Art Knowledge News - Keeping You in Touch with the World of Art...

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• Ketterer Kunst's April 26th Auction to feature Old Masters & 19th Century Works
• Zee Stone Gallery to show "Born Red" Oil Paintings by Shen Han Wu
• Legendary artist Dale Chihuly brings his Iconic Artwork to the Dallas Arboretum
• The Knoxville Museum of Art highlights eight American photographers of the turbulent 1960’s
• Monterey Museum of Art opens New Exhibitions including over 150 Works
• Witzenhausen Gallery to present Jeff Robb's Lenticular Photographs
• The Jewish Museum to feature "Edouard Vuillard ~ A Painter and His Muses"
• Chaumont-sur Loire opens exhibition exploring the relationship between artistic creation & nature
• The window in art since Matisse & Duchamp on view at the Kunstsammlung NRW
• Johansson Projects shows "Hymns to the Moon ~ Robert Minervini & Tadashi Moriyama"
• The Schirn Kunsthalle opens a Major Survey of "George Condo ~ Mental States"
• The Rijksmuseum Shows Some of Its Best Tulip Prints and Drawings
• The Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design Shows Contemporary British Art
• Albertina Museum features CARS From The Daimler Collection
• Lowe Art Museum Showcases Two Photography Exhibits
• The Art Gallery of New South Wales Highlights Modernity in German Art from 1910 to 1937
• Gabriela Landau exhibits 'Photographic Memories' at The Jewish Museum of Florida
• Mickalene Thomas' Commission for MoMA on View at the 53rd Street Entrance
• The MAK-Vienna to solo 'Recent Works' of Julian Opie
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

Ketterer Kunst's April 26th Auction to feature Old Masters & 19th Century Works Posted: 10 Apr 2012 01:27 AM PDT Munich, Germany.- Ketterer Kunst will be hosting their Old Masters and 19th Century Work auction on April 26th. One of the undoubted highlights of the auction will be Ferdinand Max Bredt's oil painting "Muße der Odalisken" (Leisure of the Odalisques) a masterpiece of oriental painting with an estimate of €30,000-40,000. A harem lady should be dressed chastely and by no means tantalizing. Despite the two odalisques' ostensible innocence, the Leipzig painter Ferdinand Max Bredt masterly manages to animate the observer's imagination just through the look of the reclined lady. While, Edmund Herger's oil painting "Landsknechte verteilen Beutestücke" (Lansquenets Dividing the Loot) from 1882, estimated at €40,000-60,000 is in strong contrast to the lovely scene, Franz von Stuck's bronze "Adam und Eve" obviously seeks to seduce the observer, as the artist rendered the biblical scene as an erotic theme. To Adam, Eve's promising body is the actual object of desire and the apple, the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil merely serves as a metaphor. The observer is also seduced: Both the bodies' athletic and sensual forms but also the modest estimate of €30,000-50,000 will have the desired effect. Quite a contrast to the sinful and lascivious Eve is Stuck's "Amazon" cast in bronze. In this work the artist put less of an emphasis on eroticism but rather on the athletic aspect of the spear-throwing warrior. Despite her nudity, she emanates power, self-confidence and pride in a very natural manner. The estimate for the small work, a monumental execution has been adorning the portal of the Villa Stuck in Munich since 1936, is at €14,000-18,000. More exciting works in the section of Art of the 19th Century come from Hermann Corrodi with his oil painting "Nächtlicher Aufstieg am Berg Athos" (Nocturnal Ascension of Mount Athos) from 1880, (estimate: €25,000-35,000), Carl Spitzweg and the "Grotte mit badenden Nymphen" (Grotto with Bathing Nymphs, estimate: €18,000-24,000) and from Henri-Edmond Cross with his "Skabiosen" (Scabiosa, estimate: €14,000-18,000). Other artists represented are, among others, Albert Flamm, Max Klinger, Adolph von Menzel, Wilhelm Schlesinger and Julius Steinkopf. The range of offers is completed by a small but nice collection of works by Friedrich Preller the Younger. Along with two drawings, half a dozen of oil paintigns with estimates between  € 800 and € 8.000 will be called up. The section of Old Masters is led by a "Kreuzigungsgruppe" (Crucifixion Group) from the studio of Lucas Cranach the Elder. An infrared reflectography of the work from around 1510 to 1520 shows a free preliminary drawing of the motif, which is characteristic of the Cranach-studio. The oil painting in a size of 43 x 28.5 cm will be called up with an estimate of €30,000-50,000. The triptych "Anbetung der Könige" (Adoration of the Kings), made in succession of Pieter I Coecke van Aelst, will definitely make for excitement in the auction room. The elaborate painting, particular in terms of the architectural staging, was made towards the end of the 16th  century and has been estimated at €20,000-30,000. Approximately the same is expected for two companion pieces of an idealized river landscape in summer by Pierre Antoine Marchais from 1785, that have been estimated at €12,000-15,000 each. Works by the Parisian artist, who lived in his hometown for all his life, are in possession of, among others, museums in Toulouse and Nantes. While the oil painting "Der Markusplatz in Venedig" (St Mark's Square in Venice), which has been ascribed to Gabriele Bella enters the race with an estimate of €15,000- 20.000, the late 17th century copy of Cristofano Allori's masterpiece "Judith mit dem Haupt des Holofernes" (Judith with Holofernes' Head) will be called up with an estimate of €18,000-24,000. The work impressively illustrates the contrast between the shiny yellow brocade gown and the anemic facial features of the decapitated. It is a striking document of the fascination that Allori's creation had stirred in the 17th  century. The range of offerings in this section is completed by Gaspar Pieter Verbruggen's oil painting "Großes Blumenstillleben in einer Bronzevase" (Large Flower Still Life in Bronze Vase, estimated at €12,000-15,000) and with, among others, graphic works by Agostino Carracci, Francisco de Goya, Giovanni Piranesi and Adriaen van Ostade. Since it was founded in 1954, Ketterer Kunst has been firmly established in the front ranks of auction houses dealing in art and rare books, with its headquarters in Munich and a branch in Hamburg. Gallery rooms in Berlin as well as representatives in Heidelberg and Krefeld have contributed substantially to the company's success. Ketterer Kunst has further rounded off its portfolio with the prestigious Ernest Rathenau Verlag, New York/Munich. In addition, exhibitions, special theme and charity auctions as well as online auctions are regular events at Ketterer Kunst. Robert Ketterer is auctioneer and owner of Ketterer Kunst. Visit the auction house's website at ... http://www.kettererkunst.com/

Zee Stone Gallery to show "Born Red" Oil Paintings by Shen Han Wu Posted: 09 Apr 2012 11:28 PM PDT Hong Kong.- Zee Stone Gallery is proud to present "Born Red", oil paintings by Shen Han Wu, on view at the gallery from May 4th through May 25th. Shen Han Wu is an oil painter specializing in realistic portraiture. He was a Red Guard himself when he was 16 years old, and this exhibition focuses on the subject of the Cultural Revolution, yet also includes portraits of girls from the countryside. He has an outstanding technique, using fine, clear brushwork and subtle, subdued colours which, coupled with his empathy towards his subjects, produces warm, finely modelled paintings. Shen Han Wu was born in Jiangsu, graduated from the Wuhan Art Academy and emigrated to the United States in 2003.Shen Han Wu is an accomplished oil painter working in a realist style. Unlike other artists who choose idealized subjects, he prefers to depict figures from daily life.  Shen Han Wu began to earn his living with his art in 1971. In 1980, he attended the Electronic Education Center of Huazhong Normal University to study art design as an illustrator. During the decade that followed, he was successful, winning many awards and recognitions. In June 1986, he entered the Wuhan Art Academy and became a professional artist.

Legendary artist Dale Chihuly brings his Iconic Artwork to the Dallas Arboretum Posted: 09 Apr 2012 11:06 PM PDT Dallas, Texas.- Renowned artist, Dale Chihuly, brings his dramatic sculptures and installations to the award-winning, 66-acre Dallas Arboretum from May 5th through November 5th. Chihuly's monumental designs appeal to people of all ages and have been seen in more than 200 museums, gardens and other venues around the world. Inspired by nature, Chihuly's spectacular installations will be specifically designed to respond to the vistas architecture and magnificent gardens at the Arboretum. Chihuly Nights, powered by Cirro Energy, will feature illuminated sculptures and various dining options three nights a week.  Extended garden hours until 10 p.m. will offer visitors many opportunities to see this exhibit.  During the daytime, the Arboretum will offer educational materials, programs and classes for children and adults. Supported by the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Dallas Morning News, the Chihuly exhibit is expected to attract both local and out of town visitors during its six-month run.

The Knoxville Museum of Art highlights eight American photographers of the turbulent 1960’s Posted: 09 Apr 2012 10:58 PM PDT Knoxville, Tennessee.- The Knoxville Museum of Art is proud to present "Streetwise: Masters of 1960s Photograhy" on view at the museum from May 4th through August 5th. This exhibition highlights the work of a group of eight American photographers who focused their lenses on rapid social and political changes that transformed their nation during the turbulent 1960's. The featured images present a realistic, sometimes dire, view of America ranging from the "outlaw culture" of bikers and chain gangs, Boston's red light district known as the Combat Zone, Black Panthers; the gritty streets and neighborhoods of New York, the politically charged South, and fringe communities and sub-cultures around the country. Streetwise builds on Swiss photographer Robert Frank's 'snapshot aesthetic', which gained attention following the release of his groundbreaking book, The Americans in 1959.

Monterey Museum of Art opens New Exhibitions including over 150 Works Posted: 09 Apr 2012 10:27 PM PDT MONTEREY, CA.- An unparalleled visual feast of Monterey, California and its deep connections to the world beyond awaits visitors at the Monterey Museum of Art. Over 150 paintings, photographs, sculptures, and works on papers—many of which have never been previously exhibited—form a series of ground breaking special exhibitions titled: Monterey Modernism, A New Deal: Art of the Great Depression, and Urban Life: Photography in the City. Organized from the Museum's holdings, along with loans from prestigious private collections, these exhibitions are the result of several years of meticulous planning and careful conservation of artworks. Together, they tell the fascinating story of Monterey artists who were influenced by the Modern Art trends of Paris and New York in the first decades of the 20th century, the economic collapse of the United States and how visual arts flourished amid this catastrophe, and how our cities—from the 1940s through the 1970s—provided an unending source of subject matter for photographers documenting everyday life and rapid social change.

Witzenhausen Gallery to present Jeff Robb's Lenticular Photographs Posted: 09 Apr 2012 09:56 PM PDT New York City.- The Witzenhausen Gallery is proud to present "Thought Experiments", a selection of Jeff Robb's Lenticular Photographs, on view from April 26th through May 24th. The lenticular photographic work of Jeff Robb is collected worldwide. His latest series of 3D moving images, will mark the artist's first solo exhibition in NYC. Robb, explores forces of the natural and unnatural world in 3D space, within a 2D format and has a particular interest in relationships between the known and the unknown. He chooses a familiar subject, often the nude female form, in order to examine the unknown side of 3D image making and unknown aspects of human psychic processes. Like many artists, Robb works in series, where each series is a development from the last in terms of concept and technique. Robb however goes to extraordinary lengths in achieving his images, exploring the effects of the forces of nature - gravity, light and magnetism – on his subject in new ways. The resulting breath-taking images transcend the physical world. In Robb's latest work 'Thought Experiments', a series of delicate female forms exist in a 'liminal' state, between this world and another; between the known and the unknown. As we move to adapt our view, the figures become apparitions, or wraiths, sometimes drained of colour, as if gradually relinquishing life. The figures are at a gateway, or threshold, undergoing a state of metamorphosis, to be witnessed by the viewer. The images transport us into another world, mirroring other states of mind. The title of this series derives from the revolutionary scientific work of Einstein and contemporaries at the beginning of the 20th century, who used 'thought experiments' to understand our relationship with the world. Some practitioners of early thought experiments asserted that life can exist in many different states simultaneously, calling this a state of 'superposition'. These counter-intuitive ideas of the pioneers of thought experimentation inform our understanding the world to this day. Continuing scientific experiments appear to verify that life can indeed exist in different states simultaneously. It is this concept which interests Robb and neatly underpins the latest developments in his work. The success of Robb's imagery lies in his mastery of the 3D film and photographic process. Indeed the work is hard to classify. Robb himself describes his work as "somewhere between traditional photographic recording and three-dimensional sculpture". Lenticular photography dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. The process starts by capturing many images taken around a single subject. Robb himself has designed unique image capture systems which take multiple images simultaneously, capturing real time motion or as a sequence of frames from a single camera. The images are then combined into a single 3D image on a computer. Red, green and blue lasers expose a photographic substrate, which is combined with a very precise optical lens structure to produce the finished fine art image. Every stage of the process is done by hand and requires great skill. The Witzenhausen Gallery looks for art that is confronting in a certain way. Art that touches upon the issues of life that we all have to deal with, family ties, love, sex, illness, loneliness, death and a society that can be questioned on the way it is developing. In other words: Witzenhausen looks for art that makes us contemplate our life, our relationships with others, the society and the world we live in, the way we live, love and consume. The gallery looks for these artists on an international level. Witzenhausen Gallery gives high priority to being present at well known international art fairs. The artists represented by Witzenhausen Gallery work on an international level as well. By bringing artists of different nationalities together, there will always be an interaction between different points of view on the cultural aspect. Ideas confront each other. We are invited to stop and test our assumptions. Thus the gallery strives to accomplish an international interaction between artists, art lovers and buyers and an interested public. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.witzenhausengallery.nl

The Jewish Museum to feature "Edouard Vuillard ~ A Painter and His Muses" Posted: 09 Apr 2012 09:55 PM PDT New York City.- The art of Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940) - a painter who began his career as a member of the Nabi group of avant-garde artists in Paris in the 1890s - will be celebrated at The Jewish Museum in the first major one-person, New York exhibition of the French artist's work in over twenty years. "Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940" will include more than 50 paintings as well as a selection of prints, photographs and documents exploring the crucial role played by the patrons, dealers and muses who comprised Vuillard's circle. On view from May 4th through September 23rd, the exhibition will examine the prominence of key players in the cultural milieu of modern Paris, many of them Jewish, and their influence on Vuillard's professional and private life. The exhibition explores Vuillard's continuing significance from the turn of the 20th century to the onset of World War II. Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940 brings together works from public and private collections in the U.S. and Europe. A quarter of the paintings have never been exhibited publicly in America before. Vuillard's career spans fifty years, from the fin-de-siècle to the German occupation of France. During his lifetime, Paris was the capital of the international avant-garde, the laboratory of new styles in art, music, poetry, and prose. Vuillard was at the heart of this creative ferment. In these decades, the work of vanguard artists was supported by collectors, gallerists, publishers, and theater impresarios who encouraged modernist cultural experiments. Vuillard had unusually close and sustained relationships with his patrons; some became intimate and lifelong friends. In this glittering cultural milieu he became romantically involved with two fascinating women, Misia Natanson and Lucy Hessel, each of whom served as both patron and muse. "Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940" traces the entire arc of Vuillard's career, in which he pursued painterly experimentation in color, media, and ambience, especially in portraiture. He established his signature themes - interiors and the depiction of modern life - in the 1890s. As his style evolved, he continued to use pattern, texture, and the framing device of windows, doors, and mirrors, while extending his repertoire to the genres of landscape, still life, and especially portraiture. Vuillard's late portraits are a revelation -among the great examples in the twentieth century and of dazzling virtuosity. Experimental, yet deeply committed to the old masters throughout his life, Vuillard maintained a continual tension in his work between tradition and modernism. The exhibition begins with the young artist's involvement in the vibrant cultural landscape of fin-de-siècle Paris. He rapidly established himself in avant-garde circles, joining a groundbreaking group of artists called the Nabis. Taking their inspiration from Paul Gauguin and Odilon Redon, the Nabis ("prophets" in Hebrew) used simplified forms and pure colors to create emotive and decorative pictures. It was during his Nabi period that Vuillard produced some of his best-known work: paintings of friends and families in domestic interiors. While developing his art he created posters and graphic works and designed sets and programs for the avant-garde theater. Soon he attracted the interest of Thadée and Misia Natanson. Descended from a family of Polish-Jewish bankers, Thadée and his brothers Alexandre and Alfred founded and published La Revue blanche, an important cultural magazine. The Natansons were prime movers in Vuillard's circle, bringing together Paris's leading intellectuals and members of the avant-garde, including artists, writers, theatrical impresarios, politicians, and philosophers. The friendship and patronage of the Natansons vaulted the artist to success during the 1890s, and it was through their connections that, in 1892, Vuillard painted the first of his interior decorative murals. After 1900 Vuillard's style shows an increasing refinement. Paint is applied less thickly, details are less blurred, and the artist introduces more naturalistic perspective into his scenes. The change reflects a shift in his life. He joined the Bernheim-Jeune gallery, one of the most prestigious venues for modern art in Paris, and began to expand his clientele. The gallery was managed by Jos Hessel and his cousins Gaston and Josse Bernheim. Hessel arranged the first group exhibition of the Nabis there in April 1900. He was to remain Vuillard's principal dealer and close friend for the next forty years. During his post-Nabi years, from 1900 until his death in 1940, Vuillard developed a highly personal style of modern naturalism. In the later decades of his career, he largely devoted himself to portraiture, giving equal attention to the sitters and their surroundings, reflecting his belief that the sitters' homes and possessions revealed as much of their identities as the individuals themselves. He continued the themes of landscape and interiors, spending much of his time at the Chateau des Clayes, the Hessel's historic estate near Versailles during the 1930s. A late style blossomed: brushy, gestural, and light in palette. The Jewish Museum, one of the world's largest and most important institutions devoted to exploring the remarkable scope and diversity of Jewish culture, was founded in 1904 in the library of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where it was housed for more than four decades. In 1944, Frieda Schiff Warburg, widow of the prominent businessman and philanthropist, Felix Warburg, who had been a Seminary trustee, donated the family mansion at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street to the Seminary for use as the Museum. Located along New York's Museum Mile, this elegant former residence has been the home of the Museum since 1947. A sculpture court was installed alongside the Mansion in 1959, and the Albert A. List Building was added in 1963 to provide additional exhibition and program space. In 1989, a major expansion and renovation project was undertaken. Upon completion in June 1993, the expansion doubled the Museum's gallery space, created new space for educational programs, provided significant improvements in public amenities, and added a two-floor permanent exhibition called Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey. The expanded Jewish Museum preserves the French Gothic chateau-style exterior of the original Warburg Mansion, which was designed by architect Charles P.H. Gilbert and completed in 1908. Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated the first gift of 26 objects of fine and ceremonial art to the library of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America with the suggestion that a Jewish museum be formed. Subsequent gifts and purchases have helped to form the Museum's distinguished collection and develop the concept of the institution, whose mission has been to preserve, study and interpret Jewish cultural history through the use of authentic art and artifacts, linking both Jews and non-Jews to a rich body of values and traditions. Today, The Jewish Museum's permanent collection, which has grown to more than 26,000 objects -- paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, ethnographic material, archaeological artifacts, numismatics, ceremonial objects, and broadcast media materials -- is the largest and most important of its kind in the world. The Jewish Museum regularly presents large temporary exhibitions of an interdisciplinary nature. Such exhibitions often employ a combination of art and artifacts interpreted through the lens of social history in order to explore important ideas and topics. The Museum's highly successful The Dreyfus Affair: Art, Truth and Justice (1987), Gardens and Ghettos: The Art of Jewish Life in Italy (1989), From Court Jews to the Rothschilds: Art, Patronage and Power 1600-1800 (1996), ASSIGNMENT: RESCUE, The Story of Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee (1997) and Berlin Metropolis: Jews and the New Culture 1890-1918 (1999) are examples of this type of exhibition. The Museum is also known for its exhibitions of fine arts interpreted in the context of social history, such as Painting a Place in America: Jewish Artists in New York, 1900-1945 (1991) ; social history exhibitions such as Bridges and Boundaries: African Americans and American Jews (1992); and monograph shows of significant artists such as Camille Pissarro (1995), Marc Chagall (1996), Chaim Soutine (1998) and George Segal (1998). The Museum also regularly presents the works of contemporary artists in group exhibitions such as Too Jewish? Challenging Traditional Identities (1996) and one-person shows like Bordering on Fiction: Chantal Akerman's "D'Est" (1997). Its education department presents a diverse and wide-ranging array of programs for individuals, groups, families and schools. For nearly a century, The Jewish Museum has illuminated the Jewish experience, both secular and religious, demonstrating the strength of Jewish identity and culture. Its unparalleled collection and unique exhibitions offer a wide range of opportunities for exploring multiple facets of the Jewish experience, past and present, and for educating current and future generations. It is a source of education, inspiration and shared human values for people of all cultures. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.thejewishmuseum.org

Chaumont-sur Loire opens exhibition exploring the relationship between artistic creation & nature Posted: 09 Apr 2012 08:38 PM PDT CHAUMONT-SUR-LOIRE, FRANCE - This year once again, the Domaine de Chaumont-sur Loire, the first arts centre devoted to the relationship between artistic creation and nature, has an ambitious programme of contemporary art in store for visitors. Sarkis' specially commissioned set of 72 stainedglass windows and Giuseppe Penone's subtle installation are the highpoints of the itinerary, where plastic arts are on display alongside photography. As part of the Centre Region's special three-yearly commissions, Sarkis has created a work of remarkable power. In 2012, 40 new stained-glass windows have been added to the first series of 32 panes installed in the Château in 2011. Entitled Ailleurs, Ici, the ensemble makes up an imaginary museum in which the artist presents fundamental images of life and death, love and architecture, in a series of "mental windows" as fascinating as they are unexpected, playing with the memory of the place itself, the world's memory, and the artist's own memory.

The window in art since Matisse & Duchamp on view at the Kunstsammlung NRW Posted: 09 Apr 2012 07:09 PM PDT DUSSELDORF, GERMANY - For centuries, the window has been found among the most favored artistic motifs. The picture of a "room with a view" in which the window marks the threshold between exterior and interior has long fostered reflections on the medium of painting itself. The observation that a painting resembles a view through an open window dates all the way back to 1435, when it entered a treatise on painting written by the Renaissance scholar Leon Battista Alberti. He coined a metaphor which has for centuries shaped our understanding of the picture which is organized according to the rules of central perspective and which – like a window – reveals to us a delimited segment of the world. While the window remained a favored motif in the 20th century as well, it appeared now more frequently in isolation, deprived of any connection to architectural settings or landscape views, and shorn of figures shown from the back gazing longingly into the distance. In their window paintings, Robert Delaunay, Henri Matisse, and Josef Albers experimented with a pictorial form that is no longer devoted solely to depicting reality, and which instead emphasizes the planarity of the picture support while concentrating on color and line and their interaction.

Johansson Projects shows "Hymns to the Moon ~ Robert Minervini & Tadashi Moriyama" Posted: 09 Apr 2012 06:37 PM PDT Oakland, California. Johansson Projects is pleased to be showing "Hymns to the Moon: Robert Minervini + Tadashi Moriyama", on view at the gallery through May 5th. In "Hymns to the Moon",  sublime omens haunt everyday spaces, both of the landscape and of the imagination. Robert Minervini and Tadashi Moriyama depict visions of a timeless future. Moriyama's works swarm with details in their depiction of the last judgment for the digital age. Weeds, wires, blood and guts coil around classical sculpture, original sin and corporate headquarters. At the crux of his painted paranoia, viewers are struck with, surprisingly, an overwhelming sense of euphoria. Even amidst all the anxiety and desire, in the heat of the moment there is a great togetherness. His animations follow un-phased individuals reacquainting themselves with the new landscape we have cultivated.

The Schirn Kunsthalle opens a Major Survey of "George Condo ~ Mental States" Posted: 09 Apr 2012 06:18 PM PDT Frankfurt, Germany - The Schirn Kunsthalle is pleased to present "George Condo. Mental States"  on view at the museum from February 22nd through May 28th. Ironic, provocative, witty—since his beginnings in New York's East Village in the early 1980s American artist George Condo has produced a distinctive body of work. His paintings, characterized by mordant humor, surrealist-tinged absurdity, and exuberant pathos, make repeated reference to the traditions of American and European art history of the last 500 years, from Velázquez by way of Picasso to Gorky. In partnership with the Hayward Gallery in London and curated by Hayward Director Ralph Rugoff, the Schirn is pleased to present a comprehensive retrospective of Condo's art. Condo works in a style that can be described as artificial realism, and both his paintings and sculptures display his ongoing examination of human physiognomy and all-too-human mental states. Organized thematically and stylistically in groups, sixty-six important paintings from different creative periods, as well as a selection of roughly ten sculptures and new works by the artist will be exhibited at the Schirn. George Condo was born in New Hampshire in 1957 and studied art history and musical theory at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He has maintained his outstanding position in the art world for almost thirty years. Next to such artists as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Condo exercised a decisive influence on the art scene of New York's East Village of the 1980s. His first public show was presented at Ulrike Kantor's gallery in Los Angeles in 1981. In Germany, it was Monika Sprüth's gallery in Cologne that dedicated the first solo exhibition in Germany to him in 1984. Since then, his works have been shown at numerous institutions in the United States and in Europe, such as the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston, or the Musée Maillol in Paris. Works by George Condo are part of such important collections as those of the Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. The artist has also been influential in the world of fashion, the music industry, and the field of street culture. In 2010 George Condo collaborated with US hip hop star Kanye West and made a series of paintings which were used as album covers. In the course of his career, George Condo has developed an artistic style that mercilessly combines the beautiful and the grotesque, seriousness and absurdity and thus created one of the most provocative and imaginative oeuvres in contemporary painting. He is often called "an artist's artist," and his influence on younger generations of artists is undisputed. His paintings' figures have also provided a source of inspiration for authors like William S. Burroughs or Salman Rushdie. Condo's works abound with art historical references. Skillfully drawing on the pictorial language of past centuries, the artist incorporates a variety of painterly and pictorial styles into his works. He attaches special importance to his figures' countenances; grotesquely distorted, cubistically exaggerated, or even featureless, their faces question the identity of the individual concealed behind them. The exhibition "George Condo. Mental States" encompasses works from the last three decades. Thematically grouped into five sections – "Portraits," "Manic Society," "Pathos," "Abstraction/Figuration," and "Heads" – it offers a survey of the artist's entire production. One focus of the show is Condo's imaginary portraits, which, vacillating between absurdity and pathos, evoke different mental states. Presented on a large wall hung from the ceiling to the floor in the salon style, these portraits constitute the heart of the show. The figures depicted are archetypes – butlers, businessmen, clerical and historical personalities – familiar to us despite their humorously distorted features. Their eyes furnish a special characteristic. Frequently huge, not matching each other, protruding in panic or rage, they lend the grotesque or even monstrous figures something human and personal, as they do for example in the case of "Portrait of a Woman" (2002) or "Nude on Purple" (2007). The figures in some of the paintings present themselves as faceless. "The Objective Idealist" (1994) is primarily defined by the depicted figure's clothing and ornate jewelry; the face confronts us with a gaping void. The paintings not only question the judgment of a person's identity by appearances, but also the claim of portraiture to render a likeness of the subject's identity. Condo enters into a dialogue with the artists he takes his cues from. "Memories of Rembrandt" (1994) makes us think of this great master of chiaroscuro; the effect of light creating meaning ensured by Rembrandt is torpedoed by Condo in his portrait. He unfolds the face as a desolate, jumbled-up construction, as if he aimed at destroying its role as a crucial symbol of subjectivity. The group of paintings that make up the "Manic Society" section of the exhibition reveal unequivocal social relationships. Condo unsparingly exposes the yawning abysses and ridiculousness of modern society. The protagonists of "Couple on Blue Striped Chair" (2005) eye the viewer aggressively. The expression of their distorted faces oscillates between fear, derision, lust and greed. Condo also describes his figures as "antipodal beings," as they reveal undiscovered spheres of consciousness. Lonely, pathetic figures with equally distorted countenances, oversized ears, and conspicuous rows of teeth for which the mouths seem too small are the characters the "Pathos" selection confronts us with. The protagonists in "The Chinese Woman" (2001) or "The Janitor's Wife" (2000) convey the impression of being aware of their hopeless situation. They present themselves as outcasts vainly rebelling against their alienation. Ten sculptures of the group "Heads" complete the presentation of Condo's art of portraiture. The mostly gilt bronze heads comprise quotations from art history as well as sociocritical allusions and translate the artist's unmistakable style into the medium of sculpture. The large-format abstract paintings, which may strike us at first sight as odd next to the portraits, once again express the artist's intense involvement with Cubism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism. In many cases, abstraction seems to be a logical consequence of the manic overcrowding of the surface with pictorial motifs. In other works, figurative elements compete against abstract compositions. Condo's most recent creations like the paintings "The Fallen Butler" (2009) or "Racing Forms" (2010) swarm with bodies lost in abstract forms and landscapes. The three crucifixion pictures "Jesus" (2007), "Dismus" (2007), and "Gestas" (2007) provide a further highlight of the exhibition. These works may also be seen as examples of George Condo's continuous exploration of the contradictory. Their expressions vary between humor and pathos, contemporary imagery and the return to models from art history. The exhibition "George Condo. Mental States" has been organized by the Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, in London in collaboration with the Schirn Kunsthalle. Condo's works are deeply rooted in European and American traditions of painting in spite of their frequently outrageous humor and exaggeration. By using traditional materials, techniques of painting, and stylistic forms, the artist establishes manifold cross references spanning from the Renaissance and the Baroque eras to Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art. The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is one of Germany's most renowned exhibition institutions. Since its founding in 1986, the Schirn has mounted approximately 180 exhibitions, including major survey shows devoted to the Vienna Jugendstil, Expressionism, Dada, and Surrealism, to women Impressionists, to subjects such as "shopping — a century of art and consumer culture," the visual art of the Stalin era, new Romanticism in contemporary art, and the influence of Charles Darwin's theories on the art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Large solo exhibitions have featured artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Alberto Giacometti, Henri Matisse, Julian Schnabel, James Ensor, James Lee Byars, Yves Klein, Peter Doig, Lászlo Moholy-Nagy, and Georges Seurat. And artists such as Thomas Hirschhorn, Ayse Erkmen, Carsten Nicolai, Jan De Cock, Jonathan Meese, John Bock, Michael Sailstorfer, Terence Koh, Aleksandra Mir, Eberhard Havekost, and Mike Bouchet have developed new exhibitions for the Schirn. The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt showcases highly charged themes and topical aspects of artists' oeuvres with an incisive voice and from a contemporary standpoint. As a site of discoveries, the Schirn offers its visitors an original, sensory exhibition experience as well as active participation in cultural discourse. Visit the kunsthalle's website at ... http://www.schirn.de

The Rijksmuseum Shows Some of Its Best Tulip Prints and Drawings Posted: 09 Apr 2012 06:17 PM PDT AMSTERDAM.- The Rijksmuseum is exhibiting its most beautiful prints and drawings of tulips from the 17th and 18th centuries. Individual tulips, tulips in bouquets, in the garden, as the design for a silver ornament, and featured in allegorical scenes. The highlight of the presentation will be the tulip book created by Jacob Marrel between 1637 and 1639. Complete tulip books are extremely rare, and the Marrel is seldom exhibited in public. The presentation also contains various dazzling colour prints of tulips, cartoons about tulip-bulb speculation, and a Vanitas print comparing human life to the short-lived existence of a flower.

The Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design Shows Contemporary British Art Posted: 09 Apr 2012 06:16 PM PDT Providence, RI.- The Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design is highlighting its collection of contemporary British art (one of the largest in the world) in a major exhibition this fall. "Made in the UK: Contemporary Art from the Richard Brown Baker Collection" richly captures Britain's contemporary art scene as it emerged from World War II to become a prominent force on the world stage today. Made in the UK opens on September 23rd and remains on view through January 8th 2012. "Made in the UK" celebrates works by British artists from the 1950s through the present and includes such major figures as Tacita Dean, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, Anish Kapoor, Jim Lambie, Julian Opie, Bridget Riley, and Yinka Shonibare. Many of the artists in the exhibition are represented at the Tate and other important British collections, but are not seen in depth in American museums. This exhibition of approximately 100 paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, and more, focuses on Baker's collecting, decade by decade — revealing important British contributions to and the international nature of Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Geometric Abstraction, Optical Art, and Photorealism. It culminates in conceptual works by the Young British Artists (YBAs) — including Jake and Dinos Chapman, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and Rachel Whiteread — who took the art world by storm in the 1990s and are still highly influential today. "Made in the UK" is co-curated by Jan Howard, Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, and Judith Tannenbaum, Richard Brown Baker Curator of Contemporary Art. Baker (1912-2002), a Providence native, member of the Museum's Fine Arts Committee, and important collector of contemporary American and European art was renowned in the arts as a "collector's collector" (New York Times). Based in New York after 1952, his reputation was built by quietly supporting emerging artists, many of whom have become the most influential artists of their time.  "He never lost the thrill of discovering new talent, and, as he could afford it, continuing to support those whose work he had previously collected," says Howard. "Because the British works would be separated from the bulk of his collection, he was eager that they be judged of importance as a group." Baker, a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford who later lived in London during World War II, donated approximately 135 works of British art to RISD, so that the Museum now has one of the strongest collections of modern and contemporary British art in this country. In his diaries he wrote, "As I obtained my Rhodes Scholarship from Rhode Island, I feel that I am making a kind of gesture to England and to my native city by this gift."  RISD Museum curators continue to collect in the spirit of Baker through the Richard Brown Baker Fund for Contemporary British Art, which enables the Museum to purchase paintings, sculpture, and drawings by living British artists. Recent purchases underscore the tremendous diversity of contemporary British culture and include works by Fiona Banner, Martin Boyce, Dean, Emin, Mona Hatoum, Roger Hiorns, Hirst, Shirazeh Houshiary, Kapoor, Lambie, Hew Locke, Richard Long, Opie, Kathy Prendergast, and Shonibare. A gift from Baker in 2000 established the Museum's Contemporary Art department and endowed the curator's position. Rhode Island School of Design Museum is a prominent art museum in Providence, Rhode Island affiliated with the well-known Rhode Island School of Design. The museum was founded in 1877 and is the 20th largest art museum in the United States. The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (The RISD Museum) contains a broad range of works from around the world, including Egypt, Asia, Africa, ancient Greece and Rome, Europe, and the Americas. It also features many notable works by a range Rhode Island artists such as 17th century Newport furniture makers Goddard and Townsend and nineteenth century Rhode Island painters, such as Anglo-American impressionist John Noble Barlow and portraitist Gilbert Stuart. The museum also features prominent international and American artists such as Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Paul Revere, and Andy Warhol. The RISD Museum houses over 80,000 works of art. Created in 2000, the department of Contemporary Art oversees an eclectic collection of painting, sculpture, video, mixed media, and interdisciplinary work, dating from 1960 to the present. In addition, the department regularly organizes exhibitions that highlight important issues, trends and individual explorations in recent art. Represented in the collection are significant paintings by Richard Anuszkiewicz, Sam Francis, David Hockney, Ellsworth Kelly, Franz Kline, Ronnie Landfield, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Mangold, Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, Cy Twombly, Wayne Thiebaud, Larry Rivers, and Andy Warhol, among others. The collection also includes important sculptural work by Richard Artschwager, Louise Bourgeois, Louise Nevelson, Tom Otterness, Lucas Samaras, and Robert Wilson. The museum's video collection features experimental works by such pioneers in the field as Vito Acconci, Lynda Benglis, Bruce Nauman, Martha Rosler, Richard Serra, and William Wegman. The Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Latin American Art includes contemporary paintings by such important artists as Luís Cruz Azaceta, Fernando Botero, José Bedia, Claudio Bravo, Wifredo Lam, Jesús Rafael Soto, Joaquín Torres Garcia, and Roberto Matta Echuarren. The department has a natural and strong connection with Providenceís contemporary art community, and numerous RISD faculty and alumni and local artists are represented in the collection. Among them are Howard Ben Tré, Jonathan Bonner, Richard Fleischner, Ruth Dealy, Richard Merkin and Bunny Harvey. The Painting and Sculpture collection contains more than 2,500 works of European and American art from the medieval period to 1960. The Italian Renaissance and Baroque periods are represented by the work of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Lippo Memmi, Jacopo Sansovino, Alessandro Magnasco, and others. The collection also includes major work by such northern European masters as Tilman Riemenschneider, Hendrick Goltzius, Joachim Wtewael, Salomon van Ruysdael, and Georg Vischer. 17th- and 18th-century masterpieces include paintings by Francisco Collantes, Sebastien Bourdon, Gabriel-Jacques de Saint-Aubin, Nicolas Poussin, Angelica Kauffmann, and Joshua Reynolds. Early 19th-century European art is represented by Thomas Lawrence, Hubert Robert, Louise-Joséphine Sarazin de Belmont, Joseph Chinard, Théodore Géricault and others. The department has excellent examples of French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism schools by such artists as Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. There is important work by 19th-century French sculptors Auguste Rodin, Charles Henri Joseph Cordier, Jules Dalou, and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. Among the 20th-century European painters in the collection are Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, and Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Fernand Léger, and Oskar Kokoschka. The 18th- and 19th-century American collection is particularly strong, with important examples by such artists as John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Cole, Winslow Homer, William Merritt Chase, Martin Johnson Heade, Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, and Edward Mitchell Bannister, an African-American landscapist who spent his career as a painter in Rhode Island. Significant works by George Wesley Bellows, Robert Henri, Charles Sheeler, Maxfield Parrish, Georgia O'Keeffe, John Twachtman, Hans Hoffman, Paul Manship, and Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, among others, represent American artistic achievements of the early 20th-century. The department of Prints, Drawings + Photographs oversees approximately 18,000 European and American works on paper from the 15th century to the present. Included in the collection are important examples of Old Master drawings and prints, among them works by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt and Goya. The department has one of the largest collections (over 800) of British watercolors in the country. Included among them are fine examples by J.M.W. Turner, George Chinnery, John Sell Cotman, William Blake and Thomas Rowlandson. The collection of French prints and drawings includes work by Nicolas Poussin, Hubert Robert, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Honoré Daumier, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso and others. Notable in the collection of American watercolors and drawings is work by Benjamin West, Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, Eastman Johnson, Winslow Homer, Maurice Prendergast and Maxfield Parrish. Among the important 20th-century artists represented in the collection are Franz Kline, James Rosenquist, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, Jennifer Bartlett, Eric Fischl, Wayne Thiebaud, Kara Walker and Francesco Clemente. The history of the art of the book is represented, in one of its earliest forms, by the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499), a masterpiece of Renaissance illumination. In later centuries, work by masters of printing and illustration provides a link between the earliest books and twentieth-century "artists' books" that push limits and challenge traditional interpretations of the form. A summary of the history of photography is provided by 5,000 photographs, among them significant works by Gustave Le Gray, Julia Margaret Cameron, Nadar, Frederick Sommer, Carrie May Weems, and former RISD professors Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan. The department also oversees the Aaron Siskind Center for the Study of Photography, which is open to photography students and Museum visitors alike. Visit the museum's website at  ... http://www.risdmuseum.org

Albertina Museum features CARS From The Daimler Collection Posted: 09 Apr 2012 06:15 PM PDT VIENNA.- Albertina Museum CARS presents works from the Daimler Collection, by artists Andy Warhol, Robert Longo, Sylvie Fleury, and Vincent Szarek. Common to all of the works is their examination of the history, the types, or the design of the Mercedes-Benz car. The core of the exhibit are the thirty-five silkscreen paintings of Andy Warhol's (1928–1987) series CARS, which employ eight selected types of Mercedes to document the history of the automobile. This important late series by Warhol remained unfinished and after around twenty years is being shown again complete. Joining this series are drawings and airbrushed paintings by Robert Longo (*1953). Videos by Sylvie Fleury (*1961) blend the myth of the legendary Mercedes-Benz automobile with some of the most contemporary ideas from the art and fashion worlds. Vincent Szarek (*1973) uses design elements from the Mercedes-Benz SLR as the starting point for his group of sculptures, which were digitally developed as a modern form of drawing, rendered with 3D programs. On view through 24 May, 2010.

Lowe Art Museum Showcases Two Photography Exhibits Posted: 09 Apr 2012 06:14 PM PDT Coral Gables, FL – From its inception, photography has enticed scientists, artists and amateurs alike. Whether used for capturing historical moments or as an art form, the lens has played a significant role in human life. To fulfill this innate sentiment, Through the Lens: Photography from the Permanent Collection will be on view through October 4, 2009 at the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami. Curated by Lowe Associate Director, Denise M. Gerson, the exhibition features 100 photographs from over a thousand photographic holdings. The collection, unique in South Florida, spans the development of the art form from earliest years of its invention around mid-19th century to the present. Genres include early travel and portraiture, landscape, international modernism, the world of celebrity, documentary, and contemporary idioms.

The Art Gallery of New South Wales Highlights Modernity in German Art from 1910 to 1937 Posted: 09 Apr 2012 06:13 PM PDT Sydney, AU - The Art Gallery of New South Wales is pleased to present "The Mad Square: Modernity in German Art 1910-1937" from August 6th through November 6th. This will be the first exhibition in Australia to look in-depth at the turbulent time of the Weimar Republic when, following the catastrophe of World War I and in a period of intense crisis, Germany entered an extraordinary era of creative and artistic fervour. The "Mad Square" exhibition is organised by the Art Gallery of New South Wales with loans from museums and private collections from around the world. Berlin, 100 years ago, is the starting point for the exhibition. The thriving cosmopolitan metropolis provided new subject matter and new audiences for radically modern art forms. Over two decades, Germany became a centre for international avant-garde artists who were attracted to the culture of Weimar Germany. Through over 200 works by leading artists of the period – including Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz, John Heartfield, Hannah Höch, Karl Hubbuch, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Käthe Kollwitz, László Moholy-Nagy, August Sander, Christian Schad, Rudolf Schlichter and Kurt Schwitters – The mad square reveals the intensely original art forms born of this time and the fascinating and complex ways in which artists responded to the forces of modernity During this unprecedented moment in history, avant-garde movements – Expressionism, Dada, Constructivism, Bauhaus and New Objectivity – blossomed and were linked by artists' shared interest in radical experimentation across all areas of the visual arts including painting, sculpture, graphic art, decorative arts and design, photography and film. The title of the exhibition – The mad square – is drawn from Felix Nussbaum's painting depicting Berlin's famous city square Pariser Platz as a crazy and fantastic place. 'The mad square' is both a place – the city represented in so many works in the exhibition – and a state of mind which gives these works their edgy quality. Beginning with Expressionists's visions of a world on the brink of an apocalypse, the exhibition explores the cathartic effects of the World War I. War is portrayed as a dynamic, modern force but also one which tears society apart, creating fear, anxiety and violence. This mood of social and political turbulence continues in works produced during the revolutionary period 1918–19, when artists addressed political and social issues with a heightened sense of urgency. Major works by Max Beckmann show how political extremism invaded every aspect of life. The various manifestations of Dada in Germany are presented through the work of Christian Schad, Kurt Schwitters and Max Ernst. The exhibition highlights the provocative First International Dada Fair held in Berlin in 1920 which included many photo-montages as well as Dada publications. The legacy of innovation left by the Bauhaus on 20th-century art, design and culture is also explored through significant pieces such as Wagenfeld and Jucker's Table lamp 1923–24 and Marcel Breuer's Club chair c1928–-29. Other works show the move from early handcrafted objects to more streamlined, mass-produced furniture and designs for which the Bauhaus is most renowned. The metropolis provided a rich source of imagery for artists. Many views of Berlin in the 1920s focused on leisure, entertainment and the city at night, including Berlin's seedy underbelly. A group of realist portraits demonstrate the mid 1920s movement that known as Neue Sachlichkeit or New Objectivity. The exhibition concludes with a section on art and power in the 1930s, focusing on the rise of fascism and the disastrous consequences for modern art in Germany. After the seizure of power by Hitler in 1933, modern artists were forbidden to work or exhibit, their works were confiscated from leading museums and then destroyed or sold cheaply at auction. The 1937 Degenerate art exhibition in Munich was the most notorious example of the Nazis' campaign against modernism. A number of works that were exhibited together with documentary photographs are included to highlight the great creativity and stylistic diversity of modernism in opposition to the derogatory ways in which the Nazis sought to ridicule and destroy modern art. The sheer forcefulness and directness of many of the works in this exhibition stem from the tension that is created by representing a view of modernity that was hopeful, dynamic and vibrant on the one hand but dysfunctional and vulnerable on the other. Established in 1874, the Art Gallery of NSW is proud to present fine international and Australian art in one of the most beautiful art museums in the world. We aim to be a place of experience and inspiration, through our collection, exhibitions, programs and research. Modern and contemporary works are displayed in expansive, light-filled spaces, offering stunning views of Sydney and the harbour, while our splendid Grand Courts are home to a distinguished collection of colonial and 19th-century Australian works and European old masters. There are also dedicated galleries celebrating the arts of Asia and Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander art. Alongside our permanent collection are regularly changing temporary exhibitions – more than 30 each year – including flagship annual exhibitions such as the Archibald Prize and ARTEXPRESS. One of the most popular art museums in Australia, visited by over 1.3 million people annually, the Gallery is far more than just a destination for looking at pictures. It's also a place to enjoy lectures and symposia, films, music and performances, meet friends for a meal or coffee in the cafe or restaurant, or browse in the Gallery Shop. Our range of access programs is aimed at engaging diverse audiences with different needs. And more than 100 000 students visit each year to take part in our engaging and stimulating education programs. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au

Gabriela Landau exhibits 'Photographic Memories' at The Jewish Museum of Florida Posted: 09 Apr 2012 06:12 PM PDT Miami Beach, FL - The Jewish Museum of Florida announces the opening of its temporary exhibit, Jewish Photographic Memories by Gabriela Landau. The show of 25 black and white images of New York City's Lower East Side will run through May 10, 2009.Gabriela Landau worked on many different assignments as a photographer, but when she wandered the streets of New York in the 1950s and '60s, her camera focused on a particular and favorite subject : the Lower East Side of New York City.

Mickalene Thomas' Commission for MoMA on View at the 53rd Street Entrance Posted: 09 Apr 2012 06:11 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- Lehmann Maupin announced Mickalene Thomas' completion of a monumental commission for the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, entitled Le dejeuner sur l'herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires, which will remain on view in the window of the Museum's 53rd Street entrance through December 2010. Mickalene Thomas creates works that introduce a complex vision of what it means to be a woman and expand common definitions of beauty. She has chosen her subjects for this body of work with an eye toward representations of women not typically seen in the canon of figurative painting. Drawing from her long study of art history and the classical genre of portraiture, she has infused her knowledge with more recent influences of popular culture and Pop Art.

The MAK-Vienna to solo 'Recent Works' of Julian Opie Posted: 09 Apr 2012 06:10 PM PDT Vienna, Austria - For more than two decades now, Julian Opie has ranked among the most important exponents of contemporary British art. Like no other, Opie knows the art of reduction to essentials, which particularly informs his much-acclaimed portraits. Using a few dots and lines only, he is brilliantly able to transform facial features of a given individual into universal, pictogram-like icons without cutting out individual characteristics altogether. In the same manner, he reduces details of landscapes, architecture, and objects. In its exhibition of "Recent Works", the MAK surveys, in a large solo exhibition, Julian Opie's latest art creations. The reduced visual vocabulary of the artist, born 1958 in London, has its counterpart in his continual search for new means of expression, media, and inspirations in art. From his preoccupation to overcome classical art forms and genres derives his artistic intention of separating the picture from its carrier and making it recur as a wall painting, sculpture, light-box, video, vinyl picture, or C-print. On exhibition June 11 – September 21, 2008. An exponent of "New British Sculpture", Opie became known in the mid-1980s for metal sculptures made of everyday objects with painted surfaces. Opie borrows from comics and pop art from his clear and reduced line work. The artist's complex œuvre also evokes associations of Japanese Mangas and seems indebted to a consumer sphere context (advertising, picture postcards, posters, stickers, record covers, etc.). However, Opie's subjects – portraits, nudes, half and full figures, and landscapes – are firmly rooted in the tradition of art-historical pictorial genres. Since the early 1990s, Opie has taken to developing his works on the computer: he scans real photos which he then transforms, using cutting edge software, into easily readable two or three-dimensional virtual views. Julian Opie has also been working with moving images for some years now. Digitally drawn humans and landscapes are gently animated and shown on large flat screens mounted on art museums or other suitable buildings. The MAK exhibition "JULIAN OPIE. Recent Works" brings together many facets of his œuvre. In the center of the show is a new series of portraits (2007–2008), based on Baroque models. Here, Julian Opie explores the works of the Dutch-born painter Sir Peter Lely (1618–1680), who immigrated to England and became one of the most preferred portrait painters of the 17th century.   Besides, the MAK show features nudes, among them his "This is Shanoza" series (2007), half figures, including "Lorenzo with hand on chest" (2008), a series of animated landscapes deriving from the artist's studies of 19th century Japanese masters, as well as a series of animated human portraits. Presented on large flat-screens, or displays, the minimalist figures are in permanent flowing motion. Julian Opie received numerous awards, among them, for example, a Music Week CADs for his record cover "Best of Blur" (2001). He won international recognition with his spectacular contribution to the documenta 8 (1987) in Kassel, Germany. Today, his works are represented in important international collections such as Tate Modern, London, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and the Zurich Kunsthaus. Established 1986, the MAK Permanent Collection Contemporary Art holds a special position within the system of MAK collections.  Central to this are the interfacing zones of "applied" and "pure" art as well as the development of new presentation concepts in close cooperation with the artists.  Not only in the MAK Permanent Collection, but also in the public sphere – with works by Donald Judd, Philip Johnson, Franz West and James Turrell permanently exhibited in the Vienna cityscape, in Stadtpark, on Schottenring, on the Stubenbrücke, and in the park of Geymüllerschlössel, respectively –, the MAK Permanent Collection Contemporary Art champions an open approach to and an expanded understanding of art. Visit the MAK at : www.mak.at/

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 09 Apr 2012 06:09 PM PDT This is a new feature for the subscribers and visitors to Art Knowledge News (AKN), that will enable you to see "thumbnail descriptions" of the last ninety (90) articles and art images that we published. This will allow you to visit any article that you may have missed ; or re-visit any article or image of particular interest. Every day the article "thumbnail images" will change. For you to see the entire last ninety images just click : here . When opened that also will allow you to change the language from English to anyone of 54 other languages, by clicking your language choice on the upper left corner of our Home Page.  You can share any article we publish with the eleven (11) social websites we offer like Twitter, Flicker, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. by one click on the image shown at the end of each opened article.  Last, but not least, you can email or print any entire article by using an icon visible to the right side of an article's headline.

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