Contemporary Art – High End Weekly™

Extraordiary Art & Design at England’s Legendary Chatsworth

Extraordinary settings fit for even bigger dialogues on Art & Design. Bewitching arts by world famous artists are presented by Sotheby’s at the majestic Chatsworth’s property in England. Get blown away as you watched this exciting video. The list list of who’s who in modern contemporary works from British artists such as Tony Cragg, Allen Jones and Bill Woodrow to international artists such as Stephan Balkenhol and Unus Safardiar are on full display at this important and enchanting UK property.

Watch It on YOUTUBE.

Nicolai Frahm: The Super Collector

Takashi Murakami Kitagawa – Kun

Uniquely colored sculpture, oil paint, synthetic resins, fiberglass and stell

Background: Richard Prince, Telling It Over. Signed, titled and dated 1989 on the overlap acrylic
and silkscreen on canvas

“I bought my first Murakami painting in 1997, and he is an artist that I’ve loved every single day since then.”

Nicolai Frahm

Last month, I attended the premier of Wanderlust at Sotheby’s S|2 Gallery, and saw a curated show unlike any other that I’ve seen before. Nicolai Frahn (famously known as the ‘Super Collector’) was the man responsible for an exhibition filled with a range of art that can best be described as “minimal, clean, Zen” to “very pop, figurative, in-your face.” So it became important for me to understand the collection by looking into the background of the collector.

INTERNATIONALISM AT ITS BEST

Nicolai Frahm is an influential art collector, patron of the arts, and art advisor. I understand that in February 2013, he will be opening a nonprofit art center with collector Frank Cohen in central London. The center will highlight both collaborators’ keen eye for progressive art, and will also include commissioned works by some of the selected artists that you see here. Sotheby’s Lisa Dennison describes Wanderlust as a ‘journey around the globe as seen through Nicolai’s eyes. His aesthetic is broad enough to accommodate the divergent paths of much of today’s art”. I agree. But for me, it was also a splendid journey of exceptional examples of contemporary art from various artists who managed to survived the Cultural Revolution, and came out to create something beautiful, and extraordinary: art that will surely stand the test of time.

I am here by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu

Fiberglass, silica gel, simulacral sculpture

I am here by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu

I am here by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu (details)

Forefront: Ai Weiwei, Bamboo and Porcelain (Three Works)

Bamboo with porcelain, Executed in 2008

Zhang Huan, Yuan Shikai

Ashes and linen, Signed and dated 2007

Left: Subodh Gupta, Black Thing

Steel structure, painted stainless steel pincers and plastic ties

Executed in 2007

Zeng Fanzhi, Qing Yuan Chun Xue, oil on canvas

Signed and dated 2006

High End Weekly™ Photos

A Very Good Year

Mark Rothko’s No.1

Image courtesy Sotheby’s

ROYAL RED & BLUE

Sotheby’s achieved their highest Contemporary Art Evening Sale by tallying $375,149,000 the best auction result in any category in the Company’s history. Mark Rothko’s No. 1: the majestic canvas lead the way with a final bid of $75 Million. Royal Red and Blue was one of eight works hand-selected by Rothko for his landmark solo show of the same year at the Art Institute of Chicago. Measuring 1133⁄4 x 671⁄2 in (288.9 x 171.5 cm), No.1 (Royal Red and Blue) has remained in the same collection for 30 years.

Mark Rothko’s Blue and Gray, via The New York Observer

Mark Rothko’s No. 61 (Rust and Blue)

Source: Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Overall, this was the highest auction total in Sotheby’s history. New artist records for: Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Hans Hofmann, Arshile Gorky, Robert Motherwell, Wade Guyton, as well as for a work-on-paper by Andy Warhol and a painting by Takashi Murakami. Note: The previous record for a Sotheby’s auction was the May 2008 Contemporary Art Evening Sale which totaled $362,037,000.

Mark Rothko

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Art We Love This Week

A r t For E v e r y B u d g e t

Saatchi Online provides the global community a new way to discover art and get discovered. Whether you are a new or seasoned art collector, interior designer, or simply an art lover, you will be as engrossed as I was, once you’ve entered their online store and viewed hundreds of prints and original art.

Mindo Cikanavicius – Untitled

Saatchi Online is a partner to the Saatchi Gallery London, who recently re-launched, and quickly attracted over 60,000 new international artists and connected them with buyers. The site is a dream come true for interior designers, like myself, who can now browse through hundreds of art for their interior projects, and choose between a variety of design style, color or mood. You will find some distinguished amount of prints, original artwork, and even sculptors that fit any project at any budget. I learned through their headquarters, based in Chinatown in Los Angeles, California, that the main goal of Saatchi Online is to help create sustainable careers for artists, by promoting art, finding buyers, and ultimately providing the opportunity to make more. Saatchi Online is a thriving social marketplace, helping community members sell original works of art as well as prints. Originally conceived by Charles Saatchi, the new Saatchi Online is led by CEO Bruce Livingstone, founder of iStockphoto. It is affiliated with the Saatchi Gallery and Charles Saatchi, who is a majority shareholder in Saatchi Online along with Balderton Capital.

Karien Deroo – Our Father

Susannah Martin – Fraulein