ARCOmadrid: 29th International Contemporary Art Fair Begins

The 29th annual International Contemporary Art Fair ARCOmadrid is being held February 17-21, 2010.

MADRID — The 29th annual International Contemporary Art Fair ARCOmadrid_2010 will officially open to the public February 19-21. A two-day VIP preview began Wednesday, allowing major collectors, galleries and museums an early opportunity to acquire the artworks for sale.

ARCOmadrid_2010 will feature 221 galleries from 25 countries and 3,000 established and emerging artists. Organizers say the fair's core mission is to drive the art market forward.

For the first time this year, instead of spotlighting a special guest country, ARCOmadrid_2010 will focus on a city - Los Angeles. The fair will feature works from a select group of 17 galleries located in Los Angeles, a city known for being one of the world's art capitals and chosen for its vitality and multiculturalism.

"Los Angeles is holding a spot that has been previously reserved for entire nations this year because it's a very complete contemporary art hub," co-curator Christopher Miles told the LA Times. "It has everything covered: the creation, distribution and critical discussion of art. And people here are very eager to see what Los Angeles has to offer."

ARCOmadrid kicks off the 2010 calendar year of major international contemporary art fairs. 

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ARCOmadrid: 29th International Contemporary Art Fair Begins

Killer Canvases: Sir Anthony Hopkins Art Exhibit Opens

The first British exhibition of artwork by award-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins opens in London this week. [Credit: Times Online]>

LONDON — The actor best known for his role as Hannibal Lecter, Oscar-winner Sir Anthony Hopkins will show off his killer painting skills in a new exhibit opening this week at London's Gallery 27. The collection will feature 38 paper canvases, 7 acrylic pieces, and 5 limited addition prints for sale - all of which will be on view through February 20.

"This exhibition gives people the chance to see a different side of Sir Anthony in terms of his artistry and also his unique personality," said exhibition organizer Jonathan Poole. "His technique is to use a palette knife to make thick, swooping strokes with gobs of paint. His work is painterly, wild and vibrant and is generous with its motion and use of color," Poole explained.

Hopkins began painting in 2002 at the encouragement of his wife, Stella, who happened upon a collection of his old scripts with his unique drawings on them. Since then, Hopkins has produced a variety of artwork, including ink drawings and acrylic paintings. The actor has said that he paints every day out of his studio in Malibu.

"When I paint, I just paint freely without anxiety regarding outside opinions as criticisms," said Hopkins. "I do it for sheer pleasure. It's done wonders for my subconscious - I dream now in colors."

[Source: Telegraph]
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Killer Canvases: Sir Anthony Hopkins Art Exhibit Opens

Mr. Tambourine Man Gets an Art Show

"Sunflowers", an acrylic painting on canvas by legendary singer/songwriter Bob Dylan.

LONDON — A dozen original canvas paintings by the legendary musician Bob Dylan will go on public display Saturday. The exhibit is called Bob Dylan on Canvas and will be on view at London's Halcyon Gallery from February 13 through April 10.

"I just draw what's interesting to me, and then I paint it. Rows of houses, orchard acres, lines of tree trunks, could be anything. I can take a bowl of fruit and turn it into a life and death drama," said 68-year-old Dylan. "I'm not trying to make social comment or fulfill somebody's vision and I can find subject matter anywhere. I guess in some way that comes out of the folk world that I came up in."

The twelve paintings are the grand finale of The Drawn Blank Series and are based on drawings made while the singer/songwriter was on the road touring between 1989 and 1992. The works will be available for purchase at prices ranging from $137,000 to $727,000.

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Mr. Tambourine Man Gets an Art Show

Alleged Con Sells Fake Picasso to Buy a Real De Kooning

A fabricated chalk drawing "La Femme au Chapeau Bleu" (1902) allegedly by Pablo Picasso was seized by the FBI. [Credit: FBI]

LOS ANGELES — An alleged con named Tatiana Khan could serve up to 45 years in federal prison for masterminding an art forgery scheme, according to a criminal complaint filed Jan. 7 by the FBI. Khan, the owner of the Chateau Allegré gallery in West Hollywood, is charged with paying an artist $1,000 to fabricate a 1902 Pablo Picasso pastel drawing entitled La Femme au Chapeau Bleu ("The Woman in the Blue Hat"); she then sold the piece to an unsuspecting art collector for $2 million.

The complaint maintains that Khan convinced an artist that the real Chapeau Bleu had been stolen from one of her clients and she needed a forgery drawn to be used in catching the thief. Khan later sold the fake for $2 million, by purportedly convincing an art collector that she was acting as a broker for the estate of late magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes. The art collector eventually contacted an expert who recognized the drawing as a copy.

The FBI reported that they also seized from Khan a painting by abstract expressionist artist Willem de Kooning, allegedly purchased with $720,000 of the proceeds derived from the sale of the fake Picasso drawing.
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Alleged Con Sells Fake Picasso to Buy a Real De Kooning

A London Gallery's Secret Chagall Acquisition Revealed

"Apocalypse in Lilac, Capriccio" (1945) by Marc Chagall was recently acquired by Ben Uri Gallery.

LONDON — It was kept on the down low for a while, but a small London gallery has finally revealed one bargain of an acquisition. By not drawing attention to a certain Paris auction last fall, Ben Uri Gallery, a Jewish Museum of Art in London, scored a fantastic deal; they paid a mere $43,000 for an obscure Marc Chagall gouache painting worth an estimated $1.6 million.

The gallery's silence also avoided any potential hassles with French officials preventing the rare piece from leaving their country.

The 20"x14" artwork, Apocalypse in Lilac, Capriccio (1945), depicts a crucifixion to represent the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust. Chagall kept the piece in his personal collection until his death in 1985; the artist's son sold it to a private French collector a couple of years later.

The painting is scheduled to go on display this week at London's Osborne Samuel Gallery.

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A London Gallery's Secret Chagall Acquisition Revealed

Mysterious B.N.E. Stickers Slap Manhattan

NEW YORK — His iron-grip stickers are affixed to all things stationary from Prague to Hong Kong. This week, he and his monogram are in New York for their very own gallery show.

But who is he?

The New York Times scored the first "formal" interview with the elusive B.N.E., but even so, the details of his identity remain a mystery. Nobody knows the real name of the man in the hooded sweatshirt - and he hopes to keep it that way. His graffiti art is not exactly legal, after all. In fact, mayor Gavin Newsom offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to B.N.E.'s arrest after he covered San Francisco with his logo. He won't even be attending his own gallery exhibition for fear of being nabbed by police.

As for what the B.N.E. moniker means - it's anyone's guess. Maybe its his initials, or maybe it stands for Big Nude Elf? Bert 'N Ernie? Bureau of Naughty Elephants? The speculation by bloggers and fans is endless (and sort of addictive).

“Let’s just say it has a meaning that’s personal to me,” he said. “At this point, it means whatever you need it to mean.”

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Read More - Making a Name for Himself, With Just Three Letters | The New York Times
[Photo: Example of a B.N.E. sticker affixed to various public fixtures.]

Mysterious B.N.E. Stickers Slap Manhattan

Underdog Painter Wins the Prestigious Turner Prize

LONDON — Against all odds and in his last year of eligibility, 49-year-old Glasgow-based artist Richard Wright has been awarded the 2009 Turner Prize.

Organized by the Tate gallery, the annual Turner Prize is presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. The award is named after famed landscape artist J. M. W. Turner and was established in 1984 to celebrate new developments in contemporary art.

In years past, the Turner Prize has been awarded to conceptual artists working in "innovative" media, such as video art, installation art and unconventional sculpture. So it was a shock to some - especially bookies - when a painter, Richard Wright, was announced as the $41,000 prize winner on Monday night.

But Richard Wright is no ordinary painter.

Wright's entry for the Turner Prize exhibition is a large gold-leaf mural that will be painted over and destroyed once the show at Tate Britain closes in January. "I like the idea of there being nothing left when I'm gone," said Wright, who deliberately painted fresco-style directly onto the gallery wall. "I'm interested in the fragility of the moment," he said. "I hope the work will live on in the memories of the people who saw it."

The three other shortlisted candidates - Enrico David, Roger Hiorns and Lucy Skaer - will each receive $8,000.

 

Watch as Adrian Searle, art critic for The Guardian, tours the Turner Prize exhibition and discusses the finalists' entries:

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Read More - Artist Richard Wright Strikes Gold As Winner of This Year's Turner Prize | The Guardian 

[Images: Top - Richard Wright, "No Title" (2009). | Bottom (left to right) - Lucy Skaer, "Black Alphabet" (2009). Roger Hiorns, "Untitled" work made from metal dust from an atomized passenger jet engine  (2009). Enrico David, ""Absuction Cardigan" detail (2009).]

Underdog Painter Wins the Prestigious Turner Prize

The Ten Most Popular Oil Paintings of 2009

WICHITA, KS — Quick! Think of an artist, any artist. Who did you think of? Pablo Picasso? Vincent van Gogh? Claude Monet? Many of you probably did. So it's not too surprising, then, that those three artists, along with Gustav Klimt, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georgia O'Keefe and Wassily Kandinsky, were all listed in Overstock Art's Top 10 Oil Paintings rankings for 2009.

Each year, the online art gallery Overstock Art releases their Top 10 Oil Paintings list due to popular demand. “A lot of people want to know what’s selling best because it helps them stay up to speed with the latest trends and allows them to know which paintings are the hippest and most desirable on the market,” said overstockART.com CEO David Sasson. “In the business world especially, where image is everything, many companies strive to keep up with the latest interior décor trends to maintain a modern appeal that will impress customers and clients."

So which painting was most in demand this year? Of the 45,000 oil paintings (reproductions) sold by overstockArt.com in 2009, the most popular was...drumroll please...Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night. The popular painting reclaimed its title a year after Gustav Klimt's The Kiss snatched the title away. "Van Gogh consistently remains the most popular artist in the world, his total sales numbers have left everyone well behind," said Sasson.

The Top 10 Oil Paintings of 2009 according to Overstock Art are:

1) Vincent van Gogh "Starry Night"

2) Vincent van Gogh "Café Terrace at Night"

3) Gustav Klimt "The Kiss"

4) Claude Monet "Poppy Field at Argenteuil"

5) Pierre Auguste Renoir "Luncheon of the Boating Party"

6) Claude Monet "Garden Path at Giverny"

7) Pablo Picasso "The Rest"

8) Georgia O’Keeffe "Red Cannas"

9) Wassily Kandinsky "Farbstudie Quadrate (Color Study of Squares)"


10) Pablo Picasso "The Dream"

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The Ten Most Popular Oil Paintings of 2009

PINTA Latin American Contemporary Art Fair Sails Into NYC

CHELSEA, NY — A unique celebration of modern and contemporary art movements - abstract, concrete, neo-concrete, kinetic and conceptual art - had its official opening reception on Thursday evening. Artists, collectors and museum representatives from around the world have arrived in New York for the third annual PINTA; the only contemporary art fair in the United States featuring works exclusively by Latin American artists.

"There is an increased interest in Latin American art from the rest of the world, and now is the time to take advantage of it," explained PINTA's Vice President, Alejandro Zaia.

Museums, artists and 60 galleries from 13 countries are represented at this year's show, taking place in Chelsea's Metropolitan Pavilion. The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Britain's Tate Modern museum, the Harvard Art Museum, the Latin American Art Museum in Buenos Aires (MALBA) and the Tamayo Museum in Mexico will be participating.

PINTA London is slated to take place June 3-6, 2010.

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PINTA (November 19-22, 2009) | Website

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[Photo: Manuel Pailos. Constructivo, 1962.]

PINTA Latin American Contemporary Art Fair Sails Into NYC

Munch Art Heist Was Well-Planned, Oslo Police Say

OSLO, NORWAY — Perhaps it's the miserable, tortuous scenes in the artwork of Edvard Munch that makes it attractive to the criminal element. The Symbolist painter's most famous agony-laden image, The Scream, was stolen on the same day as the opening ceremony of the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics. In 2004, another version of The Scream and the Madonna were both taken from Oslo's Munch Museum. And on Thursday, a man smashed the window of the Nyborg Kunst art gallery in Oslo and snatched Edvard Munch's Historien.

Historien (Norwegian for history), is a rare lithograph, measuring approximately 2x3 ft and estimated to be worth $355,000. Though several copies of the work exist, the stolen piece was hand-embellished by Edvard Munch, making it unique and quite valuable.

Norway's most popular artist, Edvard Munch was a major influence on the development of the early twentieth-century's Expressionist movement. Rather than depicting physical reality in his art, Munch concentrated on illustrating raw emotions like fear, misery and death.

Authorities have already recovered the thief's vehicle, reported stolen 10 days prior to the Munch heist. "This leads us to believe it was a well planned robbery," said John Roger Lund, head of the organized crime unit for Oslo police.

The artworks stolen in 1994 and 2004 were later recovered. Police are hoping for a similar outcome in this case.

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Read More - Munch Artwork Stolen from Oslo Gallery | AFP

[Photo: A version of Edvard Munch's Historien, 1912-1913.]

Munch Art Heist Was Well-Planned, Oslo Police Say

Oxford's Ashmolean Museum Reopens After 10 Months and $100 Million

OXFORD, ENGLAND — After 10-months and an almost $100 million renovation, Oxford's Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology reopened to the public on Saturday. The world's first university museum, the Ashmolean has added 39 new galleries, including four temporary exhibition galleries, a new education center and state-of-the art conservation studios.

Rick Mather Architects was responsible for the redesign and realizing the museum's new display strategy called "Crossing Cultures Crossing Time"; it is based on the idea that the civilizations which shaped our modern societies developed as part of an interrelated world culture, rather than in isolation.

The Ashmolean collection includes rare Islamic, Indian, Chinese and Japanese objects, archaeological specimens and fine art. The museum has one of the best collections of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, majolica pottery and English silver. Other objects of note include T.E. Lawrence's Arab dress, an entire Japanese tea house, a lantern used by Guy Fawkes and and a hawking glove used by Henry VIII.

Nicholas Barber, Chairman of the Ashmolean, commented, “Renowned for our collections, the Ashmolean has always held a strong position on the cultural map. But now, with a magnificent new building and inspiring displays, the Museum has been transformed into one of the world’s great cultural jewels.”

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[Photo: A newly renovated exhibit gallery inside the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology]

Oxford's Ashmolean Museum Reopens After 10 Months and $100 Million

The 82-Story MoMA Monster Is Coming to New York City

NEW YORK, NY -- The Museum of Modern Art's plans to alter the New York City skyline have finally been approved. Between debates over height specifications and speculations as to whether architect Jean Nouvel would quit the project altogether, it seemed the 82-story tower would never materialize. But on Wednesday, the City Council approved the construction of 1000-foot building, nicknamed the "MoMA Monster." The spire will be erected next to the museum, located in Midtown Manhattan on West 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth avenue.

The stunning skyscraper will provide the MoMA with a significant 40,000 square feet of new art gallery space. 150 residential apartments and 100 hotel rooms will also be housed in the tower. Just imagine - one of most influential museums of modern art in the world will be called home by some lucky future residents. And the rest of us can look forward to making hotel reservations.

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[Read More - All Stories About 53rd West 53rd Street | Curbed]

The 82-Story MoMA Monster Is Coming to New York City