Global contemporary art events and news observed from New York City. Suggestion? Email us.

New York – Sarah Lucas: “Au Naturel” at New Museum Through January 20th, 2019

December 14th, 2018


Sarah Lucas, Au Naturel (Installation View), via Art Observed
Sarah Lucas, Au Naturel (Installation View), via Art Observed

One of the most eagerly-anticipated shows of 2018, artist Sarah Lucas has touched down at the New Museum, bringing with her an expansive body of works that runs the full expanse of her craft.  Curated by the New Museum’s artistic director, Massimiliano Gioni associate, Margot Norton, the show, Lucas’s first in an American institution, spans three floors and any number of aesthetic modes, moving from sculpture to photography, wallpaper to video in ways that both explore each object and twist the original historical contexts of their works (gallery shows, museums and her renowned Venice Biennale show from 2015 all get their due here) into new configurations. Read More »

New York – Adam Pendleton and Liam Gillick at Eva Presenhuber Through December 22nd, 2018

December 13th, 2018

Works by Adam Pendleton, via Eva Presenhuber
Works by Adam Pendleton, via Eva Presenhuber

Exploring two distinct voices in the evolution of art practice over the past 20 years, Eva Presenhuber has brought a strikingly confrontational, challenging exhibition to New York City, showing a body of works by Adam Pendleton and Liam Gillick that works between each artist’s strengths, and mines an ever-shifting understanding of the world around them to motivate and elaborate their respective iconographies.  
Read More »

Los Angeles – Dan Colen: “High Noon” at Gagosian

December 12th, 2018

Dan Colen, The Trap (2016-2018), via Gagosian
Dan Colen, The Trap (2016-2018), via Gagosian

Currently on view at Gagosian Gallery’s Beverly Hills location in Southern California. Dan Colen has pulled together a body of paintings that feel decidedly at home in a location so close to Hollywood.  His show of new works, High Noon, is a striking interrogation of corporate image production, shared memories, and the cognitive effects of modern commercial communication, all pulled together by their use of a distinct style of background painting utilized heavily in the classic Wile E. Coyote cartoons of the Warner Brothers’ cartoon universe.   Read More »

New York – Ken Price: “Sculpture” at Matthew Marks Through December 22nd, 2018

December 11th, 2018

Ken Price, NeGrum (1994), via Matthew Marks
Ken Price, NeGrum (1994), via Matthew Marks

Currently on at Matthew Marks Gallery’s New York exhibition space, a body of small-scale works by American sculptor Ken Price dot the room, each drawing the visitor’s eye with a meticulously arranged series of loping curves, compellingly evocative forms and lumpy, surrealist modes of expression.  This range of pieces, underscoring Price’s intuitive knowledge of bronze and its potential sculptural capacities, makes for a colorful, striking break from the chilling cold and overcast days of December in the city.  Read More »

AO On-Site – Miami Beach: Art Basel Miami Beach 2018 at Miami Beach Convention Center, December 5th – 9th, 2018

December 9th, 2018
Ugo Rondinone at Eva Presenhuber, via Art Observed
Ugo Rondinone at Eva Presenhuber, via Art Observed
Closing its doors this evening, the week of sales at Art Basel Miami Beach came to a close, capping off a strong week for galleries in South Florida, and a strong opportunity to close out the year with a flourish.  Sales percentages with new clients were particularly high this year, underscoring the fair’s crucial role in connecting collectors across continents and drawing so many to the city.

Read More »

AO On-Site – Miami: NADA Miami at Ice Palace Studios Through December 9th, 2018

December 8th, 2018

Myrlande Constant, via Art Observed
Myrlande Constant, via Art Observed

With the proceedings of Art Week Miami winding on, the halls at the Miami Beach Convention Center continue to draw massive crowds of both buyers and visitors, its luxe appointments and impressive stock of established blue chip works commanding big headlines and even bigger price tags. But across Biscayne Bay, the New Art Dealers Alliance had kicked off its annual take on the Miami Fair Week. NADA Miami, set up inside the Ice Palace Film Studios, puts itself forward as showcasing new art and to celebrating the rising talents from around the globe, exploring new or underexposed art that is not typical of the “art establishment,” by their words. NADA Miami is also the one of the only major American art fairs to be produced by a non-profit organization, and is recognized as a much needed alternative assembly of the world’s youngest and strongest art galleries dealing with emerging contemporary art.

Nathan Hylden, via Art Observed
Nathan Hylden, via Art Observed

Read More »

AO On-Site – Miami Beach: Art Basel Miami Beach at the Miami Beach Convention Center, December 6-9th, 2018

December 6th, 2018

Daniel Buren at Bortolami, via Art Observed
Daniel Buren at Bortolami, via Art Observed

The doors have opened at the Miami Beach Convention Center yet again for another December sales event at Art Basel Miami Beach, as collectors, dealers and artists flock to its cavernous halls and pack its renovated structure for several days of sales and showings.  The fair’s place as the final major sales event of the year always seems to bring a last flutter of enthusiasm before the last weeks of December give dealers a chance to catch their breath, and this year was no exception, with collectors packing into the queue early in the morning for a first crack at the event’s VIP opening.   Read More »

Charlotte Prodger Wins 2018 Turner Prize

December 5th, 2018

Charlotte Prodger, via Independent
Charlotte Prodger, via Independent

The 2018 Turner Prize winner is artist Charlotte Prodger, taking home the £25,000 prize for her essayistic video work, drawng from her show at Bergen Kunsthalle in Norway. The artist, who shoots entirely on an iPhone, beat out Luke Willis Thompson and the collective Forensic Architecture to win the prize, capping off a prizer run that was marked by outcry and protest over the nominees and their work. Read More »

AO Preview – Miami Beach: Art Basel Miami Beach and Miami Art Week, December 4th – 9th, 2018

December 3rd, 2018

Art Basel Miami Beach, via Miami New Times
Art Basel Miami Beach, via Miami New Times

Another year come and gone, another sojourn for the global art community to the southern tip of Florida for a week of fairs, exhibitions and parties on the streets of Miami and Miami Beach, all centered around the sprawling US hub of the Art Basel fair franchise, and spreading out across the city’s streets and parks, boardwalks and beaches.

Liz Larner, via Regen Projects
Liz Larner, via Regen Projects

Read More »

RIP – Robert Morris, Pioneer of American Avant-Garde, Has Passed Away at 87

December 2nd, 2018

Robert Morris, via NYT
Robert Morris, via NYT

Artist Robert Morris, a defining voice of American conceptualism, and a contributing force in the development of an American post-war avant-garde, has passed away at the age of 87. The artist, who embraced a complex and ever-shifting series of investigations into the production, elaboration and understanding of both the art object and its function in both exhibition and broader cultural modes, passed away after a battle with pneumonia.  

Read More »