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"I Had to Learn to Photograph Objects": Annie Leibovitz on the Genesis of Her Unexpected New "Pilgrimage" Series

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"I Had to Learn to Photograph Objects": Annie Leibovitz on the Genesis of Her Unexpected New "Pilgrimage" Series

NEW YORK — Annie Leibovitz is not short of superfans. Last night as the line of autograph-seekers grew longer during the opening of "Pilgrimage," the new three-day Pace Gallery Leibovitz show, ARTINFO even spotted Anna Wintour handing her credit card to the front desk to procure her own copy of the accompanying book. Was Wintour a fan of the new body of work? Of course! “The fact she could turn her camera onto such a different kind of a subject with equal if not more emotion and brilliance just shows what a true artist she is,” the famed editor enthused.

Vogue was one of the sponsors of the evening, but for a Vogue event it was a surprisingly low-key (perhaps owing to the fact that the smart set was down in Miami). To be sure, the fashion world was present in full force, with designers like Carolina Herrera, Thakoon, and Cynthia Rowley, as well as formidable Vogue editors Hamish Bowles and Wintour circulating the room. Pace artist Chuck Close was there, too, sporting a very bright, deep blue and chartreuse African-print inspired suit (or were they pajamas?). But the party seemed unburdened by the usual fanfare, loudly cackling gossip, or booming background music, instead focusing on the work of the woman of the hour.

It was the opening of a stunning new body of work that departs from Liebovitz’s signature portrait photography, focusing instead on images of historic Americana: landscapes of Walden Pond; remnants of the lives of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson; the Gettysburg battlefield; and glass plates of images of Abraham Lincoln from the National Archives among them. Leibovitz was a highly visible but humbly accessible presence in the gallery — that is, right until the final mad dash for guests’ last-ditch effort to get a signed copy of her book. But she was gracious enough to chat for a minute as the masses were closing in, and of course, we made the most of it.

Was this project more than a physical journey for you — as the title suggests — in that it was a departure, turning your lens away from portrait subjects and onto the landscape, as well a complete work in digital? And perhaps it was also a vacation, since you were only working under your own instruction?

That’s like four questions in there!

Well yes, we have to economize.

It’s an idea that originated when Susan Sontag and I were thinking of doing some traveling together, and then she died. You know, I was not having the best time of my life. I was having a difficult time, and I started to think about the places I wanted to travel to. But I didn’t know if I could do it. I started with Niagara Falls. And something happened there that inspired me to go forward with the work. I was watching my children skip over to the falls, and I stood over behind them, so when they were looking at them they were kind of mesmerized and I took their picture. That was the cover of the book. So then I started thinking of that and Emily Dickinson’s house in Amherst, and I made this crazy list of about 12 places.

I started in the last couple years. I just made time to go off and look at these places, and find this imagery that was meaningful to me. It wasn’t always a room. A room didn’t always resonate. I finally started to come across objects, like Lincoln’s hat, which I loved, or Emily Dickinson’s dress. I had to sort of learn to photograph objects. I wanted to feel emotional, not just, you know…

It didn’t feel counter-intuitive?

It was! It was hard. I’m not a tripod person.

And are you a digital person now?

This is a completely digital project. That was the other thing. I talk in the book about how I was intrigued about how digital — you needed very little light to take pictures.

"Pilgrimage" is on view at the Pace Gallery through December 3. It moves to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C., on view from January 20 through May 20.


Slideshow: Design Miami Top 10

"Work of Art" Recap: Like a Car Crash We Just Can't Stop Watching

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"Work of Art" Recap: Like a Car Crash We Just Can't Stop Watching

C’mon Bravo, you’re killin’ us here. It seems like all our favorites are being sent home, from Leon Lim (whom we shall remember as "the talented one") to the Sucklord (we'd call him "the entertaining part") leaving little to look forward to in future episodes. And now Michelle?! Well, at least they opened last night's episode with Dusty in short shorts, Sun Young’s promised reward for winning the last challenge. 

This week’s challenge: make a work of art out of the innards of a Fiat 500, a beautiful vehicle Bravo didn’t think twice for scrapping for reality TV purposes. “Ze automobile has been an inspirrraaaattttion to artists since they were invented!” Swiss mentor to reality TV stars Simon de Pury croons. Well, that’s all well in good for Richard Prince, but we can only imagine the contestants spent their tortured high school days moping around the art studio, not rubbing elbows with the proletariat who spent their days welding in shop class. “I’m a painterrrrrr” Sarah J whines. Is she ready to burst into tears? Also, Young Sun shares us a telling nugget from his childhood: “My favorite car when I was a kid was a limousine because someone else was driving you.” Is the dark shadow of a storm of frustration looming on the horizon? Let’s get down to it!

THE WINNERS

It was a double Sarah winner’s circle this week as Sarah K and Sarah J landed in the top two. After skinning her elusive prey — that is, after peeling the exterior off of the Fiat driver and passenger seat — Sarah K produced a quite striking Rorschach-like piece of two black beetle shaped pieces of leather splayed on canvas, drawing from childhood road trips with her father. Sarah J’s “muffler of solitude,” as Bill Powers so cleverly put it, an exhaust of pipe streaming a floral-arrangement-like white plume as if it were coming out of the back of Superman’s car, took home the winning title.

THE LOSERS

WTF THEY SENT MICHELLE HOME? Yes, her “Scenic Overlook,” a shiny red fender adorned with eyes and lips, looked like a character in a Pixar movie, but we thought our death-obsessed darling had it in her to make it to the end. And so did the judges. Jerry Saltz, reminds her of the fact that she herself was in a car accident, an experience she could’ve well drawn from (uh, you mean the one where she almost DIED?), while other judges offered less poignant (or caustically insensitive) words. “It’s not stupid enough,” Powers critiques. “Just puttin’ googly eyes on something isn’t gonna cut it.” Pffff. Kymia’s “Key to the Universe,” a black box meant to sparkle inside with the stardust produced when you grind a key into powder, well, didn’t. Sparkle, that is. And…

THIS EPISODE’S DELIGHTFUL NONSENSICAL TITLE BY LOLA

Her work this time around was called “The Car is a Cave and My Fingertips are Gods Controlling Your Fate.” Unfortunately, the judges did not like this one. Saltz laments that it has her "repeating the same steps” (but didn’t he like these "same steps" so much in "Inferior Arms Hobble Rebels in Libya War"?). The piece was another one of Lola's uncontrolled emotional projectile regurgitations on the wall, consisting of some disparate pieces (a self portrait, and some car parts that looked as if they were painted with particularly glittery shades of OPI) that exhausted the judges' patience. “If you’re going to make mistakes, let’s start making some new ones. Let’s not have this conversation again, ok?” ZING for Powers! Good one! As Lola starts to tear up, is that a smirk Kymia’s trying to suppress? Oh well, at least leaving these two in the game will keep us watching, just in hopes of seeing them cat fight.

POWERSISM OF THE WEEK

Shockingly, our Powersism is brought to you by guest judge and automotive expert (*giggles*) Liz Cohen. “There’s no big bang in that universe,” she says of Kymia’s piece. Powersism must be contagious.  

 

Slideshow: Judd Tully's Picks From Art Basel Miami Beach

A Connoisseur’s Take: 10 Enchanting Works of Art on View at Art Basel Miami Beach

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A Connoisseur’s Take: 10 Enchanting Works of Art on View at Art Basel Miami Beach

MIAMI BEACH — Looking beyond the ever-changing roster of art transactions at the now-10-year-old Art Basel Miami Beach — bar none, America’s best contemporary art fair — I have put together a personal top 10 of favorite works spotted during the opening hours follows. There is no hierarchy or ground rule here, just a spot on ‘I like it’ reaction to an object that is truly worth celebrating, glimpsed among thousands of others.

Lucian Freud, “The Painter’s Mother” at Acquavella Galleries, New York

The 1972 oil on canvas captures a handsome, bright-eyed woman, rendered in a cropped, head-and-shoulders’ view. Her gaze is averted and inward, as if trying to escape her son’s unrelenting gaze.

“The Painter’s Mother” is believed to be one of nine paintings Freud did of his mother before her death in 1989. Priced at five million dollars, the compelling portrait by the late and great Freud demands — and deserves — close attention.

Robert Delaunay, “Equipe de Cardiff” at Adler & Conkright, New York

An undisputed historic gem from 1922, the beautifully executed pastel on paper of four rugby players leaping in the air is one of the artist’s signature images. Fresh to the market, it was acquired before 1941 by a Parisian paint store owner who befriended a number of artists. Robert Delaunay’s wife, Sonia Delaunay, used to make children’s clothes for the collector’s children.

Priced at over a million euros, “Equipe de Cardiff” hangs alongside a postcard-sized study of the same action-packed subject, but from 1913 and executed in ink on paper. That work had an asking price of $50,000.  

Andy Warhol, “Little Electric Chair” at van de Weghe Fine Art, New York

For the finicky Warhol aficionado, concerned with the crispness of the silkscreen, this eerie and deadly image from 1964 stands out. Suffused in green, the canvas focuses on the empty electric chair in the center of the room. In the background, an overhead sign commands SILENCE. (In some versions of this image, because of the screen, these letters aren’t visible.)

The painting is priced at $5.5 million.

Cindy Sherman, “Untitled (Film Still #4)” at Skarstedt, New York

There are a number of Shermans around the fair and this ultra-grainy 1977 work, depicts the artist costumed in a ‘50s-styled suit, her page boy haircut topped by a tiny hat. She’s leaning against a door in an otherwise empty hallway, the harsh light silhouetting her figure in a kind of film noir haze.

At just 16 by 20 inches, the gelatin silver print comes from an edition of one. It sold for $400,000, according to gallerist Per Skarstedt.

Pedro Figari, “Conversation (Entredicho)” at Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art, New York

Originally exhibited at the Venice Biennial of 1942, this painting from the early 1900s resembles in part an interior scene by Vuillard. But the clusters of women featured in the ornately furnished reception room are busy fixing their elaborately coiffed hair and waving fans. A coral-colored couch and richly textured wall in a lipstick shade of pink electrifies the room.

The painting is priced at a seemingly modest $75,000.    

Tatsuo Miyajima, “Warp Time With Self No.4” at SCAI The Bath House, Tokyo

Stunnily lit with programmed LED lights that endlessly flicker in a sea of primary numbers, Miyajima’s 2010 mirrored steel sculpture exudes a hypnotic power. It is a truly nique work, priced at $180,000.

Otto Piene, Licht Ballett (Light Drum) and Licht Ballett (Light Sattelite)” at Moeller New York+ Berlin

A founding member of the short-lived but wildly influential Zero Group, Piene’s chrome, glass, and electric light contraption from 1969 is a trailblazing kinetic work. When turned on, it choreographs a veritable ballet of light.  Conceived together, the two Piene works here are on offer at $140,000 or individually for $95,000 and $45,000.

Andreas Gursky, “Prada I” at Spruth Magers, London/Cologne

Possibly, one of the artist’s most important images, a large-scale (5 by 10 foot) view of a fastidiously lit luxury shoe display from 1996 is truly epic, both in scale and ambition. Originally printed at a smaller scale, Gursky chose “Prada I” to expand his range with the Diasec method.

Priced at €650,000, the photograph had two reserves on Wednesday.

Daniel Buren “Peinture acrylique blanche sur tissue raye blanc et bleu” at Kamel Mennour, Paris

The large-scale blue-and-white vertically striped sewn work from November 1969 is absolute museum quality, executed when the artist was dirt poor, relying on his mother to sew the strips of fabric together in order achieve New York School scale. Only two of the regimented stripes are painted in white acrylic, and on close inspection, one can easily see the tiny holes made from the needlework.

Done largely in reaction to the School of Paris conservatism then still captivating the French capital, Buren eventually made big waves with his radical approach. At the Kamel Mennour booth, as Buren preferred, the painting isn’t hung on the wall, but rests on its frame, lightly leaning against the support.

MoMA is currently exhibiting a small group of similar works from 1971 and this earlier example found an American buyer for approximately $500,000.

Luc Tuymans, “Rocket Scientist” at Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp

A new work by Tuymans is always something to behold and this fairly menacing oil on canvas rates high in conveying the artist’s fascination with history. The ghostly head and shoulders of a man from 2011, posed under the halo of a desk lamp, alludes to an unnamed Nazi scientist who, apparently, had a fascination with UFOs.

It sold to an American collector in the vicinity of $500,000.

To see images of some of the works featured in this article, click on the slide show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                             

No Longer an Upstart, a Buoyant NADA Brings in Big Sales and Art-World Power Brokers

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No Longer an Upstart, a Buoyant NADA Brings in Big Sales and Art-World Power Brokers

The NADA Art Fair opened this morning with the starting-gun burst of energy that a few years ago characterized the vernissage of Art Basel Miami Beach — but here, it wasn't only collectors with high-priced spies who knew where to find the choicest works. Instead, a partnership with online auctioneers Paddle8 allowed gallerists to preview their wares online, so the most enthusiastic buyers were able to make a beeline to coveted pieces right off the bat. That so many exhibitors sold out (or nearly sold out) their booths in the opening hours, combined with the overall quality of work on display, signaled that NADA, always a fan favorite, has arrived as a main contender.

"This is really good this year," said Beatrix Ruf, the director and curator of Kunsthalle Zurich. "The great thing about Art Basel in Basel is that you have the main fair and then you have Liste, and both are very high quality, very rigorously curated. I think this is the first year NADA is reaching Liste standards," she said, referring to the highly-regarded European fair for emerging international galleries.

Compared to the main fair, the price point was much lower — most galleries topped out around $50,000, and some works were priced as low as $600 — but the array of art on view was by and large more novel, and unexpected. At New York's Eleven Rivington, a small, darkened room contained a selection of films projected on paintings by Dave Miko and Tom Thayer (recently shown at the Kitchen), while a back room held five exquisitely detailed graphite drawings and one sculpture by Hilary Berseth, a young Pennsylvania-based artist. Augusto Arbizo, the gallery director, said that he "uses the fair as a way to introduce new artists and new bodies of work," and that he had sold out his entire booth with the exception of two projection works.

"I've been doing NADA for five years and it's our best NADA," said Arbizo. "Every collector I've talked to says they're really enjoying themselves, and even the collectors who missed stuff in the morning rush, they stayed on to educate themselves." As for the unsold projections, he noted that "video is always hard at a smaller fair." Indeed, they were rare at NADA, with an exception being the demanding 72-minute video “Wall” by Corin Hewitt at Laurel Gitlen Gallery.

Sales of rough-hewn sculptures and paintings abounded. The New York dealer Simon Preston managed to sell everything in his booth — from a $22,000 Michele Lopez aluminum wrap sculpture to a $26,000 Caragh Thuring painting to a pair of $5,000 Josh Tonsfeldt paintings — with the exception of a small ring of horsehair that was lying on an underexposed photograph on the floor. He had asked Tonsfeldt to create the work for the booth the night before as a contrast to Lopez's sculpture. Asked how much it was going for, Preston shrugged and said, "I think it's going to be $3,500." He added, "You can be a little more playful at NADA."

Another creative approach could be found at Foxy Productions, where the walls were papered with dark abraded compositions by Gabriel Hartley that resembled early Abstract Expressionist paintings. On top of this ground were four large paintings by the artist, priced at $12,500 apiece, and about a dozen smaller canvases leaned against the wall for $5,200 and $3,000, depending on the size. Nearly all of these had sold. "It's been an incredible success," said the gallery's John Thomson.

Just because the prices were generally lower doesn’t mean there weren’t any big sales. At New York’s Leo Koenig, a series of nine 1968 photographs by Sigmar Polke sold to a private collector for $175,000. “Galleries here have work by artists that are also at Basel,” noted NADA director Heather Hubbs. Compared to the main fair, which boasted classic examples of blue-chip artists, the work at NADA was less traditional and smaller in size. Polke, for example, is known for his paintings, but produced lesser-known photographs over a three-year period beginning in 1966. The dreamy, blurred images on view at Leo Koenig featured wire tendrils slightly reminiscent of Karl Blossfeldt’s early photographs.

Other six-figure sales came from larger, significant work by rising stars. The Lower East Side’s On Stellar Rays gallery sold the entire first edition of Clifford Owens’s latest series, now on view at MoMA PS1, to a private collector for $169,000. (Two images from the second edition of the series were hanging in the gallery’s booth, but the collector had been considering the purchase for a while, said the gallery.) Owens’s sharp photographs document a series of performances that took place during his residency at PS1 last year: he asked a multigenerational group of African-American artists, including Glenn Ligon and Kara Walker, to submit a performance score and then executed their instructions throughout the museum. (The gallery also sold two large colored pencil drawings by Israeli-Austrian artist Zipora Fried to a private collector for $20,000 apiece. After purchasing one awash in purple pencil from the gallery’s booth, the collector bought a second in red, sight unseen.)

Toronto’s MKG127 had a big-ticket item as well: a life-size sculpture of a black-robed Klansman by Dean Drever made of 7,314 sheets of individually cut paper painted with shoe polish, priced at $127,500. It hadn’t sold by the end of the first day, though. “This would take a really particular collector,” observed one gallery worker. “It’s a difficult piece.”

James Fuentes sold a purple, Matisse-esque interior scene by John McAllister for $28,000 and another bright painting by Noam Rappaport for $12,000. “It’s the best fair yet,” he said, noting that he sold many pieces to new clients, including museum trustees and the owners of a private collection museum.

Indeed, museum representatives could be found peering at works throughout the fair. Among the institutions that sent scouts were LACMA, MOCA, CAM St. Louis, MCA Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum, MCA Denver, and the Speed Art Museum. Charles Venable, the director of the Speed, was touring the booths with his partner. “If you want to get a picture of what’s going on, you have to come here,” Venable said. “These are people who go out of their way to be a little edgier. They’re not as concerned about money, about shipping costs. And you can get a better picture of what’s going on than you do at the super-refined galleries at the main fair.”

Dealer Lisa Cooley, meanwhile, had sold out of work by rising star Andy Coolquitt, an artist with an upcoming museum show himself (at the Blaffer Art Museum in Houston) whose whimsical 'energy stick' leaning against the wall made from stacks of found rainbow-colored lighters caught many a glance from passerby. By 3 p.m. on opening day she had already sold almost 95 percent of her booth, she said, as well as five works from her stash in storage. “The exhibitors have been doing the fair for a while now and they really know what they’re doing,” she said. “This is not the same fair it was eight years ago.”

Formed by a group of gallerists over drinks in 2002, NADA has grown from a small band of Lower East Side dealers to an international collective of over 200 galleries, individuals, and nonprofits. The group’s annual fair reinvented itself two years ago with a risky move from the Ice Palace in West Miami to the Deauville Beach Resort, located a 20-minute drive from Art Basel Miami Beach's convention center home. Since successfully establishing itself as a destination fair in its own right, it has become increasingly selective. This year, the fair adopted a new layout and expanded to a third room, giving it a truly settled-in feel. “I think the fair looks better, more open,” said Hubbs. Though it featured 14 additional exhibitors, with the extra space “it’s not super crowded,” she added. “The idea was not to increase the number of galleries that we could show but to give the galleries more options.”

Also new to the fair this year was an option for bigger booths. (NADA now offers galleries small, medium, and large booths, as well as micro-booths for emerging spaces to mount solo exhibitions.) “The larger booth sizes make it feel more grown-up now,” said Simon Preston. Many of the galleries that opted for the large size — James Fuentes, Jack Hanley, and CANADA among them — were ones that had returned to NADA after “graduating” to the main fair and showing with Basel’s young gallery section, Art Positions.

CANADA, for one, had signaled its homecoming with a notably refined booth this year, distinguished by a glass coffee table with a flower vase and a white leather couch that played off of Joanna Malinowska’s rattling washing machine sculpture, “In Search of Primordial Matter.” (That 2011 piece, which was recently displayed at SculptureCenter, contains such materials as “a handful of collected darkness” and “Cartesian doubt," and is priced at $10,000 — the only thing at the booth that hadn’t sold.) The fair was “ripping it” this year, according to the gallery’s Philip Grauer, who had spent several years doing NADA and then moved on to the main fair’s Positions and Nova sections for two years, before returning this year when he was asked to join NADA’s board.

“I’ve always liked NADA, it played a really pivotal role to the gallery, and I’m happy to be here,” he said, noting that he had high hopes for the fair’s development. “I would like to see this fair be able to sell things at any price point. The idea that this is a spare-change fair is a misconception."

Day at the Beach: 10 Can't-Miss Art Basel Miami Beach Events for December 2

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Day at the Beach: 10 Can't-Miss Art Basel Miami Beach Events for December 2

 

THE EVENTS

The Kabakov’s "Ship of Tolerance" U.S. Debut
Preview 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Reception 8 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Watson Island, adjacent to the Miami Children’s Museum at 980 Macarthur Causeway, Miami
Russian art team Ilya and Emilia Kabakov will debut the fifth edition of their international educational project geared towards connecting children from different countries and cultures. The ship, made out of participants' art, can be seen for the first time in North America at the Miami Children's Museum on Watson Island.

"LikeArtBasel" Group Show at Workshop Collective
6 p.m.
Workshop Collective, 171 NW 23rd Street

Internet art giant Ryder Ripps curates a group show at the boutique creative services shop, Workshop Collective, with pieces by some of the most media savvy emerging artists out there, including MoMA PS1 sensation Ryan Trecartin, as well as Petra Cortright and Rafael Rozendaal.

Richard Phillips Mural Auction
6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The Standard Hotel, 40 Island Avenue, Miami

In support of support the Whitney Museum's Youth Insights program, Exhibition A is hosting an auction of murals by Larry Gagosian-represented artist Richard Phillips.

"Culo by Mazzucco" Exhibition
8 p.m.
W South Beach, 2201 Collins Avenue

Art dealer and socialite Andy Valmorbida will join forces with music producer Jimmy Iovine and hip hop giant P. Diddy to showcase the most captivating derrière photos from photographer Raphael Mazzucco's new book of booty shots.

Nick Cave Party at Fendi Casa

8 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Fendi Casa, 90 Northeast 39th Street, Miami

"Soundsuit" artist Nick Cave and  headphones brand "Beats by Dr. Dre" will host a collaborative party at Fendi Casa, the U.S. headquarters of Italian luxury fashion house Fendi in Miami's Design district. Lucky partygoers may also get a secret surprise musical guest performance.

Screening of "Gerhard Richter Painting"
8:30 p.m.
Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach

A screening of the new documentary follows abstract painter Gerhard Richter in his studio and through his creative process. Director Corinna Belz will be on hand for a Q & A afterwards.

BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamers)
9 p.m.
Grand Central, 697 North Miami Avenue, Miami

Following "LikeArtBasel," event space Grand Central hosts a one-night exhibition of video art "beamed" onto the walls.

NADA's Miami Beach Party
9 p.m. - 1 a.m.
Shore Club, 1901 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach

The New Art Dealer's Alliance is having a party at South Beach's Shore Club.

Visionaire Party

10 p.m. – 2 a.m.
The Delano, 1685 Collins Avenue, Miami

Limited edition art magazine Visionaire, an integral annual participant in ABMB's late-night scene, will be hosting its beachside party at the glamorous Delano Hotel tonight.

Nigel Barker's "Dreams Art Not Forgotten" Premiere
11 p.m.
Soho Beach House, 4385 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach

Fashion photographer and America's Next Top Model judge Nigel Barker takes another stab at the documentary genre with "Dreams Art Not Forgotten," covering daily life in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

THE FAIRS
 
 

Art Basel Miami Beach
Miami Beach Convention Center

1901 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach

December 1-4

NADA Art Fair
Deauville Beach Resort
6701 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach

December 2-5

Design Miami/
Meridian Avenue & 19th Street
Adjacent to the Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach

November 30-December 4

Art Miami
Art Miami Pavilion
3101 NE 1st Avenue, Miami

November 30-December 4

Pulse Art Fair
The Ice Palace
1400 North Miami Avenue, at Northwest 14th Street, Miami

December 1-4

Scope Art Fair
Scope Pavilion
Northeast 1st Ave at Northeast 30th Street, Miami

November 29-December 4

Art Asia
Art Asia Pavilion
Northeast 1st Ave Northeast 30th Street, Miami

November 30-December 4

ZOOM Elite (invitation only)

W South Beach
2201 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach

November 30-December 3

Aqua Art Fair
Aqua Hotel
1530 Collins Ave, Miami Beach

December 1-4

Ink Miami Art Fair
Suites of Dorchester
1850 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach
November 30-December 4

Red Dot Miami
011 Northeast 1st Avenue, at Northeast 31st Street, Miami

November 30-December 4

Seven Miami
2637 North Miami Avenue at Northeasy 27th Street, Miami

November 29-December 4

Fountain Miami
2505 North Miami Ave at the corner of 25th Street, Miami
December 1-4

Verge Art Miami Beach
Greenview Hotel
1671 Washington Avenue at 17th Street, Miami Beach

December 1-4

PooL Art Fair Miami Beach
Carlton Hotel
Sadigo Court
334 20th Street at Park Avenue, Miami Beach

December 2-4

Burst Art Fair
Art Deco Center
1001 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach

November 30-December 5

Art Now
Catalina Hotel
1732 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach

December 1-4

Arts For a Better World
Surfcomber Hotel
1717 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach

November 30-December 4

Zones Art Fair
47 Northeast 25th Street, Miami

November 29-December 3

 

 

 

Sofia Coppola Curates a Show of Rare Photos by Robert Mapplethorpe in Paris

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Sofia Coppola Curates a Show of Rare Photos by Robert Mapplethorpe in Paris

Cindy Sherman, David Hockney, and Hedi Slimane, have all played guest curator for the work of hte late, great photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Now comes the turn of film director Sofia Coppola. In partnership with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, gallerist Thaddaeus Ropac asked the filmmaker to turn curator and delve into the Foundation's vast collection to select a series of images for the gallery's new show. Aligned with precision under the lights of Ropac's Paris space, the photos that Coppola has chosen evoke both emotion and nonchalance colored with fragility.

Having been initiated into photography by her mother, Coppola is herself a passionate collector. She is often inspired by photographs — her own or those of others — to set up her cinematic worlds. The show she has put together suggests a kind of touching, mysterious diary with recurring portraits of solitary women, languid animals, bodies stretched out in the sun, waves and palm trees beaten by the wind, and masterfully sensual floral images. A "Cattleya Orchid" from 1982 — exuberantly white in a light mauve halo — evokes both the history of Mapplethorpe's famous still-lifes and the bittersweet, rose-colored atmosphere of Coppola's own "Virgin Suicides." This rare color print, number five of an edition of six, is priced at €67,990 ($90,670).

"Mapplethorpe was one of the first photographers to number his photos," the gallery's Bénédicte Burrus told ARTINFO France before the opening. "This was part of a process that went beyond photography. Mapplethorpe considered himself more of an artist than a photographer." She pointed out the artist's fastidious use of light in the orchid image, "which pushes us to see more than, for instance, a simple flower." Mapplethorpe started off creating a series of five photographs, then 10 or 15, but never more. In Coppola's show, about a third of the images on view are very rare.

The Mapplethorpe Foundation will use the sales from teh show to fund its mission, which includes supporting AIDS research and offering scholarships to young photographers. The artist founded it himself, ten months before his death in 1989. "I am happy to see that today Mapplethorpe is becoming more and more popular," Dimitri Livas, the Foundation's director, told ARTINFO France. "One of the interesting things about getting older, for me, is to see this changing opinion of his work and of Mapplethorpe himself, who was all too often ignored by institutions or critics during his lifetime, because he was openly gay and had produced, among his other work, pornographic photographs." Livas, who counted Mapplethorpe as one of his best friends, said that he offered Coppola a wide range of photos to choose from. "I didn't skip over the S&M images," he added. "It happens that she has made quite a feminine selection [of photos], quite emotional. I think that she recognized in Robert's work an elegance, a sensitivity, and an innocence that were part of his art and his personality. He was a shy person, but could be capable of bravado." The only overtly sexual image in the show, "Cock and Jeans," reveals a delicate and sentimental eroticism.

The exhibition opens with a 1978 portrait of Patti Smith cutting her hair in a regal posture, priced approximately €20,000 ($26,700). By a lucky coincidence, Patti Smith was performing in Paris just before the show opened. "She came to see a preview of the show and she remembered this photo very well," Bénédicte Burrus said. "She was supposed to sing, and had just taken off the neck brace that she was wearing after a fall from the stage. Her neck was still very stiff, and she had decided at the last minute to emphasize her face by cutting her hair. That's when Mapplethorpe took this shot." This image of Patti Smith facing the lens with a commanding expression is symbolic of Mapplethorpe's art: razor-sharp, proud, and vulnerable at the same time.

"Robert Mapplethorpe, Curated by Sofia Coppola" is on view at Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris, November 25, 2011 to January 7, 2012.

 

Philip Glass Protests His Own Opera With Occupy Wall Street, Gary Tinterow to Lead MFA Houston, and More Must-Read Art News

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Philip Glass Protests His Own Opera With Occupy Wall Street, Gary Tinterow to Lead MFA Houston, and More Must-Read Art News

– Philip Glass’s Words of Hope for OWS: Last night, Occupy Wall Street hit Lincoln Center to hold a General Assembly outside the final performance of the Philip Glass opera “Satyagraha,” denouncing the venue for taking money from Bloomberg and the Koch Brothers while hosting the musical performance about Gandhi's struggle for justice. And OWS had one very big supporter for its radical message: Philip Glass himself. The famed composer led a "human mic" — he was described as "quite adept" at the technique — and here are his words (like a true minimalist, he repeated his own speech three times): "Mic check! / When righteousness / Withers away / And evil / Rules the Land / We come into being / Age after age / And take visible shape / And move / A man among men / For the protection / Of good / Thrusting back evil / And setting virtue / On her seat again." Rocker Lou Reed also addressed the crowd, denouncing the police, and pledging his solidarity. (See video of both men speaking on IN THE AIR.) [The Nation

– Tinterow Heads to Houston: Ending months of speculation following the death of veteran director Peter C. Marzio, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has found a worthy replacement: Gary Tinterow, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s highly regarded chairman of the department of 19th-century, modern, and contemporary art. Tinterow has been behind some of the most notable moments at the Met, from “Origins of Impressionism” in 1994 to “Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective” in 2009. [NYT]

– Santa Fe Named “Most Artistic City” in US: A survey published by the Atlantic has placed Santa Fe, New Mexico at the top of the list of the country’s most artistic cities. Culling data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the report based its hierarchy on an assigned “Location Quotient,” a ratio of an area’s concentration of artists relative to its population as a whole. [The Atlantic]

New African Art Curator for LACMA: Mary (Polly) Nooter Roberts has been named as consulting curator of African Art at LACMA. Roberts, who will continue a full-time teaching gig at UCLA, is being brought in to help launch a program and establish a gallery dedicated to the arts of Africa at the L.A. museum, as part of a drive "to bring greater visibility to African arts in Southern California." [Press Release

Free Admission Proves “Very Successful”: Ten years ago yesterday, Britain’s Labour government moved to end admission fees to England’s national museums. Who could have guessed —the move proved popular! Government figures reflect an increase in visitors to museums by more than 150 percent. "Our free museums and galleries ensure that culture is for everyone, not just the lucky few,” said culture secretary Jeremy Hunt. [BBC]

Fiat Settles Up With Graffiti Artists Over J.Lo Ad: A TV ad in which Jennifer Lopez drives in a Fiat car past a mural created by Bronx street art collective TATS Cru sparked an outcry earlier this week, since neither “Jenny From the Block” nor the Italian company compensated the artists for using their work. A representative for Fiat has now reported a settlement between the two parties, the terms of which are confidential. [Gothamist]

John Liu’s MoMA Appointment Under Fire: With his fundraising practices already under federal investigation, New York City comptroller John Liu is now drawing fire for appointing Chung Seto, a member of his campaign team, to the MoMA board. Critics of the choice say Seto lacks experience in the arts, fund-raising, or real estate, while her presence on the board may place her in inappropriate proximity to potential donors. [NYPost]

– Nic Cage’s Superman Comic Sells for $2.2 Million Online: A copy of the first issue of “Action Comics,” which introduced the world to Superman, sold online at ComicConnect.com this week for $2.2 million — twice its $1.1 million estimate. The copy once belonged to Nicolas Cage, but was stolen from his home in 2000 and rediscovered in an abandoned storage unit last April. [ITA]

Bose Pacia to Close: The New York gallery, which specialized in South Asian art, announced that it “will discontinue exhibitions and artist representation at the end of 2011.” [ITA]

Top Story - Canada: 

Slideshow: The Best and Worst of Art Basel Miami Beach 2011

The Best and Worst of Art Basel Miami Beach 2011

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The Best and Worst of Art Basel Miami Beach 2011

Art Basel Miami Beach brings out the best and the worst in collectors, dealers, art advisors, taxi drivers, waiters, bellhops, billionaire tech mogels, and celebrities. And artists. As is our tradition, we’ve ranged through the main fair and singled out our favorite things, and the things we feel should be marked general opprobrium.

Click on the slide show to see our comments on the best and worst of Art Basel Miami Beach 2011.

 

Top Story - Canada: 

Frank Gehry on Why He Stuck It Out to Build Midtown's New Signature Theatre Complex

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Frank Gehry on Why He Stuck It Out to Build Midtown's New Signature Theatre Complex

NEW YORK — "I loved the idea of makin’ somethin’ out of nothin’," Frank Gehry said to a captive, giggling audience yesterday in Manhattan. Speaking at a luncheon that took place in a half-built auditorium of bare floors and seats still covered in plastic, Gehry was referring to his design for the Signature Center, the Signature Theatre's forthcoming midtown home scheduled to open in at the end of January. 

Gehry made his emotional ties to the project clear, calling it a "thrill and a gift." In 2003 he had originally signed on to design a $700 million freestanding center at ground zero, but then plans shifted: the center currently being built sits within a highrise complex of condominiums where a long-gone theater used to stand. "I worried it was going to be a very big disappointment after ground zero and I didn’t think anything was going to happen," he admitted, although the 70,000-square-foot project (the entire 42nd street block between 10th Avenue and Dyer Street) stands to become a major neighborhood cultural institution. Not only is it composed of three very intimate theaters, a public cafe, and bookstore, but Signature Theatre will also continue its $20 ticket initiative to make itself as accessible as possible to everyone. A major benefit is also the price tag, checking out at only $$66 million. 

"It was pretty challenging, given that the buildings that are built for real estate and marketing and all those things are not friendly to this kind of effort. But the Related Companies [the site's developer] and their people turned out to be very helpful and friendly, as was the city," Gehry said. "Me and my team love working in theater. The guy said, 'All the world’s a stage', and I believe that."

He and James Houghton, Signature's founding artistic director, led us on a hardhatted tour, punctuated with the sounds of hammering nails and drilling holes, through the work-in-progress: the metal frameworks for the grand staircase, the exposed sheetrock of the rehearsal studios, the plywood foundation of the upcoming "Jewel Box" theater, the yet-to-be-filled perilous holes in the courtyard.

"I can’t thank Frank enough for sticking with us as we moved off of ground zero and came up to this new home. It's a relationship I will cherish for the rest of my life," said Houghton. "I hope we can all appreciate the contributions Frank's made to the cultural scene in New York."

While Houghton was referring to theater, Gehry's other recent contribution was to the city's landscape: New York by Gehry, an 870-foot addition of rippling metal to the skyline, which some have called "the new Chrysler building." "I like the Woolworth Building, but  the Chrysler building’s fine too," Gehry told ARTINFO when asked about the comparison. "I was trying to make a New York building... there’s a certain character of New York. I’m standing next to the Woolworth building, which is the number one on my hit parade. I could do this to it [raises a middle finger] or I could do this to it [makes a hugging gesture]. I tried to do this to it [the hugging gesture]. I could’ve put a little hat on it and mimicked the thing, but I didn’t." For California-based architect, he has certainly made his mark on the Big Apple. 

The Signature Center is slated to open on January 31 next year. 

Top Story - Canada: 

Charles Saatchi Calls All Other Megacollectors Trashy "Hamptonites," Jerry Saltz Accuses Museums of Relational Aesthetics "Bullshit," and More

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Charles Saatchi Calls All Other Megacollectors Trashy "Hamptonites," Jerry Saltz Accuses Museums of Relational Aesthetics "Bullshit," and More

– Charles Saatchi's Rant: The 1990s tastemaker behind the rise of the Young British Artists has lashed out at the art world and particularly at his fellow, obscenely rich art collectors, calling them "Eurotrashy, Hedge-fundy, Hamptonites." "Do any of these people actually enjoy looking at art?" he wrote in the Guardian. "Or do they simply enjoy having easily recognised, big-brand name pictures, bought ostentatiously in auction rooms at eye-catching prices, to decorate their several homes, floating and otherwise, in an instant demonstration of drop-dead coolth and wealth…. Even a self-serving narcissistic showoff like me finds this new art world too toe-curling for comfort." [Guardian]

Breaking Up With Relational Aesthetics: After what seems like a veritable avalanche of final straws, Jerry Saltz is fed up with museums' belated embrace of that once cool, now callow fad of contemporary art known as relational aesthetics. "J'accuse museums of bullshit!" he writes, citing Marina Abramovic's MOCA gala performance (and the Yvonne Rainer-led reaction to it), Carsten Höller's "arty junk food" show at the New Museum, and Allora & Calzadilla's Venice Biennale pavilion — all of which he sees as the deformed offspring of the Guggenheim's 2008 "theanyspacewhatever" show (the occasion of one of his more ribald pieces, incidentally). The trend signals "a vacuous vicious circle, ostensible populism masquerading as collectivity," Saltz writes, whereby museums "no longer serve art." [NYM

– X-Ray Confirms Painting is a Rembrandt: University of Amsterdam professor Ernst van de Wetering had a team of scientists x-ray the long-contested painting “Old Man With a Beard” to determine once and for all if it was painted by Rembrandt or one of his students. The x-ray found a Rembrandt self-portrait buried under the layers, confirming the master’s authorship of the work. [Daily Mail]

– Picasso Art Thief Pleads Not Guilty: After being held for four months in jail without bail, Mark Lugo, the man who stole a $275,000 Picasso off a San Francisco gallery wall, has returned to New York to face charges of lifting artwork and fine wines. (Police found them displayed, gallery-like, in is Hoboken apartment.) Lugo has entered a not guilty plea. His attorney calls him a "pleasant, engaging" man "who's been struggling with particular difficulties." [NPR]

– Yoko Ono Impressed by the Queen's Sartorial Sense: Meeting Her Majesty at the newly opened Museum of Liverpool, the artist, widow of John Lennon, was amazed by the Queen's cherry-red suit and matching hat. "That particular color — it made her look so young, so elegant," she said. "She is always elegant. It's always nice to meet her." [ArtLyst]

– Francesca Woodman Gets a Retrospective: The cult photography figure, who became famous for her haunting self-portraits and portraits of women before committing suicide at 22, is the subject of a traveling retrospective, now on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and traveling to New York’s Guggenheim Museum in March. Her parents, who control her estate and archive and are artists themselves, are in an unusual position: their side job is protecting the legacy and furthering the reputation of their daughter. “She’s a very active presence in our lives,” said her mother Betty Woodman. [NYT]

– Art Miami Director Schmoozes Will Smith: When Miami’s Soho House gave a table reserved for Art Miami director Nick Korniloff to actor Will Smith, the art fair professional saw it as an opportunity. “I went up to him and said, ‘You just got my table. Here’s my business card. Do me a favor, come to my art fair tomorrow.’” As promised, Smith showed up the next day. “He’s a stand up guy,” said Korniloff. [TAN]

– Getty Gets a New Manet: In an effort to enliven its collection, the Getty has purchased "Portrait of Madame Brunet" — a painting made in the same year as masterpieces "Olympia" and "Dejeuner sur L'Herbe." New York gallery Luhring Augustine mediated the sale. [LAT]

– Folk Artist Takes on Chick-fil-A: Folk artist Bo Muller-Moore has set off a groundswell of local support and national media attention with his decision to fight a cease and desist letter sent to him by chicken purveyor Chick-fil-A. The artist has been making t-shirts emblazoned with the words “Eat More Kale” since 2000, but the fast-food chain believes the product “dilutes the distinctiveness of Chick-fil-A’s intellectual property.” (Their slogan is “Eat mor chikin"; the words have been penned by cows.) [NYT]

Shortlist for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2012: Pieter Hugo, Rinko Kawauchi, John Stezaker, and Christopher Williams have been nominated for the £30,000 ($46,895) prize rewarding a living photographer of any nationality having "significantly contributed to the medium of photography in Europe between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011." [Photographers' Gallery

– West Collection Has an App for ThatPaige West, the owner of both Mixed Greens Gallery and the West Collection, has launched an iPhone app that allows users to scroll through the collection and vote for their favorite artist. Whoever garners the most votes will win $25,000 and a spot in the West Collects 2012 exhibition. [SacBee]

– Happy Birthday GoMA: New Zealand artist Michael Parekowhai has been selected for a $1 million sculpture commission to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA). Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced last week: "The finished sculpture, a life-sized bronze elephant tipped on its head and eye-to-eye with a kuril, the local native water rat, will be unveiled on the banks of the Brisbane River... at the opening of 'The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art' in December 2012". [Queensland Government]

– Knoedler Sued for Allegedley Selling Fake Pollock: One day after the Upper East Side’s 165-year-old Knoedler & Co. abruptly announced it would close its doors, London hedge-fund executive Pierre Lagrange filed a complaint in Manhattan federal court alleging that the gallery sold him a forged Jackson Pollock painting for $17 million. [ITA]

Slideshow: 2011 Art Basel Miami Beach Parties

See Catherine Zeta-Jones, Damien Hirst, and Other Stars Partying During Art Basel Miami Beach Week

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See Catherine Zeta-Jones, Damien Hirst, and Other Stars Partying During Art Basel Miami Beach Week

MIAMI — The days of Art Basel Miami Beach included nights of marathon party hopping, with more events each evening than any one person could handle. Celebrities like Catherine Zeta-Jones, Tilda Swinton, Michael Douglas, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Adrien Brody, and Owen Wilson joined art-world luminaries like Marina Abramovic, Damien Hirst, Dasha Zhukova, and Larry Gagosian for a star-studded few days of seemingly endless events. ARTINFO bids adieu to Art Basel Miami Beach 2011 with a slide show highlighting the bold name spotting at the parties that took place during the art fair’s 10th edition.

Click on the photo gallery to see highlights from the parties of Art Basel Miami Beach 2011.

 


The Chinese Art Market Is Losing Steam and Three Other Trends From Hong Kong's Fall Auction Season

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The Chinese Art Market Is Losing Steam and Three Other Trends From Hong Kong's Fall Auction Season

The 2011 auction year closed in Hong Kong last week with Christie’s announcing record sales for the house in the harbour city, totting up HK$7.04 billion ($904 million) for the year, up 25 percent over 2010. But, as it turned out, even this jaw-dropping result was not enough to best Sotheby’s Hong Kong’s performance. Taking in HK$7.8 billion ($1.026 billion) this year, Sotheby’s set a new record for Hong Kong, turning the tables on Christie’s, which had dominated the market last year.

But these record-making figures could not disguise the main lesson from last week’s action in Hong Kong — the China market is slowing. This trajectory, already evident at Sotheby’s in October and at the auction houses in Beijing last month, is now confirmed: as the auction houses go into 2012, the ebullient mood of this year's spring season will seem like a long time ago.

Months of global economic turmoil have had their effect, along with a credit squeeze in China that after 18 months of tightening has finally exacted its toll on its intended target — the nation’s runaway real-estate market. Suddenly, art buyers here are in no mood for speculation either, and cooler heads still in the game are picking vetted targets in a manner that reflects the sombre, newly mature mood. This is not to say there weren’t some exciting moments in the fall season: Southeast Asian art continues its bull run, while top-flight luxuries — diamonds anyone? — also found favor. Here, ARTINFO China brings you the four trends to watch from fall season in Hong Kong.

THE CHINESE MARKET HAS GROWN UP FAST

Auction results around the world last year — and some pretty energetic bidding this year, too — had led many to assume that the market would only keep going up. But as was also evident at Sotheby’s in October, it’s clear that in a slowing market mainlanders know how to discriminate. Where a piece was exceptional — like the vase that set a new record for Ming porcelain in October — competition was stiff, but lesser pieces were marked down. At Christie’s sale of Chinese porcelain and works of art last week it was clear that the house had sniffed the wind. A number of lots sold under their low estimates to a room that seemed glad for a less fevered atmosphere. After the sale, Pola Antebi, head of Chinese ceramics and works of art at Christie’s Hong Kong, confirmed that the house had seen the writing on the wall and advised vendors to set their reserves 10-20 percent below the published low estimates. The strategy paid off. There was an immediate buzz in the room when the first high-profile lot — a superb Kangxi-era Qing Dynast “mallet”-shaped vase — was hammered at HK$10 million ($1.3 million) against a low estimate of HK$15 million. A bidding war erupted on the next high-value lot, a Qianlong imperial-era meiping, and the price bounded away, finally topping out at HK$46.58 million ($5.98 million) against a high estimate of HK$30 million. The tussle had drawn in bidders from Taiwan, Hong Kong, the West, and mainland China, but the last two standing — the buyer and under-bidder — were both from the mainland.

Despite this excitement and Christie's strategic approach to pricing, there were still disappointments, with a raft of high-value lots bought in.

PROVENANCE MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE

It’s no surprise to anyone that provenance is important to sales results, but Sotheby’s certainly drove the point home this fall in Hong Kong. In 2011 they secured major consignments from two remarkable sources — the Meiyintang collection of Chinese porcelain and the Ullens collection of Chinese contemporary art. The first tranches from each of these were sold in the favorable environment of the spring season and, particularly in the case of the Ullens collection, secured stellar results. When the house brought the second tranches to the more difficult fall market, the power of provenance proved even more decisive. Sotheby’s secured a record $21.6 million for Ming porcelain with a vase from the Meiyintang collection, while Ullens works were well supported in what was even then a softening market for Chinese contemporary.

Christie’s suffered by comparison this fall — especially in Chinese contemporary art. Their headline “Faces of New China” sale flopped in the face of aggressive estimates and the ennui of having seen many of the lots too recently in the sale room. Six of the 14 lots in this single-owner sale were bought in, and although at least one found a buyer later it certainly knocked the shine off a sector that has been fairly resilient over the last few years. 

CHATEAU LAFITE IS JUST ANOTHER FINE WINE AFTER ALL

Chateau Lafite has enjoyed an almost mythic status in the Chinese wine market — until this season. In October Sotheby’s  international wine department head, Serena Sutcliffe, had the unfamiliar experience of seeing some Lafite bought in, and last week Christie's head of wine sales, Charles Curtis, shared her pain. "I did really expect it to go better,” he told Reuters. “I knew that Lafite was soft and that it had struggled in my competitor's auctions in recent months but I didn't realize the depth of the problem.”

As the Chinese economy has cooled, the flow of hot money into salerooms has eased. The more discriminating Chinese buyers who remain know that Lafite is just another commodity, and an over-priced one at that. This season they have turned to hitherto less trendy, but still prestigious Burgundies. Speciality wine auctioneer Acker Merrall & Condit scored the highest total for a single wine auction in the world this year with a sale headlined by a collection of fine Burgundy taking HK$112,740,200 ($14.5 million) over two days last month in Hong Kong.

DIAMONDS ARE AN AUCTIONEER'S BEST FRIEND (AND WATCHES AREN'T BAD, EITHER)

Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s enjoyed good results in the luxury sectors this season, indicating yet again that the finer things in life can be surprisingly resilient in a difficult market. Both houses claimed new world records for diamonds. In October Sotheby's snared the highest price ever per carat for a Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond and a Fancy Vivid Orange, and last week Christie's sold a pair of perfect round diamonds weighing in at 71.38 cts for $16.4million — a world record for colorless diamonds. Meanwhile, Christie’s watch sale last Wednesday clocked up a remarkable HK$140.9 million ($18.132 million), making it the most successful watch auction in Asia this year. It took the house worldwide to a tally of more than $100 million dollars in watch sales in advance of their New York auction next week.

Caught for a brief chat by ARTINFO China as the record-making watch sale was playing out in one room while Chinese porcelain and works of art proceeded at a more stately pace in another, Christie's Asia president François Curiel was happy to confirm the importance of such luxury sectors in underpinning results in a difficult season. Soon to preside over the auction of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewels in New York — the Hong Kong preview of which drew an avalanche of excited locals last week — Curiel seemed confident that even in a slowing market such star-kissed treasures would find buyers.

 

Slideshow: Culo by Mazzucco party at Art Basel Miami Beach

New Yorker's Embargo-Breaking 'Girl With a Dragon Tattoo' Review Sparks an Ethical Crisis — And Everybody Wins

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New Yorker's Embargo-Breaking 'Girl With a Dragon Tattoo' Review Sparks an Ethical Crisis — And Everybody Wins

When British soccer players of opposing teams flare up and shove each other around on the field, the press call it “handbags” — as in, grown men shouldn’t behave like genteel middle-class ladies swatting each other with their receptacles in a famous "Monty Python" sketch. “Handbags” is now what’s going on between the mutually dependent worlds of American movie criticism and production/publicity. The specific antagonists are David Denby, one of the New Yorker’s two distinguished critics, and Scott Rudin, the eminent producer of David Fincher’s remake of  “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."

Denby’s mostly positive review of the thriller appears in today’s New Yorker. You’d think that would be music to Rudin’s ears. However, the producer and Sony Pictures, which is releasing the film on December 21, are furious because Denby broke the embargo he and other members of the New York Film Critics Circle agreed to in writing when the film was screened for them.

Against Denby’s wishes, the NYFFC brought their awards ballot forward this year so that it would benefit publicly from being the first critics’ group to announce its winners, as it did on November 29. Rudin and Sony, hoping that “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” would take home a trophy, showed the film to the NYFCC critics and members of the National Board of Review on November 28, but embargoed reviews until December 13. Denby’s jumping the gun by eight days is likely to trigger the premature publishing of other reviews.

Indiewire.com has published the email correspondence between Denby and Rudin that took place on Saturday.

In response to Rudin’s aghast response to Denby telling him of his decision to publish the review, the critic wrote: “Grown-ups are ignored for much of the year, cast out like downsized workers, and then given eight good movies all at once in the last five weeks of the year. A magazine like the New Yorker has to cope as best as it can with a nutty release schedule. It was not my intention to break the embargo, and I never would have done it with a negative review. But since I liked the movie, we came reluctantly to the decision to go with early publication.”

Denby added that “the early vote [by the NYFCC] forced the early screening of ‘Dragon Tattoo.’ So we had a dilemma: What to put in the magazine on December 5? Certainly not [Cameron Crowe’s] ‘We Bought the Zoo,’ or whatever it's called. If we held everything serious, we would be coming out on Christmas-season movies until mid-January. We had to get something serious in the magazine. So reluctantly, we went early with ‘Dragon,’ which I called ‘mesmerizing.’ I apologize for the breach of the embargo. It won't happen again. But this was a special case brought on by year-end madness.”

Rudin wasn’t appeased. “Your seeing the movie was conditional on your honoring the embargo, which you agreed to do,” he wrote to Denby. “The needs of the magazine cannot trump your word. The fact that the review is good is immaterial, as I suspect you know. You've very badly damaged the movie by doing this, and I could not in good conscience invite you to see another movie of mine again.... you must at least own that, purely and simply, you broke your word to us and that is a deeply lousy and immoral thing to have done.”

“Immoral” may be putting it a bit strongly in the scheme of things, though the ethical issues were skewed from the start. Denby shouldn’t have agreed to the embargo in the first place — critics should never kowtow to the industry (even if they do so with the intention of ultimately reclaiming their independence in print). Despite Sony's claim that “embargo dates level the playing field and enable reviews to run within the films’ primary release window,” the studio shouldn’t have gone after the critics’ awards while denying them the right to write about their film. (Warner Bros., for example, refused to show the Rudin-produced “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” to the New York critics.) The NYFFC shouldn’t have voted on the best films of the year without seeing “Extremely Loud” — a Stephen Daldry picture starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock that presumably has awards potential.

In the event, the NYFCC did not give “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” any awards. But whatever objections Rudin and Sony have, their spat with Denby and the New Yorker will amount to considerable pre-release publicity. Denby’s review is likely to be one of the most widely read of the year and, since he applauds the film, that should have a helpful effect on ticket sales. The New Yorker benefits because it cast the first critical vote on the movie in print and emerges as the voice of authority. Everyone wins, except Crowe and 20th Century-Fox, whose zoo comedy-drama Denby offhandedly dismisses, albeit in a private email made public.  Were he to choose to do so, which is unlikely, Crowe would have a right to let fly with a handbag.

Hillary Clinton and Stephen Colbert Honor Meryl Streep, Yo Yo Ma, and Neil Diamond at the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors

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Hillary Clinton and Stephen Colbert Honor Meryl Streep, Yo Yo Ma, and Neil Diamond at the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors

In Washington last night, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts held its annual ceremony to honor visionaries in the performing arts for their lifetime achievements. This year’s Kennedy Center Honors were bestowed on singer Barbara Cook; singer and songwriter Neil Diamond; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins; and actress Meryl Streep.

Hosted by Caroline Kennedy, the star-studded evening was a warm celebration as fellow performers, friends, and fans paid tribute through live performances. The honorees were seated next to President Obama and First Lady Michelle, and were joined by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who flew home from Myanmar for a 36-hour stop in the capital to join the celebration and serve as a punchline, the Associated Press reported. Extolling Streep, Nora Ephron joked that with the actress's talent and resemblance to the former first lady, it was "inevitable" that Streep would someday portray her in a film. "The Devil Wears Prada" co-stars Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway, along with Kevin Kline and Stanley Tucci also honored Streep with a musical performance.

"They have different talents, and they've travelled different paths, and yet they belong here together because each of tonight's honourees has felt the need to express themselves and share that expression with the world." President Obama said of the recipients. Departing from his prepared statements, he also jokingly confessed his longstanding attraction to Streep. "Anybody who saw 'The French Lieutenant's Woman' had a crush on her," the president joked, as reported by CBC News

Kennedy, the namesake of Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,”  praised the songwriter, calling him “a Brooklyn lad with a gift of melody who grew into a solitary man, 'reaching out, touching me’,” which resulted in roaring laughter from the crowd. After a video tribute, Glenn Close showered Cook, whom the movie star referred to as an iconic Broadway figure, with accolades. "I think we have the biggest respect for her because she really has survived, survived and prevailed," Close said, referring to Cook’s decade-long battle with drinking and depression. Benny Golson and Herbie Hancock honored Rollins through performances of his songs as saxophonist and former President Bill Clinton, who said he had been a fan of Rollins's since his teenage years, said, "His music can bend your mind, it can break your heart, and it can make you laugh out loud. He has done things with improvisation that really no one has ever done."

After the myriad performances of the evening, the gala’s finale was when Ma stepped to the stage and received the most surprising tribute of the night — a collaborative performance by Stephen Colbert (who said, "Tonight we celebrate the greatest living cellist. We chell-ebrate, if you will") and Elmo, who was appropriately clad in a Muppet-sized tuxedo.

CBS will broadcast the show on Dec. 27.

Martin Boyce Wins the 2011 Turner Prize, Allying With a Cheeky Protester Over Arts Cuts

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Martin Boyce Wins the 2011 Turner Prize, Allying With a Cheeky Protester Over Arts Cuts

The bookies were rightMartin Boyce is the winner of the 2011 Turner Prize. The Glasgow-based artist (born in Hamilton, Scotland, in 1967) has just received the £25,000 ($39,124) award from a beaming Mario Testino during a ceremony at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead. It is the third time that an artist based in Scotland's largest city has won the Turner Prize — an indisputable confirmation of Glasgow's place as the UK's second art capital. 

The ceremony wasn't without incident: Testino had only said the winner's first name when a chubby protester, wearing a pink tutu and with the slogan "Study This" scribbled on his bare chest, stormed in. He was immediately taken away by security.

"I didn't expect that," said Boyce coolly as he reached the podium. He then recalled with emotion how much he wanted to go to art school, and thanked the "amazing support" of his peer group. About a million viewers were expected to be watching the ceremony live on Channel 4, and and Boyce seized his chance to show his concern over reforms in higher education and the vast increase in tuition fees (evidently the object of the brief and picturesque protest). "As education is put through the wringer, I want to acknowledge the importance of accessible education," he said. 

A similar disruption in protest of arts cuts occurred at the 2010 Turner Prize announcement, and that edition's winner winner, Susan Philipsz, struck a similarly gracious note of solidarity. 

During his spiel, Testino said that we should pay attention to the "things we don't understand" and yet this year's jury has clearly gone for the easiest on the eye. Boyce's sculptural pieces currently on show at BALTIC are inspired by modernist designers Jean Prouvé and Jöel and Jan Martel. Together they form an architectural environment, each piece echoing the next.

"At some point, I became interested in making places rather than objects," Boyce said in a short film screened before the ceremony. "I guess it's about the potential of finding... potentially beauty, potentially hope."

The runners up — Karla BlackHilary Lloyd, and George Shaw — will all get £5,000 ($7,824) consolation prizes.

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