Munch Madness - The Biggest Bid

Edvard Munch in 1912
(Photo: Anders Beer Wilse/Wikimedia Commons)

As was widely reported yesterday, an original pastel version of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch's (1863-1944) "The Scream" was auctioned off on May 2 for a record-breaking $119.92 million at Sotheby's in New York.

"Not even Sotheby’s specialists expected such a figure," The New York Times' Souren Melikian wrote on May 3. "The estimate quoted to me the day before by Simon Shaw, head of the New York department, was $80 million, plus the sale charge."

The Daily Beast meanwhile has  compiled a photo gallery of some of the most expensive works of art ever sold. 

The Scream is an iconic image that is arguably one of the most famous paintings in the world. (The version sold at auction in New York was reportedly one of four original versions of this same subject. So far, it would seem, the buyer appears to prefer to remain anonymous.)

Munch, who was by all accounts a melancholy man who found it hard to approach women (his "Madonna" paintings depict some of the temptation mixed with trepidation he may have felt vis-a-vis the opposite sex), spent some time in the northern German city of Lübeck (my father's hometown) and joined the German Expressionist movement, although he is more often - and perhaps more accurately - referred to as a Symbolist painter and an important forerunner of Expressionism.

Munch autograph  (Photo: scanned from book/Wikimedia Commons)

One cannot help but wonder whether Munch himself could have ever imagined one of his works of art fetching the highest price ever at auction in the early 21st century?

I have a book about Munch in German somewhere in my apartment in Washington, D.C. I purchased it on an outing more than a decade ago when I lived and worked at a newspaper in Frankfurt for a few years. A German guy I was dating at the time kindly accepted my suggestion to visit an art museum in Bonn, where I bought this lovely little hardcover book about Munch. I was more preoccupied with the emotional distance of my teutonic beau at the time ... Methinks this dramatic Munch sale might be a reason to dust off this old volume and actually read it. (I must confess that I love art books, but often spend more time looking at the plates ie images in them versus reading all the text. A French-American man I knew during my college days in Montreal, Canada, for instance, gave me a softcover art book about Franz Marc - in French, I might add - in a bid to boost my good, but not totally fluent, French language skills. I have yet to read that volume cover to cover, but have looked at the Marc paintings many times over!)

Cindy Sherman @ MoMA

I keep hearing about this Cindy Sherman show that's on at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan - most recently via a targeted, exhibition-specific ad this morning on NPR - and it makes me want to go see it before it ends on June 11.

MoMA - Dept. of Film and Video (Photo: Wikipedia Loves Art photo pool on Flickr)

Given that Mad Men, a show which I am addicted to (and not just because Jon Hamm a.k.a "Don Draper" is one of the best-looking actors working in America today!), has renewed widespread interest in mid-20th-century American fashion trends, I am particularly keen on seeing Sherman's series of photographic self-portraits "that feature the artist in stereotypical female roles inspired by 1950s and 1960s Hollywood, film noir, and European art-house films." (MoMA)

Just as intriguing a prospect as taking in these self-styled, slick images prodced by Sherman is checking out which movies she has chosen to complement them: "In conjunction with the exhibition, Sherman has selected films from MoMA’s collection, which will be screened in MoMA’s theaters during the course of the exhibition." (MoMA)

Cindy Sherman has, as her official online biography states, literally "turned the camera on herself," chronicling her own life and times in pictures that provide thought-provoking social commentary in the process.

A one-woman show at MoMA in the heart of Manhattan is a great homage to a great artist.

(It also begs the question how many "one-woman" - versus "one-man" - shows there have been at major museums throughout human history - any statistic of this nature would more likely than not be rather sobering for female artists. Not that artists and art museums should be "bean counters" and promote people lacking talent just for the sake of coming across as "PC" - I'm just sayin' it would be an int. fact to consider in the big scheme of things!)

As this article by British daily The Guardian points out, Sherman "just can't seem to keep herself out of her art."

This makes her kind of akin to a hyper-creative "visual blogger," before the expression "to blog" ever existed. ("I blog, therefore I am?")

Even if she claims (as the Guardian piece suggests) that her art is not autobiographical, it is highly personal as she is at its very essence at every turn. Sure, her various incarnations over the years (Sherman was born in 1954) have provided a running social commentary on the state, or various stages of, "womankind." But by injecting herself into everything she does she has placed herself squarely at the center of her entire creative ouevre. This approach may no longer seem "new" today, but looking back on the 170 photographs on show in this sweeping MoMA retrospective of her work surely provides a kind of narrative built up over time that is unique in this world - has anyone else ever done this?

The Affordable Art Fair

Lucy Liu in 2007 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

DC-based artist and blogger F. Lennox Campello has been posting some interesting updates lately about The Affordable Art Fair, where he has sold some of his own works (including one that was purchased by actress Lucy Liu - quite a coup for Campello!).

As its title suggests, this art fair - held in New York, Seattle and Los Angeles - is trying to break new ground.

As the New York website states:

"Shaking up the dusty model of art as an elite pastime, the Affordable Art Fair will showcase new artists, galleries, programming, and installations!  Don't miss a second!"

Based on the title of this fair, perhaps some of the art on view may be affordable to the "99 percent" of Americans who do not have quite as much money in the bank as Donald Trump or Warren Buffet.

Sh*t Art World People Say

I love this video, which was highlighted recently by An Xiao at hyperallergic.com ...



This Hyperallergic site - launched by husband-and-husband team Veken Gueyikian and Hrag Vartanian in 2009 - seems pretty cool too.

Connecting Cultures @ Brooklyn Museum

This new exhibition on 'Connecting Cultures' at the Brooklyn Museum is probably worth a visit. Brooklyn residents have always wondered why more art lovers swarming the great museums of Manhattan don't bother to check out their museum just across the East River.

Now this could be a good reason to go!

Google Art Project @ White House & Beyond

"Thanks to Google Art Project, you can visit @White House whenever you like."

First Lady Michelle Obama with U.S. President Barack Obama and their daughters Malia (left) and Sasha (right) at the White House. (Official press photo from the White House website.)

This was tweeted today (April 3, 2012) by First Lady Michelle Obama, who is one of nearly 250 individuals, media outlets, or organizations I presently follow on Twitter. (My Twitter "handle" is @Carstens71)

If you click the tab that says "Featured" in the lower lefthand corner of the Google Art Project website, one of these items invites you to "Explore the White House with the First Lady of the United States of America."

Yet even after signing in with my gmail account password, it was hard to enter this new White House tour on the site - perhaps there was either a temporary glitch or something was wrong with my (likely outdated) PC browser.

Leaving aside my initial confusion at navigating this site, it clearly serves as an excellent online compilation of high-resolution images of artworks located in museums and galleries all over the world, from the Acropolis Museum to the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University.

In Washington, D.C., for instance, the Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries have also been included.

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art and Frick Collection were moreover among the first museums included on the site.

Google Art Project, a real treat for anyone who wishes to view great art online, was launched in 2011.

Cool Building @ Manhattan

This building caught my eye as a work of art when I was strolling around Manhattan last weekend. Located in the NoHo area east of Washington Square and NYU, it was partially covered in a kind of free-flowing, sculptural "latticework" of sorts that was reminiscent of the organic, swirly stylings of Art Nouveau, but reinterpreted for a 21st-century urban setting.

Organic "latticework" just outside the building (Photos by Karen Carstens)

Front entrance with "latticwork" on either side

"Latticework" adjacent to front entrance

Mirrorred surface with a pattern that mimicks the "latticework"

Peering through the "latticework" on to the street

More of the mirrored surface

More of the grey "latticework"

A different type of mirrored surface

Somehow I also photographed myself taking photographs of this really cool building with my UMD iPod.

Karen Carstens (Photos by Karen Carstens)

I decided to play around with this image with Photoshop, making it "grainier" (ie "adding noise") ...

... as well as converting it into a black-and-white version. The sky really is the limit with Photoshop!

Here are some more of those funky "reflections" ...

As I lingered around the building and snapped these pics with my UMD student-issued iPod, a couple of young urban hipster types walked by. They also stopped and stared at the building for a minute. Then I heard one of them knowingly tell the other something along the lines of "Ah, yes, this is clearly by (so-and-so)."

But I did not, alas, quite catch the name of the artist or architect he was referring to.

It was a blustery day.

Funky Stuff @ artexpo New York (Part Trois!)

Among the many interesting exhibition spaces filled by the works of a single artist at the artexpo was that of Sophie Dervieux, who creates eye-popping 3-D wall art using a technique she developed together with her father that references nature and celebrities via photos and collages she whips up into unique "wall sculptures."

Brigitte Bardot takes center stage in this piece by Sophie Dervieux (Photos by Karen Carstens)

I had to stop and admire how she makes everything from sea turtles to tigers to Brigitte Bardot "come to life" via this fun technique. (Bardot, ever the animal activist, would surely approve of the nature element. Obviously cute housepets and greeting card motifs were, however, conspicuously absent from Dervieux's exhibition space at the artexpo. I found her work cute, but still witty and original.)

I LOVE this panda piece by Dervieux - I had to photograph this for my Mom, who is a panda FANATIC!

So here are a few samples of Dervieux's work, which I photographed with her permission - as long as I link back to her website, which I've done in the first graf of this blogpost and will do again right here, just for good measure!

Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot, as re-imagined by Sophie Dervieux

So here are a few samples of Dervieux's work, which I photographed with her permission - as long as I link back to her website, which I've done in the first graf of this blogpost and will do again right here, just for good measure!

Sophie Dervieux and her 3-D creations at the artexpo in New York (as MM and BB look on in the background...)

Sophie's cute panda looks quite content ... (detail)
 

In Sophie's World, a tiger might morph halfway into a fish ... (detail).  A full image of this work - minus camera glare - is visible on her website.

Funky Stuff @ artexpo New York (Part Deux!)

Here's some more funky stuff that was on display at the artexpo which I was weirdly drawn to ...

Absolutely adorable - reminiscent of Hello Kitty & Co., or what the friendly offspring of some of those giant furry "monsters" in the film adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are" might look like (by Korean-born, NY-based artist Su-Jin Lim) (Photos by Karen Cartens)

This is something that would keep me awake - and dreaming - in my office! (detail)

The sad dream landscape of Hello Kitty's depressed friends (?) ... (by Su-Jin Lim)

A saftig floral graphic image (detail)

Totally weird, but somehow mesmerizing ... (by Su-Jin Lim)

This reminded me of the work of Paul Klee (detail - by Italian artist Vincenzo Balsamo)

This oil painting vaguely reminded me of a Modigliani portrait ("Cosima" by Diana Pinck)

Hello Kitty he ain't! (He looks like he might eat Hello Kitty actually ... !)

Like candy for the soul - glorious glassware ...

Funky Stuff @ artexpo New York

Although I just realized I probably sounded lukewarm in my personal take on the artexpo New York, there were definitely some pretty nifty - and downright brilliant - works on display, some of which I managed to photograph.

(This was not allowed by some, but tolerated and even encouraged by others exhibiting at the expo, in the interest of gaining still more exposure for their fabulous artworks!)

So here, in no particular order, are a few fun highlights of only a fraction of the artworks that were on display:

Funky sculptures at artexpo New York (Photos by Karen Carstens)

American dream (?) ... a fun piece by Susi Q

Bright lights, big art in the Big Apple ...

A Martin Kaupp portrait of Amy Winehouse

One fish, two fish ... (detail of a painting) 

Another view of those funky sculptures ...

Emmy Magliani by Emmy Rossan

A single-panel piece by Cincinnati-based artist Nicholas Yust

 

A face in the crowd ...

A metal piece hand-crafted by Nicholas Yust (detail)

Clearly there was a lot of cool stuff to see at the artexpo - a fun way to spend an afternoon in New York!

Mixed Bag @ artexpo New York

artexpo New York (Photos by Karen Carstens)

I visited the artexpo in New York on Sunday, March 25, which featured what one might expect - an eclectic mix of art spread out over a vast space (Pier 92 along the Hudson River, to be precise).

"International Artexpo New York has stood at the pinnacle of the commercial fine art market for the past 33 years," states on official press release.

"The list of past exhibitors is a veritable Who's Who of visual artists, including Andy Warhol, Peter Max, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Indiana, Keith Haring and Leroy Neiman."

artexpo New York 2012

What was on display this year by a variety of gallery owners, art dealers and individual artists were mostly paintings, as well as some photography, mixed media works, sculptures, and works in glass and metal, plus a smidgeon of multimedia elements such as video - although surprisingly few such digital-era works were actually on display.

(One exception to this rule was an über-cute "claymation" video by a young artist called Susi Q which many passersby - including myself - found highly amusing and absolutely adorable. I also must have missed this.)

One particular booth I steered clear of was that of the famous Thomas Kinkade Gallery.

I was just not that into him.

(If you're unfamiliar with this reference, you're probably not a fan of the now defunct HBO series Sex in the City.)

There were many more artists and artworks I was more drawn to, and some that I found truly breathtaking, or at the very least something I thought would look cool in my office or apartment.

Life-sized sculptures at artexpo New York

But as I had visited the breathtaking Ron Lauder exhibition at the Neue Galerie earlier that same day, I was by contrast somewhat underwhelmed by most of the contemporary artworks on display at artexpo.

Let's face it. For any artist alive today it is really hard to come close to the likes of Klimt, Schiele, Cezanne, Picasso, Van Gogh, Degas, Brancusi, Richter, Polke, the German Expressionists or the chief designers and artists of the Wiener Werkstätte, whose works - among others - have been collected by Lauder and are now on display at the Neue Galerie through April 2.

Those preternaturally talented artists of yesteryear are all pretty tough acts to follow!

There was nevertheless quite a lot of good - and possibly also some great - art on disply at the artexpo.

Paintings at artexpo New York

Among several of the artists whose works caught my eye at the artexpo were Ahni Kruger, Anne Marchand, Nick Paciorek, Diana Pinck, Julie Satinover and Boris Giulian, whose somewhat surreal "Alphabets - Beauty of Diversity" paintings are clever and amusing pieces. (By contrast I was less into this, which somehow left me cold.)

The creative stylings of Sophie's Dervieux and Martin Kaupp also amused me.

I also LOVE this Web site - The World of Ed Heck - very cool!

And I know a friend of mine who is professional Porsche mechanic would absolutely ADORE this, as well as possibly the photograps of vintage pick-up trucks by Nancy Louise Formn (Weezy).

Spotting the art of Dr. Seuss on the premises was fun too.

(There were, of course, many more artists represented at this international art event. You can peruse their works via this complete exhibitor list featuring hundreds of artists and gallery owners. One of the galleries that caught my eye for its nice selection of imported oil paintings was Paul Robinson Fine Art.)

One of several art-filled corridors at the artexpo

The upshot: there was a lot of pretty nifty and fun stuff to see at artexpo (where I admittedly only had a limited amount of time to spend - less than two hours).

The problem for me was that I was (subconsciously) comparing a lot of it to Ron Lauder's collection, which I had just viewed at the Neue Galerie, and which literally blew my mind (even his medieval armor collection got to me - he had me at the 15th century!).

If I were a professional gallery owner or art dealer I would, however, have likely approached everything I saw at artexpo quite differently, ie with a view to the value and marketability of the artworks on display. Taste in art naturally also remains purely subjective, which is part of what makes it so much fun to behold.

(Ron Lauder's private collection is, incidentally, one of the finest in the world. I blogged about this before here.)

Wrapping things up at the end of artexpo New York on March 25, 2012

Art Explosion @ New York

Chrysler Building, New York City (detail)
Photo by Postdlf/Wikimedia Commons

New York is hopping with art this weekend. I'm taking a bus up to Manhattan tommorrow morning with a view to attending artexpo, the world's largest fine art trade show, which concludes on Sunday, March 25.

I also plan to go see the Ron Lauder collection now on show at the Neue Galerie, which I mentioned in an earlier blogpost.

Then there is the Whitney Biennial, not to mention an endless array of options at the Met, MoMA and the Guggenheim ... As if that were not enough to blow your mind, The Art Newspaper has provided these suggestions of "What to see outside the fairs."

I am SO excited to immerse myself in this FABULOUS world of art - New York is an art lovers paradise!