Installation view of Sol LeWitt’s ‘Forms Derived from a Cube’ via PaceWildenstein

Currently on view at PaceWildenstein‘s East 57th Street location is Sol LeWitt‘s ‘Forms Derived from a Cube,’ an exhibition featuring wall drawings, gouaches, and sculptures from the 1980s.    LeWitt used the form of the cube to create a vocabulary that formed the basis of his practice throughout his career. As a universal form, the cube requires no interpretation on the part of the viewer and allowed the artist to create a multitude of figures and images using only an essential idea.

Sol LeWitt: Forms Derived from a Cube [PaceWildenstein]
Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective [MASS MoCA]

Installation view of Sol LeWitt’s ‘Forms Derived from a Cube’ via PaceWildenstein

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Marc Quinn’s Blood Head Self-Portrait displayed in a refrigeration unit at The National Gallery in London via Guardian

The National Portrait Gallery in London acquires and shows the most recent of Marc Quinn’s self-portraits created with the use of artist’s own blood [Bloomberg]

Titian, Diana and Acteaon via Artdaily

In related, Titian’s Diana and Acteaon, one of the six large-scale mythologies inspired by Ovid, acquired by The National Gallery in London, is to be displayed at Trafalgar Square [Artdaily]
Three paintings attributed to Adolf Hitler were sold at Weidler’s auction house in Germany for an accumulative price of  $60,000 to three phone bidders [The New York Times]
The Museo National del Prado’s is exhibiting 2 Sorolla paintings of the Fanjul family that were illegally confiscated by the Cuban government which may cast the museum’s directors legal bind [Reuters]
A private European collector helps settle a 7-Year discord between the Swedish Moderna Museet and heirs of a Jewish businessman over a Nazi-looted Nolde painting and in related, Dutch Museums will return 13 artworks lost during Nazi occupation to heirs of Jewish collectors [Bloomberg]

Velázquez, Portrait of a Man via The New York Times

After restoration and cleaning of “Portrait of a Man” in MET’s collection, the author of the painting attributed to Vélazquez’ workshop is confirmed to be Vélazquez himself [The New York Times]
Phillips de Pury auction house, known for its focus on contemporary art, is adding 18 new sales for the upcoming year and a half [The Wall Street Journal]
As the market fluctuates, art collectors seize opportunities of investment, yet the auction market based on no identical units, making calculated predictions almost impossible, turn investing into gambling [NYTimes]
The Glyndebourne Opera House, England to sell a painting by the Italian Old Master, Domenichino; estimated at $16.5 million [Bloomberg]
Bill Viola declines an invitation to participate in a culture summit, organized by Pope Benedict XVI in an attempt to reconcile spirituality and artistic expression, supposedly due to the artist’s disagreement with policies put forth by the Vatican and the Catholic Church [Artnet]

Six of the missing works by Andy Warhol via Telegraph

$1million is being offered for a lead to locating the “Athletes” series by Andy Warhol from Richard Weisman’s collection that has been stolen from the collector’s Los Angeles residence [Telegraph]
Pencils from an installation by Damien Hirst were stolen by a 17-year old artist named Cartrain [The Independent] who had been stripped of his artwork for incorporating Damien Hirst’s ideas into his collages [ArtObserved]
“You can be immortalized in an artwork” says Damien Hirst in his search for a numerous sets of identical twins to literally become part of his artwork at Tate Modern [Guardian]

Charles Saatchi with his wife Nigella Lawson via The Independent

“My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am an Artoholic”, a book written by Charles Saatchi, who almost never gives interviews, is released without a loud PR campaign and is written in a format of potential interviewer’s questions and answers [Guardian UK]
Aleksandra Mir’s installation at Collective gallery in Edinburgh consists of rows of a limited edition cookbook titled “The How Not to Cookbook: Lessons Learned the Hard Way” [The Moment]
German police uncover a thousand fake Giacometti bronzes in the possession of  a man who tried to sell them as originals [Art Market Monitor]
An editorial on the state of galleries dictated by the financial market provides an encompassing snapshot of what a gallery represents in the art-world and how it is likely to function in the current economic condition [NYTimes]

Bruce Nauman’s skywriting fittingly reads “Leave The Land Alone” via Los Angeles Times

On September 12 in Pasadena, artist Bruce Nauman realized his skywriting project, reading Leave the Land Alone, after a 40 year wait [Los Angeles Times]
Frédéric Mitterrand’s appointment to the post of French minister of culture is well received by most for his extensive previous background  and involvement in the world of art and culture [The Art Newspaper]
London’s Outset Contemporary Art Fund brings artwork to a fair to be seen publicly and then purchased by the Tate [Bloomberg]
The story of Tony Shafrazi, art terrorist and later gallerist [Artnet]

A view of Sol LeWitt’s unveiled mural at 59th street via Gothamist

Sol LeWitt’s mural, comprised of 250 porcelain tiles, is installed at Columbus Circle subway station in Manhattan[Lindsay Pollock]
Run by oligarch Viktor Pinchuk, the PinchukArtCenter in Kiev announces a new art Prize and the shortlisted 20 nominees [ArtReview]
Gagosian’s plan for a gallery in Paris’ prestigious 8th arrondissement promises to gain instant success by providing access to Picasso’s work [Bloomberg]
In related, Gagosian is to open a bookstore on Madison avenue in Manhattan selling books, catalogues, magazines and Jeff Koons puppy vase that come in an edition of 3,000 [Art fag City]
UBS, a global financial services firm, is to close its gallery in Manhattan in an attempt to cut back on costs [Artinfo]

A photograph of Emmanuel Perrotin via The Selby

The Selby visits Emmanuel Perrotin at his gallery in Paris [The Selby]
Research shows that visitors to museums housing modern art are likely to respond emotionally, while those viewing ancient artworks are more prompt to describing their experiences in more cognitive terms [Miller McCune via Artinfo]
“The Art of the Steal”, a documentary film by Don Argott, explores the Barnes Foundation, a Post-Impressionist and early Modern art collection [The New York Times]
John Currin interviewed by Glenn O’Brien speaks about art, the art market and shares personal stories [Interview Magazine]
The rating service Moody’s estimates the current financial troubles and hence auction market distress to persist and drops Sotheby’s corporate credit rating by one level [Bloomberg]
Kara Walker’s participation in Whitney’s Biennial is manifested in an email correspondence with the organizer of the show documenting the artist’s refusal to participate in the Biennial [Artnet]

Centquatre art space in Paris via The Daily Undertaker

A site of the Municipal Funeral Services in Paris is now turned into an arts center providing the capital’s northern reaches an art initiative it has been lacking [Financial Times]
A survey of artistic practice based on technology and its move towards the usage of the Internet as means of expression [The New York Times]
Thomas Campbell, director of Met, shares his plans for the museum in an interview with The Art Newspaper [The Art Newspaper]
American artist Greg Wyatt’s 22-thousand-pound bronze sculpture “Two Rivers” is being transported to Piazza della Signoria in Florence, “the soul of the world of sculpture,” where it is to become the first American displayed at that location [Bloomberg]
An interview with the billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, who spoke about democratization of art and educational reforms [The Wall Street Journal]

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Gilbert & George’s ‘Great Expectations,’ via MoMA

On view through October 5, 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York is ‘In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960-1976,’ an exhibition that examines the beginnings of conceptualism and the role that international travel – in this case, particularly between Amsterdam and Los Angeles – played in shaping the movement. The exhibition includes ten American and European artists, from heavy-hitters such as Sol LeWitt and Lawrence Weiner, to the mythologized, like Bas Jan Ader and Stanley Brouwn, to lesser-known and peripheral figures such as Charlotte Posenenske. The focal point is the now-defunct but highly influential Amsterdam gallery Art & Project. Founders Geert van Beijeren and Adriaan van Ravesteijn gifted the museum 230 works in 2007, which make up the majority of the 75 works that appear in the exhibition.

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Sol LeWitt’s ‘Area of Amsterdam Between Leidseple Jan Dibbets’s House and Kunstijsbaan Jaapeden,’ via MoMA

Related Links:
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In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960–197 [MoMA]
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MoMA Trumpets Amsterdam’s Role as Hub of Conceptual Art [Art21]
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Amsterdam as Hub for Globetrotting Conceptualists [NY Times]
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Conceptual Motion [New Yorker]
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Whatsits and Thingamabobs [NYObserver]
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In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960 – 1976 [ScribeMedia Art Culture]
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In & Out of Amsterdam at the Museum of Modern Art [Art Critical]
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Conceptual artists from Amsterdam and Los Angeles go dutch at MoMA [TimeOut NY]
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Looking at MoMA’s “In & Out of Amsterdam” [Hrag Vartanian]
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On Text & Art [Jen Bekman]
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Stunning and Flat [After Art News]

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Bas Jan Ader’s ‘Art & Bulletin 89,’ via MoMA

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Sol Lewitt, Wall Drawing 821A, via MASS MoCA

The MASS MoCA has created a tribute to Sol LeWitt’s prolific body of wall drawings, selecting 105 of the more than 1200 to be recreated in its own building on site.  The ambitious project, funded by Yale University Art Gallery and MASS MoCA, was formed from conversations between the director of the Gallery and LeWitt himself. Patrons of the Gallery are h0ping the installation will be a massive asset to art education.  In accordance with this mission, podcasts are available for audio tours, and a book is being published in conjunction with the work entitled Sol LeWitt: 100 Views, which includes 100 new essays on his work from valued experts in the art world. New Yorkers will remember his exhibit which ended this summer at the MoMA, and his recent addition to the Subway. His art was part of a retrospective in 2000 by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which traveled to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Related Links:
Sol Lewitt: A Drawing Retrospective [MASS MoCA]
Event Details [MASS MoCA]
Sol LeWitt, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art [Financial Times]

More images, text and video after the jump…

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A glimpse of the Sol LeWitt mural, ‘Swirls and Whirls,’ being constructed in the Columbus Circle subway station, via NY Times

A mural designed for the Columbus Circle subway station in New York by Sol LeWitt in 2007, just before his death, is nearly complete [NY Times]

In related, Turner Prize winner Richard Long designs the cover for the London Tube Map [FAD]
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid has seen visitor numbers quadruple since the opening of its Henri Matisse exhibit [Art Daily]
Following the success of earlier Beyond Limits exhibitions, Sotheby’s announces its fourth contemporary sculpture exhibit at Chatsworth including works by Henry Moore, Marc Quinn, Zhan Wang, among others [Auction Publicity]

Jeff Koons via the Telegraph UK

Jeff Koons sits for lunch with the Financial Times and discusses his love of inflatables and how the custody battle for his son has affected his work [Financial Times]
MoMA’s PS1 in Queens will soon reprise its Greater New York exhibit, which will be its 3rd [LindsayPollack]
On Miuccia Prada and her still to be built €25 million, 20,500 square meter Prada Foundation in a south Milan industrial complex [ArtNewspaper]
Sotheby’s CEO William Ruprecht sells 5% of his equity holdings; he retains a 1% stake in the company [Barron’s via Art Market Monitor]

The Starns Brothers’ cover for the fifth anniversary of T Magazine, via NY Times

T Magazine celebrates its fifth anniversary with specially designed covers by Mike and Doug Starns, Jeff Koons, Francesco Vezzoli, Jenny Holzer, and Frank Gehry [NYTimes T Magazine]
Christie’s abandons its plan to establish an art-investment fund and a lending division [Bloomberg]
In related, Leibovitz creditor Goldman Sachs has stepped in to help negotiate the photographer’s financial troubles with Art Capital Group [Artforum]
The recession in the art world has not stopped bartering of valuable works between contemporaries [TimesUK]

Creative Time’s short shorts for sale at Creative Time

Creative Time is selling limited edition short shorts, and the campy video is here [CreativeTime via Artnet on Twitter]
On collecting phenomenon Herb and Dorthy Vogel’s gift of 50 works to 50 US States [Wall Street Journal]
Interpol allows online access to its 34,000 work database of stolen art [ArtDaily]
In related, roughly 1,000 Alberto Giacometti counterfeit sculptures seized in Germany [GlobeandMail]

Dasha Zhukova via Style.com

Dasha Zhukova, rumored pregnant with 2008 top collector Roman Abramovich’s child, as new editor of Pop magazine has a Damien Hirst work on the cover [NYMag]
Russian oligarchs invest enough money in the Constructivist and Suprematist art of the beginning of 20th century to provoke forgeries, more than half of items bought of these movements are reported to be inauthentic [The Independent]
In related, as Princeton Architectural Press claims to have discovered Frida Kahlo’s lost archive, scholars involved with the artist’s work refute the possibility of it being authentic [GuardianUK]
A new high intensity x-ray developed by Cornell University has already revealed a lost NC Wyeth illustration [ArtInfo]

Stephen Power’s Hold My Own Iverson’s Arm

2007 Fulbright Scholar Stephen Powers, known as ESPO, is completing his Love Letter project, comprised of murals by multiple artists stretching across his home town of Philadelphia that can be seen from one train [A Love Letter For You]
Shepard Fairey calls his decision to graffiti-proof the brick walls of his studio personal preference and rebutts claims of hypocrisy [Street Level] and separately he is to unveil a large scale mural produced by the gallery Country Club at Art Basel Miami Beach [ArtDaily]
Are Museums crossing the line by granting curatorship to corporations? [The New York Times]

Terence Koh’s window display at Opening Ceremony which reads “The Whole Family” via this hearts on fire

Terence Koh sends a very Terence Koh letter regarding his latest project with Opening Ceremony, a window installation [Hint]
On the relatively accessible yet potentially financially rewarding decision to invest in the works of MA students [The Guardian]
The Bortolami Gallery building is up for sale at $6.1 million by collector Adam Lindemann as Stefania Bortolami prepares to move to another location in Chelsea [Lindsay Pollack]
Matthew Barney and Bjork buy a four bedroom townhouse in Brooklyn Heights listed for $4.2 million [NYMag]

Agathe Snow, Wish upon a Star detail via The Fireplace Project

Currently showing in The Fireplace Project in East Hampton, New York, is an exhibition by Agathe Snow.  Works exhibited are made from recycled materials that went into Agathe Snow’s show at the Sculpture Center in Long Island City in Queens last year. The installations are great in size, yet light to the eye- almost childish in their appearance of clean forms and bold color combinations; they play with conventions of contemporary art but do not defy them in establishing a language of their own.  The show of Agathe Snow’s works runs through August 23, 2009.

Related Links:
Agathe Snow “Terrestrial Forms” [The Fireplace Project]
Layout 1 [The Fireplace Project]
The Fireplace Project [Artfacts]
Wrap Artist/Agathe Snow [The Moment – NYTimes]
Agathe Snow “Terrestrial Forms” at The Fireplace Project [Slamxhype]

Agathe Snow, “Terrestrial Forms” an installation view via The Fireplace Project

More text, pictures and an interview with Edsel Williams after the jump…

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Terence Koh and Simon De Pury at the 16th Watermill Summer Benefit. Photo by Patrick McMullan

Robert Wilson greeted his guests as they arrived at the 16th Annual Watermill Summer Benefit- an event he choreographs every summer in order to raise funds for the artistic community to which he is the director. The evening included a silent auction, a live auction hosted by Simon de Pury – Chairman of Philips de Pury auction house, over 10 art installations interpreting this years theme “Inferno,” dinner,  theater performances of various genres and attendance by many from the worlds of art, fashion and music.

Related Links:
Hot as Hell At Watermill [ArtInfo]
Fire Starters at Watermill Benefit [WWD Lifestyle]
Isabella Rossellini shows for Water Mill Benefit [Newsday]
Flaming Creatures [ArtForum]
The 16th Annual Watermill Summer Benefit Hot As An “Inferno” [Hamptons]
About Watermill Center [Watermill Center]
The 16th Annual Watermill Summer Auction and Benefit [Art Observed]

Attendees walk the trails behind the 16th Annual Watermill Summer Benefit and Auction at the Hamptons, all photos by Art Observed unless noted

More text and pictures after the jump…

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Manaus, Christophe Schlingensief. Inferno, this year’s theme of the 16th Annual Watermill Summer Benefit. Via Hamptons

The Byrd Hoffman Watermill Foundation’s sixteenth Annual Summer Benefit will take place on July 25th in the Hamptons.  Robert Wilson, its Artistic Director, envisages an event that will include various installations, theatrical performances and auctions all framed by this year’s theme- Inferno.  An auction in support of artistic programming at the Watermill Center conducted by Simon de Pury, Chairman of Phillips de Pury auction house, will certainly be one of the highlights of the evening.

Related Links:
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Inferno: The Sixteenth Annual Watermill Summer Benefit [Artdaily]
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Sixteenth Annual Watermill Summer Benefit [The Watermill Center]
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About Watermill [the Watermill Center]
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16th Annual Watermill Center Benefit [Artinfo]
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Summer Is a-Kooning In: We Preview Watermill Benefit Goodies! [NYObserver]
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Simon de Pury [Bigthink]
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Welcome to Watermill – a review of last year’s (2008) Watermill Benefit [BIZBASH]

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Julian, Elizabeth Peyton. At the Annual Watermill Benefit this year. Via Watermill Center

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John McCracken, Swift, 2007. Via David Zwirner Gallery

6 works, 6 rooms is an installation that currently occupies two of David  Zwirner’s gallery spaces. The amount of space that the show affords each work allows for novel consideration of each individual piece and the movements, Conceptualism and Minimalism, to which the works are attributed. The exhibition features the work of Dan Flavin, On Kowara, Sol LeWitt, John McCracken, Fred Sandback and Richard Serra.

6 Works, 6 Rooms [David Zwirner Gallery]

Dan Flavin, Monument 4 for those who have been killed in ambush, 1966. Via David Zwirner Gallery.

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Dan Graham, Girls Make-up room, 1998-2000. Via Whitney Museum of American Art

Dan Graham’s first U.S. retrospective is currently on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The artist’s work has been highly influential since the 1960’s.  He has close personal and professional ties with Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin and Mel Bochner and as of yet his work has been seldom collected or recognized in the U.S. The show features a comprehensive sampling of his body of work in media including installation, text pieces, performance and site specific sculpture. At the core of his work, Graham is investigating public and private cultural systems and the extent to which his playful, often comic, interference can alter the way individuals relate to their surroundings, themselves and others.

Dan Graham: Beyond [Whitney Museum of American Art]
Dan Graham: Be My Mirror [Art in America]
Retrospective of Pioneering Artist Dan Graham Opens at Whitney Museum [ArtDaily]
Dan Graham: Artist’s Talk 2007 [Tate Modern]
Interview with Dan Graham [Museo Magazine]
Dan Graham: A Round Peg [NY Times]
Dan Graham – Whitney Museum of American Art [ArtForum]

Dan Graham, Figurative,1965; published March 1968 in Harper’s Bazaar. Via Whitney Museum of American Art

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Lee Bontecou, Composition (1965) via Hauser & Wirth Gallery

The collection of Helga and Walther Lauffs, one of Europe’s most important private collections of 20th century post war art, will be on exhibit at the Hauser & Wirth Gallery in Zürich through July 26. The focus of the Lauff’s collection was new and ground breaking contemporary art.  Their collection contains key American and European artistic currents in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Selections from the Collection of Helga and Walther Lauffs [ArtNet]
Selections from the Collection of Helga and Walther Lauffs [re-title.com]
VIDEO: Selections from the Collection of Helga and Walther Lauffs/Hauser&Wirth, Zurich [Vernissage]

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