March 10, 2010
Filed under Los Angeles, New York, art fairs, art market, collecting, contemporary art, dealers, galleries, museums, old masters, party pics
Tags: Andreas Gursky, Annie Leibovitz, Armory 2010, Beverly Hills, Brody Collection, Caravaggio, Christie's, Dasha Zhukova, Gagosian, Jessie Washburne-Harris, Ken Price, Los Angeles River, Roman Abramovich, Ruben Ochoa
March 8, 2010
Gregory Michael Hernandez Captive Universe #15: Inside the Homestead (Architectural Blueprints for Rebuilding) 2007. 55 x 45 inches. Edition of 5. Courtesy of the artist and LA><ART.
LA><ART, a leading nonprofit exhibition space in Culver City, offers a wonderful selection of editions by emerging and mid-career artists that support its cutting edge exhibitions, projects, and publications. Current selections include C-prints in small editions by Shana Lutker, Amir Zaki, and Gregory Michael Hernandez, all for $1,000 or less. Upcoming editions include works by Joel Kyack and Sherin Guirguis.
A view of Kamrooz Aram's current installation of paintings at LA><ART.
LA><ART was founded in 2005 on the German kunsthalle model, and is a crucial line of support for new, experimental work by contemporary artists outside of the confines of the art market and museum world. New York based painter, Kamrooz Aram’s current exhibition Keep reading →
March 5, 2010
A Fragonard in Koons' private collection. Image via The New York Times.
Jeff Koons, one of the world’s most famous living artists, is well-known for his inflatable lobsters, puppy dogs, and porn stars but he is also a passionate and very private collector of Old Masters and blue-chip 19th and 20th century works. In addition to being an avid collector, Mr. Koons can now add curator to his resumé. The notion of artist-curator is a time-honored tradition in art history; both Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol and more recently Elizabeth Murray, Chuck Close, and Scott Burton have all curated their own shows.
Randy Kennedy wrote an article in The New York Times, “The Koons Collection,” coinciding with the opening of a controversial exhibition at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, “Skin Fruit,” on March 3rd. The exhibition features the collection of board member Dakis Joannou and is guest curated by Jeff Koons. The exhibition has been criticized because of the clubby nature of the relationship between Mr. Joannou and Mr. Koons, as well as the fact that Mr. Joannou is on the board of the museum and the the value of his collection will be undeniably augmented by this exhibition. Keep reading →
March 4, 2010
Filed under Los Angeles, New York, art market, auctions, collecting, contemporary art, museums, reviews
Tags: 2010, Alex Katz, Armory, Giacometti, Goldberg, Hammer Museum, Jeff Koons, Lily Safra, Louisa Lambri, Richard Wyatt, William Kentridge
March 3, 2010
by Kelly Boyd
Anyone interested in a last minute experience of experimental photography will find “James Welling: Glass House” at Regen Projects to be well worth a visit. The exhibition, running through March 6th features new photographs from Welling’s “Glass House” series as well as the video installation entitled “Sun Pavilion.” These photographs of the Philip Johnson Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut were taken over a period of three years and document the House, Lake Pavilion, Brick Guest House and the Lincoln Kirstein sculpture.
However, to call it mere documentation would be doing a disservice to what Welling accomplishes with this series. His unconventional approach to the medium plays with appearance and illusion, questioning the reality of what people see, think – and think they see. His photographs were made with an array of brightly colored filters placed in front of the lens of his digital camera, with boldly unexpected results. The filters lend a luminous, glowing quality to his “Glass House” series, combining photographic representation with the abstracted visual experience of landscape made famous by Rothko. Keep reading →
February 26, 2010
Kerry Tribe's billboard on La Brea Ave, north of Venice Blvd, on the east side of the street, facing north.
Why not exploit L.A.’s much bemoaned car culture to promote fresh artistic endeavors, blending existing architecture, with pop culture and conceptualism? “How Many Billboards? Art in Stead” includes 21 newly commissioned works by contemporary artists using the alternative medium of billboards. The works engage in an important visual dialogue with L.A.’s heavily commercialized public space. The exhibition is organized by MAK Center Director Kimberli Meyer with co-curators Lisa Henry, Dr. Nizan Shaked, and Dr. Gloria Sutton, and public art consultant Sara Daleiden. The billboards are installed simultaneously, dotting the landscape from Beverly Hills to West Hollywood to Silver Lake and everywhere in between. Amidst the rampant visual pollution in Los Angeles, this special exhibition makes a wonderful case for the need to engage artists in public spaces.
MAK Center Director director Kimberli Meyer explains her team’s curatorial approach:
Los Angeles public space begs for smart art to break up the monotony of everyday media fare, and the billboard provides a fertile position for artists who work critically and site-responsively to test their ideas in urban media space Keep reading →
February 25, 2010
Filed under London, Los Angeles, New York, contemporary art, dealers, galleries, museums, party pics
Tags: African-American art, American embassy, London, Mercedes Matter, Swann, Vancouver, Weisman Museum, Whitney 75th Biennial
February 19, 2010
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: Alan Greenspan portraits, ARCOmadrid, Basquiat, Ferus Gallery, Gagosian, Guggenheim, L.A. artists, LACMA, Picasso, Resnick Pavilion, Samuel Freeman Gallery, Whitney Biennial, Winter Antiques Show
February 17, 2010
Lillian Bassman's "Park Avenue Woman," Gelatin Silver Print. At Peter Fetterman Gallery.
by Caroline Newman
Lillian Bassman’s “Women” is a beautiful ensemble of photographer’s images of fashionable women with an emphasis on light, form, and shadow. The show, at Peter Fetterman Gallery at Bergamot Station will transport you back to a time when fashion photography captured the elegance of the 1940’s and 50’s. Bassman’s highly contrasted, black and white photographs capture poised women with graceful gestures. Accessorized with hats, gloves, and lace, these fashionable women appear photographed in the middle of their daily activities, yet dressed to kill. The eyes of Bassman’s subjects never make contact with the lens. This has the effect of focusing the viewer’s attention on the scene rather than the woman. Keep reading →
February 17, 2010
For the bibliophile and print lover: Sophie Calle's "The Address Book," 2009. A portfolio of prints at Gemini G.E.L.
by Emily Waldorf
On January 22nd, I attended a panel called “The Fine Art of Collecting Fine Prints” at the Los Angeles Art Show. The panel was moderated by curator Michele Deziel and included Collectors/Curators/Writers, Reba and Dave Williams and Kevin Murphy, PhD, Associate Curator of American Art at the Huntington Art Collections.
Here is a summary of the wonderfully knowledgeable and engaging panel’s advice on how to collect fine prints:
- Prints can be very confusing for the uninitiated, start by developing relationships with dealers you trust who can educate you and look at as many prints as possible. It is hard to understand the differences between different types of prints just by reading about them, you have to see them.
- Watch the documentary film All About Prints, produced by Reba and Dave Williams. It covers the art of printmaking from the perspective of influential curators, collectors, dealers, printmakers, and artists. Since fine prints are relatively less expensive than original art, collecting them allows you to go deeper and acquire more artists. Keep reading →
