Tag: News

LONDON.- Michael Hoppen Contemporary brings together two contemporary photographers who have documented the sartorial expressions of particular communities in the Congo and South Africa. Daniele Tamagni and Araminta de Clermont befriend their respective subjects and utilize the camera to create unique records of these communities. Tamagni’s images brilliantly capture the energy and pride of the Sapeurs of the Congo. The works have a Cartier Bresson spirit with their vibrant ‘decisive moments’ and energetic displays of colour. De Clermont’s portraits reference the glamorous feeling of contemporary editorial images – her bright, hot daylight flash reminding one of the images filling the glossy pages of fashion and music magazines. Both styles of shooting suit their respective subject matters, bringing to us – the audience – a point from which to view the sartorial pride in these vibrant and re

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- From November 20, 2010, to April 17, 2011, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) will present How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now. This exhibition explores transformations in the visual and material culture of wine over the past three decades, offering a fresh way of understanding the contemporary culture of wine and the role that design has played in its transformation. Organized by Henry Urbach, SFMOMA’s Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design, How Wine Became Modern marks the first exhibition to consider modern, global wine culture as an integrated yet expansive and richly textured set of cultural phenomena. The story begins in 1976, the year of the now-famous Judgment of Paris. There, in a blind taste test, nine French wine experts pronounced a number of northern California wines superior to esteemed French vintages. However apt the decision, later

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- From November 20, 2010, to April 17, 2011, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) will present How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now. This exhibition explores transformations in the visual and material culture of wine over the past three decades, offering a fresh way of understanding the contemporary culture of wine and the role that design has played in its transformation. Organized by Henry Urbach, SFMOMA’s Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design, How Wine Became Modern marks the first exhibition to consider modern, global wine culture as an integrated yet expansive and richly textured set of cultural phenomena. The story begins in 1976, the year of the now-famous Judgment of Paris. There, in a blind taste test, nine French wine experts pronounced a number of northern California wines superior to esteemed French vintages. However apt the decision, later

NEW YORK, NY.- Phillips de Pury & Company announced highlights from the forthcoming New York auction AFRICA on Saturday 15 May 2010, including works of contemporary art, photographs, and editions which reflect the spirit of the continent and its global impact, as expressed by African and non-African artists from around the world. The sale is accompanied by a special edition catalogue, an art and lifestyle magazine which includes interviews with artists, curators and collectors, art world news and more. Featured editorial includes an inside look at the technicolor dreamlike world of Yinka Shonibare MBE; an interview with the adventurous collector, Monique Barbier-Mueller; a conversation between Youssef Nabil and Karen Wright; a feature on Jakob Boeskov on Nollywood; and an interview with the notorious South African artist Kendell Geers. The sale

BERN.- The Kunstmuseum Bern is putting on a large retrospective of Albert Anker’s manifold oeuvre to commemorate the centenary of this key Swiss artist’s death. The exhibition will take up several themes representative for Anker’s work and demonstrate how exceptional he was as a painter. Video works by Chantal Michel, a performance and media artist who lives in Bern, enhance the presentation. A trigger for this exhibition was the immensely popular Anker show that was organized by the Kunstmuseum Bern in 2007-2008 for four Japanese Museums. The works on show comprise paintings, drawings, watercolors, and faiences. The exhibition is undoubtedly a highlight in the year of celebrations concerning the centenary of Anker’s death.

HONG KONG.- Christie’s Evening and Day sales of Asian Contemporary Art on 29 May and 30 May in Hong Kong will bring together the dynamic worlds of contemporary art from China, Japan, Korea and India. Christie’s continues to offer a platform showcasing the best in contemporary and Chinese 20th Century art from these countries, and this season will present over 480 works with a pre-sale estimate in excess of HK$260 million (US$30 million). Diverse in subject matter, styles and techniques, and yet distinctly Asian in artistic temperament, these works present a regional view of contemporary Asia. With the careful and expert selection of Christie’s global specialists, the works in this sale cater to the broad tastes of collectors from

LONG ISLAND CITY, NY.- SculptureCenter presents Knight’s Move , a group exhibition organized by SculptureCenter curator Fionn Meade. Knight’s Move is on view May 3 – July 26, 2010. As the one piece on the board that moves either forward or backward but always laterally in the same gesture, the knight’s move is a tactical one, relying upon stealth, surprise, and sidelong views. This spring SculptureCenter presents a group exhibition that brings together artists prominent to the dialog of New York’s recent past as well as those at the very beginning of their careers. Curated by Fionn Meade, this survey of new sculpture in New York embodies an informed yet playful and questioning view of the contemporary. Has Modernism and its various aftermaths approached the status of an inventory to be studied, borrowed from, and traded upon in ways that move beyond the anxiety of influence and endgame maneuvers? How can strategies of estr

LOS ANGELES, CA.- Bonhams & Butterfields‘ Made in California auction on May 3, 2010 was especially strong, signaling that the market for California art continues to be robust. Telephone bidders from around the globe vied for works by the golden state’s leading modern and contemporary artists. The sale, which was simulcast from Los Angeles to San Francisco, established world record prices for works by Ruth Asawa, Fletcher Benton, Peter Alexander, Guy Dill and Jacob Hashimoto among others. As California’s oldest and largest auction house, Bonhams & Butterfields continues to break world record auction prices for contemporary art. “We offered great work and people responded. We had our highest sell through rate ever. The sale earned more than $1.4 million,” said Holly Sherratt, a specialist in Modern and Contemporary art. Works by Robert Graham, Ruth Asawa, Edward Kienholz and Guy Dill led the sculptural offerings. The highligh

NEW YORK, NY (REUTERS).- A huge mural, the largest-ever of Spain in modern history, returns this week to a long-neglected Manhattan museum that has been renovated with grants from Spain. “Vision of Spain,” which consists of 14 panels that together measure 230 feet by 11.5 feet was painted nearly a century ago by Joaquin Sorolla, Spain’s pre-eminent painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The 14 panels, which showcase 10 regions of Spain and include large brush strokes painted with huge brushes, took Sorolla eight years to complete. “The painting sparkles with energy,” said Mitchell Codding, director of the Hispanic Society, which will display the work at its renovated museum at the northern end of Manhattan. “It captures the dusty, dry air of Castile, the vivid colors of a fair in Seville and the glistening skins of tuna fish being dragged onto a seaside

MEXICO CITY.- Altars, plazas and ballgame courts, among other Prehispanic structures that are still buried at El Tajin, Veracruz may be detected by using LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) devises. Archaeologist Patricia Castillo Peña, academic director of the site in custody of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) informed that mapping the archaeological zone is a project that will allow to have detailed register of ancient structures. She commented that the initiative is being revised by the INAH Archaeology Council. In case of being approved, an agreement between INAH and Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) will be set to determine the company with the LIDAR technology that may conduct the inspection, to be selected by PEMEX. The INAH researcher declared that extensive exploration took place in the northern and central regions of Veracruz as part of the PEMEX Gulf Tertiary Oil Project. Digital mapping of the a