Bjarne Melgaard at Luxembourg & Dayan

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New York-based Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard is a prolific, profane, and much admired polymath. In addition to paintings, drawings, films, furniture, and objects, he has created a thicket of novels. These exploded accretions of words and ideas, with their fevers of graphic violence, explicit sadomasochistic sex and unexpected poignancy, do not adhere to the conventions of dignified narrative. For Melgaard, the novel is a site where ideas both good and bad can proliferate freely, and where attention follows the upended logic of what actually takes place instead of what ideally should happen. Melgaard steadfastly refuses to locate the frontier between reality and fantasy. “I am more interested in telling a good story than a boring truth,” he has said.  Luxembourg & Dayan gallery in New York presents A New Novel by Bjarne Melgaard, an exhibition that coincides with publication of the artist’s latest novel, his first ever to be published commercially in English. Working closely with a group of leading designers and craftspeople, Melgaard is transforming the gallery’s Upper East Side townhouse into a completely immersive environment that uses his new novel’s story – its protagonist’s tortured infatuation with a doorman and the willing degradations of a surrounding cast of characters – as a point of departure to plumb further the through-line of his entire practice:  an exploration of the ways in which sex and violence dovetail with love and loneliness. A New Novel will be on view until December 22, 2012 at Luxembourg & Dayan, 64 East 77TH Street, New York, NY

It Ain’t Fair 2012 at OHWOW Gallery in Miami

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OHWOW is presents the fifth and final edition of the annual group exhibition It Ain’t Fair (IAF). Coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach, It Ain’t Fair 2012 celebrates the history and tradition of IAF‘s renowned multimedia production, and closes the chapter on what came to define OHWOW’s identity as a community platform for progressive art in all media. The final IAF moves from the Design District to a 6,000 square foot location on the beach to accommodate a large-scale exhibition and various projects, delivering a climactic conclusion to this definitive enterprise. It Ain‘t Fair 2012 assembles a selection of over 30 contemporary artists, many who contributed in past years, along with several new names, from David Adamo, James Franco, Dan Colen, Terry Richardson, Aurel Schmidt, and others. It Ain't Fair will be on view from December 6 to 9, 2012, 743 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL

David LaChapelle Still Life at Paul Kasmin Gallery

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Paul Kasmin Gallery presents Still Life, an exhibition of new works by David LaChapelle, addressing the fleeting nature of humanity, fame, celebrity and power. On view at both Paul Kasmin Gallery locations in New York, this body of work began in 2009, when LaChapelle learned of the break-in and vandalism of the National Wax Museum in Dublin, Ireland, and was granted permission to photograph the destroyed figures. LaChapelle continued photographing figures at two additional wax museums – one in California and one in Nevada – to complete his vision of the collection. With subjects ranging from politicians such as Ronald Reagan, to celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Jackson, to the artist’s depiction of The Last Supper including Judas and Mary Magdalene, Still Life presents eerie compositions of dismembered icons. Still Life expands on the idea of his earlier exhibition, Earth Laughs in Flowers, an exhibition of still life works exploring contemporary vanity, vice, the transience of earthly possessions, and the fragility of humanity. Still Life will be on view until January 13, 2013, at Paul Kasmin Gallery, 293 Tenth Ave & 515 West 27th Street, New York

Gilbert & George at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Salzburg will show a group of pictures from the latest series by the English artists Gilbert & George. Gilbert & George have spent many years preparing these London Pictures, which mark a new period in their work. They took thousands of photographs documenting a widespread peculiarity of the press landscape in England: posters with sensational headlines advertising the newspapers on sale in kiosks. They are like heralds blaring out fanfares, titillating public curiosity about the most outrageous and brutal stories of the day. London Pictures will be on view January 19, 2013 at Galerie Thaddaeus, Mirabellplatz 2, 5020, Salzburg Austria

Stanley Kubrick Retrospective at the LACMA

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On view now at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, an exhibition featuring legendary film auteur Stanley Kubrick and his oeuvre as the focus of his first retrospective in the context of an art museum, which reevaluates how we define the artist in the 21st century, and simultaneously expands upon LACMA’s commitment to exploring the intersection of art and film. On view until June 30, 2013 at LACMA. photograph by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

FUCK: Betty Tomkins Works on Paper 1969-2010

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Venus Over Manhattan gallery will present an opening of Betty Tomkins' large scale photorealistic paintings of heterosexual intercourse as part of Art Basel Miami. Fuck: Betty Tomkins Works on Paper 1969-2010 will be on view from December 5 to 9, 2012 at the M Building, 194 NW 30th Street, Miami