Top Art Stories, June 6th 2014. Read Top Art Stories to find out more on new media, where to buy digital and video art, what should be your next street-art destination, and what was cool about the Bushwick Open Studios (#BOS14) last weekend.
Does Digital Art sell?
With all the technology permeating and advancing almost every possible aspect of our lives, digital technology certainly found its way into the art market, but how profound is its application? Prints, photos and paintings that are generated digitally are not a new phenomenon and have been around for several decades. Christopher Wool, Wade Guyton, and Andy Warhol – all used digital technology to one extent or another to make art that was then printed on more traditional media. But how about art that is created and displayed on a screen – is there a demand for it? Phillips auction house will hold its second Digital Art sale this month via the Paddle8 marketplace and a live sale. The main complication with digital art is that it is created (like any other digital product) to be downloaded, duplicated and shared. This issue is addressed by certificates of authenticity issued by artists, but significantly lower prices for this medium still signal that collectors are not ready to cash out for mere data containing a work of art (most of the time you don’t even get a device to display the piece!) Source: The New York Times
Moving Image is coming to Instanbul
Moving Image, the largest video and film-centric art fair in the world with editions in New York and London is expanding to Istanbul this fall. The exhibitors and artists are to be picked and invited to participate by the fair’s curatorial advisory committee. Moving Image Istanbul will be the first in a series of new locations that will help the fair organizers and participants bring video art to larger audiences and explore new markets. Moving Image co-founders Murat Orozobekov and Edward Winkleman explained, “With this expansion to the very exciting and burgeoning art market in Istanbul, the gateway between Europe and the Middle East, Moving Image seeks to broaden the international scope of its mission to connect more of the collectors, curators, and dealers supporting contemporary artists working in moving-image-based media.” Source: artnet
One artist, one city and over 100 surrealist brain-teasing murals
Mehdi Ghadyanloo started decorating Tehran’s minimalist cityscape eight years ago and have since then covered almost a hundred walls of office and residential buildings with 3-dimesional murals: folding walls, realistic landscapes and Escher-ian endless staircases. And while graffiti is illegal in Iran like in many other countries, the artist truly deserves attention and recognition not simply because his art is against the stringent system but also due to the overall visual arts landscape falling victim to international sanctions. Source: The Huffington Post
5,000 names, minus Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei has removed his work from the exhibition Hans van Dijk: 5000 names at the Ullens Center of Contemporary Art in Beijing after his name was omitted from a list of participating artists in a press release. The group show is dedicated to Hans van Dijk, who was a foundational influence on Contemporary art in China. Weiwei accused the institution’s director in self-censoring and said he made this decision “to honor the memory of my dear friend [Hans van Dijk]… in defiance of UCCA and the false portrayal of Chinese contemporary art.” Last month Ai Weiwei’s work was also censored from an exhibition dedicated to the history of Chinese contemporary art at the Power Station in Shanghai. Two concurrent exhibitions of Ai Weiwei’s political work are censorship-free and currently on view in Brooklyn, New York and Berlin. Source: The Art Newspaper
Bushwick Open Studios 2014 and its own art fair
Artists’ studios in Bushwick traditionally opened their doors to the public last weekend. This year the all-weekend event was even accompanied by its own art fair – the inaugural edition of NEWD art show that brought together art galleries, non-profits and artist collectives and definitely was not your typical art fair experience. With just ten booths comfortably set in a former factory building that dates to 1896, NEWD offered a variety of media and ideas and complemented the overall creative atmosphere of the artists’ studios, which in turn made it possible to get a better idea about inspiration and creative processes. See more pictures and read our own observations on Bushwick Open Studios on galleryIntell.com
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