| The First Art Newspaper on the Net | Established in 1996 | Sunday, January 8, 2012 |
| | Amid Dutch dike break fears, Groninger Museum moves two exhibitions from ground floors
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The Dutch Groninger Museum is threatened by the high water in the canal alongside which the building is located, in Groningen, northern Netherlands, 05 January 2012. Although there are fears that the high water caused by heavy rains and storms could flood the museum, it was still open for the public. EPA/CATRINUS VAN DER VEEN.
By: Mike Corder, Associated Press
THE HAGUE (AP).- Police and military personnel evacuated 800 people from four villages in the low-lying northern Netherlands on Friday amid fears of a dike break following days of drenching rains. Authorities said that a section of the dike along a major canal could give way and submerge hundreds of hectares (acres) of land under up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) of water. "The chance is small" the dike will break, said Yvonne van Mastrigt, chairman of the regional policy team that ordered the evacuation. "But in the interests of security of people and livestock I must take this decision." Dozens of villagers and troops spent hours Thursday night piling sandbags on top of plastic sheets in an attempt to strengthen and waterproof the dike. The local water authority said the emergency repairs had stabilized the situation after water had begun seeping through the dike overnight. In the early afternoon, authorities ... More |
| Multimillion dollar tax case against China's Ai Weiwei to get review by authorities | | Bold, new paintings by German artist Daniel Richter in second solo show at Regen Projects | | Neue Berliner Räume opens exhibition that has been staged in a disused factory building | 
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei opens his jacket to reveal a shirt bearing his portrait as he walks into the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau in Beijing. AP Photo/Andy Wong.
BEIJING (AP).- Outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said Friday that Beijing tax authorities have agreed to review their ruling that he pay a multimillion dollar fine for alleged tax evasion. The internationally acclaimed conceptual artist said tax officials informed him of the decision Wednesday by telephone and said the review would be completed within two months. Ai said he was hopeful that the case would be handled earnestly and transparently. "How they handle this relates to issues of China's rule of law and the safety of its people," Ai said. "It has very broad implications. If they can't resolve this issue very fairly and carefully, it will be bring harm to this society's justice system." Ai was detained for three months last year during an overall crackdown on dissent. Following his release, authorities demanded his design company pay 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) in back taxes and fines, a penalty interpreted by activists as punishment for his criticism ... More | | 
Daniel Richter, Installation view: A concert of purpose and action, Regen Projects II, Los Angeles, January 7–February 18, 2012. Courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles. Photo: Brian Forrest.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Regen Projects presents the gallery's second solo exhibition with German artist Daniel Richter. Entitled A concert of purpose and action, the show includes bold, new paintings that explore the boundaries of social order against the backdrop of anarchic disorder. Richter's current works reference war, abstraction, rock and roll, history, our shared recent past, and the political present. The exhibition title is derived from Woodrow Wilson's 1917 declaration of war on Germany, where the US President describes the role and purpose of America in relation to freedom and democracy worldwide. Richter's large-scale paintings question the context of history painting in a society whose historiographic idea of progress has been significantly altered, hence Richter's lone, heroic figures depicted singularly or in an ecstatic mass. These protagonists embody the various contradictions presented by ... More | | 
David Buckingham, Serial Killers #1, 2011, 68,6 x 81,3 x 7,6 cm, Courtesy Kit Schulte Contemporary Art.
BERLIN.- Neue Berliner Räume presents the exhibition CLAIM in January 2012. The exhibited works are united by their reliance on a direct aesthetic presence rather than a conceptual background. The exhibition has been staged in a disused factory building and features works of painting, drawing, installation, sculpture, and video and sound art by the artists Christian Achenbach, Giuseppe Armenia, Carlo Bernardini, David Buckingham, Guido Canziani Jona, Jesper Carlsen, Paolo Grassino, Douglas Henderson, Philip Loersch, Jacopo Mazzonelli, Christopher Munch Andersen, John O'Connor, Kaspar Oppen Samuelsen, Domenico Piccolo, Federico Pietrella, Christoph Schirmer, Moritz Schleime, Owen Schuh, Secret Stars**, Klaus-Martin Treder and Per Wizén. A distinct emotional perspective marks many of the works and it is the will to provoke a moment of directness that emerges with their dramatic gesture. In this way, the works explore t ... More |
| First United Kingdom exhibition of works by Sam Szafran at Faggionato Fine Art | | Series of finely executed watercolors by Moshé Elimelech at L2kontemporary | | Barbara Sorensen's Topographies exhibition opens at the Orlando Museum of Art | 
Sam Szafran, Untitled (Escalier). Watercolour on silk, 69 x 84.5 cm / 27.2 x 33.3 in. Executed in 1997-1998. Photo: Courtesy Faggionato Fine Art.
LONDON.- Faggionato Fine Art presents the first UK exhibition of works by Sam Szafran. Born in Paris in 1934, Szafran’s work has been exhibited extensively in France since 1965. Venerated in France for his unique and distinctive style, he is known for a technically precise and obsessive investigation of a narrow range of subjects. Sitting apart from the mainstream 20th century art movements in Paris, Szafran’s work is both figurative and introspective. He focuses on single interior scenes, concentrating on the same space in series of obsessively repeated studies, which gradually dismantle their subject through shifts into Szafran’s ‘false perspectives’ and ‘ocular distortions’. The ten works exhibited at Faggionato Fine Art are all watercolours, painted on silk, and focus exclusively on a single architectural subject, a spiral staircase in the apartment building at 54 Rue de ... More | | 
Moshe Elimelech, A Bench and a Pool, 22 x 30 in. Photo: Courtesy L2kontemporary.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Artist Moshé Elimelech and L2kontemporary present new work premiering January 7, 2012. A series of finely executed watercolors will debut at L2Kontemporary Art Gallery in Chinatown. The exhibition runs from January 7-February 11. As is any traditional pictorial work rendered with pigment on an absorptive surface, the watercolors are all unique, handmade, and immutable. For every purely geometric composition rendered in watercolor, there is one in which stylized elements of landscape and/or cityscape appear, describing a charmed world of nuanced atmosphere with simplified objects and topographies. Elimelech transcends the professional design world into that of a fine artist. He applies his innate talent to creating powerful visual elements of the 21 century resulting in simple forms of traditional material. Although seemingly simple colored cells at first glance these works mask a hidden dialogue ... More | | 
Barbara Sorensen, Shield de Pyrenees W4-07, 2007. 33" x 30" x 4". Stoneware & stones.
ORLANDO, FL.- The Orlando Museum of Art has expanded its permanent collection with dynamic sculptures donated by renowned artist Barbara Sorensen and her husband. The sculptures included in the donation are nine pieces from the Dwellings Series, which are currently on display at the museum's entrance. "We are pleased to add these incredible sculptures to OMA's permanent collection of contemporary art, " said Hansen Mulford, curator of the OMA. "The collection depends on the generosity of donors like the Sorensen family to grow as a resource for the community." Beginning January 7, 2012, visitors will have the opportunity to view Barbara Sorensen: Topographies, as part of the museum's Made in Florida series. Made In Florida will showcase the exemplary work and influence of Florida artists throughout the 2012 season. Renowned for her ability to capture the unique form, surface and texture of the Earth through sculpture, Topograph ... More |
| Five works from the collection of Albert Murray on view at DC Moore Gallery | | Clark's Fine Art to auction important modern and contemporary artworks with Hollywood connection | | Shane McAdams and Christopher Saunders: The Fair And Open Face Of Heaven at Allegra LaViola gallery | 
Romare Bearden, Fishing and Crabbing, Three Mile Creek, c. 1965 (detail). Collage and colored pencil on board, 9 3/4 x 11 5/8 inches. Image Courtesy DC Moore Gallery, New York.
NEW YORK, NY.- DC Moore Gallery presents an exhibition of the work of Romare Bearden and Norman Lewis selected from the collection of Albert Murray (b. 1916), the well-known novelist, social and cultural critic, and jazz historian. The exhibition, on view in our Project Gallery, celebrates the cultural contributions of these three important figures and friends. In the late spring of 1950, Murray traveled to Paris, where he first befriended Romare Bearden (1911–1988), who was also studying via the G.I. Bill. The fruitful and complex relationship that ensued has been documented and discussed in many scholarly studies of Bearden’s work. For a time, Murray and Bearden collaborated, devising the artist’s themes, titling his work, and writing together. The two appear in the documentary Bearden Plays Bearden (1981), riffing on art and the creative process. Murray later wrote catalog essays for Bearden exhibitio ... More | | 
Monique Frydman (American, b. 1943-), ‘Jaune Majeur III,’ 1988, 86 x 76 inches. Provenance: Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris. Est. $12,000-$18,000. Clark’s Fine Art image.
SHERMAN OAKS, CA.- On Saturday, Jan. 21, Clark’s Fine Art of Sherman Oaks (Los Angeles), Calif., will conduct its first auction of 2012 – a 270-lot auction of premier modern and contemporary artworks from three significant collections, plus additional select consignments. Two of the featured collections are from the estates of Hollywood luminaries who played key roles in the production of TV and film classics known the world over. The third collection consists of contemporary works of art donated by supporters to the Silverlake Independent Jewish Community Center, a Los Angeles nonprofit that will benefit from its portion of the auction proceeds. One of the sale’s key collections was amassed by Harold Berkowitz, a prominent entertainment lawyer whose A-list clients included Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Jack Lemmon and even the canine superstar Rin Tin Tin. Maintaining ... More | | 
Christopher Saunders, Whitenoise no. 12, 2011. Oil on linen, 24 x 18 inches. Photo: Courtesy Allegra LaViola gallery.
NEW YORK, NY.- Allegra LaViola gallery presents Shane McAdams and Christopher Saunders: The Fair And Open Face Of Heaven, an two person exhibition of paintings and works on paper. The Romantic poets regarded art as the bridge between nature and man, elevating the emotional response to nature into an expression of higher meaning and imbuing it with the ability to capture a moment that has passed. Keats writes in his poem To One Who Has Been Long In City Pent : To one who has been long in city pent, 'Tis very sweet to look into the fair And open face of heaven,—to breathe a prayer Full in the smile of the blue firmament. Keats’ contrast of the city as prison and nature as nirvana was the Romantic belief that informed much of the art of his time, and had its American painting proponents in Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, and the painters of the Hudson River School, who sought to depict nature in a Utopian manner. McAdams and Saunders paintings represent the ineffable w ... More |
| New report says art dealers with an e-tailing or online auction presence are well-positioned to take advantage | | China's dragon stamp breathes criticism, fear-some people call it too ferocious | | United Kingdom government protects site that housed World War II codebreakers | 
According to IBISWorld estimates, the Online Art Sales industry is worth about $287.5 million in 2011.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Art dealers with an e-tailing or online auction presence are well-positioned to take advantage of consumers' preference for online shopping, according to a new report from IBISWorld. During the past five years, the ease of e-shopping has grown the E-Commerce and Online Auctions industry at double-digit rates. The growth of this overarching industry is forecast to continue through 2016 on the back of growing consumer spending and increased access through more broadband connections. Mobile apps are anticipated to provide further room for innovation through 2016, with industry leader Christie's paving the way through the development of their iPad app in late 2010. For this reason, industry research firm IBISWorld has added a report on the Online Art Sales industry to its growing Online Furniture & Home Furnishings Report collection. For more information on the online ... More | | 
A stamp featuring a dragon is sold with a souvenir envelop and cachets at a post office ahead of the Chinese New Year. AP Photo.
BEIJING (AP).- A stamp designed to mark China's upcoming Year of the Dragon is drawing unusual criticism for its fang-bearing monster. The stamp went on sale Thursday, drawing the heavy crowds that normally flock to buy the annual Lunar New Year stamps. But the dragon's attacking pose on this year's stamp has led some people to call it too ferocious. Zhang Yihe, a renowned Chinese writer, wrote on her Sina Weibo microblog that she was "scared to death" when she first saw the red and yellow creature with scales and claws. Another writer, Tan Xudong, called it an "incomparably ugly dragon-year stamp." Its designer, Chen Shaohua, said he had received criticism, abuse and support for the stamp, brought out ahead of the Chinese New Year, which is Jan. 23. Chen has defended his design, saying that the dragon ... More | | 
File picture showing a four-rotor Enigma machine, right, once used by the crews of German U-boats in World War II. AP Photo/Alex Dorgan Ross.
LONDON (AP).- The British government has acted to protect a crumbling piece of wartime — and computing — history. The government said Friday that it has given protected status to the derelict Block C at Bletchley Park, the site northwest of London where mathematicians and cryptographers toiled in secret to crack Nazi communications codes. Historians believe their work shortened the war by as much as two years. The steel-and-concrete Block C contained high-speed data processing machines that helped the British crack Germany's Enigma encryption device. Heritage Minister John Penrose said Friday that Block C "can be viewed as the birthplace of modern information technology." Bletchley Park's guardians are fundraising to restore the site and turn it into a museum. ... More |
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 New works of sake-related vessels by twenty artists at Ippodo Gallery NEW YORK, NY.- Until January 28, 2012, Ippodo Gallery NY will be exhibiting approximately 80 new works of sake-related vessels by all 20 artists, in fields of pottery, glass and lacquer, who are represented by Ippodo Gallery. We hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to view these small treasures produced by a wide range of artists, to hold them in your hands and allow us to help you choose something special with which to celebrate the new year and the coming of spring. In Japan there are many words that contain the term sake: asazake (morning sake), amazake (sweet, mild sake), iwaizake (celebratory sake), kanzake (warmed sake), nigorizake (unrefined sake), hanamizake (cherry blossom-viewing sake), yukimizake (snow-viewing sake), mukaezake (hair of the dog), masuzake (sake in a square wooden cup), etc. From this, it can be seen that Sake, which is brewed from rice, plays an important ... More Vegas museum to spotlight mob films By: Cristina Silva, Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP).- A mob museum slated to open soon in Las Vegas will trace Hollywood's portrayal of mobsters from the birth of the silver screen in a violence-fraught exhibit that organizers said is not intended for children. Screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote the book "Wiseguy" and then adapted it into the Martin Scorsese film "Goodfellas," told The Associated Press that he will help usher in the exhibit when the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement opens in Las Vegas in mid-February. Pileggi will appear in a five-minute documentary on the mob and pop culture that will be shown near the end of the museum tour. The film, part of an exhibit called "The Myth of the Mob," will attempt to explain why so many people are fascinated with organized crime. The exhibit ... More World's largest short film festival calls for entries for Tropfest New York NEW YORK, NY.- Tropfest, the world's largest short film festival, today announced it is calling for entries for Tropfest New York, which will take place at Manhattan's Bryant Park on June 23rd. Emerging American filmmakers – and others - have the opportunity to take part in this global phenomenon and see their short film screened in front of a massive live and online audience, and judged by an industry and celebrity panel for a chance to win $20,000 cash and other prizes. The announcement was made today by Tropfest Founder and Director, John Polson. Founded 20 years ago in Sydney, Australia, Tropfest is supported by some of the biggest stars in the international film community and has received thousands of submissions for its film festivals in Australia and the recently launched Tropfest Arabia in Abu Dhabi. Filmmakers of all backgrounds, regardless of their experience level or production budget, ... More Bosnian closure-threatened museum gets reprieve SARAJEVO (AP).- A regional government is providing emergency funding to Bosnia's National Museum to save the 125-year-old institution from being forced to close due to unpaid utility bills. The Bosniak-Croat region announced Friday it will pay €25,000 to cover the bills, but added this will not solve the long-term problem. Ethnically divided Bosnia has no culture ministry on state level and the political leaders of the country's Serb, Croat and Bosniak peoples can't agree on what to do with their common historical and cultural heritage. The National Museum — whose collection includes the 600-year-old Jewish manuscript known as the Sarajevo Haggadah — and six other institutions housing Bosnia's heritage have over the years received only state budget leftovers. ... More |
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