Wednesday, February 22, 2017

artdaily bits





Artcurial to offer major urban art pieces from a private collection
Shepard Fairey, Your Eyes Here, 2010, pochoir, peinture aérosol et collage sur toile, collection particulière, estimation : 30 000 – 50 000 € / 33 000 – 55 000 $ (left) 
Shepard Fairey, OBEY Eye, 2010, pochoir, peinture aérosol et collage sur toile, collection particulière, estimation : 35 000 – 45 000 € / 38 500 – 49 500 $ (right).
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PARIS.- For the first time, on 28th February 2017, the Artcurial Urban Art department is presenting a sale entirely dedicated to the dispersion of a private collection. Entitled « Urban Anthology », this set of 23 works offers a prospective of the most iconic urban artists from the last decades. From historical graffiti from the 1990’s by the American Rammellzee to a Pablo Picasso-inspired Banksy, a monumental two-meters high Companion by Kaws, these major urban art pieces are the reflection of the conviction and audacity animated by the choices of this collector.

In order to magnify the precursory spirit of the collector who gathered these works together, Artcurial wished to stage the collection in a place symbolizing creation. The pieces were photographed at the National Dance Centre in Pantin, a concrete building dating from the 1970’s, when graffiti art appeared in New York. They blend seamlessly with the venue’s singular architecture, revealing themselves throughout the visit.

« We wanted to put forward the diverging aesthetics of the set as the common thread, in a particular universe, namely the National Dance Centre. This is not "street art", it is primarily an aesthetic: pop, underground, challenging. » --Arnaud Oliveux, Auctioneer, Urban Art department, Artcurial

« A major piece in urban art is one that is a prolongation of pop art, one which pushes you to redefine your daily urban environment, intrigues with a detail, a colour, a proportion. » --Fabien Naudan, Vice-president, Artcurial

An urban art anthology
Named « Urban Anthology from a private collector », this private collection gathers together the most iconic urban art artists, brought together by a passionate collector. An Urban Art and Contemporary Art enthusiast, he met with the most celebrated members of the movement, purchasing the very best pieces found on the market. These major works document the various stages of urban art.

Within the collection, three pieces by the American Rammellzee – on canvas, wood and Plexiglas– illustrate historical graffiti from the 1990’s. The oldest one, named Tughnote Trixter Bolt from 4 Assassin, dates from 1985 (estimate: €20,000 – €30,000/ $22,000 – $33,000). Modern urban scenes are represented by essential figures, including Americans, such as Shepard Fairey. Six of his famous stencils appear in the collection, such as the large scale OBEY Eye estimated €35,000 – €45,000 / $38,500 – $49,500, and Your Eyes Here (estimate: €30,000 – €50,000 / and $33,000 – $55,000). A one of a kind Kaws piece is also up for auction: a monumental version of the famous Companion (Original Fake). More than two meters in height, it is the first time a figure of this size is sold at auction in the world (estimate: €150,000 – €250,000 / $165,000 – $275,000).

The art of deflection
The coherence of the set? The art of deflection. The 23 pieces in this collection intrigue and lead us to wonder. Behind their apparent aesthetic simplicity, they deliver a more complex message, often a criticism of society by the artist.

A diversion symbolized by the marble and wood stele entitled Picasso Quote engraved with the Pablo Picasso quotation: "Bad artists imitate, great artists steal", on which Banksy scratches out the Catalan painter’s signature, etching his own below (estimate : € 100,000 - €200,000 / $110,000 - $220,000). With Rodeo Girl, the British artist tackles two icons of the popular American culture: the rodeo and the pin-up by presenting this toothless and overlapping a bomb of painting, irreverent symbol of the Art contestant (estimate: €200,000 - €300,000 / $220,000 - $330,000).

This art of diversion is also found in the works of Stephen Sprouse Orange, Rose and Speaker Stack (estimate: €5 000 - €7 000 / $ 5 500 - $ 7 700). This "Warhol child," whose style is permeated with irreverent punk and pop, mixed fashion and art by reinventing the Louis Vuitton monogram, in 2000’s.

Among the dissident artists in this collection, Barry McGee is to be noted, a well-known figure State side for his sharp criticism of advertising and consumer society with Untitled, a four-meters wide work composed of 76 elements.

Chris Johanson, Kenny Sharf, Ryan McGinness and Jules de Balincourt also figure in the collection.






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The First Art Newspaper on the Net Established in 1996PortugalWednesday, February 22, 2017



Award-winning architect Diébédo Francis Kéré to design the Serpentine Pavilion 2017
Serpentine Pavilion 2017, Designed by Francis Kéré, Design Render, Exterior ©Kéré Architecture.
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LONDON.- Diébédo Francis Kéré, the award-winning architect from Gando, Burkino Faso, has been commissioned to design the Serpentine Pavilion 2017, responding to the brief with a bold, innovative structure that brings his characteristic sense of light and life to the lawns of Kensington Gardens.

Kéré, who leads the Berlin-based practice Kéré Architecture, is the seventeenth architect to accept the Serpentine Galleries’ invitation to design a temporary Pavilion in its grounds. Since its launch in 2000, this annual commission of an international architect to build his or her first structure in London at the time of invitation has become one of the most anticipated events in the global cultural calendar and a leading visitor attraction during London’s summer season. Serpentine Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist and CEO Yana Peel made their selection of the architect, with advisors David Adjaye and Richard Rogers.

Inspired by the tree that serves as a central meeting point for life in his home town of Gando, Francis Kéré has designed a responsive Pavilion that seeks to connect its visitors to nature – and each other. An expansive roof, supported by a central steel framework, mimics a tree’s canopy, allowing air to circulate freely while offering shelter against London rain and summer heat.

Kéré has positively embraced British climate in his design, creating a structure that engages with the ever-changing London weather in creative ways. The Pavilion has four separate entry points with an open air courtyard in the centre, where visitors can sit and relax during sunny days. In the case of rain, an oculus funnels any water that collects on the roof into a spectacular waterfall effect, before it is evacuated through a drainage system in the floor for later use in irrigating the park. Both the roof and wall system are made from wood. By day, they act as solar shading, creating pools of dappled shadows. By night, the walls become a source of illumination as small perforations twinkle with the movement and activity from inside.

As an architect, Kéré is committed to socially engaged and ecological design in his practice, as evidenced by his award-winning primary school in Burkina Faso, pioneering solo museum shows in Munich and Philadelphia, and his immersive installation in the 2014 exhibition Sensing Spaces at London’s Royal Academy.

Building on these ideas, Kéré’s Serpentine Pavilion will host a programme of events exploring questions of community and rights to the city, as well as the continuation of Park Nights, the Serpentine’s public performance series, supported by COS. Now in its third year, Build Your Own Pavilion, the digital platform and nationwide architecture campaign supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, will invite young people to consider the relationship between architecture and public space, to ask critical questions about the future of their cities and to design the cities in which they would like to live.

Kéré’s design follows Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), whose ‘unzipped wall’ structure was visited by more than 250,000 people in 2016, making it one of the most visited Pavilions to date. Four commissioned Summer Houses in 2016 by Kunlé Adeyemi – NLÉ (Amsterdam/Lagos), Barkow Leibinger (Berlin/New York), Yona Friedman (Paris) and Asif Khan (London), attracted almost 160,000 visitors.

Diébédo Francis Kéré, architect of the 17th Serpentine Pavilion, said: “As an architect, it is an honour to work in such a grand park, especially knowing the long history of how the gardens evolved and changed into what we see today. Every path and tree, and even the Serpentine lake, were all carefully designed. I am fascinated by how this artificial landscape offered a new way for people in the city to experience nature. In Burkina Faso, I am accustomed to being confronted with climate and natural landscape as a harsh reality. For this reason, I was interested in how my contribution to this Royal Park could not only enhance the visitor’s experience of nature, but also provoke a new way for people to connect with each other.”

Serpentine Galleries CEO, Yana Peel, and Artistic Director, Hans Ulrich Obrist, said: “We are thrilled to reveal the designs for Francis Kéré’s Pavilion, which highlight the power of simplicity by reducing architecture to its core elements, modelled in harmony with the natural context of Royal Kensington Gardens. This Pavilion will be a space of conversation, collaboration and exchange. We share Kéré’s belief that architecture, at its best, can enhance our collective creativity and push people to take the future into their own hands.”

Richard Gnodde, Vice Chairman of the Goldman Sacks Group Inc. and CEO of Goldman Sachs International, said: “We are delighted to support the Serpentine’s Summer Pavilion programme for a third year running. Francis Kéré’s design this year promises to celebrate the diversity, vibrancy and collaborative potential of communities, something we value deeply at Goldman Sachs.”

David Glover, Technical Advisor said: "The Serpentine Pavilion is about the opportunity of using everyday materials and techniques in innovative and creative ways that challenge our perception of architecture. Francis Kéré and his team have achieved this by creating a Pavilion that, through the use of colour and form, will continually morph under the influence of light, shadow, its users and the surrounding park to surprise and delight the visitor.”

The annual Serpentine Pavilion commission has become an international site for architectural experimentation, presenting projects by some of the world's greatest architects, from Zaha Hadid in 2000 to Bjarke Ingels Group in 2016.

The brief is to design a 300-square-metre Pavilion that is used as a community hub and café by day and a forum for learning, debate and entertainment at night. Each Pavilion is sited on the Serpentine Gallery's lawn for four months and the immediacy of the commission makes it a pioneering model worldwide.

The selection of an architect, someone who has consistently extended the boundaries of architectural practice but is yet to build a structure in London, is led by the curatorial approach that guides all Serpentine programming: introducing contemporary artists and architects to the widest public audience.

The Serpentine Pavilion is among the top ten most visited architectural and design exhibitions in the world. There is no budget for the project, which is realised through sponsorship, in-kind support and the sale of the Pavilion.




The Best Photos of the Day

Best Photos of the Day
A picture taken on February 20, 2017 in Lausanne shows a marble statue representing Swiss critic and theologian Alexandre Vinet with a traffic cone on the top of his head. FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP



As Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ Turns 100: 14 Iconic Artworks It Inspired

As Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ Turns 100: 14 Iconic Artworks It Inspired

Discover the enduring legacy of the readymade in works by Manzoni, Koons, Hirst, Emin …
Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, (1917). Courtesy of Tate.
Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, (1917). Courtesy of Tate.
Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain hardly needs an introduction. Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, the work was originally submitted for display at the 1917 exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in New York City. Famously rejected by the committee, Duchamp instead exhibited the work at Alfred Stieglitz‘s studio to much fanfare.
Though the original has since been lost, 17 replicas were produced in the 1960s. Fountain is widely regarded as a seminal work in 20th century art for giving birth to the “readymade,” and has influenced countless artists since.
Here, we take a look at some of the most prominent artworks that have taken their inspiration from the concept of the readymade over the course of the last century.
Robert Rauschenberg, Monogram (1955-59). Photo ©Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New York, courtesy Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
Robert Rauschenberg, Monogram (1955-59). Photo ©Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New York, courtesy Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
1. Robert RauschenbergMonogram (1955-59)Widely regarded as Rauschenberg’s most recognizable work, Monogram serves as a prime example of a “combine”—a term coined by the artist referring to the merging of painting and sculpture to create what he considered a wholly new medium of artistic practice.
As the goat was the largest object Rauschenberg ever used in a combine, the taxidermied animal became the source of much frustration: the artist made several versions of Monogram until, according to critic Calvin Tomkins, he was finally satisfied that “the animal looked as though it belonged in a painting.”
Piero Manzoni, Artist's Shit (1961). Courtesy Wikiart.
Piero Manzoni, Artist’s Shit (1961). Courtesy Wikiart.
2. Piero Manzoni, Artist’s Shit (1961)
Despite its seemingly straightforward title, Piero Manzoni’s Artist’s Shit is actually shrouded in mystery, as nearly every aspect of the work—from its intentions and inspirations to its literal contents—remains hotly disputed.
Supposedly conceived as a middle-finger of sorts to the art world at large, the work was produced in an edition of 90 tin cans total, each filled with 30 grams of what one can only assume is neatly-packaged shit.
In a 2007 text produced for the Tate, John Miller cites Duchamp’s influence, writing that despite Manzoni’s famous association with Yves Klein, “the most significant precedents” for the Italian artist’s infamous work lies within Duchamp.
Andy Warhol, Brillo Box (Soap Pads) (1964)
Andy Warhol, Brillo Box (Soap Pads) (1964). Courtesy Wikiart.
3. Andy WarholBrillo Box (Soap Pads) (1964)
Warhol’s Brillo Boxes—plywood sculptures fashioned to imitate the unremarkable, everyday item—are arguably the quintessential variation of the readymade.
By elevating the mundane to the status of art object, Warhol explored how we might identify and value art—and made an updated take on Duchamp’s readymade by adding the question of commercialism to the equation.
Tom Marioni,
Tom Marioni, FREE BEER (The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art) (1970-1979). Courtesy Hammer Museum/UCLA.
4. Tom Marioni, FREE BEER (The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends Is the Highest Form of Art) (1970-1979)
For the original iteration of his ongoing installation and performance, California-based conceptual artist Tom Marioni invited 16 friends for a boozy after-hours get-together at the Oakland Museum of California. The beer, Pacifico, was supplied by the curator.
Long after the shenanigans had died down, the empty bottles, chairs, and tables remained exactly as they were left behind, staying in place for the duration of the show, the party giving way to a readymade exhibition.
5. Jeff KoonsNew Hoover Convertibles series (1981-7)
Comprised of vacuum cleaners displayed in Plexiglas cases, Koons’ series—dubbed “The New”—uses the readymade to explore how desire might be projected onto everyday objects.
The appeal of Koons’ vacuums lie in their newness and the bright, shiny lighting under which they are placed. When speaking about the work, the artist said, “If one of my works was to be turned on, it would be destroyed.”
6. Isa GenzkenWeltempfänger (World Receiver) (1982)
Made of concrete, steel, and metal radio antennas, Genzken transforms standard concrete blocks into multi band radio receivers through a slight manipulation of the sparse materials: by simply adding chrome antennae.
Described by Art in America as Genzken’s “only readymade,” these sculptures, according to AiA writer Anne Doran, “introduce another of Genzken’s most enduring themes: the means by which the individual connects with the world.”
7. Damien HirstThe Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991)
Widely considered one of the most recognized symbols of British and contemporary art, Damien Hirst’s The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living—consisting of a tiger shark preserved in formaldehyde in a vitrine—was once described by the New York Times critic Roberta Smith “synonymous with the YBA art scene.”
The shark—for which Hirst shelled out a mere £6,000, upon instructing an Australian fisherman to catch something “big enough to eat you”—eventually decayed, after Hirst claimed the Saatchi gallery added bleach to the formaldehyde.
A replacement shark was again caught off the coast of Australia and shipped to London in 1993, to be placed in the original vitrine.
When asked whether the work remained the same, Hirst responded: “It’s a big dilemma. Artists and conservators have different opinions about what’s important: the original artwork or the original intention. I come from a conceptual art background, so I think it should be the intention. It’s the same piece. But the jury will be out for a long time to come.”
8. Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) (1991)
The 1991 work by the late Gonzalez-Torres is a poetic representation of his partner, Ross Laycock, who passed away from an AIDS-related illness.
Clocking in at about 175 pounds worth of individually-wrapped candies, the pile’s weight references Laycock’s ideal body weight.
Conceived as an interactive piece, the audience is encouraged to take a piece of the candy. As the heap begins to diminish in size, the work mirrors Laycock’s weight as his health declined. However, in act of love, Gonzalez-Torres specified that the pile be replenished on a regular basis to signify perpetual life.
9. David HammonsIn the Hood (1993)
Hammons’ 1993 piece featuring a hood severed from a sweatshirt is still, 24 years later, frightfully relevant today. The work conjures an image of lynching, or that of Trayvon Martin.
As artnet News’ own Blake Gopnik wrote, “It’s just a scrap of industrial cloth, but hanging it on high evokes lynchings and maybe even Christ. (Another calculated move: Hammons has inserted a wire in the hood to open a space for an absent head.)”
10. Sherrie LevineFountain (Buddha) (1996)
As a pioneer of feminist art and member of the so-called “Pictures Generation,” Sherrie Levine remade works specifically by male artists in an attempt to undermine their role in the art world.
With Fountain (Buddha), Levine made making an obvious reference to Duchamp but, by reworking the material of the urinal to cast bronze, she elevated its status from the mundane to art object.
Tracey Emin, My Bed (1998).Photo: Courtesy of Tate.
Tracey Emin, My Bed (1998). Courtesy of Tate.
11. Tracey EminMy Bed (1998)
For her controversial Turner Prize-nominated work, Tracey Emin placed her bed and bedroom objects on display after she went through a depressive episode that had left her bedridden for several days, subsisting on nothing but cigarettes and alcohol (the remains of which can also be found on view).
The work features several everyday objects, including those revealing the more graphic side of life: used condoms and menstrual blood stains. Critics chastized the work, claiming that it took no talent as anybody could exhibit a bed.
To these criticisms, Emin responded, “Well, they didn’t, did they? No one had ever done that before.”
Detail: Tom Sachs, James Brown’s Hair Products (2009). Courtesy Facebook.
Tom Sachs, James Brown’s Hair Products (2009, detail). Courtesy Tom Sachs’ Facebook page.
12. Tom Sachs, James Brown’s Hair Products (2009)
In his “James Brown” series, Sachs celebrates the man known as “The Godfather of Soul.” Because of Brown’s cult-like status, everyday objects from his lifetime have too been elevated to collectibles.
Sachs explores this phenomenon by preserving Brown’s items in clean, organized displays. The artist is admittedly “obsessed” with Brown and draws inspiration from him often.
Of the series, Sachs said to Surface: “I bought some of the objects, and I put them in reliquaries. I tried to elevate them, and treat them the way things like the Shroud of Turin are treated. I put his hair curlers in a cabinet in a mandala-like pattern … I wanted to present them as if they had belonged to the greatest man who had lived.”
13. Cyprien Gaillard, Today Diggers, Tomorrow Dickens (2013)
For his first exhibition at New York’s Gladstone Gallery, Gaillard explored the concept of the altered readymade by recasting construction machine parts as massive, imposing sculptures.
Rendered defunct by the process required to preserve these parts, the teeth previously used for digging on sites now act as sculptural anchors, and the heads are set with onyx, sitting where buckets once did.
“Once part of a machine used as a means for destruction, to encourage rejuvenation through building, these pieces, now preserved, begin a fossilization process of their own,” the gallery says of the works. “Though the diggers have caused destruction in their lifetime, in their arrested manner Gaillard has preserved them, imbuing them with new purpose.”
14. Maurizio CattelanAmerica (2016)
Following his immensely successful 2011-12 retrospective at the Guggenheim, last September Maurizio Cattelan returned to the New York museum with America, an 18-karat gold toilet installed in a fully-functioning restroom that spawned a social media frenzy.
The work, which is still on view, is a commentary on the superabundance of the art market, but also touches upon the American dream. In the end, Cattelan seems to be saying, we are all equal—as is proven through shared physicalities of humanity.
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