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• Large Selection of Old Master, American & European Prints at Swann Galleries
• Berkeley Art Museum surveys Enrique Chagoya 'Borderlandia'
• Takashi Murakami retrospective at The Brooklyn Museum
• The Morgan Lehman Gallery Shows New Watercolors by Laura Ball
• Recent Work by Japanese Artist and Architect Yutaka Sone at David Zwirner
• Playboy Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Iconic Bunny with Exhibition
• Princeton Art Museum Announces Gauguin Woodblock Prints Exhibition
• Corey Helford Gallery to Show Buff Monster's "Legend of the Pink Cherry"
• Contemporary Indian Art Exhibition at The Helsinki City Art Museum
• Metropolitan Museum of Art to show Exhibition Based on the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection
• Online Followers Participate in Brooklyn Museum's Latest Exhibition "Split Second"
• New Works by British-born Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare MBE at James Cohan Gallery
• GALLERY SOULFLOWER hosts ' HERE~THERE~NOW '
• Yue Minjun's Recent Works at The Pace Gallery in Beijing
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

Large Selection of Old Master, American & European Prints at Swann Galleries Posted: 02 May 2012 09:20 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- On Tuesday, April 27, Swann Galleries will offer a large selection of Old Master Through Modern Prints at auction, beginning with nearly 150 desirable Old Master Prints, followed by sections devoted to 19th-century prints, American prints, and European prints. Of special note among the Old Masters are works by Albrecht Dürer, including "The Prodigal Son", engraving, circa 1496 (estimate $15,000 to $20,000); "The Four Horsemen", woodcut from "The Apocalypse", 1498, in unusually good condition ($20,000 to $30,000); and "Virgin and Child Seated by the Wall", engraving, 1514 ($15,000 to $20,000). Highlights among more than 60 etchings by Rembrandt are the very scarce "The Flight into Egypt: Altered from Seghers", circa 1653 ($40,000 to $60,000); a strong impression of the postage-stamp sized" Self Portrait with Curly Hair and White Collar": Bust, circa 1630 ($30,000 to $50,000); an early impression of "Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple", 1635 ($30,000 to $50,000); and Lieven Willemsz van Coppenol, "Writing Master": larger plate, circa 1658 ($10,000 to $15,000). Other Old Master prints of note are an early, tonal impression of Adriaen Van Ostade's "The Quacksalve"r, etching and drypoint, 1648 ($5,000 to $8,000); Jean-Honoré Fragonard's "L'Armoire", etching, 1778 ($4,000 to $6,000); and a run of etchings by Giovanni B. Piranesi from his Vedute di Roma, among them "Veduta dell'Arco di Settimio Severo", 1772 ($3,000 to $5,000). A large selection of fine 19th-century prints includes Edouard Manet's very scarce lithograph "Guerre Civile", 1871-73 ($12,000 to $18,000); one of approximately 10 lifetime impressions of the sixth and final state of Camille Pissarro's masterful "Effet de pluie", etching and aquatint, 1879 ($40,000 to $60,000); Emile Bernard's scarce lithograph "Les Moissonneurs", with hand coloring in watercolor and gouache, 1889 ($5,000 to $8,000); Mary Cassatt's tender drypoint of "A Mother Nursing", circa 1890 ($7,000 to $10,000); Pierre Bonnard's "L'Enfant à la Lampe", color lithograph, circa 1897 ($12,000 to $18,000); the large version of Pierre-August Renoir's well known composition, "Le Chapeau Epinglé" (1re planche), lithograph from an edition of 50 printed in sanguine, 1897 ($30,000 to $50,000); and scarce lithographs by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, including a portrait of Cecy Loftus printed in dark olive green, 1894 ($10,000 to $15,000), and Au Hanneton, 1898 ($8,000 to $12,000). Rounding out the 19th-century section is a run of more than 20 prints by James A.M. Whistler, which include "Bibi Lalouette", etching and drypoint, 1859 ($6,000 to $9,000); Florence Leyland, scarce drypoint, circa 1873 ($10,000 to $15,000); and The Traghetto, No. 2, etching printed in dark brown on Japan paper, 1880 ($10,000 to $15,000). Featured American prints include Gustave Baumann's "Woodland Meadows" (Hillside Woods), color woodcut, 1917 ($8,000 to $12,000); Gerald L. Brockhurst's "Adolescence", etching, 1932 ($10,000 to $15,000); and Martin Lewis's desirable city views such as "Fifth Avenue Bridge", drypoint, 1928 ($10,000 to $15,000); "The Glow of the City", etching, 1929 ($15,000 to $20,000); "Spring Night, Greenwich Village", drypoint and sandpaper ground, 1930 ($15,000 to $20,000); "Manhattan Lights", drypoint, 1931 ($10,000 to $15,000); and "Chance Meeting", drypoint, 1940-41 ($8,000 to $12,000). The auction concludes with a section devoted to an equally attractive selection of modern European prints. German Expressionist examples include Käthe Kollwitz's Kopf einer Arbeiterfrau in Dreiviertelprofil nach rechts, scarce lithograph printed in dark brown ink, 1902-03 ($8,000 to $12,000); Emil Nolde's "Prinzess und Bettler", woodcut, 1906 ($5,000 to $8,000); Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Kniende Mädchenakt, etching and aquatint, circa 1908 ($10,000 to $15,000); and Max Beckmann's Der Ausrufer (Selbstbildnis), drypoint, 1921 ($10,000 to $15,000). A run of color lithographs by Marc Chagall includes the early "Le Carrousel du Louvre", 1954 ($8,000 to $12,000); a vibrant impression of "Le Cirque", 1967 ($30,000 to $50,000); Les Jeu des Arlequins, 1968 ($12,000 to $18,000); and a print after his "Les Cocquelicots", 1949 ($18,000 to $22,000). Featured Picassos range from an early drypoint, "Salome", 1905 ($12,000 to $18,000); and "Garçon et Dormeuse à la Chandelle", etching and aquatint, 1934 ($25,000 to $35,000); to "L'Espagnole", color linoleum cut, 1962 ($40,000 to $60,000); and many desirable after prints, such as "Pierrot et Arlequin", color pochoir, circa 1920 ($12,000 to $18,000); and "Hommage a la René Char" (Tète d'Homme), color lithograph, 1964 ($6,000 to $9,000). Other modern European prints of note include Jacques Villon's "Autre Temps": 1830, scarce color aquatint and drypoint with hand coloring, 1904 ($10,000 to $15,000); Paul Klee's "Die Hexe mit dem Kamm", lithograph, 1922 ($12,000 to $18,000); Henri Matisse's "Cage de perruches et les poissons rouges", scarce etching, 1929 ($15,000 to $20,000); Maurits Escher's "Up and Down", lithograph, 1947 ($20,000 to $30,000); and Joan Miró's "Figure and Bird", color lithograph, 1948 ($10,000 to $15,000). The first session of the auction, which offers Old Master and 19th Century Prints, will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 27. The afternoon session, comprising American and Modern European Prints, will begin at 2:30 p.m. The works of art will be on public exhibition at Swann Galleries on Thursday, April 22, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday, April 23, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, April 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Monday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visit : http://www.swanngalleries.com/index.cgi

Berkeley Art Museum surveys Enrique Chagoya 'Borderlandia' Posted: 02 May 2012 09:18 PM PDT BERKELEY, CA - The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is pleased to announce a major, twenty-five-year survey of work by Enrique Chagoya. The exhibition features more than seventy works—paintings, charcoal and pastel drawings, prints, and mixed-media codices (accordion-folded books)—that intermingle icons and cultural references spanning hundreds of years and thousands of miles. Enrique Chagoya: Borderlandia is on view at BAM/PFA through May 18, 2008.

Takashi Murakami retrospective at The Brooklyn Museum Posted: 02 May 2012 09:16 PM PDT   Brooklyn, NY - The most comprehensive retrospective to date of the work of internationally acclaimed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami includes more than ninety works in various media that span the artist's entire career, installed in more than 18,500 square feet of gallery space, at The Brooklyn Museum.  Born in Tokyo in 1962, Murakami is one of the most influential and acclaimed artists to have emerged from Asia in the late twentieth century, creating a wide-ranging body of work that consciously bridges fine art, design, animation, fashion, and popular culture.

The Morgan Lehman Gallery Shows New Watercolors by Laura Ball Posted: 02 May 2012 09:14 PM PDT New York City.- The Morgan Lehman Gallery is pleased to present "Animus", a solo exhibition of new watercolors by California based artist Laura Ball. Ball's work is rooted in the idea that deep within our unconscious minds, our faults, fears, struggles and strengths manifest themselves in corporeal form. The exhibition's title refers to the anima and animus, Jungian terms that describe the two primary archetypes of the unconscious mind. The anima is the archetypical male, and animus the female. It is through her work that Ball portrays the psychic journey of a mythic heroine. She freezes these moments in pigment, holding a mirror to our own strife and resilience. "Laura Ball: Animus" is now on view at the gallery.

Recent Work by Japanese Artist and Architect Yutaka Sone at David Zwirner Posted: 02 May 2012 09:13 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- David Zwirner presents an exhibition of recent work by Yutaka Sone, on view at the gallery's 533 West 19th Street space. This is the artist's fifth solo show since his first exhibition at the gallery in 1999.  Working in a wide range of media—predominantly sculpture but also painting, drawing, photography, video, and performance—Yutaka Sone's work revolves around a tension between realism and perfection. The artist originally trained as an architect and an almost obsessive attention to detail and its relationship to a larger whole underpin his practice at large. Whether architectural or natural, landscapes occur throughout the artist's oeuvre, and he frequently picks his subjects from actual locations—Hong Kong Island, Los Angeles highway junctions, a mountain range, a section of a rainforest, ski resorts, and his own backyard—recreating these to scale in paint, marble, and crystal, or using organic materials such as plants and soil.

Playboy Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Iconic Bunny with Exhibition Posted: 02 May 2012 09:12 PM PDT CHICAGO, IL.- Playboy Enterprises, Inc. and The Andy Warhol Museum invited more than 20 emerging and established artists to reinterpret the iconic Playboy Bunny in a variety of mediums for "Playboy Redux: Contemporary Artists Interpret the Iconic Playboy Bunny", a new exhibition that will open at the Pittsburgh museum on March 27, 2010. This new exhibition is part of Playboy's global, year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Playboy Bunny and Playboy Clubs. Playboy will also commemorate the milestone with 50 Playboy Club parties in 50 cities, all held on one night, and newly-designed Playboy apparel. Twenty-five artists, hailing from the fine art gallery world to the underground art scene, were invited to use the Playboy Bunny as their muse and have reinterpreted the Bunny's image, ideals and cultural impact through their own artwork. The resultant exhibition, Playboy Redux, includes a broad variety of interpretations in mediums including painting, drawing, sculpture, video and photography. Co-curated by Aaron Baker, Eric C. Shiner and Ned West, the exhibition features works from a diverse group of artists, including: Scott Anderson, Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Zoe Charlton, Ain Cocke, Brian Ewing, Brendan Fernandes, Jeremy Fish, Moyna Flannigan, Latoya Ruby Frazier, Chitra Ganesh, Ludovica Gioscia, Jeremy Kost, Frank Kozik, Simone Leigh, Kalup Linzy, Tara McPherson, Hiroki Otsuka, Shag (Josh Agle), SEEN, Seth Scriver, Andrew Schoultz, Vadis Turner, Saya Woolfalk and O Zhang. "The Playboy Bunnies, with their recognizable costumes and sexy sophistication, help bring the Playboy brand to life," said Aaron Baker, curator and business development director, Playboy Art. "We're thrilled to partner with The Andy Warhol Museum and these 25 talented artists to celebrate and honor the beloved Playboy Bunnies in a fresh, unique way." This new exhibition represents an extension of Playboy's longstanding relationship with Andy Warhol. The artist's work was featured in Playboy magazine several times during his lifetime, including a January 1986 cover featuring the revered Rabbit Head Logo and a Polaroid pictorial in the August 1976 issue. Playboy Redux will include additional materials that give context to the connection between the Bunny and Andy Warhol, including one of Warhol's four paintings of the Rabbit Head Logo; a video, which provides rare footage from Playboy Clubs in the 1960s; and archival objects and images from both Warhol's personal collection and the Playboy Archives. The Bunny-inspired exhibition will open on March 27, 2010 at 9:00 p.m. with a Playboy Pajama Party event at The Andy Warhol Museum. Bunny-clad Playmates Laurie Fetter and Lindsey Vuolo will be onsite to kickoff the party in true Playboy fashion, and guests will enjoy music from Pittsburgh's own DJ Zombo, photos with the Playmates, appetizers and a full bar. Tickets will be available at the door for: $35 for opening party and 8:00 p.m. lecture (Warhol's Fight with Brigid Berlin, Charles Rydell & Vincent Fremont); $20 for opening party; and $15 for opening party for Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh members and students. Tickets are also available in advance by calling or by visiting www.ticketweb.com. Historical Background Originally opening to the public on February 29, 1960 in Chicago, the Playboy Clubs quickly became the embodiment of sexy sophistication and one of the world's most-successful night club chains. The famous venues, which were home to the iconic Playboy Bunnies, allowed key holders to enjoy performances by some of the era's biggest names in entertainment, including Steve Allen, Ann Margaret, the Count Basie Orchestra, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, George Carlin, Ray Charles, Bill Cosby, Bob Hope, Steve Martin, Bette Midler, Ginger Rogers, the Smothers Brothers, Mel Torme and Muddy Waters. The original Bunny Costume, worn by more than 25,000 working Playboy Bunnies over the years, was created for female staff at the first Playboy Club and started as a modified one-piece swimsuit. The Bunny Costume, recognizable for its satin bodice, cotton tail and rabbit ears, went on to become the first uniform to be issued a trademark registration by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Before they launched their careers, actresses Lauren Hutton, Julie Cobb, Lynne Moody, Sherilyn Fenn, Susan Sullivan, Jackie Zeman, Maria Richwine and Barbara Bosson all worked as Bunnies, as did rock star Deborah Harry. As one of the world's most-recognized uniforms, the Playboy Bunny Costume was redesigned in 2006 by Roberto Cavalli for the Playboy Club Las Vegas Bunnies and Playboy Club Celebrity Dealers, including Jenny McCarthy and Carmen Electra.

Princeton Art Museum Announces Gauguin Woodblock Prints Exhibition Posted: 02 May 2012 09:10 PM PDT PRINCETON, NJ.- The Princeton University Art Museum will launch its fall 2010 season with an exhibition it is originating, Gauguin's Paradise Remembered: The Noa Noa Prints (September 25, 2010—January 2, 2011), the first comprehensive look at this pivotal woodcut series. Paul Gauguin's Paradise Remembered posits a new way of understanding a key body of work within the artist's career, and by extension a new way of understanding this vital post-Impressionist artist.

Corey Helford Gallery to Show Buff Monster's "Legend of the Pink Cherry" Posted: 02 May 2012 09:09 PM PDT Los Angeles, California. On Saturday, April 14th, Los Angeles street artist Buff Monster returns to Corey Helford Gallery to unveil the "Legend of the Pink Cherry," his fifth solo exhibition at the gallery and his most ambitious to date. there will be an opening reception on Saturday, April 14th from 7 to 10 pm, and the exhibition will remain on view through May 5th. Internationally known for his super bright, happy, and bold imagery, the paintings in the main gallery will celebrate the last eleven years of Buff Monster's career, culminating in a timeless epic tale of good vs. evil. For the "Legend of the Pink Cherry," the artist draws inspiration from Renaissance paintings. Buff Monster will introduce his latest creamy creation, a soft serve ice cream cone with human-like arms and legs. Each acrylic-on-wood panel piece in the show is delicately rendered with airbrush, a first for the artist. Buff Monster's narratives are more character and figure-based than before, and the series of paintings created for the exhibition will also reveal a new direction in Buff Monster's career. "I've always thought of my work as inspired by and representative of Los Angeles—Hollywood more specifically. Los Angeles is the birthplace of Buff Monster. Part of why I feel compelled to tie everything together is that I feel that this chapter of my life and my work is coming to an end, and I'm looking to the future. It's time to go East."

Contemporary Indian Art Exhibition at The Helsinki City Art Museum Posted: 02 May 2012 09:07 PM PDT Helsinki, Finland - A new exhibition of Indian contemporary art opens at the Helsinki City Art Museum on Friday March 4 and is open until May 29.. The exhibition is a joint production between the museum and Kulturhuset in Stockholm. The exhibition, called "Concurrent India 4", shows works from a cohort of artists inspired by the changing environment in their home country. Indian society now has a growing middle class and increasing urbanisation, two things that have changed life for many marginalised Indians. Subjects covered by the exhibition include the role of female saints and transexuals, and the materials used to construct dwellings in slums. Hema Uphadyay is exhibiting a range of works made from aluminium, which is common in slums.

Metropolitan Museum of Art to show Exhibition Based on the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection Posted: 02 May 2012 09:05 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- The spring 2010 exhibition organized by The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity, the first drawn exclusively from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Met. The exhibition, on view from May 5 through August 15, 2010 (preceded on May 3 by The Costume Institute Gala Benefit), will explore developing perceptions of the modern American woman from 1890 to 1940, and how they have affected the way American women are seen today. Focusing on archetypes of American femininity through dress, the exhibition will reveal how the American woman initiated style revolutions that mirrored her social, political, and sexual emancipation. "Gibson Girls" and "Screen Sirens" laid the foundation for today's American woman – a theme that will be explored in a video installation. To celebrate the opening of the exhibition, the Museum's Costume Institute Gala Benefit will take place on Monday, May 3, 2010. The evening's Co-Chairs will be Oprah Winfrey; Patrick Robinson, designer for Gap; and Anna Wintour, Editor-in- Chief of Vogue. This fundraising event is The Costume Institute's main source of annual funding for exhibitions, operations, and capital improvements. "The ideal of the American woman evolved from a dependence on European, Old World ideas of elegance into an independent New World sensibility that reflected freedoms still associated with American women today," said Andrew Bolton, Curator of The Costume Institute. "The show will look at fashion's role in defining how American women have been represented historically, and how fashion costumes women into archetypes that still persist in varying degrees of relevance." Exhibition Overview The exhibition will feature approximately 75 examples of haute couture and high fashion from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was transferred to the Met from the Brooklyn Museum in January 2009. Many of the pieces have not been seen by the public in more than 30 years. Visitors will walk through time as they enter circular galleries that reflect the milieu of each feminine archetype. Period clothing will be brought to life with panoramas animated by music, video, and lighting. The first gallery will evoke the ballroom of the "Heiress" (1890s), filled with ball gowns by Charles Frederick Worth. Scenes of the great outdoors will showcase the athleticism and physical independence of the "Gibson Girl" (1890s) as characterized by bathing costumes, riding ensembles, and cycling suits. Picture galleries in connecting corridors will put faces to the archetypes and demonstrate how the gradual emancipation of the American woman was reflected in the media of the day. The "Heiress," embodied by Consuelo Vanderbilt and others, will be seen in oil paintings; the "Gibson Girl" in fashion illustrations; the art-collecting "Bohemian" (early 1900s) in photographs of Rita Lydig; and the "Suffragist" (1910s) in poster art showing Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and others. Photographs of "Flappers" (1920s) such as Clara Bow and Louise Brooks will precede galleries showing beaded chemise dresses by Lanvin and Molyneux, among others. Filmic representations of the "Screen Siren" (1930s) will herald a nightclub scene that will include body-cleaving, second-skin bias-cut gowns, including the Siren dress designed by Charles James and worn by Gypsy Rose Lee. In the final gallery, a video installation will demonstrate the significance of contemporary archetypes and the media's role in sustaining them despite the multi-dimensionality of the modern American woman. Designers in the exhibition will include Travis Banton, Gabrielle Chanel, Callot Soeurs, Madame Eta, Elizabeth Hawes, Madame Grès, Charles James, Jeanne Lanvin, Liberty & Company, Edward Molyneux, Paul Poiret, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jessie Franklin Turner, Valentina, Madeleine Vionnet, Weeks, Charles Frederick Worth, and Jean-Philippe Worth, among others. A simultaneous exhibition of masterworks from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection will be presented at the Brooklyn Museum from May 7 – August 1, 2010. American Style: Fashioning a National Collection will take a look at historic designs of the 19th and 20th century by designers including Charles James, Norman Norell, Jeanne Paquin, and Elsa Schiaparelli collected by prominent women including Dominique de Menil, Millicent Rogers, and Lauren Bacall. Many of the objects have never been previously exhibited. This exhibition will be organized by Jan Glier Reeder, Consulting Curator of the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum exhibition is organized by Andrew Bolton, Curator, with the support of Harold Koda, Curator in Charge, both of the Met's Costume Institute. Nathan Crowley, a production designer of films including The Prestige, The Dark Knight, and Public Enemies will serve as the exhibition's creative consultant, as he did for the 2008 exhibition Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. The design for the 2010 Costume Institute Gala Benefit will be created by Nathan Crowley with Raul Avila. Visit : http://www.metmuseum.org/

Online Followers Participate in Brooklyn Museum's Latest Exhibition "Split Second" Posted: 02 May 2012 09:03 PM PDT BROOKLYN, NY.- Split Second invited the Brooklyn Museum's online community to participate in a project that resulted in a small installation of Indian paintings from the Museum's permanent collection. Taking its inspiration from the critically acclaimed book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell, this online experiment and resulting installation explores how our initial reaction to a work of art is affected by what we know, what we're asked, and what we're told about the object in question.

New Works by British-born Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare MBE at James Cohan Gallery Posted: 02 May 2012 09:01 PM PDT NEW YORK.- James Cohan Gallery presents an exhibition of new works by British-born Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare MBE running through March 24th. In this multi-part exhibition of new sculptures, photoworks and the premiere of a new film, Shonibare explores the concept of destiny as it relates to themes of desire, yearning, love, power and sexual repression. Yinka Shonibare, well known for creating multi-faceted conceptual art work, continues to draw our attention to patterns of history and how they are repeated in our own time. Following the installation of the artist's widely acclaimed work Nelson's Ship in a Bottle on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, London, Shonibare continues his explorations of Lord Nelson, the figurehead of the British Empire at its apotheosis. Nelson's destiny was to fall a hero at the Battle of Trafalgar just as the British Empire's ultimate destiny became its inevitable demise. Shonibare sees a similar fate reflected on the front pages of today's newspapers: "The Imperial West is in decline at a time of great economic challenges as we see the rise of the East. The old world is in decline and new worlds are emerging through the economic successes of China and India and the revolutions in the Arab world. We are re-experiencing a new Age of the 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'."

GALLERY SOULFLOWER hosts ' HERE~THERE~NOW ' Posted: 02 May 2012 08:58 PM PDT   Bangkok, Thailand - Gallery Soulflower is very pleased to announce the launch of the monograph Here There Now: Contemporary Art from India in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title. Brian Curtin is the author of the monograph and curator of the exhibition. On exhibition until 3 November, 2007.

Yue Minjun's Recent Works at The Pace Gallery in Beijing Posted: 02 May 2012 08:54 PM PDT BEIJING.- The Pace Gallery, Beijing presents an exhibition of Yue Minjun's recent works in cooperation with Robb Report. The exhibition, entitled The Road, is the leading Chinese contemporary artist's first solo exhibition in the Pace Gallery, Beijing. The exhibition is on from June 11th through July 16th. More than two decades into his artistic career, Yue is still smiling at the world as he sees it. His trademark "Smile" symbol, the playful, mocking hallmark of the artist's cynical realist style, conceals within it a spirit that's sometimes stubborn and fragile. On exhibition until July 16th at the Pace Gallery in Beijing, China. By mocking his subject's nihility, he stands apart from - and in judgment of - it in a unique way. Despite the world changing around him, Yue's distinctive style hasn't changed much. So should our understanding of his work change? If the object of the "Smile" has changed, should there be some shift in the feel of the "Smile" itself? Or could it be that nothing changed at all? In his newest exhibition, Yue's work takes on Christian forms. The strength of Western culture has pushed more than a few Chinese people into an existence stripped of its cultural core, making them into nomads, wandering in the space between two cultures. By altering the semantic relationships between the people and space in the original works, the works seem almost to dissolve away, neatly avoiding the contradictions and embarrassment inherent to any collision between two cultures. As the curator Leng Lin stated, "Confronted with something you don't completely understand, a smile can mean rejection, or confusion. But it can also mean inclusion and acceptance." Yue Minjun Yue Minjun (b. 1962, Heilongjiang, China) has been quoted as saying he "always found laughter irresistible." Best known for his oil paintings depicting himself with his trademark smile, Yue is a leading figure in the Chinese contemporary art scene. He has exhibited widely and is recognized as one of the breakout stars of his generation. The artist currently lives and works in Beijing. In his earlier work, surrealism had an especially strong influence on him. His self-portraits from the 1990s were the first to depict his easy, automatic smile, but the figures warmth masked underlying emotions. The smile became a mask as the paintings' complexities were played out in the figures' arrangements or poses. His work became further influenced by western art history as he began arranging his figures in poses or settings reminiscent of the masterpieces. Yue has also been continuing his Scene series in which his removes figures from historical Chinese socialist paintings and well-known western paintings. "In typical socialist paintings in China looked very realistic but were indeed surreal. They served for heroic fantasies, and the images of great people or the heroes in the paintings could well justify the fabricated scenes." Yue Minjun has shown internationally including The Archeological Discovery in AD3009 at ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus; Half-life of a Dream: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Logan Collection at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; solo museum exhibition Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile (2007 – 2008) at Queens Museum of Art, Queens, New York; The Reproduction of Idols: Yue Minjun Works, 2004-2006 (2006) at the He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China. He has also been included in the 2008 and 2004 Shanghai Biennales, and the 48th Venice Biennale, Venice (1999). Visit The Pace Gallery at : http://www.pacebeijing.com/

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 02 May 2012 08:53 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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