It is the end of the year and the beginning of a new decade, the past year has been full of excitement and changes. We look back on some of our highlights in 2019!
Frieze LA debut
Early this past year, Frieze presented its first Frieze LA fair at the Paramount Pictures Studies, celebrating the city’s new role within the art industry. Frieze presented ‘Frieze Projects’ at the New York City backlot of the studios, ‘Frieze Talks’ and ‘Frieze Music.’ The fair accommodated more than 30.000 visitors, and Los Angeles was taken over by a number of satellite fairs and art activations.
Los Angeles has growing influential in the art industry, many leading galleries have opened up new multi-gallery spaces in the city. During Frieze LA, Gagosian presented a new body of work by Sterling Ruby in a pop-up space, Jeffrey Deitch opened ‘People,’ an exhibition that included 50 standing, sitting and hanging figurative sculptures, and Hauser and Wirth presented a comprehensive exhibitions of Annie Leibovitz earlier works.
Museums such as Lacma, The Broad and MOCA have put together influential contemporary exhibitions that contributed to the importance of LA in our contemporary culture. During the Frieze art week the Marciano Foundation presented an exhibitions of Ai WeiWei’s work including a new piece about the global refugee crisis, and LACMA presented ‘Rauschenberg: ¼ Mile.’
The Brant Foundation - Jean Michael Basquiat
The Brant Foundation has presented a great deal of historical artworks with a focus on promoting education and appreciation around contemporary art. This past year they opened their second location in the East Village in New York City. The building was originally designed for Consolidated Edison and later served as the home and studio of the late artist Walter the Maria. The building is beautifully renovated and the Brant Foundation inaugurated the new space with a presentation of Jean Michael Basquiat's entire oeuvre, presenting some of his most well-known works. The exhibition was one of the most talked about and celebrated exhibitions in the city this year.
The Whitney Biennial 2019
The Whitney Biennial is one of the most important American contemporary art surveys presenting important emerging and newly established artists reflecting on our contemporary culture. The Biennial event attracts a lot of attention and critique often directed toward the art and curations of the exhibitions. This year the critique was directed towards the leadership of the museum, resulting in eight artists requesting their artwork to be removed from the gallery walls.
Before the opening of the exhibition one artist declined the invitation to the event due to the involvement of Warren Kander’s as co-chair of the museum board. Kander’s company distributes military equipment include teargas. Other artists expressed their disappointment of the association of Kander’s with the museum but were far into the fabrication of their work. After the opening of the exhibition, they also requested the removal of their works from the museum walls.
This event was one of the defining moments of the year and decade. Artists criticizing the leadership of museums was a recurring phenomenon, with Nan Goldin as leader of the movement. Nan Goldin protested again the Sackler family and their involvement with many leading institutions around the world, demanding museums to remove their name from gallery walls and declining donations from the family. Tate Modern, The National Portrait Gallery, Louvre, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York City all supported her protests and dissociated themselves from the family.
Rise Of Tribeca Art Scene
On a beautiful Friday in September many galleries opened their doors for the very first time in Tribeca New York. The evening was packed with art fanatics and professionals all full of true excitement. The neighborhood felt like the old Downtown New York art scene in Soho, with its beautiful architecture. Chelsea gallery district has become expensive and extremely dense, whereas Tribeca has recently become more spacious with retail becoming extinct. The spaces in Tribeca have beautiful high ceilings, classic architecture and often lots of storage space. Monica King has been a longtime player in the industry and is now flying solo for the very first time with her new gallery on Lispenard street, a block away from James Cohen gallery which moved down from Chelsea.
The Whitney Biennial 2019
The Whitney Biennial is one of the most important American contemporary art surveys presenting important emerging and newly established artists reflecting on our contemporary culture. The Biennial event attracts a lot of attention and critique often directed toward the art and curations of the exhibitions. This year the critique was directed towards the leadership of the museum, resulting in eight artists requesting their artwork to be removed from the gallery walls.
Before the opening of the exhibition one artist declined the invitation to the event due to the involvement of Warren Kander’s as co-chair of the museum board. Kander’s company distributes military equipment include teargas. Other artists expressed their disappointment of the association of Kander’s with the museum but were far into the fabrication of their work. After the opening of the exhibition, they also requested the removal of their works from the museum walls.
This event was one of the defining moments of the year and decade. Artists criticizing the leadership of museums was a recurring phenomenon, with Nan Goldin as leader of the movement. Nan Goldin protested again the Sackler family and their involvement with many leading institutions around the world, demanding museums to remove their name from gallery walls and declining donations from the family. Tate Modern, The National Portrait Gallery, Louvre, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York City all supported her protests and dissociated themselves from the family.
Alla Horska: ‘Heroine’ curated by Daria Borisova presented by White Ribbon and Stella Foundation
White Ribbon, presented a series of fine-art exhibition in Ukraine as part of their global initiative ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Towards Women and Girls.’ The three exhibitions featured the renowned artist-and human rights activist Alla Horska who was killed in the 1960s by the NKVD, and was presented in partnership with the Stella Foundation. The exhibitions are curated by by Daria Borisova and Vladyslav Tuzov at three separate locations; the Ukrainian parliament, America House Kyiv and Kuindzhi Museum of Modern Art in the city of Mariupol.
White Ribbon is the world’s largest male initiative against domestic violence toward women. The ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence towards Women and Girls’ is organized by White Ribbon’s Ukrainian representatives and takes place from November 25th till December 19th every year. During the White Ribbon days, the non-profit organization conducts an awareness campaign. The days are supported by the Democracy Fund of the US Embassy in Ukraine.
Alla Horska was an Ukrainian contemporary artist, born September 18, 1929. Horska was a pioneer in socialist realistic, primitive and nonconformist art movements. She was an active social rights activist in the 1960s. Due to the political and nationalistic content of her artwork, many of her works were destroyed and banned to be displayed in public.
WinteR Show curated by Daria Borisova
WinteR Show is a group show celebrating emerging talent in London, presented at Harlesden Highstreet and curated by Daria Borisova. The show presents artists from all realms of artistic practices including painting, sculpture, installation, and photography. The Show opened on December 14th and will be open till January 15th 2020.
The exhibition celebrates Diversity, inviting us to come together in this time of growing polarisation. WinteR Show reflects on London’s contemporary culture, creating a platform to catalyse conversation on the social and cultural issues of today. Participating artists include Bex Massey, Valerie Savchits, Alexander James, Natalia Anastasiou, Stefano Cannella, David King Reuben, Seulgi Kang, Adam Zoltowski, Paul Abbott, Adam Baker and Anna Kenneally.
WinteR Show focuses on the upcoming generation and brings ten artists together who engage in our contemporary language by exploring themes of history, feminism, social media, capitalism, suppression and diversity. This exhibition amplifies the power of the visual arts as a universal language utilized by artists to bring us together over our collective and personal experiences.