Bridget Riley, About Yellow (2013-2014) via David Zwirner London

Whether black and white stripes contrast with each other in bewildering harmony, or vividly sharp colors calmly line-up to soothe the eye, there exists an exquisite charm in Bridget Riley’s entrancing canvases. Starting her career in the late 50’s after graduating from London’s famed Goldsmith’s College, Riley experimented with Pointillism and Abstraction while working as an illustrator.  What she would be widely recognized for later in her career, however, were her optical works, which emerged as result of her fascination with Futurism, Constructivism and Minimalism.  Focusing on the artist’s colorful stripe paintings from 1961 to the present on a large scale, Bridget Riley: The Stripe Paintings 1961-2014 at David Zwirner’s London location marks Riley’s largest survey since her 2003 retrospective at Tate London. (more…)

A new study has found an interesting link between a synthetic dopamine used to treat Parkinson’s Disease, and sudden bouts of intense creativity. “I started painting from morning till night, and often all through the night until morning. I used countless numbers of brushes at a time. I used knives, forks, sponges … I would gouge open tubes of paint–it was everywhere,” says one patient.  “But I was still in control at that point. Then, I started painting on the walls, the furniture, even the washing machine.”  (more…)

Stephen Prina, Detail of Monochrome Painting: A Posterior Prototype: Average Size (1994), all images courtesy Patrick Painter

Patrick Painter Gallery in Los Angeles is currently hosting an impressively selected group show, culling artists from the past 30 years of practice entitled Titans of the Stratosphere, and featuring six artists: Rodney Graham, Mike Kelley, Paul McCarthy, Stephen Prina, Christopher Wool, and Andrea Zittel.

(more…)

Albert Oehlen, Untitled (2012), all images courtesy Gagosian Gallery

On view at Gagosian Beverly Hills is an exhibition of recent large scale paintings by German artist Albert Oehlen, showcasing the artist’s continued interests in both abstract painterly gesture and the intersections of modernity with the act of painting. The exhibition will remain on view through July 18, 2014.

(more…)

A strange disagreement has arisen over the authenticity of a site-specific Damien Hirst spot painting, after a homeowner has attempted to remove the work from its location and sell it.  Jess Simpson purchased the home where the work was installed, and attempted to mount the piece on aluminum to resell it, but was met with a statement by Hirst’s Science LTD. which stated the work no longer could be considered authentic as Simpson did not own the certificate, and could not remove a site-specific work to profit from it: “The ownership of a wall painting in the series titled Wall Spots always resides with the owner of the Wall Spots signed certificate, which accompanies the art work.” (more…)

Adrian Ghenie, Darwin and the Satyr (2014) ©Adrian Ghenie Courtesy of The Pace Gallery

Tempestuous, chaotic and captivating are only a few of the many attributions to describe the delirious colors and harmonics of Adrian Ghenie. Born and raised in Romania, the thirty-seven year old artist often experiments with the set techniques of painting through extensions and variations of narrative, conveying eerie tales of decay and disarray throughout his works. On view at Pace Gallery in London until July 25th is Ghenie’s most recent body of work, featuring nine oil on linen paintings and a large-scale room installation, reflecting the artist’s approach to the roots of Western ideology and the impact of intellectual thinking. (more…)

Larry Clark, Knoxville (homage to Brad Renfro) (2011) all images via Osman Can Yerebakan

Currently on view at Luhring Augustine is a career spanning exhibition of Larry Clark, one of the most vocal representatives of the American youth since the early 60’s. Tulsa, the inspiration and the namesake of his infamous photography book, is where Clark began experimenting with photography at an early age with his mother’s camera, using his circle of friends as his object of interest.  Clark started to document the suburban lifestyle through the lens of a generation engaged with drug use, underage sex and violence. Adding further weight to the already graphic nature of his subject matter, the rawness and the honesty of Clark’s perspective as an insider’s point of view has marked him as one of the foremost voices in American photography. (more…)

Korakrit Arunanondchai has unveiled the trailer for his newest exhibition Letters to Chantri #1, opening this Friday at The Mistake Room.  Arunanondchai’s trailer continues his engagement with a cinematic approach to his work and his own artistic narrative, and features shots of him creating several of his body paint canvases, as his denim-clad assistants look on.  “Those paintings that you make,” the video text says, “they suffocate you.”  (more…)

Eddie Martinez, Untitled (2013), via Art Observed

Based in Williamsburg, The Journal has carved out a unique path for itself in the contemporary discourse, representing a group of young artists that share a particular interest in the capacity for intersections of painting, printmaking, and conceptual practice.  Sharing techniques rooted in repetition, abstracted figuration, humor, and an occasionally visceral approach to the painterly mark, the artists embraced by The Journal have come to represent a markedly cohesive school of practice in New York over the past years. (more…)

Alexander Calder, Occident (1975) all images courtesy Gagosian Gallery

On view at Gagosian Gallery in London is the second segment of a two-part exhibition of American sculptor and painter Alexander Calder’s gouache paintings. The first part was held in New York at Gagosian’s Madison Avenue location through June 14th, and on June 10th the second part opened in London, slated to continue through July 26th, 2014.

(more…)

Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, The Four Paintings about Sun, via Thaddeus Ropac

Now through July 12, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac is presenting Paintings about the Sun, new work by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. The exhibition will take place in Salzburg at the gallery’s Villa Kast location. The works on view represent a departure from many of the artist’s previous installed and illustrated investigations, with the conversational capacity of an image being tested while form and frame are disrupted then elaborated. The sun is a consistent presence throughout the work, represented as either a blinding impediment to vision or impossibly illuminating.

(more…)

Several artists have redesigned classic British battleships in London and Liverpool commemoration of the 100 year anniversary of the start of WWI.  The designs pay homage to the practice of “dazzle” paint jobs on battleships, designed to confuse attacking German U-Boats.  (more…)

The New York Times reports on the city of Oslo, and its role in the life of painter Edvard Munch after the artist spend several years healing from the abuse of his alcoholism.  Known for his tortured, dark works, Munch’s later canvases exude a certain brightness achieved as the artist returned to a degree of mental clarity.  “My mind is like a glass of cloudy water,” he wrote to a friend during his treatment in Copenhagen.  “I am now letting it stand to become clear again. I wonder what will happen when the dregs settle at the bottom.” (more…)

Zhang Xiaogang, The Prisoner of Book No. 5 (2014), Courtesy of Pace Gallery

One of the major artists tied to the recent boom of Chinese contemporary art, Zhang Xiaogang has gained some impressive recognition in the last decade, proven in particular by his recent auction record.  Referring to certain Western styles of Surrealism and German Expressionism, Ziaogang has been delivering a body of visually captivating figurative paintings, building a signature style from hybridized forms of the subliminal and the physical in human consciousness. (more…)

Official opening of ‘Jeff Koons: A Retrospective’ at The Whitney Museum of American Art, Images via Kelly Lee for Art Observed

After months of hushed tones and starstruck reports on the scale, cost and ambition of Jeff Koons’s career retrospective at The Whitney, the doors have opened at the museum for its last exhibition before the long-held 75th and Madison building is abandoned for its new Meatpacking District headquarters.  As indicated, the show has indeed pulled out the stops for Koons, with a combination of new works and classic pieces.

Jeff Koons, Amore (1988)

(more…)

The Shaped Canvas Revisited (Installation View), via Luxembourg and Dayan

On view at Luexembourg & Dayan in New York City is an exhibition focusing on painted works with a non-rectangular canvas. In 1964, The Shaped Canvas was an exhibition held at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, curated by Lawrence Alloway, revealing the desire to overthrow existing aesthetic hierarchies. The current exhibition revisits this 1964 exhibition, featuring more than two dozen works connecting the postwar history of the genre to present day use of the shaped canvas.

(more…)

Francis Bacon, Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer, via Sotheby’s

The sales have closed at Sotheby’s and another week of Contemporary Art Sales are underway in London.  The evening’s sales performed well above estimate, bringing in a final sales tally of $159 million for 51 of the 59 available lots. (more…)

Peter Doig’s Country-Rock (Wing-Mirror) will hit the auction block for the first time next week at Sotheby’s in London, and is estimated to bring in $15 million.  The work, part of Doig’s Country-Rock series, depicts a view of the mysterious, rainbow clad tunnel in Canada from the passenger seat of a car. (more…)

Court proceedings regarding the lawsuit filed by members of the Robert Rauschenberg Trust, demanding they receive up to $60 million in compensation for their work maintaining the foundation, are nearing their conclusion.  The plaintiffs claim that their work has grown the value of the Rauschenberg estate, and they should be paid accordingly. (more…)

Kurt Schwitters, Ja – Was? – Bild (1920), via Christie’s

The Impressionist and Modern Evening Sales concluded Tuesday evening, capping a pair of sales that saw impressive prices on a number of works without pushing any major new records for artists at auction.  (more…)

A public art collaboration between the Whitney Museum and the Highline will debut work by Alex Katz on the façade of 95 Horatio Street, just south of the elevated park.   The work, titled Katherine and Elizabeth, will remain on view for 8 to 12 months. (more…)

Claude Monet, Nymphéas (1906) via Sotheby’s

Following hot on the heels of the events of Art Basel just last week, the London outposts for Christie’s and Sotheby’s will open their doors for a pair of highly touted Impressionst and Modern Art Evening sales, beginning two final weeks of major art auctions before the art world moves into the summer lull.

Piet Mondrian, Composition with Red, Blue and Grey (1927) via Sotheby’s

(more…)