Une Expo peut en cacher une autre…

Une Expo peut en cacher une autre…

‘Une image peut en cacher une autre’, au Grand Palais jusqu’au 6 juillet 2009

Sur le thème des images dissimulées dans les œuvres d’art, le Grand Palais présente une abondante exposition de 250 peintures, gravures, sculptures, vidéos et objets divers, oeuvres d’artistes célèbres ou méconnus, voire anonymes.

Lorsque l’on évoque les effets d’optique dans l’art, les noms d’Arcimboldo, Escher ou Dali viennent en premier à l’esprit. Ceux-ci occupent naturellement une place de choix dans l’exposition, avec un nombre appréciable d’œuvres présentées. Cependant les organisateurs ont voulu démontrer qu’au delà de ces figures emblématiques le désir de créer des énigmes visuelles a existé de tous temps et dans toutes les civilisations. Ainsi l’exposition débute sur des statuettes préhistoriques, suivies par des gravures mongoles utilisant des assemblages thématiques très semblables à ceux d’Arcimboldo.

La remontée chronologique fait évidemment escale chez le maître italien, et des miroirs placés sous les tableaux nous font découvrir que le jeu se doublait parfois d’une mystification supplémentaire. Une autre révélation est celle de noms illustres insoupçonnés dans la liste des artistes-illusionnistes : Degas, Courbet, et plus récemment Hockney se sont occasionnellement adonnés au jeu. Enfin l’exposition conclut sur les objets de Markus Raetz, avec en point d’orgue le ‘yes’ qui devient ‘no’ (2003) selon l’angle où l’on se trouve, et qui résume en quelque sorte de façon abrupte le propos de toutes les autres oeuvres.

Un des mérites des expositions transversales comme celles-ci est la quasi impossibilité de ne pas trouver au moins un artiste méritant le déplacement, même si l’on est pas à priori intéressé par le thème lui-même. En l’occurrence, les analogies visuelles de Dali sont le plus souvent tellement explicites que l’on peut difficilement parler d’énigmes. Et c’est en fait la poésie mystique de ses apparitions, et des paysages cosmiques ou méditerranéens d’Escher qui bientôt nous accrochent, faisant paradoxalement passer au second plan l’étiquette d’habiles mystificateurs auxquels on les a le plus souvent associés.

© O.R.Z. pour Kunstjaar 2009

‘Une image peut en cacher une autre’, au Grand Palais jusqu’au 6 juillet 2009, Download PDF

Jusqu’au 6 juillet 2009, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais / 3, av. du général Eisenhower / 75008 Paris
http://www.grandpalais.fr/


Grotere kaart weergeven

Take the Money and Run in de Appel

Take the Money and Run in de Appel
Exhibition: 3rd-12th May 2009, from 2pm to 8pm
Location: Warehouse De Appel
Brouwersgracht 196, Amsterdam

Ann Demeester, director of De Appel and Nicolaus Schafhausen, director of Witte de With jointly present, in collaboration with Christie's Amsterdam: Two in One a benefit auction of more than 100 works by internationally acclaimed contemporary artists to benefit new projects.
The collaboration between de Appel, Witte de With and Christie's is unique within the Netherlands. In addition to the need to keep the institutions vital in a changing socio-economic landscape, it is just as much a call to shake hands at the institutional level on a regular basis.
Moreover, this benefit auction offers a rare retrospective view of Witte de With's and de Appel's ongoing commitment to contemporary art, as the list of artists involved traces the rich, international networks and trajectories forged by both institutions for over three decades.

Take the Money and Run
At the location where Wies Smals initiated de Appel in 1974, thirty artists are reflecting within the context of the auction, upon the relationship between the economic and the symbolic value of art. The artists have been invited to make a new work on A4, in which the changed value system within the art world in these times of financial crisis is being brought up for discussion. After being exhibited, the conceptual works, texts, drawings, promises, understatements, ideas, visions and performances will be part of the Two in One auction. The project is an empathetic critique from within, in which de Appel and the artists assume the simultaneous role of contemporary collaborator and critical inquirer.

For more information: http://www.deappel.nl - http://www.wdw.nl – http://www.christies.com

Pharmaka Gallery Exhibition MY CERTAIN FATE

Pharmaka Gallery Exhibition MY CERTAIN FATE
101 W. 5th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
http://www.pharmaka-art.org/index_main.html

MY CERTAIN FATE MAY 14 – JUNE 6 AT PHARMAKA
On May 9, 2009 Pharmaka will exhibit the ten original portraits from Andy Warhol's Athlete Series, courtesy of Richard Weisman. Alongside the original Warhols will be artwork created by youth members of the Urban Compass program, available for purchase at the event. Please join us for wine and hors d'oeurves to celebrate this historic exhibition and support a great cause.
A special event benefitting Urban Compass and Pharmaka, two 501(c)3 non-profit organizations serving the Los Angeles urban community. Pharmaka will exhibit the ten original portraits from Andy Warhol's Athlete Series, courtesy of Richard Weisman alongside artwork created by youth members of the Urban Compass program. , available for purchase at the event.
Timothy Buckwalter. http://timothybuckwalter.typepad.com/my_certain_fate/

Press Release My Certain Fate Download PDF

The Unforgettable Fire 25 jaar TORCH Gallery ( in de Kunsthal)

Adriaan van der Have ©Foto Anton Corbijn

The Unforgettable Fire 25 jaar TORCH Gallery ( in de Kunsthal)
30 mei t/m 6 september 2009
De jubileumtentoonstelling The Unforgettable Fire in de Kunsthal Rotterdam presenteert het overzicht van de bewogen geschiedenis van de Amsterdamse galerie TORCH. De charismatische galeriehouder Adriaan van der Have selecteerde voor deze tentoonstelling niet voor de hand liggende werken en maakte onverwachte keuzes. Zesentwintig kunstenaars – ieder jaar een kunstenaar – geven een beeld van zijn visie op kunst en fotografie. Met zijn oog voor jong en eigenzinnig talent heeft Van der Have aanstormende Nederlandse en internationale kunstenaars een podium gegeven. De unieke verzameling werken – portretten, fotocollages, trucage- en geënsceneerde fotografie  kenmerkt zich door een subtiele vlucht van de realiteit waarin verlangen, schoonheid, erotiek en natuur centraal staan. De tentoonstelling ‘The Unforgettable Fire' is een eerbetoon aan Adriaan van der Have, die april dit jaar is overleden.

Baanbrekend en dwars
TORCH Gallery staat bekend om zijn internationaal georiënteerde netwerk van verzamelaars, bewonderaars en fans. Met passie en bevlogenheid zet Adriaan van der Have zich in voor zijn kunstenaars. Zijn smaak is breed te noemen. Regelmatig toont hij kunst waarmee welbewust de grens van de goede smaak wordt opgezocht. Van der Have: “Dat je bij TORCH Gallery nooit weet wat je kunt verwachten houdt het interessant. Ik breng dingen die vaak dwars liggen op wat er al is”. Zo treedt hij buiten de gebaande paden met onder meer pornografisch werk van de Amerikaanse Annie Sprinkle en foto’s van de Duitse Leni Riefenstahl. Met zijn galerie neemt hij in een vroeg stadium deel aan vele internationale kunstbeurzen waaronder Armory Show, Art Basel, Paris Photo, Pulse en recentelijk het nieuwe Art Dubai om Nederlandse kunstenaars in het buitenland te presenteren.

Deelnemende kunstenaars
De tentoonstelling bevat werk(en) van Blommers & Schumm, Eelco Brand, Sanchez Brothers, Carolus, Anton Corbijn, Alan David-Tu, Martin Denker, Wouter Deruytter, De Sirenen, Margi Geerlinks, Teun Hocks, Twan Janssen, Gerald van der Kaap, Ellen Kooi, Daniël Kramer, Daniëlle Kwaaitaal, Inez van Lamsweerde, Loretta Lux, Jochen Mülhenbrink, Charlemagne Palestine, Terry Rodgers, Servaas, Annie Sprinkle, Stepanek & Maslin, Starn Twins en Henk Tas.
info 010-4400301, www.kunsthal.nl, openingstijden: dinsdag t/m zaterdag 10.00 - 17.00 uur, zon- en feestdagen 11.00 - 17.00 uur
http://www.kunsthal.nl/22-617-The_Unforgettable_Fire.html

From Memory to Canvas, Lost Way of Life in Poland

Art Review
From Memory to Canvas, Lost Way of Life in Poland (New York Times Permalink)
By ROBERTA SMITH Published: May 8, 2009
Mayer Kirshenblatt’s works at the Jewish Museum depict scenes of life in between-the-wars Poland with a charming combination of poignancy and precision.

Exhibition in the Jewish Museum, They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust
http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/MayerJuly

May 10, 2009 - October 01, 2009

Mayer Kirshenblatt has made it his mission to remember the world of his childhood in living color, lest future generations know more about how Jews died than how they lived. This unique project is a blend of memoir, oral history, and visual interpretation. Intimate, humorous, and refreshingly candid, the project is a remarkable record -- in both words and images -- of Jewish life in a Polish town before World War II, as seen through the eyes of an inquisitive boy. Further information can be found at www.mayerjuly.com

De Matisse à l’Abstraction, histoire d’une génèse

De Matisse à l’Abstraction, histoire d’une génèse

Exposition Ils ont regardé Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis jusqu’au au 14 juin 2009

En voyageant de Paris à Londres, à Bruxelles ou Amsterdam, il ne coûte qu’un crochet de passer par Le Cateau-Cambrésis, la ville natale d’Henri Matisse, où se tient depuis mars 2009 l’exposition ‘Ils ont regardé Matisse, Une réception abstraite’. Dans le musée créé de son vivant par le maître français sont réunies une cinquantaine d’œuvres réalisées entre 1948 et 1968 par quinze artistes abstraits européens et américains - Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Raymond Hains, Jacques Villeglé, Simon Hantaï, Ellsworth Kelly, Sam Francis, Morris Louis, Frank Stella, Claude Viallat, François Rouan, Richard Tuttle, Daniel Buren et Blinky Palermo - provenant à la fois de musées et de collections privées à travers le monde.

Ces oeuvres y sont mises en résonance avec quinze tableaux, sculptures ou gouaches découpées du maître français, parfois emblématiques tels que ‘La Danse’ ou ‘Porte-fenêtre à Collioure’. Le parcours se propose de mettre en lumière une des génèses de l’expressionnisme abstrait, notamment aux Etats-Unis où Matisse était admiré de son vivant mais considéré comme déjà dépassé dans son pays.
C’est donc le Matisse source d’inspiration pour plusieurs générations d’artistes de l’après guerre et des deux côtés de l’Atlantique que l’exposition nous présente, en compagnie de quelques uns de ses ‘disciples’. On pourrait questionner la pertinence de cette filiation et les organisateurs admettent d’ailleurs le caractère parfois expérimental de l’entreprise. Car si l’héritage matissien est clairement revendiqué par Rothko, Pollock ou Viallat, il est davantage spéculatif chez par exemple Barnett Newman ou Daniel Buren. Plus encore, il est probable que Matisse lui-même aurait rejeté la filiation, lui qui n’a jamais voulu couper le ‘cordon ombilical’ du figuratif.

L’exposition mise cependant sur les analogies dans le traitement des contours et des couleurs ainsi que l’affranchissement au support pour alimenter la démonstration et guider le visiteur. N’est-ce pas le propre de l’art que de toujours puiser dans les œuvres existantes pour leur offrir une nouvelle lecture, leur procurer une nouvelle vie ? On ne peut donc que saluer l’initiative, ainsi que le tour de force de réunir presque en un coup d’œil les œuvres de quelques uns des maîtres de l’art contemporain, œuvres qui ne sont que très rarement prêtées en temps normal.

© O.R.Z. pour Kunstjaar 2009

Musée départemental Matisse / Palais Fénelon / 59360 Le Cateau-Cambrésis
+33 (0)3 27 84 64 50 ; +33 (0)3 27 84 64 54

regarde-matisse.pdf Download

Slikwerk Open Atelierroute, 22 en 23 augustus

Slikwerk Open Atelierroute

Het wad, de wolkenluchten, een brede horizon, het lijnenspel van akkervelden. Met daarbij de rust, de leegte van het landschap, al doende een ruimte scheppend voor creaties. Het Bildt en omstreken zijn zeer inspiratievol, menig kunstenaar is gegrepen door dit gebied, velen zijn hier neergestreken en tot op de dag van vandaag gebleven. Een groot aantal van deze kunstenaars presenteert zich gezamenlijk als Kunstkring Uytland. Zij stellen hun atelier open voor belangstellenden en organiseren diverse groepsexposities.

22 & 23 augustus 2009 : Slikwerk Open Atelierroute
30 locaties geopend van 13.00 tot 18.00 uur
overal vrij entree

Kunstkring Uytland een collectief van kunstenaars op en om het Bildt
Kunst aan de rand van Friesland, met het hele jaar door een overzicht in de Aerden Plaats te Oudebildtzijl.
Tijdens het 'Slikwerk-weekend' stellen achtentwintig beeldend kunstenaars hun werk tentoon in eigen atelier of galerie.

VVV het Bildt
Van Harenstraat 60
St.-Annaparochie
tel: 0518-402633

Bildts Kultuurtoeristisch Informatiecentrum
Ds. Schuilingstraat 4-6
Oudebildtzijl
tel: 0518-421012


www.slikwerk.nl

New art investment fund defies gloom over market

New art investment fund defies gloom over market

(Source: The Art Newspaper)
LONDON. A new art fund aimed at individual investors is to be launched at the end of May, in defiance of the view that such funds will struggle to survive in the current weak art market.
Angus Murray, joint chief executive of independent fund manager Castlestone Management, who will manage the "Collection of Modern Art" fund, said he had already secured an initial $25m plus a further $25 in agreed obligations. Pre-marketing is currently under way in the UK, Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East ahead of the fund opening to external investment at the end of May.

According to Castleton, theirs is the only art fund open to individual rather than institutional or professional investors. The minimum investment is $10,000 or £10,000, although individuals can only invest via a financial advisor because "we believe the advice of a professional is essential in helping savers put together the most appropriate portfolio of investments". Collection of Modern Art is an offshore mutual fund domiciled in the British Virgin Islands. "It is designed to run for eight years, because we are looking at long-term returns, not a get-rich quick trading scheme," the company said. Read Article...
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article.asp?id=17212

Peter Fischli / David Weiss. ¿Son los animales personas?

Image of the installation by Fiscli & Weiss ©Peter Fischli & David Weiss. Courtesy Galerie Eva Presenhuber (Zurich), Spruth Magers(Berlin/London) and Mathew Marks Gallery (New York).

Peter Fischli / David Weiss. ¿Son los animales personas?
30 de abril – 31 de agosto de 2009

( Source: ArtDaily) MADRID.- Are Animals People?, the exhibition by Peter Fischli (Zürich, 1952) and David Weiss (Zürich, 1946) organised by Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, focuses on a selection of works featuring Bear and Rat. Iconic avatars from some of their earliest works, this duo has made a comeback in recent works.

Played by the artists themselves, Bear and Rat stand in as projections of their roles in their own artistic practice. Through this distancing device, Fischli/Weiss ironically manifest an idea of art as an alternative system of knowledge that creates manifold ties between reality and fiction; these roles also embody the conversational style undergirding their collaborative work. The exhibition at the museum’s main facility comprises films from this ongoing saga, and related works. Functioning like a kind of museum devoted to Bear and Rat, it is presided over by vitrines containing the costumes used to play the characters. The Palacio de Cristal, the museum’s site in the Retiro Park, contains their latest work based on the two animals. The presentation of this series offers an excellent chance to acquaint ourselves with the artists’ creative universe.
Peter Fischli and David Weiss have been working together since 1979. Their earliest collaboration, executed immediately prior to the first film featuring Bear and Rat, consisted of a series of photos, their Wurstserie (Sausage series), portraying everyday scenes made from sausages and other ordinary objects. Using everyday materials to counter the solemnity and weight of traditional art genres it proposed an “amateurish” aesthetic closer to children’s handcrafts, and so brought into play many different aspects that would prove central to their later work.
In their sculptures, installations, photographs and films, Fischli/Weiss couple an exploration of their immediate surrounding environment with a signature deadpan wit, in order to generate far-reaching reflections, which uncover the pettiness subsumed in theoretically sublime concerns. In this fashion, they implement a systematic dehierarchisation that posits new subjective orders and classifications in what surrounds us. In their films, the artists acknowledge certain similarities with educational cinema, yet, by contrast, their works offer no explanations. In fact, far from analyzing, they show their contents with a laconic directness. They also frequently put the spectator in an uncomfortable predicament, sometimes by dint of the disproportionate quantity of stimuli included and other times because of the ambiguous or striking character of what is shown.

Fischli / Weiss Fotomontaje de Oso y Rata en el Palacio de Cristal del Parque del Retiro.
2009 Fecha: 30 de abril – 31 de agosto de 2009 Lugar: Palacio de Cristal, Parque del Retiro) y Edificio Sabatini. (Planta 4, Zona D) Organización: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Coordinación: Soledad Liaño

La exposición de Peter Fischli (Zurich, 1952) y David Weiss (Zurich, 1946) organizada por el Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, se realiza a partir de una selección de piezas hecha por los propios artistas y se centra en los protagonistas de sus primeras obras, Oso y Rata. Estos personajes, presentes en diferentes momentos de la trayectoria artística de Fischli y Weiss, les han servido para cuestionar el arte como sistema alternativo de conocimiento y posicionarse sobre la fina línea entre ficción y realidad, con distancia e ironía.

Los artistas trabajan con diversas técnicas en la construcción de lo banal, los objetos y lugares comunes, así como la percepción del tiempo. Para ello se sirven del humor, el absurdo, la distancia y el ingenio como herramientas. El distanciamiento del que parten les permite mayor reflexión sobre temas triviales y aparentemente sin trascendencia, mientras que con el humor se acercan a aquellos temas de carácter más sublime.

La obra habla de la transformación del lugar común, de la revisión de la realidad cotidiana y de la banalidad, para lo cual los artistas se valen de la investigación y observación del propio entorno propiciando una inversión de valores y jerarquías frente a la realidad. Si bien las obras no tienen una moraleja explícita, presentan y evidencian situaciones algunas veces a través de muchos estímulos y otras sugiriendo equívocos que propician la reflexión del espectador. Peter Fischli and David Weiss Present Are Animals People? at Reina Sofia Museum

The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African-American Art: Works on Paper

The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African-American Art: Works on Paper
In the Amon Carter Museum (Fort Worth, Texas)
June 6–August 23, 2009
The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African-American Art: Works on Paper

See the works of more than fifty African-American artists from the late 1800s to the early years of this century. Drawn from one of the most esteemed private collections of works by African-American artists, this special exhibition features over ninety works by such luminaries as Elizabeth Catlett, William H. Johnson, and Charles White.
The 1960s and early 1970s saw the rise of politically motivated and African-inspired themes. Drawn from the artists’ experiences, subjects range from racism and its related hardships to family, music, and religion. Works by living artists Elizabeth Catlett, Margo Humphrey, Whitfield Lovell, and Alison Saar vividly capture and convey the profound social milieu of these years.
The Kelleys have been collecting since the mid-1980s, when they saw the exhibition Hidden Heritage: Afro-American Art, 1800–1950 at the San Antonio Museum of Art. Realizing they did not recognize any of the artists’ names, they vowed to educate themselves about this aspect of their heritage and built a collection to advance the legacy of African-American art.
http://www.cartermuseum.org/exhibitions/the-harmon-and-harriet-kelley-collection-of-african-american-art-works-on-paper

Controversial Film about the 'Night Watch'. Peter Greenaway's Rembrandt’s J’Accuse

Controversial Film about the 'Night Watch'. Peter Greenaway's Rembrandt’s J’Accuse
Peter Greenaway takes his Rembrandt conspiracy theory to the big screen

by Melissa Tuckman
(Source: Artnews) The Night Watch has been on public view since its completion in 1642. But according to experimental filmmaker Peter Greenaway, Rembrandt’s masterwork is studded with unexplained mysteries. If the painting was meant to be a portrait of a militia company, Greenaway asks, why aren’t the soldiers in uniform? Who is the out-of-place girl in gold? And is she a child, a dwarf, or an angel? Even more troubling is the soldier standing behind the central officers: why does he appear to be shooting a musket into the middle of a crowd?

Greenaway is convinced that the painting contains satirical—and sinister—hidden messages. In his latest documentary, Rembrandt’s J’Accuse, which will be shown this month at the San Francisco International Film Festival, as well as at Hot Docs in Toronto, he speculates that The Night Watch is “a pointed finger” that attacks the militia company depicted here for corruption, child prostitution, and murder.

The Night Watch is most often described as a lively group portrait that glorifies an Amsterdam militia company. But Greenaway has reached a wildly different conclusion: the image exposes a real-world criminal plot. According to Greenaway, Amsterdam in the 17th century was violent and inadequately policed. Rembrandt’s J’Accuse proposes that the captain in The Night Watch, Frans Banning Cocq, could have murdered his way to the top. Furthermore, Rembrandt may have known about the crime.

Instead of conducting formal research, Greenaway bases his analysis on visual clues—a method that concerns some art historians since the film is presented as a documentary. Ernst van de Wetering, head of the Rembrandt Research Project in Amsterdam, worries that the movie will be “so misleading to the general ill-informed public” that it could undermine serious scholarly work. Bas Dudok van Heel, a historian at the Amsterdam Municipal Archive, dismisses the whole film outright, objecting, “The pretended research of Mr. Greenaway has never been done. All his figures are invented.”
Read article...
http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2676&current=True

(Comment Trendsbridge)
Of course the film is based on a 'Conspiracy Theory', and in recent history Amsterdam has been one of the worst governed cities in the Netherlands for many years. Although the film is presented as a documentary an until now unseen element of truth could be in this movie. Quite a few artists have always seen or felt more than there seemed to be at first sight. But this is not a welcome message for the 'holier than holy' Dutch Authorities.

Variations on Earth tentoonstelling in de Oosterkerk in Amsterdam

Tentoonstelling OOSTERKERK, Amsterdam
VARIATIONS ON EARTH, WORLD-ARTISTS IN AMSTERDAM
2 JULY - 25 AUG. 2009

Dennis Tremalio - Joao Viegas - Jose Luis Couoh-Puc - Maite Abella - Marieke Raamakers - Olaf Zalcman - Rob van de Schoor - Willy Deinum

contact: trendsbridgeatgmail.com

Oosterkerk, Kleine Wittenburgerstr 1, 1018 LS Amsterdam


Grotere kaart weergeven

Tamara de Lempicka,“Portrait of Madame M.”

Tamara de Lempicka,“Portrait of Madame M.”

ARTIST: Tamara de Lempicka
TITLE: “Portrait of Madame M.”
AUCTION HOUSE: Christie’s
ESTIMATE: $6 million to $8 million

(Source: New York Times) While the odd painting by the Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka comes up at auction every year or so, the market is flooded with them this season.
Epitomizing Paris in the roaring 1920s and 1930s, Lempicka’s work consists primarily of glamorous portraits of men and women of the period. This one, “Portrait of Madame M.,’’was painted in 1932 when André Morillot, a French lawyer, commissioned Lempicka to paint his wife, Marie-Thérèse Morand Morillot, as a gift to her after their marriage in 1929.

The Internet transforms the art market

Artprice revolutionises the art world video

If you are interested in how the internet is transforming the art market, you will be fascinated by this video which tells the nuts and bolts story of developing and running an auction price database.
Hear his story and take a look behind the scenes in quirky black-washed, poster-pasted offices in France to see how its 50 employees bring up to date auction data every day to millions of daily visitors.

Artprice revolutionises the art world video link
http://web.artprice.com/start.aspx?video=1

English version available
Download HD version with English Subtitles (it may takes time to download 601 Mo)
Right click then "Save as..."
*ENGLISH VERSION: ARTPRICE OR THE REVOLUTION OF THE ART MARKET*

Art’s New Numbers.

ARTIST: Picasso TITLE: “Musketeer With a Pipe” (1968) AUCTION HOUSE: Christie’s ESTIMATE: $12 million to $18 million.

$80 Million? Try a Tenth of That. Art’s New Numbers.

By CAROL VOGEL Published: May 3, 2009

The buzzword for this spring’s important auctions of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art is conservative, with catalogs filled with blue-chip artists rather than emerging names.
Art (New York Times Permalink)

The sound of wallets closing...?

Koons Egg Sculpture To Test Art Market Waters

(Source Forbes.com)
A high-priced work by a contemporary star goes up for auction at Sotheby's. Will it sell?

When Sotheby's puts a seven-foot-wide magenta and turquoise Jeff Koons sculpture of an Easter egg on the block in New York May 12, will the international auction house wind up with egg on its face?
It's possible.
"I don't think it's going to sell," predicts Todd Levin, a former Sotheby's ( BID - news - people ) specialist who runs New York art advisory firm Levin Art Group. The auction house estimate of $6 million to $8 million is much too high given the worldwide economic crisis, says Levin. Plus the sculpture--a shiny, oversized replica of an Easter egg covered in foil and topped with a bow--is not one of Koons' more important works.
Only the auction will tell whether Levin is right. The sale is part of a run of auctions at Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips that are viewed as a test of the international market for Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Art.
Koons, 54, became famous during the 1980s for his bold, post-modern works that included vacuum cleaners encased in Plexiglas boxes; a life-sized porcelain sculpture of Michael Jackson with his pet monkey, Bubbles; and a series inspired by Koons' then-wife Cicciolina, an Italian porn star. Those works, created between 1982 and 1990, are the most valuable of Koons' oeuvre, says Levin.
Over the past half-dozen years, the Koons market has been supported by big art-world players such as publisher Peter Brant, Manhattan real estate magnate Aby Rosen and Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk, all of whom own works by Koons and therefore have a vested interest in making sure his prices stay high. As does Koons' dealer, Larry Gagosian, who sold the egg to Loeb in the first place.
Read Article... It's a chicken or the egg matter.

SECHZIG JAHRE. SECHZIG WERKE. Kunst aus der Bundesrepublik Deutschland von ’49 bis ’09

Jörg Immendorff, Für wen?, 1973. Kunstharz auf Leinwand, 2-teilig, 130 x 210 cm. Privatsammlung ©Atelier Jörg Immendorff, 2009.

SECHZIG JAHRE. SECHZIG WERKE. Kunst aus der Bundesrepublik Deutschland von ’49 bis ’09
Ausstellung
1. Mai bis 14. Juni 2009

In diesem Jahr feiert die Bundesrepublik Deutschland den sechzigsten Jahrestag des Inkrafttretens ihrer Verfassung. Anlässlich dieses Jubiläums zeigt der Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin vom 1. Mai bis 14. Juni die Ausstellung SECHZIG JAHRE. SECHZIG WERKE. Präsentiert werden sechzig kunstgeschichtlich herausragende Arbeiten der Malerei, Skulptur, Fotografie und Installationskunst, die seit 1949 entstanden sind.
Die Ausstellung SECHZIG JAHRE. SECHZIG WERKE zieht Bilanz und erzählt dabei die Geschichte der Republik am Beispiel ästhetischer Entwicklungen in der Bildenden Kunst. Jedes der 60 Werke steht für sich selbst und ermöglicht zugleich eine anschauliche Erfahrung der Zeit, in der es entstanden ist. Zur Orientierung der Besucher wird eine Zeitschiene an reale politische und gesellschaftliche Ereignisse erinnern, die für die sechs Jahrzehnte bestimmend gewesen sind.

Die sechzig präsentierten Künstler sind Kai Althoff, Horst Antes, Stefan Balkenhol, Georg Baselitz, Willi Baumeister, Christiane Baumgartner, Bernd und Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Anna und Bernhard Blume, Walter Dahn / Jiri Dokupil, Hanne Darboven, Günther Förg, Rupprecht Geiger, Isa Genzken, K.O. Götz, Bruno Goller, Gotthard Graubner, Andreas Gursky, Hans Hartung, Eberhard Havekost, Werner Heldt, Georg Herold, Gerhard Hoehme, Karl Hofer, Candida Höfer, Rebecca Horn, Jörg Immendorff, Anselm Kiefer, Martin Kippenberger, Konrad Klapheck, Imi Knoebel, Norbert Kricke, Markus Lüpertz, Heinz Mack, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Jonathan Meese, Olaf Metzel, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Carsten Nicolai, Marcel Odenbach, Albert Oehlen, Palermo, A. R. Penck, Otto Piene, Sigmar Polke, Neo Rauch, Tobias Rehberger, Daniel Richter, Gerhard Richter, Thomas Ruff, Reiner Ruthenbeck, Bernard Schultze, Emil Schumacher, Thomas Schütte, Thomas Struth, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel, Günther Uecker, Hans Uhlmann, Franz Erhard Walther, Corinne Wasmuht und WOLS
http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/de/aktuell/festivals/11_gropiusbau/mgb_04_programm/mgb_04_aktuelle_ausstellungen/mgb_04_ProgrammlisteDetailSeite_1_11830.php

Download Program der Berliner Festspiele (PDF)
http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/media/de/2009/gropiusbau/downloads/mgb_programm.pdf

(Source ArtDaily) BERLIN.- The exhibition Sixty Years, Sixty Works opened at Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin. Organized for the anniversary of the ratification of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, the exhibition recounts another history of the Republic: the developmental history of the visual arts, made possible by paragraph 5, article 3 of the constitution that guarantees the freedom of expression in art, science, research, and education. Curatorial team spokespersons Walter Smerling and Peter Iden point out: “The exhibition is also meant to provide an opportunity to reflect upon whats been created, especially against the background of Germanyʼs specific history. Today we have the freedom and the ability to create and present all conceivable forms of art. Of course art and culture was also created in the GDR between 1949-89. Sixty Years, Sixty Works focuses rather on presenting artistic positions that developed as a result of the foundational stability provided by the constitution, in other words, the freedom of artistic expression guaranteed by the state.”
Sixty outstanding works will be presented that have impacted art events both nationally and internationally. The works range from paintings and graphic art, to sculpture, installation, and photography. On view in the comprehensive exhibition are renowned works such as Joseph Beuys felt-covered concert piano Infiltration homogène pour piano à queue from the collection of the Centre George Pompidou, or a configuration of monkey sculptures curated by Markus Lüpertz for his artist friend Jörg Immendorfs from his series Malerstamm.
http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp

Schilderijenroof in Scheringa Museum

'La Musicienne' van Tamara de Lempicka

Schilderijenroof in Scheringa Museum

1 mei 2009, (Bron: De Telegraaf.nl) SPANBROEK - Meerdere gemaskerde personen hebben vrijdag rond het middaguur het Scheringa Museum voor Realisme in Spanbroek overvallen. Dit heeft de politie bekendgemaakt. De daders hebben twee schilderijen buitgemaakt, van de schilders Salvador Dali en Tamara de Lempicka.

De daders hebben twee schilderijen buitgemaakt, van de schilders Salvador Dali en Tamara de Lempicka.
Bij de overval zijn een receptioniste en de bewaker bedreigd met een vuurwapen. Er is niet geschoten. De daders reden weg in een kleine personenauto. Van hen ontbreekt vooralsnog elk spoor.
De buit bestaat uit Dali's 'Adolescence', een gouache uit 1941 en 'La Musicienne' van Tamara de Lempicka, een olieverfschilderij uit 1929. Volgens Klaas Wilting, woordvoerder van museumoprichter Dirk Scheringa, gaat het om behoorlijk waardevolle schilderijen.
Wilting vermoedt dat de daders eerder in het museum zijn geweest, omdat ze doelbewust op deze twee werken afgingen. Het is triest dat er twee schilderijen weg zijn, maar gelukkig zijn er geen gewonden gevallen, aldus Wilting.
Op het tijdstip van de overval waren ongeveer twintig mensen in het museum. De bedreigde medewerkers zijn opgevangen door de directie. Wilting kon vrijdagmiddag nog niet zeggen of het museum zaterdag weer open is.
Scheringa richtte in het museum in 1997 op. Hij is ook eigenaar van de DSB-bank en voorzitter van de Alkmaarse voetbalclub AZ.
http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/3827651/__Scheringa_Museum_beroofd__.html?p=32,1

Commentaar Trensbridge: Nieuws is nieuws, ook al is het een dag oud. Interessant wordt het pas als t.z.t de schilderijen ergens anders opduiken en/ of - al dan niet voor losgeld- te koop worden aangeboden. Op de website van het Scheringa Museum kunt u een persbericht over de roof vinden en op maandag 4 mei is er een persconferentie.
De methode van roof is in zoverre 'interessant te noemen' dat het blijkbaar zo eenvoudig was, hetgeen kan duiden op lokale 'kleine criminelen' en een 'geplande gelegenheidsdiefstal'. Hoewel het nog vroeg (2 mei) is wordt er in de internationale pers nog geen melding van gemaakt. Kunstdiefstal is van alle tijden, een veranderende trend kan gevonden worden in de toename van diefstallen uit - niet optimaal beveiligde- lokale en provinciale musea en kunstcollecties. Hierbij kan de economische crisis een rol spelen.