The year’s final Artforum has arrived. As usual, its cover is bedecked with some of the year’s most acclaimed artworks and events. “How many of these can you identify?” it taunts. “How many did you actually see?” There will be time for reading the issue later, weighing your tastes against those of the issue’s contributors. We are here now to evaluate its advertisements, as we do every month. Click the slide show at left to take a look.
The arch Italian provocateur Piero Manzoni truly knew how to charm a lady. Elegantly attired, Manzoni is shown here in 1960, inflating one of his Corpo d'aria sculptures at his Azimut gallery in Milan. The artist died three years later, at the age of 29. We would pay good money to have experienced this moment. At least Gagosian let us live it vicariously through this superb advertisement. — Andrew Russeth
Well, that’s a way of grabbing someone’s attention! The piece seen here is entitled Navel, by Rona Pondick, and thankfully isn’t the massive size it appears in this ad. The piece is actually small enough to fit on a pillar in a gallery, and is cast in metal rather than porcelain, as you might think. The face poking out of the mass is actually a life cast taken of Ms. Pondick’s head in 1988. So, yes, it’s very creepy. — Dan Duray
In what is perhaps the most meta ad of any in the current issue of Artforum, Peter Liverside’s "Where We Begin" ad at Sean Kelly Gallery features an image of a proposal for a show of proposals at the gallery—so the ad is proposal is artwork is proposal and so forth. “I propose that the exhibition: Proposals for Sean Kelly Gallery could possibly have one of the following titles: Where We Begin, what we do, if we don’t do this,” and the list goes on. “I’m not entirely sure that any of the above are quite right,” he concludes. — Michael H. Miller
Paula Cooper Gallery is a pretty constant selection on this list because they have what must be one of the greatest photo archives of any gallery in the city (they’ve been around long enough anyway), not to mention the consistency of the ads: often a black and white image of the artist and a simple text announcing the dates. This one, announcing their participation in Art Basel Miami Beach, though still classy in its way, appears to be a still from an episode of Miami Vice (a tacky crocodile’s head emerging from murky water). The text is a gaudy pink and white that re-appropriates the typeface of that show’s opening credits. All of it speaks to the fact that, for a couple of days in December, the gallery is going to be far from home. — M.H.M.
Have you ever seen a Dan Flavin like this? We certainly hadn’t. Originally installed at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1986, the piece, titled untitled (to Piet Mondrian Through His Preferred Colors, Red, Yellow and Blue), was re-installed at the museum this past year, so for the end-of-year issue of Artforum, Zwirner decided to salute this piece. The Stedelijk Museum, which has been under construction for years, is set to have a grand reopening in 2012. — D.D.
A power move if ever we saw one: two pages, two huge Ellsworth Kellys. In case you can't read the subtle text at the bottom of the page, this is an ad for Matthew Marks' new Los Angeles branch, whose façade was designed by Mr. Kelly. Be careful, L.A. dealers. Be careful. — A.R.
