All posts tagged: Sculpture

Jo Messer Involved in Theft of Beloved Elvis Sculpture in New York

Jo Messer Involved in Theft of Beloved Elvis Sculpture in New York

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There are thefts of paintings worth millions, and then there are thefts of objects of lesser monetary value whose worth cannot be entirely quantified. The mysterious taking of a sculpture of Elvis Presley at the New York restaurant Jolene in 2021 falls into the latter category, but it’s of art-world interest because it involves a painter of note. This bizarre heist is the subject of a new investigation in the New Yorker, and it turns out that artist Jo Messer took part, reportedly aiding her father Sam Messer, also a painter, and her mother Eleanor Gaver, a filmmaker, in thieving the Elvis bust. Jo has had solo shows with galleries such as 56 Henry and Morán Morán. Related Articles According to the New Yorker, Gaver bought the Elvis in 1984 and placed it in the window of the Great Jones Cafe, where she worked at the time. That restaurant closed in 2017, and in 2019, another eatery with different ownership, the Jones, opened in its place. (During the pandemic, it rebranded as Jolene.) Gaver and …

Gamma Radiation Detected at Popular Bay Area Sculpture Park

Gamma Radiation Detected at Popular Bay Area Sculpture Park

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Potentially cancerous radiation has been detected at a popular Bay Area landfill turned outdoor sculpture, according to a state investigation. As first reported by the Los Angeles Times on Monday, the city of Albany ordered experts from technicians with Cabrera Services Inc. to survey for radioactive waste at the Albany Bulb, a former municipal landfill for construction waste now home to popular hiking trails and grounds scattered with sculptures. The investigation was spurred by the discovery of a 1980 archival document that indicated that a chemical plant dumped 11,000 of tons of waste in the site between 1960 and 1971. According to the report, the waste may have included toxic pesticides and potentially radioactive sludge produced by aluminum processing. Related Articles The report continues that Cabrera Services found high levels of gamma radiation in 10 areas on the city-owned section of the peninsula. Gamma radiation can easily penetrate the human body and harm tissue or organs, or even cause cancerous mutations to DNA. Albany has been recommended to conduct soil sampling in three areas where radioactive …

The Genius of Joel Shapiro | Peter Cole

The Genius of Joel Shapiro | Peter Cole

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Joel Shapiro’s art always seems to be asking questions. Is this large bronze figure collapsing or being uplifted? Does it say “Yes” or “No”? Or “Oh no”? And is it in fact a human figure? Why are those bright blue, pink, and yellow boards and beams floating in the exhibition space like motes or musical notes, or punctuation marks drifting away from their sentences? What about that one-inch-wide basswood ladder barely reaching a gallery-goer’s shin: does it imply fragility or futility? A model of how it is, or a tiny monument to what might have been, or still might be?   I’ve been looking at Shapiro’s sculptures and works on paper for some four decades now. A certain quickening of affective attention takes hold in me whenever I encounter his off-kilter figures—in a book at a friend’s kitchen table late at night, turning a corner in a museum, against a landscape seen from a passing car. Or in “Out of the Blue,” at the Pace Gallery in Manhattan where, in a recent show, three invigorating large new …

Six Dollar Marble Sculpture Could Earn Millions to Scottish Town

Six Dollar Marble Sculpture Could Earn Millions to Scottish Town

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Invergordon, a small town in central Scotland, could see its coffers filled following a decision by county committee to sell a marble bust made by the French artist Edmé Bouchardon in 1728 that, a quarter of a century ago, was propping open the door of a storage shed. The bust, which was bought for roughly $6.31 in 1930, could fetch more than $3 million through a private sale brokered by Sotheby’s, which appraised the sculpture at the request of the local government last year.  While the sculpture was originally purchased for display, a series of mysterious events led to it be placed in a storage shed “with other discarded council paraphernalia.” Former Invergordon community councilor Maxine Smith, who now serves on the broader governmental body the Highland council, told the Guardian last October that she found the bust while digging around the shed for a set of ceremonial robes that had gone missing. Related Articles “I found the robes…” she said “and also a wee white marble sculpture thing holding open the door. It could have been binned quite …

A Living Requiem | Anahid Nersessian

A Living Requiem | Anahid Nersessian

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In 1598 the world’s first opera, Dafne, was composed by Jacopo Peri and Ottavio Rinuccini, who based his libretto on an earlier one: “Combattimento di Apollo col serpente Pitone.” The “Combattimento” had been performed nine years before as an intermedio during the marriage celebration of Ferdinando I de’ Medici and Cristina di Lorena in Florence. Intermedii—lavish theatrical performances staged on extravagant sets—were a favorite entertainment of the aristocracy, particularly on special occasions. They involved song, speech, and music, but not all at the same time. With Dafne, Peri found a way to keep his performers singing throughout the performance, using a new style called stile recitativo, or recitative. Peri’s goal, in his words, was “to make a simple test of what the song of our time was capable of.” The dynamics of recitative, however, are far from simple. They involve producing a calculated dissonance between the vocal melody and its musical accompaniment. Instead of following the composition’s melody, the singer recites the libretto according to the rhythms and accents of spoken language. By playing with …

Frieze Sculpture Returns with Over 20 Works in London’s Regent’s Park

Frieze Sculpture Returns with Over 20 Works in London’s Regent’s Park

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I’m not usually one for sculptures. I’ve always found paintings, prints, and drawings to be far more approachable. Much more digestible, even if I can’t make sense of the work. But, while walking through Frieze Sculpture‘s presentation in London’s Regent’s Park, my preexisting aversion to sculpture seemed to dissipate as I strolled past works by Zanele Muholi, Leonora Carrington, Yoshimoto Nara and over a dozen other artists. Birds were chirping. A squirrel, mouth full of nuts, ran past as I approached the first work on the walk between Frieze London and Frieze Masters, which are situated on opposite sides of the park. It was cartoonishly charming. Then I realized what, perhaps, my beef with sculpture might be: the frame. Pictures, like books and magazines, are almost always in some sort of square or rectangular frame and that in itself makes them familiar, even if whatever has been spread or brushed or scraped in between those four walls attracts or repulses me.  Related Articles Sculptures, on the other hand, are wild. For the most part, my …

Sotheby’s Abrams Family Sale Yields .14 M. Led by Noguchi Sculpture

Sotheby’s Abrams Family Sale Yields $13.14 M. Led by Noguchi Sculpture

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Amidst an extended downturn, Sotheby’s day sale of 27 works from the Abrams Family Collection yielded a hammer total of $11.2 million or $13.14 million with fees, in the middle of its estimate range of $10 million to $14.1 million. The top lot from the September 27 auction was the Isamu Noguchi marble sculpture Study for Energy Void (1971) which sold for a hammer price of $4 million, or $4.65 million with fees, on an estimate of $3.5 million to $5 million. The winning phone bid was placed by Lisa Dennison, Sotheby’s executive vice president and chairman for the Americas. Related Articles The only other seven-figure lot was the Alex Katz painting Joan (1974), which hammered at $1.2 million or $1.44 million with fees, below its estimate of $1.5 million to $2 million. The 6-foot by 8-foot oil on linen painting had secured an irrevocable bid by a third party as well as a guaranteed minimum price. The winning bid was placed by Courtney Kremers, Sotheby’s senior vice president and head of private sales for the …

Czech Man Smashes Ai Weiwei Sculpture

Czech Man Smashes Ai Weiwei Sculpture

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To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter. The Headlines PHOTO FINISH. A man pushed over and shattered a porcelain sculpture by Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei on Friday at the opening of his solo show “Who am I?” in Palazzo Fava, Bologna, reports Maximiliano Durón for ARTnews. Caught on CCTV, 57-year-old Czech Vaclav Pisvejcm can be seen stepping onto the plinth supporting Weiwei’s piece, Porcelain Cube, and pushing it over. He then lifts a large, broken piece of it over his head before he’s tackled by three men. Pisvejc has a reputation for vandalizing artworks and was promptly arrested following his latest stunt. In the meantime, the broken sculpture was removed and replaced by a photograph of the original.  Related Articles FROM HOLLAND WITH LOVE. The Netherlands repatriated 288 artifacts to Indonesia on Friday, in what is the country’s second effort at restitution since a 2020 Dutch government report recommending the return of unethically obtained artworks from former colonies, reports The New York Times. The objects included Buddhist statues, weapons, and jewelry dating back centuries, and were …

Ai Weiwei Sculpture Purposefully Broken During Exhibition Opening

Ai Weiwei Sculpture Purposefully Broken During Exhibition Opening

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A man destroyed a porcelain sculpture by Ai Weiwei seemingly on purpose during the opening reception of an exhibition dedicated to the Chinese dissident artist on Friday evening in Italy. The destroyed work was Ai’s blue-and-white Porcelain Cube, which was included in a survey on Ai titled “Who am I?” at the Palazzo Fava in Bologna, which opened to the public on Saturday. Footage of the destruction was captured on CCTV and posted to Instagram by Ai. In the video, the man steps onto the plinth that holds the Cube and pushes it forward, shattering the work. He then lifted up a portion of the broken porcelain over his head. The work was installed in an atrium near the museum giftshop and ticket office. Related Articles The Bologna edition of Milan-based daily newspaper Corriere della Sera identified the man as 57-year-old Czech Vaclav Pisvejc, who was stopped by museum security and detained until police arrived. It is still unclear how he entered the museum during the invite-only reception. He was arrested for “destruction, dispersion, deterioration, defacement, …

Why There’s Suddenly a Large Bust of Elon Musk in Brownsville, Texas

Why There’s Suddenly a Large Bust of Elon Musk in Brownsville, Texas

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A sculpture of Elon Musk has been recently spotted being towed behind a Tesla Cybertruck around the city of Brownsville, Texas. “We had the idea to to bring something into life that would be more striking and maybe even crazier and funnier,” a French tech entrepreneur who goes by Louis XXII told ARTnews. He declined to provide his real name. Louis XXII said the main goal was to bring more attention and visibility to a viral meme sparked by a bad drawing of the billionaire and SpaceX founder posted on Reddit six years ago. Related Articles Louis XXII said he is the cofounder of ElonRWA, a “real world asset meme” tokenized on the second layer of the Ethereum blockchain (known as Ether L2) organized by the decentralized autonomous organization FeistyDAO. “The statue is not linked to the valuation of this [ElonRWA] token,” he said. “It’s just a funny way to represent this meme in other ways.” The idea for the nearly nine-foot-tall sculpture of Musk came after Louis XXII and his digital artist collective commissioned …