‬A review of notable culinary destinations within the art hamlet of Marfa, Texas “the extreme rural center-of-the-universe equivalent to New York.”

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Jackson Pollock’s “Mural on Indian Red Ground” valued at $250 million, has returned to the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art after being detained (in transit from Tokyo) at Iran customs due to outstanding debt by the Culture Ministry.

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Robert Wilson, Video Portraits (2007). All photos by Ryann Donnelly for Art Observed.

Short films by avant-garde theater director and visual artist, Robert Wilson are on view in New York’s Times Square every night through May 31, from 11:57 pm until the stroke of midnight. Wilson’s 2007 series, Video Portraits, fuses time-based cinematography with the decisive moment of a still photograph, capturing subjects such as Robert Downey Jr., Issabella Rosselini, Johnny Depp, and Macaulay Culkin.

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‬Nine artworks donated to the Tate, including pieces by David Hockney, Lucian Freud, and Jacob Epstein, “[this gift] greatly enriched the national collection of art”, says director Sir Nicholas Serota

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The Dia Art Foundation hires architect Roger Duffy to construct its new Chelsea home, “We want to make sure that 22nd Street will re-engage with new generations of artists,” says Dia’s director Philippe Vergne.

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‬Forbes writes on Ukraine’s shift from its Soviet past towards a landscape more conducive to contemporary art thanks to such endeavors as the First Kiev International Biennale and the Pinchuk Art Center, now featuring a solo exhibition by Anish Kapoor.

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‪‬A taxidermied bull and cockerel by Damien Hirst—aptly titled ‘Cock and Bull’—is installed four meters above Mark Hix’s new east London restaurant, Tramshed, which serves a simple menu of mainly steak and chicken

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‬The FT covers Michael Peppiatt’s new book featuring interviews with artists such as Francis Bacon, Claes Oldenburg, and Frank Auerbach, “I [want] to pin experience down before it disappears,” stated Auerbach in an excerpt. A conjoint exhibition of his work and that of Peppiatt’s other subjects will open in London this June.

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‬Photos of Louis Vuitton’s collaboration with artist Yayoi Kusama released, showing a line of dresses and shoes patterned by her signature polka dots.

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Helmut Lang, Untitled (2012). All photos on site for Art Observed by Ryann Donnelly.

Helmut Lang: Sculptures is on view at 24 Washington Square North in New York City. Co-curated by Mark Fletcher and Neville Wakefield, it is the first exhibition to be shown at the townhouse turned art space, and Lang’s third solo show since exiting the fashion world in 2005. Last year, Lang’s process of reidentifying as a visual artist saw his shredding of nearly 6,000 objects from his former label’s archive for an exhibition at East Hampton’s Fireplace Project. Following that drastic, and literal destruction of his past, Lang’s new work emerges as a recontexualized exploration of his complex aesthetic.

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Sarah Lucas, Situation Make Love (2012), installation view. All images copyright the artist, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London.

As the art world begins to reassess the YBA (Young British Artists) legacy with Damien Hirst’s current retrospective at Tate Modern and the Hayward Gallery’s look at Tracey Emin last year, Sarah Lucas proves that the movement’s original experimental fervor is still alive and well. Lucas will curate four shows over the course of 2012 for Sadie Coles HQ’s new space, Situation, on New Burlington Place in London. The artist brings together her old and new works in combination with the art of other intimate compatriots, including that of her partner, Julian Simmons. The gallery has already hosted two Situation shows this year, ‘Miss Jumbo Savaloy’ and ‘Make Love,’ which highlight Lucas’s command of everyday materials, like concrete, pantyhose, coat hangers and light bulbs. Lucas will direct related programming to coincide with the exhibitions throughout the year. Sadie Coles will publish a catalogue documenting Lucas’ work from 2005 to the present, entitled After 2005, Before 2012, picking up where her current catalogue raisonné leaves off.

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Ari Marcopoulos, 1.2065 (Cairo) (2012). All images via Marlborough Gallery.

Through the use of simple, repetitive processes and equipment, Ari Marcopoulos creates sparse yet complexly layered works that break down the perceived economic barriers of art production, with a vague smack of the political. His current show of new work, Wherever you go at Marlborough Chelsea, continues this tradition, exhibiting a number of prints, photographs and video using simple methods and techniques to create impressively vocal pieces. Using simple handheld cameras, Marcopoulos photographs his subjects in candid, neutral poses, then passes the images through several stages of printing onto rice paper, creating dense, complexly shaded images with their own created narratives.

Ari Marcopoulos, City Riders (2012)

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‪‬19 contemporary high-value works, including ‘Flowers’ by Andy Warhol, have been stolen from a Detroit collector in the Corktown neighborhood of the city

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Darren Almond, Fullmoon Series (1998–2012). Images via Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire.

The arts program at Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, located 200km south of Paris, is dedicated to the artistic engagement of creativity and nature, showcasing contemporary artworks and installations in its galleries and grounds. From April 6 through November 7, British artist Darren Almond will showcase two series of photographs in the Galeries du Château and Galerie du Porc Epic. A Turner Prize finalist in 2005, Almond has participated in a host of international shows and biennials, such as the Tate London, the Venice Biennale 2003, and Charles Saatchi’s 1997 Sensation show; and is an artist of the post-YBA generation of Jay Jopling’s White Cube Gallery. Almond is represented by White Cube in London and Matthew Marks Gallery in New York.

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‪‬Frieze Masters releases list of 97 participating galleries for the fair’s first edition, to coincide with Frieze London this upcoming October 11–14, 2012

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N. Dash, installation view. All images via Untitled

The work of artist N. Dash often operates at a raw, wordless level: simple images and objects often devoid of any qualifying forms, save the materials. Perhaps fitting, then, that Dash’s first solo show, consisting of works of cloth, dirt, and other raw elements should be held at Untitled gallery in Manhattan. Focusing on dirt and its effects on cloth and other materials, Dash’s wall hangings walk the line between more conventional wall-hung pieces and works of sculpture. The texture and color of fabrics lie on a level playing field with the three-dimensional aspects of their arrangement and their spatial relationships to their surroundings.

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‪‬Two day sale of the late Gunter Sachs’ mostly Pop Art collection at Sotheby’s in London yields £35.6 million, including several commissioned Warhols

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Robert Longo, Untitled (Berlin Flag) (2012). Charcoal on mounted paper. All images courtesy of the artist and Capitain Petzel Gallery.

Robert Longo presents a site specific installation, Stand, as his first solo exhibition with Capitain Petzel Gallery Berlin. The show’s timing and location, intentional or unintentional, provide some extra intensity to the already political nature of the exhibition.  Stand, like much of Longo’s work engages themes of politics and power and its effects on society. The show opened during ‘Gallery Weekend’ and alongside this year’s Berlin Biennale, which also focuses on the political power of art. The gallery is located on Berlin’s Karl-Marx-Alle, formerly Stalinalle, famous for being the first “socialist” street of the DDR. Longo’s show utilizes the entirety of the gallery, inside and out, and whether to challenge or just play with the location’s history showcases in its outer windows a black and white drawing of an American flag.

Installation view

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‪‬Japanese designer/artist Takeshi Miyakawa arrested for installing ‘I ♥ NY’ plastic bags with battery-powered lighting in Brooklyn, charged with placing “a false bomb or hazardous subsance”

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‪‬Brice Marden‘s career discussed with the artist in Financial Times from the 1960s Lower East Side to current participation in American Artist Lecture Series at Tate Modern in London

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Kehinde Wiley, Judith and Holofernes (2012). All photos on site for Art Observed by Perrin Lathrop, © Kehinde Wiley.

For his debut exhibition at Sean Kelly Gallery, Kehinde Wiley embarks upon new territory: women. Titled An Economy of Grace, the series depicts African-American women selected straight from the streets of New York City. Wiley poses his subjects to mimic portraits of 18th and 19th Century society women by artists such as Jacques Louis David, Thomas Gainsborough and John Singer Sargent. Set against Wiley’s signature bold, decorative backgrounds, these women exude power and elegance—they refuse to be ignored. Reflecting on his decision to portray females, Wiley states, “I am painting women in order to come to terms with the depictions of gender within the context of art history.”

Kehinde Wiley (center) at the opening of ‘An Economy of Grace’ at Sean Kelly Gallery, May 5, 2012 (more…)

Daniel Buren, Photo-souvenir From Three Windows, 5 Colours for 252 Places, Work in Situ at Lisson Gallery. Via Wall Street Journal.

In its fifth year, the Hong Kong International Art Fair drew a record 67,205 visitors, up 6% from last year according to Artlyst, with galleries and collectors from across the globe—over 700 booth applications narrowed down to 266, about half Asian, half European and American. The work on view was generally geared toward the more conservative, traditional local collectors, ebbing into today’s contemporary market; many of the works sold were by Asian artists to Asian collectors, though Western galleries were successful as well, including White Cube, Hauser & Wirth, Sprüth Magers, and David Zwirner. The MCH Group—owners of Art Basel—have bought a majority stake in the fair and will officially take the reigns in 2013, renaming the fair Art Basel Hong Kong as they hope to capitalize on the current growth of Asian wealth.

Tatsuo Miyajima’s mirror piece ‘Hoto.’ Via New York Times (more…)

‪‬Sotheby’s opens $7.2 million, 15,000 sq ft gallery in central Hong Kong, its third after London and New York, “Asia will remain a very important growth area for Sotheby’s,” says Sotheby’s Asia chief executive Kevin Ching

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‪‬Andrea Rosen to represent Ryan Trecartin’s solo work and collaborative work with Lizzie Fitch, “I’m looking forward to building a relationship with Ryan that will allow us to evolve together and holds unknown potential,” says Rosen

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