‪‬’Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry’ awarded U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Defiance at Sundance Film Festival [AO Newslink]

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‪‬Frieze New York announces 8 Frieze Projects from John Ahearn, Uri Aran, Latifa Echakhch, Joel Kyack, Rick Moody, Virginia Overton, Tim Rollins and K.O.S. and Ulla von Brandenburg, to be showcased at Randall’s Island Park in May [AO Newslink]

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‪‬ Madison Avenue Gallerist Robert Scott Cook of Cook Fine Art faces up to 20 years imprisonment for secretly selling one client’s 16 works worth $4.2 million by Picasso, Manet, Matisse and Renoir to auction houses [AO Newslink]

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Donald Judd , Untitled (1965). All images via  Sprüth Magers.

Currently on view at Sprüth Magers London is Working Papers: Donald Judd Drawings 1963–93. The show consists of 33 drawings made when Judd was creating exclusively three-dimensional objects, offering an extended insight into the artist’s work during this period. Judd is considered a central figure of Minimalism, and although he strongly rejected the association, his explorations of volume, space, and the elimination of the artist’s ‘hand’ were pioneering efforts for Minimalists. Judd abandoned painting to work with three-dimensional objects in 1963, exercising a vocabulary of forms that he had established such as “stacks,” “boxes,” and “progressions,” which focused on the relationship between the object, the viewer, and the environment.

Installation view

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Eva Rothschild, Natural Beauty (2009). All images courtesy of Kunstverein Hannover

Hot Touch is on now at Kunstverein Hannover, an exhibition dedicated to the work of artist Eva Rothschild, her first ever in Germany. Creating work that is both new and referential, the artist recalls the mid-20th century concept and tradition of Minimalism, and the fragile, ephemeral work by Eva Hesse. Utilizing a variety of materials including leather, Plexiglas, and wood, Kunstvereine Hannover claims Rothschild as one of the most important artists today working to confront and challenge the “formal aspects of sculpture.”

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Rudolf Stingel, Untitled (2011)

Luxembourg & Dayan‘s Grisaille explores the use of a generally monochromatic color palette in works spanning multiple centuries. The exhibition is divided between the gallery’s new space in London and the 77th Street location in New York; the show began in London in October, overlapping with the New York show throughout November and December. Both shows feature a variety of artists including Albrecht Durer, Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol. The New York gallery also shows new work by Richard Prince and John Currin.

Gerhard Richter, Grau (1974)

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‪ Abu Dhabi’s Louvre, $27 billion Zayed National Museum, and Guggenheim openings delayed to 2015, 2016, and 2017 respectively from their 2013-2014 previous deadlines, though substantial work has been completed. [AO Newslink]

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‪Marina Abramovic hosts ‘Silent Party’ where guests wore mufflers and lab coats without speaking, to coincide with her film showcase of “The Artist is Present” at Sundance Film Festival. [AO Newslink]

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Ellsworth Kelly, Orange Relief with Blue (2011). All Images via Matthew Marks.

American abstract painter and sculptor Ellsworth Kelly has unveiled a so-called ‘shop sign’ for the inaugural exhibition of the latest Matthew Marks Gallery in West Hollywood, California, while the gallery continues to maintain four spaces in New York City. The sign is a wide strip of painted black aluminum set across the top of the white stucco building (a converted garage, now 3,500 square feet). This is Kelly’s first major exhibition in Los Angeles after over a decade, and the showcase of Kelly’s paintings inside the gallery runs concurrently to his print retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), which opened Sunday.

An outside view of the ‘shop sign’ (more…)

On January 24th, duo Francesco Vezzoli and designer Miuccia Prada team up with AMO, the research division of Rem Koolhaas’s architectural firm OMA, to transform Paris’ Palais d’Iéna into The 24 Hour Museum. The palace, which ordinarily houses France’s economical, social, and environmental councils, will instead be populated with high-end fantasy fashion and explorations of celebrity and sex. Known as a prankster of sorts, Vezzoli’s work often involves a certain kitchiness while perhaps masking a deeper political significance. In this exhibition, Vezzoli pays homage to the female figure in particular, featuring renditions of neo-classical sculptures outfitted with heads of “contemporary divas.” The museum is divided into three sections—historic, contemporary, and forgotten—with three segments of the 24 hour period as well: first a private dinner at 8:30 Tuesday evening, followed by an exclusive dance party, then opening to the public at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, before closing at 8:30 p.m.

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All installation views courtesy of David Zwirner.

David Zwirner is currently presenting Date Painting(s) in New York and 136 Other Cities, a collection of work by On Kawara that spans the 46-year series of paintings. Blending the personal with the historical, the artist’s work uses variations of sans serif fonts and hand-mixed colors to record the date on which he painted the canvas. Kawara consistently exudes a fascination with chronological time, exploring the human perception of its passing, and the nature of our relationship to it. By notching the passage of time and cataloging the procession of his physical life and travels, Kawara creates a body of work that not only testifies to the grand scope of the human life, but also creates a complex interaction with the idea of history—both of the self and of mankind—and the history of the future.

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‪Hauser & Wirth plans new 15,000 square foot downtown New York location, expanding in addition to its current 2,500 square foot 69th street Upper East Side location [AO Newslink]

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‪Sotheby’s Hong Kong files suit for $15 million for amounts due from auction and correspondingly publishes the names of those who have not yet paid [AO Newslink]

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Anselm Kiefer, Shevirat Ha-Kelim (2011). Metal shelves with approx. 40 lead books and broken glass. All images courtesy of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

To inaugurate the Herta and Paul Amir building of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, German artist Anselm Kiefer has created a site specific exhibition in the 9,000 square foot special exhibition gallery. Shevirat Ha-Kelim (the breaking of the vessels) is a continuation of the artist’s exploration of Jewish tradition and mysticism, which the artist has been working with since the 1970s. Both older and more recent works, mostly from the artist’s private collection, will be on exhibition, including an array of painting, sculpture, woodcuts, and installation.

Installation view

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‪ Francis Bacon’s “The Portrait of Henrietta Moraes” (1963) is estimated to sell for £18m at Christie’s Postwar and Contemporary Art in London in February [AO Newslink]

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‪ This year’s Sundance Film Festival 2012 includes films on artists ‘Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,’ and ‘Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present.’ [AO Newslink]

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‪ French-Canadian eatery M. Wells will reopen at MoMA’s PS 1, after recently closing its acclaimed Long Island City location [AO Newslink]

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Ai Weiwei, Forever Bicycles (2012). All photos via Taipei Fine Arts Museum.

Ai Weiwei’s current exhibition and semi-retrospective at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Ai Weiwei, Absent, includes pieces dating back to 1983, including large-scale sculpture and a collection of 100 photographs divided into his two artistic phases—in the East Village, New York and in Beijing, China. “Whenever Ai had a spare moment he would fill it with pictures of the places he visited, people he met, the area he lived,” states the exhibition’s press release. This lends a feeling of immediacy and voyeurism to Ai’s photos, as the viewer is shown a glimpse of the artist’s life as he documents the lives of others.

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Ai Weiwei, Zhang Huan (1994)

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‪Lawsuit filed against Larry Gagosian for $14 million by 93-year-old collector Jan Cowles, whose daughter alledgedly sold works to Gagosian without Jan’s knowledge from 2008-2009, including a Lichtenstein allegedly damaged then resold. Another Cowles’-owned work,”Innocent Eye Test” by Mark Tansey, was previously embroiled in $4 million ownership suit [AO Newslink]

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Roberto Matta, Untitled (1983). All images courtesy of The Pace Gallery.

The Pace Gallery’s Matta: a Centennial Celebration commemorates the life and work of the Chilean-born artist Roberto Matta. The exhibition was organized in collaboration with his children (he is the father of artist Gordon Matta-Clark) and concentrates on work created towards the end of his career. Born in 1911, Matta was a seminal figure in the art world, and his legacy and work continue to resonate. Matta: a Centennial Celebration features 14 paintings, many of which have never been viewed outside of Europe.

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‪‬Artist Sterling Ruby and Pace Gallery part ways as reported by the Baer Faxt [AO Newslink]

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‪A new generation of ‘Young British Artists’: Jonny Briggs, Gabriella Boyd, Adeline de Monseignat, Max Dovey, Catherine Parsonage and Alison Stolwood feature in the 40-person Catlin Guide 2012, a subset of the London Art Fair [AO Newslink]

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‪Cy Twombly Foundation grants Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) $300,000 to artists-in-residence, honoring the recently deceased, Virginian-born contemporary artist, as well as VCCA Fellow and Advisory Councilman. [AO Newslink]

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