Koons+Joannou= NEW

Dakis Joannou Collection Comes to the New Museum
Jeff Koons to Curate the Exhibition

New York, New York…The Dakis Joannou Collection will come to the New Museum in late February 2010. Artist Jeff Koons will curate the exhibition which will take over the entire Museum. This is the first time that Joannou's collection will be seen in the United States.

Dakis Joannou - a New Museum Trustee based in Athens - has worked closely with artists and curators over three decades to assemble an unparalleled collection of iconic works of art that reflect his distinctive passion and fervor. Curated exhibitions from the collection have been presented at Joannou's Deste Foundation in Athens since the late 1980's. The collection contains major holdings of works by Pawel Althamer, Maurizio Cattelan, Nathalie Djurberg, Urs Fischer, Robert Gober, Jeff Koons, Chris Ofili, Charles Ray, Kiki Smith, and Kara Walker, among many others.

Koons and Joannou have had a close association and friendship for nearly three decades, and a large concentration of Koons' work from all periods is at the center of the collection. Engaging Jeff Koons as a curator reflects the kinds of ongoing conversations with artists that have inspired and animated Joannou's collection from the start. In this role, Koons' curatorial and artistic vision will bring a fresh perspective to the collection and to the works on view.

The Dakis Joannou Collection has previously been shown at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Kunsthalle, Vienna; and the MUMOK, Vienna.

This presentation inaugurates a new exhibition series at the New Museum, "The Imaginary Museum," which will periodically showcase leading private collections of contemporary art from around the world, providing the opportunity for rarely seen great works of art to be accessible to the public, while experimenting with adventurous curatorial formats.

Check out www.newmuseum.org

Thanks New York Magazine...

Art 21 : trailer for Season 5

Although Reading Rainbow is officially over, I can't wait for PBS' Art 21 Season 5 to premiere this October. Great interviews with artists Mary Heilmann, William Kentridge, and Yinka Shonibare MBE, and so many more. Eventually I'll be hosting outdoor screenings and pot luck discussions at our Echo Park manor of past Art 21 episodes and interviews- (once we get our movie screen built). But Thank You OH SO MUCH PBS for contributing to contemporary art... and growing old with me.

Warhol Paintings Kidnapped-Maroon Colored Van

Prominent art collector, Richard L. Weisman reported to the LAPD on September 3, that several paintings by Andy Warhol were lifted from his home in Los Angeles. The abduction of Weisman's Warhol collection was a clean heist of eleven large canvas paintings. The LA times reported, "Police have no immediate leads or suspects other than a vague description of a maroon-colored van that, according to a witness, might have been in the driveway about the time of the theft." There is a $1 million dollar reward for the recovery of the collection, so when you're on the road- pay attention to any suspicious Art Theiving maroon colored vans- cause this ain't no Amber Alert, these are Warhols.

For more information Los Angeles Times
Andy Warhol
"The Athletes" 1970's series

Missing from the collection

Hot Bod: Mapplethorpe and Michaelangelo

At the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy in a tremendous exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe's nude, still life, and portraiture photography is presented as a complementary influence from that of Michaelangelo's famous drawings and sculptures. For the first time, the museum is displaying contemporary fine art and photography in conjunction with the old master's works, integrating the relationship of the iconic and perfected sculpture of David.

The exhibition's conversation of photography and sculpture as mediums, but the main focus on the evaluation of form is a mere glimpse of two artist speaking one language of art. From the exhibition, Mapplethorpe’s own words explicitly state his thought in this regard: “I look for perfection in form … I am trying to capture what could be sculpture”. Both artist have achieved a sense of balance and beauty in their craft allowing traditional and formal art training to succeed in a contemporary time. Moreover, the photographer himself confessed his fascination for the art of Michelangelo, even stating: “If I had been born one hundred or two hundred years ago, I might have been a sculptor, but photography is a very quick way to see, to make sculpture”.

Exhibiton closes September 27th, but check out the video to get a close look .

The Perfection in Form.

Artist Bruce Nauman skywrites over Pasadena

Artist Bruce Nauman skywrites over Pasadena

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Before You Lose Your Head

...And before it's too late, head to the Brooklyn Museum this weekend!! The closing exhibition of UK-Nigerian Artist, Yinka Shonibare MBE, generates a vibrant approach to discussing the social colonization and collisions of the Western World and those of his bi- cultural influences. Shonibare's headless installation provides a sense of violence and humor while investigating the relativity of racial history and stereotypes. So if you're in Brooklyn- Shonibare is not to be missed!!!



























Check out the behind the scene photos of the Yinka Shonibare MBE's installation on Flickr: Brooklyn Museum Installation

Also currently on view at the Newark Museum of Art is a special commission by Shonibare in celebration of the Museum's Centennial, entitled Party Time: Re-imagine America. This major site-specific installation, set in the mahogany-paneled dining room of the Ballantine House, will be on display until March 1, 2010.

More of Yinka Shonibare MBE's exhibitions can be seen at James Cohan gallery

Walker and Wire

If you liked tv series "The Wire", here is a nice video slide of artist Kara Walker's pieces accompanied with "Down in the Hole" theme song.

when the stars align, there will be light

Upon my return to Los Angeles, I'm so eager to rendez vous in the art of gallery jaunting and Artwalks. This coming weekend is pretty much jam packed with all my favorites, artists who showed within the past 2 years are all in rotation and are in the September limelight. There is much to celebrate and congregate about, the energy is far more vibrant these days at openings. With a bittersweet feeling, head to Bergamot Station for a full load of openings, free wine, scenesters of all sorts, but always a good time.

Showing at Richard Heller gallery- Charlie Roberts.


Showing at Patrick Painter- West Gallery : Francesca Gabbiani






If you wander midtown head to Ace Gallery and Regen Projects to see cinematic and illuminating works by Melanie Pullen and Doug Aitkin.
ACE GALLERY
Melanie Pullen
The Jumping Soldiers (Soldier Series), 2008
Transparency in Lightbox
60" (H) x 120" (W) | Edition of 3

A taste of the Past to tell of the Future- Zeitgeist: Marilyn Minter

During the month of September, we pain the end of summer days. However for the Artworld...tis the season. For the upcoming Fall 2009 opening kickoff, I would like to start with our first course by remembering "the spirit of the times", the beautiful and fruitful taste of Marilyn Minter's Green Pink Caviar.

Her exhibition at Salon 94, New York this past summer was not only translated in the accomplishment of what she calls "photoreplacement" paintings, but her video project (ad for her show), which was featured in Times Square, was alone a conception of tasteful luxury and fashionable aesthetics. It reflected and rocked the ironic pallet of our economic values, which allows us to salivate and savor the times that we are in, hoping that it has inspired the sybarites of art, and a standard of what is to come this Fall. Don't worry there will be a Marily Minter exhibition coming to LA in October at Regen Projects.
So enjoy her video because it taste oh so good!!

Stay tuned, as this upcoming Fall I will be evaluating not only the beauty of art that is daring, but the epicurean taste of collectors and artist conspiracies, here at The Notorious and The Darling.

Video courtesy Salon 94 and artist.