Archive for the 'London' Category
Sunday, July 11th, 2010
Saatchi to Gift Gallery and Millions in Art to England
Tracy Emin’s My Bed (1998), one of the 200 works of art Charles Saatchi plans on gifting to the British government.
Outspoken advertising and art collecting tycoon Charles Saatchi has announced plans to gift his London gallery and some 200 works of art to the British government upon his retirement. While terms of the donation have not yet been ironed out and Saatchi has not specified a retirement date, the deal would put an estimated $37.5 million worth of art, along with Saatchi’s 70,000 sq ft exhibit space (to be renamed The Museum of Contemporary Art, London) in the nation’s hands. Statements from the gallery clarified that no charges would fall on the nation’s taxpayers, nor would Mr. Saatchi himself receive any tax benefits from the gift.
While the works to be donated may serve as hefty building blocks for a new museum, ultimately its success as a major public art institution will rest on what government agencies are given the task, who is brought in to curate and direct, how new works will be acquired by the collection, and in doing so, what will be purged.
More at the NYTimes and Guardian
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
89 Year Old Granny is Banksy
At least that’s what is being reported today by the Onion. Read it here
Monday, June 14th, 2010
Inside Out :: Ernesto Neto’s Largest Installation Opens in London
Ernesto Neto – anthropodino, 2009, commissioned for the Park Avenue Armory, New York, 2009 (Image: James Ewing via)
In what is being billed as his most ambitious exhibition to date, Brazilian sculpture artist Ernesto Neto will open a new site specific, all-encompasing environment at London’s Southbank Centre Hayward Gallery this Saturday, June 19. Viewers will act as participants, exploring a sequence of connected spaces that merge sculpture and architecture, at times recalling biological systems. For this new exhibition, Neto will create his first outdoor installations, including a sculptural pool that visitors will be allowed to enter.
Neto’s installation is part of The New Décor, an international survey of some 30 contemporary artists whose whose work explores interior design as a means of engaging with changes in contemporary culture.
Ernesto Neto – The Edges of the World / The New Decor
July 19 – September 5
The Hayward Gallery at Southbank Centre
Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
Monday, June 14th, 2010
Barbara Kruger Goes Underground
Barbara Kruger has designed the London Underground’s latest pocket map cover. Kruger’s Untitled (Tube Map) depicts part of a standard tube map (the most recognized area of Zone 1) with station names replaced by emotions and other words that evoke feelings for select areas of the city. Piccadilly Circus is Irony, for example. The maps are available now.
Beginning in 2003 with a commission by Emma Kay, the Art on the Underground program has invited an international mix of artists to design covers for the city’s rail system. Past contributors include Richard Long, David Shrigley, Cornelia Parker and Gary Hume.
Richard Long’s 2009 effort, Earth. The six stacked lines symbolize Tube lines and a classical Chinese I Ching hexagram for Earth, with the black grid between them references the city’s Northern line.
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Phillips de Pury London Contemporary Art Sale Results
Selling for $993,112 (before premium), Donald Judd’s Untitled (87-29 Studer), 1987 was the highest selling lot at Phillips de Pury’s Contemporary Art Day and Evening Sales in London this past weekend (Image © Phillips de Pury)
With this past weekend’s sales at Phillips de Pury, London, the last of the big three winter contemporary art auctions has winded to a close. Both day and evening sales failing to reach their low end estimates, with 37 (23%) out of 163 lots offered remaining unsold/withdrawn. The total sale across both auctions raised $10,096,428 (before buyer’s premiums), $738,427 (6.8%) below the combined low end estimate of $10,834,855.
Read on for our full analysis – Click Lot Numbers for Images and Details Read the rest of this entry »
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Christie’s London Post-War and Contemporary Art Auctions
A Christie's employee inspects Yves Klein's Relief éponge (RE 47 II). Selling for $8,329,329 (before buyer's premium), the gold coated sponge relief was the highest grossing lot a the auction house's Post-War and Contemporary Auctions late last week (Image © AP Photo/Sang Tan, via Boston Globe).
Overall, Christie’s fared well during their latest round of Post-War and Contemporary Art Auctions. With a combined sale of $69,346,950, both evening and day auctions sold within their projected estimates. 158 (63%) of the 249 lots offered sold within or above their estimated range. 49 lots (19.7%) sold below low estimates, and 42 (16.9%) were unsold/withdrawn. While these results fare better than last year’s combined result of $14,486,820 – $12,980,727 (47%) below the low estimate of $27,467,547, the 2009 sales consisted of only 123 total lots.
Read on for our full analysis – Click Lot Numbers for Images and Details Read the rest of this entry »
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
KAWS @ Phillips de Pury’s London Auction
Seminal works by KAWS finally make an appearance in a high-end auction format with Phillips de Pury’s upcoming London Day Sale of Contemporary Art. After a multi-year drought at auction of this level, KAWS artwork will be offered to the public on February 13. With an estimate of £10,000-15,000 or $16,300-$24,500, the market for the artist will indeed be in the spotlight. There are two lots available, one consisting of a two-piece set of ‘skull’ canvases; the other of baby photographs, disrupted with other signature characters by the artist.
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
The Secret’s Out :: Benefit Offers £40 Works by Richter, Kapoor, Emin + Baldessari
(All Images via RCA Secret)
London’s Royal College of Art held its annual RCA Secret sale this past weekend. The week long exhibition culminated with the sale of 2700 postcard-sized works of art from the institution’s current roster of postgraduate students, mixed in with a lengthy list of contributors from professional artists and designers. Having a keen eye and the patience to camp out on the staggering cue reaped heavy rewards for some. As with previous year’s events, the artists’ identities were not revealed until after each sale. This year, a few lucky buyers took home £40 works by Gerhard Richter, Anish Kapoor, Tracey Emin, John Baldessari and Yoko Ono. Click through for more of the art works revealed. Read the rest of this entry »
Sunday, October 18th, 2009
After 20 Years Rothko Murals Return to Tate Liverpool
Alexander Liberman – Rothko in his Studio, New York, 1964. (Alexander Liberman Photographic Collection & Archive Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California (2000.R.19) © J. Paul Getty Trust)
In 1988 Tate Liverpool opened it’s doors for the very first time with an exhibition of Mark Rothko’s The Seagram Murals. More than 20 years later the painting have returned to the museum, where they are on display now through March 21, 2010. On Thursday, Oct. 18, Achim Borchardt-Hume, formerly of Tate Modern where he was responsible for curating the recent Rothko exhibition, and now Chief Curator at Whitechapel Gallery, London, will give a unique talk concerning the museum’s long term relationship with Rothko. More event info here
Mark Rothko – Black on Maroon, Mural, Section 3, 1959. (Tate © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko ARS, NY and DACS, London)
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
Lori Early at Opera Gallery, London
(All Images: © Lori Early via Curated Mag)
Lori Early opens Laments and Lullabies this Friday, Oct. 16, at Opera Gallery’s London location. The event marks her first solo show since exhibiting at Jonathan LeVine in the winter of 2008. Check out Curated Mag’s new interview with the New York based painter.
Lori Early – Laments and Lullabies
Oct. 16 – Nov. 14
Opera Gallery London
134 New Bond Street,
London, W1 2TF
london@operagallery.com