| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Sunday, February 27, 2022 |
| | Sotheby's NFT sale, expected to hit $30 million, suddenly canceled | |
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Estimated to achieve $20/30 million, the highest valued estimate ever for an NFT lot at auction. Courtesy Sotheby's.
by Zachary Small
NEW YORK, NY.- At Sothebys on Wednesday night, a single lot of NFTs 104 digital art assets known as CryptoPunks was expected to sell for as much as $30 million. But after a delay of 25 minutes past the auctions expected start time, the sale was off. The consignor had withdrawn the pixelated collectibles and posted a meme on Twitter mocking the auction house. Audiences inside a packed Sothebys salesroom were shocked, according to two attendees. The evening began with people drinking Champagne and ended with a stunned shuffle back home. Derek Parsons, a Sothebys spokesperson, said in a statement Wednesday night that the lot was withdrawn prior to the sale following discussions with the consignor, but he did not share details of how the deal fell apart. People were extremely upset, said Kent Charugundla, a telecom ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Installation view of Leiko Ikemura: Riding the Waves. Image: Courtesy Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp.
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| Exhibition surveys the defining decades of the career of Jean Dubuffet | | Pace opens an exhibition of rarely seen collages and sculptural wall reliefs created by Louise Nevelson | | Exhibition focuses on Edvard Munch's later works and their relevance to contemporary art | 
Jean Dubuffet, Door with Couch Grass (Porte au chiendent), October 31, 1957. Oil on canvas, mounted to canvas. 189.2 x 146 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York 59.1549 © Jean Dubuffet, VEGAP, Bilbao, 2022.
BILBAO.- The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents Jean Dubuffet: Ardent Celebration, sponsored by BBK, an exhibition surveying the defining decades of the career of Jean Dubuffet, spanning his first years of committed artistic production in the 1940s through his final fully developed series, completed in 1984. The exhibition is drawn primarily from the rich holdings of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and supplemented by important selections from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice. At the end of World War II, Jean Dubuffet (b. 1901, Le Havre, France; d. 1985, Paris) began exhibiting paintings that defied entrenched artistic values. He rejected principles of decorum and classical beauty, along with pretentions of expertise. Instead, he looked to the commonplace and the unheralded, employing crude ... More | | 
Louise Nevelson, Untitled, 1969. © 2022 Estate of Louise Nevelson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
PALO ALTO, CA.- Pace is presenting Louise Nevelson: Mirage, an exhibition of rarely seen collages and sculptural wall reliefs created by Louise Nevelson between the 1950s and 1980s, at its Palo Alto gallery. Running from February 25 to April 9, the show highlights the dialogues between Nevelsons masterful but little-known collage works and her sculptural wall reliefs in painted black wood. The exhibition, which marks the first Bay Area presentation of the artists work since a 2016 show at Pace in Palo Alto, brings together two aspects of the artists practice that have seldom been considered in relation to one another. Following Paces show in Palo Alto, Nevelsons work will be included in the main exhibition of the 59th Venice Biennale. Featuring 15 collages and three sculptural wall reliefs, including two works from the key 1966 series Northern Shores, Louise Nevelson: Mirage focuses on the artists ... More | | 
Edvard Munch, Self-portrait (with bone arm), 1895. Lithograph with lithographic chalk, ink and needle in black. The ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna © The ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna.
VIENNA.- The Albertina is dedicating its major spring exhibition of 2022 to Edvard Munch (1863 1944). This comprehensive showing is unique in several respects: more than 60 works by the Norwegian artist exemplify his impressive oeuvre as one that has been groundbreaking for both modern and contemporary art. Edvard Munch. In Dialogue focuses primarily on Munch's later works and their relevance to contemporary art. Alongside iconic versions of the Madonna and the Sick Child as well as Puberty, it is ultimately also a number of landscape paintingsbearing witness to the uncanny, the threatening, and the alienatingthat place Edvard Munchs perspective on nature, that central theme of symbolism and expressionism, in dialogue with groups of works by important artists of our own time. In addition to the direct variations on Munch's iconic images, the exhibition focuses ... More |
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| Ryan Murphy announced as guest curator for Sotheby's 'Contemporary Curated' auction | | Michael Hoppen Gallery opens an exhibition of photographs by Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen | | Louise Giovanelli joins White Cube | 
Andy Warhol, Ryuichi Sakamoto, 1984. Courtesy Sotheby's.
NEW YORK, NY.- In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes is one of the most oft-quoted phrases attributed to the iconic artist Andy Warhol, whose prescient prediction captured the popular ethos of 15 minutes of fame that has become synonymous with the culture of stardom. This March, Warhol himself takes centerstage with the premiere of a new Netflix docuseries, The Andy Warhol Diaries, executive produced by celebrated writer, showrunner, Ryan Murphy, who also lends his curatorial eye to Sothebys Contemporary Curated auction on 11 March in New York with a selection of 13 standout works from the sale. Among Murphys picks from the auction is Warhols signature portrait of Japanese composer, pianist, and singer Ryuichi Sakamoto, along with two exceptional works by the late Wayne Thiebaudmarking the first paintings by the artist to come to auction since his death in ... More | | 
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Customer Leaving Gents Hairdresser, Raby Street, Byker, 1974. Signed, dated, and titled in pencil verso. Silver gelatin print. Printed 2021. Paper size: 40.5 x 50.5 cm. Image size 30.5 x 39 cm. Frame size: 43.5 x 56.5 cm.
LONDON.- Michael Hoppen Gallery is presenting its first exhibition at its new location. This group of hand-made silver gelatin prints by the Finnish photographer Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen were all taken during her time spent living in Byker, Newcastle, during the 1960s and 70s. After moving up north from London in 1969, Konttinen came upon the area Byker by chance, and immediately fell in love with it. This marked the beginning of her relationship with the local community there and the seminal photographs that she produced documenting local life over the next decade. She was drawn to the laughter, the children playing in the streets, the energy. For her, this blue-collar district of Newcastle brimmed with life as it teetered on the brink of a huge cultural shift - a period when the shipyard industry ... More | | 
Louise Giovanelli, 2022. © Michael Pollard. Courtesy White Cube.
LONDON.- White Cube announced representation of the British artist Louise Giovanelli (b. 1993, London), who lives and works in Manchester, UK. Deeply engaged with the history of painting, Giovanellis practice explores the tension between representation and materiality, figuration and abstraction, and how the mechanics of picture making shape our act of looking. Relating the contemporary to the historic, and the sacred to the profane, the artist draws from a wide range of sources including early Renaissance painting, film stills and images of popular performers. Expanding and reforming these found fragments, Giovanelli creates delicate and luminous works, which expose how the materiality of paint can carry and convey meaning. Often reworking and closely cropping details of paintings, photographs, classical sculpture, architecture and theatre, the artist employs repetition in order to achieve an augmented ... More |
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| Michael Hilsman's second solo exhibition with Almine Rech opens in Paris | | The sweet smell of success: Records fall for Lalique perfume bottle collection | | Tim Van Laere Gallery opens a solo show by Japanese-Swiss artist Leiko Ikemura | 
Michael Hilsman, Flowers, Shells, Hammer, Nails, 2021. Oil on linen, 27.9 x 35.6 cm. 11 x 14 in. © Michael Hilsman - Courtesy of the Artist and Almine Rech - Photo: Matthew Kroening.
PARIS.- Almine Rech ⎜ Paris, Matignon is presenting Michael Hilsman's second solo exhibition with the gallery, on view from February 24 to April 2, 2022. Los Angeles, city of mirrors, what Jean Baudrillard called a paradisiac and inward-looking illusion, is everywhere and nowhere in Michael Hilsmans paintings. The Southern California landscape in which the artist was born and raised and where he lives and works today appears in his work as a space for self-reflection. Like the fabricated façades of a movie set, the works primary illusion is their appearance of flatness, which only enhances their metaphysical depth. Bodies study their own contours in a limitless expanse. Loneliness is as abundant as sunshine. Lush gardens and empty horizons, bathed in crepuscular light, are ... More | | 
René Lalique, Bouchon Cassis Scent Bottle No. 494. Photo: Lyon & Turnbull.
LONDON.- An exceptional private collection of 150 Lalique perfume bottles proved a near sell-out at Lyon & Turnbulls live online auction on February 17. Many bottles brought record sums as the collection, assembled over several years by a collector who had long fallen under the spell of René Lalique, sold for a premium-inclusive total of £658,000. The aggregate was more than double the pre-sale estimate with the selling rate a near faultless 96%. It is a rare occurrence for a collection of Lalique scent bottles of this calibre and scale to appear on the market and I was thrilled to be asked to handle it, said Joy McCall, Senior Specialist and Head of Sale. The results are testament to the quality of the collection. Participation in the sale came from a broad international audience and it was lovely to meet so many new clients with a passion for Lalique. It was in the early 20th century that ... More | | 
Leiko Ikemura, Girl in Yellow, 2021. Tempera and oil on jute, 100 x 80 cm. 104 x 83 x 3,5 cm (frame).
ANTWERP.- Tim Van Laere Gallery is presenting Riding the Waves, a solo show by Japanese-Swiss artist Leiko Ikemura. Presenting a combination of new works alongside signature pieces, this exhibition showcases bronze, ceramic and glass sculptures as well as paintings. Leiko Ikemura is an internationally celebrated and well-established, Japanese-Swiss artist, based in Berlin. Originally from Tsu in the Mie Prefecture, Japan, Ikemura studied painting in Seville, Spain before relocating to Switzerland and then Germany. She fuses Eastern and Western art and explores themes of hybridity, cross culturalism, sexuality, and the life cycle. She works at the intersection of abstraction and figuration, shifting fluidly between media, and imbuing her pieces with raw energy and emotion. Blurring the border between species, between inner and outer worlds, ... More |
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| Acquisitions at ARCOmadrid 2022 | | The ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair returns to New York from April 21-24 | | Laura Hanssens appointed Director of Herbert Foundation | 
Installation view.
MADRID.- Following two days dedicated exclusively to professionals, ARCOmadrid, celebrating its 40 (+1) Anniversary until this Sunday, February 27th, has already recorded ubstantial acquisitions. The confirmed institutional and corporate purchases at this edition of ARCOmadrid 2022 include those by Fundación ARCO which has extended its Collection with the acquisition of 5 new works, using the funds raised at the Fundación ARCO dinner, held last Tuesday, February 22nd. The works acquired, on the advice of Manuel Segade and Vincent Honoré, are by Teresa Solar -TravesÃa Cuatro-; Manuel Solano -Peres Projects-; Nour Jaouda -East Contemporary-; Jochen Lempert -ProjectSD-, and Miriam Cahn -Meyer Riegger. Additionally works by Cristina MejÃas -Alarcón Criado- and DarÃo Villalba -Luis Adelantado-, were acquired by the International Council of Fundación ARCO. ... More | | 
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (translated by A.L. Lloyd) (1937),with an original dust-jacket, conceived, designed and illustrated by Peter Capaldi [2017].
NEW YORK, NY.- The New York International Antiquarian Book Fairofficially sanctioned by Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America and International League of Antiquarian Booksellers and produced and managed by Sanford L. Smith + Associatesis making its much-anticipated return to the Park Avenue Armory from April 21-24, 2022, for its 62nd Edition. The NYIABF is a cultural mainstay in the city and is proud to return as a highlight of the Spring cultural calendar in New York City and the New York region at large. Returning to the in-person format in a time when print books and ephemera have mattered more than ever and continue to serve as a source of comfort and escape during a period of uncertainty, ... More | | 
Laura Hanssens. Photo: Yuri van der Hoeven.
GHENT.- Chairman Pierre Iserbyt and the Board of Directors appoint Laura Hanssens to serve as Director of Herbert Foundation. Laura Hanssens joined Herbert Foundation in 2012, at the eve of its opening to the public. Together with the team, she will further develop the future of the Foundation, in line with the Foundations distinctive identity and vision. Laura Hanssens: The title of Herbert Foundations first exhibition in 2013 was AS IF IT COULD, a reference to Lawrence Weiners eponymous 1971 work. The title embodied the future-related questions that inevitably arise from a private collection. Anton Herbert described the establishment of an independent Private Foundation as a necessary utopiaa description that still holds today. I consider it an honour to actively ensure the much-needed continuation of Annick and Antons lifework together with the team. Pierre ... More |
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Art & Conversation: Ruth Asawa
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 11,000 free pairs of shoes will dance across New YorkNEW YORK, NY.- Last week, 11,000 pairs of dance shoes made a long trek, all the way from Rhode Island to Queens. They arrived on busy Northern Boulevard in a 56-foot tractor-trailer full of 20 pallets, each holding 500 to 600 pairs. Their worth was estimated at around $300,000. But you cant pin a price on dance. On Tuesday, a city-run program, Materials for the Arts in partnership with the Joyce Theater and the former Brooklyn Academy of Music president Karen Brooks Hopkins held the first part of a great dance shoe giveaway. Discount retailer Ocean State Job Lot donated the dance shoes, from a toddlers size 5 to an adults size 13, to be made available at no cost to hundreds of New York City-based dancers, dance organizations and public schools. Its a fantastic New York City cultural revival, coming-out-of-the-pandemic ... More  Major retrospective of Alma W. Thomas at Frist Art Museum examines artist's wide-ranging creative lifeNASHVILLE, TENN.- The Frist Art Museum presents Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful, a comprehensive overview of the artists long, dynamic life (18911978) and multifaceted career that was defined by constant creativity. Featuring more than 150 works, including her joyful and colorful abstract paintings and many objects that have never been exhibited or published before, the exhibition demonstrates how Thomass artistic practices extended to every aspect of her lifefrom community service and teaching to gardening and dress. Co-organized by the Chrysler Museum of Art and The Columbus Museum, Georgia, Everything Is Beautiful is on view in the Frists Upper-Level Galleries from February 25 through June 5, 2022. This major retrospective follows the trailblazing artists journey from Columbus, Georgia, to Washington, DC, to becoming ... More  'Don Carlo' or 'Don Carlos'? Verdi comes to the Met in FrenchNEW YORK, NY.- For the first 80 or so years of its life, Verdis Don Carlos was a problem opera on the margins of the repertory. Audiences saw it only sporadically; almost everyone who wrote about it described an uneven transitional work, a troubled experiment on the eve of the composers final masterpieces: Aida, Otello and Falstaff. Today, this sprawling, packed epic based on the tumults of 16th-century Spain under Philip II as filtered through two different plays is part of every opera lovers basic nutrition. The Metropolitan Opera has a lot to do with that: In 1950, Rudolf Bing made the bold choice to revive the work for the opening night of his first season as general manager. The Met was the first house in the world to make Don Carlos standard repertory. And yet the company has never performed its original words. That changes ... More  Bappi Lahiri, India's 'Disco King,' dies at 69NEW YORK, NY.- Bappi Lahiri, an Indian film composer who combined the melodrama of Bollywood film plots with the flamboyance of discos electronic orchestra sound, setting off a pop craze in India that earned him the nickname Disco King, died Feb. 15 in Mumbai. He was 69. The cause was obstructive sleep apnea, said his son, Bappa, who was his arranger, manager and bandmate. Lahiri was an up-and-coming pop musician in 1979 when he traveled to the United States to play a series of gigs for Indian American audiences. While there, he toured nightclubs in San Francisco, Chicago and New York and caught the final months of American disco fever. In New York, he bought a Moog synthesizer, multiple drum machines and so much other music equipment that it filled two taxis. On returning home, his experiments with those instruments culminated ... More  Bard Graduate Center opens two new exhibitionsNEW YORK, NY.- Richard Tuttle: What is the Object? co-curated by the artist invites visitors to actively participate in creating the meaning of the items in the exhibition, an eclectic selection of decorative and functional objects that Tuttle has collected over the last five decades. The exhibition grows out of the artist's lifelong curiosity and fascination with objects, and how humans use tangible things to make abstract meaning. Reflecting the artist's inquisitive and playful approach to his practice, visitors will be invited to touch and handle over 70 items drawn from Tuttle's personal collection of objects. Visitors can lift objects from their pedestals, interacting with items ranging from ceramic teacups and decorative sculptures to vintage fabrics and antique curios. In another integral contribution to the exhibition, Tuttle has also designed sculptural ... More  Bonhams to offer first NFT edition of Nelson Mandela's artworkLONDON.- Bonhams is to offer the first NFT of Nelson Mandelas emotive watercolours in a dedicated sale, Nelson Mandela's "My Robben Island", a NFT edition drop, on Wednesday 9 March at New Bond Street. Offered through the NFT platform, Nifty Gateway, these exclusive NFTs are the first to be minted of Mandelas own artwork and are to be sold at $699 for a single image and $3,495 for the set. The size of the edition is determined by popular demand up to an upper limit of 10,000. The NFT edition is being offered in partnership with Makaziwe Mandela, Nelson Mandelas eldest daughter. Giles Peppiatt, Bonhams Director, Modern & Contemporary African Art, commented: Nelson Mandela is quite simply an icon whose life is a source of strength and inspiration to millions of people throughout the world. Having previously sold original artwork ... More  Rising star Rachel Jones to rock Bonhams Post-War & Contemporary Art sale in LondonLONDON.- A work by the British artist Rachel Jones (B. 1991), Spliced Structure (7), is among the highlights of Bonhams Post-War & Contemporary Art sale on Thursday 24 March at Bonhams New Bond Street. Having studied at Glasgow School of Art, followed by the Royal Academy Schools (2016 2019), Jones was recently included in Hayward Gallerys 2021 exhibition Mixing It Up: Painting Today, and received widespread acclaim for her distinctive and bold style. Created in 2019, Spliced Structure (7) is a sterling example from a foundational series by the artist. The work has an estimate of £40,000-60,000. Ralph Taylor, Bonhams Global Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, commented: Jones is a truly remarkable artist whose unique style and visual approach to matters of identity and voice has already earned her much attention ... More  Banksy's Bomb Middle England, Toxic Rat, Morons heads to Julien's AuctionsLOS ANGELES, CA.- A world class collection of 50 works by some of the most talked about artists and revolutionary iconoclasts of our time including Banksy, Damien Hirst, Shepard Fairey, David Hockney, Aaron Garber Maikovska, George Rodrique, Margaret Bourke-White, as well as sculptural works by KAWS, Bruce Lafountain and more will head to Juliens Auctions art event of the season, Sip, Bid and Win: An Evening of Drinks and Art, Street, Contemporary, Pop and Fine Art. The live and online auction with a VIP reception will take place Wednesday, March 16th, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. One of the most talked about pieces offered comes from Banksy, whose controversial and powerful graffiti art elusively created on the urban canvas of city streets have captivated and fascinated audiences all over the world. Banksys Bomb Middle England is an early ... More  Solo exhibition of new collage works by John Stezaker opens at The ApproachLONDON.- The Approach is presenting Double Shadow, a solo exhibition of new collage works by John Stezaker. Duality, both physical and metaphoric have always been at the centre of Stezakers work. In the most recent Double Shadow collages the processes of splitting and doubling are used to reflect on the duplicitous figure of the uncanny: the doppelgänger, Janus and hermaphrodite figures. The combination of silhouette contours reanimate these archetypal images from their most anodyne source. The contours of the figures of masculinity and femininity, so sharply delineated in 1950s Hollywood images, are dissolved into strange and sometimes monstrous hybrids; uneasy pairings created in the intersection of shadows that seem to hover between worlds. Inspired by the use of silhouettes in fin de siécle fairytale illustrations ... More  Jona Frank collaborates with Alex Kalman to create immersive installation at the Bowdoin College Museum of ArtBRUNSWICK, ME.- The Bowdoin College Museum of Art announced that photographer Jona Frank and Alex Kalman created an immersive environment evoking her suburban childhood in Cherry Hill, New Jersey for the exhibition, Jona Frank: Model Home. On view from February 24, 2022 through June 5, 2022, the exhibition is accompanied by a new publication of the same title. The exhibition reflects the artists youthful journey to find herself while attempting to grasp and failing to conform to the social mythologies encapsulated by the post-World War II suburban dwelling of her upbringing. Through photographs as well as various replicas of spaces and objects Frank identifies with her childhood, Jona Frank: Model ... More  Modern Art opens an exhibition of new paintings by Julien Ceccaldi LONDON.- Modern Art opened an exhibition of new paintings by Julien Ceccaldi at its Helmet Row gallery. This is Ceccaldis first solo exhibition with Modern Art. Working in painting, sculpture, and comic books, Julien Ceccaldi explores a set of archetypal characters that morph and develop in different iterations of themselves. Influenced by the Shōjo manga genre which focuses on romantic relationships and heightened emotions, Ceccaldi portrays characters as yearning or aspiring in some form or another: for love, sex or success. Attention or affirmation is sought through different means, and Ceccaldis world tends to be split into two polarised types of being: hulking, muscular, glowing bodies aloof targets of sexual and romantic desire and the unnoticed, exhausted other in this unrequited dyad. Through compositions framing the gaunt, ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Murillo: Picturing the Prodigal Son 
The 8 X Jeff Koons 
Jules Tavernier and the Elem Pomo 
Life Between Islands
Flashback On a day like today, Spanish painter JoaquÃn Sorolla was born February 27, 1863. JoaquÃn Sorolla y Bastida (27 February 1863 - 10 August 1923) was a Spanish painter. Sorolla excelled in the painting of portraits, landscapes, and monumental works of social and historical themes. His most typical works are characterized by a dexterous representation of the people and landscape under the bright sunlight of his native land and sunlit water. In this image:JoaquÃn Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923), Study of Hands, c. 1889. Charcoal on paper. Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas. Museum purchase with funds from Elizabeth Solender and Gary L. Scott, MM.2018.08. Photo by Kevin Todora.
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