On Friday afternoon a woman taking an adult education class at the Metropolitan Museum of Art accidentally fell into “The Actor,”  a rare Rose Period Picasso,  causing a large tear. Officials at the museum said that since the damage did not occur “in the focal point of the composition,” they expected that the repair would be “unobtrusive,” according to a statement released on Sunday.

Since 1952 “The Actor,”  has hung prominently at the Met, along with other examples of early paintings by this Spanish master. But on Monday, according to the NY Times,  it could be found in a new  home -  the Met’s conservation laboratory.  Experts there are trying to determine the best course of action for the 105-year-old painting’s brand-new feature: an irregular, six-inch tear running vertically along the lower right-hand corner.

More details on the repair process at the NY Times online. No word on the woman who fell into the painting.

TONIGHT in Los Angeles, eleven galleries are hosting an event titled: Art for Haiti which is an impromptu art auction to help the Red Cross’ relief efforts. Join them at the Mandrake Bar in the middle of Culver City’s Art District. They will begin the silent-auction at 7pm and continue accepting bids through 9pm. The auction will showcase emerging artists from around the country. We are excited to announce the following participants:

Artists
Justin Lieberman, Sayre Gomez, Brian Bress, Chris Churchill, Maha Saab, Michael Gregg Michaud, Yuval Pudik, Joe Yaeger, Jim Drain, Sage Vaughn, James Welling, David Hendren, Thaddeus Strode, Alika Cooper, Samantha Fields, Gustavo Godoy, Victoria Neel, Cameron Gray, Eric Yahnker, Lester Monzon, Marnie Weber, Jim Shaw, Marlene Carroll, Josh Atlas, Taidgh O’Neill, Stephen Floyd, Michael Dopp, Britton Tolliver, Samantha Magowan, Comora Tolliver, Kathy Rudin, Penelope Gottlieb, William Pope.L, TF Tolhurst, Maurizio DeMarfil, Analia Saban, Drew Heitzler, Justin Beal, Max Maslansky, Steven Hull, Angela Dufresne, and Ellwood T. Risk.

Galleries
Zach Feuer Gallery, Kim Light/LightBox, Honor Fraser Gallery, Patrick Painter Inc, Ooga Booga, Kinkead Contemporary, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, Robert Berman Gallery, Marc Richards Gallery, Kopeikin Gallery, Cherry and Martin Gallery, and Thomas Solomon Gallery.

Bidding will start as low as $100. All funds raised will go directly to Red Cross and are 100% tax-deductible.

The Mandrake
2692 S La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
Tuesday January 19th, 7-9pm

Santa Monica’s City Council is expected to vote today on an “agreement in principle” that would hasten Eli Broad’s plan to create a new $40-million to $60-million museum next to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium housing his 2,000-piece contemporary art collection. Broad already has a wing at the LACMA named after him, but this new museum would be home to just his personal collection and a home for his foundation. The Broad Art Foundation is currently headquartered in a 1927-vintage building in Santa Monica, but it lacks the parking to allow it to be used as a public museum, and it sadly isn’t big enough to house his entire collection.

From the LA Times: “Under the agreement the Santa Monica is scheduled to consider, the Broad Foundations would get a 99-year lease on the land for $1 a year and pay to build and operate the museum, covering operating costs with proceeds from a special $200-million endowment. The city would kick in about $2.7 million toward the museum’s creation. In negotiations that began two months ago, Ewell wrote, the Broad Foundations initially proposed that Santa Monica annually cover a third of the museum’s estimated $12-million budget. But the agreement as it stands calls only for onetime city payments of $1 million in design costs, $900,000 to absorb the cost of required permits and fees, $750,000 to clear the site for construction and $50,000 to modify a nearby traffic signal. Santa Monica would agree to “expedite” the design and environmental review process.”

A Broad Collection on display would give Los Angeles yet another premier museum to add to its claim for contemporary art world credibility.

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As we reported earlier, it is now official. Jeffrey Deitch has been announced as the new Director of the MOCA.

From a MOCA email to members:

“Dear MOCA Supporter,

On behalf of the Board of Trustees of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), we are pleased to share with you the news that Jeffrey Deitch has been appointed as the museum’s new director, effective June 1.

Jeffrey Deitch is one of New York’s leading gallerists, specializing in modern and contemporary art. During his 30-year career as an independent curator, Jeffrey has produced innovative exhibitions at museums and galleries worldwide. He has also served as an art advisor to premier institutional and private collectors, building a number of major international contemporary art collections. Highly educated and experienced in art finance practices, Jeffrey will provide critical oversight for MOCA to advance its groundbreaking programming and enable the museum to thrive for years to come as the foremost institution of contemporary art.”

Read on after the jump:

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The LA Times reports that Tatiana Khan, owner of the Chateau Allegre gallery on La Cienega Boulevard, is being accused of allegedly fabricating and selling a Picasso which she then sold for $2 million. Khan claimed the artwork — called “La Femme Au Chapeau Bleu” (The Woman in the Blue Hat) — was owned by the Malcolm Forbes family estate and was a bargain at only $2 million, according to court documents. But the art collector became suspicious several years later and contacted a Picasso expert in 2008. Enrique Mallen, director of the On-Line Picasso Project, concluded the work was “not by the hand of Pablo Picasso.”

These were among the allegations in a criminal complaint filed against Khan in U.S. District Court on Thursday. Khan, 69, is accused of executing a scheme to defraud the art prospector and hiring an artist to fabricate the 1901 Picasso drawing.

“According to the complaint, Khan allegedly told artist Maria Apelo Cruz that the real Picasso artwork had been stolen from one of Khan’s clients and that the dealer needed a copy to play a trick that would help catch the thief. Cruz, who had worked with Khan in the past, did not think much of the request, said the North Hollywood-based artist in an interview with The Times on Friday. Khan gave Cruz a photograph of the artwork to copy and paid her $1,000, the complaint alleged. Soon after, Khan allegedly sold the drawing for $2 million to the art prospector.”

Several recent books have claimed that art fraud is rampant in the market of lesser works of master artists. Like always, when a deal is too good to be true…

More info after the jump:

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As reported earlier here, Bravo TV has developed another reality show based on the contemporary art world. To be titled “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist” the show will bring together 14 aspiring artists to compete for a solo show at a nationally recognized museum and a generous cash prize.

Hosting this colorful new series is art enthusiast China Chow, alongside world-renowned art auctioneer, Simon de Pury. Joining them on the judging panel are experts Bill Powers, a New York Gallery owner and literary art contributor, Jerry Saltz, current art critic for New York Magazine, and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, esteemed curator and owner of Salon94 gallery.

It will remain to be seen how “Great” the artists will be or how the TV exposure will help (or hinder) a career as an artist for the winner. In today’s world of “Reality” stars we almost can bet against the power of Bravo. At the very least the show is already judged by insiders dePury and Jerry Saltz. Air dates announced soon.

In each episode, contestants are faced with the challenge of creating unique pieces in a variety of media such as painting, sculpture, photography, collage and industrial design. The weekly assignments are exciting, original and will challenge the artists to push the limits of their technical skills and creative boundaries. Completed works of art will be appraised by the panel of top art world figures alongside a new celebrated guest judge every week. Through a gallery showing at the end of each challenge, the industry luminaries dictate which artists have successfully mastered the subject matter and creation of their piece, as well as whose concept leaves the greatest impact.

“Work of Art: The Next Great Artist” is produced by Pretty Matches and Magical Elves for Bravo. Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alison Benson and Eli Holzman serve as executive producers.

Courtesy ArtDaily.org

Jerry Saltz of New York Magazine is reporting that the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art is set to announce that gallery dealer Jeffrey Deitch will be named as new Director of the MOCA. While no one questions Deitch’s brand as a powerful and influential dealer and consultant this would be nearly the first time a dealer is named to lead – and fix – a major museum.

From Saltz: “American museums usually pick directors from the curatorial or academic ranks; none have ever been run by a former gallery owner. Scolds will imagine immoral scenarios of a wolf in the fold and tut-tut over the possibility of an uncouth, craven commercial dealer trading museum treasures for market-share, making back room deals, and violating ethics. But bear in mind that MOCA desperately needs to think outside the box (as do many more museums). After mounting numerous memorable exhibitions over the decades, the museum was woefully mismanaged by its board and under-funded by the notoriously stingy Hollywood community. In 2008, it almost went under.”

MOCA does need a fix, so maybe some out of the box thinking is the way to go. More updates as they come.

Read the full article here, image courtesy of  NYMag.com

The Torrance Art Museum is opening their 2010 with an exhibition of self-portraiture. Self-portraits have long been one of the basic primary forms of painting. With a long and distinguished history the self-portrait has told us about people, their times and their attitudes. They tell us of scrutiny, of desire, of ego and of the passage of time too, but they can also seem like a whispered secret sometimes, that winks knowingly to us of shared knowledge and experiences and has the added frisson for us of knowing that this is the artist ‘talking’ directly to us through time and geography. A great self-portrait tells you something of the artist but of ourselves too.

“The Reflected Gaze,” curated by Museum Director Max Presneill includes artists: Justin Bower, Chuck Close, Emily Counts, Ariel Erestingcol, Mark Greenwold, Julie Heffernan, Damien Hirst, Per Huttner, KAWS, Tom LaDuke, Hung Liu, Jennifer Nehrbass, Gavin Nolan, Fahamu Pecou, Dane Picard, Frank Ryan, Peter Sudar, Terri Thomas, Holly Topping, Alexandra Wiesenfeld, Cindy Wright, Liat Yossifor.

DD is keeping our eye on TAM as they have a strong and ambitious program lined up for 2010 and beyond.

The Reflected Gaze
Torrance Art Museum
3320 Civic Center Drive
Torrance, CA 90503
Opening: January 16th 6-9pm

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Debuting on Jan. 23, Scion launches the sixth edition of its successful art tour, “Installation 6: Video”. The tour opens in Los Angeles at Scion’s own 4,200 square foot Installation L.A. Space gallery in Culver City.

The annual tour, designed to expose established and emerging artists and their work to audiences across the country, features a distinctive selection of international talent and visits Los Angeles, New York, Minneapolis and Austin, as well as a newly added stop in Wichita, Kansas.

For 2010, the tour focuses on the video medium, which emerged in the 1960s and has since expanded galleries into more experimental, kinetic and interactive spaces. “Installation 6: Video” challenged 10 artists to create non-narrative video installations that will transform five unique exhibitions. Artists include: Dust la Rock (Brooklyn, NY), Eric Nakamura (Los Angeles, CA), Saelee Oh (Los Angeles, CA), French (London, England), Ill-Studio (Paris, France), Josh Graham (New York, NY), Monihan Monihan (New York, NY), Mark Mothersbaugh (Los Angeles, CA), PMKFA (Tokyo, Japan) and Sage Vaughn (Los Angeles, CA).

The opening reception takes place on January 23, 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. and is free with complimentary valet parking and an open bar.

Scion Installtion 6: Video
3521 Helms Blvd. Culver City
Opening: Saturday Jan. 23rd 7-10pm

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Park Life in San Francisco will open their 2010 calendar with the work of Mary Iverson. The show will consist of smaller mixed media pieces as well as larger oil paintings. Iverson’s work consists of a juxtaposition of wildlife infused with geometric shapes and patterns. Her newer work is focused on shipping containers and the shipping industry as a whole.

In Iverson’s current body of work, she has appropriated beautiful nature scenes as backgrounds for her compositions.  In some of the work she has taken pages directly from environmental magazines.  This “stealing” of images from magazines is the artist’s response to how industry takes natural resources for their gain.  In these compositions Iverson places perspective lines and containers directly on top of these beautiful scenes of nature.  At first glance the viewer is taken in by these lovely landscapes.  Even the containers add beauty to the scenes with their colorful and geometric forms.  But when you look deeper into the work you realize that there is nothing beautiful about the direct invasion of industry and its related and damaging detritus.  You then begin to question the impact of large scale commerce to our environment and ultimately ourselves.

Mary Iverson: “Frontier”
Opening January 22nd, 7-10pm
Park Life SF
220 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA

Charlie James Gallery opens this Saturday with the gallery’s first solo show of Bay Area conceptualist Lizabeth Eva Rossof. In “Hey, China!” Rossof will exhibit paintings and sculptures commissioned and fabricated by workers in the People’s Republic of China. Uniting all of the paintings in the show is the politically sensitive subject matter depicted throughout. There are images from the Tiananmen Square massacre (otherwise known in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “June 4th Incident”)), images concerning Tibetan liberation, the Falun Gong spiritual movement, as well as images culled from pornographic websites blocked in the PRC. In point of fact, every painting in the show is of content deemed illegal in the PRC, with the source images taken from websites currently blocked in the PRC, made by workers in the PRC.

Lizabeth Eva Rossof: “Hey, China!”
Charlie James Gallery
975 Chung King Rd. LA
Opening: Saturday, January 9th 6-9pm

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This Saturday, Joshua Liner Gallery opens a group exhibition featuring works by artists Damon Soule, David Choong Lee, MARS-1, Nome Edonna, Oliver Vernon, Robert Hardgrave, and Tomokazu Matsuyama. The exhibition coincides with the release of Further, a new book that brings together the seven artists and their varied takes on contemporary abstraction, mysticism, futurism, and surrealism.

“Further” is the third in a series of books the artists have published over the past few years – releasing a new volume every two years or so. Expect to see book launches/shows in SF and LA later this year.

“Further”
Saturday January 9th, 7-9p
Joshua Liner Gallery
548 W. 28th St. 3rd Fl.
New York, NY

Conor Harrington has another video online of him painting in Covent Garden over the holidays. Babelgum now has two videos of Conor going to work. This painting is reminiscent of his recent Los Angeles show at the now closed Kinsey/Desforges. We hope to see him back in LA soon.

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