ARTIST MARK MCGOWAN ATTEMPTS TO ROW 250 MILES THROUGH LONDON'S STREETS
On 2 October Mark McGowan will take to the streets of London to declare his love of the tap in a home-made raft crafted from recycled plastic bottles and rollerskate wheels. Aiming to draw attention to the plastic bottle waste mountains, McGowan will attempt to row his plastic raft through the streets of London on a journey estimated to last two weeks. He intends to circumnavigate London with two paddles to steer his wheeled raft, whilst wearing a WaterAid t-shirt to promote their new campaign 'Tap into WaterAid'. The campaign focuses on UK restaurants asking customers for a donation to WaterAid in return for tap water. The performance wills tart at the Biscuit Building near Old Street, temporarily home to a plastic-focused exhibition 'From Now to Eternity', where leading designers have been asked to create work from recycled plastic, curated by Arts Co. For the exhibition opening, Arts Co sent invitations in the form of recycled plastic bottles to guests, who brought them back to contribute to the building of McGowan's street vessel. McGowan will finish his voyage in front of the offices of DEFRA in Westminster, where he will hand in a signed petition of signatures collected during his journey to the Minister for the Environment.
GUGGENHEIM SET TO TAKE NEW DIRECTION
After a seven-month search, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation on Tuesday officially named Richard Armstrong as its next director, reports Carol Vogel in the New York Times. Armstrong, who has been director of the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh for twelve years, succeeds Thomas Krens, who announced in February that he was stepping down after nearly twenty years. In a decision that was widely reported in the art world, Guggenheim trustees settled on Armstrong in late August, but they did not vote formally until their board meeting on Tuesday afternoon. Their choice appears to signal a distinct change in style for the Guggenheim, whose international ambitions under Krens have stirred some conflict within the institution in recent years. "We were looking for someone with a passion for art who understood that the New York museum is at the center of our universe," said Jennifer Blei Stockman, president of the Guggenheim's board. Under the long tenure of the provocative Krens, the Guggenheim transformed itself into a global brand with branches in Berlin, Venice, and Bilbao, Spain, as well as a planned museum in Abu Dhabi that is expected to open in 2013. Now the Guggenheim seems eager for a more centered presence. "We interviewed a lot of young avant-garde European and American museum directors and thought, do we want another maverick who puts their stamp on the museum or a seasoned expert who is a wise adult and who would put the needs of the institution and the staff first?" Stockman said in a telephone interview. Armstrong, who assumes the post on November 4, will nonetheless be responsible for the foundation's global network of museums as well as its New York headquarters.
MARTIN BOYCE TO REPRESENT SCOTLAND AT THE VENICE BIENNALE 2009
The Glasgow Herald announced this week that the Glasgow-based sculptor Martin Boyce will be the first artist to represent Scotland with a solo show at the Venice Biennale next year. Boyce's exhibition will mark the first time that Scotland's separate pavilion at the Venice Biennale houses only a single artist, joining the tradition of the other countries in the festival. Boyce's show will have a budget of £250,000 and will, according to the artist, be "big and bold". "I love the fact", he said, "that the Scottish show is not one of the buildings in the Giardini, the official home of the Biennale, that it is almost tongue-in-cheek, because it is whatever you want it to be; it could be set in a bar, or a gondola."
RUSSIAN BUYERS ACCOUNT FOR 50% OF SALES AT GAGOSIAN
Bloomberg reported this week on the number of collectors from Russia and other republics of the former Soviet Union who are acquiring works from the Gagosian Gallery. One of its directors, Victoria Gelfand, said that 50 percent of total global sales at Gagosian Gallery have been made to Russian buyers. Their numbers rose rapidly over the past 18 months, said Gelfand. 'The bulk of these sales are postwar and contemporary art,' said Gelfand, who heads operations with Russia. 'These buyers have multiple residences, and basically live on airplanes, as they have business interests around the world.'
On 17 September Gagosian opened a show of 70 artworks in a former chocolate factory near the Kremlin, titled 'For What You are About to Receive'. It is Gagosian's second in the Russian capital and runs until Oct. 25. The gallery said that in the first few days it sold 'about 13' artworks, each ranging in value from $25,000 to $2 million. Artists in the show include Alberto Giacometti, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, and Pablo Picasso. There are also new works, never displayed before, by Anish Kapoor, Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha, Richard Serra, and Cy Twombly. Gelfand said about 50 of the 70 works are for sale. Gagosian spent about $1 million to renovate 25,000 square meters on the third floor of the former Red October Chocolate Factory, said Gelfand. The works on display came from artists and estates, or were lent by collectors. In terms of volume, the more popular artists among Russians over the past two years have been Koons, Richard Prince, Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, and Cecily Brown, said Gelfand.
Russia is the world's second-biggest oil exporter. According to Forbes, the number of Russian billionaires jumped to 110 in 2008 from 36 in 2004. This new wealthy class is eager to spend on luxury items and fine art.
TARA DONOVAN AWARDED A 'GENIUS GRANT'
Artist Tara Donovan is among the 25 recipients of this year's MacArthur "Genius Grants", announced this week. Donovan creates large installations out of everyday objects, as in 'Haze', a 2003 work in which she stacked more than two million clear plastic drinking straws against a forty-two-foot-long wall. Each of the MacArthus recipients will recieve $100,000 a year for five years, with no strings attached.
ARTNET PUBLISHES ITS LIST OF AUCTION RECORDS FROM JAN-JUNE 2008
Artnet has compiled a list of the top new auction records that were set during the first half of 2008. In the first half of 2008, new auction records were set for almost 1,000 artists. At the top is the $86 million paid for Francis Bacon's dramatic 1976 Triptych. At the floor of $100,000 (and not in fact published on the list which only notes the top 156 auction records) are a squad of artists that are largely of interest to specialists - Françoise See, Ernst Samuel Geiger, Maria-Mela Muter, Cheong Soo Ping, Guo Tianxi, Anatoly Petritsky, Thomas Ring. In between are all kinds of new highs - Jeff Wall ($993,000), Xu Bing ($977,024), Malcolm Morley ($975,141), Jenny Holzer ($881,000), Franz West ($721,202), Sherrie Levine ($713,000), Mr ($645,776), Larry Bell ($623,400), Marc Quinn ($605,000), Wilhelm Sasnal ($457,676), Peter Halley ($457,000), Peter Blake ($418,000), Banks Violette ($409,762), Robert Longo ($406,722), Wangechi Mutu ($406,722), Joseph Kosuth ($337,000), Mark Bradford ($325,000), Gabriel Orozco ($308,000), Sterling Ruby ($260,000), AES+F ($238,614), Tracey Emin ($220,000), Ana Mendieta ($202,970), Daniel Spoerri ($199,491), Jack Goldstein ($187,000), Hernan Bas ($175,000), Michael Craig-Martin ($169,222), Mark Kostabi ($117,005), Sylvie Fleury ($115,050); Peter Voulkos ($108,000).
KATE MOSS RETROSPECTIVE IN PARIS
The Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris will hold a major retrospective of style icon Kate Moss's career next year, according to the Guardian. The Paris museum will attempt to "decode the phenomenon" Moss has become with an exhibition of the advertising campaigns in which she has appeared. Museum director Beatrice Salmon said, "This is an occasion to ask a certain number of experts in image and communications to explain why and how Kate has become someone the whole world knows." Over her 19-year career as a model, Moss has starred in numerous high-profile and sometimes controversial advertising campaigns. Her waif-like frame has been a crucial factor in her success, which sparked much debate over the promotion of the "heroin chic" style in the early 1990s. In 2005, she was dropped from campaigns for Burberry, Chanel, and H&M after a tabloid scandal centered on photos of her taking cocaine. Moss's successful comeback a year later was seen by many as proof of the amorality of the fashion industry, which seemingly dissolved concerns over her supposed drug use. Forbes.com estimates her current earnings at around $7.5 million a year.
GALLERY NEWS
The Los Angeles gallery Anna Helwing will close at the end of October after its final show called'Going Out of Business,' a group show which has been organized by artist Karl Haendel. Helwing
New York dealer Friedrich Petzel and Cologne gallerist Gisela Capitain have joined forces to open a new gallery in Berlin. Capitain & Petzel, located in Mitte, will open on 31 October with a group show of work by artists from both galleries.
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