Phillips de Pury & Co. is set to auction AK-47 weapons decorated by Damien Hirst and other artists in October in London. The guns, decorated by more than 20 different artists, are on display at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London until Sept 30th and Phillips will host the auction on Oct 4th. (more…)
Peter Brant is recapitalizing his newsprint business, according to state regulatory filings, by pledging 56 artworks to the lending arm of Sotheby’s (BID), including pieces by Warhol, Richard Prince and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Other filings show a pledge by Brandt of pieces to a unit of Deutsche Bank AG, including a 1963 Warhol that could be worth as much as $35 million. (more…)
Lauren Cornell has announced that she will be accepting a full-time position at The New Museum with the title “Curator, 2015 Triennial, Digital Projects, and Museum as Hub”. She was previously executive director at Rhizome and adjunct curator at the New Museum. She is co-curating the 2015 triennial with artist Ryan Trecartin. (more…)
Jeffrey Gundlach, the bond trader and art collector whose Santa Monica home was burglarized last week, says that the works have been safely returned. “The focus was on recovering the artwork, and it was all recovered. The thieves had worked on moving the property, but we were able to get a good lead and apprehend them. It’s a great day for the art world, ” said Gundlach. (more…)
All photos taken on site by Aniko Berman
On Monday, September 24, Gemini G.E.L. at Joni Moisant Weyl, the New York gallery for the famed Los Angeles print workshop, hosted its Artists for Obama event celebrating the Artists for Obama 2012 limited edition portfolio created and sold to support Obama’s reelection efforts. For the campaign, 19 artists have come together to create a portfolio of limited edition prints, with all proceeds going to the Obama Victory Fund. Of the 150 examples, 60 have already sold at $28,000 each; at the end of the project, Gemini G.E.L. hopes to raise 4.2 million dollars for the campaign. An additional sweepstakes offers supporters a chance to win the full portfolio for a $250 contribution to the fund.
Ai Weiwei will be unable to attend his first U.S. retrospective at the Hirshhorn Museum, he says, because the Chinese authorities are still in possession of his passport. He also says that he will be unable to begin his post as a visiting professor in Germany. “They’re still holding my passport. They said they want to give it to me but have no clear time schedule for that”.
The first edition of Frieze Masters will run from October 11-14th, with a focus on ancient to modern art; it will open alongside 10-year-old contemporary Frieze Art Fair, both in Regent’s Park in London. The Masters section will host talks by artists such as Cecily Brown, Glenn Brown and Luc Tuymans to discuss the effect that historical work has on their own practice. Dealers are expecting crossover from both fairs and some, such as Hauser and Wirth, have booths at both. The interior has been designed by Selldorf Architects, using natural light and high ceilings, allowing viewers to “wander from one century to another”. (more…)
Sotheby’s announced that a Francis Bacon ‘screaming pope’ painting from 1954 will be sold at auction on Nov. 13th in New York. The work has been in a private collection for almost 40 years and the presale estimate is nearly 200 times what the owner paid, at $18-25 million. (more…)
A Chinese court upheld the decision that Ai Weiwei must pay $2.4 million in fines for tax evasion. He still owes about 6.6 million yuan ($1.05 million), but says he will not pay the remainder. Although he may face prison time for nonpayment, Ai stated that payment would be an acknowledgement of the legal validity of the charges. (more…)
Image: Warhol’s Cow Wallpaper and Silver Pillows, The New York Times
“Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years” is a group show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that juxtaposes fifty Warhol works with one hundred of those by his peers and successors. The show attempts to capture the scope and breadth of Warhol’s impact on contemporary art history. Presented 25 years after his death at the age of 58 in 1987, the exhibition showcases the works of both artists who have risen to fame after Warhol’s death as well that of his contemporaries. Some of the artists included are Maurizio Cattelan, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Robert Gober, Takashi Murakami, Cindy Sherman, Ed Ruscha, Alex Katz, Anselm Kiefer and Gerhard Richter.
White Cube announced that it will open a gallery space in São Paulo, Brazil. The gallery says it will be a 3-year commitment for now, adding its second international location outside of the UK (it recently opened a second international space in Hong Kong). The gallery will host a solo show of work by Tracey Emin to inaugurate the space. It will open December 1st in the Vila Mariana district of São Paulo, near the Parque Ibirapuera. (more…)
The Astrup Fearnley Museum will reopen in a new space designed by Renzo Piano in Oslo on Sept. 29th. The new site is in a newly-redeveloped waterfront area that will allow the museum to show more of its permanent collection, says the museum’s director, Gunnar Kvaran. The first show, “To Be With Art Is All We Ask”, will include works owned by the museum with pieces by Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst and Cindy Sherman, among others. (more…)
NADA announces its exhibitor list for Miami, marking ten years of participation. The fair will take place December 6th through December 9th, 2012 at the Deauville Beach Resort. Exhibitors represent 25 cities from 14 different countries. This year’s fair includes over 60 international galleries with 22 first-time-exhibitors at NADA Miami Beach. “NADA is very proud to be celebrating its tenth anniversary in Miami Beach,” said Director Heather Hubbs. “Each year, the fair has continued to move forward in both quality and collector support and 2012 looks to be the strongest edition to date.” (more…)
The Museum of Modern Art announced that it will open to the public every day, beginning in May 2013. The Museum’s director, Glenn Lowry, said that it was a response to growing attendance, which has almost doubled since the museum expanded eight years ago. The museum now receives up to 3 million visitors annually. (more…)
Image: Installation View, Karen Kilimnik and Kim Gordon at 303 Gallery
Currently on display at 303 Gallery is a collaborative exhibition of work by Kim Gordon (of the band Sonic Youth) and Karen Kilimnik. It is Kilimnik’s eleventh time exhibiting at 303 and Gordon’s second. Upon entering the gallery, one is submerged into a dimly lit and twinkling underworld of subculture that is examined through film, painting, performance and installation.
Cy Twombly – The Last Paintings (Exhibition View), Gagosian Gallery
In 2010, one year before his death, iconic American painter Cy Twombly completed a number of new works — primarily in green, red, orange and yellow — that would end up being the last pieces that he would complete in his lifetime. These vivid works are now being exhibited at Gagosian Gallery in London, having made their way from Los Angeles to Hong Kong to their current location.
The Royal collection has purchased four Andy Warhol screen prints of The Queen of England to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. They will be on view at Windsor Castle later this year. Warhol was famously quoted as saying: “I want to be as famous as the Queen of England.” It is part of a portfolio called “Reigning Queens” from the Royal Edition.
Jeffrey Gundlach is offering a $1.7 million reward for information that would lead to the return of artwork stolen from his Santa Monica home last week, with no questions asked. He is offering one of the largest rewards ever offered for a single piece: $1 million for a 1936 Mondrian, “Composition (A) En Rouge Et Blanc”.
Jonathan Meese will direct Wagner’s Parsifal opera in 2016 at the Bayreuth Festival. The artist who calls himself the “Dictator of Art” was invited by the Wagner sisters; Andris Nelsons is to conduct. (more…)
Image: Now I am quietly waiting… (Exhibition View), Bortolami Gallery
The long, arresting title of Tom Burr’s first show as a curator for Bortolami Gallery takes its inspiration from the poem “Mayakovsky” by Frank O’Hara. In the poem, the author delves into the nature of one’s own identity, and the relationship to other, separate, identities that surround us in our daily lives. Taking this text as a jumping off point, Tom Burr has assembled a selection of works that are interconnected by his relationships to their creators, be they personal, professional, or merely tangential.
Michael Stanley (1975-2012), director of Modern Art Oxford, has died. He was recognized for having organized innovative exhibitions and partnerships with other cultural institutions such as Ashmolean, the Old Power Station and the Radcliffe Observatory; two of these shows catapulted artists to go on to win the Turner prize. He recently received critical acclaim for his exhibition of work by Jenny Saville. (more…)
Allen R. Adler and his wife, Frances Beatty Adler, have donated $4.5 million to The Princeton Art Museum to pay for a curator of European art as well as for organization of exhibitions and research. Mr. Adler is a member of the museum’s advisory council and Mrs. Adler is vice president of the Richard L. Feigen & Co. Gallery, as well as chairwoman of The Drawing Center in Soho. (more…)
“ROMNEY HATES THE ARTS” and other messages appeared in skywriting yesterday over lower Manhattan, a project by grafitti artist Saber, to raise awareness of presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s plan to cut NEA funding if elected. Using the hashtag #DefendTheArts, Saber’s circular formations filled the sky for an hour and a half yesterday afternoon, and could be seen from as far out as Nassau County.
