Art News

PARIS.- After a hugely popular four-day viewing – attended by 1300 people – today’s sale of exceptional works of art from Africa and Oceania attracted a packed saleroom throughout, with ferocious competition between telephone bidders and collectors in the saleroom. The sale total of over €5 million ($7.9 million) represented a selling-rate of 83% by value. Most of the top prices were paid by private collectors and connoisseurs, predominantly European or American, all seeking exceptional items in a variety of specialized fields.

LONDON.- Michael Landy, one of the most acclaimed and respected British artists of his generation, transforms the South London Gallery into Art Bin, a container for the disposal of works of art. Over the course of the sixweek exhibition the enormous 600m³ bin will gradually fill up as people discard their art works in it, ultimately creating, in Michael Landy’s words, “a monument to creative failure”. Landy famously destroyed all his possessions in his 2001 installation Break Down

LONDON.- Timothy Taylor Gallery will present an exhibition of works on paper by Philip Guston, one of the most important and influential American artists of the 20th Century. The exhibition traces Guston’s development on paper from the 1950s through to 1980 and the remarkable shift in his work from abstraction to figuration. Primarily known as a painter, Guston received critical acclaim early on in his career as an Abstract Expressionist amongst contemporaries such as Jackson

NEW YORK, NY.- McCaffrey Fine Art is showing at their new gallery at 23 East 67th Street the first ever solo exhibition of Kazuo Shiraga in the United States. “Kazuo Shiraga: Six Decades 50.2 x 70.5 cm. which continues through January 23, 2010. Born in Amagasaki, Japan in 1924, Shiraga co-founded the Zero Society (Zero-kai) with Saburo– Murakami and Akira Kanayama in 1952. In 1955 he joined the legendary collective Gutai (Gutai Art Association) and made a series

PORTLAND, OR.- “Beyond Place: Recent Photography Acquisitions” explores place as a subject in photographs by an international roster of artists. The selected works are mostly free of the human figure and focus instead on the power of the photograph to imaginatively transport the viewer, to inspire emotional musings, and to reveal the unknown. From documentary investigations of contaminated landscapes to sensuous portraits of nature to intimate views of private rooms, these photographs reveal how the experience of a place is commemorated, displaced, ciphered, or changed through the artist’s intervention. Artists include Adam Bartos, Susan Dobson, Beth Dow, Pedro Lobo, David Maisel, Saul Robbins, and Donald Weber. Since 2003, the Portland Art Museum, with the support of patrons James and Susan Winkler, has set about expanding its holdings of contemporary photography and, related to that effort, to chronicle the

OTTAWA, ON.- The National Gallery of Canada (NGC) wishes to clarify its position regarding the December 2, 2009 statement by The Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC) and le Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels du Québec (RAAV). Canadian artists are directly protected by two areas of legislation: the Status of the Artist Act, 1992, c.33 and the Copyright Act, C-42. The first legislation oversees professional relations and compensation for artists’ services, such as mounting art installations, giving lectures and tours, attending media events, etc. On the other hand, the Copyright Act is a property right legislation that includes governing the use of artworks either on display or in reproduction situations. The NGC is currently negotiating with CARFAC/RAAV under the Status of the Artist Act. CARFAC/RAAV are legally authorized to represent all living Canadian artists under the Stat

NASHVILLE, TN.- “Heroes: Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece”, an exhibition exploring the human need for heroes through the arts of one of the oldest and most influential cultures in history, will open in the Frist Center’s Upper-Level Galleries January 29, 2010, and remain on view through April 25, 2010. More than 100 works, including statues, reliefs, vases, bronzes and jewelry made between the sixth and first centuries BCE and drawn from prestigious U.S. and European museums illustrate the lives of Greek heroes including their tasks, adversaries, challenges, failures and private moments. Heroes are sometimes portrayed as superhuman protagonists while at other times as average people who rise above the ordinary. Included are both mythological heroes, among them Herakles, Achilles, Odysseus and Helen, and mortal heroes, including warriors, athletes and rulers. The exhibition comes to the Frist Center from the Walt

LONDON (AP).- A Scotland-based painter known for destroying his large-scale wall murals after they have been exhibited won Britain’s best-known art award, the Turner Prize, on Monday. Richard Wright said he was surprised he beat three other finalists to win the annual 25,000 pound ($40,000) prize, which was announced at London’s Tate Britain gallery. The award was presented by British poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy. “I’m shocked — is there another kind of reaction?” the artist said. “I wasn’t expecting it, not at all.” Wright is known for painting intricate, large-scale patterns on walls or ceilings, as well as for his insistence that his work be destroyed after the exhibitions end. He said he gave up painting on canvas because those paintings were “rubbish” and didn’t represent who he was.

NEW YORK, NY.- On 17 December 2009 at 2pm, Sotheby’s New York will hold its bi-annual sale of Important 20th-Century Design beginning with works from the Art & Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and American Modern movements, and concluding with Mid-Century and Contemporary design. Highlighting the sale is an offering of 25 lots collected by Stephen Gray, one of the foremost authorities on the Arts and Crafts movement. The Important Tiffany auction will follow at approximately 3:30pm and features a topcaliber range of objects representing the diverse disciplines of Tiffany Studios.