The New York Times profiles the work and career of Xu Zhen, this year’s artist-in-residence at The Armory Show in New York.  A conceptualist noted for his departure from previous generations of Chinese art and his playful skewering of retail economics (including one work where he constructed a fully functioning supermarket), Xu will show a number of works at the show, and is working on a public project with New York’s Citibike Public Bicycle Program. (more…)

Creative Time has announced the opening dates for Kara Walker’s installation at Williamsburg’s former Domino Sugar Factory.  A Subtlety will open on May 10th, and will be free and open to the public.  “Walker’s physically and conceptually expansive work will respond to both the building and its history, exploring a radical range of subject matter and marking a major departure from her practice to date,” the organization said in a release.  Creative Time will also focus it spring gala around the opening of the event, honoring Walker. (more…)

Eva Hesse, June 1959, all images courtesy Hamburger Kunsthalle

On view at Hamburger Kunsthalle is a solo exhibition of works by Jewish German-born Eva Hesse, one of the most prominent female artists of the 20th century. Entitled One More than One. the display is composed of art objects and sculptures made from polyester, fiberglass and latex, illustrating textural juxtapositions between hard and soft, fragility and sturdiness. The exhibition will continue through March 2, 2014.

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Vanessa Branson, the founder of the Marrakech Biennale and sister to Richard Branson, is interviewed in Financial Times this week, previewing the fifth edition of the event, and its continued mission of “building bridges between cultures.”  “I want to stress how the arts send a really positive message to the rest of the world and are an economic driver – innovation creates great business,” Branson says. (more…)

Eric Fischl, Corrida in Ronda #4, (2008), via Elene Damenia for Art Observed

The New York Academy of Art is currently presenting The Big Picture, a brief series of large-scale paintings by five artists who embrace the challenge of large-scale canvases and epic scenery.  Curated by Peter Drake, the show has selected works from Neo Rauch, Mark Tansey, Vincent Desiderio, Jenny Saville and Eric Fischl for the show, inviting a comparative look at the varying techniques and approaches to painting on a grand scale.

Vincent Desiderio, Quixote (2008), via Elene Damenia for Art Observed (more…)

MOCA’s newly appointed director Philippe Vergne will assume the Director position at MOCA starting on March 10th, the LA Times reports.  MOCA announced the director’s start date via a press email this week. Vergne’s start date was accompanied by news of two new board members at the Museum: Maurice Marciano and Lilly Tartikoff Karatz, as well as a new endowment fundraising goal of $150 million. (more…)

The Broad Museum’s Un-Private Collection series played host to a massively attended conversation between Jeff Koons and John Waters last night in Los Angeles.  The two covered a broad list of topics during the talk, including both Waters and Koons’s first memories of their experience with art.  “I remember when I first went to the Baltimore museum and bought a little Miró print and brought it home.”  Waters said.  “All the other kids said ‘Ugh, that’s ugly, why would you put that ugly thing on your wall?!’ I thought: ‘Ah, the power of art!’ It really made me feel glad everyone hated it.”

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G.T. Pellizzi, Diagram, Figure 3 (2013), All images courtesy of Mary Boone Gallery.

Giandomenico Tonatiuh Pellizzi, better known as G.T. Pelizzi, is currently showing a selection of new works at Mary Boone Gallery in New York.  Pellizi was born in Cuernavaca, Mexico in 1978, and attended St. Johns College, Santa Fe, New Mexico, studying literature and philosophy before going on to the Channin School of Architecture at Cooper Union, NYC, where he received some training in visual arts by attending courses at the School of Art with Walid Raad and Joan Waltemath, among others.  He currently lives and works between New York City and Mexico.   (more…)

The Eyebeam Center has selected the designer for its new center in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, choosing a multi-tiered structure by WORK Architecture Company (WORKac).  “It’s a great moment in Eyebeam’s trajectory to think about the relationship between art and technology,” said WORKac Principal Dan Wood. (more…)

Ann S. Moore, former CEO and Chairwoman for Time Magazine, has announced plans to open a gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.  The Curator Gallery, located on 23rd, close to the High Line, will open on March 7th.  “At my age,” Moore says “you can either put your money away, or you can spend it and have fun and that’s what I’m doing. Maybe I’m crazy, but I’ve decided to see what I can do.” (more…)

Mayor of London Boris Johnson is actively courting the Guggenheim Foundation to open a location on the grounds of the 2012 London Olympics, the Art Newspaper reports.  The area, which has already been earmarked as a new cultural quarter called E20, will be home to a new location for the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Johnson wants the Guggenheim to set up shop as well.  “We are in talks with other global cultural brands, as we will need at least one more cultural institution to achieve the critical mass and very high visitor numbers the site deserves,” Johnson says. (more…)

The Armory Show’s commissioned artist Xu Zhen has unveiled a plan for New York’s Citibike program during the art fair next week, covering a 10 bikes with a special graphic.  20 fair attendees who ride to the Armory Show on the bikes and post an image to social media of the bike at the fair will earn free admission to the event. (more…)

Pawel Althamer, Mezalia (detail) (2010), via Art Observed

There’s something decidedly ephemeral about the work of Pawel Althamer.  The Polish artist who, over the past two decades, has created a body of sculpture, video and installation work that consistently toys with formulations of identity and society, collaborative practice and mythology.  Works can hinge on a simple conceit, or careful placement of a minimum of elements, often leaving major aspects of the piece unseen or unexpressed.  His Black Ebony (??) piece, for example, stands as a testament to an incomplete work, activated by a group of African sculptors he invited to utilize the workstation-like installation to create sculpture during a show.

Massimo Gioni takes Part in Draftsmen’s Congress (2012), via Art Observed (more…)

U.S. Lawmakers have put forth a proposal that would pay 5% of any auction proceeds to the creator of the work on sale.  The royalty proposal looks to bring U.S. art auction procedures in line with those of the European Union, and would cap royalties at $35,000 for a work.  “Just as our copyright laws extend to musicians and authors to encourage their artistic creativity, they should also apply to our visual artists,” sponsoring Senator Tammy Baldwin says. “The ART Act is a common-sense measure that helps protect the intellectual property of our artists.” (more…)

Camille Henrot, Grosse Fatigue (2013), via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed

Camille Henrot’s Grosse Fatigue seeks an experience akin to the slow trawls of internet message boards, Wikipedia pages, and Google searches that mark the contemporary search for information, a compartmentalized seeking after discrete bits of data.  Running from image to image, many culled from the archives of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., Henrot’s project offers a condensed experience of information overload, cramming the story of the earth’s creation into 13 minutes.

Camille Henrot, Grosse Fatigue (2013), via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed (more…)

The Guardian takes a look at the faked and forged paintings often accepted as real works by master artists, and the conditions that produce these falsely attributed works.  “There’s lots going on, from academic incompetence to really dirty stuff,” says Oxford professor Martin Kemp. “Documentation, scientific analysis and judgment by eye are used – and ignored – opportunistically in ways that suit each advocate, who too frequently has undeclared interests.” (more…)

Considering a recent figure counting a total of 278 art fairs happening each year around the world, the New York Times looks at the successes of Arco in Madrid this past weekend, and the fair’s increasingly global focus in attempt to sidestep a struggling Spanish economy.    “We sell mostly to museums and foundations at Arco,” said Galeria Vermelho director Marina Buendia. “We’ve been at Arco for six years and things are getting better.”  (more…)

A group of nine collectors have filed a lawsuit against the Keith Haring Foundation, claiming that the organization’s judgement of works in their collections has “wrongfully destroyed” their value.  The lawsuit, which seeks $40 million in damages, has been flatly rejected by the foundation.  Its lawyer, Michael Ward Stout, claims, “We believe that the allegations are not supportable, and we will address them going forward.”  (more…)

Georg Baselitz is profiled in The Telegraph this week, as the artist prepares for three concurrent shows in London over the next few months.  Speaking the anniversary of the bombing of his hometown, Dresden, Baselitz reflects on how the violence of World War II found its way into his art: “the degree of destruction I’ve seen, which I’ve been surrounded by, is no longer comprehensible. It was so radical, so absolute. Today you’d ask: how could it even happen? But that was my time.” (more…)

The FIAC Art Fair will launch a Los Angeles edition in April of 2015, bringing the organization to the US for the first time.  The inaugural fair will include about 150 exhibitors, and chose Los Angeles for its “extremely dynamic” location and proximity to Asia and Latin America, according to director Jean-Daniel Compain. (more…)

Donald Judd, Untitled (Schellman 24), (1961-1978)

Now through March 1^st, the David Zwirner gallery hosts a group exhibition of the printed works of Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, and Fred Sandback. The three artists’ shared Minimalist aesthetics unite this work of prints made between 1961 and 1994. Though predominantly known for their three dimensional work, printmaking and drawing were significant practices for all three artists throughout their respective careers, and ultimately helped to shape and reshape their practices throughout their broader body of work. (more…)

YaÅŸam ÅžaÅŸmazer, via Osman Can Yerebakan for Art Observed

The winter conditions in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul often border on excessive damp and gloom, but the coastal city’s burgeoning art scene maintains the city’s status as a location for adventurous art-lovers year-round, particularly given the strength of several shows currently on view across the city.  Mostly located around the Taksim area of the city, art spaces in Istanbul have been popping up at a remarkable pace, marking the city as a destination for the global art cognoscenti, while introducing young Turkish artists to the wider market. (more…)

The Economist reports on an ongoing restoration effort towards several Mark Rothko paintings previously on view at Harvard’s Holyoke Center.  The paintings, badly damaged by sunlight, have undergone rigorous chemical analysis, using various samples to determine the reaction times and fading of color that would have brought the works to their current state. (more…)

Animal New York reports that this year’s edition of the Bruce High Quality Foundation’s Brucennial will be the collective’s last, as it shifts its attention to its University operations and other projects.  The Brucennial, set to open on March 7th, will also focus solely on women artists.  “We’ve grown this show big enough to command an audience of thousands and thousands of visitors, not to mention media attention,” the organization said in an e-mail statement. “So for The Last Brucennial, we will spotlight all women artists.” (more…)