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Artnet News 10/5/00 |
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COPS HAUNT GRAFITTI SHOW? As avant-garde SoHo art dealer Jeffrey Deitch prepared to open "Street Market," a show by grafitti artists Barry McGee, Todd James and Stephen Powers at his 18 Wooster Street space on Thursday, Oct. 5, word was out that one of the artists -- James, who goes by the street name Reas -- had been arrested along with another writer, Amaze (who is not in the show). An occupational hazard, perhaps, but art lovers fear that the other two artists, who are otherwise known as Espo (Powers) and Twist (McGee), are also to be grabbed by the cops when they show up at tonight's opening. "It seems that the police anti-graf squad is fully apprised of this exhibition," said one observer, " and is just waiting for the artists to step forward to take claim for their crimes." Espo would seem to be a particular target as author of the graffiti tome The Art of Getting Over, which, upon its publication by St. Martin's Press prompted New York's finest to storm his studio, confiscate his art as evidence and arrest him on the spot. Deitch was reportedly planning a big street party with rappers as part of the opening -- just the sort of thing that encourages the guardians of public order to do their duty. Stay tuned. STRONG SALES AT ART FORUM BERLIN Attendance was modest at the fifth annual Art Forum Berlin art fair, Sept. 27-Oct. 1, but the dealers weren't complaining -- collectors showed up and apparently couldn't resist the cutting-edge wares. "I bought a lot more than I expected to, from galleries in Leipzig, Berlin and Los Angeles," said Chicago megacollector Lewis Manilow. According to the fair management, which surveyed the 159 participating galleries, 86 per cent of exhibitors reported sales during the fair. The 24-year-old New York gallery owner Leo Koenig sold virtually everything in his stand by the end of the second day, including works by Lisa Ruyter ($9,000 and $6,000), Jean-Michel Basquiat ($27,000), two works by Erik Parker ($7,500) and an installation by Aidas Bareikis for $8,500. Hans Mayer gallery from Düsseldorf sold a large, 25-channel video projection by Tony Oursler for $100,000. Mayer also sold Shirin Neshat's four-part video installation, The Shadow under the Web, and E.V. Day's Black Bombshell "exploding dress" installation. Gagosian Gallery, at the fair for the first time, sold two large photographs of a performance by Vanessa Beecroft for $25,000 each, as well as a video by the same artist. One of the photos went to the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. Other sales included a LAPD Uniform by Chris Burden at $45,000, a work by Gilbert & George, a painting by Cecily Brown and three photographic works by Douglas Gordon. Other notable sales included a Stefan Balkenhol sculpture of a turkey at Mai 36 for DM 42,000; a Jessica Stockholder sculpture for $22,000 at Nächst St. Stephan. DUMBO ART UNDER THE BRIDGE FESTIVAL 2000 Hot on the heels of Williamsburg's highly successful "Elsewhere" art bash, the DUMBO Arts Center (DAC) presents the fourth annual "D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival," Oct. 13-15. D.U.M.B.O., which stands for "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass," is an industrial area on the Brooklyn waterfront long popular with artists for its cheap rents and its many lofts. The three-day fest features performances and events in galleries and in the streets, as well as hundreds of open studios. Among the openings on Oct. 13:
Other highlights include the live musicians and guest DJs of Afrobeat in Brooklyn at 55 Washington St. on Oct. 14; local artists painting the nude in "Live Action Painting," plus a follow-up auction sponsored by MAC Cosmetics on Oct 14; and Michael Wiener's I Am the DUMBO Town Crier performance at the loading dock on Oct. 15, which promises to report "How much so and so's piece sold for and who's fucking who!" Visit the DAC website for more details. BROOKS TO PLEAD GUILTY Former Sotheby's president and chief executive Diana D. Brooks has agreed to enter a guilty plea to felony antitrust charges today, according to press reports. Brooks faces three years in federal prison and fines as high as $350,000, the reports say, and could be called to testify against A. Alfred Taubman in any forthcoming trial. Brooks' sentencing will not be decided until after her testimony. In other developments, Sotheby's has also agreed to plead guilty to government antitrust charges and pay a fine of $45 million spread over five years to settle the federal case. Plus, a federal judge has ordered Christie's to provide Taubman with details of documents belonging to former chief executive Christopher Davidge. MAJOR DARGER ACQUISITION FOR THE MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART The Museum of American Folk Art has acquired an extensive group of paintings, books and archival material by self-taught artist Henry Darger from Kiyoko Lerner, widow of photographer Nathan Lerner, who first discovered Darger's work. The acquisition includes 22 watercolors, the complete manuscripts of Darger's three books -- including the 12-volume, 15,000 page The Story of the Vivian Girls, in what is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion -- the five book Weather Journal and the 5,000 page, eight-volume History of My Life. The deal makes the New York-based museum the single largest public repository of the artist's ouvre. The work will be exhibited next year in the museum's new building at 45 West 53rd St. The museum has also established the Henry Darger Study Center, slated to open at the end of 2001. MANET STILL LIFE PAINTINGS AT MUSÉE D'ORSAY The Musée d'Orsay in Paris presents "Manet: The Still-Life Paintings," the first major survey on the subject, Oct. 9, 2000-Jan. 7, 2001. The exhibition, organized in conjunction with the American Federation of Arts, features nearly half of the artist's 80 paintings dedicated to still life (a full fifth of his ouvre), as well as a selection of works on paper. The show travels to Baltimore's Walters Art Gallery, its only U.S. destination, Jan. 28-Apr. 22, 2001. LUCE CENTER TO OPEN The Luce Center for the Study of American Culture opens to the public Nov. 17 at the New-York Historical Society. Designed by architectural firm Beyer Blinder Belle, the 21,000-square-foot gallery features 40,000 relics, ranging from painting and sculpture to furniture, ceramics, glass and silver. The high-tech center features celebrity audio tours, rotating exhibitions and computer kiosks and palm pilot scanners with information regarding the displays. EYEBEAM ATELIER TO BUILD IN CHELSEA? Eyebeam Atelier, the SoHo-based digital brainchild of Johnson & Johnson heir John Johnson, has announced an architecture design competition for a new $40-million, 90,000-square-foot headquarters on West 21st Street in Chelsea. The building is slated to house a museum of art and technology, art studios, classrooms, a theater, a café and a bookstore. Construction is projected to begin in 2002. But don't hold your breath. As reported in Artnet News, the digital dream was first announced over two years ago and was supposed to open last spring. FULBRIGHT FOREIGN SCHOLARSHIP Money for artists! The deadline for the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship is Oct. 25. The program provides grants for professional development to U.S. artists of all disciplines who have completed four years of relevant training. The program provides round-trip international travel, maintenance for the duration of the grant and supplemental health and accident insurance. For more information, contact the Institute of International Education at (212) 984-5327, or visit its website. CARTWRIGHT TO THE HOOD Musée d'Art Américain director Derrick Cartwright has been appointed the new director of the Hood Museum of Art at Darmouth College, effective Jan. 2001. Cartwright succeeds Timothy Rub, who became director of the Cincinnati Art Museum last year. DUTCH PAINTING COMES ALIVE AT MET Canadian performance artist Devora Neumark will be at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Nov. 12 in period costume representing the seated character in Dutch painter Gerard ter Borch's Curiosity (ca. 1660) and waiting to roam away into Central Park to engage in conversation with visitors who approach her. The intervention, which aims to comment on the relationship between the spectacle and the spectator, has been commissioned by the Franklin Furnace Performance Art Fund. -- compiled by Giovanni Garcia-Fenech
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