BORDEAUX.- The Frac Aquitaine and the Bordeaux musée des beaux-arts cross their views of their collections to mark the acquisition of new works by the Frac Aquitaine in 2009. They propose to shed new light on a selection of their works: old works viewed in the light of the present, and contemporary works seen as a reflection of the past. The complete collection of Frac Aquitaine’s 17 new acquisitions is being presented for the first time in contrast with 19 works from the musée des beaux-arts collection from different schools (French, Flemish, Italian, English) and different periods (from the 17th to the 20th century). Retrospectively, this exhibition brings together the oldest work, by Jan Josephsz Van Goyen (1596-1656), Le Chêne foudroyé, also known as La diseuse de bonne aventure (1638) and the most recent, Faire le mur (2008), a film by Bertille Bak (born in Arras in 1983), the youngest artist in the exhibited. All the works in the exhibition, whether old
Gavin Brown’s enterprise Presents a Major Exhibition by Martin Creed
NEW YORK, NY.- Gavin Brown’s enterprise presents a major exhibition by Martin Creed. Occupying GBE’s freshly expanded gallery spaces, the exhibition includes a monumental architectural intervention and the premiere of a new film work. This is the gallery’s third solo exhibition with the artist. It also is Creed’s first solo show in the United States since his mid-career survey “Feelings,” at CCS Bard | Hessel Museum in 2007. In 2003, on the occasion of GBE’s move from 15th Street to its present location at the intersection of Greenwich and Leroy Streets in the West Village, Creed created a permanent installation to inaugurate the new gallery: Work No. 300: the whole world + the work = the whole world is a black painted text wrapping around the corner of the building’s white brick façade – a mission statement, a manifesto declaring the continuity between artistic gesture and everyday life. Today Work
Exceptional Group of Works by Uta Barth at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
NEW YORK, NY.- Tanya Bonakdar Gallery presents an exceptional group of works by Uta Barth that comprise the artist’s eighth solo exhibition with the gallery. Exploring both the continuing evolution and the origins of Barth’s practice, the show juxtaposes new color photographs with a major series of previously unseen early black and white pieces. Although taken thirty years apart, these two distinct bodies of work compliment and contextualize each other, demonstrating the development of Barth’s ongoing investigation of the nature of vision and the act of perception itself. For her new series, Barth takes the camera with her on trips out walking, breaking with ten years of photographing exclusively in her own home. After a decade of rendering the ephemeral nature of light, time, and negative space in exquisite images framed and contained by her own domestic surroundings, Barth’s
Luhring Augustine Celebrates 25th Anniversary with Group Exhibition
NEW YORK, NY.- Luhring Augustine presents TWENTY FIVE, a group exhibition commemorating the gallery’s history on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. The exhibition will include works by: Janine Antoni, Nobuyoshi Araki, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, Larry Clark, George Condo, Gregory Crewdson, William Daniels, Günther Förg, Zarina Hashmi, Johannes Kahrs, Jon Kessler, Martin Kippenberger, Ragnar Kjartansson, Luisa Lambri, Glenn Ligon, Paul McCarthy, Yasumasa Morimura, Daido Moriyama, Reinhard Mucha, David Musgrave, Cady Noland, Albert Oehlen, Ed Paschke, Jack Pierson, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Stephen Prina, Pipilotti Rist, Josh Smith, Joel Sternfeld, Tunga, Guido van der Werve, Rachel Whiteread, Christopher Williams, Steve Wolfe, and Christopher Wool. TWENTY FIVE is a look into Luhring Augustine’s past and present, with important works from significant
Pera Museum Welcomes Colombian Artist Fernando Botero’s First Encounter with Istanbul
ISTANBUL.- Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum welcomed one of the most exceptional artists of the 21st century, Fernando Botero in İstanbul for the very first time with an exhibition comprising a selection of 64 works. Botero’s art is not exclusively a narration or a representation, but brings with it the force of an inner vision, of his knocking on life’s door. Protecting his Latin and Colombian identity, Botero has succeeded forming his own style nourished not only by folkloric elements but also by the works of grand masters, and has poured his rich inner world into his works with a sophisticated, humorous and wise approach. Botero has brought a new interpretation to the aesthetics of our times, and the exhibition depicts this interpretation in six sections – the circus, the bullfight, Latin American people, Latin American life, still lifes and versions from past masters of the history
Photography Expert Michael G. Wilson Becomes an Art Fund Trustee
LONDON.- The Art Fund welcomed photography expert, Michael G Wilson, as a new trustee. Michael, an expert on 19th century photography and renowned film producer, has lectured on photography and film at universities worldwide. Michael G Wilson said: “I am delighted to become a trustee of the Art Fund. The organisation does a tremendous job engaging national and regional interest in the arts and ensuring public access to great art collections through its tireless campaigning and funding.” Michael opened the Wilson Centre for Photography in 1998. The Centre is one of the largest private collections of photography today, spanning works from some of the earliest extant photographs to the most current contemporary productions. The centre hosts seminars, study sessions, runs an annual bursary project with the National Media Museum and loans to international museums and galleries. Michael is also Managing Director of EON Productions L
Walker Art Center Registrar Recipient of Dudley Wilkinson Award of Distinction
MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- The Executive Board of the Registrars Committee of the American Association of Museums (AAM) has selected Walker Art Center Registrar Gwen Bitz to receive its Dudley Wilkinson Award of Distinction, given every two years to a museum registrar who has made significant contributions to the field of registration. Bitz will receive the award on May 25 at AAM’s annual meeting in Los Angeles. June marks her 31st year at the Walker. “Gwen has been an exemplary professional in every sense of the word,” said Walker chief curator Darsie Alexander. “In her long career at the Walker, she has distinguished herself for her tremendous patience, integrity, and commitment. She pursues perfection in all aspects of her job, yet is inherently flexible and warm. Gwen is a huge asset to this institution, and the many artists and lenders who interact with it on a daily basis.” Bitz oversees prudent managemen
Summer Exhibitions Showcase New Media Interest for Tampa Museum of Art
TAMPA< FL.- Executive Director Todd D. Smith announces the Tampa Museum of Art schedule for Summer 2010. Among the highlights, two exhibitions will explore the exciting genre of new media, which incorporates technology with video, sound, light and computation. “Taken together,” Smith says, “the two exhibitions on view in the museum’s major changing-exhibition galleries demonstrate the complex role that media and technology play in the working practice of contemporary artists. They give the museum an opportunity to spark a conversation about art that expands the field of traditional forms.” Organized by the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Jesper Just: Romantic Delusions presents four films by this critically acclaimed Danish artist. Just’s films explore the complexities and contradictions of human emotion. Using overlapping cinematic, musical and literary references, his films adapt popular songs to communicate the vulnerabil
Keren Cytter’s Best Films and Several Drawings Featured at Moderna Museet
STOCKHOLM.- Keren Cytter has rapidly established herself internationally as one of the most interesting and unique artists on the contemporary art scene. At the mere age of 33 (born 1977 in Tel Aviv, currently living and working in Berlin), in the last eight years she has produced more than 50 video works, written three novels and an opera libretto, started the dance and theatre company D.I.E. Now, won awards and is the darling of the art press. Last summer, she exhibited at the New Museum’s group show Younger Than Jesus and participated in the Venice Biennale. Cytter says: “I studied art because I wanted to go to New York and wash dishes.” Moderna Museet’s exhibition of Keren Cytter, her first in a Nordic art institution, opens on 8 May. A selection of the artist’s best films and several drawings will be featured, including a new suite made especially for the exhibition, along with text-based works.
Seven College and University Museums to Launch Experimental Collection-Sharing Initiative
NEW HAVEN, CT.- Seven college and university art museums have embarked upon a program of significant loans and shared expertise, intended to foster intra- and inter-institutional collaboration, expand opportunities for faculty from all disciplines to teach from works of art, and strengthen the diverse community of college art museums. Initiated by the Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG), the program has been funded by a generous grant of $750,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Central to the project is a strategic program of loans from YUAG’s encyclopedic collection, comprising nearly 200,000 works, to six “partner museums,” for use in specially developed exhibitions and related coursework. The Yale University Art Gallery Collection-Sharing Initiative derives from the belief that, while technologies have increased access to museum collections, there is no substitute for original works of art, which contain not only a particular magnetism, but also a wealth of information a