Category: visual

“The art world continued its shopping spree last night at Sotheby’s, where contemporary-art collectors and dealers dropped a cool $315.9 million — a record auction total for Sotheby’s — on everything from a sculpture of a bright red heart to a somber painting of a bullfight to an image of an electric chair.”

New York and Berlin are both in the midst of architectural booms, and a new exhibition is examining the link between the two cities. “Rather than focus narrowly on noteworthy buildings, the exhibition… explores issues like how Berlin is reasserting its role in European cultural and intellectual life and how New York is trying to maintain its reputation as a creative center.”

Architect Jean Nouvel is designing a new 75-story tower in midtown Manhattan, near the Museum of Modern Art. Nicolai Ouroussoff says that it could be the city’s “most exhilarating addition to the skyline in a generation.”

“Jeff Koons’s 3,500-pound, hot-pink, stainless-steel ‘Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold)’ sold for $23.6 million tonight at Sotheby’s in New York, a record for Koons that established him as the priciest living artist at auction.”

“The federal opposition parties are scathing in their response to the government’s new scheme for a national portrait gallery, calling it impractical, divisive and potentially much more expensive than the renovated Ottawa building it replaces.”

There’s more than $900 million in art for sale at auction this week. Can the market hold?

Fanciful firm names have become de riguer for young architects who want to be seen as being on the cutting edge of design

“The government of Abu Dhabi is developing a 1-square-mile cultural district on Saadiyat Island, just off the capital city of Abu Dhabi, which will include four museums and a performing arts center, all designed by celebrity architects.” The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will be, at 450,000 square feet, the largest Guggenheim in the world.

“A committee appointed by Abu Dhabi’s government will administer acquisitions and commissions with the aim of building a collection of modern and contemporary art for the museum, officials said. But professionals from the Guggenheim in New York will make recommendations.”

“An anonymous bidder bought the portrait, Liz (Colored Liz), from a private collector. The sale price, which included the auction house’s commission, fell below pre-sale estimates of $25 million to $35 million.”