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ARTICLES FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH 2010
Contributing Bloggers: John Harbinger Jr.and David Harbrenig
Tokyo Art Fair Free
With Art Fairs popping up all other world, this weekend Tokyo is taking the concept into a new realm with the “Art Fair Free” where works of art cannot be bought with money. Interested collectors are encouraged to contact artists by email and offer “something”—an action or object, anything that isn’t cold, hard cash—in exchange for their work, and artists choose what they view as the best offer. But, unfortunately nothing as ever as it seems at first glance. While the artists may have noble intentions, it seems the organizers have a more flexible idea of the word "free." Entrance to the Free Fair isn’t completely gratis -it costs ¥1000 ($10.75). The event is followed by "free" party on 4 April, when the final sales will be announced, also requires a ticket.
Optical Aids and the Old Masters
The theory that Renaissance artists used optical projection to help them paint accurately was proposed in 2000 by British artist, and long time L.A. resident David Hockney and Charles Falco, an optical scientist at the University of Arizona in Tucson agrees with his theory, presenting the conclusion of his study last week at the American Physical Society in Portland, Oregon..
Falco and Hockney claim to have spotted the signature of optical projection, perhaps using a concave mirror, in a painting entitled Husband and Wife, a 1525 work by Lorenzo Lotto. Falco has termed the painting as "the Rosetta stone - because we got so much information from it.”
In their argument they propose that distortions in the oriental carpet correspond to what would be expected if Lotto had projected the image, traced out part of it, and then moved his mirror twice to bring two other portions of the carpet into focus. The multiple vanishing points, suggest to them it was painted from different perspectives and they add that the back of the octagonal pattern is blurred, as if traced out of focus. (Very complicated stuff.)
At the APS meeting, Falco backed up their argument by presenting images of the painting taken using an infrared camera which show fine sketch lines beneath the paint surface corresponding to the 3 areas which are believed to have been painted with different focus points.
The first actual records of artists using optical techniques came when a German Jesuit scholar, Athanasius Kircher described them in 1650. It has been suggested by some art historians that Dutch painter Jan Vermeer may have used a pinhole to project images onto canvasses, although there is no proof of this.
Most art historians and many optical scientists have yet to be convinced by the latest ‘scientific discovery.’
Husband & Wife
Thanks to the Canadians –Stolen art returns to N.Y.
An $80,000 abstract bronze sculpture of a reclining figure by Henry Moore that was stolen from a New York City gallery in 2001 was found at Miriam Shiell (SHEEL) Fine Art in Toronto on Wednesday March 24. After a man brought it in last week, the gallery owner decided to search through the Art Loss Register.
The recovery came days after a painting by Swiss artist Paul Klee, stolen from the Marlborough Gallery, New York City in 1989, was found in a Montreal art gallery just a few days ago. The Klee painting, “Portrait in the Garden” from 1930 was handed over to U.S. authorities after a Florida based art dealer tried to sell it to the Landau Gallery in Montreal. U.S. authorities then handed the painting over to the Art Loss register who deals with the legal process for returning stolen art works.
A spokesperson for the Marlborough Gallery said the $100.000 painting is now owned by Lloyd’s Insurance of London which will probably auction it to recoup past payment.
The executive director of the London-based Art Loss Register says the fact that both pieces were recovered in Canada within days of each other is a coincidence.
Sociology Study and Street Art
How often do you read about studies by learned academics, who using public funds and grants, have examined a question for years only to publish results that everybody knew, anyway? I wish I could get a job like that….. Anyhow read on….
Researchers at Arizona State University, Notre Dame University and Bocconi University in Italy have recently completed a study examining the phenomenon of street art. The study involved analyzing reactions by residents and passersby to various types of graffiti. The conclusion of the study, which will be published in the coming October edition of the Journal of Consumer Research, shows that “street art stimulates lively discussion about public space and its ties to the local economy and market. In general city dwellers abhor emptiness in urban spaces and street art transforms vacant space into something that is viewed as more comforting.” According to the report citizens complain that corporate logos have taken over urban landscape. Street art, not only rejuvenates public spaces, it is fights back against the culture of over-consumption.
Street art is perceived by the large majority who participated in the study a contribution to the “collective good” and “brings a sense of belonging by restoring meaning to a community space.”
Matrimonial Performance Art
Last month, an artist in Orange County, FL married a complete stranger as a piece of performance art. The work entitled “Brian Marries Anybody” was supposed to symbolize the public opposition to the state’s ban on same sex marriage. It was intended to show that under the law two complete strangers of opposite sex can marry while a loving same sex couple cannot. As part of his artistic piece, the artist even chose his bride by spinning a bottle near three young women who volunteered to be part of his project. The artist and the “winner” of the bottle spin were married in the county Courthouse. I hope they’ll be very happy together.
A snow sculpture of the Venus de Milo raises the temperature
At the beginning of this month, a New Jersey family was asked by local police officers to cover portions of a snow sculpture in their front garden – a snow tribute to the Venus de Milo. Following a complaint by an anonymous neighbor, the family was asked to put some clothing on the ‘naked’ Venus. Perplexed, yet willing to comply with the officers’ request, the family members decided to adorn their Venus with a bikini top and a sarong. That should keep her warm. I hope she doesn’t melt too soon. There are some funny neighbors in New Jersey.
An American (Artist) in Paris
American artist Cy Twombly, who was born in Virginia 1928, is the third contemporary artist invited to install a permanent work at the Louvre. Prior to him the Louvre has extended invitations to Anselm Kiefer in 2007 and to François Morellet, whose installation was unveiled earlier in 2010. These three artists follow in the footsteps of a long line of illustrious predecessors including Le Brun, Delacroix, Ingres and Georges Braque.
The permanent installation of 21st century works at the Louvre introduces new elements in the décor and architecture of the palace. It is a cornerstone of the museum’s policy of integrating contemporary art into the history of the palace, which has served since its creation as an ideal architectural canvas for commissions of painted and sculpted decoration projects.
Twombly’s painting for the Salle des Bronzes will be showcased on the ceiling of one of the Louvre’s largest galleries, in one of the oldest sections of the museum. It is a work of monumental proportions, covering more than 350 square meters.
Although certainly an American artist, Twombly has lived in Italy since 1959, making frequent trips to Greece over the years. Twombly’s work finds inspiration in mythology, in the poetry and heroic figures of Antiquity. The ceiling in the sale des Bronzes is the artist’s second commission in France, following the curtain conceived for the Paris National Opera’s new flagship theater at the Bastille in 1989. In 2001, Cy Twombly received the prestigious “Golden Lion” award at the Venice Biennale. In 2008 the Tate Modern in London, presented a major retrospective of his work to commemorate his 80th birthday. The exhibition was also shown at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome later that same year and in 2009.
The Twombly Ceiling Painting in the Salle des Bronzes
A New Chair of the Board at J. Paul Getty Trust
The J. Paul Getty Trust has announced the election of a new Chair of the Board of Trustees to succeed the present Chairman, effective July 1, 2010. Mark S. Siegel, who joined the board in Nov 2005, is currently head of the Investment Committee, member of the Governance & Compensation committees and member of the Getty Museum’s Conservation Council V. He will replace outgoing Chair Louise Bryson.
Mr. Siegel, a native of Los Angeles, is a collector of contemporary and 19th century paintings and manuscripts. He studied at UC Berkeley, at Colgate University and has a professional background in finance and law. He is involved in a broad range of community activities. He has served in the past as a member of the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts (PACA), and as a Trustee of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA).
Izmir-Long Beach Art Exhibition
“Homage to Homeros," an art exhibition featuring artwork by Turkish and American artists, will open at the Second City Council Art Gallery in Long Beach, CA, Saturday March 27 with a reception at 6:0pm. The evening program features aspects of the sister-city program and spotlights the historic city of Izmir and Turkish culture. Keynote speakers will be accompanied by authentic music from that country.
The art exhibition is hosted and organized by the Izmir-Long Beach Sister Cities Association, and will introduce contemporary art by Turkish artists and American artists with deep connections to Turkey. The artwork will be open for public viewing on Saturday, March 27th and Sunday, March 28th from 12:00 noon till 5:00 pm.
The Second City Council Art Gallery and Performance Space was founded to promote the arts in Long Beach and offer a platform for introduction international arts and culture to the southern California community. It is located at 435 Alamitos Avenue, across from the Museum of Latin American Art. The art gallery is open from noon till 5pm, Wednesday through Sunday. More information about the gallery can be found at http://www.2ndcitycouncil.org
MOCA Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts
The Los Angeles MOCA has announced the recipient of the 6th MOCA Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts to be Jenny Holzer. The artist will be honored for her work, which spans three decades, during a fund raising luncheon on Wednesday, April 28, 2010, at the Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. The event will be hosted by one of the museum’s major support organizations, the “MOCA Projects Council”, which sponsors MOCA Education, a program which collaborates with contemporary artists and community organizations to bring contemporary art to a broad audience. Its programs serve 30,000 students and community members each year.
The MOCA Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts was established by The MOCA Projects Council in 1994 to recognize the many gifted women providing leadership and innovation in the visual arts, dance, music, and literature. Past recipients include actress and director Anjelica Huston (2001), and artists Barbara Kruger (2001) and Yoko Ono (2003).
Jenny Holzer has presented her work in public places and international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Starting in the 1970s with the New York City posters, and up to her recent light projections on landscape and architecture, her art is designed to combat ignorance and violence with humor, kindness, and moral courage. She has previously received the Leone d'Oro at the Venice Biennale in 1990 and the Public Art Network Award in 2004. She holds honorary degrees from Ohio University, Williams College, the Rhode Island School of Design, The New School, and Smith College. Jenny Holzer currently lives and works in New York.
The Award Winner
Glamour Photography Collection Going to Auction
The Michael H. Epstein and Scott E. Schwimer collection is recognized as the world’s largest collection of work by photographer George Hurrell. The collection contains 1000’s of the best photographs he took of legendary Hollywood figures. Perhaps the most well known is the iconic portrait of Jean Harlow on a white bearskin rug that was created for a feature story in Vanity Fair.
The collection, which includes portraits of most of the heralded stars of Hollywood’s golden age (Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Rita Hayworth, Bette Davis etc.) will be auctioned by Profiles in History, located in Calabasas on March 26-27. Bids can be placed in person, via mail, by phone, fax or live on the Internet.
Epstein and Schwimer will be selling their collected photographic and fine art masterpieces to benefit many of the charitable organizations they passionately support, primarily the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center.
In addition the collection has many significant master prints of Hollywood glamour stars, taken by a host of past and contemporary photographers such as Richard Avedon, Robert Mapplethorpe, Man Ray, Helmut Newton, Len Prince, Herb Ritts, Mel Roberts, Cindy Sherman, Julius Schulman, Jock Sturges, Howard Zieff and Edward Steichen. The collection also contains works of fine art by Andy Warhol, Richard Duardo, Keith Haring, Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, and Beatrice Wood. Get more info on the website at www.profilesinhistory.com
Jean Harlow
The gallery’s reputation creates the artist’s reputation
In the art world price levels of works reflect the reputation of the artist, the status of the dealer and the status of the buyer. However, the starting point in setting a price for the work of a new artist is first and foremost the dealer/gallery’s reputation. For a neighborhood gallery, the price for work by an artist with no gallery history can be as low as $500-$1000 but, once the artist has some commercial success at this level, and is taken on by a mainstream gallery, the pricing will be elevated to $3000-$5000 and perhaps more. This adjustment in price level conveys more about the status of the gallery than the status of the artist. These galleries have long established connections with serious buyers who ‘invest’ in art. The mainstream gallery’s reputation acts to dispel doubts about the upward mobility of the artist. A show in a mainstream gallery is a “stamp of approval” that potential buyers can refer to as sign of the artist’s legitimacy in the market place. Nobody likes to buy something at a certain price and then discover that other similar works by the same artist are being sold elsewhere for less. As an artist sells and becomes known, only then does his/her own reputation and history in galleries take on more significance. The more successful shows the artist has, and the more his/her work figures in art publications, the more recognition he/she will achieve and consequently prices will escalate. Art galleries and art dealers not only build an artist’s reputation, they will fight vigorously to protect it. Their own reputation is based on their recommendations and advice about what and when to buy.
85th Annual exhibition of the PSA
The 85th Annual Exhibition of the Pasadena Society of Artists begins today March 17 and continues until April 3, 2010 at VIVA Gallery, Moorpark St., Sherman Oaks. The Reception will be on Sunday, March 21 3pm-6pm. The show is juried by Juan Bastos, an award-winning and internationally collected portrait artist. You can view over 80 pieces of art by 56 artists working in a variety of media and styles, including oil, acrylic, watercolor, sculpture, photography, digital art, figurative, landscape, abstract, traditional and contemporary. More details at www.vivaartcenter.org
Jolie, Discovery & Wonderment O/c Painting –Harold C. Hart-Nibbrig
MOCA Fundraiser at a Private Gallery raises questions
There’s an interesting article in L.A. Times discussing the upcoming MOCA fundraiser at a private gallery Blum & Poe in Culver City, March 25. Newly appointed MOCA director, Jeffrey Deitch, whose background is as an art dealer in New York, has already come under criticism for exploiting his new appointment to sell off his own gallery inventory at advantageous prices. He is set to take over at MOCA in June 2010.
The commercial entanglement between MOCA and a private L.A. gallery brings some to question whether the motives behind the initiative are philanthropic or business driven. Seventeen of the 25 artists represented by the gallery have works in the museum’s permanent collection, including five in the current 30th-anniversary show. In the past decade at least four of the artists have had solo retrospectives at the museum.
The March 25 event at Blum & Poe is organized as a new-members promotion. The annual cost of MOCA Contemporaries membership is a minimum $310 and those who sign up will have a chance to win prizes in a raffle.
No comment about the motives or reasons or the consequences. If you want to get a membership at MOCA Contemporaries and the chance for a bonus prize –Blum & Poe, Culver City, March 25.
Sparse Coding –Algorithms for detecting Art Forgeries
Now and then we hear about a newly discovered work by a famous artist that finds its way onto the market and is estimated and sometimes sold for fabulous sums of money. Given the exceptional ‘mastery’ of forgers how can an expert and ultimately a buyer be absolutely sure sure that a piece is a legitimate creation by a respected artist? Mathematicians at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire may have devised an infallible method to determine a fake from a real piece. Recently a team of math brainiacs presented a computer-based statistical analysis technique which they say will help art historians and conservators wed out even the most skilled forgery.
They call their method, sparse coding. It analyzes the characteristics of an artist's style at a level of detail that is practically imperceptible to the eye of even the most experienced appraiser and then defines the essential elements of each detail. The aim is to establish for each artist a “vocabulary” of brush strokes or pencil marks that defines his or her style so that any other work, created by someone else, no matter how similar, will not render the same results.
The researchers focused on the notion of sparseness, which refers to the ability to represent an image with as little information as possible. It is a concept that is analogous to digital compression.
To test sparse coding, the researchers compared the drawings of 16th-century Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder with known Bruegel fakes. Examining minute swatches from eight real Bruegel drawings the sparse-coding algorithm stripped each of them down to a set of basic elements needed to re-create the full drawing. When sections taken from any of the five imitations were stripped down, the model revealed that there were differences in the sparsity of information, meaning that the imitations were in mathematical language, significantly different from the authentic Bruegel drawings.
Although the method has impressed many academics, most conservators and art historians remain aloof, convinced that art is too complex for any machine to make a definitive judgment about authenticity. For them only the trained eye (presumably theirs) can do that. One remarked that computer software can never replace human connoisseurship, historical knowledge, chemical testing, and other tried and tested tools.
The forgers have got so many past their connoisseurship and expertise over the years that they would do well to embrace another useful tool. The problem just might be that they fear to discover just how many fakes have slipped past their noses and been sold for millions on their advice.
Drawings By Peter B. The Elder (Only the top one is real)
Close Encounter of the Human Kind
At the Museum of Modern Art, NY - two nude performers stand inches apart in a narrow doorway leading to the exhibit of work by Yugoslavian-born artist Marina Abramovic, which opened on Sunday and will continue until May 31, 2010.
The position of the naked pair, forces patrons who wish to continue onto the exhibit to walk between them. Some visitors have preferred to forgo the exhibit thru the doorway –finding that the close encounter with human kind is just too much.
Besides the naked duo in the doorway, the exhibit also includes a nude performer lying under a skeleton and a naked woman on a bicycle seat.
The exhibit, entitled Marina Abramovic: The Artist is present” is a look at the artist’s career spanning four decades, presenting her work in a variety of mediums, including performance art, installations, sound pieces, video works and photographs.
Abramovic is best known for performances in which she subjects herself to physical pain, sometimes with the participation of audience members. In one of her most dramatic works, she invited members of the audience to inflict pain on her with one of 72 objects, including a rose, a chain, scissors, knives, a whip and a gun.
Enter all who dare!!
Abstract Expressionism Postage Stamps
The U.S. Postal Service has released a series of postage stamps commemorating the American artists of the Abstract Expressionist Movement, some of whom immigrated to the U.S but developed a distinctly American style. The stamps feature works by Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, Hans Hoffmann, Barnet Newman, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, Robert Motherwell, Adolph Gottlieb, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Joan Mitchell.
According to a senior postal worker:- “Although these stamps can’t compare in size to their real-life canvases, they bring the passion and spirit of abstract expressionism to an envelope near you.” I couldn’t have said it better, myself!!
Here’s some bizarre but apparently true statistics about contemporary art
A director of contemporary art at Christie’s once analyzed the records of sold paintings to determine their sale value and sale potential by color. It turns out that paintings in which red is the predominant color are most saleable, followed by white, blue, yellow, green and then black. The exception to these findings was found in Andy Warhol’s work, whose paintings of (green) greenbacks bucked the trend. The analysis showed also that bright colors do better than pale colors and horizontal canvases better than verticals. Female nudity gets better prices than male nudes. Figurative works get better prices than landscapes. If you’re going to paint someone, look for a young, attractive subject –there’s more chance of a sale….. And if you’re thinking of doing a still life – flowers, according to the analysis, are better than fruit. By the way, if you’re going paint to flowers you might as well choose roses – apparently they sell for more than chrysanthemums. But, if you really know how to paint –go with Sunflowers!! If shipwrecks are your thing; know that they rarely bring in top prices. If you think all of that is absolute hog wash you’ll find the advice of one of New York’s top private dealers just as useful –“Never paint cows in a field. Nobody wants them on the wall in the living room.” And, as a final piece of useless information - it seems that obscenity in art is increasing yearly in sale potential ….. as if we didn’t know.
Cows in a Field
$2.7 Billion of Art at Maastricht Art Fair
Today, March12, the biggest art and antiques fair in the world opened its doors in the Dutch city of Maastricht. “Tefaf” is the 23rd European Fine Art Fair and attracts some of the wealthiest art collectors from billionaire Russian Oligarchs to Chinese entrepreneurs & banks to U.S. entertainment celebrities. Within hours of opening one gallery had already sold a Jean-Michel Basquiat for $2.4 million, and 2 pieces by Alexander Calder sold for a total of $860,000.
The 263 dealers from 17 countries, who have set up shop at “Tefaf” are offering $2.7 billion worth of museum-quality artworks, antiques, design and jewelry from prehistory to the present. If you have the money –there is something for everyone.
British bad boy, Damien Hirst’s 1996 taxidermy-in-formaldehyde piece, ‘‘This Little Piggy Went to Market, This Little Piggy Stayed at Home,’’ which consists of a pig sliced in half in two open glass boxes, seemed to attract the biggest crowds of Gucci and Armani dressed wine-in-the-hand browsers. The little piggy is up for sale at $12 million. That’s a lot of bacon for one pig!!!!!
According to press, a U.S. museum had placed a formal reserve on a late-17th century bronze bust of Louis XIV by Francois Girardon priced at $1.5 million. Tentative offers from other buyers have been made for a Giacometti bronze at $25 million. The money is out there!!! Most participants gave enthusiastic reports at the end of the first day of business, saying that their sales have been better than last year.
Business was halted during the day for several minutes when an electrical fault caused the lights to fail, leaving the exhibition hall in dull obscurity. A golden opportunity for art thieves, however fortunately no thefts were reported during the blackout.
“Tefaf “ Maastricht runs through March 21. Take your wallet with you.
Little Piggies
Sell your art on a monthly subscription basis
A Philadelphia artist has come up with a novel way to sell his work to people who have limited means.
Starting in January 2010, he launched a low-cost yearly subscription fees for fans of his art. For about $300, subscribers will get one of every colorful screen print he produces for the calendar year 2010.
Artist Andrew Jeffrey Wright came up with the idea to “create a fun and affordable connection between himself and the people who really like his work."
Wright is one of the co-creators of Space 1026, a communal gallery and studio, launched in 1997, that has since become known for its innovative and sometimes bizarre shows. Over the years he has attracted the interest of serious collectors but wants his work to remain always within the grasp of “poor people.”
One of his inspiration s for the subscription idea came from Los Angeles gallery owner Justin Van Hoy who bought some of Wright’s work, and was so enthusiastic, that he jokingly asked if he could take out a subscription to future work.
Wright figured he'd give it a shot. Doing his normal print runs (limited editions run from 20 to 75 prints), he mails one off each month to each of the subscribers - including Van Hoy. The artist believes it’s a great way for his fans to keep tabs of what he’s doing and heartily encourages other artists to follow his example.
Though his “monthly earnings’ are not yet very high, he’s looking optimistically to the future when a substantial monthly income from print sales will allow him to pursue the many art projects he has in mind.
A Subscription –Anyone??
Sale will benefit Huntington Library
A late philanthropist's modern art collection featuring a rarely seen work by Pablo Picasso will be auctioned in May by Christie’s in New York City.
California philanthropist Frances Lasker Brody, whose husband made a fortune in real estate development died in November at age 93. The Brodys were founding benefactors of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the UCLA Art Council and amassed a superb personal collection of modern art featuring rarely seen work by Picasso, Matisse and Alberto Giacometti.
A Picasso painting called "Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust" Is expected to fetch up to $90 million in the sale. It's been exhibited in the United States only once, in 1961.
Part of the proceeds from the sale will benefit the Huntington Library in Santa Marino, where Frances Brody was on its board of overseers.
Lucien Freud (88y/o) at the Centre Pompidou
An exhibition paying tribute to one of the greatest living painters, Lucien Freud, opens today (March 10) at The Centre Pompidou in Paris. Now 88 years old, Freud has not shown in France since the major retrospective of his work nearly a quarter of a century ago, in 1987, at the Pompidou. His reputation has since grown and his place in the history of art as a ‘master’ is almost certainly assured.
The exhibition will present some fifty large-format paintings, mostly from private collections, together with a number of prints and drawings, as well as photographs of the artist’s London studio all organized around the theme of the artist’s studio, a theme which is essential to Freud’s paintings and to his practice as a painter.
Lucian Freud’s work is distinguished by his minute, obsessive treatment of portraits and nudes, based on an absolute commitment to the craft of painting: The artist has often said that he wants his “paint to work as flesh.” He treats his studio like a laboratory, where he observes and studies his models. His canvases include only what it to be seen within the studio: the same furniture, the sagging sofa, the old armchair, the dilapidated couch, the potted plant, the iron bedstead, the hand-basin and the paint-spattered walls recur in many of his works. Even the few landscapes Freud has painted are painted from his studio window. (The artist has changed studio locations 3-4 times during his career and these different studios throughout the London area can be discerned chronologically in his works.)
The exhibition runs until July 19, 2010 so if you’re in Paris this summer…..
Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (1995) Lucien Freud
The changing role of the museum
The concept of the art museum has changed over the last 40 years. The words “museum” and “modern” are no longer incompatible. The traditional process of building a museum collection was for one generation to select the best artworks of the preceding generation and then conserve them in the museums for the benefit of succeeding generations. In the context of the museum it was widely admitted that collecting art less than 30-40 years old would reflect fads rather than convey historical significance.
The times have changed. Nowadays art museums purchase avant-garde art while it is still being shown and sold by dealers along the street. In doing so, it is the museums that provide artists with instant legitimacy. Instead of serving as a recorder of history, museums are fabricating a distortion of history; creating reputations by giving a stamp of approval to works that have not stood the traditional test of time. In part they are motivated by financial concerns -why wait and pay lots of money for established artists if you can buy now cheaper and establish the artist through the purchase? It’s a win-win situation for the museums but in the long term what will future generations think about the art we leave them? Perhaps the purchase by the Guggenheim of work by painter Alison Fox best illustrates the extremes to which museums have gone down this new track. The Guggenheim bought the piece while Ms. Fox was still a student at Hunter College in New York following a recommendation by art collector, promoter and marketing expert Charles Saatchi who had bought some of her works for his own collection.
4 Corners –A. Fox
Robert De Niro Sr. –Honored by Son
Yesterday March 8, actor Robert De Niro was at The Matisse Museum in Nice, France honoring his father who has work on display there. The museum has set up an exhibition of painter Robert De Niro, Sr. (1922-1993), as part of its ongoing program to increase awareness of the works of 20th century master Henri Matisse.
The paintings and drawings of Robert De Niro, Sr. in the exhibition are similar in compositional style and harmony of colors to those of Matisse and demonstrate the same graphic techniques. De Niro was influenced by many of the great European painters but focused his own work on the figurative, a more sensitive representation of the world. He lived and worked in France from 1961 to 1964 and later detached himself from abstract expressionism and the New York school. This exhibition begins with the presentation of photographs of Robert De Niro, Sr. in his New York studio. Figurative paintings are organized according to thematic characteristics of the art of Matisse, such as female models, interiors, still lifes, landscapes, ending with a series of black and white drawings with “stumping” –which was a technique used extensively by Matisse.
Robert De Niro speaks about his father & his artwork
It’s far colder in Manchester, UK, than in Sydney, Australia
After more than 5000 Aussies turned out last week in their birthday suits for Spencer Tunick’s photo shoot at Sidney’s Opera House, the artist is now planning a similar nude fest to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a gallery in Greater Manchester in the UK. The Lowry Gallery in Salford has commissioned Tunick to create a piece of work in May 2010 and the artist is calling for 1000 volunteers to participate.
The volunteers will be transported by heated buses to 8 locations throughout Salford and Manchester during the weekend of May 1-2 and will pose naked as Tunick creates his multiple site art installation. There’ll be a lot of prayers for warm weather that weekend!!!
The work will be shown at The Lowry from June to September as part of its exhibition, “Everyday People.”
Tunick wants to capture the movement of everyday people in each photograph, reflecting the work of Salford artist LS Lowry whose paintings depict everyday lives of people working in the industrial world of 20th century U.K.
The Lowry's curator of special exhibitions, Ms. Farrell has put out a call urging people to take the opportunity to feature in an international artwork and become part of the global family of Tunick nude participants.
It can snow in May in North U.K.
Street art is coming off the streets & into Galleries
Over the past few years quite a few long-standing art galleries have gone out of business. Among the new ones that have sprung up it is interesting how many of them are dealing with what has been variously labeled as Lowbrow, Pop Surrealism or Pop Pluralism art. Street art, graffiti, skateboarding and tattoo art have been transposed from their original surface to the canvas to be commercialized as the new fine art genre. This art is visually direct, devoid of cerebral conceptualism and abstract expressionism. It is the art of the young and rebellious that has found its way from the fringe, from the poorest of neighborhoods into some of the chicest of galleries. Spray paint is replacing acrylics as the new medium. In New York, London, Paris and in L.A. mainstream art galleries are seeing the financial rewards in embracing what essentially began as free public art.
Many of the spray paint artists are mostly in their 20’s & 30s. They have been academically schooled in fine art but their inspiration comes from punk rock and hip-hop, comic books, cartoons and tattoos. Their work is typically figurative and often narrative, in a populist, accessible vein. Following on from 60’s & 70’s Pop Art, the culture of these young artists is the pop culture of now.
The art establishment was slow to warm to these artists and vice-versa. These artists preferred to create their own art scene by illegally postering and painting city walls or put their work in hip, funky spaces like Psychedelic Solution, a storefront gallery on West 8th Street in Greenwich Village, NY and La Luz de Jesus, a gallery above a pop merchandise shop on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.
But over the past few years the genre has gradually found acceptance in the art world. Even influential dealers like Jeffrey Deitch, recently named director at the MOCA began representing some of the artists, and institutions from the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney to Fondation Cartier in Paris now show their work.
Despite such successes, though, most of the artists still tend to speak in anti-elitist terms about their work and denigrate the commercial aspects of gallery representation. They are, of course, not unlike the proponents of every wave of new art that has come before theirs. History shows us that as soon as the latest thing becomes accepted into mainstream, the new next new thing is already emerging somewhere…..
What’s happening at LAAA
Los Angeles Art Association (LAAA) at 825 N. La Cienega Blvd is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization committed to championing creativity and innovation by supporting, nurturing and developing emerging artists. The LAAA presents exhibitions and promotional events for its members, offers art classes and workshops and many more activities.
Membership screenings are held twice a year, at the beginning and middle of each calendar year. (Screening Dates are generally posted 3 months prior to screening.) Get all the info their website: http://www.laaa.org
On the 3rd Tuesday of every month (this month it should be on March 16 –but check with them) they have what are called “Artist Hash Sessions” –discussions about issues that pertain to artists’ careers, the process of marketing, and networking with other artists. The sessions are moderated by LAAA Member James Thegestrom and are open to all.
According to the moderator, his goal is to guide the Artist Hash Sessions so that, within the context of the topic, an environment exists in which participants will be asking and answering questions about their art. The discussions will serve as the catalyst for insight and development of artistic process and practices. The sessions are conducted in a friendly, fun, encouraging and relevant manner. All are welcome to attend.
A New van Gogh on Display
25 years ago, a Dutch art curator and collector died claiming that in his collection was unknown work by one of the greatest modern painters. Poor old Dirk Hannema was considered a good art curator but a bit of a fool. He often claimed he had seven Vermeers in his collection, a few Rembrandts and even more work by the guy who did this painting here - but no one believed him.
A quarter of a century after his demise it turns out he was right – at least about one work, by Vincent van Gogh. “Le Blute-Fin Mill,” painted in Paris in 1886, is currently on display in the Museum de Fundatie in the central Dutch town of Zwolle. The painting, depicting a group of figures descending wooden stairs in the Montmartre district with a windmill in the background, is unusual for van Gogh. The canvas bears the stamp of an art store he frequented, and testing shows pigments common in other of his works works.
It is the first Van Gogh to be authenticated since 1995 and the sixth to be added to the confirmed list of the artist's paintings (of about 900) since the latest edition of the standard catalogue was published in 1970.
Hannema, who died in 1984, bought the painting in 1975 from a dealer in Paris. He paid 5,000 guilders for this and another work and proclaimed it, with "absolute certainty," as a Van Gogh. Unfortunately for him, he had already been involved in a scandal about a fake Vermeer, so nobody listened.
“Le Blute-Fin Mill”
New Extension at Gagosian, Beverly Hills is Open for Business
The Gagosian Gallery, on Camden Drive, Beverly Hills opened this week its new 5,000 ft expansion designed by architect Richard Meier. Gagosian has a network of gallery exhibition spaces stretching from L.A to New York, to London, Athens, Rome and across to Hong Kong and is known at the number one dealer world-wide.
The new construction brings the total space to 11,600 sq. ft. of which 3,000 square feet will be used for exhibitions at street level. The addition also includes a rooftop terrace that the gallery says it plans to use for outdoor installations.
The inaugural exhibition in the new space is a show of work by photographer Andreas Gursky, whose 99 Cent II Diptychon, 2001, holds the record for the most expensive photograph ever sold. It went under the hammer at Sotheby’s London in Feb. 2007 for $3.3 million.
Owner Larry Gagosian has weathered the recent recession well, surprising many observers by investing in new galleries even as the art market declined. Last year he opened a gallery in Athens, Greece adding to an already impressive empire that dominates the dealer market. The flamboyant and very rich Mr. Gagosian began his career in art back in the 1970’s selling posters to UCLA students.
Two Oscars that will not be in the Ceremony
So what is the deal with the two grotesque-looking, man-sized Oscar statues that showed up in Hollywood on Thursday?
One was left on the highest peak of Runyon Canyon, chained to the ground near the famed Hollywood sign with a plaque reading “Beauty is one snip away.” The second was set up in the parking lot of Mel's Drive-In diner, near the corner of Hollywood and Highland -- where the Oscars will be held in a few days. At this location the statue was accompanied by a plaque reading “Beauty is skin deep.”
The 6’7’’ statues, made of painted resin, are the work of a U.K.-based artist who goes by the name D*Face according to a person with connections to the artist, who didn't want to be identified for fear of getting in trouble. Until now, apart from the plaques, the artist has made no statement about his latest endeavors.
D*Face aka. Dean Stockton grew up in London is a well known graffiti artist who had a major solo exhibition in his home city in 2006 that sold out. Subsequent shows have been equally successful allowing him to continue with his passion for street art.
An Exhibition of Celebrity Mug-shots
Whether we indulge or not, the glamorous lives of movie celebrities permeate into everything that happens here in Los Angeles. However, a new exhibition which opened this week at ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood, and continues until April 28, shows the stars in a completely different, far from glamorous light. Rachel Schmeidler, a local artist, has created silk screen type images combined with digital imaging technology, based on police mug shots of celebrities who have fallen foul of the law. These very unflattering images jar with the air-brushed, made-up and professional coiffed headshots we are usually fed of movie stars. In the exhibition titled "Hollywood Most Wanted + Co. some of the past few decade's most famous mug-shots are shown with contextual artistic quotation marks.
Among the 70 or so faces on view will be those of James Brown, Paris Hilton, Charlie Sheen, Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix.
Included in the exhibition are similar images of Communist figureheads such as Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Fidel Castro and Joseph Stalin accompanied by sub text of the “red scare” genre.
In a statement, the artist said, “Even recently political pundits cast shadows on candidates and incumbents by labeling their policies and beliefs ‘communist’ or ‘socialist.’ I wanted to bring these exchanges to light in a humorous way by placing communist celebrities here alongside Hollywood celebrities and musicians. We are all ultimately the same before the flash of the mug shot bulb."
Schmeidler has already shown similar work at other venues around Los Angeles. Other well known celebs that she has rendered in mugshot fashion include Jane Fonda, Al Pacino, Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Nick Nolte and Mel Gibson.
Charlie on a bad day
Gay Art In Washington, DC
A fund raising event was launched this week to help cover the costs of the first ever federal-backed gay art exhibition, “Hide-Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture”, which will be held in October, 2010 at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. The show, which explores the role of gay and lesbian artists in portraying modern America, will include over 150 works, with important loans from Europe. Already $500,000 has been raised towards the $900,000 cost of the show. The purpose of the exhibition is to re-orientate our ideas of modernism as seen through the lens of sexual orientation. If the financial target is not reached by October, the Smithsonian has offered to extend a loan until the sum is reached.
DNA analysis might solve the biggest art heist in US history.
Back in 1990 enterprising thieves, who dressed as policemen, took 13 pictures from the Gardner Museum in Boston. The Gardner Museum, built in the style of an Italian palace, was funded by Isabella Stewart Gardner to house her art collection. It was, and remains, the biggest art heist in US history. Three Rembrandts, a Manet, a Degas and a Vermeer were among the stolen works whose total estimated value is $250 million to $300 million. Since the robbery a $5 million reward has remained unclaimed despite encouragement by federal prosecutors who have said they will not bring charges against anyone who surrenders the artworks.
Today (March 4), a spokeswoman for the FBI's Boston office told the press that the agent, now in charge of the investigation, has sent DNA evidence from the crime scene (including DNA from the duct tape used to tie up the watchmen) to the FBI lab in Virginia to be analyzed under new techniques.
For the past 20 years the crooks have been sitting on their loot. "They can't sell it. It's too hot," says a FBI spokesman. I guess the thieves thought that in time the heat would die down and they could put the works on the market without anybody noticing. They are going to wait a long, long time….. Somebody, somewhere has a great collection of art –and can’t tell anyone about it!
The Vanishing Van Gogh
In 1990 Vincent van Gogh’s “Portrait of Dr. Gachet” was auctioned off in a quick fire bidding session to a Japanese industrialist for $82.5 million setting a new record at the time. The buyer spent a few hours with his purchase and then locked it in a top secret climate-controlled vault in Tokyo where it stayed unseen for 7 years. At one moment he even declared to the art world his intention of having the artwork cremated and buried with him upon his death. Much mystery has surrounded the painting over the past few years…
While the painting rested in its hiding place Mr. Saito, the buyer, struggled financially and otherwise. In 1993, he was charged with trying to bribe officials to allow the development of a golf course, which, ironically, was to be named Vincent. By then, confined to a wheelchair bound and financially broke, Saito pleaded guilty and received a three-year suspended sentence. After his death in 1996 it wasn't clear who owned the painting or even where it was located. Disputes arose between Saito's heirs, company shareholders and his creditors. While representatives of Saito's company assured the art world that it was still around, a veil of secrecy shrouded all future transactions. “Gachet” seemed to vanish into the murky waters of the international art market. Rumors abound, some saying that the piece found its way through secretive auction house channels to a private collection. In 2007 reports surfaced that it was in the hands of an investment fund manager –who in turn had been forced to sell it when the markets turned.
If you have it, please let us now.
Van Gogh did two versions of Dr Gachet, by the way. The second hangs in the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.
Public Viewing of Michael Crichton’s Art Collection in L.A.
Christie’s auction house announced the sale of works from the collection of the late Michael Crichton, who died in Los Angeles November 2008, at the Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale on May 11 in New York. Michael Crichton, who had a medical degree from Harvard, became a best-selling author, screenwriter, film director and producer and was also acknowledged as a leading authority on the American artist Jasper Johns.
Christie’s will unveil many of the major works from the Crichton collection at their Los Angeles Galleries with a public exhibition from Friday March 5 to Friday March 12. On public view for the first time ever together, will be works by Andreas Gursky, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, Claes Oldenburg, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Mark Tansey, Wayne Thiebaud, and Andy Warhol.
Christie’s spokesperson lauded Mr. Crichton as being of “the rarest breed of collector: a Renaissance man in every sense, whose passion for art was fueled by his search for answers to the basic tenets of art. He continually challenged his own understanding of an artist or work of art, becoming intimate friends with artists and responded as a creative equal to their own searches and challenges.”
In over 30 years Crichton assembled an amazing range of some of the greatest artists of the 20th century. His collection of works by Jasper Johns (b.1930) is the most significant and complete to ever come to the market and contains examples that span the artist’s entire career. The top highlight of the collection is probably Jasper Johns’ Flag, (1960-66), a painstakingly beautiful rendition of the American flag in encaustic that has never before been on the public market. It was acquired by Michael Crichton directly from the artist’s own collection, and was last seen in public 18 years ago as part of a major Pop Art survey organized originally by the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
Get more info by phoning Christie’s Los Angles salesroom in Beverly Hills: Tel 310 385 2678
If any of you are interested in an internship (for minimum pay) at their Los Angeles branch, take a look at: www.christies.com/about/careers/internships_losangeles.aspx Check with them if the announcement is up to date.
Jasper John –American Flag
3D Photo/Sculptures
Art is about innovation. It forces the spectator to view the world in new ways and in doing so stretches our very understanding of what art is. Some contemporary artists create in completely new methods with unexpected materials, constantly pushing the boundaries of our perception. The results can be spectacular; - which is exactly the word to describe the ‘sculptures’ of Korean artist Osang Gwon.
Gwon’s sculptures aren’t cut from stone, chiseled from marble or cast in metal or clay. They are made up of hundreds of photographs overlaid on a light core. He takes 2D photographs – and fuses them into three-dimensional art form – sculpture – to create an entirely new type of art.
The artist was motivated to begin his work because he felt that traditional sculpting material were simply too heavy. He wanted to create sculptures that could be moved by him and one friend. The desire for a more mobile sculpture, coupled with his dual love of sculpture and photography, brought about his unusual artwork.
Creating these life-size replicas is complicated and can take two months to complete a sculpture. Gwon starts by shooting thousands of photographs of his subject from every imaginable angle. He then sculpts a life-size core out of lightweight foam and begins the laborious process of attaching the photographs; finally coating the entire sculpture. The result is reminiscent of the distortion of a cubist painting, but with much more depth and character. He has named his innovative sculptural style “Deodorant Style.” (One can only wonder why?)
Photo-covered foam isn’t the only medium Osang Gwon is using. One of his installations was created using images cut out from magazines, held vertically with wire to make sculptures. He arranged these individual sculptures into larger sculptures of grouped objects then took photographs of the resulting display. This particular exhibit has led to controversy for the artist, because while the artist defines his work as sculpture, many viewers refuse to accept it as anything other than photography.
Photographic sculpture or sculptural photography
Installation Art at Sydney’s Opera House
An art installation event, dubbed The Base, commissioned by the city of Sydney, Australia, as part of the city's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival attracted 5,200 volunteers today (March 1.)
Early today, in front of Sydney’s Opera House, the volunteers stripped naked to participate in U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick's latest art-photo shoot. Folks of all ages, backgrounds, shapes and sizes posed for Tunick, who has made a name for himself shooting nudes in public places.
People began queuing before dawn to participate in the U.S. artist-photographer's installation, which included a series of images shot outside as well as inside the iconic Australian landmark.
"Part of the project was to get the straight participants to embrace the gay participants and vice versa, so I was very happy when everyone came together [in a] united, friendly kiss, a loving kiss in front of this great structure," said Tunick after the shoot.
The Sydney installation, which was expected to draw just 2,500 volunteers, ultimately surpassed the 4,500 that turned up for Tunick's 2001 shoot in Melbourne.
Spencer Tunick has also photographed his installations in Mexico City, Montreal, New York and Switzerland.
Naked Art in Sydney
“American Stories at LACMA”
A new exhibition started over this past weekend at the LACMA: "American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life", 1765–1915. This is a major exhibition, highlighting the variety and strength of American artistic achievement from the colonial era through the period leading to World War I and features over seventy works, including loans from leading museums and private collections, as well as key works from LACMA’s collection. The exhibition’s only West Coast showing—will be on view in the museum’s Art of the Americas building from February 28 through May 23, 2010.
Spending on Arts & Crafts Supplies
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times today (March 1) U.S. Consumers spent $27.3 billion for arts and crafts supplies in 2008. We hope that the amount spent for the final products were equally impressive.
JURIED COMPETITIONS & EVENTS: DEADLINES MARCH 2010
The Wayne Art Center in Wayne, Pennsylvania has a call out to artists for its 4th Annual Plein Air Festival, May 22 through July 2. Awards: $4000+. Juror: William Scott Jennings. The exhibition in open to all painting mediums including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache and pastel painted during the festival in the ‘plein air’ method. Entry Fee: $40 email/ $50 CD. Visit website for prospectus, or send a SASE to: 413 Maplewood Ave., Wayne, PA 19087. Questions? Contact Patti Hallowell at augustehallowell@mac.com or call 610-329-1834.DEADLINE: MARCH5, 2010
12 12 Gallery in Richmond, Virginia seeks entries for a photography exhibition, April 2 - June 20, 2010. Up to $1000 (US) Cash Prizes. Juror: Margaret Salisbury, is a Fellow of The Royal Photographic Society, Bath England. Women photographers age 18+, working in any photographic process, may submit up to 3 images for $25. Additional images are $5 each for a total of 5 works. Work previously exhibited at 12 12 Gallery is not eligible. Only 2-D work is eligible and must be limited to a maximum framed size of 24” wide. Info on their website or send a SASE to: 12 12 Gallery, 12 E. 12th Street, Richmond, VA 23224. Questions? Contact Martin McFadden at wijpe2010@gmail.com or Tel: 804.233.9957. DEADLINE: MARCH 5, 2010
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