Displaying items by tag: Contemporary Art

An Austin museum specializing in contemporary Latin American art has roughly 12 new pieces to display courtesy of a former Tyler couple.

The Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin campus was gifted 12 modern and contemporary art pieces, including paintings, drawings and sculptures from college alumni Judy and Charles Tate, who now live in the Houston area.

The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh has received a gift of modern and contemporary art from the collection of Jim Patton, the founder of a leading Washington, D.C., law and lobbying firm, and his late wife, Mary, an accomplished painter. The Pattons have had long-standing ties to North Carolina. Jim was born and raised in Durham and graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Mary grew up in Durham and attended the Woman’s College (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro). The couple’s passion for art and collecting began with Mary’s lifelong interest in painting and was rooted in their deep commitment to stewardship. According to a release from the museum, Jim Patton, said, “I am thankful we were able to collect this art and give it back to the world. I like the idea that these works that Mary and I enjoyed over the years will give pleasure to other people.”

“Cy Twombly: Treatise on the Veil” ostentatiously combines two museum trends: exhibitions built around one important painting, and the growing urge of museums of all kinds to feature modern and contemporary art. Here the yen for newness is lavishly advertised by a show centering on the billboard-size painting “Treatise on the Veil (Second Version),” a panoramic canvas measuring nearly 33 feet across that Cy Twombly (1928-2011) made in Rome in 1970.

The painting, from the Menil Collection in Houston, is displayed in what seems like splendid isolation despite the presence of 10 large related collages, some of which incorporate cardboard and plywood.

The Merce Cunningham Trust, which was founded to preserve the artistic legacy of choreographer Merce Cunningham, has announced it will bestow major gifts to two art organizations, reports Art Forum.

One gift of $375,000 will be given to the Foundation for Contemporary Arts to establish a Merce Cunningham award. The FCA, which was founded by John Cage and Jasper Johns, aims to support, sponsor, and promote innovative work in the arts by individuals, groups, or organizations. The Merce Cunningham award at the FCA will be biannual, and its purpose is to give recognition of outstanding achievement that reflects the spirit and creativity of Cunningham.

The "David Bowie Is” exhibition broke the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s attendance record with more than 193,000 people visiting in its 15-week run.

“David Bowie Is” is the most successful exhibition in the MCA’s 47-year history, with some Bowie-related programs and performances selling out in less than an hour as well as the highest sales for the MCA Store.

Damien Hirst’s forthcoming art complex, The Newport Street Gallery, is slated to open in south London this summer. Located in the up-and-coming Vauxhall district, the gallery will boast over two-thousand modern and contemporary artworks drawn from Hirst’s personal collection. In addition to works by such luminaries as Jeff Koons, Pablo Picasso, and Francis Bacon, the gallery will also display taxidermy, anatomical models, and a selection of historical objects. According to The Art Newspaper, the complex will have a changing program of exhibitions rather than a fixed installation.

Hirst enlisted the Zurich and London-based firm Caruso St John Architects to construct the gallery. The firm, whose past clients include Tate Britain, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Arts Council of England, and the Gagosian Gallery, is celebrated for its contemporary projects in the public realm.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is about to go over a minor cliff in terms of special exhibitions.

"Forbidden Games," the big fall show on Surrealist photography, comes down Jan. 11. The exhibition on the Toussaint L'Ouverture series of Jacob Lawrence ends Sunday. And the museum's exploration of Frederic Edwin Church's "Twilight in the Wilderness" and his love of Maine closes Jan. 25.

Never fear. The museum is bridging the impending gap in exhibitions with two fresh offerings in its photography and video galleries.

The Syndicat National des Antiquaires (SNA) -- or the French National Union of Antique Dealers -- announced that it will launch a new fair aimed at young collectors this spring. Paris Beaux-Arts, which will be held at the Carrousel du Louvre, an underground center adjacent to the Musee du Louvre, will complement the SNA’s prestigious Biennale des Antiquaires.

The long-running Biennale des Antiquaires, which is celebrated for its elegant atmosphere, blue chip offerings, and elite guest list, specializes in rare antiques, fine art, jewelry, silver, and porcelain. The SNA intends for Paris Beaux-Arts to be equal to the Biennale in quality and range, but with a stronger emphasis on modern and contemporary art.

When downtown L.A.’s Broad museum finally opens this fall, it will have not only an inaugural exhibition featuring Eli and Edythe Broad’s contemporary art collection but also newly acquired works that will be rolled out later in the museum's debut year, said Joanne Heyler, Broad Foundation director and chief curator.

One such piece is Jordan Wolfson’s life-sized, animatronic sculpture “(Female Figure) 2014.” The work generated much buzz when it premiered this year at David Zwirner gallery in Manhattan as part of the artist’s first solo show.

"Adventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915 – 2015" is a major new exhibition tracing a century of Abstract art from 1915 to the present day, and is to open at the Whitechapel Gallery, London. The exhibition brings together over 100 works by 100 modern masters and contemporary artists including Carl Andre, David Batchelor, Dan Flavin, Andrea Fraser, Piet Mondrian, Gabriel Orozco, Hélio Oiticica, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Rosemarie Trockel, Theo Van Doesburg and Andrea Zittel, taking over six exhibition spaces across the gallery.

The show is curated by Iwona Blazwick OBE, Director, and Magnus af Petersens, Curator at Large, Whitechapel Gallery, "Adventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915 – 2015," is international in its scope.