Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982

The exhibition includes more than 100 works by Basquiat, mapping out his progress throughout his brief and concentrated career.  The show is categorized in 4 different sections.  Basquiat’s early works, which began with his graffiti tags under the pseudonym SAMO©; Fun Gallery, with his artworks from the Fun Gallery in New York featuring his canvases distinctively attached to pieces of wood; Warhol/Basquiat, showing the results of the bond between the two artists and their collaboration; and late works, which show the final stage of Basquiat’s career, in which he was consumed with representing death.  Riding with Death, featured in his late works, has been considered as a symbol for Basquiat’s own imminent death.  His use of gold relates back to his palette including gold, silver and copper paint that he used early on.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Riding with Death, 1988

Many museums, galleries, and private collections all over the United States and Europe have contributed to this important retrospective.  Basquiat at the Fondation Beyeler is on view from May 9^th to September 5^th, 2010.  It will travel to the Musée d’art Moderne de la ville de Paris on October 15, 2010, where it will be on view through January 30, 2011.

Basquiat, Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland

all images from Fondation Beyeler, http://www.beyeler.com

Ms. Bourgeois created sculptures using various materials, including fabric, bronze, rubber, and wood.  Her large bronze spider structures, entitled Maman, are most well-known and have been installed in a range of cities.  Her work is psychological, emotional, and expressive, and often of sexual themes and body based work.

Image of Louise Bourgeois and her sculpture, from the documentary “Louise Bourgeois : l’araignée, la maîtresse et la mandarine”

Her artwork often recalls psychological themes rooted in her childhood.  Louise Bourgeois was born in Paris in 1911 to parents who owned a gallery for antique tapestries.  Her parents are prevalent in her artwork as she relates some of the pain and suffering that came with her childhood –having an adulterous father whose affair with the children’s nanny implanted deep seated anger and anxiety in Louise.  In her artwork, she bares her psyche, and the result is fascinating.

Ms. Bourgeois was not recognized for her work until later in life, around the age of 70.  The New York Museum of Modern Art mounted an exposition of her work in 1982, making Louise Bourgeois the first woman sculptor featured by the museum.  She participated in the Venice Biennale in 1993, representing the United States, and soon became more renowned as a crucial figure for women in the art world.

Maman, outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao

She attended the Sorbonne for mathematics, but later left to pursue art.  Ms. Bourgeois and her husband, American art historian Robert Goldwater, married in 1938 and moved to New York City where she continued to pursue her artistic career.  It was not until after her husband’s death that she became widely acknowledged for her work.  She taught at many New York universities including Columbia, Cooper Union, and Yale where she received an honorary award as Doctor of Fine Arts in 1977.

Louise Bourgeois’ poignant work is strong yet delicate; violent yet vulnerable. Ms. Bourgeois has inspired scores of contemporary artists and she is considered as one of the world’s most important female artists.

Damien describes his style as “very liberal and spontaneous, I like to see the outcomes of different paintings according to my mood and surrounding.”  Looking through his gallery, one can see that he does not feel tied down to one single technique.  Whether he splatters paint in the manner of action painting or paints more deliberately, his work is always energetic and usually bursting with color.

Damien Bérullier Tuccimei, Acupuncture to Extasy, 450€

Damien Bérullier Tuccimei, Le Spectacle, 450€

Acupuncture to Extasy and Le Spectacle both show examples of his expressive abstract painting with very different styles.  The first contains more subdued colors in an acrylic painting we might imagine was done vigorously, with scribbles and scattered patches of color, while Le Spectacle uses more highly saturated blocks of brilliant color bordered by thick black outlines.

Damien Bérullier Tuccimei, Dessus, Dessous, Dessus, 500€

In Dessus Dessous Dessus, Damien uses only three colors, which he layers « above, below, above » one another in an exciting way.  This abstract acrylic painting shows yet another technique.  In Magrille, we see a playful spin on René Magritte’s classic Surrealist painting The Son of Man.  The acrylic painting is shielded by iron wires which Damien commonly uses in his work.

Damien Bérullier Tuccimei, Magrille, 650€

Damien’s acrylic paintings are lighthearted with an element of seriousness, and he is certainly serious about his work.  As he affirms, “I need to paint and create as there is nothing that makes me feel more passionate and complete,” his statement is clearly evident throughout his fruitful and creative work.

Security cameras caught a masked individual stealing the major paintings in the wee hours of the morning.  The works include Pablo Picasso’s Le pigeon aux petits-pois, L’olvier pres de l’Estaque by Georges Braque, and three other important paintings by Henri Matisse, Fernand Leger, and Amedeo Modigliani.

The museum’s night guard first noticed the works were missing around 7am in Paris.  A broken padlock and shattered window were discovered where the thief entered, and it is still unclear whether the museum’s alarm systems were tampered with.

The museum is currently blocked off for further police investigation.

Henri Matisse’s La pastorale and Pablo Picasso’s Le pigeon aux petits pois

image from lepoint.fr

Ryan Cronin, Taste Sweet Revenge, 2800€

In Cronin’s balanced compositions, he arranges his images against opaque backgrounds and uses black and white with bold, mostly primary colors.  Taste Sweet Revenge, picturing five cent chewing gum, and Wiffle Ball are particularly reminiscent of pop art paintings.  Wiffle Ball certainly pops out –a canvas in black, white, and red, with a giant wiffle ball filling the square, with the hand-lettering “Wiffle ball” and “baseball size” written beneath the image.  His black and white painting, Night Crawlers, exemplifies his works with basic symbols and images.

Ryan Cronin, Wiffle Ball, 2800€

Cronin’s paintings encourage free association.  His square canvases are often light and entertaining to look at, but he also presents unexpected images, words, and relationships between them.  His works are humorous and whimsical, and many are seemingly innocent while others sometimes a bit dark.   Just Do It, for example, juxtaposes a well-known slogan with an unexpected element.

Ryan Cronin, Just Do It, 2800€

As a contemporary artist, Cronin has a clearly developed modern style.  Cronin’s works are an escape from reality and at all at once serious and simply fun to look at.

Ryan Cronin, Night Crawlers, 2800€

Pablo Picasso, Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, 1932

The large work pictures a nude figure, identified as Picasso’s muse and Mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter with an image of Picasso himself in the backdrop.  Frances and Sidney Brody purchased Nude, Green Leaves and Bust for $17,000 in 1950.  On Tuesday evening, as bidding began at $58 million, eight bidders fought for the work until two bidders battled it out when it reached $88 million –a competition which took the final price to the world record of $106,482,500.

The important Brody collection as a whole brought in a record $224,177,500 as the highest total for a single-owner sale at Christie’s New York.  All 27 lots from the Brody Collection were sold.  Part of the sale’s earnings will be given to benefit the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens where Mrs. Brody volunteered in San Marino, California.  Other highlights from the Brody’s important collection included Matisse, Braque, Renoir, and Giacometti’s Grande tête mince, which went for $53,282,500.

Alberto Giacometti, Grand Tête Mince, 1955

Frances Brody and her husband Sidney had a passion for collecting and advocating the arts, in particular Mrs. Brody who served on the UCLA Arts Council for years, after helping to found it in the 1950s.  This extraordinary sale represents their strong involvement in the art world and zeal for contemporary art.

The entire series of Impressionist and Modern Art Sales brought in $360 million, outdoing the estimate for these May sales of $283 million.  The tremendous results speak volumes for the art market, and not too bad for Christie’s, either.

Ulrik Poniatowski, The Power of the Elements, €950

The Power of the Elements best represents his canvases in pointillism.  The four elements are layered in loose horizontal stripes across the canvas with a fiery sky and blue flame-like waves encompassing black, gray and white wind and earth patterns.  It is as if the fire and water contain the earth and wind, and yet each of the four is powerful in and of itself, as Poniatowski skillfully has composed a pattern and style for each one.  The red and orange fire tones used in the top layer take sweeping, striped forms, blending into the black, white and gray cut-out patterned wind below, which rests upon the zigzag figures of the earth, and finally bright blue waves take the bottom layer of the canvas.  The four elements not only contrast each other but also seem to fit together like puzzle pieces, both in their distinct patterns and in their all being composed of pointillist dots.  A strong sense of movement runs throughout the canvas.

Ulrik Poniatowski, The Pink and Almond Alphabet, €650

Just as intricate, The Pink and Almond Alphabet shows what Poniatowski calls his “Alphabet Inconscient” –unconscious alphabet style in which he repeatedly fills his canvas with patterns resembling letters, closely woven together.  In this one, pink tones stand out against a bright fluorescent green background.  The work entrances as each shape is the slightest bit different and manifests itself as an unconscious exercise of the artist and his pen.

Ulrik Poniatowski, The Great Apple, €450

Poniatowski also paints compositions based on different subjects, such as The Great Apple, which is a bright canvas full of symbols to represent New York City, including high rise buildings, lights, money signs, musical notes, and a subway train sweeping down from the top right corner of the canvas.  The jumbled images and varied, often fluorescent, colors make for a lively and playful composition.

Ulrik Poniatowski, Angels Pistols, €1200

Ulrik Poniatowski’s work in Posca with loud colors, intricate patterns, pointillism, and urban art themes all come together for his distinct modern style.  Poniatowski clearly has a talent for this medium, and his unique style and technique will surely bring him tremendous success as he brings his exciting canvases to the contemporary art market.

This month, Ulrik will be showing his work at Galerie Artisyou in the Paris Marais district.  On display from 8 May through 5 June.  11 Rue Thorigny 75003 Paris.

Entering the building is equally impressive as its regal exterior.  The impressive marble staircase which leads to the galleries is decorated with murals by Gustav Klimt, Mihaly von Munkácsy and Hans Makart.

Johannes Vermeer van Delft, The Art of Painting, 1665-1666,

Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Picture Gallery

A recent exhibition centers around Vermeer’s iconic work The Art of Painting.  Johannes Vermeer van Delft kept this work displayed in his studio from the moment he painted it up until after his death.  The work, considered an allegory of the art of painting, shows the artist painting his model posing as Clio, the Muse of History, as he faces a map with the historical 17 provinces of the Netherlands.  This very map by Claes Jansz Visscher is displayed in the exhibition, along with other props from the scene as well as documents from historical Dutch archives.  The exhibit displays an in-depth study of Vermeer’s possible techniques for the work.  The question of whether he used a camera obscura, for example, is analyzed along with the pigments he used.  Other works of art influenced by The Art of Painting join the masterpiece in an intriguing exhibit in the Kunsthistorisches Picture Gallery.

Amylee, Norma, 2010

Amylee’s bright color palette changes with the seasons, as if her works of art were part of the fashion world, or perhaps a highly developed fashion illustration for the season.  Her style is influenced by Pop Art, as she integrates pop culture as well as reinterprets vintage textiles.  In Norma, from Amylee’s collection “Rockabilly Circus,” she mixes the three patterns of floral print, checks, and leopard print, which might ordinarily contrast each other negatively, but she employs an intelligent color palette of complementary orange and violet tones along with black and white to create a balanced composition of a stunning, vintage model.

Amylee, Glam Circus, 2010

Amylee enjoys trying new things in her work, and her array of interests play together beautifully as she bounces ideas off of various styles and art forms.  Amylee’s eye for color speaks to her talent in fashion design, and she experiments with colors and patterns to create dazzling canvases.

The nude sculptures around New York City are fresh and thrilling, including one on the edge of the 26^th floor of the Empire State Building.  The sculptures stand without any explanation, so that pedestrians have their individual interpretations.  This exciting public art has caused some commotion, however, as many concerned Manhattan residents have called the New York City police department since the sculptures were installed, reporting people about to jump from the edges of buildings.

Gormley consistently takes contemporary sculpture to new and interesting places.  He examines the human body within his work, relating the self to its surroundings, and often uses himself as the subject.  Event Horizon prompts viewers to reconsider their position and viewpoint in a city filled with skyscrapers.  From placing the sculptures as close to edges as possible to playing with people’s perceptions of both the city and of themselves, Gormley is pushing Manhattan’s boundaries.  Event Horizon is adding to Manhattan’s skyline in an exhilarating way.

Event Horizon, presented by the Madison Square Park Conservancy in partnership with the City of New York.

On view from 26 March to 15 August, 2010.