Trance, the newest film by British director Danny Boyle features a selection of three recreations of Goya’s Witches in the Air, done by British artist Charlie Cobb.  The replicas were used to emphasize the densely textured surface of the work, as digital replicas or prints can often appear distorted or unconvincing on film.  The work involved the acquiring of rare paints, as well as hours of study viewing the work.  “Just to stand in front of it, you get a real feel for the painting.” says Cobb.
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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…)

Gert and Uwe Tobias, Untitled ’13 (Installation View), via Team Gallery

Continuing in their uniquely distinctive practice that weaves printmaking, installation, sculpture and typography, twin brothers Gert and Uwe Tobias are currently exhibiting a selection of new work at Team Gallery in New York City.

Gert and Uwe Tobias, Untitled (GUT 2055) (2012), via Team Gallery (more…)

Dirk Skreber, pain(t)ology and other trials (Installation View), via Petzel Gallery

German Dirk Skreber paints works at the intersection of cultural subsets, depicting moments of intense violence and figures abstracted from the pages of science-fiction. Revisiting the immediacy of violence and collision of forces.  Currently, the artist is exhibiting a selection of new works at Petzel Gallery in Chelsea, titled pain(t)ology and other trials. (more…)

Sotheby’s is currently facing a lawsuit from a past customer, who discovered that a work he had purchased through the auction house was reportedly once owned by Herman Goering, the Nazi leader recognized as the founder of the Gestapo.  The piece, an 18th century painting by Louis-Michel van Loo, was sold in 2004, but was unable to be resold when questions arose about how Goering acquired the piece.  The plaintiff, Steven Brooks, claims that Sotheby’s sold the work fraudulently, knowing about its questionable origins, as well as knowing that the work would be difficult to resell. (more…)

Alexis Adler, a former girlfriend of Jean-Michel Basquiat, has released news of a massive collection of the late artist’s drawings, photographs, and paintings, some scrawled on the walls and appliances of the East Village apartment that the two shared in the late 1970’s.  Given the artist’s current popularity, the collection is of particular note for its thorough documentation of much of Basquiat’s early development as an artist.  Adler is currently planning a book documenting the collection, as well as an auction of the work.  “The thing that’s most interesting is the material she has to support the actual artwork,” said former Gracie Mansion director Sur Rodney Sur. “A lot of the signage he used in his work over and over again, this was when he was developing it. The idea that it’s all together in one place makes it even more important.” (more…)

Rita Ackerman, Fire by Days XXI (2012), Courtesy the artists and Vito Schnabel

Assembled by the young curator Vito Schnabel (son of artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel), White Collar Crimes, at Acquavella Galleries, brings together a collection of new abstract and conceptual works from emerging and internationally recognized artists, exploring the themes of concealment of crime by wealth, high level education and social status. Connecting concepts such as identity, historical erosion, commercialization, and political satire, the show opens the door to complexly interconnected readings of the subjects and artists on view, while directly addressing the context and location of the event itself. According to Schnabel, the exhibition  “proposes an interplay between obscure ciphers and spectacular discoveries.”

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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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The New York Times has published a profile on art forger Guy Ribes, whose remarkably accurate forgeries of works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir are being used in the biographical film exploring the life of the late artist (Watch Trailer).  Ribes, who served several years in prison for forging works by renowned artists and selling them to a criminal art ring, was brought in to recreate works by Renoir, as well as works the artist may have painted.  “It’s funny, isn’t it,” Says writer Jean-Baptiste Péretié, “that the same thing that led to his conviction is what he’s being paid legally to do?” (more…)

James Angus, John Deere Model D (2013), via Gavin Brown’s Enterprise

Pulling together three disparate artists in its three galleries on Greenwich Street in  New York’s West Village, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise is currently presenting a group of works that illuminate and reinterpret the construction of physical and structural realities.  Combining sculptural, installation projects, assemblage and conceptual painting practices, the works on-view by James Angus, Rikrit Tiravanija and Jonathan Horowitz highlight their drastically different conceptual practices in exploring similar thematic territory.  

Rikrit Tiravanija, Untitled (2013), via Gavin Brown’s Enterprise

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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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Portage Falls on the Genessee, a painting by Hudson River School Founder Thomas Cole has been removed from the Seward House Historic Museum in Auburn, NY by its owner, citing poor protection of the work by the institution.  The removal of the painting, given to then New York Governor William Seward by the artist in thanks for his work o the Erie Canal, has caused a stir in the upstate town, with many describing its removal and potential sale as a “betrayal.”  “You’re giving away the centerpiece of the Seward House. The picture is integral to the museum. It doesn’t make any sense.”  Says Hudson River Museum director  Michael Botwinick. (more…)

The New York Times has published a profile of the recently deceased Lisa de Kooning, daughter of 20th Century American painter Willem de Kooning.  The article traces her youth in New York City, her active championing of her father’s estate after his death in 1997, and her struggles with alcohol and drugs, which ultimately led to her early death.  “She had an immense amount of talent,” says actor Alex Kilgore, “but she knew what genius was and she could never free herself from her own eye.” (more…)

Matisse: In Search of True Painting, (Installation View),via The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City opened the exhibition “Matisse: In Search of True Painting” on December 4th 2012. Dedicated to Henri Matisse’s painting process, and highlighting his tendency to “repeat compositions in order to compare effects,” the exhibition includes forty-nine works, emphasizing the artist’s lifelong work with pairs, trios, and series, and exploring his artistic exercise of variance to discover the true essence of an image.

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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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The European Fine Art Fair, which opened its doors to VIP buyers today in the Netherlands, is offering over $5.2 billion in museum-quality artwork and antiques this year, including a “reasonable” $14 million painting by Velzaquez.  “Collectors, or more generally rich people, will continue to buy what the market considers are the best pieces,” says art adviser Henry Bounameaux. “At fairs like Tefaf, they feel secure.” (more…)

Outside the Park Ave Armory for the ADAA Art Show

With another hectic Armory Week comes another edition of the Art Dealers Association of America’s Art Show, open at the Park Avenue Armory.  Now in its 25th edition, The Art Show is the nation’s longest continually running art fair, offering viewers a smaller, more scaled back experience in contrast with The Armory Show held out on New York’s Hell’s Kitchen Piers.  The show’s more focused collection of 72 leading dealers and galleries allow viewers a slightly less overwhelming experience moving from booth to booth, and also provide slightly more space for the work to breath.

Damien Hirst at Van de Weghe (more…)

The View from Outside The 2013 Armory Show

The doors opened this morning on the 2013 edition of the Armory Art show, welcoming press and VIP’s into the massive exhibition halls of Piers 92 and 94 on the waterfront of New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.  It was a special year for New York’s biggest annual art event, marking the 100 year anniversary of its namesake, the 1913 exhibition that welcomed the European avant-garde to American shores, and gave many their first glimpses of Marcel Duchamp, Matisse and Edvard Munch, among many others.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg Makes the Opening Remarks at The 2013 Armory Show (more…)

Jonathan Wateridge, Boy on a Wall (2012), via L&M Arts

Inter + Vista, an exhibition of new paintings by Jonathan Wateridge, marks the artist’s first exhibition in Los Angeles, presented by L&M Arts. The exhibition highlights Wateridge’s interest in the relationship of the traditional medium of oil paint on canvas and linen with placid scenes of contemporary society. (more…)

The Gagosian Gallery’s current retrospective of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat is drawing impressive crowds to the gallery’s Chelsea location on 24th St.  Weekend attendance has frequently topped 3,000 visitors a day, and weekday attendance has seen somewhere from 1,000 to 2,000 visitors daily.  Attendance numbers are only expected to grow, with the upcoming Armory Show bringing much of the art world to New York City. (more…)

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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The notoriously reclusive painter David Hockney has reportedly snubbed repeated attempts to grant him the Freedom of the British city of Bridlington, where he has lived and worked for many years.  Local officials in the East Yorkshire town have also attempted to name a town gallery after him, but abandoned the effort when they could not establish contact.  “Unfortunately, we have not been able to obtain any response from Mr Hockney regarding the renaming of a gallery at The Spa or indeed in relation to the granting of the Freedom of Bridlington and I have to conclude therefore that this is something which does not appeal to him.”  Said Nigel Pearson, chief executive of Bridlington. (more…)

Julie Mehretu, Mind Breath and Beat Drawings (Installation View), via Marian Goodman

Marian Goodman Gallery in Paris is currently exhibiting a new series of works by painter and illustrator Julie Mehretu. in a show which Mehretu described as a ‘self-ethnographic project,’ involving a dissection of her identity as an artist through a free abstraction of her personal creative practice. The show is Mehretu’s first solo exhibition in France.

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Zhang Xiaogang, Beijing Voice (Installation View), Courtesy of PACE Beijing

PACE Beijing is currently exhibiting a selection new works by Chinese painter Zhang Xiaogang, showcasing the artist’s interpretations of Chinese identity, memory and relation.  The exhibition, part of PACE’s annual Beijing Voice’s event, is the first stop on the artist’s work in a global tour which will also include PACE exhibitions at their locations in New York and London. (more…)