Nowness has posted a video piece by Martin Rietti focusing on Yayoi Kusama’s studio work, and her fascination with patterns and motifs such as the polka-dot.  “When I was painting I found the same pattern on the ceiling, stairs and windows like they were all over,” Kusama says. (more…)

The dispute over the movement of Picasso’s Le Tricorne tapestry from the Four Seasons restaurant in New York has resulted in a lawsuit, filed by the Landmarks Conservancy (which owns the piece), in an attempt to prevent any movement that could damage or destroy the work.  “We’re just trying to do our duty and trying to keep a lovely interior landmark intact,” says Peg Breen, president of the conservancy. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on one man’s repeated attempts to authenticate a work he believes is a Mark Rothko. Douglas Himmelfarb purchased the painting in 1987 for $319.50, but has had many problems with authenticating the work, as a number of experts refused to confirm the work’s authenticity.  “I think I had a little too much braggadocio after I found the painting,” Himmelfarb says. “Maybe that’s part of the problem. I thought, ‘This is great, and I did it.'” (more…)

Martin Kippenberger, Untitled (from the series Raft of the Medusa) (1996), Art Observed

One of the last series of work from Martin Kippenberger, The Raft of the Medusa is nothing if not impressive.  Taking the dramatic tableau of Theodore Géricault’s 19th century work as his inspiration, the artist threw himself body and soul into this series of paintings, drawings, photographs, and even a single tapestry, turning his own body into the fuel for a powerful engagement with the destruction and pathos of the original work.  It’s this inspiration that sits at the center of Skarstedt Gallery’s current show of the series of works, compiling Kippenberger’s sketches and photographs alongside his series of visceral, energetic canvases, which served as the apex of his work in the series.  

Martin Kippenberger, Untitled (from the series Raft of the Medusa) (1996), via Art Observed (more…)

Julian Schnabel, Flag Paintings, via Art Observed

Currently on view at Karma on Great Jones Street in New York is an exhibition of new work by American artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel, featuring spray and ink painted flags Schnabel found and has used as a canvas, changing the meaning of the symbols and questioning nationalistic, religious, and cultural definitions.

Julian Schnabel, Flag Paintings (Installation View), via Art Observed

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Carter, Beside Myself (Installation View), via Art Observed

Currently on view at Lisa Cooley’s Lower East Side exhibition space is a body of new work by Carter, including paintings, drawings, photography, sculpture and film from the artist’s wide-ranging and impressive output.  Continuing his exploration of varying identities and their interconnected relationships to the art object, the show continues Carter’s ongoing interest with presence throughout.

Carter, Fully Present (2013-2014), via Lisa Cooley (more…)

Pieter Vermeersch, Untitled (2013), all images courtesy Team Gallery, Inc.

Currently on view at Team Gallery in Lower Manhattan is a solo show from Belgian artist Pieter Vermeersch, composed of large paintings on canvas and wall murals, for which he has employed techniques of grid painting and color mapping, reminiscent of Gerhard Richter and Robert Bechtle. The exhibition will continue through April 27, 2014.

Pieter Vermeersch (Installation View)

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Ross Bleckner, via Art Observed

Painter Ross Bleckner has returned to New York this spring, with an exhibition of new paintings at Mary Boone Gallery, featuring several continuations of past series of works, while branching off in new directions.  It’s been some time since the last solo exhibition of works by Ross Bleckner in New York, nearly four years to be exact, and the artist seems to have been biding his time, putting together a strong selection of works.

Ross Bleckner, ALP30 (2013), via Mary Boone (more…)

Actor Antonio Banderas has been chosen to portray Pablo Picasso in an upcoming film by Carlos Saura.  Banderas will act alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, who will play the artist’s longtime muse, Dora Maar.  “I turned down the chance at one point of playing Mr. Pablo, but the time has come in my life where I understand him better,” says Banderas. “I am nearly at the age he was when those events happened, in 1937, when he was 55 or 56, and I’m getting close.” (more…)

The shortlist for the BP Portrait Award has been announced, featuring works by Thomas Ganter, Richard Twose, and David Jon Kassman.  The nominees will be on view at London’s National Portrait Gallery from  June 26th to September 21st, with the winner announced just before the exhibition opens on June 24th. (more…)

Scottish-born painter Alan Davie passed away last week at the age of 93.  Davie’s expressionistic, abstract canvases earned him considerable attention during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, and was considered as a major influence on the work of David Hockney.  The artist’s work is currently the subject of a major retrospective at the Tate Britain.  “It’s an urge, an intensity, a kind of sexual need,” Mr. Davie said recently in an interview with The Telegraph. “I don’t practice painting or drawing as an art, in the sense of artifice, of making an imitation of something. It’s something I do from an inner compulsion, that has to come out.” (more…)

Ali Banisadr, Ran (2014), all images courtesy Sperone Westwater

Currently on view at Sperone Westwater in New York is an exhibition of new works by Iranian painter Ali Banisadr.  Entitled Motherboard, the exhibition is Banisadr’s first solo show at at the gallery, and will remain on view through April 19, 2014.

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Michael Majerus, your bad taste (2002), via Matthew Marks

Spread over Matthew Marks Gallery’s spaces on 502, 522 and West 22nd Street is an exhibition of works by late Berlin-based artist Michael Majerus.  Presenting over twenty-five paintings and multimedia installations, the show is the most comprehensive of Majerus’s work in the United States as well as the first staged in the country since his life was cut short at the age of 35 by a plane crash in 2002.

Michael Majerus, pornography needs you (2001), via Matthew Marks

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Rudolf Stingel, Untitled (2010), all images courtesy Gagosian Gallery

Painter Rudolf Stingel is currently on view at Gagosian Gallery, presenting an exhibition of the artist’s monumental landscapes. Although several of the works were exhibited in 2010 in Berlin at the Neue Nationalgalerie, this exhibition at Gagosian New York represents their U.S. premier.

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Oscar Murillo, Distribution Center (Installation View), via Art Observed

The newly opened Los Angeles Gallery The Mistake Room is inaugurating its downtown space with Oscar Murillo’s Distribution Center, a show of recent works by the artist.  Murillo, who is only 28, is perhaps best known for his large-scale paintings, if not for his young age and recent rise to the upper echelons of the art market. Here, his signature style is quickly noted, with canvases bordering on sculptural assemblage, debris and ephemera from his studio and travels are directly transplanted on to the canvas. Even in their installation, very few works happen to hang directly on the wall. Instead, they litter the floor and table surfaces like large, mis-matched carpet tiles, creating a kind of multi-layered horizontal work across the length of the room.

Oscar Murillo, Untitled (2014), via Art Observed (more…)

An agreement between Cornelius Gurlitt and the German government was announced on Monday, which gives state-appointed investigators one year to analyze the works seized from Mr. Gurlitt’s home.  The deal bypasses the German statute of limitations for stolen property (30 years), and shows the government’s increased willingness to deal with claims over works looted during the Nazi era.  “We are dealing with a top-class team of experts, and given Mr. Gurlitt’s advanced age and frail health, it can be expected that they should be able to complete their work within this time frame,” says spokesman Stephan Holzinger. (more…)

More information is being released on the upcoming Damien Hirst biography, the Art Newspaper reports.  The book, which will see release next year, will include a look at Hirst’s early work curating the now famed show Freeze in London’s docklands, and the Sensation show at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. (more…)

Damien Loeb, Tycho (2013), via Acquavella

Acquavella is currently showing a rare exhibition of new works by painter Damien Loeb,  featuring a series of paintings and sketches created over the past year, and focusing on Planet Earth’s unique position in the solar system.  Titled SOL-D, the series of oil paintings and sketches take their inspiration from a series of photographs Loeb made over the past decade, digital images captured on airplane flights, stargazing, and satellite images that document the celestial atmospheres of Earth and beyond. (more…)

Angolan millionaire Rui Costa Reis has reportedly made a offer to purchase the nation of Portugal’s collection of works by Joan Miró, making a 44 million euro offer for the collection of 85 paintings.  The works were previously made for sale in February, but the offering was canceled after strong protests in Portugal. Barring a sale, the works will reportedly be on the auction block at Christie’s in London this June. (more…)

The Guardian has published an in-depth look at the early work of Thierry Noir, one of the first graffiti artists to paint on the Berlin Wall during the 1980’s.  In the profile, Noir recounts his taunting of West German guards, his developing style, and his meeting with Keith Haring, who painted over one of Noir’s works.  “I talked to Keith and he was embarrassed and apologized,” Noir writes. “He said: ‘In New York you can get killed for that’. He was invited over and the section of Wall had been pre-prepared for him. The yellow was very transparent so you could see my statues through it. I was angry, but it was not his fault.” (more…)

A pair of paintings by Gaugin and Bonnard, stolen from a London collector in 1970, have resurfaced in the home of an Italian autoworker, the Guardian reports.  The pieces were purchased at auction in 1975 for a sum of 45,000 lira (€39 or £32, equal to £300 today), and sat in the kitchen of his home for many years, before the owner’s son noticed a similarity between the works and other Impressionist masterpieces.  “The worker, it seems clear, didn’t know what they were,” says Mariano Mossa, commander of the Italian heritage police. (more…)

Rankin, A. Galerie, Paris, all photos by Andrea Nguyen for Art Observed

Launched in 1998, the Art Paris fair has charted a course of its own through the increasingly glutted calendar of sales events internationally, sitting squarely between the behemoth proceedings of New York’s Armory Show and the bustle of Hong Kong’s recent Art Basel edition.  This past weekend saw the 2014 edition of the Art Paris Art Fair come and go, as 140 galleries set up shop in the Grand Palais for several days of strong sales, and an impressive attendance count of 58,387, up 10% from last year.   (more…)

In collaboration with the City of New York, Fabergé is launching a large-scale egg hunt this Easter season, placing 22 artist-designed eggs  around the city, for participants to track down.  The selection of eggs are specially designed by artists Jeff Koons, Julian Schnabel, and Bruce Weber, among others. (more…)

Maria Lassnig, Lady with Brain (1990), via Art Observed

The work of Maria Lassnig is deceptive in its simplicity.  Bright, seasick colors and sloping, often pathos-inspiring, self-portraits seem to fade in and out of focus, occasionally giving away to the staunch white of the surrounding canvas.  In others, the artist blends cool tones and and an even smoother application to create pieces almost completely vacant in their emotional intensity.  But in each work, a powerful subtext can be detected, a self-awareness both vocally present and consistently self-aware in its definition and re-defining of itself.  (more…)