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MORALLY REPREHENSIBLE | MAY 3 - JULY 12, 2014
101/EXHIBIT proudly presents Morally Reprehensible, a solo exhibition from artist and critic Pedro Vélez.
This is the artist’s first showing with the gallery and will include new paintings on canvas, collage, and the artist’s signature banners. A limited edition, tri-fold conceptual show card designed by Vélez will accompany the exhibition. Additionally, the show will feature a soundtrack by Gardy Pérez, an experimental musician and leader of the seminal shoegaze band un.real, who is a long time collaborator of Vélez's. One copy of the soundtrack will be available which includes a poster/collage based upon the audio.
The opening reception with the artist will be held on Saturday, May 3rd, from 7 – 10pm, and will
conclude on July 12th. 101/EXHIBIT is located in West Hollywood at 8920 Melrose Ave on the corner of North Almont Drive, one block south of Santa Monica Blvd. This opening will also serve as the re-launch celebration of 101/EXHIBIT’s original and newly remodeled 1,300 square foot West Hollywood gallery space.  For his first exhibition in Los Angeles, Pedro Vélez will produce a new series of paintings on canvas based on photographs taken by the artist over a period of seven years. These works combine quotes by other art critics, imagery of hotel room views, bits and pieces of personal conversations, and portraits of art world figures and sites to create a visual essay in which beauty, art journalism, social media, race, and political corruption collide. With Morally Reprehensible, Vélez mimics the way the majority of art critics distribute information today. This exhibition culminates the quadrilogy about morality and art criticism he started with #DrunkDictators, recently on view at Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago, #ProtestSigns at Galeria Obra Alegria in San Juan, and #TheMonochromaticCritics, his installation currently on view until May 25th at the 2014 Whitney Biennial.
For those unfamiliar with Pedro Vélez, it is important to consider the immediacy of his artistic
process and how it wells up directly from his strong opinions of today’s social and political ills. Much in the way that Jean Michel Basquiat, when under the gun for a rapidly approaching exhibition could switch into a raw and frenetic zone of artistic production, Vélez has the ability to become just as mentally and physically prolific, which allows him to keep the content spontaneous, up-to-date, and even revolutionary. Much of Morally Reprehensible is currently being produced during Vélez’s four-week residency at his alma mater Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico, where he earned his degree in communications in 1994.
Vélez makes no claim to be an agent of change, for as the old saying goes, “You can lead
the horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”. Of course this, as most sayings go, uses the right words, as does this press release. Therefore, to curb the often direct whistle-blowing that Vélez can concern himself with, an invented anti-language is often applied to his compositional text work that puts the responsibility in the viewers’ hands to make use of the supplied information, fill in the gaps, and develop one’s own opinion on the matter. As a further courtesy, Vélez appeases the culture of looking in which we exist today, as his works also have a certain and undeniable hipness in their appearance. As many celebrity interior designers and real estate agents have gleefully chanted on their reality shows, “if it looks good, it is good!”, Vélez simply prefers to expose such misnomers.
Pedro Vélez was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico in 1971. He lives and works between New
York City, the Midwest, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. He has participated in American and international solo and group exhibitions at numerous galleries, museums, and art fairs including the Whitney Biennial 2014 in New York and #DrunkDictators, an “On The Wall” installation at Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago. Past shows include A Study in Midwestern Appropriation, curated by Michelle Grabner, at the Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; Contemporary Passions: American, European, and Latin American Art from the Serapión and Belk Collection, Museo de Arte de Ponce, PR (2012); Eraser, curated by Rachel Furnari, at Magnan Metz Gallery in NYC (2011); The Day of the Corrupt at Western Exhibitions, Chicago (2009); Epilepsy and Pegatina and Adult Porn, Plush Gallery in Dallas (2007); Godfuck at Galeria Comercial, San Juan, Puerto Rico (2006).
His work as an artist and writer have been discussed in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune,
Artspace, Frieze, El Vocero Newspaper, and Artforum among many other publications. For 10 years Pedro Vélez maintained a regular column about the art scenes in San Juan and Chicago for Artnet Magazine and his writing has been published in Newcity, New Art Examiner and Arte al Día. He was also the controversial editor of the blog El Box Score in San Juan.
101/EXHIBIT was founded in 2008 by Sloan Schaffer in Miami, FL. Named after its original location,
101 NE 40th St., the gallery actively represents an international group of prolific emerging and established contemporary artists. Initially built around artists who emphasize the human form and figurative concerns, the gallery program embraces unparalleled craft, counter trend experimentation, New Media, and deviations into abstraction, installation-forward, and object-based works to expand the greater initiative of the program. #fineartmagazine |
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
PEDRO VÉLEZ
Yale Center For British Art May Highlights
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PHILLIPS ANNOUNCES HIGHLIGHTS FROM MAY 2014 SALES OF CONTEMPORARY ART
PHILLIPS ANNOUNCES HIGHLIGHTS FROM MAY 2014 SALES OF CONTEMPORARY ART
HIGHLIGHTS FROM SALES INCLUDE WORKS BY MARK ROTHKO, ANDY WARHOL, JEAN-MICHELBASQUIAT, GERHARD RICHTER, JEFF KOONS, MARK TANSEY, VIJA CELMINS, DONALD JUDD, ALEXANDER CALDER, ROY LICHTENSTEIN, JOHN CHAMBERLAIN, WADE GUYTON, NATE LOWMAN,DAN COLEN, TAUBA AUERBACH, AND ALEX ISRAEL.
EVENING AUCTION:15 MAY 2014, 7PM
DAY AUCTION: 16 MAY 2014, 11AM
VIEWING: 3-15 MAY Phillips, 450 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022
AUCTION LOCATION: Phillips, 450 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022
NEW YORK – 28 April 2014 – Phillips is pleased to announce the highlights from its May
Contemporary Art auctions.
“We are thrilled to present our May Contemporary Art sales, in which we will offer an outstanding selection of exemplary works by the most prominent, emerging and blue-chip Contemporary artists.” David Georgiades and August Uribe,Worldwide Co-Heads Contemporary Art, Phillips.
MARK ROTHKO
Untitled (Red, Blue, Orange), 1955
ESTIMATE ON REQUEST
This seminal work, from Mark Rothko’s most iconic period, embodies the artist’s singular vision at its most refined. Composed of rich azure floating above a vibrant orange and red field, Untitled (Red, Blue, Orange), 1955 exemplifies Rothko’s unparalleled command of color, form and technique. Untitled (Red, Blue, Orange), 1955 possesses an enthralling luminosity that exemplifies Rothko’s enduring legacy.
ANDY WARHOL AND JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
Zenith, 1985
ESTIMATE $10,000,000 – 15,000,000
Zenith, 1985, a monumental painting, and the largest work by this dynamic artistic duo, represents the two masters at the height of their combined prowess. Addressing themes central to their oeuvres, such as social commentary and poignant meditations on the brevity of life, the composition prominently features a graphic skull and crossbones embellished with jewel tones. Zenithis the epic manifestation of two masters’ artistic vision, as Warhol and Basquiat engaged in dialogue that is among the most renowned artistic collaborations of all time.
ANDY WARHOL
Flowers, 1964
ESTIMATE $10,000,000 – 15,000,000
Flowers, 1964, is an electric rendering of one of Warhol’s most enduring subjects. The work represents the bold optimism of 1960’s America and the Pop Art movement. Warhol’s blossoms, silkscreened in vibrant tones of purple, orange and red, set against a verdant field of green. This example is among the most important of his Flowers series and will attract today’s most ardent enthusiast.
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
Untitled, 1981
ESTIMATE $8,000,000 – 12,000,000
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s singular contribution to painting is exemplified in this ravishingly beautiful work. Completed during Basquiat’s meteoric entrée to the art world, Untitled, 1981, depicts a central, beatific haloed figure. Basquiat’s hero is flanked by faceless emblems of unjust power and is animated with intense and energetic brushwork. Untitled, 1981 represents Basquiat’s ascent towards his unmistakable contribution to the canon of contemporary painting.
GERHARD RICHTER
Mädchen im Sessel (Lila), 1964
ESTIMATE $6,000,000 – 8,000,000
The sensuous surface of Gerhard Richter’s Mädchen im Sessel (Lila), 1964 is a dazzling composition that transcends the abstraction of form. Richter’s pulsating depiction of a young woman posed in an armchair is a timeless image of feminine beauty and youth. Executed at a moment when the artist was devising a new vision for traditional painting, Mädchen is a testament to Richter’s reputation as our greatest living painter.
JEFF KOONS
Popples, 1988
ESTIMATE $4,000,000 – 6,000,000
Jeff Koons, a standard-bearer for the Pop Art tradition, deftly melds luxury and popular culture in a manner that has transformed him into one of the most recognized contemporary artists in the world. From Koons’ Banality series, Popples was conceived as a central figure in a global statement of contemporary allegory. The exquisitely rendered porcelain surface creates a startling tromp l’oeil that confounds our expectations of medium and tactility. Popples is an outstanding example of the artist’s unique vision of a youthful and commercially-driven culture.
MARK TANSEY
Coastline Measure, 1987
ESTIMATE $3,500,000 – 4,500,000
Coastline Measure, 1987, is a philosophical treatise in paint. With an emerald palette; Tansey has visualized mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot’s call to measure every surface of a coastline. Tansey’s expansive and expressive surface is a stunning metaphor for our contemporary understanding of the sublime.
VIJA CELMINS
Night Sky #3, 1991
ESTIMATE $2,000,000 – 3,000,000
In Night Sky #3, 1991, Vija Celmins captures the infinite subtleties and distances of the vast cosmos. Celmins’ Night Sky paintings appear rarely at auction, with the majority of these works held in important public collections.
DONALD JUDD
Untitled (88-27 Menziken), 1988
ESTIMATE $2,000,000 – 3,000,000
Untitled (88-27 Menziken), 1988, is a prime example of Donald Judd’s continued engagement with his most well-known sculptural motif. Executed in brushed aluminum and green Plexiglas, Untitled (88-27 Menziken), embodies Judd’s impressive contribution to Minimalism.
In addition, the sale will feature a selection of masterful sculptures by Alexander Calder, David Smith, John Chamberlain and Roy Lichtenstein. Today’s emerging masters will be well represented, with works by Mark Bradford, Wade Guyton, Dan Colen, Nate Lowman and Tauba Auerbach.
The Contemporary Art Day Sale will offer 229 works. Highlights from the auction include works by WAYNE THIEBAUD, CECILY BROWN, DAMIEN HIRST, ED RUSCHA, MEL RAMOS, DONALD JUDD, JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT, SAM FRANCIS, JOHN BALDESSARI, JOHN CHAMBERLAIN, AND JAMES ROSENQUIST.
PHILLIPS:
Phillips has established a commanding position in the sale of Contemporary Art, Photographs, Design, Editions and Jewelry. Through the passionate dedication of its team of global specialists, Phillips has garnered an unparalleled wealth of knowledge of emerging market trends. Phillips conducts auctions in New York and London and has representative offices throughout Europe and in the United States. For more information, please visit: phillips.com.
#fineartmagazine
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