Preview
Chuck Close, Prints: Process and Collaboration (Installation View), via White Cube

As part of a global tour featuring Chuck Close’s graphic works, curated by the Parrish Art Museum, USA, are currently on view at the White Cube Bermondsey South Galleries in London. Featuring a particular focus on Close’s prints, the exhibition brings a series of meticulously time-consuming works by the artist to light that stand strongly alongside his better-known, large-scale paintings.

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Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets (1872), via Royal Academy of Arts

London’s Royal Academy of Arts is currently exhibiting an ambitious retrospective of portraiture by iconoclastic French painter Édouard Manet (1832 – 1883), collected from across Europe, Asia and the United States.  This is the first-ever exhibition of work by Manet that focuses on his broad body of portraiture, tracing the artist’s artistic evolution in the format throughout his life, as well as his contributions to modern portraiture in the contemporary era.  While Manet worked across a range of subjects in figurative painting, portraiture makes up about half of his body of work, offering perhaps the strongest evidence of the artist’s creative motivations throughout the course of his life.

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Candida Höfer, Teatro Scientifico Bibiena Mantova I (2010), Courtesy Ben Brown Fine Arts

Ben Brown Fine Arts in London presents work by German photographer Candida Höfer, showcasing the artists masterful control, precision, and detail in capturing the grandiosity of Italian Renaissance architecture.  The exhibition, which features images of brightly lit, cavernous interiors of several ornate Italian buildings, depict these majestic spaces as part of the everyday, highlighting the grandeur of the Italian architectural tradition.

Candida Höfer, A Return to Italy (Installation View), via Ben Brown Fine Arts

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Manet’s current exhibition at The Royal Academy of Arts is about to have its own tour on-film.  Directed by filmmaker Phil Grabsky and premiering on April 11th, the film will take viewers on a high-definition tour of the blockbuster museum exhibition, offering insights and in-depth perspectives on the artist’s practice and approach to painting.  The film is the first of a series of museum films distributed worldwide, and will be followed by a tour of the Oslo exhibition Munch 150, celebrating the 150th birthday of painter Edvard Munch. (more…)

British artist Graham Ovenden has been convicted of sexual abuse charges, stemming from accusations by former models for the artist over a number of years in London and Cornwall.  While Ovenden, who has had exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, has flatly denied the charges, the Truro Crown Court has convicted him of six counts of sexual indecency with a child, and one of indecent assault.  When asked why they had not come forth earlier, one complainant’s mother replied: “I thought if I went to police, she wouldn’t be believed; if I went and confronted Graham myself, he would have flatly denied it. I thought there was nothing to be achieved but a lot of stress for my child.” (more…)

Mat Collishaw, This is Not an Exit(Installation View), Courtesy of the Artist and Blain|Southern Photographer: Matthew Hollow, 2012

British artist Mat Collishaw places his work in systems of fluctuation, layering meanings and interpretations until the weight of the work’s collected implications collapses in on itself.  In his most recent show at London’s Blain|Southern, the artist has continued in this tradition, offering a collection of large-scale oil paints that negotiate between hedonistic excess, abstract figuration and cultural subterfuge. (more…)

Charles Atlas, Glacier (2013), courtesy of Vilma Gold, London.

The American-born Charles Atlas has been a pioneer in the fields of dance, theater, and performance on video. In his career he has worked with world renowned artists such as Marina Abramovic, Leigh Bowery, Michael Clark, Merce Cunnigham, Diamanda Galas, Antony and the Johnsons, and Yvonne Rainer.  In a current collaboration with South London Gallery and Bloomberg SPACE, Atlas presents Glacier, a 360-degree multi channel video installation consisting of original, found and manipulated images. (more…)

The Cardsharps, a hotly debated work purchased by art historian and collector Denis Mahon, is set to go on view in April at the Museum of the Order of St John in London.  The piece, whose attribution to a follower of Caravaggio allowed Mahon to purchase what may or may not be an original work by the 17th century master for £50,000, is currently the subject of fierce debate over its origin, as well as a lawsuit over its attribution between Sotheby’s and its previous owner. (more…)

Adel Abdemessed, Le Vase Abominable (Installation View), via David Zwirner

Upon entering the ground floor of David Zwirner’s gallery space in London, visitors are immediately greeted by the surreal image on a massive explosive device, upon which rests an equally enormous gold vase.  This is Le Vase Abominable, the sculpture by French-based, Algerian born artist Adel Abdemessed that serves as the title piece for the artist’s current show, exploring dichotomies of violence and creation through poignantly composed sculptural, video, and drawn works.

Adel Abdemessed, Le Vase Abominable (2012-2013), via David Zwirner (more…)

The Cuming Museum, located in South London, faced a major fire inside the building yesterday, threatening its collection of Roman London, Chinese and African artworks and artifacts.  120 firefighters and 20 engines were needed to stop the blaze inside the centuries-old building. (more…)

Jim Shaw (Installation View), via Simon Lee

On view at London’s Simon Lee Gallery is a solo exhibition of eclectic new works by Los Angeles-based, American artist Jim Shaw. A California Institute of the Arts graduate and longtime L.A. resident, Shaw’s works highlight the anxieties and triumphs of  late capitalist society, phantasmic religion and the shamanic, mythical world of his dream life. This idiosyncratic body of work utilizes comic book aesthetic in pencil drawings and groupings of sculptures juxtaposed against new painted and drawn portraits of unhinged and broken body parts, which engender a distinct unease in the viewer.  

Jim Shaw, Oden’s Broken Staff and Emerald City Asgard (2013), via Simon Lee

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From Figuration (Installation View), via Skarstedt Gallery

Currently on view at Skarstedt Gallery’s London location is a compelling exploration of figurative sculpture, titled From Figuration.  Welcoming a host of high-profile names, including George Condo, Thomas Schütte, Jonathan Meese, Rosemarie Trockel, Rebecca Warren, and Paul McCarthy, the exhibition seeks to capture a broad range of approaches and themes expressed by this particular niche in the field of sculpture. (more…)

The Guardian has posted a video interview with French artist Laure Prouvost, discussing her winning of the Max Mara Award for Women, and her immersive video work Swallow, exploring the raw emotion of sensation, now on view at Whitechapel Gallery.  “It’s this idea of what’s real and what’s not, expressed in video and bricolage.”  She says.
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José Parlá, Broken Language (installation view) via Haunch of Venison

Haunch of Venison presents “Broken Language,” itsx first solo exhibition of work by New York-based artist José Parlá. Born in Miami to Cuban parents, Parlá’s works highlight the layered stories embedded in urban environments. His practice of combining of personal text, found objects and graffiti styles into large paintings and site-specific installations results in expressive works that relate to the legacies of calligraphy, modernism and abstract expressionism. The works on view include a selection of new paintings, works on paper, photographs, and sculpture spread throughout the gallery’s three spaces.

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The recently opened David Bowie Is… exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum is smashing all attendance records for the museum, early reports say.  Chronicling the creative life of rock star David Bowie, more than 42,000 advance tickets had already been sold when the exhibition opened last week, and merchandise from the show is already off to a booming first week of sales.   (more…)

This year’s Venice Beiennale will see a new generation of Young British Artists spotlighted at the exhibition’s “Encyclopedic Palace,” including Ed Atkins, James Richards and Helen Marten.  “The common factor, perhaps, is that all these young artists grew up with the internet. It’s inside them. Because of that, they have a particular attitude to the way images and objects are made, dispersed and distributed.” Says Polly Staple, director of the Chisenhale Gallery, which has hosted all three of the afforementioned artists. (more…)

Richard Prince, Untitled, (2012), via Sadie Coles

This winter, Sadie Coles presents a shifting, multifarious collection of works courtesy of Richard Prince, exploring notions of the human form, consumption, and value through the depiction and obfuscation of explicit content.

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Tracey Emin has been honored with a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for her contributions to the arts.  Emerging as a leading member of the UK’s 1990’s contemporary arts scene, Emin was recognized for her ongoing contributions to British culture.  “Its amazing that I’ve been given this because its recognition for what I believe in and what I’ve worked for, so it’s a great feeling,” she said. (more…)

James Lee Byars, Early Works and The Angel (Installation view) via Michael Werner Gallery, London

Early Works and “The Angel,” currently on view at Michael Werner Gallery in London, exhibits major works from the late sculptor and performance artist James Lee Byars.  Combining a selection of the artist’s early sculptural works, painted scrolls, and performative objects with the impressive glass sculpture “The Angel,” the show provides an interesting look into the artist’s formative influences and practices.  The gallery is an apt location for this collection, as Michael Werner, the German art dealer and gallery’s namesake, historically had close ties with Byars, as well as his contemporary, Joseph Beuys.

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The first Art13 Festival took place this past week in London, showing a high number of Asian and Middle Eastern Galleries and Artists competing for the attention of interested buyers.  With about half of the showing artists of non-western origin, the show provided buyers with opportunities to purchase major works by Eastern Contemporary Art figureheads like the Indonesian painter Nyoman Masriadi, whose work Godlike has already commanded impressive attention and an equally impressive price tag of $350,000.  “Fairs like Frieze and Art Basel tend to be a bit Western- centric,” Jasdeep Sandhu, of Singapore’s Gajah Gallery, said. “This presentation has a more global focus. It’s what the future of the art market might be.” (more…)

Bruce Nauman, Carousel (1988), via Hauser and Wirth

Turning a fresh perspective on the works of American artist Bruce Nauman, Hauser and Wirth is currently presenting a curated retrospective of the artist’s work, focusing on his large scale installations and neon works.  Organized by Hauser and Wirth curator Philip Larratt-Smith, the exhibition presents Nauman’s work through a Freudian lens, using psychoanalytic evaluation and subconscious motivators as organizing principles in the presentation of Nauman’s work. (more…)

Richard Wentworth, Black Maria (Installation View), via King’s Cross London

The result of a major commission project, Richard Wentworth‘s “Black Maria,” a timber theatrical structure set within the atrium of the Granary Building in the Saint Martins College of Art and Design, King’s Cross, is an installation that acts as a central public space during the day and a screening and discussion room during the evening and night. The structure was opened for its 4-week run on February 13th, 2013, and is available for viewing during normal hours at Central St. Martins.

Richard Wentworth, Black Maria (Installation View),via King’s Cross London

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Roy Lichtenstein, Whaam! (1963), via Tate Modern

Blazing a path through the world of contemporary and avant-garde art, Roy Lichtenstein stands as a giant of post-war painting, sculpture and conceptual art.  Celebrating the artist’s position at the vanguard of 20th century art, the Tate Modern is hosting a massive retrospective of the artist’s work, the first of its kind since the artist’s death in 1997.

Roy Lichtenstein, Sea Shore (1964), via The Guardian

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ARTNews sat down with the current head of the Tate Modern, Chris Dercon, to discuss his career, overseeing massive additions to the museum, including its new performance space The Tanks, and his personal philosophy to curating.  “Today, to be really cool and sexy is to be sharing,” he says. “Inclusivity instead of exclusivity. Let the private collectors in the private museums do the exclusivity game.” He said. (more…)