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Asian art, jewelry, and fine art departments highlight Michaan's Auction's Summer Fine Sale
ALAMEDA, CALIF.- Michaan’s Auctions Summer Fine Sale on Monday, June 17th features an incredible selection, full of the season’s most esteemed items. The sale is headlined by historically important works in the Asian Art Department, exquisite jewelry in the desirable Art-Deco style, and important works from notable American and European modernist artists. Also featured are fine examples of Persian carpets, sterling silver dishware, and an extremely rare book by an icon of American poetry. The Asian Art Department will be offering jade, painted works, and historic vessels by important artists, in addition to many fine items in metal and porcelain. A Chinese Carved Jade Boat and Stand ($6/8,000) will lead the sale, an exciting opportunity to own a highly detailed work delicately carved from solid jade gemstone. Following this work is a painting ... More

Exhibition of new photographs by Laura Letinsky opens at Yancey Richardson
NEW YORK, NY.- An exhibition of new photographs by Laura Letinsky will be on view at Yancey Richardson from May 23 through July 6, 2024. Letinsky is known for deconstructing the traditional still life to exalt the tattered remnants of domestic life. The work in For, and because of… was made mostly during Letinsky’s 2023 residency in the South of France at La Maison Dora Maar, the former home of Maar, the French photographer, painter, and poet, who was also the romantic partner of Picasso. Inspired by the light of Provence in contrast to the dark weather of her home base in Chicago, Letinsky began a series she titled Who Loves the Sun in which she used natural light together with artificial light to provide her images with a radiant glow. Her subjects included borrowed objects such as a ceramic vase and glassware from La Maison that may ... More

A many-splendored self-portrait of the artist
CLINTON, NY.- For “Stab of Guilt,” the first, sprawling survey show of René Treviño’s 24-year practice at the Wellin Museum of Art in Clinton, New York, among his other work, the artist has installed 119 paintings, each 18 inches by 18 inches. These are disparate images, some historical, some contemporary, all variations on the circle: heraldry, Aztec symbols, currency, images of the sun and of star patterns, a manhole cover, a disco ball. This collection hints at how fluidly this Dallas-born, Baltimore-based, Mexican queer artist regards the aesthetic world: He isn’t concerned with rigid hierarchies of being. What he is concerned about is connecting the disparate and layered parts of himself that exist beyond the traditional markers of identity. Treviño — who has been exhibited at the Arlington Arts Center in Virginia, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Wadsworth ... More

Review: Rocking out, and falling in love, in 'The Lonely Few'
NEW YORK, NY.- Of all the juke joints in all the towns in all the South, Amy had to walk into Paul’s. OK, yes, he invited her. A musician with a touch of fame, whom he’s known since she was a child, she’s stopping in for a visit on a break from her solo tour. For Lila, the frontwoman of the local band that’s playing the bar that night, the world shifts permanently when Amy glides in, trailing all the glamour and cool of a life so much bolder than anything Lila has ever lived. “Great set,” Amy tells her afterward. And when Lila bashfully shrugs off the compliment, Amy repeats it. “No, really — great set,” she says, her words unambiguously flirtatious. The chemistry between these two is instant, and profound. As soon as they sing together, so is the harmony. “The Lonely Few,” the achingly romantic, softly sexy, genuinely rocking new musical by ... More

National Gallery of Art acquires four sculptures by 20th- and 21st-century artists
WASHINGTON, DC.- The National Gallery of Art has acquired four significant sculptures by contemporary artists Dario Robleto, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Christo, and Chen Zhen. These works broaden the representation of the modern and contemporary collection and contribute to our goal of reflecting the nation. Contemporary artist Dario Robleto’s conceptual practice is often based on scientifically informed inquiries. For Small Crafts on Sisyphean Seas, the artist imagined what gift might be given to extraterrestrials to best represent planet Earth. One of Robleto’s most significant projects within a growing body of work about the search for alien life, Small Crafts on Sisyphean Seas uses elemental, primary forms to craft a message of generosity that other species might be able to understand. Robleto was inspired by the work of scientists, like Carl ... More

Masterpieces from an important private art collection hit the auction block at Cowley Abbott
TORONTO.- An important private collection of rare, museum-quality and prime example Canadian artworks will go under the auction hammer on Thursday, May 30 with Cowley Abbott, hot on the heels of the record smashing sale of one of the country’s preeminent private collections of Canadian art (totaling $36.6 million, with an incredible 29 artist records set across three sales culminating in December 2023). Anchoring this carefully curated collection of 20 paintings and sculptures is a spectacular Lawren Harris masterpiece “Brazeau Snowfield, Jasper Park. Mountain Painting XII”, expected to fetch between $2 million to $3 million. Measuring 4 x 4.9 feet in size, the monumental oil canvas was painted by Harris during a 1924 trip to Jasper Park in the Rocky Mountains with Group of Seven member A.Y. Jackson. This trip and the resulting ... More

American Academy in Rome presents 'A Moment in Time: Xu Bing in Rome'
ROME.- From May 23 to June 29, the American Academy in Rome will present A Moment in Time: Xu Bing in Rome, an exhibition of new work by the Chinese artist Xu Bing, a current Resident at the American Academy in Rome and widely considered one of the most prominent conceptual artists of his generation. In A Moment in Time, Xu presents a new body of work realized during his residency that deals with the Appian Way, Rome’s ancient road. Xu’s residency comes after a career spanning almost five decades including installations, films, drawings, prints, and books. The Wall and the Road (1988–2024) is commissioned by the AAR and is a dialogue between his artistic creation 36 years ago and the Appian Way, a Roman cultural relic dated to 312 BCE. It includes a 20- meter-long drawing of a section of the Appian Way, created over the course of a week ... More

Asian Cultural Council gala raises nearly $1.6 million
NEW YORK, NY.- Asian Cultural Council honored Hong Kong-based Danish businessman Hans Michael Jebsen, American philanthropist David Rockefeller, Jr., and Japanese contemporary artist and ACC alum Takashi Murakami at its biennial fundraising gala in New York City on May 14, 2024. Mr. Murakami received the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award, presented to an ACC alumnus from Asia or the United States who has made a significant contribution to the international understanding, practice, or study of the visual or performing arts of Asia. This award for outstanding professional achievement commemorates the deep and long-standing interest of John D. Rockefeller 3rd in Asian art and culture. Valerie Rockefeller presented the Award that includes a monetary prize of $50,000 towards the advancement of the awardee’s work. During his ... More

Beaverbrook Art Gallery unveils major expansion of art collection
FREDERICTON, NB.- The Beaverbrook Art Gallery announced the expansion to its permanent art collection, marking one of the most significant acquisitions of Canadian art since its inception. This exciting acquisition of more than 30 artworks underscores the gallery's commitment to growing its collection in a meaningful way by increasing its offerings of contemporary and historical Indigenous, Canadian, and Atlantic artworks. Curated with the intention of growing the collection of artworks in areas that the gallery has lacked, the expanded collection showcases a breathtaking array of contemporary artworks spanning various mediums, styles, and perspectives. Among the remarkable additions to the Beaverbrook's expanded collection are four standout artworks that help round out the gallery’s collection: 1. Zombie Fires Burning (2024), by Lawrence ... More

Exhibition at Karma introduces Los Angeles to Sadamasa Motonaga
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Karma presents an exhibition of paintings by Sadamasa Motonaga, open from May 23 to June 20 at 7351 Santa Monica Boulevard. Spanning five decades of work, this presentation introduces Los Angeles to Sadamasa Motonaga, a unique figure whose trajectory bridges contemporary Japanese Superflat painting with the existential artistic concerns of the immediate postwar era. Motonaga was born in 1922 in Japan’s mountainous Mie Prefecture. After working on the railroads and in munitions plants during World War II, the self-taught painter became a founding member of the Gutai Art Association, an avant-garde movement formed in reaction against the country’s restriction of art to nationalistic ends. As a part of Gutai, he created some of Japan’s most iconic pieces of installation art by tinting water and smoke with vibrant colors while ... More

Gold medallion presented to a hero of the Windsor Castle fire comes to auction at John Nicholson's
LONDON.- It was one of the worst moments of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, contributing to what she called her Annus Horribilis. The year was 1992 and the huge fire at Windsor Castle created so much damage that it took five years and £36.5 million to repair. Less well known was that it could all have been much worse if had not been for building contractors working onsite who joined the salvage effort. Now one of them has consigned the gold medal he received in thanks from the Queen to auction at John Nicholson’s, along with a letter of thanks from Her Majesty, as well as several other pieces of related ephemera. Peter O’Mara was a painter and decorator working for contractors Cousins Ltd on Project Kingsbury, involving renovation works at the castle that started in the late 1980s. Cousins were brought in to complete the redecoration after major ... More