Dash Snow, Untitled (Metallic Trees) – God Spoiled, 2007. All images via galerie du jour unless otherwise noted.

Currently on view at galerie du jour is an exhibition entitled “3 + 1.” The 3 in this case refers to the New York trio of Dash Snow, Ryan McGinley and Harmony Korine, while 1 refers to the Parisian fashion designer agnès b. (née Angès Andrée Marguerite Toublé, 1941).  The show will remain at agnès b.’s galerie du jour, which specializes in contemporary photography, through November 6, 2010.  In the exhibit’s press release, agnès b. explains that her goal was not to pay homage to the late Snow, but rather to commemorate his life through a presentation of his work, a year after his death, in the company of his friends and peers.

Ryan McGinley, Chelsea, 2010

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Rob Pruitt, Exquisite Self-Portrait: Father Martian, 2010. Images via the New York Times unless otherwise noted.

Rob Pruitt, the artist behind “Artworks for Teenage Boys” and “Artworks for Teenage Girls,” both paeans to and explorations of perceptions of adolescence, springboards off a particular microcosm of teenagerhood, the Amish rumspringa, in his current exhibition, “Pattern and Degradation.” This show, which opened September 11th at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise and Maccarone, represents an ongoing rumspringa for the artist himself. In the Amish tradition, teens are given the chance to take temporary leave of their traditional, restrictive culture in order to indulge in the excesses of mainstream American youth, and then are allowed to decide if they wish to return to the community or stay in the outside world.

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Edward Dolman, Chairman, Christie’s International, PLC. All images via Christie’s.–>

Christie’s International announced yesterday that Edward Dolman has been promoted to Chairman at the U.K.-based auction house. Since 1999, Dolman has served as the firm’s CEO, where he “Shaped new operations, technology, and business strategy to seize trends in the market which include a shift to modernism and a rapidly expanding global client base.” He has been with the company for 26 years, joining as a specialist in the European Furniture Department in 1984. Since that time he has ascended through the ranks first as a department head, then as Managing Director of Christie’s Europe, Americas, and Amsterdam headquarters.

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Jean-Baptise-Camille Corot, Portrait of a Girl, 1857-8, which went missing on June 29, 2010 and was recovered weeks later. Image courtesy of the New York Times.–>

What began as a summer comedy of errors – an Upper East Side doorman finds a Corot painting missing on a courier’s drunken bender – took a strange turn earlier this month when the painting’s owner realized its co-owner may have been involved in its disappearance.  The following is a summary of the news and events that have unfolded over the past few weeks in the case.

The story begins like this: on July 29th a doorman at 995 Fifth Avenue, near 81st Street, discovered a painting in the bushes in front of the building. The nineteenth-century painting, “Portrait of a Girl” by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, whose estimated value is $1.4 million, was apparently lost hours earlier by an intoxicated courier, James Carl Haggerty. Thinking the artwork belonged to one of the building’s residents, doorman Franklin Puentes stored it inside his locker after unsuccessful attempts to locate its owner. Puentes then went on a three-week vacation. When he returned, he heard the buzz about the missing painting and promptly turned it over to the police.

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UNTITLED Gallery opening, 30 Orchard Street, September 12th, 2010. All images by David Al-Ibrahim for Art Observed unless otherwise noted.

On the evening of September 12th, New York’s Lower East Side was bustling with gallery openings celebrating the onset of fall exhibition season. One of the most exciting events that night was at 30 Orchard Street, where Rental Gallery reopened its doors in a new location under the new name UNTITLED. Formerly located on the sixth floor of a building on East Broadway, UNTITLED’s sleek, recently-renovated pencil tower, designed by Andrew Ong, offers a fresh and more accessible ambiance.

Joel Mesler, gallery owner, with Rashid Johnson, exhibiting artist.

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James Turrell, Cherry, 1998. Image via Almine Rech Gallery.

Currently on view in Brussels at Almine Rech is the gallery’s first solo exhibition by American artist James Turrell (b. 1943). Since the 1960s, Turrell has created innovative and unconventional installations in which he attempts to sculpt optical perception and “the concrete nature of light,” generating meditative, often-sublime experiences for the viewer.  The works on display represent more than three decades of Turrell’s experimentation with light as a physical material, including examples of his early Projection series, his Apertures, and his more recent engagement with holography.

James Turrell, Acro Red, 1968. Image via Almine Rech.

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Pipilotti Rist, Video Instillation, 2010, Langmatt Museum, Baden image courtesy of Museum Publicity.

To celebrate the Langmatt Museum’s 20^th anniversary, “Close My Dress, Thank You,” by Pipilotti Rist, the prominent Swiss filmmaker and video artist, is currently on view. This exhibition is the fifth in the series “Summer Guest,” begun by the museum’s director Rudolf Velhagen in 2006. (Stay tuned for the On Site video of Rist’s opening at New York City’s Luhring Augustine Gallery, appearing on Art Observed later this week!)

Upon Karl Moser’s original construction, between 1900 and 1901, Villa Langmatt became the home of the Brown-Sulzer family, known in Germany for their impressive art collection. Villa Langmatt was first opened to the public as a museum in 1990 and today is Baden’s museum of Impressionism and Lifestyle, housing a notable French Impressionist painting collection of Renoir, Cezanne, and Monet. It also holds a large decorative arts collection, including East Asian and European ceramics and carpets in the museum’s former living quarters.

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Gert & Uwe Tobias, Exhibition Poster, Woodcut, CFA Berlin, 2010. All images via Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin.

Currently on view at Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin is “Neue Arbeiten,” an exhibition of recent work by fraternal collaborative Gert & Uwe Tobias (b. 1973). The show features over fifty pieces by the Romanian-born twins, including ceramic sculpture, drawings, collages, and the colorful, large-scale woodcuts for which they are best known. Their interdisciplinary practice incorporates folkloric imagery, regional iconography, and popular culture, creating a self-referrential, multimedia visual narrative. Like all of their previous exhibitions, they designed a site-specific woodcut poster for the CFA show, which comments upon and participates in the body of work on view.

Gert and Uwe Tobias, Ohne Titel (Untitled), Woodcut, CFA Berlin, 2010.

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Lucian Freud, Eight Months Gone, 199700–>

Jerry Hall, the American model and ex-wife of legendary rocker Mick Jagger, will send 14 works from her collection to auction next month at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Sale in London. Hall’s lots are estimated to fetch at least £1.5 million, and include works by Lucian Freud, Andy Warhol, Damian Hirst, Robert Graham, Ed Ruscha, Francesco Clemente, R.B. Kitaj, and Frank Auerbach.

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Aurel Schmidt, Crap Butterflies, 2010. All images via The Fireplace Project.

Concluding its three-week run at The Fireplace Project in East Hampton this Monday is Aurel Schmidt‘s ‘Summer Bummer:’ an exhibition featuring over a dozen new works on paper by the critically-acclaimed 27 year-old artist. It is the first solo show in almost two years for the 2010 Whitney Biennial selectee, who produced the series on view during a visit to her rural hometown in western Canada earlier this summer.

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A work by Takashi Murakami at the Palace of Versailles, via Chateau de Versailles00>

The forthcoming exhibition of works by acclaimed Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami at the Palace of Versailles has sparked protests by French traditionalists and conservative groups.  Due to open on the 14th of September, the show will feature 22 works by the artist displayed throughout the Palace and the gardens including 11 pieces created specifically for the exhibition. As with the Jeff Koons’s exhibition, which showed at Versailles in 2008, a group of traditional supporters of the historic Versailles Palace protested against a commercial and at times sensationalist artist showing work in such a landmark of French history.

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Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville, Dreammachine, 1962. Installation View, The New Museum. All images via Artnet

Currently on view at the New Museum is “Brion Gysin: Dream Machine,” the first comprehensive American exhibition to feature the interdisciplinary British artist, writer, and collaborator. Often overlooked, both popularly and commercially, Gysin (1916-1986) has frequently been characterized as a foil of failure within the historical narrative of Beat-Era success stories. He is generally credited as the inventor of the “cut-up” method, a medium which culminated in his co-authorship of the experimental collage-manifesto The Third Mind with William S. Burroughs.

Brion Gysin and William S. Burroghs, The Third Mind, 1965.

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Vincent Van Gogh, Poppy Flowers (Vase and Flowers), c. 1887. Image via BBC News.–>

A Van Gogh painting valued at $55 million dollars was cut from its frame and taken from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo on Saturday. Despite reports that the painting, referred to as either ‘Poppy Flowers’ or ‘Vase and Flowers,’  had been recovered from an Italian couple at the Cairo airport yesterday, Egyptian officials now confirm that the painting remains missing.

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Julie Mehretu, Untitled 1, 2001 (est. $600-800,000), via Sothebys.com

Almost two years to the day after Lehman Brothers filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, the bank will auction off hundreds of artworks worth some $16 million in hopes of raising funds for its creditors. There will be an auction at Sotheby’s New York on September 25 followed by an auction at Christie’s London on September 29. The smallest of the three auctions will be held at Freeman’s in Philadelphia on November 7 and will focus on the Lehman’s Contemporary Art holdings.

Damien Hirst, We’ve Got Style (The Vessel Collection Blue/Green), 1993 (est. $800,000-1,200,000) via Sothebys.com

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MoMA PS1. All images by Lucy Kissel for AO.

Greater New York, the third quinquennial exhibition organized by MoMA PS1 and The Museum of Modern Art, features 68 artists and collectives from metropolitan New York.  Recently completed and specially commissioned works alike showcase diverse talents and media, including sculpture, painting, photography, film, and large-scale installations.  A purposefully provocative exhibition, Greater New York emphasizes themes of trauma, identity, and ecological, political, and psychological exploration.  Curators of the colorful 2010 iteration selected artists of varying degrees of repute through online submissions, studio visits, and recommendations, assembling a brimming observation of contemporary New York City culture.

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Tauba Auerbach, Quarry, ‘Whitney On-Site: New Commissions, 2010.’ Photograph by Danielle Canter, via The Whitney.

Currently on view at the corner of Gansevoort and Washington streets is Tauba Auerbach‘s Quarry; an installation at the South-end of the High Line, where the Whitney Museum expects to open their downtown branch in 2015.  The exhibit, which runs from July 18 though August 29, 2010, is the second installment of the three-part series ‘Whitney On-Site: New Commissions,’ a project anticipating the start of construction on the museum’s new building, currently scheduled for next Spring.

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Billboard paintings after Dennis Hopper photographs, courtesy of LA Observed.

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Dennis Hopper’s photograph series, 1961 to 2010, courtesy of When You Awake.

‘Dennis Hopper Double Standard,’ a comprehensive survey of artwork by the late cultural icon, is currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The exhibition explores an interdisciplinary body of creative work produced by actor, director, photographer, painter, sculptor, and conceptual artist Dennis Hopper, over the course of his prolific sixty-year career. More than two hundred objects crafted in a variety of media are on view, including a rare early painting completed in 1955, before to the loss of the artist’s studio and much of his work in the 1961 Bel Air fire. Curated by artist Julian Schnabel, ‘Dennis Hopper Double Standard’ is the inaugural exhibition of the museum’s new director, former New York gallerist Jeffrey Deitch. Prior to his death in May of this year, from complications related to prostate cancer, Hopper also played a significant role in the organization of the exhibit.

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MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch, actress Diane Keaton and Jean Stein at the Opening of ‘Dennis Hopper Double Standard’ on July 10th, 2010, courtesy of the Huffington Post.

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Picture Industry (Goodbye to All That), Installation view, Regen Projects II, Los Angeles. All images courtesy of Regen Projects.

Currently on view at Regen Projects, Los Angeles, is the group show Picture Industry (Goodbye to All That), curated by artist Walead Beshty. ‘Picture Industry’ refers both to the physical setting and the conceptual pretext within which the show is presented, with Los Angeles as the focus in terms of both place and content. Included in the exhibition are works by Tauba Auerbach, Thomas Barrow, Carol Bove, Troy Brauntuch, Tony Conrad, Abraham Cruzvillegas, De Rijke / De Rooij, Liz Deschenes, Isa Genzken, Wade Guyton, Robert Heinecken, Karen Kilimnik, Imi Knoebel, Michael Krebber, Glenn Ligon, Erlea Maneros Zabala, Albert Oehlen, Manfred Pernice, Seth Price, Richard Prince, Josephine Pryde, R.H. Quaytman, Eileen Quinlan, Miljohn Ruperto, Michael Snow, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Charline Von Heyl, Kelley Walker, James Welling, Christopher Williams & Christopher Wool.

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Lawrence Salander Appears for Sentencing, via New York Post–>

Art dealer Lawrence Salander, 61, was sentenced to 6-18 years in prison on Tuesday for defrauding clients of more than $120 million. Salander, formerly of Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, was arrested last March on charges of more than 100 counts of grand larceny and other felony offenses.  He pleaded guilty to 29 of those counts earlier this year, admitting to having engineered an elaborate series of fraudulent investment schemes over the course of more than a decade.  His offenses include selling single works of art to multiple buyers, selling shares of artwork owned outright  by other investors, and leveraging works he had already sold to secure bank loans.

Prior to closing in 2007, Salander-O’Reilly Galleries had been known for their eclectic Old Master and Modern holdings.  Their high-profile clientele included tennis champion John McEnroe and actor Robert De Niro’s late father, Robert De Niro Sr. According to the New York Times, McEnroe had acquired a 50% share of two important Arshile Gorky paintings, titled “Pirate I” and “Pirate II,” in 1994. Salander subsequently sold these paintings in their entirety to another dealer, while simultaneously listing them as security to obtain a loan from Bank of America.  In an effort to constantly expand his business and maintain an ostentatious lifestyle, Salander continued to engage in increasingly audacious personal and professional transactions.

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Hired dancer at exhibit next to piece chosen by curator James Shaeffer
All images by Olivia Loving for ArtObserved unless otherwise noted.

Gallery View

Art Observed was on site July 22^nd for the opening of ‘Young Curators, New Ideas III,’ the new exhibit at P.P.O.W. in Chelsea, Manhattan. As the name suggests, the exhibit focused on eight individual curators and the pieces that they chose. The list of curators is as follows: Andrew Russeth & Liza Buzytsky, Erin Dziedzic, Kate Greenberg & Hilary Schaffner, Stamatina Gregory, Gabriella Hiatt, and James Shaeffer. The gallery was packed, and despite no air-conditioning (handmade fans and cups of water abounded), the elevators constantly opened and closed, shuffling in new visitors. The exhibit will be on show until August 20^th, 2010.

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Domecke – [Cathedral Corner] (1987) by Gerhard Richter, via Gerhard Richter

Currently showing at the National Museum of Decorative Arts in Buenos Aires, Argentia, is an exhibition of works by German artist Gerhard Richter. The exhibit is titled Synopsis, and it includes a variety of works that span four decades. Richter is well-known for his photo-paintings and abstract pieces, both of which are on display. The title Synopsis is fitting; the museum called the exhibit “retrospective” and therefore indicative of Richter’s growth over the years.

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Artist’s Model Posing For ‘The Old Bugler, Among the Fallen, Battle of Beaune-Roland, 1870’ In The Studio Of An Unknown Military Painter, Paris, 1885 by Rodney Graham, via Hauserwirth

Currently showing at the Lisson Gallery in London, England until July 31, 2010, is a solo exhibition of works by Canadian artist Rodney Graham. Graham is well-known for his schooling in the field of conceptual art, which places the idea of a work of art above the importance of its execution. Graham often creates art out of art; one title alludes to a British horror film by the same name. As a whole, Painter, Poet, Lighthouse Keeper is a versatile and creative exhibit: it contains light boxes, paintings, and short films by Graham. The Lisson Gallery is working with MACBA, Barcelona and Hamburger Kunsthalle to host the exhibit.

Lighthouse Keeper with Lighthouse Model (1955 2010) by Rodney Graham, via Lisson Gallery

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Tornado (2000-2010) by Francis Alÿs, via inglebygallery

Currently showing at the Tate Modern in London until September 5, 2010, is a series of works by artist Francis Alÿs. Alÿs is famous for sacrificing his own comfort and health for the sake of art, as he does with his “Tornado” video (2000-10) on display at the Tate. A still of this video serves as the picture on the museum’s banner of the exhibit, entitled Francis Alÿs: A Story of Deception. The picture shows a man, bent against the wind and obscured by dust, essaying to reach the center of the storm. This footage was collected over the course of a decade, as Alÿs struggled both to keep his cameras intact (he reportedly lost six) and to capture the sense of “adrenaline” that he craved. While many works are videos, other media are included, such as paintings.

Re-enactments (2000) by Francis Alÿs, via Tate

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J. M. W. Turner, Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino, 1839 (estimate £12-18 million, realized £29,721,250), via Sothebys.com

Master Paintings Week continues in London after a boost from the Christie’s and Sotheby’s Old Master auctions that took place on July 6th and 7th. The Sotheby’s auction earned £53,484,350 against a high estimate of £50.8 million, while the Christie’s sale realized £42.3 million against a pre-sale estimate of £36.9–55.3 million (totals realized include buyer’s premium, estimates do not). More than half of the Sotheby’s earnings came from the sale of a single canvas by J. M. W. Turner, which sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles for a staggering £29,721,250. The painting, showing a view of the Italian capital from the Capitoline Hill, has a sterling provenance and equally impressive exhibition history. The sale established a new record for the artist at auction.

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