Subodh Gupta, Everybody is Inside (Detail)

March 9, 2005

Formerly an artist-run website, Artkrush has relaunched as an email magazine. Just what we need, you may be thinking 鈥?another art publication. But with an eye on the global picture, providing a filter on artists, galleries, events, and news, this one's different. Published by Flavorpill every other week, Artkrush in this issue celebrates the Armory Show, covers exhibitions in Berlin, London, and Los Angeles, and presents breaking news stories, an interview with Vince Aletti, and a profile on the artist Ellen Cantor. So, scroll down and get your 'krush on 鈥?we hope you enjoy our first run!

Architecture changes you without you realizing. It influences your mood and alters your state of mind, simply with the space around you. By being aware of architecture, you can better appreciate it and understand the way it impacts you. Just like Absolut 鈥?by knowing that it's continuously distilled, you can savor Absolut's smoothness and purity.

Collector Wins Suit for Rights to Art (The Art Newspaper, March 8) Jean-Pierre Lehmann, a major art world collector, has won US$ 1.7 million in retributions from The Project's director Christian Haye after taking him to court over thwarted access to artwork. The lawsuit stems from an investment agreement between Lehmann and Haye involving US$ 75,000 in capital in exchange for exclusive acquisition privileges to work from the Project's artists, particularly Julie Mehretu. Leading Polish Artist Murdered (The Daily Sentinel, February 25) Zdzislaw Beksinski, a leading contemporary Polish artist, who emerged in the '50s and is well known for creating dark, surrealist, apocolyptic images that oftentimes evoke death, died at 75. Two teenagers are charged in his murder 鈥?one is the son of a long-time Beksinski assistant. Professor Under Bio-Terror Persecution (The Guardian, February 27) Steve Kurtz, art professor at State University of Buffalo, and member of techno-political art group Critical Art Ensemble, faces up to 20 years in prison for using biological elements in his interactive installations. Kurtz has become a post-9/11 cause c茅l猫bre, following the FBI's year-long investigation into his work. Groundbreaking Curator Dies (New York Times, February 25) Harold Szeemann, considered the art world's first truly independent curator, died suddenly on Friday, February 18 at age 71, in his native Switzerland. In recent years, Szeemann curated the Kunsthaus Zurich and directed two highly regarded Venice Biennales (1999 and 2001). A longtime supporter of young, emerging artists, he initiated the Biennale's Aperto sector in 1980.		Australian government challenges return of cultural assets to indigenous communities. more 禄 Pop star Madonna lends two Frida Kahlo paintings to Tate exhibition. more 禄 Aspen-based entrepreneur and arts patron Harley Baldwin remembered (1945-2005). more 禄 Global survey finds Japanese museums have record attendance. more 禄 Study declares David's "proportions" are physiologically correct. more 禄 British police smashes infamous art theft ring. more 禄 Jeffrey Deitch turns art world into reality TV. more 禄 Russian culture minister refuses return of confiscated art to Germany. more 禄 The National Endowment for the Arts revives international advisory committee. more 禄 Victoria & Albert Museum advises Hong Kong to develop West Kowloon Cultural District. more 禄 Note: Some online publications require registration to access the articles. If you encounter a registration screen, try akreader1 as the user name and password.
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Jockum Nordstr枚m (Details)

The Armory Show
New York

Titled after the controversial 1913 exhibit that introduced modernism to America, The Armory Show boasts 162 international galleries from 39 cultural capitals this year 鈥?a long way from its humble beginnings in 1994 as the Gramercy International Art Fair, a traveling show that, for five years, set up shop in rooms at the Gramercy Hotel in New York, Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, and the Raleigh in Miami Beach.

The first fair presented 32 galleries from 11 cities, occupying the top three floors of the Gramercy Hotel, where artists were challenged by the settings and dealers let them have their way: Jason Rhoades piled furniture into a funky sculpture; Nayland Blake lounged on Jack Hanley's bed in a bunny suit; Andrea Zittel made tunics for visitors to wear; and Karen Kilimnik scrawled texts in red paint all over the bathroom. In 1996, Takashi Murakami caught everyone's eye when he filled Emmanuel Perrotin's room with a massive balloon head; Paul Ramirez Jonas and Spencer Finch dressed as bellhops to dispense apples and oranges at Postmasters; and Tom Sachs previewed his irreverent interest in the readymade by turning Morris-Healy's suite into a whimsical manicure and nail painting salon.

This year the art world descends again on New York City, as the Armory Show hosts contemporary work from a slew of international galleries, including as Tokyo's Taka Ishii Gallery, Chicago's Donald Young Gallery, Sao Paolo's Galeria Fortes Vilaca, London's Victoria Miro Gallery, Lia Rumma from Naples, and New York's Jack Shainman Gallery. Adding to the amusement and recalling the spirit of the early days, Steve Powers (ESPO) transforms Deitch Projects into a bakery, complete with uniformed workers and baked goods; Mark Dion creates a Freud-inspired installation for Vienna's Georg Kargl; and Bellwether lets Allison Smith turn their Armory booth into, what else, an armory. (PL)

Note: The Armory Show runs from Friday to Monday, March 11 to 14.

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Inaugural Exhibition Beijing The Long March Space Now through March 20		The Long March Foundation, named for Mao's epic journey across China, has been organizing international exhibitions of Chinese contemporary art since 2000. Following a project that took their avant-garde art and performances to the Chinese countryside, and their recent participation in the Shanghai Biennale, they have established a new gallery home in Beijing. The inaugural show features 18 artists working in a variety of media, from international stars such as Hong Hao, Zhan Wang and Wang Jinsong to Li Tianbing, a celebrated peasant who traded a cow for a camera in 1946 and has been documenting China ever since. (PL)

Bill Henson: 3 Decades of Photography Sydney Art Gallery of New South Wales Now through April 3		Turn off the Bright Lights is what they might have titled the current retrospective of Bill Henson's photographs. The Australian photographer's moody large-scale pictures of foreboding skies and figures enveloped in chiaroscuro light are fluent in the cinematic vocabulary that is all the rage in contemporary photography. A combination of voyeurism and edgy film noir, Henson's best-known work mixes suburban landscapes at twilight with androgynous teens getting frisky after hours in a parked car. It's Larry Clark meets David Lynch with the alluring gloss of a Calvin Klein advertisement. (CYL)

Joseph Beuys: Actions, Vitrines, Environments London Tate Modern Now through May 2		Joseph Beuys lives in history as an artist like no other. In the 30-odd years of his career, he has explored a range of unorthodox materials 鈥?such as lard, felt, and copper 鈥? dabbled in the Fluxus movement, became a shaman, helped to found the Green Party in his native Germany, and conceived of Social Sculpture. Tate Modern's ambitious exhibition features some of the most important works of Beuys' career, such as the seminal action I Like America and America Likes Me, and the autobiographical installation I Want to See My Mountains. This rare assemblage of artworks is a vital introduction to a fascinating and enigmatic artist. (AK)

Lisa Ruyter: A Lady Mislaid Berlin Arndt & Partner Now through March 10		Lisa Ruyter paints confectionary couture, a brand of high fashion usually seen on glossy pages or through dazzling shop windows. Her energetic canvases almost levitate with color, exhibiting a palette that references pop art graphics and the French fauves. Women strike a pose, smile coyly at men, and glide down catwalks. Her characters appear like perfect paper dolls against vibrant backgrounds, yet her titles reveal another dimension. Man in the Wilderness catches a forlorn figure gazing at a mannequin display while Woman Under the Influence shows a saucy model in a burlesque ball gown in front of a c! outure logo 鈥? giving cause to wonder whether Ruyter's subject is mockery or flattery. (JK)