Articles

Sotheby’s Hong Kong autumn 2015 sale series to take place from 3 to 7 October.

German sculptor Stephan Balkenhol just finished his work on a large outdoor sculpture. The larger-than-life figure represents a kneeling but upward looking man dressed in a white shirt and black trousers. It is 5.70 metres high and weighs nearly 3 tons. Originally Balkenhol had designed the figure for the Freedom and Unity Monument in Berlin in 2010.

Marco Godoy (Madrid 1986) understands his artistic practice as a way to find spaces from which to redefine social and political events. His works are linked to protest and political art, but the aesthetics and mediums he uses present new approaches from which to address specific topics.

Those who like adventure with their art are currently well served at Ambika P3, that vast space for the University of Westminster in North London. Visitors follow bright signs to a sex club, indeed an Alien Sex Club. Passing through a towering veil of coloured organza, you are then invited to lose yourself in an array of boarded passages and darkened cells.

Beyond the canvas posters of Swiss-French designer and architect Le Corbusier, the Pompidou’s idiosyncratic building in central Paris also plays host to a retrospective styled exhibition of Beirut born, London and Berlin based artist Mona Hatoum. Whose work has since the early 1980’s been concerned with the trappings of control; as it proved the invasive ingredient for her Palestinian up-bringing. Leaving Lebanon for London in 1975 as a consequence of civil war, Hatoum’s work draws attention to the lives and landscapes of those permanently under seize and out of place.

In the heart of Brussels, a novel yet self-evident approach to art appreciation is taking place at Maison Particulière. The Maison is not a museum – there is no collection; it is not a gallery – nothing is for sale. Rather, Maison Particulière is a private residence that houses temporary exhibits. It is a home for art, where art lovers can feel at home.

Contemporary artist and activist Ai Weiwei made a photo of himself holding his Chinese passport on his Instagram account earlier today. Chinese artist and dissident wrote, “Today I got my passport.”

Whereas the early works of Russian artist Alexey Kallima stand out for their political overtones, his latest series (“Audience”) focuses on one simple and universal feature: the smile. The series, previously on show at Regina Gallery in Moscow, contained 65 portraits of smiling people. Kallima argues that the smile represents an emotion that is somehow missing in real life – through his work he therefore aims to draw the viewer into a form of involuntary therapy, resulting in the normalization of disturbed vital processes and a recovery towards a positive state.

It is one of London’s few, if not only, art galleries with a political programme. And from its premises on a run down estate in the East End, waterside contemporary has promoted sales for a group of international artists - such as Karen Mirza & Brad Butler, Nikita Kadan, and Oreet Ashery - who all share a sense of social engagement. And what these broadly leftist artists also share is a less than straightforward approach to the market. That’s where curator, director and dealer Pierre d’Alancaisez steps in, finding new markets for his opponents of capitalism.

On July 14, 2015 the United States became the first country to reach Pluto -- and the first country to explore the entire classical solar system: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

The Mediterranean region lies at the core of the main and parallel programme of the forthcoming 5th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, which will be held from June 23 until September 30, 2015, in Thessaloniki, as the last segment of a three part program which began in 2011, under the general title “Old Intersections-Make it New”.

“Making money is art. And working is art. And good business is the best art” Andy Warhol. The dollar ($) is perhaps the most widely-recognised and potent symbol of our time, a shorthand for wealth, power and the American Dream. On 1 and 2 July 2015, Sotheby's offers a museum-quality private collection which explores how this iconic motif has provided such a rich source of inspiration for contemporary artists over the last sixty years.

The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Government of Moscow, VDNKh and the Moscow Biennale Foundation present the 6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art How to Gather? Acting in a Center in a City in the Heart of the Island of Eurasia, which takes place from September 22 to November 1, 2015 at VDNKh. The Biennale will take place over ten days, and then a documentary exhibition about it will be presented for the duration of the following month.

"Works of art are sometimes a focus for the larger discomforts in society. My 'Dirty Corner' at Versailles has such a fate. It has been reviled in the press as the “Queen’s vagina” or the “vagina on the lawn” and has seemingly given offence to certain people of the extreme political right wing in France."

As an orator and ambassador for contemporary African art, Sindika Dokolo eases into the role with such accomplished ease, that his ability to win you over is second only to the strength of the works in his collection. Eloquent in three languages, and tirelessly ambitious for the future of what he holds in his hands; Dokolo describes his intentions for the artworks he has as being very different from other blue-chip collectors. Geared by his own determination to re-write African history, he sees the collection as a vehicle for cultivating cultural upheaval. As he says “I like the fact that we don’t institutionalise ourselves. We don’t see ourselves as an important institution, because somehow we lose some freshness, and sharpness (if we were to do that). I like us to always to be at the limit, at the edge, and outside of our comfort zone.”

PHOTOGRAPHS, ICONS & STYLE on Christie's, Paris on 30 June 2015.

The 14th Istanbul Biennial SALTWATER: A Theory of Thought Forms, drafted by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, will open to the public from 5 September to 1 November 2015 in over 30 venues on the European and Asian sides of the Bosphorus, from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, from Beyoğlu to Büyükada, from Rumelifeneri to the old city and from Şişli to Kadıköy. "Salty is the water of our tears, yet salt heals many illnesses and expresses the desires of charged ions, reassembling molecules into salt crystals, without which there would be no life on the planet..."

Paulette Tavormina is an American fine art photographer, known for her body of work in the genre of still life photography. She began her journey in photography after attending black and white photography and darkroom technique classes while living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the early 1990s. Fascinated by the magical appearance of an image on a piece of paper bathed in chemicals, Paulette began to experiment with a wide range of photography styles. After studying studio lighting, she began photographing historic Indian pottery and Navajo jewelry. Her interest in lighting and composition later led her to work as a photo stylist for cookbooks and a prop and food specialist for Hollywood motion pictures, such as The Perfect Storm, Nixon and Astronaut’s Wife.

Francis Bacon’s legendary Study For a Pope I Estimated £25-35 million will Lead the Highest Valued Auction of Contemporary Art Ever Staged in London. Pre-sale estimate: £143.2m-204.6m / $230.3 – 328.9m.

Pravdoliub Ivanov is a Bulgarian artist who confronts the creative process and enjoys not only the resulting material, but also the relations which arise with its creation and its perception by the public. The clashing of views, innovative approaches, the breaking of stereotypes - this is what constitutes the essence of the artist’s work. When confronted with the installations of Pravdoliub the world turns upside down, and the usual conventional balance is distorted.