Basquiat Serenades a Venus of Antiquity @ Gagosian in Paris

Gagosian’s exhibition, Venus, sees a pairing of two rarely seen masterpieces from different millennia: Untitled (1982), a significant painting from Jean-Michel Basquiat’s acclaimed Modena series, is shown in dialogue with an Imperial Roman sculpture of the goddess Venus loaned from the Torlonia Collection in Rome, the world’s largest private collection of Roman art. This is Gagosian’s eleventh exhibition dedicated to Basquiat and demonstrates the gallery’s ongoing commitment to the artist’s legacy.

Untitled is one of eight large-scale paintings that Basquiat made in Modena, Italy, in the summer of 1982 at the age of twenty-one. Produced at the invitation of collector and art dealer Emilio Mazzoli for an exhibition that never came to fruition, the works were not shown together until they were reunited last summer at Fondation Beyeler in Riehen/Basel, more than four decades after they were made.

Highlighting how Venus has been a muse across centuries, the exhibition is on view through December 20th at Gagosian’s gallery at 9 rue de Castiglione, Paris.

Highlights From Untitled Art Fair In San Francisco

Untitled, Art is an international, curated art fair founded in 2012 that focuses on curatorial balance and integrity across all disciplines of contemporary art. Untitled, Art innovates the standard fair model by selecting a curatorial team to identify and curate a selection of galleries, artist-run exhibition spaces, and non-profit institutions and organizations, in dialogue with an architecturally designed venue. Untitled Art, San Francisco took place January 18 – 20 at Pier 35, 1454 The Embarcadero. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

LAXART Reopening Benefit And Art Auction In Los Angeles

This summer, LAXART will be welcoming the international art community to celebrate its newly revamped exhibition space, kicking off the celebration with a multi-week festival of events and a new site-specific mural by Barbara Kruger. Under the leadership of Director Hamza Walker, LAXART will share its newly expanded mission and reinvigorated programming. Founded in 2005, LAXART promotes developments in contemporary culture through exhibitions, publications and public programs, using contemporary art and performance as a means of understanding key issues of our time. For this launch, the exterior of the building has been visually adorned with a new site specific work by Barbara Kruger. Wrapping around the building’s façade, Untitled (It) speaks to the immediate central Hollywood environ with its pawn shops, peep shows, dollar stores, nail salons, marijuana dispensaries and currency exchanges—all nodes of identity, commerce and elements that define the unique urban topology of Los Angeles. The opening benefit included musical performances by Rob Mazurek and Ambrose Akinmusire, as well as a selection of works on auction by Liz Larner, Karl Holmqvist, Arthur Jafa, Glenn Ligon and Jonas Wood. Kruger’s Untitled (It) is on display from June 3 through Fall 2018. photographs by Oliver Kupper