Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #564, via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

As an aspiring painter in New York City during the late 1950s, American artist Sol LeWitt struggled to find his “touch,” in the midst of the waning days of Abstract Expressionism- a movement which focuses on the importance of individual creation.  After taking a job at the book counter of the Museum of Modern Art in 1960, LeWitt became familiar with the engineering aesthetic of Russian Constructivism and Eadweard Muybridge’s sequential photographs, developing an interest in reducing art to its bare essentials. Literally recreating art from square one though his explorations of geometric forms, LeWitt is now considered to be one of the essential founders of both Conceptual and Minimal art. Differing from strict Minimalists by his focus on systems and concepts over materials, LeWitt’s art is one in which ideas and collaboration are paramount.

Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #564 (2013), Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery (more…)

The Wall Street Journal recently sat down with sculptor Anthony Caro, who is currently in the middle of a series of shows in Europe, including exhibition at the Venice Biennale and a soon to open show at Gagosian Gallery.  Speaking with the newspaper, Mr. Caro discussed his prolific output, working approach, and his preference to work on sculptures at full-scale. “I’m never comfortable working on something that has to be imagined bigger or different,” he says. (more…)

A noble attempt at transnational harmony between France and Germany at the Venice Biennale has hit a stumbling block, the Wall Street Journal reports.  Exchanging exhibition pavilions in honor of the 1963 Franco-German reconciliation treaty, the two parties have complained of issues with their respective spaces and environments.  The awkward nature of Germany’s Nazi-commissioned pavilion has made for some gaffes in presentation, while Germany has complained of insufficient storage for some of its works.  “I’m looking forward to the next edition of the Biennale,” said Giulia de Manincor, a staff member at the French pavilion. “Hopefully France will be France again, and Germany Germany.” (more…)

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.

Rudolf Stingel, Rudolf Stingel (Installation View) (2013)

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Bashir Makhou, Giardino Occupato (Installation View) (2013) All photos by Sophie Kitching for Art Observed

Otherwise Occupied is an exhibition of Palestinian artists organized by al Hoash, a Palestinian art organization based in Jerusalem, as part of the 55^th International Art Exhibition at Venice Biennale 2013. The show is one of 48 Collateral Events hosted around the city. The exhibition features the work of two prominent, internationally renowned artists: Bashir Makhoul and Aissa Deebi. Makhoul is the head of the Winchester School of Art, England, while Deebi is a founding member of ArteEast, a Brooklyn-based organization that supports Middle Eastern art and culture. Both have exhibited work at the Elga Wimmer Gallery in Manhattan, and mainly work with photography. In the past, both have addressed the themes of diaspora, exile and, more broadly, Palestinian politics, unsurprising given that both artists were born inside the 1948 borders of Palestine, and have since immigrated to become citizens of other states. Currently, they are working in the globalized art world, exemplified by Massimiliano Gioni’s Central Pavilion, The Encyclopedic Palace. Nevertheless, the artists still consider themselves Palestinian, underlining the complex political identities of modernity Gioni expressed in his press conference.

Bashir Makhou, Giardino Occupato (Installation View) (2013)

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Damien Hirst, Death or Glory (2001)

In conjunction with the events and exhibitions of the 55th Venice Biennale this summer, Le Stanze del Vetro (“Rooms for Glass”), the joint project by La Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Pentagram Siftung, is currently presenting Fragile?, an exhibition dedicated to the presence and use of glass in contemporary art.  Perhaps one of the more interesting conceits for a Biennale exhibition, the show on the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore looks at glass as an aesthetic and and figurative medium in current practice, featuring works by Ai Weiwei, Marcel Duchamp, Pipliotti Rist, Joseph Beuys, and many more.

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Tino Sehgal with his Golden Lion for best artist at the Venice Biennale, via The Guardian

At a press conference this morning, the officials for the 55th Venice Biennale announced the winners of this year’s event’s Golden Lion awards.  British artist Tino Seghal took home the Best Artist in the International Exhibition award for his bizarre, kinetic performance piece at The Encyclopedic Palace, while first-time Biennale attendee Angola was given the award for best national participation.  A full account of awards is listed below:

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Marc Quinn, Breath (2013)

Time and again, Artist Marc Quinn has defined himself as an artist of grand statements.  Utilizing imagery and materials from his surroundings, often cast on symbolically enormous scale, the artist has created a body of work that digs at the complex interrelations of art and science, life and meaning, process and creation.  The act of viewing seems central to Quinn’s body of work, collected for a major solo exhibition in Venice this summer, and running concurrently with the Venice Biennale at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini.  Scale and image converge to create a striking and powerful impression of the human condition for viewers who find themselves in front of his work.

Marc Quinn, Self (2011)

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Outside the 55th Venice Biennale

The press preview for the 55th edition of the Venice Biennale, the international art world’s largest stage, kicked off this week, sprawling across the narrow alleyways and watery causeways of the Italian city.  Art Observed was on site to cover the opening ceremonies, and has this selection of pictures documenting the first day of the fair.

The Opening Reception, with Paolo Barata and Massimo Gioni (more…)

Capitalizing on the platform of the Venice Biennale, artist Ai Weiwei has created six dioramas depicting the events of his 81 day detention under the Chinese communist state, which will be on view at Zuecca Project Space, running concurrently with the festival.  The half-scale works were created in Beijing, and secretly transported to Venice, showing the psychological torment of confinement and constant surveillance.  “Can political art still be good art?” Ai says.  “Those questions have been around for too long. People are not used to connecting art to daily struggle, but rather use high aesthetics, or so-called high aesthetics, to try to separate or purify humans’ emotions from the real world.” (more…)

The Venice Biennale

Every two years, the floating city of Venice floods with with the multitudes of art visitors, customers, gallerists and exhibitions that are all a part of the Venice Biennale. This year, marking the 55^th edition of the world’s largest art fair, sees the continuation of an event that first began in 1896. Between June 1^st and November 24^th over 300,000 visitors will travel to Venice for the expansive installations of exhibitions of work from artists in 88 nations, at both official and fringe sites. Art Observed will be on-site this week, with photos from variety of events around the city.

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In the run-up to this year’s Venice Biennale, curator Massimiliano Gioni spoke with the New York Times, discussing the event, his approach to curating, and his perspective on the event’s long history.  “Klimt showed there in 1905,” he says. “That is mind-blowing to me. Since then there has been Morandi and Picasso, Rauschenberg, Johns and so on. Maybe I’m romanticizing, but the past is still very present.” (more…)

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…)

Despite widespread austerity measures across the Eurozone, many European nations are still heavily investing in national pavilions at this year’s prestigious Venice Biennale.  Countries like Greece, the UK and Germany have earmarked comparable funds to their respective 2011 pavilions, despite budgetary constraints.  “The participating countries will always put resources towards the realisation of their exhibitions in the national pavilions, or find other sources to cover the costs.”  Says Jewish Museum deputy director Jens Hoffmann. (more…)

The Vatican City will be sponsoring pavilion at the Venice Biennale this year, and has just announced its list of exhibited artists, featuring photographer Josef Koudelka, multimedia group Studio Azzurro and the artist Lawrence Carroll.  The pavilion, organized by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, will explore themes of “Creation, De-Creation and Re-Creation.”  “We want to create an atmosphere of dialogue between art and faith,” Cardinal Ravasi said. (more…)

Frieze Magazine is currently running an interview with Massimiliano Gioni, the New Museum Curator who is currently preparing for the opening of The Encyclopedic Palace at this year’s 55th Venice Biennale.  In the interview, the curator discusses his practice, and his plans for the upcoming opening of the Biennale this summer. (more…)

The Venice Biennale has released its final list of artists for this summer’s art exhibition, titled The Encyclopedic Palace.  The list includes a number of both prominent and young artists, including Ed Atkins, Uri Aran, and Miroslaw Balka.  “With the Encyclopedic Palace, Massimiliano Gioni (this year’s Biennale’s curator), much more than presenting us with a list of contemporary artists, wishes to reflect on their creative urges and seems to push the question even further: what is the artists’ world?”  says president Paolo Baratta. (more…)