November 1st, 2017
The Bass in Miami Beach. Photo by Robin Hill : Courtesy of The Bass.
Located in the center of Miami Beach’s rapidly expanding art and architectural hub, The Bass Museum has finally reopened after an ambitious renovation spearheaded by principal architect David Gauld. The $12 million renovation and expansion, which adds 4,100 square feet to the existing 8,700 square feet exhibition space, as well as a brand new 5,200 square feet wing for educational programming, is the second major renovation the museum has undertaken since opening in 1964. The Bass (which was originally named the Bass Museum of Art) went through an expansion of 16,000 square feet in 2001 under the creative consultancy of Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, whose team then had included Gauld. In the new space, the New York-based architect’s vision suggests commitment to authenticity, while expanding towards new horizons in the museum-going experience. The additions of new programmable space merges with the building’s monumental integrity and refined Art-Deco façade, allowing a sophisticated vision of a global contemporary art museum under the welcoming dome of a landmark institution that has catered to local residents in Miami Beach for decades.
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October 31st, 2017
Alex Schweder and Ward Shelley, The Newcomers, via Performa
Returning for another year of dynamic events, expansive projects, installations and performances spread throughout New York City this month, the wildly popular Performa Performance Art Biennial is set to touch down once again this year. Curated once again by founder RoseLee Goldberg, Performa spans the next three weeks, bringing with it a sudden charge of energy and life to a city preparing for the subdued energy of the winter months. Read More »
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October 28th, 2017
Wim Delvoye, Twisted Cement Truck (2017), via Art Observed
Taking over the spacious downtown location of Galerie Perrotin, Belgian artist Wim Delvoye has returned to New York City, capping his sixth one-person show with the gallery and his first singular presentation at Perrotin New York with a body of new works that continue his irreverent and critically-nuanced practice. Continuing his formal deconstructions and spatial riddles with a series of works made during preparations for an exhibition at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, the show sees Delvoye engaging broadly with the history of Iranian art, and the modern landscape of the Middle East. Read More »
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October 27th, 2017
Walter Swennen, Demasiadas Palabras (2017)Â all images Copyright Walter Swennen Courtesy the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels.
In his third solo exhibition in New York, Belgian artist Walter Swennen delivers a broad range of takes on his text and poetry-based work, splashing doses of humor and introspection into each canvas spread across Gladstone Gallery, on which bright, cartoonish colors and existential subjectivities build a delicate, yet compelling balance. From the title bewtie (a riff on the word “beautifulâ€Â that also manages to sound Flemish), to Swennen’s utilization of language to problematize the banal, this exhibition chronicles his sense of absurdity embedded in mundane elements, and most particularly in language, as a crucial part of the ritual of the everyday. Read More »
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October 25th, 2017
Film Still. Image courtesy Sprüth Magers.
Now through December 22, Sprüth Magers Berlin presents Jon Rafman’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. Dream Journal ’16-’17 is an hour-long, freeform and loosely connected series of narratives examining the impact of technology on society and consciousness. Jon Rafman’s work examines the impact of technology and virtual reality on contemporary consciousness. He is recognized for his use of interdisciplinary and multi-medial forms, including various virtual platforms and online worlds, to critically explore the present moment. For this work, Rafman has designed an immersive viewing experience, complete with shag carpet and anthropomorphized sculptural seating.
Installation View. Image by Anna Corrigan for Art Observed.
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October 24th, 2017
Gilbert & George, The General Jungle or Carrying on Sculpting (Installation View), all images courtesy Lévy Gorvy
Now through November 18, Lévy Gorvy’s London exhibition space is hosting The General Jungle or Carrying on Sculpting, a collection of seminal works by artist duo Gilbert & George. This show is comprised of 23 monumental, multi-panel pieces, one of the first manifestations of Gilbert & George’s ‘Art for All’ manifesto, and a landmark entry in their early collaborations, which began fifty years ago this month. This is the first exhibition in the United Kingdom to feature this body of work, first presented at the Sonnabend Gallery in New York in the early 1970’s. Read More »
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October 21st, 2017
Pat Steir, Little Red One (2016), all images via Osman Can Yerebakan for Art Observed
In ancient Greek, the word kairos defined the moment of opportunity to make a decision.  Kairos, which lends its name to New York-based painter Pat Steir’s current exhibition at Lévy Gorvy, encapsulates a Proustian interpretation of time that is subjective and cerebral, as opposed to a sequential grasp. Although they represent binary notions at first sight, chance and precision are two pivotal elements in Steir’s work, and given her decision to name her exhibition after a term associated with philosophy of time, she tends to perfect the balance between these two opposites. Created over the last two years, paintings at Steir’s first exhibition with the gallery after the Upper East Side powerhouse announced representation of her last year. Read More »
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October 21st, 2017
Stanley Whitney, Drawings (Installation View), via Art Observed
Lisson Gallery’s second New York location kicked off the fall art season this past week with a striking exhibition of drawings and small-scale works by Stanley Whitney, a charged entry in the season’s landscape of exhibitions that rings a powerful chord against the backdrop of the U.S.’s turbulent and increasingly violent, racially-tinged struggles.  Spread across the walls of the gallery’s small project space, the show is an impressive entry in the artist’s oeuvre, combining his energetic, colorful sensibilities with a more cutting socio-political and critical lens, one that brings his work into tight focus against the backdrop of current events. Read More »
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October 19th, 2017
Outside the Grand Palais, all photos via Andrea Nguyen for Art Observed
As Wednesday evening drags into the late night in Paris, the first day of FIAC has concluded, bringing with it a steady stream of sales and projects that once again places the French art fair at the center of the fall exhibition calendar. The city’s marquee art fair, FIAC opened to strong praise from its attendees, and a number of show-stopping works, arranged under the equally striking architecture of the Grand Palais.
FIAC, via Art Observed
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October 18th, 2017
Pieter Schoolwerth, Privacy Settings #3 (2017), via Miguel Abreu
Returning to the French capital for another year of exhibitions inside the iconic expanses of the Grand Palais, the Foire International Art Contemporain, or FIAC, opens its doors today in Paris. The fair, which has operated for over 44 years in the city, has undergone several facelifts over the course of its lifetime, with its most recent editions courting a healthy mix of contemporary and modern works alongside more classical and historical modes, making it one of the world’s more ambitiously curated programs.
Marguerite Humeau, Jonny’s Child (OH7B) (2014), via Clearing
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