11/18/2009

Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective

The Joan and Preston Robert Tisch Exhibition Gallery, sixth floor


The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s “Amerika”. Mixed media, dimensions variable. © Estate Martin Kippenberger, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne. Photo © 2009 Jason Mandella " id="placeholder" src="http://www.moma.org/images/dynamic_content/exhibition_page/27584.jpg?1248103711">

Martin Kippenberger. Installation view of The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s “Amerika”. Mixed media, dimensions variable. © Estate Martin Kippenberger, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne. Photo © 2009 Jason Mandella

"Everything in moderation," counseled Aristotle. Martin Kippenberger never got this message, as a good friend pointed out after the artist's death at age forty-four in 1997. Kippenberger's artistic career—based in his native Germany but encompassing such far-flung locations as Florence, Madrid, Vienna, New York, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Syros, and the Yukon—was a twenty-year commitment to unrestrained excess. It began in the late 1970s, at a moment when the greatness of modern art seemed suddenly distant—a century-long celebration whose door was now closed to newcomers. Kippenberger's response was to create his own party and cast himself as an artist-jester whose antics both disguised and permitted a piercing analysis of contemporary art and society. The scores of posters he designed for his exhibitions begin to suggest the creative energy channeled into his thousands of works, including paintings, sculptures, installations, drawings, prints, multiples, books, and recordings. Embracing the full range of his output and yet by no means comprehensive, this exhibition contributes to the ongoing process of absorbing one of the most inventive and influential bodies of artwork of the late twentieth century.

Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective is organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA). The exhibition is curated by Ann Goldstein, MOCA Senior Curator, and organized at MoMA by Ann Temkin, The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture.

The presentation of the exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art is supported by Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis, Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, and The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

Additional funding is provided by Benjamin Moore Paints.

MOCA's presentation was made possible by endowment support from the Sydney Irmas Exhibition Endowment. Major support was provided by Andre Sakhai, Audrey M. Irmas, Wonmi and Kihong Kwon, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Carol and David Appel, Blake Byrne, Galerie Gisela Capitain, David and Susan Gersh, Mark Fisch, The Margaret and Daniel Loeb-Third Point Foundation, Lois G. Rosen, Christina and Mark Siegel, Elizabeth Swofford, Sheridan Brown, Tim Nye and Foundation 20 21, Edward M. Israel, and John Morace and Tom Kennedy.


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Warhols Send Sotheby’s Soaring

By Judd Tully

Published: November 11, 2009
NEW YORK—Andy Warhol’s 200 One Dollar Bills (1962), a rare, prime piece that last sold at auction 23 years ago (for a then-record $385,000) made a whopping $43,762,500 at Sotheby’s contemporary evening sale, a gonzo price that helped push the house’s total tally to $134,438,000 for the 52 lots that sold, soaring above the $67.9–97.7 million pre-sale estimate.

Only two of the 54 lots offered failed to sell, for a svelte four percent buy-in rate by lot and two percent buy-in rate by value, stunningly positive statistics in today’s uncertain market that suggest a breathtakingly rapid recovery from the carnage witnessed here last November, when 32 percent of the lots failed to sell.

Tonight, 27 lots made more than a million dollars, and of those, seven made more than five million dollars. Along the way, bidders set records for four artists, including Alice Neel, whose funky though masterful, double-portrait of Jackie Curtis and Rita Red from 1970 (est. $400–500,000) attracted a half-dozen bidders and made $1,650,500. New York dealer David Zwirner, who represents her estates, was the underbidder.

The Neel was one of 20 lots from the single-owner trove of the late St. Louis collectors Mary Schiller Myers and Louis Myers, which made $24,491,500 against a pre-sale estimate of $17–24 million. Those works sold under a global reserve, meaning that high-performing lots (like the Neel) allowed others to sneak in at low prices, such as the evening’s greatest bargain, Alexander Calder’s Extreme Cantilever, an early standing mobile (dated 1940 and estimated at $1–1.5 million), which went to New York dealer Jeffrey Deitch for $842,500.

Sculpture played a strong supporting role in the sale, with an expressionist bronze, Large Torso (1974), by Willem de Kooning (who briefly dabbled in the medium), selling to Houston dealer Robert Maclean for $6,130,500 (est. $4–6 million). Numbered six of an edition of seven, it was another highlight of the Myers’ collection, and had been acquired by the couple in 1980 from Xavier Fourcade, the last dealer to work with de Kooning during his lifetime.

Two other works shared the exact price of the de Kooning sculpture, including Warhol’s 20-inch-square Self-Portrait from 1965, which had been consigned by Cathy Naso, a one-time teenage receptionist for Warhol’s famed Factory. The artist had given it to her as a token of appreciation for her brief service. Estimated at $1-1.5 million, it sold to London jewelry magnate Laurence Graff for a hefty $6,130,500.

You could say — to put it mildly — that Warhol ruled the evening, as a stunning work on paper, Untitled (Roll of Dollar Bills) from 1962 (est. $2.5–3.5 million), sold to international dealer Larry Gagosian for $4,226,500, underbid by New York trader Alberto Mugrabi.

Even Warhol’s difficult-to-look-at painting Tuna Fish Disaster found a buyer, selling to the Mugrabis for $1,202,500 (below an estimate of $1.5–2 million). It was a change in fortune for the series: a much larger, two-panel Tuna Fish Disaster, which had been tagged with an ambitious $6–8 million pre-sale estimate by Christie's, had failed to sell on Tuesday evening.

But the main attraction of the evening — and yes, the entire season — was Warhol’s early silkscreen, portraying his favorite commodity, the almighty dollar.

You can’t say the dollar is weak against any currency given its super-charged performance here, with the opening bid for 200 One Dollar Bills coming in at $6 million. Instantly, Sotheby’s specialist Alex Rotter shouted “$12 million” from his telephone bidder and a rapid ascent began, climbing at million-dollar increments to $38 million, at which point Jose Mugrabi, on a cell phone with a Sotheby’s specialist, cut the bid to $38.5 million, though he wouldn’t go beyond the winning hammer price of $39 million.

Along the way to that lofty figure, New York dealer Philippe Segalot, one of a handful of deep-pocketed bidders who fought for the work, made a try but dropped out.

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Phillips de Pury Makes Its (Small) Mark

Courtesy Phillips de Pury and Company
Yayoi Kusama’s "Infinity Nets (T.W.A.)" (2000) sold to Paris collector Marc Simoncini for $842,500.

By Judd Tully

Published: November 12, 2009
NEW YORK—Phillips de Pury & Company staged a minor though lively sale in Chelsea on Thursday evening, wrapping up a massively successful week of contemporary art sales that signaled commerce is back after the yearlong drought brought on by the world financial crisis.

The boutique-sized firm sold 31 of the 40 lots offered for a total $7,099,250, within its pre-sale estimate of $5.7–8.1 million.

That translates to a buy-in rate of 22 percent by lot and 14 percent by value.

Unlike its uptown rivals, Phillips saw no lots make over a million dollars and only five exceed the $500,000 mark.

Still, the result was superior to a year ago, when the house managed to bring in $9.6 million, but with a nasty unsold rate of 46 percent by lot and 51 percent by value.

The top-lot honor was shared by Yayoi Kusama’s densely abstract, 76 1/4 by 102 inch Infinity Nets (T.W.A.) from 2000, which sold to Paris collector Marc Simoncini for $842,500.

The Kusama was backed by a financial guarantee, though the catalogue didn’t specify whether it was guaranteed by Phillips, a third party, or some combination of the two.

Its price tied that of Andy Warhol’s 1964 single Brillo Soap Pad Box sculpture in silkscreen ink and house paint on plywood, which sold to a telephone bidder.

The work surpassed the previous record for a single Brillo box, $710,400, earned at Christie’s New York in November 2006.

That, of course, is nothing compared to Warhol’s $43,762,500 taking at Sotheby’s on Wednesday evening, for 200 One Dollar Bills.

And speaking of that whopping price, one New York–based trade source close to the Warhol market said the rarefied painting was bought on Wednesday evening by Greek shipping heir and world-class collector Philippe Niarchos, who is also believed to be the buyer behind the Warhol-record-setting $71.7 million sale of Green Car Crash at Christie’s New York in May 2007.

Back at Phillips’s mini-evening, Simoncini, the buyer of the Kusama (hoisting paddle #17), came back to nab Ed Ruscha’s small acrylic-on-canvas Mean as Hell from 2002 (est. $400–600,000), for $590,500.

Button-holed outside the salesroom minutes after his twin purchases, Simoncini said he was new to the auction action, having recently bought his first works: Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Year of the Boar from 1983 for £950,000 ($1.58 million) hammer at Phillips de Pury’s October sale in London, and an On Kawara at Christie’s day sale yesterday. He said he was pleased with his purchases, then left with New York dealer José Martos.

While most of the low-key action was confined to anonymous telephone bidding, there were a few familiar faces among the buyers. Veteran Chelsea dealer Paul Cooper bought Dan Walsh’s Untitled (1991), a large-scale and decidedly minimal abstraction (est. $30–50,000) for $37,500, and uptown dealer Edward Tyler Nahem grabbed Hernan Bas’s lushly figurative canvas The Lonely Martian from 2006 (est. $80–120,000) for $98,500. Paris dealer Emmanuel Perrotin was the underbidder on the Bas.

Exiting the salesroom, Nahem noted, “They did well with what they had but the offerings were skimpy.”

One of the strongest showings was a rare-to-market untitled group of five black-and white-photographs depicting birds in flight in artist’s frames from the late Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957–1996) from 1994, which sold for $542,500 (est. $250–350,000).

A stunning installation by Olafur Eliasson, 1 m3 light (est. $300–500,000), comprised of halogen lights, steel stands, and a fog machine and included in his survey show at the Museum of Modern Art last year, sold to a telephone bidder for $362,500.

“It’s a distinctly better mood,” said Phillips auctioneer and chairman Simon de Pury shortly after the sale, “the market is very good — active and solid.”

Phillips closes out the season with a day sale on Friday; Christie’s and Sotheby’s already had theirs, delivering almost identical and bullish tallies of $43.8 million and $44 million, respectively.

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The Second Sex (at Auction, Anyway)

Courtesy Phillips de Pury and Company
Last night at Phillips de Pury and Company's contemporary art auction, Yayoi Kusama’s "Infinity Nets (T.W.A.)" (2000) tied for top lot, a rare occurrence for a work by a female artist.

By Judd Tully

Published: November 13, 2009
NEW YORK—On Thursday evening at Phillips de Pury & Company, an unusual, almost unprecedented occurrence took place: A woman took the top lot at a major auction.

Actually, Yayoi Kusama tied for first-place honors, with her optically dense painting, Infinity Nets (T.W.A.) from 2000 (est. $300–400,000) selling to a French collector for $842,500, the same price reached by Andy Warhol’s single Brillo Soap Pads Box (est. $700–900,000) in silkscreen inks, household paint and plywood dating from 1964. But her achieved price can be seen as a greater coup, given its lower estimate, among other challenges.

The last time a woman artist snared top-lot honors at a major sale was at Christie’s Paris Art d’Après-Guerre et Contemporain evening sale in May 2008, when Louise Bourgeois’s Spider, a 29-inch-high sculpture in stainless steel and tapestry from 2003 (est. €1.8–2.5 million), sold for a record €2,888,250 ($4,611,607).

Seven-figure prices for women at auction are a relative rarity, with only a handful of artists having achieved that market distinction, led most recently by South African painter Marlene Dumas, whose The Visitor (1995), sold at Sotheby’s London in July 2008 for a record £3,177,250 ($6.3 million). Dumas’s work is currently the most expensive of any living woman artist.

Until that high-flying time of the market, the late and still legendary Mexican painter Frida Kahlo ruled the charts with works such as Roots (1943), an 11.8-by-19.8-inch oil on metal featuring the raven-haired artist embedded in an undulating field that sold for $5,616,000 (est. $5–7 million) in May 2006 at Sotheby’s Latin American Art sale.

Roots was the top lot of that evening sale, beating out the 1974 Francisco Zuniga painting Grupo de cuatro mujeres de pie, which made $3,712,000. The Kahlo also registered as the most expensive work of a Latin American artist at auction.

American Abstract Expressionist artist and expatriate Joan Mitchell, who died in 1992, is also a member of the exclusive seven-figure pantheon, and in fact holds the record for the most expensive work by an American woman to sell at auction. At Christie’s Paris Art d’Après-Guerre et Contemporain sale in May 2007, her large-scaled, lushly painted Untitled (1971) sold for €5,184,000 ($7,007,299), on an estimate of €1.2–1.5 million.

Five additional Mitchell paintings have earned in the $5 million dollar range at auction since 2007.

But the highest price achieved at auction for any woman artist, living or past, sits with the Russian avant-garde painter Natalia Goncharova and her Cubist-Futurist distilled Les Fleurs (1912), which racked up £5,529,250 ($10,860,832) at Christie’s London Impressionist Modern evening sale in June 2008, on an estimate of £3.5–4.5 million.

It had previously sold at auction in November 1985, at Sotheby’s New York, for $46,750, against a $40,000–50,000 pre-sale estimate.

As the now time-worn advertising jingle goes, “You’ve come a long way, baby” definitely applies to the top rank of women in the art-market sweepstakes. But as much as performances such as Yusama's are to be celebrated, there's still a long way to go.

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Crazy for Koons

Published: November 16, 2009
LOS ANGELES—“The most chemically charged your body can feel is through acceptance,” artist Jeff Koons told the London Times earlier this year. If he strives for viewers to accept themselves and one another, on Saturday, at a special brunch organized by dealer Larry Gagosian at his Beverly Hills gallery to celebrate the artist’s new painting show, he seemed to be succeeding in those goals.

Multiple generations of art world legends united for the event, including one of the great patriarchs of the Los Angeles art world, onetime dealer Irving Blum, whose former gallery, Ferus, was recently lionized in a publication put out by Gagosian’s publishing imprint. He was just one of the many dealers who came from around the world to pay their respects to Koons.

Emmanuel Perrotin, who has spaces in Miami and Paris, stopped by the festivities, representing the younger end of the luminaries who assembled for the party, along with private dealer Christophe Van de Weghe. Jeffrey Deitch, who reportedly once pushed his business to the edge of bankruptcy to fund Koons’s epic "Celebration" sculptures, also visited the show in his trademark uniform: a suit and glasses of his own design.

The opening’s host, in contrast, decided to dress down for the event. Gagosian chatted with his guests in a pair of blue jeans with sunglasses propped casually on top of his head, as Koons, with apparently limitless energy, greeted visitors, posed for photos, and signed copies of his book, Hulk Elvis, for Hollywood moguls including producer and director Brett Ratner.

Prominent collectors — among them Peter Brant, looking no worse for wear, despite a tough time selling work at Christie’s last Tuesday, and Eli Broad — and even some local museum officials, such as Los Angeles County Museum of Art director Michael Govan, also came to see the new work and catch up with old friends.

Click the photo gallery at the left to see more of the e
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By Sarah Douglas

Published: November 12, 2009
One of the sculptures in this show has a basket-like object on top. What does it represent?

A tidemark from where I grew up in Margate. I’ve always said that if I could own any sculpture in the whole world I would own one of these tidemarks, so I thought, why don’t I make one? Lots of the things in this show are about my dreams. And the fear of dreams. In Margate there are these big cliffs. In a dream, I’d hear this roaring noise and I’d turn, and there would be a giant tidal wave coming in. And there was nowhere for me to go. These basket tidemarks are there so the ships can see the level of the water. In my dream when the tidal wave goes out, the tidemark comes back. So for me it’s a symbol of both fragility and strength.

Speaking of dreams, there’s a pretty enigmatic drawing in this show, with a pair of figures, one of them seeming to crouch, and the phrase, “Just sat there like nothing was happening and all the time I was screaming and you can’t help me.” What’s the story there?

When I was pregnant, I didn’t know I was pregnant, and I went to bed, and I woke up, and St. Paul is sitting on the edge of my bed, waking me up, touching my hand. He said to me, “You must go to Rome.” Can you imagine waking up and St. Paul is fucking sitting on your bed telling you to go to Rome? What the hell does that mean? You know when you have a nightmare and you’re screaming and there’s someone lying there next to you and they can’t hear you because you’re screaming in your head, in your dream, but nothing’s coming out of your mouth?

Yes. Let’s talk about the title of the show, “Only God Knows I’m Good,” a phrase that is also spelled out in one of the neon pieces here. It sounds a little defensive. Or is it about feeling guilty?

No, it’s about, I’m nearly 50, and I’m so fucking pissed about people judging me. How dare they? They don’t know me, they don’t know what my soul is like, they don’t know my level of integrity, my level of honesty. Judge my work, that’s fine. It’s here, it’s on the wall. But don’t judge my soul. So even though it sounds a little tongue-in-cheek, it isn’t. And in terms of God — not religion, but in terms of God — I have a vast amount of faith, and belief.

You had a book of poetry released recently — your work as poet-in-residence for GQ magazine, where you used to review hotels, and were formerly Feng Shui editor. You must have a good relationship with the magazine!

I’ve written for GQ for ten years. But for two years [the editor] Dylan Jones didn’t speak to me because I got drunk at the GQ awards [in 2003] when I was giving the Clash the lifetime achievement award. I got onstage and it was like they were waiting for every advertiser to pull out of the magazine. So horrific. Honestly, it was like watching pornography with your grandparents.

Poetry usually gets a bad rap along the lines of: no one reads it. But here you are putting poems in a glossy magazine.

And GQ gets loads of emails from people enjoying them. When I wrote for the magazine before Dylan was always saying, “You can’t write about bloody condoms and it’s the safest time to have sex, sorry, you can’t do it, we can’t have that, men don’t want to know, it’s a male magazine.” Like that. But men do like to know how women think, and a poem gives them the chance to look into a woman’s mind.

Which do you think has been your best-received poem?

The one I read at the Serpentine last month [as part of the Poetry Marathon]. The one that ends, “And sometimes I think, Christ, your penis is big.”

Oh yes, I remember that. After reading it you said, “Lucky girl.”

I got a really big laugh.

How did the poet-in-residence gig come about, anyhow?

Because Dylan went to see my show in L.A. [at Gagosian Gallery in 2007], and loved the tiny embroideries, and said they were like poems.

How did you like showing in L.A.?

Gagosian’s gallery is beautiful. But the thing about L.A. is you do a fantastic show and no one sees it! It’s like the end of America. Also, in L.A., it seemed like when I said, “Oh, yes, thank you I would like sugar,” people thought I said, “You’re a fucking cunt and I’m gonna kill your mum.”

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11/17/2009

50620645, Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images /Time & Life Pictures
Title:

Alexander Iolas;Theodora Roosevelt
Caption: Theodora Roosevelt (R) and Alexander Iolas dancing on stage in their costumes. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Pictures Inc./Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Date created: 01 Jan 1942
Editorial image #: 50620645
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Time Life Pictures./Contributor
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Time & Life Pictures

Credit: Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
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