3 min read · 25 Oct 2024
Maurizio Cattelan, Comedian (2019). Copyright the artist. Image courtesy of Sotheby's
This was the week we learned that Jeff Koons will go mano a mano with Picasso in the first in a series of exhibitions juxtaposing works by contemporary artists with the 20th-century giant. It ended with the news that Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, a banana, which he bought for 30 cents, and a piece of duct tape, that first caused a stir in Perrotin's booth at Art Basel Miami Beach, will make its auction debut at Sotheby's. The work has a $1m-$1.5m estimate.
Shows: An exhibition will pair works by Jeff Koons and Picasso in the Alhambra in Granada, southern Spain. Co-organized by the Museo Picasso Málaga, the show opening of December 17 launches a series of dialogues with Picasso's work by leading international artists.
Pittsburgh: Mark Dion has spent the past two years collecting items to turn an ordinary house into a permanent installation of his work. He was invited to create the fourth Troy Art House by collector Evan Mirapaul, who was inspired by the art island of Naoshima in Japan. “Some people have no idea these houses are here,” Mirapaul told the New York Times.
Washington DC: Carrie Mae Weems, Mark Bradford, Alex Katz received National Medals of the Arts from President Biden. The private ceremony took place in the White House. Ruth Asawa received a posthumous award.
Mexico City: Plans to turn Leonora Carrington’s former home into a house museum have been scrapped. Instead, the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana will create a research center, focusing on the Surrealist.
New York: Maurizio Cattelan's banana duct taped to a wall, Comedian (2019) heads to auction at Sotheby’s on November 20 with a $1m estimate. An edition of three, Perrotin sold one for $120,000 after the work made a sensational debut at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019.
Market: "Damien Hirst: Online Auction" totaled $1.4m at Phillips, exceeding the pre-sale high estimate. 84% of lots sold above their low estimate, led by Hirst’s 2003 pill cabinet, Day in Day Out. For all the highlights, see the HENI News report.
Toronto: Alex da Corte’s solo show “Ear Worm” is a must-see at MOCA and Sonia Boyce's latest work, Feeling Her Way, at Art Gallery Ontario (AGO), a highlight of the Toronto Biennial are among the HENI News pick of must-see shows coinciding with Art Toronto.
Leonora Carrington's home and studio in Mexico City. Photo by Tania Victoria/ Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México via Wikimedia Commons.
In other news
Market: Frieze's parent company, Endeavor, is exploring the potential sale of the art fair and media brand, The Art Newspaper reports.
Market: Spending by the ultra rich fell by 32% on average, research for the Art Basel and UBS collectors survey found. Median spending remained around the $50,000 mark, however. HENI News
Warsaw: The new Museum of Modern Art has opened in its first permanent home. It launches with a display featuring works by Magdalena Abakanowicz and Alina Szapocznikow, reports Notes From Poland.
"‘We remember that we come from the sea. It's not a memory. It's a feeling. It's in our DNA,’ says Joan Jonas, whose her work, Moving Off the Land II, has been acquired by the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. "
- CBC
Joan Jonas overlooking the Atlantic. Photo by Toby Coulson via CBC