One of Malta’s leading contemporary artists, Austin Camilleri, exhibits at Art..e Gallery in Victoria, Gozo

VICTORIA.- For its final exhibition this year, Art..e Gallery is presenting a series of intimate new works by one of Malta’s leading contemporary artists: Austin Camilleri. Returning to exhibit in Gozo after a five year absence, Camilleri is presenting a series of new works on paper, a first in Gozo for the artist. Ideas at embryonic stage or whimsical scribbles? These new mixed media interventions are immediately recognisable as belonging to Camilleri’s output of the past two years. They were produced [...]

Architect Ricardo Legorreta, who combined vibrant color with geometric shapes, dies at 80

MEXICO CITY.- Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta has died at the age of 80. Legorreta’s best-known work is Mexico City’s Camino Real hotel, which was built in 1968. He also oversaw the remodeling of Los Angeles’ Pershing Square in 1993. The hallmark of Legorreta’s work was the use of color. He placed a 10-story purple bell tower in the middle of Pershing Square and covered the Camino Real’s front exterior walls in pink and yellow. Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department and National Arts [...]

Museum of Decorative Arts at the Kulturforum closes due to renovations

BERLIN.- Starting on 2 January 2012, the Museum of Decorative Arts will be closing its location at the Kulturforum due to construction of an exhibition gallery for the museum’s fashion collection, which has grown in recent years as a result of numerous new acquisitions. In the future, this new focus of the museum’s collections will make it possible to present an extraordinary overview of the development of fashions in Europe from the 18th century to the present. Furthermore, jewelry, porcelain, glass art and [...]

Butler Institute of American Art acquires monumental Audrey Flack painting

YOUNGSTOWN, OH.- The Butler Institute of American Art, located at 524 Wick Avenue in Youngstown, has acquired a master painting by renowned American realist painter Audrey Flack (b. 1941). The painting, titled Baba, is a seven by thirteen foot acrylic on canvas painting that was begun by Flack in 1980, and completed in 1983. The large-scale work, among the largest paintings in the Butler’s holdings, was a gift to the museum’s permanent collection by art enthusiast A. Barry Hirschfeld of Colorado. Baba [...]

Jonathan Ferrara Gallery presents the P.2 Projects: An International group exhibition

NEW ORLEANS, LA.- Jonathan Ferrara Gallery announces The P.2 Projects, an international group exhibition of 18 artists curated by Jonathan Ferrara. The exhibition is a satellite exhibition in conjunction with Prospect.2 Biennial that is currently on view in New Orleans through January 29, 2012. The P.2 Projects runs from November 19th through January 24, 2012. The P.2 Projects is a follow up to the 2008-9, The P.1 Projects exhibition and the Prospect.1 Welcome Center at The Hefler Warehouse. Both of these shows [...]

Bonhams takes United Kingdom market leadership with £4.1 million fine jewellery sale

LONDON.- A selection of outstanding diamonds, natural pearls and important signed pieces were the highlights of the Fine Jewellery Sale that took place on the 8th December at Bonhams, New Bond Street. The sale realised £4.1 million with 82% sold by lot and 90% sold by value. Jean Ghika, Director of the Jewellery Department comments, “We are delighted with such a fantastic result, ending an exceptional year of Fine Jewellery sales at Bonhams. With sale totals up 70% on 2010 and the [...]

LA Art Show: Modern & Contemporary features new works by Damien Hirst and David Bailey among others

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The 17th Annual LA Art Show: Modern & Contemporary will feature the California debut of new works by artists Damien Hirst and photographer David Bailey. Locally accessible for the first time, new works by Hirst include ‘The Souls’ series of shimmering foil-­‐block butterfly prints and gold foil block skulls ‘Death or Glory.’ Bailey will exhibit new works of still lives, fashion images, and portraits. Both artists are represented by Paul Stolper Contemporary Art Gallery from London, UK. Additional gallery highlights [...]

Composed: Identity, Politics, Sex – New installation of works by seven contemporary artists

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Composed: Identity, Politics, Sex, a selection of photo-based works by seven contemporary artists, on view at The Jewish Museum in the final gallery of its permanent exhibition, Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey, from December 23, 2011 through June 30, 2012. Using conventional forms of photography – including traditional portraiture, photojournalism, and online profile pictures – the artists explore overlapping national, ethnic, and sexual identities. The selected artworks engage and play with conventions of art history and forms of popular [...]

IWM launches new app with ArtFinder: Great British posters from the second World War

LONDON.- Specially selected from Imperial War Museums’s collection of over 20,000 posters, this new free app features over 30 of the greatest British posters from the Second World War. Some of these posters are famous, while others are forgotten gems. But together, their striking design, humour, memorable slogans, and above all defiant spirit, helped to carry Britain through some of its darkest hours. The app which works with both iPad and iPhones allows users to scroll, pinch and zoom to examine each high [...]

Museo de Arte de Ponce announces “Treasures of the Collection in Context: The Pre-Raphaelites”

PONCE, PR.- In an unprecedented event for Puerto Rico, on Saturday, February 4, 2012,Museo de Arte de Ponce will host an international symposium titled “Treasures of the Collection in Context: The Pre-Raphaelites in the Museo de Arte de Ponce Collection.” From 10 am to 5 pm, renowned specialists in art history and Victorian literature will meet in this south-coast Puerto Rico city to discuss the artists and works contained in the museum’s world-famed collection. This conference represents the most important academic event [...]

Next Art Chicago 2012: Debut of curatorial focus renews historic fair this spring

CHICAGO, IL.- Next Art Chicago, the newest art fair to emerge from the producers of The Armory Show, will debut a curatorial approach to the traditional fair model this spring. The international fair of contemporary art will breathe new life into the Chicago marketplace through a new core exhibition, and a renewed mission to revitalize the historic fair. Executive Director Staci Boris will lead the curatorial vision, drawing on her 20 years of curatorial experience at the Museum of Contemporary Art, [...]

A major landscape by painter Antonio Joli donated by the Fundación Amigos del Museo del Prado

MADRID.- The Museo del Prado is presenting this new donation in the form of a small exhibition of twelve works shown alongside View of Queen Maria Amalia of Saxony at the Arch of Trajan in Benevento, an architectural landscape executed in 1759 by the set painter and vedutista Antonio Joli (Modena, 1700 – Naples, 1777). The exhibition includes three paintings by the artist from the Museum’s collection as well as various landscapes and views by his predecessors such as Panini and Vanvitelli, [...]

On Gustav Klimt’s 150th birthday, Vienna’s Belvedere marks 2012 as the Klimt Year

VIENNA.- Owning the largest collection of paintings by Gustav Klimt worldwide, the Belvedere is preparing a very special presentation for this anniversary year. The show Masterpieces in Focus: 150 Years of Gustav Klimt on the Upper Belvedere’s piano nobile will display all of the artist’s paintings preserved in the museum in an extraordinary fashion. Unlike most exhibitions of recent years, it will not deal with stylistic relationships or art historical contexts, but will concentrate on the individual works as such – on [...]

Edo Pop: The Graphic Impact of Japanese Prints at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts

MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is home to one of the world’s great collections of ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”) prints. The museum’s new exhibition, “Edo Pop: The Graphic Impact of Japanese Prints,” running through January 8, 2012, features more than 160 masterworks that reveal the great breadth of ukiyo-e production as well as the individual artistry of about 40 artists. Organized thematically, the exhibition provides a kaleidoscopic view of popular culture in pre-modern Japan. “Pop Art” usually describes [...]

Serial Pursuits: David Mabb, Dayanita Singh, Manisha Parekh, Audiobombing Crew at Nature Morte

BERLIN.- Nature Morte announces “Serial Pursuits,” a group exhibition in which recent works in various media by David Mabb, Manisha Parekh, Dayanita Singh and Audiobombing Crew will be brought together to present an exploration of art works created as sets or in sequences. The highlight of the opening night will be a performance by Audiobombing Crew. Founded by Markus Zull and Stephan Ebersthäuser in 2003, the sound art collective creates serial sound loops, which are collaged together from analogue sources. The duo [...]