“Long winter for Old Masters” headlined the Financial Times’ Collecting section this past weekend, referring to the bad performances of London Old Master auctions the previous week. Although Georgina Adam is right in making this statement, what isn’t mentioned is the serious lack of good quality paintings on offer, the ridiculously high estimates given by auction house experts, and a headline lot failing to sell because of authenticity concerns.
It is quite something to be able to celebrate five decades of work by a living artist, but that is exactly what the Lisson Gallery will be doing at Frieze Masters with a solo booth showcasing brightly colored, minimalist paintings of Carmen Herrera who is 100 years old this year.
This is not really a new story, but it feels fitting to start of a Monday, beginning of a week, a month and the summer. Mehdi Ghadyanloo has been decorating Tehran's high-rises and office buildings for eight years now, and reportedly painted over one hundred walls! His surrealist dream-like scenes beautifully complements the minimalistic architectural spaces that are often left blank and grey.
It is now almost here! the newest and largest addition to the Soho House group will be Istanbul this winter. The members club shared the progress with images today with its member community. There was also a small informal BBQ hosted at Shoreditch House to introduce the new club which will have a members-only section but also open to all visitors.
If you remember, MoMA had a big expansion just back in 2002 which had the museum move to Queens temporarily until it was re-opened to the public in September 2004. There were critics of that expansion too and the Guardian's Michael Wolf tells you why he thinks "...it is really too late for MoMA. The damage is done. Glenn D Lowry is the villain of the piece" because "The intimate, jewel-like space has become a standard-issue institutional structure, more suited to a corporate headquarters in Los Angeles or Dallas." Read the rest of his article here.
Elmgreen & Dragset new brilliant installation, "Tomorrow" at the Victoria & Albert Museum, is a reconstruction of the apartment of a fictional character, Norman. Here we have Norman's home, we can walk around at this grand South Kensington apartment setting, and touch the items once belonging to the 75-year-old failed architect, and examine his unrealized models in his study. It is no surprise that the V&A directors extended an invitation to the artist duo after seeing their similar work Collectors at the 2009 Venice Biennale. Watch this informative interview with the artists discussing their works, including this new installation.
http://vimeo.com/74735390
http://vimeo.com/74033442 Filmmaker Anthony Cerniello created this really cool video of a face aging 60 years in five minutes. Cerniello used tons of photographs that were taken of similar looking family members at a family reunion last Thanksgiving at his friend Danielle's. Talking about his project, Cerniello says "I attempted to create a person in order to emulate the aging process. The idea was that something is happening but you can't see it but you can feel it, like aging itself." The final result is quite remarkable. If you pause the video at any minute, it looks like a plain portrait as the transitions are slow enough that one is only vaguely aware of anything happening. But be patient and watch the whole thing from beginning to end - you won't be disappointed.
