Chapman Brothers unveil diabolical art installation at White Cube in Hong Kong

HONG KONG (AFP).- The Chapman brothers presented their latest epic installation featuring thousands of little figures in violent conflict Tuesday at the sidelines of Art Basel in Hong Kong, but dismissed the renowned fair as a “shop”. “The Sum of all Evil” by Jake and Dinos Chapman builds on previous works “Hell” (1999), and “Fucking Hell” (2008), which showcased innumerous miniature Nazis soldiers in various states of diabolical torment. Their ambitions to use themes of war, genocide, the apocalypse and the evils [...]

Exhibition presents a South African curator/artist-run organization currently in residence at New Museum

NEW YORK, NY.- This spring, the Museum as Hub will present “After-after Tears,” a project exploring the operational strategies of Center for Historical Reenactments (CHR), a Johannesburg-based platform founded in 2010, currently in residence at the New Museum. Over the course of two years, CHR gained local and international recognition through diverse projects that mobilized around historical events and sites in order to explore how officially obsolete systems and ideologies continue to condition contemporary life. The exhibition is on view from May [...]

Even more rediscovered masterpieces to be unveiled during Master Paintings Week 2013

LONDON.- Master Paintings Week, now in its fifth year and already an important event in the London art calendar, takes place from 28 June to 5 July 2013 and, for the first time, will have the support of The Crown Estate. The successful collaboration between twenty leading dealers and three international auction houses highlights the extraordinarily wide selection of European paintings dating from the 15th to the 20th centuries available in London . A number of newly rediscovered works will be [...]

China’s most influential portrait artist, Mao Yan exhibits at Pace Gallery in Beijing

BEIJING.- Pace Beijing is presenting the solo exhibition of China’s most influential portrait artist, Mao Yan. This exhibition is also the first exhibition of Mao Yan since his representation by Pace Beijing. Mao Yan is well known by his portrait art. His artworks reveal the momentary glory of peace and attract audience into his artworks through the very straight expression without any metaphor. Mao Yan insists the spiritual dominance in his paintings and depicts the same object though years, in which he [...]

Centre Pompidou in Paris exhibits works by a master figure of abstraction: Simon Hantaï

PARIS.- The Centre Pompidou brings together for the first time the work of one of the greatest painters of the second half of the 20th century, a master figure of abstraction: Simon Hantaï. Five years after the death of the artist, the Centre Pompidou dedicates an original exhibition to Hantaï’s work – the first in over thirty-five years. Through more than 130 paintings created from 1949 to the 1990s, this exhibition, unprecedented in its scale and retrospective character, bears witness to the [...]

Groundbreaking exhibition presents works by Isamu Noguchi and Qi Baishi together for the first time

ANN ARBOR, MI.- The University of Michigan Museum of Art is presenting Isamu Noguchi and Qi Baishi: Beijing 1930, an exhibition of drawings and paintings by the two eminent artists seen side-by-side for the first time and the first large-scale exhibition to focus on the fruits of Noguchi’s six-month stay in Beijing in 1930. This exhibition showcases the artists’ cross-cultural creative impulses and underscore their respective and lasting influences on contemporary practice worldwide. The exhibition, which is accompanied by a scholarly publication, [...]

Frank Auerbach’s first solo exhibition in Asia opens at Ben Brown Fine Arts in Hong Kong

HONG KONG.- Frank Auerbach, one of Britain’s most accomplished living artists, will have his first solo exhibition in Asia at Ben Brown Fine Arts in Hong Kong from 22 May 2013. By concentrating solely on a select group of portrait paintings and drawings, from the 1970s to the present day, this exhibition demonstrates the remarkable insight of a famously hermetic artist. Running concurrently at the gallery with the exhibition NOT VITAL: Landscapes, both shows will open during Art Basel Hong Kong. At the [...]

New and recent works by Rodney Graham on view at Lisson Gallery in London

LONDON.- Following his acclaimed retrospective exhibition Through the Forest, at MACBA, Barcelona, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel and Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg in 2010-11; Rodney Graham presents new and recent works at Lisson Gallery. The artist will show a selection of light-boxes, representing mise-en-scenes which have both a sculptural and cinematic presence. These painstakingly detailed and chromatically rich digital tableaux represent scenes that conflate the artist’s mundane observations with the illustration of moments – often overlooked or forgotten – originating in literature, music, film [...]

Landmark exhibition returns Sir Horace Walpole’s collection to its original setting

LONDON.- The magnificent art collection amassed by Great Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, has been reassembled in its original home of Houghton Hall for the first time in over 200 years. The most celebrated British collection of the 18th century, it was acquired in 1779 by Catherine the Great in a landmark private sale negotiated by James Christie, founder of Christie’s. The core of the collection went on to adorn the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Christie’s is sponsoring Houghton Revisited which [...]

Jonathan VanDyke’s second solo exhibition with Scaramouche opens in New York

NEW YORK, NY.- Scaramouche presenting The Painter of the Hole, Jonathan VanDyke’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. VanDyke’s new work evolves from his wall-mounted and free-standing sculptures, first exhibited at Scaramouche in 2009, that “perform” as they continuously drip paint directly onto the floor, and from his many recent live performances, in which actors and dancers move silently for hours while paint drips upon them and passes from body to body. The works offer signifiers we associate with painterly process – [...]

Columbia Museum of Art announces contemporary exhibition by South Carolina based artist

COLUMBIA, SC.- The Columbia Museum of Art organizes and presents the first retrospective exhibition of the art of Steven Naifeh. Found in Translation: The Art of Steven Naifeh opened on Friday, May 17 and remains on view through Sunday, September 1, 2013. The 26 large-scale works of modern art reflect Naifeh’s personal taste, preferences and attitudes about geometric abstraction that developed over the span of 40 years. It is hardly surprising that Naifeh’s childhood in the Middle East educated his eye to [...]

Solo exhibition by the German artist Günter Umberg opens at A arte Studio Invernizzi

MILAN.- The A arte Studio Invernizzi gallery opened a solo exhibition of the German artist, Günter Umberg. As has been the case of the previous exhibitions held in the gallery since 1996, also on this occasion the artist has specifically ideated an exhibition plan in which the corpus of works is considered in relation to the exhibition space. By way of a coherent artistic approach Günter Umberg very personally interprets and investigates the theme of the monochrome with the result that his [...]

New exhibition takes visitors on a journey through Romare Bearden’s Black Odyssey Series

FORT WORTH, TX.- The Amon Carter Museum of American Art presents Romare Bearden: A Black Odyssey, an exhibition of nearly 50 artworks by Romare Bearden (1911–1988), one of the most powerful and original artists of the 20th century. The collages, watercolors and prints in the exhibition are based on Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey,” the ancient story of the Greek hero Odysseus’s journey home to Ithaca after fighting in the Trojan War. The exhibition is the first full-scale presentation of these works [...]

National Gallery of Canada opens largest-ever global survey of contemporary Indigenous art

OTTAWA.- Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art, the largest-ever global survey of contemporary Indigenous art, opened Friday at the National Gallery of Canada. On view until September 2, 2013, the exhibition features over 150 poetic, unexpected and challenging artworks by more than 80 artists from 16 countries and six continents. Sakahàn, meaning “to light [a fire]” in the language of the Algonquin peoples, is organized by the National Gallery of Canada, supported by the RBC Foundation, and sponsored by CN. In addition, Sakahàn partners. [...]

The central role of the Eucharist in the Middle Ages is explored in exhibition at the Morgan

NEW YORK, NY.- When Christ changed bread and wine into his body and blood at the Last Supper, he instituted the Eucharist and established the central act of Christian worship. For medieval Christians, the Eucharist (the sacrament of Communion) was not only at the heart of the Mass—its presence and symbolism also wielded enormous influence over cultural and civic life. Illuminating Faith: The Eucharist in Medieval Life and Art, on view May 17–September 2, 2013, explores how artists of the period [...]