Ode to Art Contemporary will be presenting a solo show by Chinese sculptor Chen Wenling at its booth during Art Stage 2012. The exhibition will showcase artworks from his two renowned series of sculptures: Red Memory and China Scene.
Ode to Art Contemporary will be presenting a solo show by Chinese sculptor Chen Wenling at its booth during Art Stage 2012. The exhibition will showcase artworks from his two renowned series of sculptures: Red Memory and China Scene.
Richard Koh Fine Art is teaming up with ARDNT to present a fringe event to Art Stage Singapore featuring some of the giants of today's international contemporary art scene. The exhibition will open (again) on Jan 10 and will include works by the celebrated London-based duo Gilbert & Georges, along with Brazilian artist Vik Munis, French artist Sophie Calle (her critically acclaimed 2007 VEnice Biennale "Prenez Soin de Vous' series), Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn, New Yorker George Condo and Belgian Wim Delvoye.
Delvoye was a favorite at the inaugural ArtStage Singapore with a gothic architecture-inspired crowd pleaser on display.
Meanwhile Richard Koh will also have a booth at Art Stage presenting works by Southeast Asian artists, like Natee Utarit, Nadiah Bamadhaj and Justin Lim.
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| All Photo: © Patrick Gries 2010 |
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| Isaac Julien Mazu, Turning (Ten Thousand Waves) 2010 |
So many art galleries have chosen Jan 10 for opening a new show, right before Art Stage Singapore, that you will need to put skates on to go around town and see them all on that night! One must see will be Ten Thousand Waves Photographs, at Valentine Willie Fine Art, a limited edition of photographs taken from Isaac Julian's nine screen video installation, Ten Thousand Waves, first unveiled at the Sydney Biennale in 2010.
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Sotheby’s will open 2012 global wine auctions on January 14 in Hong Kong with a various owner sale that will include over 200 cases of investment grade Bordeaux from the Bordeaux Winebank Collection, Super Second Bordeaux of exceptional quality and value, great Burgundy from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, historic Champagne direct from the cellars of Veuve Clicquot, as well as a selection of rare California cult wines. The most valuable lot in the sale is a case of Romanée-Conti 1990 estimated at $130,000 - $190,000.
The MBS will be the venue for an exhibition of the works of the 30 finalists for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize (SAAP) Jan 10-13, along with 20 especially selected works by Singaporean artists. These 20 local works will be auctioned for Charity on Jan 14th. Initiated in Hong Kong in 2003, SAAP has recognized many of the most important artists in the Asia Pacific region. Last year, Singapore joined Hong Kong, Beijing and Australia as a venue when it hosted its first SAAP.
Asia Week New York—the collaboration of 34 top international Asian art specialists, five major auction houses, and 17 museums and Asian cultural institutions— will take place March 16–24, throughout New York.
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| Navin Rawanchaikul's Long Heart |
Valentine Willie Fine art gallery will open on Jan 11 an exhibition dedicated to monumental works done by Southeast Asian artists. Amongst others will be a large painting by Navin Rawanchaikul, who will have another monumental work at Art Stage Singapore. Other artists in the exhibition include Putu Sutawijaya, Utai Nopsiri and Winner Jumalon.
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| Utai Nopsiri'sDelicate Shell of Self |
Art Stage Singapore 2012 is hoping to make a big splash for its sophomore year with several significant and large installation works on its fairgrounds. These will include the poetic "Artificial Moon" (2007) by Wang Yuyang (China), a stunning installation made from over 4,500 energy-saving bulbs, strategically designed to mimic the moon’s craters and surface features.
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Christie's NY will auction the Peter H. B. Frelinghuysen, Jr. Collection of Chinese Export Porcelain on January 24. The late Peter Frelinghuysen, longtime U.S. Congressman from New Jersey and last grandchild of the famed collectors H. O. and Louisine Havemeyer, collected classic Chinese export throughout his lifetime, with an emphasis on American market, pieces with historical or political interest, and Dutch armorial, reflecting his family heritage. The collection is comprised of approximately 160 lots and is expected to realize in the region of $660,000.
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| Do Ho Suh |
The celebrated New York art gallery, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, is deeping its toes into Singapore's art market with a double presence come January. First it will participate for the first time in Art Stage Singapore presenting a selection of works by some of the artists it represents. Highlights will include new work by Ashley Bickerton, Do Ho Suh's Uni-Form/s: Self-Portrait/s: My 39 Years, a large painting by Hernan Bas and new work by Suling Wang. It will also hold a one-month long collaborative exhibition at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute.
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| Lee Bull |
Young art gallery Vue Privée has announced it will exhibit new and old works by the Gao Brothers at their booth during Art Stage Singapore (Jan 12-15), having convinced the Chinese artists to participate in an art fair for the first time. The Beijing based brothers have been collaborating on installation, performance, sculpture, photography works and writing now for three decades. Their exhibition are often politially challenging and have been shut down in the past, while their studio has been raided.
As a fringe event to Art Stage, the dynamic duo will also be staging on Jan 14 their famous public art performance WORLD HUG DAY on the Event Plaza of MBS. The performance attempt to bring strangers closer together in a country where hugging is far from being best practice. It started in China in 2000, in the Shandong province, in various public locations all across the country, which later spread to other parts of the world including China, USA, UK, France, Germany, Japan and now Singapore.
Internationally-acclaimed Chinese artist Cai Zhisong has a solo exhibition, 'Timeless Heritage,' at Ode To Art Gallery in Marina Bay Sands.Cai Zhisong is known for being the first Chinese artist to win the prestigious Taylor prize at the Paris Autumn Salon in Eiffel-Branly and was also one of the five selected artists to represent the Chinese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2011.
When Raphael le Masne de Chermont, Shanghai Tang's executive chairman, found out earlier this year that the landlord of his flagship store in Hong Kong had signed a deal for a new lease with Abercrombie & Fitch, he was completely taken aback, and not too please. “We were not prepared. We had a gentlemen’s agreement that our lease would be renewed, and they went behind our back, but what is done is done,” the 47-year old Frenchman says.
But the loss of the art deco boutique on Pedder Street that started it all for the luxury brand 17 years ago may have actually be a blessing in disguise. “It’s our opportunity to relocate into a much larger, standalone maison, actually twice as big, which is only 300m away from where we were before,” he says.
A wickedly good show is really what can expect from this long-stay musical currently showing at the Marina Bay Sands. Production values are extremely high (beautiful set, lavish costumes) and the two lead actresses have seriously good voices (and chemistry). The musical, which premiered on Broadway in 2003 is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, a prequel of sort to the L. Frank Baum’s classic story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). It follows the unlikely friendship story of Elphaba (Jemma Rix), a misunderstood girl with emerald-green skin and magical power and Galinda (Suzie Mathers), a bubbly Blonde, who may not be as good as she looks. The plot begins before and continues after Dorothy’s arrival in Oz, and includes lots of delightful references to the original storyline and characters (so better brush up on the Judy Garland’s classic). The Broadway production won three out of its ten Tony Award nominations, and has since then won more awards. The rich plot, funny lines and few draw-dropping, soaring musical numbers (Defying Gravity the end of Act I finale made a lasting impression on me) are what really make this show truly enjoyable and hard to fault. The references to the original story may be hard to follow for younger children though.
Day two of The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor saw The Icon & Her Haute Couture Evening Sale realized $2.6 million, with again 100 percent of the lots sold. This black-tie auction comprised 67 of Taylor’s most iconic looks - featuring fashion and accessories collected over five decades with scores of museum-quality treasures. The sale opened with an announcement that the Elizabeth Taylor Trust would donate Taylor’s sunflower yellow dress from her first marriage to Richard Burton to a major American museum. One of the top lot was this
The second day of auctions devoted to the jewelry collection of Elizabeth Taylor raised $21.3 million, with again 100% of the lots sold . This brings the combined total for the sales of fine jewelry from her Collection to $137.3 million, making it the most valuable sale of jewelry in auction history.
The top lot of the Day Sale sessions was an exquisite antique natural pearl and diamond necklace dated circa 1860 that Richard Burton gave to Elizabeth Taylor in 1968. Featuring a pear-shaped pearl drop reminiscent of her historic “La Peregrina” pearl, the antique necklace was chased by multiple bidders who drove the final purchase price to $1.48 million. In similar fashion, the most anticipated items of the day – The Burton Wedding Bands – became the subject of a spirited bidding battle between a bidder on the phone and in the room. The gold and diamond rings (pictured above), which were given to Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton upon their marriages in 1964 and 1975, were estimated at $6,000-8,000. The final sale price was $1.02 million.
Christmas came early for Christie's New York. The evening sale of Elizabeth Taylor’s Collection of Legendary Jewelry set a world record for the most valuable private collection of jewels at auction raising $115 million, shattering the previous 1987 record, set by the Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor, which totalled $50.3 million. "La Peregrina" (photo above), a rare and historic pearl, inspired a fierce bidding battle. Estimated at $2-3 million, the pearl reached a world auction record price for a pearl at $11.8 million after four and a half minutes of bidding. The pearl, an historic 16th century pear-shaped pearl suspended from a necklace custom-designed for Taylor by Cartier, has been widely heralded as one of Elizabeth Taylor’s most iconic jewels.
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| Jia Haoyi, Men of Hulunbe'er |
Luxe Art Museum has just opened a restrospective of Chinese artist Jia Haoyi‘s inks on paper. The artist is regarded as one of the major ink painters working in China whose style embraces something of both the formality of ink’s traditions and the free expression that is most closely related to Western abstraction.
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| Courtesy - Gagosian Gallery |
Visitors to the Jardins des Tuileries in Paris are now being greeted by Yayoi Kusama's vibrantly colored Flowers That Bloom at Midnight, a series of unique large-scale sculptures that are presented for the first time in France.
The presentation by the Musée du Louvre coincides with Kusama's major retrospective at the Centre Pompidou.
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| Courtesy - Gagosian Gallery |
The Prince of Wales Albert Edward, who was to become King Edward VII, once described Cartier as the “Jeweller to Kings, King of Jewellers” commissioning the company to make 27 diadems for his coronation in 1902. Over its 164-year history, the French jeweller has enjoyed the patronage of many generations of British Royals, including the Queen Mother, who in 1936 commissioned the Halo tiara worn by the Duchess of Cambridge at her wedding to Prince William. One of Cartier’s most famous patrons, the Duchess of Windsor, owned some of the jeweller’s most famous designs, such as an onyx and diamond panther bracelet designer by Jeanne Toussaint.
Perhaps less well known is the brand’s similarly long watchmaking history. “What many people are not aware of is that Cartier always had watchmaking in the heart of its activities. Since the 19th century, Cartier has been creating horological marvels that became icons in the world of prestigious watchmaking,” says Christopher Kilaniotis, Managing Director of Cartier Singapore.
Cartier Time Art, a travelling exhibition that will open later this month at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands, promises to take visitors back in time, offering a unique opportunity to the public to discover the secrets and stories behind some of the brand’s most iconic timepieces. It will showcase over 120 historical timepieces from the Cartier Collection along with Cartier’s latest technological advancements, including the Cartier ID One watch, which offers a glimpse into the watchmaking future at Cartier.
Six years ago, Montblanc also started a line of fine jewelry that drew on its distinctive logo: a six-pointed “white star” with rounded edges. The company initially focused on sterling silver, gold and diamonds but is now expanding its Haute Joaillerie offering with its first collection that includes colored precious stones.
Back for its fifth year, ART HK 12 – Hong Kong International Art Fair will take place May 17-20 2012, with previews on May 16. While the fair will only announce its full gallery list in January (probably to coincide and steaal some thunder from competing fair Art Stage Singapore), it's already revealed some tweaking to its format to encourage broad cross-cultural exchange between galleries in Asia and those in the West.
Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha opened Monday Cai Guo-Qiang: Saraab, a major exhibition featuring newly commissioned works by Chinese artists Cai Guo-Qiang.
Curated by Wassan Al-Khudhairi, director of Mathaf, the exhibition showcases over 50 works installed throughout the entire museum, including 17 newly commissioned pieces, a selection of recent works on paper, canvas, and porcelain, and documentary videos on the making of Saraab and on previous works by Cai.
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| The Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, of 33.19 carats |
In 1968, actor Richard Burton purchased the 33.19 carat Krupp diamond for his wife Elizabeth Taylor for $300,000, at the time the highest price ever paid at auction for such a diamond. She mounted it as a ring and wore it nearly every day. The diamond is now coming up at auction again this time with an estimate of $2.5-$3.5 million, the increase more or less mirroring the performance the Standard & Poor's 500 Index during the period.
Top quality diamonds have proven good investments for buyers over the long term. In the last 10 years alone, average per carat prices for top stones at auction have risen by about 30 to 40 percent, says Rahul Kadakia, Head of Jewelry for Christie's Americas.
Korean photographer Seung Hoon Park is having a solo show of new photographs at Pyo Gallery LA entitled Travel Log - Italy, The Story of Three Cities. These photos weave together a narrative from tourist landmarks and fragments of 16 mm film into a cinematic experience, exploring the landscape as a journal of daily inquiry.
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Well, recession may be truly here.. at least for Asian collectors. Christie's sale of Chinese Works of Art and Ceramics raised $66 million, but only 57% of the lots sold and worth only 67% by value. So far, this was one category that had been fairly immune to anything in recent years, always strongly supported completly Chinese collectors.Christie's put it mindly when it noted that "bidding was at times more restrained than in seasons past."
Some lots did outperform, such as a rare 18th century underglazed blue and copper meiping, which led the sale at HK$46.6 million ($5.98 million) against a pre-sale estimate of HK$25-35 million.