| The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Wednesday, March 16, 2016 |
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| | Hotel Drouot auction house porters on trial for stealing 250 tonnes of valuables | |
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French lawyer Leon Lef Forster, who defend nine Drouot commission agents arrives for "Union des commissionnaires de l'Hôtel des ventes" (UCHV) trial, where fifty persons working at Drouot auction house appear at the Justice Court of Paris for robbery on March 14, 2016. THOMAS SAMSON / AFP.
PARIS (AFP).- Porters from Paris' most famous auction house went on trial Monday, accused of systematically stealing 250 tonnes of valuable antiques, jewels and artworks, including a Chagall painting and rare Ming dynasty porcelain. Around 40 "Col Rouge" (red collars), named after their uniforms, along with six auctioneers from the Hotel Drouot auction house are on trial for charges of gang-related theft, conspiracy to commit a crime or handling stolen goods. The case against the employees was launched in 2009 after an anonymous tip alerted investigators to a Gustave Courbet painting that disappeared while being transported in 2003. Investigators allege institutionalised theft by the porters -- known as "Les Savoyards" as all members of the secretive group came from the Alpine region of Savoie. Raids uncovered a mountain of treasures, including precious jewels and antique furniture, that went missing -- and the lavish lifestyle of the porters. One apparently drove a Porsche 911 and the latest BMW ca ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day NEW YORK.- Renowned for expertise in the fine art and craft of 20th-century Japan, Erik Thomsen Gallery announces its exhibition "Taisho Era Screens and Contemporary Lacquer by Yoshio Okada". In this image: 3. Yoshio Okada (b. 1977) Box with Moon and Clouds, 2016, Japan. Dry-lacquer box with maki-e gold lacquer decor and inlays of gold foil and abalone shell, 5.75 x 4.25 inches
| Surviving Shakespeare script "The Book of Sir Thomas More" urges empathy for foreigners | | Hauser Wirth & Schimmel opens to the public in the Los Angeles Downtown Arts District | | In preventive excavation realized by INRAP, a bird found to be among the earliest art | 
Shakespeare's handwriting in The Book of Sir Thomas More, The British Library.
LONDON (AFP).- The only surviving play script including William Shakespeare's handwriting, and containing a passionate speech against xenophobia, is being put online to mark the 400th anniversary of the bard's death, the British Library announced Tuesday. The script is a section from a controversial play that revolves around how statesman Sir Thomas More quelled a 1517 anti-foreigner uprising in London by asking the rioters to imagine themselves being banished to live abroad. The 164-line scene has been attributed to Shakespeare, one of several writers brought in to rework "The Book Of Sir Thomas More". In challenging rioters, More says: "Alas, alas! Say now the King/ As he is clement if th'offender mourn,/ Should so much come too short of your great trespass/ As but to banish you: whither would you go?/What country, by the nature of your error,/ Should give you harbour? "Go you to France or Flanders,/ To any German province, Spain or Portugal,/ Nay, anywhere that not ... More | | 
Shinique Smith, Forgiving Strands, 2015 2016. Clothing, fabric, ribbon, rope, found objects. Dimensions variable.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- On 13 March 2016, Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, the new Los Angeles space of internationallyacclaimed contemporary and modern art gallery Hauser & Wirth, opened to the public in the vast former Globe Mills flour mill complex in the heart of citys burgeoning Downtown Arts District. The sites late 19th and early 20th century buildings and internal outdoor spaces have been transformed into a dynamic multidisciplinary arts center by Creative Space LA, in consultation with Annabelle Selldorf, Selldorf Architects. Here, under the direction of Partner and Vice President Paul Schimmel, the arts center will offer innovative museum-quality exhibitions and a dynamic schedule of public education programs that contextualize the art on view for diverse audiences, as well as an ARTBOOK bookstore; a space for Hauser & Wirths Book & Printed Matter Lab; the restaurant Manuela, opening summer 2016; a public garden, opening fall 2016; s ... More | | 
Pajarito © Iluminada Ortega, Joseba Rios-Garaizar, Diego Garate Maidagan, Juan Arizaga, Laurence Bourguignon. Denis Gliksman, Inrap.
PARIS.- In advance of the construction of the eastern Bergerac bypass route (Dordogne), the preventive excavation realized by Inrap at the open-air doline site of Cantalouette revealed prehistoric occupations from the Middle Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. Iluminada Ortega and Laurence Bourguignon of Inrap, along with their Spanish colleagues, have announced in the Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, the discovery of an Aurignacian art object, 35,000 31,000 years old. This object, depicting a bird, contributes to our knowledge of the origins of figurative art. This depiction is very distinct and probably unique in the Aurignacian period, during which Modern Humans arrived in western Europe. It is exceptional in its degree of naturalism, the nature of its supportthe cortex (limestone coating) of a flint flakeand the engraving technique used. This sunk relief technique was identified through microscopic a ... More |
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| 10 buzzy contemporary Asian works of art being offered at Asia Week New York | | Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center acquires work by acclaimed French symbolist painter Gustave Moreau | | Jenness Cortez "Requiem" painting to be auctioned at the C.M. Russell Museum on March 19 | 
Onishi Gallery juxtposes contemporary Japanese ceramics against a backdrop of 18th century French decorative arts at Dalva Brothers.
NEW YORK, NY.- Though Asia Week New York overflows with ancient Asian works of art, don't think there aren't plenty of contemporary pieces, too. Asia Week New York is all about mingling the old with the new and synthesizing the back-then with the right-now. Take, for example, the contemporary ceramics Nana Onishi placed against 18th-century boiserie from Dalva Brothers, the venerable purveyors of fine French furniture. The juxtaposition of new ceramics and the wooden panels creates a dialogue that bridges centuries and cultures. Here is a sampling of alluring contemporary works on view at ten Asia Week New York galleries: From Gallery Japonesque (San Francisco): a striking sculpted fountain by Masatoshi Izumi titled Night Rain II (Stone Water Sound). Made from Swedish granite in 2016, it weighs more than two tons and measures about 4 by 7 feet. From Dai Ichi ... More | | 
Gustave Moreau, (French 1826 - 1898), Hercules and the Stymphalian Birds, ca. 1872 (detail). Oil on panel, 7 X 11 1/2 inches. Gifts of Elizabeth S. Colie, Mrs. Ruth Britten (Ruth Rutchik, class of 1958) and Mrs. Harold Deutsch (Barbara Chobot, '56) by exchange.
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY.- The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College announces its acquisition of Hercules and the Stymphalian Birds, a painting by renowned 19th century French artist Gustave Moreau. Moreau was trained as an academic history painter but evolved into a very idiosyncratic and personal presenter of standard historical and literary subjects. His paintings have a very strong spiritual aspect to them and many are technically very highly wrought, the artist often returning to the same painting over the course of years to add to the richly encrusted surfaces, says James Mundy, the Anne Hendricks Bass director of the Art Center. Moreau was always interested in the labours of Hercules. In Hercules and the Stymphalian Birds the hero is dressed in a lions ... More | | 
In Requiem, as in all her paintings, artist Jenness Cortez continues to play the role of author, visual journalist, art historian, curator and pundit.
AVERILL PARK, NY .- The C. M. Russell Museum of Great Falls, Montana, will auction an important painting entitled Requiem by internationally acclaimed artist Jenness Cortez at its annual exhibition and sale March 19, 2016. In Requiem, Cortez uses Albert Bierstadts final great western landscape The Last of the Buffalo as her own paintings focal point to pay homage to the culture of the Native Peoples of the American plains. But to bolster Bierstadts tribute to the buffalo and Native American culture, Cortez has added a steam locomotive and train to the paintings middle ground--intending to emphatically illustrate the force and inevitability of the white man's conquest of the plains. In Requiem, as in all her paintings, artist Jenness Cortez continues to play the role of author, visual journalist, art historian, curator and pundit to help open our eyes to what we might othe ... More |
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| Tenth edition of Art Dubai, taking place at Madinat Jumeirah, opens with largest and most global edition to date | | Exhibition of new sculpture and works on paper by sculptor Jeff Lowe opens at Pangolin London | | Exhibition of new work on Echizen kozo washi paper by Richard Gorman opens at Kerlin Gallery | 
Raed Yassin, My Pain Cannot Be Described In Words, 2015, Courtesy of Kalfayan Galleries, Athens Thessaloniki.
DUBAI.- The tenth edition of Art Dubai, the leading art fair in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, opens tomorrow, from March 16-19 2016. Taking place at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, this year is the largest and most diverse fair line-up to date, with new galleries exhibiting in the Contemporary and Modern halls; the first ever exhibition of its kind on the Philippines art scene in Marker; ambitious new commissions and projects; the largest not-for-profit educational programming of any international art fair worldwide; and the return of the highly anticipated Global Art Forum, uniting some of the worlds greatest thinkers at Art Dubai 2016. Art Dubai has come a long way over the past 10 years, says Fair Director Antonia Carver, and were all excited to see the developments over the next decade. ... More | | 
Study for Egypt, 1991. Bronze.
LONDON.- Internationally acclaimed sculptor Jeff Lowe presents new sculpture and works on paper in his first solo exhibition at Pangolin London. Jeff Lowe was a student of The New Generation of British sculptors that emerged in the 1960s. Studying at the Saint Martins School of Art between 1971-75, under the esteemed tutelage of William Tucker, Philip King and Anthony Caro: Lowe inherited the New Generations experimentation of industrial materials, along with an interest in releasing the sculpture from the confines of the plinth so that it could inhabit the viewers personal space. Born in Lancashire in 1952 Jeff Lowe came to prominence at the age of 21, whilst still a student at Saint Martins, through his first solo exhibition at the prestigious Leicester Galleries in Londons Cork Street in 1974. He then went on to represent Britain at the Paris Biennale, and his work featured in ... More | | 
Richard Gorman, Iwano Series II, 2015, handmade paper, 275 x 320 cm.
DUBLIN.- Kerlin Gallery presents Iwano, an exhibition of new work on Echizen kozo washi paper by Richard Gorman. Iwano is titled in recognition of Iwano Heizaburo, a master paper producer with whom Gorman worked closely until Iwanos death earlier this year. Relying solely on traditional production techniques, the Iwano family has operated its paper factory in Echizen, western Japan, for ten generations. Iwano Heizaburo worked generously with the artist for more than 25 years to help produce his works on Echizen kozo washi paper, now a central and celebrated part of Gormans practice. Iwano brings together a series of colourful paper diptychs, produced on an unprecedentedly large scale. Measuring 275 x 320 cm each, the works expanded size lends them a new monumentality, but also a delicacy and fragility; their format evoking ... More |
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| Nassau County Museum of Art opens exhibition of works by Kenny Scharf | | Rolls-Royce Art Programme announces a new commission by Emirati artist Mohammed Kazem | | Michael Janssen opens first solo exhibition in Germany with Norwegian painter Lars Elling | 
Kenny Scharf, Atmosfear, 1983. Acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 24 x 18 inches. Collection of Dr. Harvey Manes.
ROSLYN HARBOR, NY.- The exhibition Kenny Scharf opens at Nassau County Museum of Art on Saturday, March 19 and remains on view through July 10, 2016. The exhibition is sponsored by TAHARI Arthur S. Levine. Emerging with the New York City graffiti and street art movement of the 1980s, Kenny Scharf (b. 1958) is known for his vibrantly colorful large-scale paintings and exuberantly playful installations. His imagery draws upon pop icons, media advertising and consumer culture of the 1960s, including TV cartoon characters such as the Flintstones and the Jetsons. Curated by Director Dr. Karl E. Willers and the Museums staff, Kenny Scharf showcases major paintings and sculptures from throughout the artists career. Highlights of this exhibition are the expansive mural Pop Renaissance that surrounds the viewer, a version of the artists Cosmic ... More | | 
Mohammed Kazem at Rolls-Royce's manufacturing plant in Goodwood.
LONDON.- Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has announced the selection of renowned Emirati artist Mohammed Kazem to create a commissioned sculpture for the Rolls-Royce Art Programme. The work of art will be presented in late 2016 alongside a Bespoke motor car which will be inspired by the sculpture. Mohammed Kazem joins eminent artists from around the world who have been commissioned by the marque to create unique works of art and becomes the first Emirati to be featured in the Programme. Both the sculpture and the car are expected to demonstrate Mohammed Kazems particular interest in using latitude and longitude coordinates in his work. His fascination with collecting and documenting information about seemingly unimportant objects, by photographing them and mapping their coordinates, will be demonstrated in both works. In his practice, he uses GPS as a tool for drawing shapes and recording ... More | | 
Lars Elling, Study for the Bribe, 2015. Ãl auf Leinwand/Oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm.
BERLIN.- Michael Janssen presents the first solo exhibition in Germany with Norwegian painter Lars Elling (*1966). Entitled Lucid Dreaming the exhibition shows 12 new paintings which were created over the course of last year. Lars Elling's work features a rich spectrum of narratives broken up into different sequences and which, together, form a transitory pictorial universe. The literary content in his work is articulated through filmic and photographic references that are played out against the non-figurative grammar of the paintings. Thus, a subtle play arises between figurative and abstract elements, an alternation between clearly rendered and more blurred, indistinct areas of the painting. The many lines into the literary landscape are woven together with auto-biographical material, with the nostalgic retrospective glance accentuated in the referencing of the artist's own family photo album, forming an enigmatic, ... More |
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A Diamond Worthy of the Millennium
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 Everson Museum of Art announces new curatorSYRACUSE, NY.- The Everson Museum of Art announced the appointment of DJ Hellerman as the Museums new Curator of Art and Programs beginning on April 18, 2016. Hellerman was selected after a three-month long search led by Director & CEO Elizabeth Dunbar. Hellerman has over 12 years of experience as a curator and senior level manager at arts institutions, private collections and art galleries. Most recently, Hellerman served as the Curator and Director of Exhibitions at Burlington City Arts (BCA), a contemporary art space located in Burlington, Vermont where he led the research and presentation of thought-provoking exhibitions and worked as a member of the executive team, influencing BCA's strategic direction and planning. Prior to his work at BCA, Hellerman acted as Registrar for Progressive Corporations collection of contemporary art, Director of ... More La Salle University Art Museum opens spring exhibitionsPHILADELPHIA, PA.- La Salle University Art Museum presents the exhibitions Border Crossings: Immigration in Contemporary Prints and Paul Valadez: Siempre Latino, on view March 16 through June 9, 2016. This exhibition features 23 contemporary prints which explore the subject of border crossings, immigration and human migration, with a focus on the U.S.-Mexico border and migration to the U.S. The exhibition includes work by local, national and international artists in a range of print media, including lithographs, screen prints, and linoleum block prints. Important themes highlighted include immigration/migration, border crossings, and borderlands; cultural convergences and the complexities of contemporary American identities; and art as a tool for political solidarity and activism. The exhibition will be accompanied by public programs for audiences of all ages ... More Solo exhibition by London-based artist Sidsel Meineche Hansen opens at GasworksLONDON.- Gasworks presents Second Sex War, a solo exhibition by London-based artist Sidsel Meineche Hansen. Meineche Hansen produces exhibitions, interdisciplinary seminars and publications that foreground the body and its industrial complex in what she refers to as a techno-somatic variant of institutional critique. Her research-led practice includes woodcut prints, sculptures and CGI animations often made by combining her own low-tech manual craft with outsourced, skilled digital labour. Second Sex War features several new commissions, including a pornographic CGI animation, a series of laser-cut drawings and a large-scale ceramic relief. Presented on a virtual reality headset, the animation DICKGIRL 3D(X) appropriates hypersexualised 3D models, genitalia props and readymade pose sets used for animating sex scenes to critique post-human porn ... More The New York Public Library appoints Tony Ageh Chief Digital OfficerNEW YORK, NY.- The New York Public Library has named Tony Ageh Chief Digital Officer, responsible for the institutions ongoing digital transformation and its visionary work in making its collections and services as accessible as possible. He is scheduled to start on April 11. Ageh comes to the Library from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London one of the largest media organizations in the world where he has held a variety of leadership positions since 2002 and, in that time, has managed over 300 staff members. His accomplishments include the development and implementation of the BBCs Internet strategy, which grew its web traffic from 2 million users per day to over 25 million over a five year period. He also created and implemented the BBC iPlayer (an internet streaming catchup television and radio service for people in the United Kingdom), ... More Zack Seckler's first photographic exhibition opens at the Robin Rice GalleryNEW YORK, NY.- The Robin Rice Gallery presents, Botswana, Zack Secklers first photographic exhibition. In Botswana, Zack Seckler captured the boundless, raw beauty of Africa as seen from less than 500 feet above ground. From this vantage point, the animals, vegetation and salt ponds appeared magical. As an artist, the experience was visceral and life changing. Through his unique perspective, vistas once invisible to those on the ground or in a jetliner above are captured in exquisite detail. As he soars over the wildlife and its surrounding beauty, the earth deconstructs into parts and shapes and we see the subtle, aesthetic moments within the iconic landscapes. This rare view enabled Seckler to create images that are simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar. Being above the ground at such low elevations, and having the ability to precisely maneuver, was like gliding over ... More Rashid Rana announced as Artistic Director of the inaugural Lahore BiennaleLAHORE.- The Lahore Biennale Foundation announces the inaugural edition of Pakistans first Biennale. Free to the public, the Lahore Biennale will take place in November 2017, and will be the largest contemporary art event in the country. The Lahore Biennale will explore arts power as an instrument of social change, through new commissions from some of the worlds most engaging artists, both established and emerging. The LBF is proud to announce the Artistic Director of the inaugural edition as Rashid Rana, considered to be one of the most important artists of his generation from South Asia. One of the significant urban centers of Pakistan, Lahore has an impressive cultural and literary footprint. In addition to the world-renowned National College of Arts (NCA) and Beaconhouse National University (BNU), it is home to many prominent artists, writers, and cultural ... More Artists transform the pages of books and newspapers into unique works of wearable art jewelryNEW YORK, NY.- The Gallery at Reinstein|Ross presenting Read and Worn an exhibition featuring the work of five international artists who transform the pages of books and newspapers into unique works of wearable art jewelry. These artists are storytellers, who utilize the printed word as their form of expression. Whether using publications in their entirety, or simply using a few sheets of print, these artists give new life to the printed page. In the spirit of intellectual recycling, discarded newspapers and old books literature, history and news - are given a second chance as bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and rings. Paper has long been a popular material for the creation of art, with artists often hand-making their own paper. Using the pages of books, newspapers, encyclopedias, however, is a recent trend, ironically spurred by the popularity of e-readers and online ... More The "Anything Goes" Museum exhibition prepared by children WARSAW.- The Anything Goes Museum is a museological and educational experiment coined by the Director of the National Museum in Warsaw, Agnieszka Morawińska in which children are responsible for preparing the main temporary exhibition at the museums building in Warsaw. A group of 69 children aged 614 was divided into six curatorial teams. Over six months, the participants got to know the Museum and worked on the exhibition during weekly 4-hour meetings. The teams of junior-curators prepared the scripts and selected almost 300 works to be displayed. They also provided ideas for multimedia presentations and exhibition design, designed educational leaflets, recorded audio guides, prepared captions and selected works that were to be used for promotional purposes. The young curators got to know the entire museum team. Curators and conservators ... More Solo exhibition of new works by artist Abdolreza Aminlari on view at Taymour Grahne GalleryNEW YORK, NY.- Taymour Grahne Gallery is presenting Linea, a solo exhibition of new works by Brooklyn-based artist Abdolreza Aminlari in the lower level gallery space. This new body of work continues Aminlaris explorations of thread as a medium. Repetitive and ritualistic, the work simultaneously references the uniformity of factory production and the tactility of domestic labor. The show is comprised of twelve thread drawings. Monochromes of gold and colored thread pierce the surface of the paper creating dialogue between organic and planned geometries. For these new gold works, Aminlari expands on his use of the parallelogram as a form. Stressing uniformity and shape, a shift from architectural references, he complies and covers the paper's surface, resulting in a less referential and reductive compositions. Meanwhile, for the new color monochromes, loose thread is tacked on the ... More Some of the best emerging young artists exhibit their work at the National Gallery of VictoriaMELBOURNE.- Forty-two of the states best emerging young artists are exhibiting their work at the NGV for the first time at StArt Up: Top Arts 2016, on view at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia. The annual exhibition has become one of the NGVs most popular, drawing visitors from around Australia to celebrate the finest of VCE Art and Studio Arts. The exhibition features 49 works, drawn from 2,500 submissions, exploring the complexities of the modern world, conflict and war and the beauty of nature. Some works, such as Mahalia Kluwers altar-shaped sculpture featuring Paris Hilton in place of the Virgin Mary, comment on contemporary values in a satirical way, while others explore social and philosophical issues. This year portraiture was a popular theme, including a number of self-portraits and a work by Kirrah Thompson responding to one of the most recognisable masterpieces ... More The Schirn presents a digital self-portrait of Florian MeisenbergFRANKFURT.- The artist Florian Meisenberg (*1980) has generated a self-portrait from personal digital data that can be viewed online at www.schirn.de. The digital art project conceived exclusively for the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt bears the title Out of Office (I used to be 'with it' , but then they changed what 'it' was. Now what Im with isnt 'it', and whats 'it' seems weird and scary to me.) (2016). The self-portrait consists of a GPS-tracked motion and communication profile of the artist and his personal image material. All of the data are rendered graphically according to a specific algorithm. Viewers can follow Meisenberg via a timeline and track where he is, when he makes an online purchase, how often he uses Google or writes a WhatsApp message, and what pictures he takes. What develops is an intimate contemporary self-portrait of the artist. Florian Meisenberg shows us his ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi, died March 16, 1957. Constantin Brancusi (February 19, 1876 - March 16, 1957) was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the Ãcole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His abstract style emphasizes clean geometrical lines that balance forms inherent in his materials with the symbolic allusions of representational art. In this image: A marble sculpture titled "Sleeping Muse III/IV?", the highlight of an exhibition of sculpture by Constantin Brancusi, is on display for its public debut at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York Thursday, June 10, 2004. It is believed that Brancusi, who died in Paris in 1957, kept the newly discovered marble head until the last years of his life before giving it to a young woman who kept it until 2003, when it was obtained by a private collector.
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