‪‬Shepard Fairey paints several works to correspond with each track on musician Neil Young’s new album with Crazy Horse, “Americana,” the works to be shown at Perry Rubenstein gallery in LA June 1 at a private event
‪‬Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach owner MCH Group readies for Hong Kong International Art Fair this May 17-20 which next year will be rebranded as the Hong Kong edition of Art Basel. The group seeks to highlight regional differences and host complementing, not repeat, exhibitions; co-director Marc Spiegler says, “There is cross-pollination”
‪‬Marc Jacobs’ Mercer Street store vandalized with large pink graffitied “ART” last night, possibly in relation to the Fashion Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the same evening
Andy Warhol, Double Elvis [Feris Type] (1963)
On the heels of a tireless and groundbreaking week in the New York art world, the fervor continues with the major auction houses hosting their Contemporary Art Sales—beginning tonight at Christie’s. Last week’s Impressionist and Modern Art Sales saw unforeseen prices and several world records set, namely the near $120 million paid for Edvard Munch‘s The Scream. In tandem with both the Frieze Art Fair and NADA Art Fairs’ inaugural New York editions—both held this past weekend—the Contemporary Sales possess an auspicious platform this season. The strength of last week’s sales proves the collectors’ attention to the trophy market, with many big ticket and highly recognizable works on the block this week.
Ibid Projects/Untitled, New York
In its eighth year running, the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) converged on Center 548—a five-story, roof-top-access building at 548 West 22nd Street in Chelsea—for its first visit to NYC; a long weekend that would coincide with the initial New York Freize Art Fair as well. Among the varied crowd, Aurel Schmidt and Jerry Saltz were in attendance on Friday (Schmidt was premiering a print that was available through Exhibition A for only 24 hours).
‪‬Art Fag City speculates possible candidates to replace Lauren Cornell as Executive Director of Rhizome
‪‬Ai Weiwei and architects Herzog & de Meurons’ design renderings for underground Serpentine Pavilion on view in slideshow. The 12th annual version of the pavilion will be completed in time for the London 2012 Festival.
‪‬Sotheby’s annual shareholder meeting today expecting possible confrontation by the company’s art handlers regarding their treatment, i.e. lock out and consequent strike
‪‬Mirabelle Marden, former co-owner of Rivington Arms gallery in the Lower East Side, and daughter of Brice Marden, buys from a German architect a two-story carriage house in Red Hook, Brooklyn, the highest per square price spent thus far for the neighborhood.
‪‬Anish Kapoor’s 115m Orbit structure in London’s Olympic park to open July 28, construction process shown in time lapse video
All photos on site for Art Observed by Samuel Sveen.
Karen Kilimnick is showing at the Brant Foundation in Greenwich, Connecticut. The opening event occurred this Sunday with a preview by founder Peter Brant and a list of other art world notables such as Jeffrey Deitch, Gavin Brown, Julian Schnabel and May Anderson, John McEnroe, Dan Colen, Nate Lowman, Hanna Liden, Elias Hanson, Rikrit Tiravanija, and Elizabeth Peyton amongst other collectors and members of the press. Backing up to the expansive Greenwich Polo Grounds, the event mostly took place outdoors, under and around a tented table area where visitors snacked on steak frites and lamb roasted within view.
Cell phone video of the festivities
‪‬Marina Abramovic to renovate 1929, 20,000 sq ft building in Hudson, NY for the Marina Abramovic Institute for the Preservation of Performance Art, with a six hour time commitment expected from visitors and “long durational” wheelchair/massage chair hybrids (with attendants), Abramovic must first raise $15m
‪‬Several drawings by Richard Diebenkorn sold by Knoedler & Company are in an authenticity dispute by the artist’s family, “They didn’t look quite right, and we said, ‘The provenance is wacky and the story behind the provenance makes no sense,'” said Richard Grant of the Diebenkorn Foundation
Jim Drain and Ara Peterson, Pinwheels (2004-2005, 2009, 2011). All images on site for Art Observed by Megan Hoetger.
Curated by Mike Diamond, best known as one of the Beastie Boys, Transmission LA: AV Club is an exhibition/coffee bar/event series which has brought together visual art, design, technology, performance, music, and food to give viewers a complete sensory experience. The spectacular 17-day festival has been host to a busy line-up of DJs and musicians, transforming MOCA into a hip nighttime hangout—into the club atmosphere that Mike D. ambitiously envisioned.
Cy Twombly, The Last Paintings installation view. All photos on site for Art Observed by Megan Hoetger.
The Last Paintings and Photographs of legendary 20th century artist Cy Twombly, currently on view now at Gagosian Gallery, include some of the final paintings by the artist, as well as a large collection of photographs amassed over nearly 60 years.
‪‬Top collector Eli Broad publishes new book, “The Art of Being Unreasonable: Lessons in Unconventional Thinking,” a 165-page text on business and art
‪‬Vladimir Putin’s return to power in Russia reportedly has turned many art patrons away from their native market for fear of judgment, but many experts argue that money in art could shape a freshly positive national image; while radical street counter-art from Voina among others worries diplomats.
‪Anish Kapoor reflects on his relationships with family, food, and art from his studio of 25 years in London, telling FT: “Art is good at intimacy: it can say, ‘Come here, be part of this’, beckoning.”
Gavin Brown and Mark Ruffalo cooking sausages. All photographs by Aubrey Roemer for Art Observed.
The always fresh but now venerable Frieze Art Fair of Regent’s Park, London, has successfully completed its maiden voyage to this side of the Atlantic. The pavilion, designed by Brooklyn-based SO-IL Architects, places Frieze New York on Randall’s Island Park from May 4-7, 2012. The fair is being held in a distinctly snakelike structure that houses 180 leading contemporary galleries presenting works by more than 1,000 artists. There are a number of culinary options as well: Roberta’s, The Fat Radish Café, Frankie’s Spuntino Restaurant, Sant Abroeus Café and the Standard Biergarten.
‪‬Auctioneer Tobias Meyer details the Sotheby’s sale of Edvard Munch‘s ‘The Scream’ and his typical auction day routine, “When the atmosphere gets very tense, so to speak, I strangely have the reverse mechanism that I become very calm”
‪‬Amalia Dayan of Luxembourg & Dayan and wife of collector Adam Lindemann profiled in her Manhattan town house decorated with works by Basquiat, Chamberlain, and Calder
‪‬Keith Haring-style Google Doodle today, May 4, honors the artist on what would have been his 54th birthday
‪‬Michael Riedel profiled by New York Times, discussing his Freitagsküche (Friday Kitchen) in Frankfurt and the art of copying others
‪‬Turner Prize winning artist Mark Leckey to release audio from video piece ‘Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore’ (1999) on vinyl May 21, with audio from GreenScreenRefridgerator on the B side
