Top Art Stories: The Spring Edition

Spring is officially here! And so is our selection of this week’s top art stories to help you stay on top of the news and upcoming exhibitions.

Betting on Murillo

MOne of the greatest joys of being an art collector is buying a work by a young, undiscovered talent and then watching him/her gradually gain recognition of fellow collectors and the art market. But Oscar Murillo’s career literally ballooned in 2012 after the summer residency followed by an exhibition at the Rubell Collection leaving the Miami collectors no chance to relish Murillo’s work exclusively.
Carol Vogel walks us through Murillo’s supersonic rise equivalent only to that of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Oscar Murillo’s exhibition at David Zwirner opening next month will transform the renowned Chelsea gallery into a candy factory. Get ready to line up in front of the gallery before it opens, as some of you did this winter to see Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room. At least the weather will warm up by that time and… you will get a candy! Source: New York Times

Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany

D_galleryintellThe exhibition of Modern German Art or as the Nazis dubbed it – “Degenerate Art” opened at the Neue Galerie in New York on March 13th. Works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, George Grosz and Max Beckmann, among other talented avant-garde artists, were seized from museums and private collections in Europe and put on display in Munich in 1937 to demonstrate to the German public what was the kind of art that the National Socialist regime did not approve of. The show at the Neue Galerie presents both: the artists approved by the state and the artists condemned by it. Looking at these ideologically and stylistically opposite works in a single space is striking and prompts to think about confrontations between conformity and originality in art. Source: Financial Times

TEFAF 2014 taught us why we should never disregard the importance of restoration

T_galleryintellThe 27th edition of the world’s most prestigious art fair recently closed in Maastrict, Netherlands. Anything high quality, exceptional and rare, from the early world maps to contemporary works of art by the living artists was on view for ten days and attracted large numbers of private and institutional collectors. This is where museum directors and curators go shopping and, luckily enough, we might soon see their finds at museums around the world. The focus of the fair is traditionally on Old Masters and there is one painting that we would like to point out – The Supper at Emmaus by the Baroque painter Bernardo Strozzi. When the New York dealer Otto Naumann bought the painting at Christie’s for $1.5 million in December of 2013 it was extremely faded and dark. The painting was then beautifully restored and framed and at TEFAF an identified collector paid $3.5 million for it! The lesson is – if you are into the Old Masters make sure you know a first-class restorer. Source: International New York Times 

Ai Weiwei ‘Obey Giant’ style

A_galleryintellHave you already seen Shephard Fairey’s rendering of Ai Weiwei? If not, we are sure you will be seeing it alot soon. The exhibition titled “Ai Weiwei: According to What?” that had been touring the United States for more than a year now is finally arriving at the Brooklyn Museum in April. Fairey is donating 100 posters printed in his classic style to the museum, the rest will be available as a limited edition of 375. Fairey released the following statement regarding this new work:
“I admire Ai Weiwei for his art and his activism. His art is beautiful in form, and in function embodies the principles of populism and social consciousness I aspire to in my own practice. This poster is a tribute to Ai Weiwei’s art, his courage to be outspoken, and in support of his ongoing political struggle with the Chinese government. I hope the image will help raise awareness and advance dialogue that might lead to permission for Ai Weiwei to travel freely and continue to express himself.” Source: Los Angeles Times 

Richard Prince v. Patrick Cariou settled

S_galleryintellThe landmark copyright infringement lawsuit first broke out in 2009 and had been accompanied by controversy since then all while being taken from one court to another. In 2013 the court held that all except five Prince’s works make fair use of Cariou’s photographs. The suit was finally resolved after French photographer Patrick Cariou dropped charges against appropriation artist Richard Prince, who incorporated photographs by Carious for a show at Gagosian gallery. Source: Art in America

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