Exhibition Includes Works by Calder and Large-Scale Sculpture by Seven Contemporary Artists

NEWPORT BEACH, CA.- The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) is the only West Coast venue for Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy, an extensive reexamination of the modernist master whose work has inspired a new generation of contemporary artists. From monumental mobiles and stabiles to more delicate works, the exhibition presents approximately 30 sculptures by Calder and major works by seven young artists who embrace the forms and materials used by Calder. Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art [...]

Yorkshire Sculpture Park Opens Jaume Plensa’s First Major UK Exhibition of Sculpture

WAKEFIELD.- From April 2011 Yorkshire Sculpture Park presents the first major UK exhibition of sculpture and drawings by Jaume Plensa, with new and recent work displayed in the Underground Gallery and surrounding landscape. The exhibition encourages a tactile and sensory exploration of his work and includes large illuminated heads, human shapes formed of letters, angels suspended from walls and inscribed gongs waiting to be struck. Jaume Plensa, Heart Of Trees. Photo: Jonty Wilde. Courtesy of YSP. Sculptures such as Hear No [...]

Solo Exhibition by the New York Artist Liam Everett at Paul Kasmin Gallery Project Space

NEW YORK, NY.- Paul Kasmin Gallery Project space, in collaboration with Romer Young Gallery, San Francisco, present a solo exhibition by the New York artist Liam Everett. Everett’s installation Cura consists of a recent group of paintings, which the artist refers to as the “eclipse paintings.” Working with acrylic, salt and alcohol, Everett’s paintings both “record and arrest a seemingly alchemical process” and reflect his continued exploration of the perceptual experience. Focusing on the motion of light and its inherent [...]

19th Century European Art Including an Important Collection of Sculpture at Sotheby’s New York

NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s New York auction of 19th Century European Art on 5 May 2011–timed to coincide with the May sales of Impressionist & Modern Art–is distinguished by important and rare works, as well as a number of major discoveries. The select and highly-curated sale offers the best works of each artist represented, and concludes with a suite of exquisite marble sculptures. Taken altogether, the auction celebrates the diverse artistic traditions that preceded and coincided with French Impressionism. The [...]

Show at Museum of Fine Arts Shows Dale Chihuly’s Glass of Inspiration Never Half Empty

BOSTON, MA (REUTERS).- Glass artist Dale Chihuly says his well of inspiration never runs dry, even after some 40 years pushing the boundaries of his medium. “Just working with the material brings forth a lot of ideas, in both the glass blowing and in working with the glass after it’s been blown,” Chihuly, 69, said on the sidelines of his major new exhibit at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. “Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass,” 12 installations that live up to their [...]

Imperial War Museum in London Explores Achievements of Female War Artists

LONDON.- Women War Artists, a new exhibition at Imperial War Museum London will explore the remarkable experiences and achievements of female war artists from the First World War to the present day. The importance of women artists as eyewitnesses, participants, commentators and officially commissioned recorders of war will be examined, considering their experiences both in theatres of conflict and at home. Highlights from the Imperial War Museum’s outstanding art collection, including challenging contemporary works by Frauke Eigen, Jananne Al-Ani and Fiona [...]

Exhibition of Work by Prominent South Asian Artist Rashid Rana at Lisson Gallery

LONDON.- Lisson Gallery presents an exhibition of work by Rashid Rana. Rana is widely considered to be the most prominent and original contemporary artist working in South Asia today. Through his work Rana explores constructs of media and identity, reflecting upon and critiquing the impact of globalisation worldwide whilst simultaneously exploring the local and competing influences of tradition and modernity in contemporary South Asia and Pakistan. Lisson Gallery’s Curatorial Director Greg Hilty says, “Rashid Rana’s work demonstrates a powerful interplay [...]

Frank Stella Appears in New Masters Series at Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle

TOLEDO, OH.- Frank Stella, a 2010 winner of the U.S. National Medal of Arts, inaugurated a new series of public programs featuring renowned artists and scholars at the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle. “The Ambassadors have been the generators and supporters of big ideas around the Museum for many years,” Kennedy said. “They founded Collector‟s Corner, created a national award-winning cookbook and generally promote the Museum and its activities. We‟re pleased that they are willing to support this next big Museum [...]

Following a Period of Study, Bellini Painting to Go on View at the Frick Collection

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Giovanni Bellini’s St. Francis in the Desert, a hallmark of The Frick Collection and one of the most important Italian Renaissance paintings in America, is a moving, spiritual portrait of a central figure in western Christianity. It is also a profoundly mysterious work, whose beauty depths of detail are matched only by the enigma of the artist’s intentions. This spring, following a period of unprecedented study, the painting is the subject of a special exhibition, In a New [...]

Ashmolean Museum Presents New Exhibition of Groundbreaking Archaeology

OXFORD- In the first major archaeological exhibition in the new temporary exhibition galleries, the Ashmolean Museumshowcases over five hundred treasures made of gold, silver and bronze, recently found in the royal burial tombs and the palace of Aegae, the ancient capital of Macedon. These extraordinary new discoveries are on display for the first time outside Greece. They re-write the history of early Greece and tell the story of the royal court and the kings and queens who governed Macedon, from the [...]

Twenty-One Museums and Science and Visitor Centers Vie To Get Retired Space Shuttles

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL (AP).- As the 30th anniversary of the first space shuttle launch draws near, the focus is not so much on the past but the future: Where will the shuttles wind up once the program winds down? Twenty-one museums and science and visitor centers around the country are vying for one of NASA‘s three retiring spaceships. They’ll find out Tuesday on the 30th anniversary of Columbia’s maiden voyage. Snagging Discovery, Atlantis or Endeavour for display doesn’t come cheap. NASA [...]

The Whitney Presents Dianna Molzan’s First Solo Museum Show and New York Debut

NEW YORK. N.Y.- The Whitney Museum of American Art presents Dianna Molzan: Bologna Meissen, the first solo museum exhibition devoted to the artist’s work. This lobby gallery show, open today, is curated by Whitney curatorial assistant Margot Norton. Dianna Molzan’s works engage in an open and unpredictable dialogue with the history of abstract painting. Although she works with traditional materials, such as oil on linen, she approaches her canvases irreverently, invoking elements of fashion, the decorative arts, ceramics, and popular design. [...]

Historic Abbey of San Clemente a Casauria Damaged in 2009 Abruzzo Earthquake Reopens

NEW YORK, NY.- Two years after a devastating earthquake hit the Abruzzo region of Italy, an important historic structure damaged in the tremor has been returned to its community fully restored. Following the earthquake, Bertrand du Vignaud, President of World Monuments Fund Europe, in coordination with the Italian Ministry of Culture, identified the twelfth-century Abbey of San Clemente a Casauria as a priority project. World Monuments Fund (WMF), the foremost independent, nonprofit historic preservation organization, and the Fondazione Pescarabruzzo, the most [...]

High Commissions Two Iconic Designers for Exhibition Opening in June

ATLANTA, GA.- The High Museum of Art has commissioned two new major works by Dutch designer Joris Laarman and the Japanese design collective nendo to be installed this spring in Atlanta. Laarman’s “Digital Matter” and nendo’s “Visible Structures” will be completed and included in the exhibition “Modern by Design,” on view from June 4 through August 21, 2011. Along with these new commissions, the exhibition’s installations will also feature approximately 23 works from the High’s growing collection of contemporary design that [...]

Andy Warhol Painting Bought for $1,600 Could Fetch $30 Million at Christie’s Sale

NEW YORK, N.Y (REUTERS).- An Andy Warhol self-portrait purchased in 1963 for $1,600 on an installment plan is poised to fetch $30 million or more when it hits the auction block at Christie’s in May. “Self-Portrait,” a four-panel acrylic silkscreen depicting the pop artist wearing a trench coat and sunglasses, is being sold by the family of Detroit collector Florence Barron. Barron first commissioned Warhol to paint her portrait, but changed her mind and suggested the young artist depict himself, telling [...]