Chocolate Room

Installation view of Ed Ruscha’s Chocolate Room, 1970/2023, MoMA, photo by Jonathan Dorado

In 1970, for the US Pavilion at the 35th Venice Biennale, Ed Ruscha took an unconventional approach to printmaking by screen printing hundreds of sheets of paper with chocolate paste. He hung them, floor to ceiling, in a single room that has been the only installation work of his long career. The Chocolate Room is on view now in its seventh iteration in the retrospective exhibition ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

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Yoko Ono: One Woman Show

Yoko Ono's advertisement published in the Village Voice, December 2, 1971; image via Artforum
Yoko Ono’s advertisement published in the Village Voice, December 2, 1971; image via Artforum

In 1971, Yoko Ono placed ads in the Village Voice and The New York Times announcing The Museum of Modern [F]art, her one-woman show at MoMA. The 100-page exhibition catalogue included an image of Yoko Ono in MoMA’s sculpture garden with a jar of flies, which were to be released into the city and then photographed as they buzzed across New York. Continue reading “Yoko Ono: One Woman Show”

Björk at MoMA

Björk, Biophilia dress, 2011; dress by Iris van Herpen; installation view at MoMA, 2015; photo by Timothy A. Clary / Getty Images
Björk, dress from Biophilia, 2011; dress by Iris van Herpen; installation view at MoMA, 2015; photo by Timothy A. Clary / Getty Images

From March 8 through June 7, the Museum of Modern Art presents a mid-career retrospective of work by Björk. The eponymous exhibition examines the Icelandic singer’s career with a custom-built pavilion and a specially developed augmented audio guide for an immersive visitor experience. Continue reading “Björk at MoMA”

Auction Guarantees: Show Me the Monet

Alberto Giacometti, Chariot (2/6), conceived in 1950 and cast in 1951-52; painted bronze on wooden base, 57 inches; image courtesy of Sotheby's
Alberto Giacometti, Chariot (2/6), conceived in 1950 and cast in 1951-52; painted bronze on wooden base, 57 inches; image courtesy of Sotheby’s.   The work sold for $100.9 million with an unknown guarantee at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art sale on November 4, 2014.

After a record-breaking year in which global art auctions exceeded $16 billion, the world’s largest auction houses have resumed the risky practice of guaranteeing minimum prices for very expensive lots. Christie’s and Sotheby’s had mostly abandoned guarantees in late 2008, and observers are keen to speculate about their return.  February sales with works by Monet, Cézanne, and Picasso are primed to set new records.

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