| The First Art Newspaper on the Net | Established in 1996 | Saturday, December 31, 2011 |
| | Architect Ricardo Legorreta, who combined vibrant color with geometric shapes, dies at 80
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Japanese Prince Hitachi (L) shakes hands with Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta at the 23rd Praemium Imperiale Awards ceremony in Tokyo, Japan, 19 October 2011. Legorreta was awarded the Praemium Imperiale arts prize for his work in architecture. The award is presented annually by the Japan Art Association for painting, architecture, sculpture, music and theater/film. EPA/EVERETT KENNEDY BROWN.
MEXICO CITY.- Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta has died at the age of 80. Legorreta's best-known work is Mexico City's Camino Real hotel, which was built in 1968. He also oversaw the remodeling of Los Angeles' Pershing Square in 1993. The hallmark of Legorreta's work was the use of color. He placed a 10-story purple bell tower in the middle of Pershing Square and covered the Camino Real's front exterior walls in pink and yellow. Mexico's Foreign Relations Department and National Arts Council said Legorreta died Friday, but did not give the cause of death. Legorreta continued the tradition of architect Luis Barragan, who died in 1988. Like Barragan, Legorreta used bright colors, massive solid walls, courtyards and geometric cutout windows ... More |
| Dayanita Singh's latest body of work, House of Love, on view at Nature Morte in New Delhi | | Museum of Decorative Arts at the Kulturforum closes due to renovations | | The Wallace Collection to present "The Noble Art of the Sword: Fashion and Fencing in Renaissance Europe" | 
Dayanita Singh, Continuous Cities 3, 2010. C-Print (set of 16 prints), print size 50 x 50 cms. Framed size 54 x 54 cms. Edition of 3. Photo: Courtesy Nature Morte.
NEW DELHI.- Dayanita Singh’s latest body of work, entitled “House of Love,” is novelistic in its approach yet curiously elliptical in its multiple subject matters. For the first time in a single series, Ms. Singh has combined black-and-white with color photographs, images shot both in India and around the world, yet none are identified and all are allowed to be free-floating, tethered to one another only by the circumstances of “stories” in which they have been grouped (with individual titles such as “Continuous cities, “ “Theft in a cake shop,” “Departure lounge,” and “Being of darkness,” the nine “stories” ranging in groups as small as six and as large as seventeen pictures). Everything and all to be at the service of the book of the same name, Ms. Singh’s primary medium for her images and the unifying structure in which this diversity becomes succinct. The subjects of Ms. Singh’s pictures ran ... More | | 
Kunstgewerbemuseum Kulturforum Potsdamer Platz, Berlin-Tiergarten © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Foto: Maximilian Meisse.
BERLIN.- Starting on 2 January 2012, the Museum of Decorative Arts will be closing its location at the Kulturforum due to construction of an exhibition gallery for the museum's fashion collection, which has grown in recent years as a result of numerous new acquisitions. In the future, this new focus of the museum's collections will make it possible to present an extraordinary overview of the development of fashions in Europe from the 18th century to the present. Furthermore, jewelry, porcelain, glass art and Art Nouveau furniture will be shown in a newly designed exhibition. Many of these works were acquired by Julius Lessing, the museum's first director, at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris from well-known manufacturers such as Lalique, Tiffany and Sèvres. The design collections, which include Bauhaus classics, German designs from the 1950s, and current products from around the world, will also be ... More | | 
Anthony van Dyck-Philippe Le Roy, 1630. ©by kind permission of the Trustees of the Wallace Collection.
LONDON.- Witness the cutting edge of fashion as you’ve never seen it before! This exhibition tells the untold story of this fascinating and little known area of Renaissance art: revealing the fantastically skilled artistry behind the rapier; at once a weapon, fashion item, and rich jewellery object; representing the rise of a new and upwardly mobile middle class, sixteenth-century concepts of masculinity and the emergence of the duel of honour. Summer 2012 represents the perfect opportunity to investigate the historical and social development of the ancient art of sword-fighting. The modern sport of fencing is one of the nine original Olympic sports but is also a piece of a much older story which began with the Renaissance fashion for carrying and fighting with swords in everyday life. A man of means in the sixteenth century went nowhere without his sword, and was always prepared to use it. The Noble Art of the Sword: Fashion and Fencing in Renaissance Europe comprises ... More |
| British Council announces call for participation in ambitious Venice 2012 Project | | The Mexican Suitcase: Rediscovered negatives from the Spanish Civil War at Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya | | Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome shows Carsten Höller's award-winning project | 
The Pavilion will provide an injection of new ideas based on the collective research of architects, students, writers, critics and academics.
LONDON.- The British Council announced that the British Pavilion at the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale will be the culmination of an ambitious global research project designed to make an original and far-reaching contribution to the debate about architecture in the UK. The Pavilion will provide an injection of new ideas based on the collective research of architects, students, writers, critics and academics. The research will focus on what - and who - makes great architecture; considering issues such as construction, housing, planning, culture, education, procurement, architectural competitions and the role of the client. On 10 January 2012 an open call for participation and proposals will be launched; and a series of discussions about the brief will be held across the UK aimed at involving a wide-range of contributors. In March the best proposals will be selected and around ten individuals or teams will travel ... More | | 
Gerda Taro, (Crowd at the gate of the morgue after the air raid, Valencia), May 1937. Negative. © International Center of Photography. Collection International Center of Photography.
BARCELONA.- The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, in partnership with the International Center of Photography in New York, is presenting for the first time in Spain the photographs taken by Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and David 'Chim' Seymour during the Spanish Civil War, which had been lost without trace since 1939. These extraordinary images, many of them unpublished, make up what is known as the 'Mexican Suitcase' and are without any doubt the most important group of 20thcentury recovered negatives. Robert Capa left Paris in 1939, before the Germans occupied the city. He left valuable material behind in his studio, amongst which were three boxes containing 126 rolls of film. On them were 4,500 photographs taken by him, Gerda Taro and David 'Chim' Seymour during the Spanish Civil War between May 1936 and March 1939, as well as a smaller number of photographs taken by Fred Stein in the French capital. 'Csiki' Weis ... More | | 
The winning piece Double Carousel with Zöllner Stripes will be on display through 26th March 2012 at the MACRO.
ROME.- Enel Contemporanea is in favour of the MACRO's exhibition schedule in the autumn with one of the most important artists today: Carsten Höller, the winner of the 2011 Enel Contemporanea Award. His work Double Carousel with Zöllner Stripes will be on view and free to public from 2nd December 2011 to 26th February 2012 at the MACRO, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome. Enel Contemporanea Award 2011 is the prize promoted by Enel within its "Enel Contemporanea" programme, which calls for the annual production of an original artwork on the theme of energy by international artists. In Double Carousel with Zöllner Stripes the public will be also able to interact with two moving merry-go-rounds created by the artist. Turning slowly and in opposite directions, the merry-go-rounds allow the public to get on and off easily, as if they were enormous mills or grindstones, where the people, sitting on top, come close ... More |
| One of Malta's leading contemporary artists, Austin Camilleri, exhibits at Art..e Gallery in Victoria, Gozo | | Bonhams takes United Kingdom market leadership with £4.1 million fine jewellery sale | | Vicente Rojo's private hall of fame on view at Galeria Juan Martin in Mexico City | 
Returning to exhibit in Gozo after a five year absence, Camilleri is presenting a series of new works on paper, a first in Gozo for the artist.
VICTORIA.- For its final exhibition this year, Art..e Gallery is presenting a series of intimate new works by one of Malta’s leading contemporary artists: Austin Camilleri. Returning to exhibit in Gozo after a five year absence, Camilleri is presenting a series of new works on paper, a first in Gozo for the artist. Ideas at embryonic stage or whimsical scribbles? These new mixed media interventions are immediately recognisable as belonging to Camilleri’s output of the past two years. They were produced simultaneously to the large paintings presented last year at Malta Contemporary Art Foundation, either as thoughts to be developed or as a distilled overflow of finished works. Although the research and processes involved are akin to those of his large canvases, a striking sense of urgency and immediacy not evident in the larger equivalent works is now palpable. The current works are often composed ... More | | 
A diamond sing stone ring. Estimate: £500,000-700,000. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- A selection of outstanding diamonds, natural pearls and important signed pieces were the highlights of the Fine Jewellery Sale that took place on the 8th December at Bonhams, New Bond Street. The sale realised £4.1 million with 82% sold by lot and 90% sold by value. Jean Ghika, Director of the Jewellery Department comments, “We are delighted with such a fantastic result, ending an exceptional year of Fine Jewellery sales at Bonhams. With sale totals up 70% on 2010 and the most expensive lot sold in the UK this year (a diamond and blue diamond crossover ring by Bulgari that realised £1.9 million), Bonhams has re-affirmed its position as UK market leader in jewellery.” In a difficult economic climate the jewellery market is stronger than ever and Bonhams has received much attention from international clients, who are keen to purchase top quality jewellery. Jean comments, “Over the past year we have certa ... More | | 
Mexican-Spanish artist Vicente Rojo poses during the presentation of his exhibition at Juan Martin Gallery in Mexico City. EPA/SASHENKA GUTIERREZ.
POLANCO.- Vicente Rojo, foremost Mexican painter, known for his abstract paintings, sculptures and graphic designs, is currently having an exhibit called “Hall of Fame” at the Galeria Juan Martin. Rojo has included 12 people in his private hall of fame, where he pays homage to certain writers and painters. Working within a small format, mixed media /wood, he has invited writers Agatha Christie, Italo Calvino, Carlos Pellicer and Jules Verne . His chosen painters are Louise Nevelson, Jean Dubuffet, Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, Joseph Cornell, Mark Rothko, Germán Cueto and the filmmaker, Georges Méliés. With his uncanny talent for bringing out the essence of his chosen mentors, he portrays Christie with a large keyhole, related to her mystery stories. Calvino is represented with 4 small constructions which bring to mind his “Invisible Cities” Pellicer, poet, with small constructions portraying ... More |
| Jonathan Ferrara Gallery presents the P.2 Projects: An International group exhibition | | Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig presents Zak Kyes' exhibition Working With... | | Butler Institute of American Art acquires monumental Audrey Flack painting | 
The P.2 Projects is a follow up to the 2008-9, The P.1 Projects exhibition and the Prospect.1 Welcome Center at The Hefler Warehouse.
NEW ORLEANS, LA.- Jonathan Ferrara Gallery announces The P.2 Projects, an international group exhibition of 18 artists curated by Jonathan Ferrara. The exhibition is a satellite exhibition in conjunction with Prospect.2 Biennial that is currently on view in New Orleans through January 29, 2012. The P.2 Projects runs from November 19th through January 24, 2012. The P.2 Projects is a follow up to the 2008-9, The P.1 Projects exhibition and the Prospect.1 Welcome Center at The Hefler Warehouse. Both of these shows were curated by gallery owner Jonathan Ferrara. As an artist, curator and dealer, Ferrara selected works by gallery artists in addition to artists whose works he found in his travels to art fairs, biennials and exhibitions across the country and in Europe. The P.2 Projects features paintings, sculpture, video, installation and fabric works. Eighteen artists fill the entire gallery space. Several of the ... More | | 
This year the Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig presents the first solo exhibition in Germany by the Swiss-American graphic designer Zak Kyes.
LEIPZIG.- Zak Kyes is the recipient of the 2010 INFORM Award, the annual accolade presented to graphic designers who develop a practice within the context of applied and contemporary art. The award consists of a prize of 5,000 euros as well as a one-person exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig. INFORM is supported by Dr. Arend Oetker. Previous recipients include Laurent Benner, 2007; Julia Born, 2008; and Rebecca Stephany, 2009. This year the Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig presents the first solo exhibition in Germany by the Swiss-American graphic designer Zak Kyes. In collaboration with the curator, Barbara Steiner, the exhibition brings together a range of works by Kyes, as well as works by a host of collaborators that includes architects, artists, writers, curators, editors, and graphic ... More | | 
Audrey Flack (b. 1941), Baba, 1980-83, 7 x 13 ft. Acrylic on canvas.
YOUNGSTOWN, OH.- The Butler Institute of American Art, located at 524 Wick Avenue in Youngstown, has acquired a master painting by renowned American realist painter Audrey Flack (b. 1941). The painting, titled Baba, is a seven by thirteen foot acrylic on canvas painting that was begun by Flack in 1980, and completed in 1983. The large-scale work, among the largest paintings in the Butler’s holdings, was a gift to the museum’s permanent collection by art enthusiast A. Barry Hirschfeld of Colorado. Baba is the second work by Flack to enter the Butler’s collection. According to Butler Director Dr. Louis Zona, “The Butler is known for its collection of masterpieces. This remarkable painting is considered to be one of the very best examples of the work of Audrey Flack, who is one of America’s premier realist painters. The Butler’s great collection of art has just become even greater with the additio ... More |
| More News |
 A selection of recent acquisitions, 2005-2011 on view at S.M.A.K. GHENT.- The collection is S.M.A.K.’s DNA and reflects the museum’s core identity as the pivot between recent art history and current trends. S.M.A.K.’s acquisition policy has developed organically over the years and has three distinct levels. Firstly, the museum strives to form an ensemble around the oeuvre of a select group of artists. Instead of representing an artist with just a single work, S.M.A.K. aims to collect an oeuvre in depth in order to present it in all its complexity. Secondly, there is a substantial interaction with the temporary exhibitions, which can be seen as the engine of the collection policy. Finally, by acquiring the work of emerging artists the museum attempts to give a major boost to further developing young artistic practices. Thus, through expanding clusters, S.M.A.K. seeks to arrive at constellations which enter into dialogue with each other within the collection. Presenting a collection ... More Sylvia Plath: Her Drawings and Dadamaino: Volumes at the Mayor Gallery LONDON.- The Mayor Gallery is showing work by two prominent women artists of the 20th Century. Both Sylvia Plath and Dadamaino left a strong mark on the world, expressing themselves in very different ways, yet producing work during the same time frame. The exhibition will show pieces from 1955-1962. 44 never exhibited before drawings by Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) will illustrate the strong connection between her writing and artwork. The carefully constructed, pen and ink drawings, which were given to Plath’s daughter, the artist Frieda Hughes, by her father some years before he died, date from 1955, a pivotal period for Plath as she graduated from Smiths College, Massachusetts and won a Fulbright scholarship to Newham College, Cambridge, in England. It was here that she met and ultimately married Ted Hughes (1956) and during the Cambridge years she travelled in Europe, recording what she saw ... More Sail the seas of grass: Experience a textured landscape at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum COVENTRY.- A unique exhibition opened at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum on Saturday 3 December. Seas of Grass by local artist Michala Gyetvai shows beautiful artworks created entirely from threads and stitches. Gyetvai twists fibres and uses thick wool, crocheted cotton, and fine silks to create a beautiful landscape, moulding the shapes of trees in a sculptural manner Her love of landscape, nurtured in childhood is the motivation behind her work and Kenilworth is the location for much of her subject matter. Her works capture the seasons - sunlight, contours and rhythms of the landscape and the colours she uses are as varied as the painter’s palette. Dominic Bubb, Exhibition Officer at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum said "Michala is an upcoming Coventry artist and her work is exciting because it's so different from anything we've exhibited before. Each work is spectacular in its own way and portrays ... More Bellevue Arts Museum to present first retrospective of renowned Seattle jeweler Mary Lee Hu BELLEVUE, WA.- Bellevue Arts Museum presents the first major retrospective of internationally‐known, Seattle‐based jeweler Mary Lee Hu, on view February 7 ‐ June 17, 2012. Featuring more than 90 exquisite earrings, rings, brooches and neckpieces, drawn from both public and private collections all over the world, Knitted, Knotted, Twisted & Twined: The Jewelry of Mary Lee Hu traces this artist’s evolution from her early experimental designs of the 1960s to today’s creations full of light and movement. A much‐anticipated hardbound catalogue, produced by Bellevue Arts Museum, will be released and nationally distributed in mid March. Using wire the way hand weavers use threads, Hu has blazed a trail both as artist and innovator, exploring the nexus between metalsmithing and textile techniques over the past 40 years. Her graceful and apparently effortless creations, formed by intricate twining ... More |
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| Molecular mechanism links temperature with sex determination in some fish species Posted: 29 Dec 2011 05:30 PM PST Researchers have found the epigenetic mechanism that links temperature and gonadal sex in fish. High temperature increases DNA methylation of the gonadal aromatase promoter in females.  | | More complete picture of kidney cancer: Cancer subtypes distinguished and promising new drug targets suggested Posted: 29 Dec 2011 05:30 PM PST Scientists are providing a foundation for a more complete understanding of distinct kidney cancer subtypes, which could pave the way for better treatments.  | | Breast cancer survivors benefit from practicing mindfulness-based stress reduction Posted: 29 Dec 2011 05:30 PM PST Women recently diagnosed with breast cancer have higher survival rates than those diagnosed in previous decades, according to new research. However, survivors continue to face health challenges after their treatments end. Previous research reports as many as 50 percent of breast cancer survivors are depressed. Now, researchers say a meditation technique can help breast cancer survivors improve their emotional and physical well-being.  | | People don't just think with their guts: Logic plays a role too Posted: 29 Dec 2011 10:13 AM PST For decades, science has suggested that when people make decisions, they tend to ignore logic and go with the gut. But a psychological scientist has a new suggestion: Maybe thinking about logic is also intuitive.  | | Brain's connective cells are much more than glue: Glia cells also regulate learning and memory Posted: 29 Dec 2011 10:13 AM PST New research indicates that glia cells are "the brain's supervisors." By regulating the synapses, they control the transfer of information between neurons, affecting how the brain processes information. This new finding could be critical for technologies based on brain networks, as well as provide a new avenue for research into disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy.  | | Before sounding an alarm, chimps consider information available to their audience Posted: 29 Dec 2011 10:12 AM PST Wild chimpanzees monitor the information available to other chimpanzees and inform their ignorant group members of danger.  | | Nanotechnology: The art of molecular carpet-weaving Posted: 29 Dec 2011 08:22 AM PST Stable two-dimensional networks of organic molecules are important components in various nanotechnology processes. However, producing these networks, which are only one atom thick, in high quality and with the greatest possible stability currently still poses a great challenge. Scientists have now successfully created just such networks made of boron acid molecules.  | | The perils of 'bite-size' science Posted: 29 Dec 2011 06:20 AM PST Short, fast, and frequent: Those 21st-century demands on publication have radically changed the news, politics, and culture -- for the worse, many say. Now a new article aims a critique at a similar trend in psychological research.  | | Debris scatters in the Pacific Ocean, possibly heading to US Posted: 29 Dec 2011 06:20 AM PST Debris from the tsunami that devastated Japan in March could reach the United States as early as this winter, according to new predictions. However, they warn there is still a large amount of uncertainty over exactly what is still floating, where it's located, where it will go, and when it will arrive. Responders now have a challenging, if not impossible situation on their hands: How do you deal with debris that could now impact US shores, but is difficult to find?  | | New clues as to why some older people may be losing their memory Posted: 29 Dec 2011 06:20 AM PST New research links 'silent strokes,' or small spots of dead brain cells, found in about one out of four older adults to memory loss in the elderly.  | | Alzheimer's: Diet patterns may keep brain from shrinking Posted: 29 Dec 2011 06:20 AM PST People with diets high in several vitamins or in omega 3 fatty acids are less likely to have the brain shrinkage associated with Alzheimer's disease than people whose diets are not high in those nutrients, according to a new study.  | | Targeted therapy extends progression-free survival of patients with advanced ovarian cancer Posted: 29 Dec 2011 06:18 AM PST Targeted drugs, which block or disrupt particular molecules involved in the growth of tumors, have been shown to be effective treatments against many types of cancer. A new Phase 3 clinical trial has shown that a targeted therapy called bevacizumab (Avastin) effectively delayed the progression of advanced ovarian cancer. Patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer now typically undergo surgery and chemotherapy, but the new research suggests an additional avenue of treatment.  | | Gene identified in increasing pancreatic cancer risk Posted: 29 Dec 2011 06:18 AM PST Mutations in the ATM gene may increase the hereditary risk for pancreatic cancer, according to new research.  | | Community Conservation in Zanzibar: Not just mangroves and monkeys Posted: 29 Dec 2011 06:16 AM PST The sustainable development goals of community conservation in Zanzibar raise more complex issues than just protecting monkeys and mangroves. Contingent socio-economic and cultural factors must be taken into account when planning and implementing conservation initiatives if they are to endure, let alone succeed.  | | New findings about the prion protein and its interaction with the immune system Posted: 29 Dec 2011 06:16 AM PST Scrapie is a neurodegenerative disease which can function as a model for other diseases caused by an accumulation of proteins resulting in tissue malformations (proteinpathies), such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Many questions regarding these diseases still remain unanswered. A new study has uncovered a number of factors relating to the uptake of the prion protein (PrPSc) associated with the development of this disease and how this protein interacts with the immune cells in the intestines.  | | Great apes make sophisticated decisions Posted: 29 Dec 2011 06:16 AM PST Chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans make decisions carefully. Great apes weigh their chances of success, based on what they know and the likelihood to succeed when guessing.  | | Helping wild horses and livestock survive extreme weather in Gobi desert Posted: 29 Dec 2011 06:16 AM PST Winters in the Gobi desert are usually long and very cold but the winter of 2009/2010 was particularly severe, a condition Mongolians refer to as "dzud". Millions of livestock died in Mongolia and the re-introduced wild Przewalski's horse population crashed dramatically. Researchers have used spatially explicit loss statistics, ranger survey data and GPS telemetry to provide insights into the effect of a catastrophic climate event on wild horses, wild asses and livestock that share the same habitat but show different patterns of spatial use.  | | President Obama and leading GOP presidential candidate support health research Posted: 27 Dec 2011 11:26 AM PST President Obama and Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich commented on important health research and prevention issues. Among the highlights: both Obama and Gingrich agree that research to improve health and prevent disease is part of the solution to rising health care costs, and boosting investment in medical research creates jobs that benefit a wide variety of industries. Their positions on embryonic stem cell research differ.  | | Pendant found at Irikaitz archaeological site in Spain may be 25,000 years old Posted: 27 Dec 2011 06:29 AM PST The recent discovery of a pendant at the Irikaitz archaeological site in Zestoa (in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa in Spain) has given rise to intense debate: it may be as old as 25,000 years, which would make it the oldest found to date at open-air excavations throughout the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. This stone is nine centimeters long and has a hole for hanging it from the neck although it would seem that, apart from being adornment, it was used to sharpen tools.  | | New synthetic molecules treat autoimmune disease in mice Posted: 25 Dec 2011 11:43 AM PST Weizmann Institute scientists "trick" the body into blocking an enzyme that is active in autoimmune disease and cancer.  | | Are superluminal neutrinos possible? Pions don't want to decay into faster-than-light neutrinos, study finds Posted: 23 Dec 2011 08:41 AM PST Physicists have put their finger on a problem with the now-famous OPERA experiment that reported faster-than-light, or superluminal neutrinos. They raise theoretical considerations that would make the creation of superluminal neutrinos impossible.  |
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