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Particularly famous for her provocative representation of the female body or her anatomic fragments, during her long career Kiki Smith has explored a wide range of subjects and themes, that vary from religion to folklore, passing through mythology, natural sciences, history of art and especially feminism. The American sculptress of German origins (she was born in Germany in 1954 but she has lived and worked in New York since the seventies) can be defined a conceptual artist, for her ability to analyze and examine the human form from its inside. All Kiki Smith’s oeuvre is founded on the intent to present the human body as a martyred body, a subject exhausted by the frantic pace of contemporary society.

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Damien Hirst, ex symbol of the Young British Artists, still has the absolutely particular ability to draw to himself the attention not only of the art system, but of the whole world. Everyone will remember the scandal caused by “For the Love of God”. For this human skull covered with 8,601 diamonds for a total of 1,106 carats, a group of anonymous buyers forked out 73 and a half million euros, against a valuation of 18.8 million dollars.
“For the Love of God”, the now famous work by Hirst presented at the White Cube Gallery in London, has levelled out a new road and the artist intends to go along it right to the end. The diamond-studded skull was a scoop, even for the various philosophical digressions stirred up and impressed on the relation between death and life, love, immortality and art itself.

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If quotations for contemporary art still do not seem to present symptoms of a crisis, those relative to the modern sector actually seem to be going through a moment of settlement.
The first signs of a change of course were observed in November 2007, when “The Fields (Wheat Fields)” by Vincent Van Gogh, auctioned by Sotheby’s New York, was withdrawn because it did not even reach its lowest estimate, which was 28 million dollars. In the same evening also “Te poipoi (Le matin)” realized by Paul Gaughin in 1892, was a disappointment.

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An interesting week is opening up for French auctions of modern and contemporary art. Paris and surroundings are going to offer various occasions to buy important pieces of high quality or even become owners of minor works, realized by very famous artists, for moderate amounts.
The events will be inaugurated on Monday 23rd by Cornette de Saint Cyr (Paris) with the Art Moderne - Art Contemporain auction, rich in paintings that are worth watching out for. Among the most important works:

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A few days ago Sotheby’s auction house announced that on 1st July, during the “Contemporary Art Evening Sale” that will be held at the London venue in New Bond Street, a very interesting work will be auctioned, a work that is interesting not only for economic-artistic reasons, but also because it has been for years a masterpiece in the hands of the star system world.

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2008 really seems to be the year dedicated to artist Mario Schifano. Ten years from his death, the Italian art system seems to be setting to work to celebrate this author who is considered by critics the greatest talent of Italian Pop Art, acclaimed as the spiritual heir to Andy Warhol and considered, together with Tano Festa and Franco Angeli, “the damned painter” who founded the Piazza del Popolo School, an essential reference point for Italian and European contemporary art.
Schifano’s figure can be considered a rather singular presence in the art panorama of the late twentieth century, for the variety and eclectic quality of his oeuvre, inclined to delving into the languages of modernity, as well as for his tormented life inspired to the idea of the myth of the artist.
His fame as the damned artist preceded him without him doing anything to elude it, actually Schifano continued stoking it up with the myth of the handsome and damned.

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On 25th June, Sotheby’s London auction house will open the “Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale”, an extraordinary event for collectors of masterpieces by the most famous names of the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. The success of this auction seems to be anticipated by the artistic figures that will be presented. In a period when we keep on waiting for the signs of the art market crisis to surface, Sotheby’s makes the right choice, that is to auction 56 pieces of undoubted quality executed by the greatest names of the history of art. A very wise strategy that even collectors should pursue, as important works are not affected by devaluations and even if the market may slow down due to the latter, it will certainly never fail.

BOROS OPENS TO THE PUBLIC HIS CONTEMPORARY ART COLLECTION

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Recently, in German cities, a new architectonic trend has started to spread, a trend that tries to modify existing buildings not in their space or aspect, but in their use. Indeed, Berlin has recently experienced a similar operation regarding a bunker. Built in 1942 for the German railway company, it was supposed to protect from air raids travellers arriving from Friedrichstrasse Station.