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2010 (8) August (2) The Museum of Modern Art Releases Free iPhone App Christie's Reports An Encouraging First Half to 2010 July (1) Top Auction Results for Sculpture June (2) Lee Friedlander: America by Car - A Photography Must Have Cutting Edge Contemporary Art Takes a Hit May (1) Adventures in Print, brought to us by The Print Maven March (1) Jenny Holzer's Light Show January (1) Tereza Buskova at the London Art Fair 2010 2009 (2) October (2) Allez! Allez! 2009 Ormerod Prize "Sweet Fever" - Hans Meertens book launch at Galleri Clifford

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2009 ormerod prize (1) art fair (1) auction prices (1) auction results (1) baltic (1) hans meertens (1) iphone (1) jenny holzer (1) lewis greener (1) london art fair (1) moma (1) photography (2) sculpture (1) sweet fever (1) tereza buskova (1) the print maven (1)

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The Museum of Modern Art, New York, have brought out a great app for the iPhone and iPad. The MoMA App, which is available from the iTunes app store should be a welcome addition to any art lovers iPhone or iPad.

 

The free application lets you access 32,000 works of art from the museums collection of modern and contemporary art as well as offering a calender of information including exhibitions, events and film screenings and a selection of audio tours, and that is just the beginning. 

 

Designed in-houe app is extremely functional and lets you engage with the museum collection on your own terms. As well as having an inbuilt feature where you can take snaps in the museum and send them as postcards, you can also assign your favourite tracks from your iTunes collection and listen to them as you tour the museum. 

 

Visit the iTunes app store to have a sneak peak and read about what else the app has to offer. This is well worth the download!

Posted on August 14th 2010 on 11:48am
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While the art market may seem to still be struggling at the moment as a general rule, it was positive to hear that parts of the market seem to be getting back on track, hopefully with the remainder of the market following suit.

 

Christie's latest sales report shows that they brought in $2.57 billion during the first half of 2010, that being a 46% increase on the results for the same period last year. Christie's have certainly made some notable sales so far this year which no doubt aided this result, perhaps the most significant of which being the sale of PIcasso's Nude, Green Leaves, and a Bust, which sold for $106.5 million at the New York sales room in May this year. 

 

Commentators on the state of the market are weighing heavily on the influence of Asian buyers at auction as a major reason for this apparent buoyancy.  With US and European buyers being far more cautious, the disparity in attitude to the situation has made for interesting viewing over the past 18 months as auction results have proved to be more unpredictable than usual with works going through the roof, or falling out unexpectedly. 

 

All eyes remain on the auction houses for the second half of the year to see how things progress. It would be wonderful to see continual growth in the market again, and even better to see that success reflected more widely in the market as a whole.

Posted on August 07th 2010 on 11:47am
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This year has seen some really big auction successes in the sculpture market, with some truly phenomenal prices emerging at the top. It seems a fitting time for Art Price to bring us a summary of the top auction results from around the world, which are as follows:

 

1. Alberto Giacometti, L'homme qui Marche I (1960). Sold for $92,521,600 at Sotheby's in February this year.

2. Alberto Giacometti, Grande Tete Mince (1954). Sold for $47,500,000 at Christie's New York in May.

3. Amedeo Modigliani, Tete (c.1910-12). Sold for $46,650,450 at Christie's Paris in June. 

4. Constantin Brancusi, Madame L.R. (c.1914/17). Sold for $33,350,200 at Christie's Paris in 2009.

5. Pablo Picasso, Tete de Femme, Dora Maar (1941). Sold for $26,000,000 at Sotheby's New York in 2007.

6. Constantin Brancusi, Oiseau dans l'espace (1922-23). Sold for $24,500,000 at Christie's New York in 2005.

7. Alberto Giacometti, Grande Femme Debout II (1959/60). Sold for $24,500,000 at Christie's New York in 2008

8. Alberto Giacometti, La Main (1947). Sold for $23,000,000 at Christie's New York in May this year.

9. Jeff Koons, Balloon Flower (Magenta) (1995/2000). Sold for $22,947,100 at Christie's London in 2008

10. David Smith, Cubi XXVIII (1965). Sold for $21,250,000 at Sotheby's New York in 2005

 

Posted on July 12th 2010 on 11:15am
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Anybody interested in topographical photography should not be without this new book covering Lee Friedlander's view of America from the seat of his car. 

 

After studying photography in Pasadena, California, Friedlander moved to New York in the 1950's to make a career for himself. In the early days he photographed Jazz musicians for record covers, but an award from the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1960 saw him able to focus more on the subjects that truly interested him. 

 

Working primarily with black and white film, and taking influence from people like Eugene Atget, Robert Frank and Walker Evans, Friedlander adopted a style of photography that make a visual record of modern life in the USA. 

 

In this book we see a record of Friedlanders photographs captured from a position which many of us hold on a daily basis; sat behind the wheel of a car. Friedlander takes this common place position and photographs detached images of buildings, signs, shop fronts and other structures of urban life. Using the car itself and it's mirrors to frame, reflect and subtly draw our attention to otherwise menial and mundane objects and places, Freidlander compiles a view of the world that we look at everyday, but never really see.

 

 

Posted on June 14th 2010 on 06:53pm
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Fans of the Zoo Art Fair will have been sad to hear that the fair will not be making an appearance this October. Deemed the more cutting edge accompaniment to London's Frieze Art Fair, Zoo was able to attract interest from around the world, drawing exhibitors from as far a field as the USA, India and Brazil. Having been with us since 2004 and growing steadily each year, Zoo pulls in thousands of visitors and boasting sales of millions of pounds worth of contemporary art each year. 

 

This year Zoo will be missed. Having become a reliable source for taking an in-depth look at the years offering of emerging talent. Showcasing commercial and non-commercial art organisations including galleries, project spaces, artist collectives and curatorial groups, to name just a few, Zoo presents us with a wide spectrum view of how the art world is shaping up and highlights the people, places and faces that we should be keeping an eye on in the future. 

 

This year, Zoo will not be bringing us our regular dose off contemporary art and for a valid reason. Zoo Director, Soraya Rodriguez was quoted in The Art Newspaper saying that "Times are still a bit treacherous, so it seems an appropriate moment to review what we do...Buying is not at a level where I could guarantee people will make costs back." While many of us will be able to identify with Rodriguez's sentiment in this regard, lets all hope that we see Zoo come back next year, stronger than ever before.

 

 

Posted on June 01st 2010 on 06:14pm
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If you're interested in prints and all of the great intricacies of the art of printmaking then you should make sure to check in with The Print Maven.

 

Having had a long-term love affair with all things print, The Print Maven makes it her duty to traverse the city of New York, and beyond, to chronicle everything from print artists and new editions to print world professionals. Keeping us up to date on art market fluctuations and auction results, The Print Maven is a fun and interesting resource for fellow print fans.

 

To find out  more about The Print Maven, visit www.theprintmaven.com.

Posted on May 22nd 2010 on 02:58pm
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Recognised as one of the most significant American artists of her generation, Jenny Holzer is currently showing at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead. The exhibition is her largest and most comprehensive in 15 years, and offers the North East of England a view of some of her most important sculptural and electronic LED installations, produced since 1994.

 

Following the strength of Tilting Planet, the 2009 exhibition featuring the work of another leading female American sculptural artist, Sarah Sze, it is great to see BALTIC putting on another brilliant show that not only makes equally great use of the space that they have down on the Gateshead quays, but that makes the effort to challenge the audience to interact and get to grips with various forms of new media. 

 

Holzer started working with text as art in the 1970's, using the intricacies and complexities of language and communication to build a portfolio of work that addresses issues of authorship and power. This exhibition of textual light installations and paintings based, for the most part, on U.S. Government documents addresses and challenges the subject of censorship and the relay of information. 

 

Stand in front of any one of the installations to experience flashing text, scrolling at various speeds, offering us snippets of information that are somewhat intentionally difficult to grasp on a whole. The politically charged statements reeling past us emulate the fast-paced delivery of information that we receive from sources such as the media on a daily basis making it scarily apparent just how difficult it is to take everything onboard, but just how quickly we accept the information that we are exposed to.

 

Regardless of your stance on the message of the show, a visit to see the exhibition is highly recommended. Far more than being simply a passive experience, you are quickly engulfed in a visually impressive and captivating light show that has been constructed across 2 floors of BALTIC's space (2 and half if we count the 5th floor viewing balcony).  

 

For more information visit BALTIC's website, www.balticmill.com. The exhibition will run until 16th May.

 

Purchase the catalogue: Jenny Holzer

 

Posted on March 10th 2010 on 04:36pm
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This years London Art Fair saw 23,200 visitors land at the Islington Business Design Centre to get a look at what was on offer from over 100 premier at galleries. The fair was absolutely enormous this year and you certainly had to be dedicated to make it around the entire show in one day without making very frequent stops at the cafe to refuel. 

 

One of the most interesting parts of the fair was the Photo50 section, which show cased a selection of contemporary photography, by artists that were hand picked by a distinguished panel including Antia Zabludowicz, Ekow Eshun and David Campany. 

 

50 works were shown, and amongst those were the works of Czech-born artist Tereza Buskova. Buskova has seen a great deal of success in recent months with her film work, which is deeply steeped in the ritual and tradition of her home country. Now living and working in London, Tereza has been able to capture the attention of notable art world figures such as Antia Zabludowicz, who brought Buskova to the fair. 

 

Buskova showed a hand full of photographic print works taken from, or based on her films. One such work was the "Beheading of The Cockerel" (pictured above), a still from her most recent film, "Spring Equinox". This work is typical of Terezas colourful and striking style that is fueled by the spectacle and wonder of her homeland traditions.

 

Buskova has a new film coming out this year, so stay tuned...

Posted on January 21st 2010 on 08:44pm
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Allez! Allez! A Spectators View of the Tour de France is the new photography exhibition, showing in Newcastle-upon-Tyne at the Mandella building of Newcastle College. The exhibition features works by North East photographer, Lewis Greener, who documented this years Tour de France after winning the 2009 Ormerod Prize.

 

Photographer, Michael Ormerod, was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident in Arizona in 1991. Having lived most of his life in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, his legend is kept alive through a yearly prize that recognises and fuels the talent of young photographers in the North East of England.

 

As the 2009 winner of the award, Greener was able to travel to 10 stages of the Tour, sleeping rough in France, Switzerland and northern Italy in order to make a portfolio of documentary photographs, looking at life alongside the Tour. Keeping an eye on happenings off the road, as well as on, Greener captured the off-beat nature of the Tour. The 'snap-shot' nature of the images offers a peak into the moments outside of the action, that make the Tour what it is. In this refreshing exhibition we get a view on what the Tour looks like on the inside for those who religiously make the journey to follow the action.

 

The exhibition is running until the 23rd October.

Posted on October 19th 2009 on 09:00pm
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October 9th saw the launch of the first comprehensive book on the work of Hans Meertens. Organised and orchestrated by Ole Lindboe and Meertens himself, this book charts the development of Meertens work across the last decade. 

 

Having been part sponsored by Galleri Clifford in Daugard, Denmark, it seemed more than fitting for the launch of the book to happen at the gallery, where attendees could be surrounded by a selection of Meertens work from the book.

 

It was a big task to get this book together, and one that wasn't easy, so a big congratulations to Meertens, and thanks to everyone at Galleri Clifford for a great evening.

 

   

                      Sweet Fever, 2008                                                                 Face Paint, 2008

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on October 09th 2009 on 11:38pm
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