Jeff Koons. “Coloring Book 1997–2005,” 2012. Photo by Kenzo. Courtesy the artist.
In this week’s roundup Jeff Koons presents colorful sculpture, New York Close Up is at the SoHo Apple Store, William Kentridge creates a new flipbook, Gabriel Orozco is inspired by games, several artists are honored, and more.
- Wesley Miller and Nick Ravich – co-creators and co-producers of New York Close Up, Art21’s web-original documentary series – will be participating in events at the Apple Store SoHo (NYC) this Tuesday, December 11 at 7:00 pm. Creating the Portrait of an Artist: New York Close Up includes a screening from New York Close Up and a discussion to be followed by an audience Q&A. The event is free and open to the public.
- Jeff Koons opened a new exhibition at Gagosian Beverly Hills. Coloring Book 1997–2005 is a sculpture that consists of highly reflective stainless steel with a surface decoration of brightly colored swirls. This work is on view through February 14, 2013.
- Carrie Mae Weems, Jeff Koons, Cai Guo-Qiang, Shahzia Sikander, and Kiki Smith received the U.S. State Department’s Medal of Arts from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for their outstanding commitment to the Art in Embassies program and to international cultural exchange. The Secretary’s remarks for the luncheon are available here.
- Allora & Calzadilla screens video that celebrates the end of missile testings run by the U.S. Army in the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico, at the Oudeis museum (Le Vigan, France). Included in the Green Silence roundtable exhibition is Returning a Sound (2004), which features a trumpet attached to the pipe of a motorcycle, producing sounds that change with the accelerations. The video plays Monday to Friday, 3:00pm – 7:00pm until December 15.
- Josiah McElheny unveiled a site-specific conceptual art project at the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in time for Art Basel Miami. The Light Club of Vizcaya: A Woman’s Picture is a thirty-minute film that references a little-known short-story by German writer Paul Scheerbart, The Light Club of Batavia, written in 1912. McElheny combines footage of historical and archival documents along with current images of Vizcaya. The film is on view through March 18, 2013.
- William Kentridge presents an exhibition of recent work at Goodman Gallery Cape Town (South Africa). NO, IT IS sets elements from various projects together with new work made especially for the exhibition – allowing the gallery to be the space where different bodies of work collide and make new connections. The flipbook, NO, IT IS, was the start of a new project of making flipbooks and flipbook films. The show runs December 18 – February 2, 2013.
- Jenny Holzer will unveil her latest site-specific work at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (Texas). Kind of Blue will feature seven channels of lighted text running through the central gallery looking out onto the pond.
- Judy Pfaff presents her work as part of a group show at Robischon Gallery (Denver). Judy Pfaff, Katy Stone, Ana Maria Hernando includes eleven sculptures and thirteen framed assemblages by Pfaff that are predominantly inspired by the unique culture of place – reflecting the artist’s travels to India, China, and Japan. The exhibition closes December 22.
- El Anatsui has an exhibition at the Denver Museum of Art (Colorado). When I Last Wrote to You about Africa is the first retrospective of the artist’s work, including sculptures in wood, ceramic, and mixed media. The 61 works cover all phases of the artist’s career, from his early work in Ghana utilizing traditional symbols, to found driftwood works made in Denmark, to sculptures made using the chainsaw as a carving tool. The show closes January 6, 2013.
- Gabriel Orozco is among several artists whose works are inspired by the structure and aesthetics of games. Game Room on view at the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles) and presents work that explores human interaction as a central aspect of game play. The exhibition runs through February 17, 2013.
- Alfredo Jaar will represent Chile with a major new site-specific installation at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. This work will be on view at the Giardini in the Arsenale June 1 – November 24, 2013.
