July 10th, 2016
An Installation by Puppies Puppies
The 9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, curated by DIS (the New York art collective formed by collaborators Lauren Boyle, Solomon Chase, Marco Roso and David Toro), has long promoted a vision of the future as now.  Steeping their work in the ambitious task of interrogating relationships between the human and the digital, the collective has been turned loose on the prominent art biennial, using their unique brand of commentary on politics, happiness, commercial branding and the paradox of the modern age to frame the show as a brand, a tourist trap, and a materialization of the virtual in tandem. The Present in Drag channels the discomfort and drastic uncertainty that is a product of uncertain links and porous borders established by technological advancement.  Expanding beyond its traditional venue at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, additional sites for this Biennale are scattered throughout the city in various buildings and institutions. Its main point of departure is the Academie der Künst, located off Pariser Platz, and to the tourist mainstay Brandenburg Gate, and moves through the fabric of the city with its humorous, haunting and at times grotesque commentary on contemporary art in the digital age. Read More »
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July 8th, 2016
Roy Lichtenstein, Entablature (1975), via Quincy Childs for Art Observed
The Entablatures represent my response to Minimalism and the art of Donald Judd and Kenneth Noland. It’s my way of saying that the Greeks did repeated motifs very early on, and I am showing, in a humorous way, that Minimalism has a long history … It was essentially a way of making a Minimalist painting that has a Classical reference. – Roy Lichtenstein
Sometimes a show strikes a perfect balance between surprise and expectation, even more so when the works selected coincide so effortlessly that the artists seem presented anew. Castelli Gallery’s show, Donald Judd, Roy Lichtenstein, Kenneth Noland: A Dialogue, does exactly that.  Taking inspiration from a quote by Roy Lichtenstein on his Entablature paintings, the show examined each artist’s work at the intersections of the architectural and the purely aesthetic, the functional and the pictorial. Read More »
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July 7th, 2016
Martha Rosler, If You Can’t Afford to Live Here, mo-o-ove!! (Installation View), all photos by Osman Can Yerebakan for Art Observed
Adopting its title from Ed Koch’s response to complaints regarding New York’s rising housing concerns, Martha Rosler’s current Mitchell-Innes & Nash exhibition If You Can’t Afford to Live Here, mo-o-ove!! promises a compact look at the artist’s influential 1989 exhibition If You Lived Here…, which was exhibited at Dia Foundation as a three part show.  Similarly, this current interpretation is a trilogy, culminating in this grand finale at the Chelsea gallery and proving the relevance of issues raised almost thirty years ago in the original version. Read More »
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July 5th, 2016
Trevor Shimizu, Sophia’s Teddy (2016), via Art Observed
Currently on view at 47 Canal, Trevor Shimizu has realized a swirling fantasia of parenthood, a series of paintings, sculpture and video that turn the act of parenting into an otherworldly, almost surreal experience through his ragged, often comedic sensibility. Â Â Read More »
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July 1st, 2016
Henry Moore, Reclining Figure Festival (1951), via Christie’s
Adding one final sale to the end of a long two weeks of auctions, Christie’s “Defining British Art” Sale this past evening notched an impressive last set of sales for the spring season, pushing a 29-lot sale of works ranging from Impressionist Masterpieces to Modernist Sculpture to Contemporary pieces to an impressive £99,479,500 final tally.  The sale saw only two works go unsold over the course of the evening, and offering an exclamation point at the end of a week that did much to challenge assumptions over the impact of the Brexit on market health in Europe.
John Constable, View on the Stour near Dedham, full-scale sketch (c. 1821), via Christie’s
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June 30th, 2016
Gavin Brown’s New Exhibition Space, Ed Atkins at Gavin Brown’s, via Art Observed
Gavin Brown has headed north, finally opening his long-rumored Harlem exhibition space with an expansive show of work by British artist Ed Atkins.  Culling a diverse series pieces from the artist’s recent output, the exhibition’s awareness of its context, and its presence in this former brewery turned exhibition space, makes for a strangely surreal experience, and a striking perspective on the gallery itself.
Ed Atkins at Gavin Brown’s, via Gavin Brown’s
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June 30th, 2016
Terence Koh, Bee Chapel (Installation View), via Art Observed
Since his departure from the New York art scene several years prior, Terence Koh has appeared in the art context at fits and starts; a performance here, a reading there, or an unexpected appearance at the PS1 Art Book fair in 2014, where the artist sold materials from his farm in upstate New York.  His momentary appearances implied the artist was continuing his work while living far from the madding crowd, but rarely was his work on view, or presented within the gallery context.  This changes with Koh’s Bee Chapel, a powerful install at Andrew Edlin Gallery on the Bowery that hints at Koh’s increasingly nuanced practice.
Terence Koh, Bee Chapel (Installation View), via Art Observed
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June 29th, 2016
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Self-Portrait (1981), via Christie’s
This week’s Contemporary Evening Sales have concluded, following Christie’s stolid outing in London this evening, as only 4 of the auction house’s 40 lots went unsold to reach a final total of £39,566,000.  Sales were consistently focused over the course of the evening, with few works falling under estimated price.  While an early warning note was sounded with the withdrawal of the sale’s leading Gerhard Richter lot, the auction house’s commitment to placing works this evening ultimately drove it towards a strong bottom line, even if the sale held back from ambitious benchmarks or marquee lots. Read More »
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June 29th, 2016
Jenny Saville, Shift (1996-97), via Sotheby’s
The post-Brexit contemporary sales continued in London this past evening, as Sotheby’s capped a 47-lot offering of contemporary and post-war works, seeing all but 7 works find a buyer, and bringing in a sales tally of £52,194,000 that exceeded its initial $35 million estimates. Read More »
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June 28th, 2016
Anselm Kiefer, Für Velimir Khlebnikov: Die Lehre vom Krieg: Seeschlachten (2004-2010), via Phillips
The first of June’s Contemporary Art sales in London has wrapped up in London this evening, as Phillips concluded its 20th Century and Contemporary sale to mixed results and a final sales total of £11,873,000, within the evening’s sales estimate.  The 31-lot sale saw 10 of its works go unsold, while a handful of other pieces brought impressively strong prices, ultimately casting ominous, albeit foggy indications of the European market in the wake of the Brexit vote.
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