October 31, 2014: Happy Halloween! Dance Performances Coming to Miami and New York, Restored Rubens Revealed at the Getty, and Doha Museum Debuts with an Arab Art Exhibition
Opening
In New York… “Wang Jianwei: Time Temple” opens at the Guggenheim; “Picasso & Jacqueline: The Evolution of Style” opens at Pace Gallery; “Halloween Fantasy Wonders: Ceramic Sculpture World” opens at Red Royalty Gallery; “R.H. Quaytman: O Tópico” opens at Gladstone Gallery.
Closing
In New York… “Jean-Luc Moulène: Torture Concrete” closes at Miguel Abreu Gallery; “Joseph Cornell: A New Surrealism—Works from the 1930s” and “Tim Davis: Forgeries” close at Van Doren Waxter Gallery.
In London… “Corrections to the First Draft of History” closes at Frith Street Gallery.
Today’s Notable News
Performance art seems to be taking over the major fairs this year, and Art Basel Miami Beach is no exception. Ryan McNamara will be bringing an expanded version of his commission for the 2013 Performa Biennial to the Miami Grand Theater, to be staged December 3rd and 4th; titled MEƎM 4 Miami: A Story Ballet About the Internet, the performance emulates the “cluttered nature of the digital realm.” (via ARTnews)
In other dance news, Peter Sellars has been commissioned to present a performance piece at the Park Avenue Armory next spring (running Mar. 25–Apr. 4). Sellars was inspired by a Brooklyn-based form of street dancing dubbed “Flex,” and has enlisted Reggie “Regg Roc” Gray, one of Flex’s pioneers, to bring FLEXN to life. A group of 18 local dancers will perform up and down a 70-foot runway in the Armory, with images by Richard Ross incorporated. (via The New York Times)
The Getty Museum is revealing for the first time a series of restored Rubens paintings, which the artist created as studies for his magnificent “Triumph of the Eucharist” tapestries. The paintings, which were done on oak panels, had become warped and cracked over the years; with the help of a $380,000 grant from the Getty Foundation, the museum was able to work with the Prado over the course of four years to mend the paintings. (via The Guardian)
Opening tomorrow in Doha, Qatar, the Mathaf Arab Museum will debut with an exhibition curated from its expansive collection of Arab art. The Mathaf collection boasts 8,000 works, assembled over the course of 25 years by H.E. Sheikh Hassan bin Mohamed bin Ali Al Thani, the Mathaf’s founding patron. (via The Art Newspaper)
MoMA has announced it will house a retrospective exhibition of the work of Dadaist Francis Picabia, to be mounted in November 2016. (via ARTnews)
Best of Instagram
Via @themuseumofmodernart: “Happy Halloween! Thanks to @maniacpumpkins for our Matisse ‘Boo Nude’ pumpkin!”
Good Reads
“Medium and Message, Both Unsettling: ‘Chris Ofili: Night and Day,’ a Survey at the New Museum” (via The New York Times)
“Allen Jones: ‘I think of myself as a feminist’” (via The Guardian)
“Picasso Selfies, Home Movies and More at Gagosian” (via Art in America)
“Painting with Data: A Conversation with Lev Manovich” (via Hyperallergic)
Artists of the Day
Today marks the birthday of two artists whose styles stand at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Johannes Vermeer, born on this day in 1632, is perhaps the epitome of Dutch Golden Age, best known for his portraits of women with beautifully rendered light illuminating their elegant features. Sharing his birthday is Helmut Newton, born in 1920, whose provocative photography often featured nude women cavorting in various glamourous milieus. Newton rose to prominence as a photographer for Vogue.
Want to catch up with the rest of this week’s news? Review past Daily Digests here.
