Daily art news

KUNZELSAU.- The Kunsthalle Würth in Schwäbisch Hall shows the wide-ranging œuvre of the multifaceted artist Niki de Saint Phalle, undoubtedly one of the most important artists of the 20th century, in a large survey exhibition. Through her paintings, assemblages, shooting paintings (tirs), sculptures and installations, this artist created a unique cosmos which established her international reputation. Niki de Saint Phalle, born in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1930 and died in San Diego, California, in 2002, had a defining influence on the art of her day, feminine features of which she celebrated and shaped. Like no one before her, she found a valid form for the elemental force of femininity, particularly in her Nanas. 

NEW YORK, NY.- On April 29, the world will be watching country girl Kate Middleton walk down the aisle to Britain’s Prince William of Wales. In celebration of the Royal Wedding, several members of the Art and Antiques Dealers League of America(AADLA) will present regal works of art at their inaugural Spring Show NYC,which opens at the Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue, on April 28 – May 2, 2011. Whether you are on your way to Westminster and still need the perfect present for the newlyweds or, in fact, any betrothed couple with a penchant for majesty, here are several unique offerings: The royal engagement of the Double Portrait of King Frederick IV and Queen Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstow of Denmark is the subject of a painting by Gaspar Antoine de Bois-Clair on Robert Simon’s stand. The portraits are intriguingly painted on slatted wood to show both the bride and the groom when viewing from opposite angles. All the royal families of Europe are related and this couple’s grandson Frederick V forged a marriage with Britain’s King George II’s daughter Louisa in 1743. 

LONDON.- White Cube Hoxton Square presents the first UK solo exhibition by Friedrich Kunath. Encompassing painting, sculpture, drawing, video and photography, Kunath's work focuses on universal themes of the human condition: love, loss, loneliness, optimism and dejection, all imparted with a tragicomic pathos. Kunath's work draws inspiration from sources such as song titles, lyrics and books, along with art historical influences, including Conceptual art, German Romanticism and Symbolism. His paintings, which freely bestride the idioms of abstraction and representation, are saturated with washes of colour, which are then overlaid with diverse visual references, from satirical cartoons, doodles and chocolate-box imagery to passages of text with nuanced word-play. 'All the sleeves are brown and the tie is grey (California Dreaming)' (2011) features a sleeping figure sat aboard a ramshackle raft, caught up in a ferocious sea; while above him is written a contorted version of the chorus from the song of the title. In another painting, the hunched figure of the artist trudges into a psychedelic, waterlogged landscape, with droplets of rain in the air clearing in part to reveal the cheerful message 'Almost Summer'. The lone protagonist makes regular appearances in Kunath's work, the melancholic 'everyman', full of longing for home.