sm.art.consulting

10/01/2022

07/18/2022

Claes Oldenburg, a leading voice of the Pop Art movement who passed away today at age 93, was renowned for his sculptures, drawings, and colossal public monuments that transformed familiar, everyday objects into animated entities. Together with his wife and longtime collaborator Coosje van Bruggen, Oldenburg realized over 40 large-scale public projects around the world. His work is always a joy to see, as remembered on our family trip to Seattle many years ago.

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
“Typewriter Eraser, Scale X”
Olympic Sculpture Park

03/02/2022

Perhaps best know as front man of Talking Heads, David Byrne is a multi-disciplinary artist whose curiosity about the human condition resonates throughout his life’s work. From his series of drawings entitled “How I Learned About Non-Rational Logic” now on view at Pace Gallery, here’s a few of my favorites. 📷.art.consulting

02/17/2022

Glenn Ligon, who has spent four decades exploring American history, literature and society, has produced a monumental debris field painting as part of his Stranger series. Measuring 45 feet long, Ligon utilizes the full text of James Baldwin’s 1953 essay ‘Stranger in the Village.’
Glenn Ligon
Stranger (Full Text) #2
2020-2021
Oil stick, gesso, acrylic, gouache and coal dust on canvas, three panels 📸 .art.consulting

11/24/2021

Most famous for his iconic “LOVE” image, which has appeared across media including sculptures, prints, and paintings, Robert Indiana reconfigured the aesthetics of American advertisements, slogans, and commercial logos into bright, pared-down works that comment on national identity and the power of language. He blurs the lines between art, everyday objects, advertising, and pop culture, elevating words and symbols into the realm of high art.
Robert Indiana “The Electric EAT," 1964/2007 Polychrome aluminum, stainless steel, and light bulbs
Robert Indiana
“The Electric EAT,” 1964/2007
Polychrome aluminum, stainless steel, and light bullbs.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Photo .art.consulting

09/27/2021

Lucky to see Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror in preview at Whitney. A true original, it’s impossible to imagine any contemporary American artists who were not in some way influenced by Johns. Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Robert Indiana, Glenn Ligon, Damien Hirst...the hints are all there.
“Bread,” 1969
“Summer Critic,” 1968
“Untitled (Ruler),” 1968
“Untitled”, 1973
“According to What”, 1964
“Numbers”, 2007

07/02/2021

Anyone who says “I could make that” probably hasn’t.

05/14/2021

On view since 2008 in Bass Concert Hall of The University of Texas at Austin, Louise Bourgeois’ sculpture “Eyes” has been permanently removed and returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in order to allow space for new entrance protocols when Texas Performing Arts reopens to the public this fall. “Eyes” is one of 28 works of art on long-term loan from the Met to Landmarks, the university’s public art program. Taking one for the team. photo .art.consulting

04/24/2021

Piecing together found objects such as aluminum bottle caps and other discarded materials, El Anatsui transforms simple materials into intricate, complex, transcendent works of sculptural art, while interrogating the legacy of colonialism, consumption and waste. The fluid nature of his work also challenges long-held views of sculpture as an unyielding form, allowing it to exist on its own magnificent terms.
El Anatsui
Untitled, 2020
Museum of Fine Art Houston,
Nancy and Rich Kinder Building

04/21/2021

Enjoying art simply requires making a connection. This richly dense painting by Robert Sagerman reminded my client of being on a golf course. Sagerman meticulously mixes his own paint and counts each luscious stroke, documenting his movements in the title of each piece.
Robert Sagerman
“5,304”, 2020
Private Collection
photo

04/12/2021

Stumbled upon this gem inside a courtyard in the East Village last week. Starting as a street artist in Paris, JR “has the largest gallery in the world.” Using a photographic collage technique, he creates larger than life murals set upon walls—yes, even the border wall—with magnificent portraits, involving local communities in the act of artistic creation. Check out his mystifying work at the Louvre, a project serendipitously witnessed by my daughter while she was studying abroad.
JR
Ballet, Ballerina in Crate, East Village, New York City, 2015
photo .art.consulting

03/11/2021

“Everydays — The First 5000 Days,” by the artist known as Beeple, sold for $69 million, setting the record for a digital artwork in a sale at Christie’s. See link in bio for an explanation of NFTs -nonfungible tokens-and what this means for the art world.