporary installation and performance art from China, “Art of Change: New Directions from China” opened September 7th at the Southbank Centre in London. The exhibition traces the artistic development of a selection of some of the most innovative artists from China, spanning in time from the 1980s until today.
Chen Zhen, “Purification Room,” 2000/2012, Art of Change, photo by Linda Nylind
Maurizio Cattelan, “Catttelan,” 1994, neon, 90 x 47 x 3.5; 40 x 40 x 3.5, Courtesy Collezione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
On September 25th 2012, the Whitechapel Gallery in London opened a special exhibition composed of works from the Collection Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, one of the most prominent private collections in Europe. The gallery’s year-long series, Think Twice, is divided into four parts, the first of which is dedicated to works of Maurizio Cattelan – many of which have not been seen in the UK for over 20 years – on display until December 2nd, 2012.
Maurizio Cattelan, “Bidibidobidiboo,” 1996, Taxidermied squirrel, ceramic, Formica, wood, paint and steel, Courtesy Collezione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
The Wall Street Journal profiles Kiki and Seton Smith, daughters of Tony Smith. The Kunsthalle Bielefeld in Germany recently mounted an exhibition entitled Kiki Smith, Seton Smith, Tony Smith: A Family of Artists, in celebration of the centennial of his birth. Kiki discusses their life and art, saying, “In our family there wasn’t anything else besides art. Nothing else in the world existed. My father never spoke about going to a movie or listening to music, other than my mother’s singing”. The exhibition opened on September 23rd, 2012. (more…)
The Louvre will inaugurate its new branch in Lens, northern France, with several important paintings such as Leonardo da Vinci’s The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, Raphael’s Baldassare Castiglione, Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People. The project opens to the public on December 12th, 2012 and cost $194 million. It was generated from an idea to spark both economic and cultural development in the region. (more…)
Zeng Fanzhi is profiled in AnOther Magazine upon the occasion of his exhibition at Gagosian Brittania Street: “I am always very fascinated by delicate and micro-aspects of the world, and usually when I discover the beauty of these aspects I will amplify and multiply the effects of what I see into the paintings. This is why I make such huge paintings.” (more…)
The Alberto and Annette Giacometti Foundation has created an online catalogue raisonné of sorts, with information on 1,000 authenticated pieces. It also provides information on the Foundation’s own 5,000 works by the artist. (more…)
With record $3.5 billion in revenue in just the first half of 2012, Christie’s chairman of postwar and contemporary development, Amy Cappellazo, has developed new ways of business origination. “When I think about auctions, I think about the democracy of the marketplace and how great that is. Whoever has the most money will win,” says Cappellazo. (more…)
Gabriela Palmieri Auctioneer, The Kitchen Benefit Art Auction. All photos by Whitney Browne courtesy The Kitchen
In recovery from Hurricane Sandy, The Kitchen held its Benefit Art Auction on November 26th, 2012. Proceeds from the auction will go to participating artists.
First Row: Sukey Novogratz, Mike Novogratz (with the paddle), Kyra Tirana Barry, Dave Barry. Second Row: Guest, Tracey Ryans (more…)
In 2010, Roger Ebert declared that “video games can never be art”. Yesterday, The Modern’s curator Paola Antonelli presented a different view, saying further, “they are also design, and a design approach is what we chose for this new foray into this universe.” She also said that the museum’s holdings of interactive design are “one of the most important and oft-discussed expressions of contemporary design creativity.” (more…)
A solid gold sculpture called The Left Hand and the Right Hand Have Abandoned One Another by Douglas Gordon has been stolen from Christie’s in London. The scrap value alone is estimated at £250,000, while the insured value is £500,000. “I don’t think this is an art theft,” Gordon said. “I’m pretty sure it has been melted down.” Gordon said that a curator had told him about the theft and then later a Christie’s representative informed him on November 29th that it had been stolen, 16 days after the crime was reported to the police. Christie’s has said the incident is under investigation and did not comment on the matter. (more…)
The Whitney has announced that it has selected three curators for its 2014 Biennial. Stuart Comer, Anthony Elms, and Michelle Grabner will “represent a range of geographic vantages and curatorial methodologies”. Whitney curators Elisabeth Sussman and Jay Sanders, curators of the 2012 Biennial, will act as advisors in the 2014 project. (more…)
The Armory Show’s creative director, Michael Hall, has taken a position at Hauser & Wirth. Hall’s involvement ranged from the Armory’s Open Forum and Armory Film programs to the “Armory Focus” sections; he also took part in the selection of commissioned artists such as Theaster Gates and Liz Magic Laser. The co-founder and former director, Paul Morris, resigned in September after an 18-year tenure with the fair. It was reported by Art In America earlier this year that The Armory Show’s parent company, Merchandise Mart Properties, may be in negotiations to sell it along with the Volta Show and Art Platform Los Angeles. (more…)
Sperone Westwater announced a group exhibition entitled “Giotto’s O”, to inaugurate its new space in Lugano, Switzerland on November 30th, 2012. The gallery inaugurated a new Foster + Partners-designed building on the Bowery in 2010. (more…)
Charles Ray – Installation View, courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery
The works of Charles Ray consistently sit at the intersections of the commercial, the human and the industrial, exploring our increasingly intertwined relationships with the imagery and machinery through which we engage with the world every day. Matthew Marks Gallery is currently showing three new works by renowned American sculptor Charles Ray, continuing the artist’s ongoing explorations of the human body and its interactions with the contemporary industrial world. (more…)
Jeff Koons discusses his work on the occasion of being bestowed with a Medal from Department of State, as part of the 50th anniversary of the “Art in Embassies” cultural exchange program. Of the international reception to his art, Koons says, “…Americans are more intimidated by art, and they haven’t really come to realize that art is a tool and is something that is very very liberating to them”; on the subject of the work being physically created by studio assistants, he responds that “every part of it[the work] is an extension of my being”, and that “I am actually very very skilled at painting and drawing… it’s about being able to have vision”.
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Robert Rauschenberg’s seminal “Canyon” went on display yesterday at MoMA; it has been at the Met on a temporary basis since 2005. The owners have donated the work as part of a $41 million settlement with the IRS. Glenn Lowry, the director of the Modern, stated: “If you were going to sit down and close your eyes and dream of an installation, you would envision ‘Rebus,’ ‘Bed’ and ‘Canyon’ in conversation with each other.” (more…)
Franz Ackermann, Walking South (2012), courtesy Faena Arts Center
Before installing the site-specific Walking South at Faena Arts Center in Buenos Aires, Franz Ackermann walked, trained, biked and bussed across the city for two months. Once, he took the train to the outskirts of the city and walked the same distance back, all part of his psychogeographical plan to map the city.
The result is a 260-square-meter (equal to ten highway billboards) multi-layered, 25-panel installation bursting with Ackermann’s emotional response to the landscape, dirt, people and air of Buenos Aires. Black and white photographs of buildings, cars, and street corners are a somber base for bright, unexpected shapes that extend from a busy center node, which is a tangle of red, blue, and grey tentacles growing from jellyfish-like bodies. These irregular bodies float among and encircle photos of reality, both connecting and confusing the viewer.
