Andy Warhol, 20 Pink Maos (1979), via Phillips
Complementing the offering of new works across town at Regent’s Park, Phillips London has opened a week of auctions around Frieze Week, closing out its 30-lot sale this evening with a consistent sale, seeing 6 of the evening’s 30 lots go unsold to reach a final tally of £17,867,750. (more…)
Rudolf Stingel (Installation View), Copyright the artist, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London
Italian artist Rudolf Stingel takes over both of Sadie Coles HQ’s locations in London this month, bringing with him a typically enigmatic body of work that combines the artist’s interests in the role, transformation and translation of the painted image, taken in conjunction with its relation to photographic context, time and the natural world. (more…)
Cy Twombly, Untitled (New York City) (1968), via Sotheby’s
Tonight Sotheby’s has logged its response to Christie’s moderate outing last evening, as the auction house’s Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale saw steady, albeit occasionally slow proceedings, bringing a final sales tally of $294,850,000 with 13 of the 57 lots offered going unsold. (more…)
Willem de Kooning, Untitled XXVIII (1977), via Phillips
Sales resumed for New York’s fall auction weeks yesterday evening, as a Sunday sale at Phillips combined early 20th Century works and contemporary artists in a brisk sale that began strong but stumbled towards the later half of the sale, as 9 of 52 lots ultimately went unsold, achieving a final tally of $66.9 million (just within estimate). (more…)
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.
Rudolf Stingel, Untitled (Franz West) 2011, (Installation View) (2013)
Rudolf Stingel, the Italian-born, New York-based artist, is currently presenting an installation covering the entire of the Palazzo Grassi, the regal Venetian estate of billionaire  collector François Pinault. The exhibition is curated by the artist himself in partnership with Elena Geuna, the former director of Sotheby’s Europe. The project was designed specifically for the 3-story, 5,000 square meter building located on the Grand Canal in Venice. What’s more, the exhibition marks the first time the entire museum has been devoted to a single artist.
François Pinault, the Christie’s owner and art collector was recently profiled in the Wall Street Journal, highlighting the executive’s passion for contemporary art, and the current show of work by Rudolf Stingel at Pinault’s recently purchased Venetian palace the Palazzo Grassi.  “He is a sponge. He is willing to learn all the time,” says Elena Geuna, the former director of Sotheby’s Europe. (more…)
Paula Cooper, 74, discusses why she thinks the art world has become too homogeneous and ruminates that perhaps she’ll leave Chelsea. The first gallerist to open a space in Soho and one of the first to move to Chelsea in the 90s, she has seen major changes in her 40+ years in the business, but continues to draw crowds and run her gallery’s program with a youthful energy. (more…)
Rudolf Stingel – Untitled (2012), courtesy The Gagosian Gallery
In 2007, as part of his mid-career retrospective shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Whitney Museum in New York, Italian artist Rudolf Stingel installed several massive sheets of aluminum-faced insulation material, inviting gallery-goers to inscribe their own messages, images and writings into the delicate face of the originally pristine walls.  The result was a long expanse of graffitied surfaces, a testament to the exhibition’s existence as much as it was a record of its visitors.
Tuesday morning of the VIP Preview;Â All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse
Art Basel’s 43rd edition commenced today with the first of two VIP Preview days.  The VIP Vernissage, however, drew a private audience yesterday evening, where the Art Unlimited and Art Standard programs were unveiled, revealing a collection of artwork impressive in both size and scope.  Today was also the preview and opening receptions for Basel’s companion fairs, like LISTE 17 and Design Miami/Basel.  Fair and section specific photosets for collective Basel happenings will be posted throughout the upcoming days.
Art Basel directors Annette Schönholzer and Marc Spiegler at the press conference
Louise Bourgeois, Untitled (2004). All photos on site by Art Observed.
The last of the throng at the first Frieze Art Fair on Randall’s Island in New York City petered out Monday afternoon yet, the most avid collectors simply shifted course to the remainder auction sales at Christie’s and Philips de Pury. Overall, gallerists at the fair appeared to be immensely pleased with the inaugural event, some booths claiming blowout sales, while others were content with merely executing reserve transactions.
John Ahearn casts a fairgoer in plaster as part of Frieze Projects
Gavin Brown and Mark Ruffalo cooking sausages. All photographs by Aubrey Roemer for Art Observed.
The always fresh but now venerable Frieze Art Fair of Regent’s Park, London, has successfully completed its maiden voyage to this side of the Atlantic. The pavilion, designed by Brooklyn-based SO-IL Architects, places Frieze New York on Randall’s Island Park from May 4-7, 2012. The fair is being held in a distinctly snakelike structure that houses 180 leading contemporary galleries presenting works by more than 1,000 artists. There are a number of culinary options as well: Roberta’s, The Fat Radish Café, Frankie’s Spuntino Restaurant, Sant Abroeus Café and the Standard Biergarten.
Michael Snow, Paris de jugement Le and / or State of the Arts (2003)
Michael Snow and Rudolf Stingel are currently showing at Secession in Vienna. While they incorporate different mediums, both Snow and Stingel’s works explore the interplay between art and audience, and utilize the exhibition spaces as fluid, living installations.
All photos by Caroline Claisse.
Currently on view at the Punta della Dogana, housed in the magnificent Palazzo Grassi, is “The World Belongs to You.” Curated by Caroline Bourgeois, the exhibition brings together artists from different generations, geographical locations, and practices to explore history and current realities.
The Punta della Dogana became the official exhibition space of Francois Pinault‘s private collection in 2006, when he purchased the building from the city of Venice. It now houses works from internationally renowned contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons, Urs Fischer, Maurizio Cattelan, and Takashi Murakami.
Urs Fischer’s violet piano at Punta della Dogana.
More text and images after the jump… (more…)
Installation image, all photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed unless otherwise noted
Currently on view at the Palais de Toyko is Fresh Hell, a group exhibition curated by British-born New York-based artist Adam McEwen. Shedding a bit of dark humor on the city of Paris, McEwen brings together medieval sculpture and conceptual work from artists long forgotten as well as contemporary artists, pondering just what sort of position and creative endeavors an artist can make in today’s world. The works deal with morbidity, decay, and notions of ‘the end,’ making Death the principle theme.
More text and images after the jump…
Andy Warhol, Coca-Cola [4] [Large Coca-Cola], 1962 (est. $20-25 million, realized $34.5 million), via Sothebys.com
Auction goers at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale on Tuesday night were offered glass bottles of Coca-Cola before entering the saleroom in honor of the auction’s featured lot – Andy Warhol‘s Coca-Cola [4] [Large Coca-Cola]. The painting sold for $35.4 million against a high presale estimate of $25 million and was, like the Warhol for sale at Phillips Monday night, the evening’s top lot. The Sotheby’s auction was comprised of 54 lots (not including a work by Felix Gonzales-Torres, which was withdrawn) that brought in $222.5 million against presale estimates of $151.8-214.5 million. The sale had a sell through rate of 90.7% by lot and 97.1% by value with 5 of 54 lots unsold.
More after the jump…
Polar Bears of the Liro, Marc Quinn (2008) Sold within estimate range for £97,250
The Contemporary Sales at Phillips de Pury & Company on Saturday October 17 offered a truly diverse selection of works from premier Contemporary artists. The 43-lot evening sale included four unique works by Martin Kippenberger from the Bleich-Rossi Collection alongside exciting works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lucio Fontana, Steven Parrino, On Kawara, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Jonathan Meese. The Day sale kicked off with a charity auction of twenty-one works by internationally renowned artists, including Anselm Kiefer, Rudolf Stingel and Francesco Vezzoli, to benefit the EMERGENCY charitable organization. The total sales from the Day sale amounted to £2,643,713 and the Evening sale brought in £4,104,950 against a low estimate of £5 million.
Concetto Spaziale, Lucio Fontana (1958-60)
Related Links:
Phillips de Pury & Company Website
Full List of Auction Results [Phillips de Pury]
Basquiat sells as buyers get picky at Choosy at $6.7 million auction [Bloomberg]
Signs of Life in London’s Art Market [WSJ]
A Whole New Spectrum of Buyers [Art Market Monitor]
More text and images after the jump….
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Installation view of Rudolf Stingel’s exhibition at Sadie Coles HQ
Rudolf Stingel’s third solo exhibition at Sadie Coles HQ in London is now on view. The Italian artist continues his conceptual exploration of painting, with a series of gauze paintings as well as photorealistic paintings of medieval statues of saints. Stingel’s gauze paintings are made by placing gauze over a wet canvas, spraying paint over top, then removing the gauze. Both series toy with the idea of memory and the idea of originality.
Rudolf Stingel’s ‘Untitled’ at Sadie Coles HQ
Rudolf Stingel [Sadie Coles HQ]
Rudolf Stingel’s ‘Untitled’ at Sadie Coles HQ
Untitled #153, Cindy Sherman (1985). Via Skarstedt Gallery
The current group show at Skarstedt Gallery on E79th Street in New York exhibits the efforts of nine artists to tackle a genre that is of great importance in the canon of Art History: the Self-Portrait. Once a tool for self-promotion and notoriety, the staff at the Skarstedt Gallery recognize the self-portrait as “a conceptual apparatus of history and are at the disposal of anyone who employs it.” In this instance, the Gallery presents the viewer with the self-fashioned images of Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, Rudolf Stingel, John Coplands, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, Robert Mapplethorpe, Yasumasa Morimura, and Albert Oehlen within the framework of four iconographical themes: Glory, Desire, The Masquerade and Fading.
Untitled (Self-Portrait), Martin Kippenberger (1988). Via Skarstedt Gallery
Related Links:
Skarstedt Gallery Homepage [Skarstedt Gallery]
Self-Portraits at the Skarstedt Gallery event page [Skarstedt Gallery]
Self-Portraits, by Ken Johnson [New York Times]
More text and pictures after the jump…..
Instructions (1989) via Saatchi
Paula Cooper Gallery is currently showing works on paper by Rudolf Stingel, in the recently opened 23rd Street space. Back in 1989, Stingel published a manual giving instructions for how to make knockoffs of his work; here Stingel paints directly onto those black-and-white instruction photos. He also follows his own directions and applies white onto white producing abstract patterns. The exhibition will be open through June 7th.
Rudolf Stingel [Paula Cooper Gallery]
Rudolf Stingel [ArtCal]
