Sotheby’s Amsterdam saleroom was filled to overflowing as the company’s offering of the world-renowned BAT ArtVenture Collection, formerly known as The Peter Stuyvesant Collection became the most heavily sale attended in Sotheby’s history in Amsterdam. The sale – Sotheby’s first auction of 2010 in Amsterdam – exceeded all expectations, achieving the remarkable total of €13,590,475 ($18,597,750 / £ 12,263,600), well in excess of pre-sale expectations (Est. €4,364,200-6,276,300). Presale interest had been huge and more than 500 clients had registered to bid in tonight’s sale – either in person, by phone or by leaving absentee bids — and the sale established sell-through rates of 97.5% by lot and 99.6% by value. These notable results further build on the outstanding successes recently established by Sotheby’s in the field of Contemporary Art in New York and London.

Karel Appel, “Tête Tragique”, signed and dated 61. Oil on canvas, 229.5 by 299.5 cm. Est: 120,000 – 180,000 EUR. Photo: Sotheby’s

Mark Grol, Managing Director of Sotheby’s Amsterdam, said: “Sotheby’s Amsterdam made history this evening with the sale of works from one of the most beloved corporate art collections ever formed. The results achieved tonight represent the highest total ever achieved in the Netherlands for a sale of fine art.”

The top lot in the sale was Martin Kippenberger’s Dinosaurierei, an oil on canvas from 1996 which brought €1,072,750 (Est. €200,000-300,000). The work belongs to the artist’s most iconic series of Egg Paintings and was one of the last masterpieces he completed before his untimely death at the age of 44 in the following year.

The sale offered numerous works by Karel Appel: Tete Tragique, a 1961 oil on canvas which had entered the collection in 1965 brought €492,750 (Est. €120,000-180,000); while Torse de Femme from 1964 brought €432,750 (Est. €150,000-200,000).

Highlighting the group of Zero works in the sale was Jan Schoonhoven’s Square with Diagonals, which carried an estimate of €100,000–150,000 and sold for €456,750. This Dutch artist had been examining how the reliefs can function as containers to express reality for over 20 years. Making two artworks in the early months of 1979 based on this example, this artwork proved to be extremely pivotal in his work, a completion of his quest for truth. Additional ZERO movement highlights include: Günther Uecker’s Grosser Schnee, created using nails and acrylic on canvas laid down on wood, which was executed the year Uecker was selected to represent Germany at the 35th Venice Biennale and acquired by the Peter Stuyvesant collection shortly after, sold for €336,750 (Est. €80,000-120,000); Jesús Rafael Soto’s 1967 painted wood, wire and wooden rods La Colonne Blanche realised €300,750 (Est. €100,000-150,000) and Roman Opalka’s Opalka 1965/1-, Detail 2890944-2910059 brought €312,750 (Est. €50,000-70,000). These results follow on from the hugely successful sale of ZERO Art: Property from the Sammlung Lenz Schönberg at Sotheby’s in London last month, which soared above estimate and set 19 new artist records.

Franco-Hungarian artist Victor Vasarely’s Pal-5 commanded €264,750, above estimate (Est. €80,000–120,000). Vasarely, who settled in Paris in 1930, was the great pioneer of Op-Art, the art form in which optical illusions of depth and movement are suggested by means of perceptively distorted geometrical patterns and colour contrasts of which Pal-5 is an exemplary piece.

Niki de Saint Phalle’s Lili ou Tony from 1965 sold for €408,750 against a presale estimate of €200,000-300,000. De Saint Phalle’s ‘Nana’ sculptures marked a change in the artist’s creative direction and it was this body of works that earned her the widespread international recognition as one of the most unique and innovative artistic voices of her generation. Lili ou Tony was among the first monumental ‘Nana’ series sculptures that the artist ever produced. All the ideals that Alexander Orlow, the Collection’s founder, wanted to convey through the art of the former Stuyvesant Collection were represented in this ‘Nana’ sculpture.

No fewer than ten bidders competed for Simon Hantai’s M.C.2 (mariale), a 1962 oil and gouache on canvas which brought €480,750 (Est. €100,000-150,000).

The Peter Stuyvesant Collection represents a pioneering approach to using art in a factory setting to inspire workers by transforming their surroundings. This was the concept of the Collection’s founder, Alexander Orlow: his great innovation was to change the context in which art is appreciated. In 1960 Orlow invited 13 artists from 13 different European countries to create paintings for the production hall in the Turmac Tobacco Company in the Netherlands. The theme he chose was “Joie de Vivre” and he specified that the works were to be large in size with vivid colours and shapes, powerful enough to stand out in the large factory halls. While the initial responses of employees ranged from surprise to disbelief, they soon came to enjoy the enhancement to their workplace and Orlow made the serendipitous discovery that productivity actually increased.

The current and upcoming episodes on VernissageTV Art TV focus on the art scene in New York, with highlights such as the Whitney Biennial 2010, the Jeff Koons curated show Skin Fruit at the New Museum, and The Armory Show week.

Focus New York: Whitney Biennial, Art Fairs, Galleries

The current programming on VernissageTV has its focus on the art events during the Armory Show week and the local art scene in New York. VernissageTV spoke with the curator of the Whitney Biennial 2010, Francesco Bonami about the concept of the exhibition, and provides a walk-through of the show. There’s also a short glimpse at the alternative Brucennial 2010, and the exhibition Skin Fruit at the New Museum, curated by Jeff Koons.

Focus New York: Art Fairs

VernissageTV provides an overview of The Armory Show and the new fair Independent at the former DIA space in Chelsea, where VernissageTV also taped the discussion “On Gluttony” with participants Raphael Castoriano (art advisor), Will Cotton (artist), Anthony Haden Guest (journalist and writer), Rachel Lehmann (gallery owner), Jennifer Rubell (food artist), and Linda Yablonsky (journalist and writer).

Focus New York: Openings

Apart from the Biennial and the art fairs, a lot of new exhibitions were opening during the Armory Show week. VernissageTV attended the openings of gallery exhibitions in Chelsea, Brooklyn, and the Lower East Side: Nari Ward at Lehmann Maupin; Brian Belott at Züricher Studio; Sofi Zezmer at Mike Weiss Gallery; Pierre Ardouvin, Edith Dekyndt, and Gereon Lepper at Parker’s Box ; Billy Childish at White Columns; Robert Crumb at David Zwirner; Joseph Beuys: Make the Secrets Productive at Pace Wildenstein 25th Street.

Focus New York: Interviews

Also part of the current programming are interviews with Helianthe Bourdeaux-Maurin, who curated “Unidentified Living Objects…” at Parker’s Box; Francesco Bonami, curator of the Whitney Biennial 2010; Marc Glimcher (President, Pace Wildenstein) and Birte Kleemann (Director, Pace Wildenstein and curator of the exhibition Joseph Beuys: Make the Secrets Productive); Özge Ersoy and Sohrab Mohebbi, curators of a video sceening Strike a Pose, commissioned by Bidoun Projects at Art Dubai 2010; and food artist Jennifer Rubell.

Focus New York: Performances

VernissageTV also documented three performances: John Bock performance at Anton Kern Gallery, Aki Sakamoto performance at the Whitney Museum of American Art (as part of the Whitney Biennial 2010), Brian Conley: Miniature War in Iraq… and Now Afghanistan at The Boiler Pierogi.

About Vernissage TV
VernissageTV is the Internet’s unique TV art project, which covers exhibitions and events in the fields of contemporary art, design and architecture. The objective is to give an authentic insight into the world of art by the means of film and video. VernissageTV materializes as video podcast / Internet TV channel / video archive. VernissageTV videocasts two series: The “No Comment” section and the interviews with the protagonists of the art world. VernissageTV is widely distributed via its website and Internet TV networks. Founded in September 2005 VernissageTV is growing steadily. Until now VernissageTV produced, published and archived over 1000 episodes.
Website: www.vernissage.tv

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2010 will mark the fortieth anniversary of William Tillyer’s spectacular rise to prominence, celebrating a four decade long artistic career which has been as groundbreaking and varied as it has been long, and which shows no signs of slowing in the future! To celebrate Tillyer’s success to date, Opus Art are proud to present this brand new series of Limited Edition Digital Prints in the North East for the very first time.

Since studying painting at the city’s College of Art in 1956, Middlesbrough born Tillyer has worked, studied and exhibited internationally, making his first woodcuts in Edinburgh in 1962, studying painting and etching under William Coldstream and Anthony Gross in London in 1960, and opening his first New York solo show in 1974. Tillyer’s international presence has since continued to grow, with shows in Denmark, Australia, Sweden, South Africa, and multiple locations across the US and the UK, to name only a few. His work is held in collections including The Arts Council of Great Britain, The Bank of America, The Boston Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Art Museum, Melbourne University, The Tate, The Victoria and Albert Museum, and many, many more.

And so it is with great pleasure that Opus Art announce Tillyer’s return to his Northern roots with this spectacular show, featuring twelve of his most striking landscape images from across the last 30 years. Highlighting the breadth and subtlety of Tillyer’s vision, this stunning series confirms his position as one of the leading figures of British Contemporary landscape Painting. Utilising the most advanced digital technologies to capture the nuance and intrigue of Tillyer’s touch, the series offers a unique opportunity to own a work by one of the country’s finest painters.

William Tillyer’s Fortieth Anniversary Print Collection will be on view to the public at Opus Art Gallery from Friday 12 March, with an Exclusive Private View on Thursday 11 March, from 6pm.

Address: Opus Gallery West Avenue, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 4ESMetro: Regent Centre or South Gosforth Bus: Gosforth High Street Opening Hours: Monday – Saturday 10am – 6pmClosed Sundays Admission Free

Editor’s Notes

Opus ArtEstablished in 2005 Opus Art represents the best in cutting edge urban and contemporary art and photography. Its extensive roster of artists includes Karl de Vroomen, Carolina Ambida, Chris Kettle, Laurie Hogin, Nathan James, Hector de Gregorio, Kirsty Whiten and Claudia Drake. One of the UK’s premier art galleries, Opus Art is based in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne with an international presence through its contemporary and urban art websites. Opus Art also hosts exhibitions in major international cities and opens its Beijing gallery in 2010.

William TillyerWilliam Tillyer’s work has been shown frequently in London and New York since 1970. Admired by fellow artists and collectors, it has mystified critics, even those eager to praise him. Why does his work keep changing? Why does each new phase seem to contradict and undermine the last? Why doesn’t he establish a brand image and stick by it? Much of his art is about the beauty of the world, of landscapes, still life and buildings; it can also be sublimely beautiful in its use of colour, brushstrokes and pictorial constructions, or dramatic in its size and contrasts. His thoughts are about how art communicates as much as what. William Tillyer was born in 1938 in Middlesbrough, northern England. Trained in printmaking, Tillyer has evolved into an astonishingly diverse and talented artist. His work encompasses everything from prints to collages to watercolours to oil paintings to mixed-media constructions. Today he is one of Britain’s most respected artists, with a still-growing reputation.

www.opus-art.com

New York-based digital light artist Leo Villareal’s recent completion of Sky (Tampa) on the south façade of the new Tampa Museum of Art features a dramatic 12,000-square-foot public art commission that illuminates the downtown core. The exterior of the new museum features programmable LED lights, 45 feet high and 300 feet long, embedded within two-layers of perforated aluminum panels. In daylight, the museum’s façade creates a moiré-like pattern, and in darkness the LED light installation glows with Villarreal’s signature light-coded and hypnotic dance.

Sky (Tampa) showcases movement and light; a sequencing of patterns created by Villareal’s custom coded software that emerge as a whole and result in random templates of flash, fade, trail and color. The matrix of 144 four-foot light emitting diode illuminators and 28 Inablers display a visual language of non-repeating patterns.

“We were committed to the incorporation of a permanent public art component as part of the new museum,” said Todd D. Smith, the museum’s executive director. “LED lights were always a part of the overall design of the museum’s architect, Stanley Saitowitz. It was vitally important to commission an artist who understood the importance of the relationship between the museum’s new structure, the landscape, and the public realm. Leo is one of the pioneers in utilizing light media within the context of architecture. We could not think of a more appropriate artist to significantly enhance the museum and engage the public than Leo Villareal.”

The museum will organize a temporary exhibition of Leo’s works for summer/fall 2010 to provide a context for our visitors to experience the range of his creations. Sky (Tampa) is on view every evening beginning at dusk and is part of the museum’s permanent collection.

The City of Tampa has enjoyed national and international recognition for its celebration of light art. Offered in 2006 and 2009 and an initiative of the City’s Art Programs Division Lights on Tampa invites artists from around the globe to create light works in downtown Tampa. According to Smith, “The museum wanted to assist in furthering the aesthetic mission of Lights on Tampa by installing a permanent light component in its architecture and its permanent collection.” Funds for this acquisition were provided by the museum through its contemporary art acquisition fund and a special gift from the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Inc. in celebration of the museum’s grand opening and the Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts’ 40th anniversary festival to be held on March 6-7, 2010. Funds to support the permanent installation of the LED lights on the museum’s exterior were provided through the City of Tampa’s Art in Public Art ordinance.

Villareal resides in New York, has been included in solo and group exhibitions, and made numerous site-specific commissions throughout the world, at major cultural institutions. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C recently purchased his work Multiverse, which is on view in the corridor that connects the museum’s East and West Wings. Other installations include: P.S.1 MoMA, Queens, NY; Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY; Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS. Born in Albuquerque, NM, in 1967, Villareal began experimenting with light, sound, and video while studying set design and sculpture at Yale University, where he received his BA. He earned his MPS in the design of new media, computational media, and embedded computing from New York University’s pioneering Interactive Telecommunications Program at the Tisch School of the Arts.

www.tampamuseum.org

The Gibbes Museum of Art will present the exclusive exhibition Modern Masters from the Ferguson Collection in the Main Gallery from April 30 through August 22, 2010. Selected from the private collection of prominent art enthusiasts Esther and James Ferguson, this exhibition includes paintings, sculpture, and works on paper by significant twentieth-century artists such as Pablo Picasso, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, and Christo.

Willem de Kooning, Untitled (Landscape), 1977. Oil and masking tape on vellum on canvas, in two sheets, 36 x 48 inches. Courtesy: Esther and James Ferguson

The Ferguson’s remarkable collection reflects their personal tastes in art, but also offers an overview of European and American modernism. Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art are among the many movements represented by this exhibition.

Esther and James Ferguson have said, “We are delighted to share 25 years of collecting extraordinary art with the Gibbes.”

Christo – A Presentation and Dialogue
The Fergusons befriended the artist Christo in the 1990s and have two mixed-media works by the artist in their collection. As the plans were getting underway for the Modern Masters exhibition at the Gibbes, the couple asked Christo and his late wife Jeanne-Claude to come to Charleston to discuss their projects in a public setting. On Tuesday, April 13, Christo will discuss the artists’ past and future monumental installations in a presentation and dialogue scheduled for 5:30pm at Memminger Auditorium, 56 Beaufain Street in downtown Charleston. Christo will share images and stories of the famed large-scale art projects that use fabric in both urban and rural environments. After the presentation, Christo will welcome questions from the audience and participate in a book signing. Tickets, available online at www.gibbesmuseum.org/events, are $25 for museum members, $35 for non-members, and $15 for students.

“We are grateful to Esther and Jim for allowing us to share their impressive collection with visitors to the Gibbes. We are benefiting not only with this glorious exhibition, but also from their invitation to Christo to come to Charleston,” said Gibbes Executive Director Angela Mack.

Preview Party – Take it to the Street
The opening of the exhibition Modern Masters from the Ferguson Collection will be celebrated with a street party on Thursday, April 29 from 7:30 – 10:30pm. The Beaux Arts façade of the Gibbes will serve as a backdrop for a street party inspired by Christo’s monumental art installations. Guests will enjoy live entertainment, an open bar, and creative “street food” crafted by Charleston’s most celebrated chefs from Caviar and Bananas, Charleston Grill, Fig, McCrady’s, Palmetto Café, Slightly North of Broad, Trattoria Lucca, and Voysey’s and Tides of Kiawah Island Club. Tickets, available online at www.gibbesmuseum.org/events, are $75 for museum members and $100 for non-members.

This exhibition is sponsored by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, William Means Real Estate, US Trust, and Charleston Magazine.

GIBBES MUSEUM OF ART
Established as the Carolina Art Association in 1858, the Gibbes Museum of Art opened its doors to the public in 1905.

Located in Charleston’s historic district, the Gibbes houses a premier collection of over 10,000 works of fine art, principally American works with a Charleston or Southern connection and presents special exhibitions annually. In addition, the museum offers an extensive complement of public programming and educational outreach initiatives.

As the aesthetic heart of the Lowcountry, the Gibbes serves the community by stimulating creative expression, increasing economic vitality through tourism, and improving the region’s superb quality of life.

MUSEUM HOURS
TUESDAY – SATURDAY: 10 A.M. – 5 P.M., SUNDAY: 1 P.M. – 5 P.M.

ADMISSION:
ADULTS: $9.00 · SENIORS, STUDENTS & MILITARY: $7.00 · CHILDREN (6-12): $5.00 · MEMBERS AND CHILDREN UNDER 6: FREE.

135 Meeting Street * Charleston, SC * 29401
www.gibbesmuseum.org