Giuseppe Penone, Albero porta—cedro / Door Tree—Cedar (2012), © Giuseppe Penone. Courtesy Archivio Giuseppe Penone. Photography by Josh White/JWPictures.com

In his current show Ramificazioni del Pensiero / Branches of Thought, on view at Gagosian Gallery Beverly Hills, Giuseppe Penone continues his exploration into the heart of the natural materials that compose his work. Focusing on the interplay between man and nature, Penone draws human elements out of the wood and marble he sculpts, obviating an undercurrent of commonality between the human figure and the stoic forms of tree and stone. (more…)

Mike Bouchet, Cloud Nymph (reading) (2014), via Peres Projects

The images of Mike Bouchet have long identified with notions of the cinematic.  Whether it’s the artist’s simple paintings executed with his own home-brewed adaptation of Diet Coke, or his ongoing execution of celebrity-inspired jacuzzis, concepts of luxury, commodity and pop culture ideologies find themselves at a bizarre, yet often commanding, intersection.   (more…)

The 2017 edition of Documenta (its 17th total), will share locations between Kassel and Athens, the organization announced today.  The exhibition title Learning from Athens, will look at Greece’s recent financial straits, and its unique position in today’s global affairs.  “What interested me is that Athens is a contemporary metropolitan city of the Mediterranean that is connected to other places across the water,” says Artistic Director Adam Szymczyk.  “I see it as a portal or border or place where people coming from many, many other places can have visibility.” (more…)

Ryan McGinley, YEARBOOK (Installation View)

One of the most prolific contemporary American photographers, Ryan McGinley has continually photographed his subjects inside his Lower East Side studio for over a decade.  Two years after Animals, his series of nude models posing with live animals, the artist is continuing his exploration of the human form, as well as its positioning within a reserved studio setting at Team Gallery, where he has been showing for the last seven years.  YEARBOOK, however, expands on the notion of space beyond simply signifying an architecture for displaying art, embracing an alternative use of the gallery interior. (more…)

A painting by Edward Degas, valued at around $7.6 million, has been stolen from the home of an elderly Greek Cypriot.   Ballerina Adjusting Her Slipper was stolen Monday in Limassol on the island of Cyprus, and police have already arrested one man in connection with the case. (more…)

Three of France’s most popular musuems, The Louvre, The Musee d’Orsay and The Palace of Versailles, will soon be open to visitors every day, the French government announced. The move “will allow better access for the public and better access to the works,” according to the French Culture Ministry. (more…)

The Whitney Museum of Art will remain open for 36 consecutive hours at the conclusion of the museum’s Jeff Koons retrospective, running from 11 a.m. October 18th through to 11 p.m. October 19^th, a last marathon run before the museum decamps to its new building downtown.  “This will not only give more people an opportunity to see the Koons retrospective, it’s also a chance for some to say goodbye to the Breuer building as it was,” says Whitney Director Adam Weinberg. (more…)

David Hockney, Woldgate Woods, November 26th (2010), via Art Observed

David Hockney returns to the Pace Gallery this month, showing a selection of new works that once again focus on the artist’s love affair with his Woldgate home, and the continued expansion of his decades of work as a painter into new media forms.  Titled The Arrival of Spring, the work is another entry in the artist’s documentation and depiction of the landscapes of rural Britain. (more…)

Pace Gallery has announced that it will be installing three late Alexander Calder sculptures at the foot of the Seagram Building.  Calder’s work was always intended to be installed in the plaza of the International Style icon, but financial reasons prevented his work from making a permanent home there.  “So in our minds, it’s always been a Calder plaza,” says the artist’s grandson Alexander S.C. Rower, “and it’s always nice to see works back there again.” (more…)

Fergus McCaffrey, via Art Info

Fergus McCaffrey Gallery has announced new plans to expand its spaces, opening new spaces in St. Barths and Tokyo over the next several years.  “The continuity of artist production in St Barths is compelling,” says McCaffrey. “There is an interesting and very rich history of work being made there; including what might have been Cy Twombly’s last works, Polaroid photographs of flowers in the graveyards in Lorient and St. Jean.” (more…)

Ai Weiwei, Blossom (2014) (Detail) photo by Jan Stürmann, courtesy of FOR-SITE foundation

After much anticipation, Ai Weiwei has opened his new project at Alcatraz, the former island prison in the San Francisco Bay.  The project, which brings seven large-scale installations incorporating photography, installation, sound and video, is a fitting continuation of Ai’s projects examination of incarceration following his own imprisonment in 2011.

Ai Weiwei, Yours Truly (2014) (Detail) photo by Jan Stürmann, courtesy of FOR-SITE foundation

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The Turner Prize shortlist has been announced with four artists – Duncan Campbell, Ciara Phillips, James Richards and Tris Vonna-Michell – competing for the £25,000 prize.  The shortlist is notable this year for its strong focus on installation and new media-based works.  “This reflects the mobility of art today, while the prominence of film, performance, and participation reveals an interest in work that adapts according to changing surroundings.” says jury chair and Tate Britain director Penelope Curtis. (more…)

The Telegraph takes a look at the focus on post-war Italian art spanning much of the market in London this, including upcoming auctions focusing on the Arte Povera and related movements, as well as a handful of selling exhibitions.   (more…)

The Guardian visits Tracey Emin in her Spitalfields studio this week, as the artist prepares for an exhibition of new work next month at White Cube.  “Work is good,” she says.  “If I don’t make things, I become ill and depressed. Painting makes me feel like a better human being. It’s what I’m supposed to be doing.”  (more…)

Painter Chris Ofili is profiled in the New Yorker this week, in advance of the artist’s upcoming retrospective at the New Museum.  “Painting is a kind of pursuit, a hunt,” he says. “I think it’s more interesting when you can corral your subjects, instead of just going right to them. Enjoy and engage with the process—you want to keep going into the unknown, to the point where you don’t think about how long it’s going to take to get there.” (more…)

Camille Henrot, recipient of last year’s Silver Lion in Venice, has been awarded the 2014 Nam June Paik prize.  The artist was selected from the shortlist exhibition at the Kunstmuseen Krefeld, and will receive a $32,o00 prize. (more…)

Allan McCollum, Collection of Thirty-Six Perfect Couples (2005-2014), via Art Observed

Now on view at Petzel Gallery is a solo exhibition of works by Los Angeles-born, New York-based artist Allan McCollum.  Entitled The Shapes Project, the purpose of the series on view was to design a system that would allow for the production of a single, unique shape for every person in the world, using rapid manufacturing technologies to produce infinite variations of shape and form. This exhibition will be McCollum’s sixth solo exhibition at Petzel.

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Berlin’s KW Institute for Contemporary Art has announced that the New York-based DIS Collective will be the curator’s for the 2016 edition of the Berlin Biennale. The collective has made increasingly larger waves among the institutional art world in the past years, drawing rave reviews for its DISown exhibition, as well as its DIS Images Studios project last year.  Previous curators include Klaus Biesenbach, Maurizio Cattelan and Massimiliano Gioni. (more…)

Space Group, an iconic building in downtown Seoul, has been converted into an art museum.  The Ariano Museum, opened by collectoer Kim Chang-il opened this month with a show of works from Mr. Kim’s collection, over 200 pieces by 43 international artists, including notable pieces by Subodh Gupta and Marc Quinn.   (more…)

Tony Smith, Smog (1969-70), all images courtesy Timothy Taylor Gallery

On view at Timothy Taylor Gallery is artist Tony Smith’s first solo exhibition in the UK.  The American artist and architect was a driving force in post-war art, anticipating the rise of minimalism while working alongside Jackson Pollock, Barnet Newman, and Mark Rothko.

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Frieze has announced the list of 20 artists who will be included in this year’s outdoor sculpture park, accompanying the fair proceedings in London’s Regent’s Park, among them Yayoi Kusama, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Martin Creed, and Thomas Schütte.  “Unique in the world’s art fairs, this year’s Frieze Sculpture Park is an intriguing and delightful breath of fresh air featuring artists from across three generations,” Curator Clare Lilley said in a statement.  (more…)

An anti-drug trade law blocking anonymous cash purchases and requiring more federal oversight on high-worth transactions in Mexico has had a stifling effect on the country’s art galleries, preventing the anonymous purchases that are often the norm at the high end of the market.   “This has obviously affected the sales. Because there are people who are afraid, and they say, ‘I’m going to wait,’ or, ‘I don’t want to buy,’ ” says auction house director, Luis C. Lopez Morton. “They feel uncomfortable. They feel that the government is watching them.” (more…)

The Tate Modern has announced the attendance figures from the just-closed Matisse Cut-Outs show, which tallied over 500 million visitors during its run, making it the most highly attended exhibition in museum history.  “The fact that the works have not been brought together for 40 years captured people’s imaginations,” said Director Nicholas Serota. (more…)

Wolfgang Tillmans’s Berlin gallery Between Bridges has embarked on a new project, creating an accommodating space for the appreciation of classic pop and dance albums.  “The Playback Room” as it is called, is currently featuring Colourbox, the 1980’s dance act behind “Pump Up the Volume.”  “Some records are just perfect artworks, but you just cannot go anywhere to listen to the way the musicians heard it at the mastering stage,” said Tillmans. “While you can play them on your stereo or iPhone there is never a space dedicated to them and you can never listen in studio quality.” (more…)