• An exhibition of 20th and 21st century art, including four Picassos and an 1875 Cezanne, will be mounted at a London property near Reagent’s Park from October 12-20, in conjunction with the Frieze Art Fair. Around a third of the works on display will be offered for sale (amounting to around £20m), including pieces by Yves Klein, Egon Schiele, and Gerhard Richter. London based artist Wolfe von Lenkiewicz will curate the show, as well as present his own work. Click here to read the full article. • London’s Tate Modern has lost the financial backing of UBS AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank and one of the museum’s largest sponsors in recent years. The Tate plans to build a $330 million extension, and has thus far raised “roughly half” of the funds. The museum’s director, Nicholas Serota, is confident that the new wing will be built in time for London's Olympics in 2012. “There are undoubtedly people who have the resources to help us at the level required to complete this project.” Head to ArtForum to learn more. • For the first time in the history of New York’s Asia Society Museum, the entire gallery space will be devoted to the work of a single contemporary artist for Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody's Fool, on view until January 2, 2011. The exhibition will explore the diverse oeuvre of the Neo Pop artist – paintings, drawings, sculpture and installation – with special attention paid to “the relationship of Nara's art to rock and punk music, which has been an ongoing source of inspiration and prevailing reference point in his work.” Check out e-flux to read more.

Salt Lake City - Mondo Fine Art presents Road Trip: Landscape Perspectives, an exhibition of new works by San Francisco/Chicago artist Angie Renfro and Salt Lake City artist Aaron Bushnell. This show opening will take place on September 23 from 6 pm to 9 pm at Poliform Design Studio (3016 South West Temple). The exhibit will be up through mid October. Please join us for this special opening night. Enjoy food, drink, music, and of course, the art. Both artists will be present for questions and discussion. The first 20 people will receive a signed copy of this month's issue of Southwest Art Magazine. About the Artists The work of Angie Renfro focuses on oft-overlooked subjects. Her thoughtfully composed, richly layered paintings evoke a feeling of familiarity because the subjects are found on the periphery of every highway drive. Renfro's new body of work for Mondo Fine Art is a collection of images from meandering road trips across several states. This compelling series of industrial landscapes - comprised of the complicated, heavy structures of factories - are tempered with a delicate sense of loneliness. "By transforming a telephone pole or a rusting factory into a lush, striking landscape, my work seeks to challenge conventional and naturalistic notions of beauty." Angie Renfro was named "Artist to Watch" by Southwest Art Magazine in October 2006, was showcased in the August 2008 edition of American Art Collector, and is now again featured in Southwest Art Magazine in this month’s issue, as well as in the upcoming October issue of American Art Collector. Aaron Bushnell's most recent paintings concentrate on the anxious energy of the city. "Urban areas create an overwhelming emotion of panic and fear within me. There is simply too much energy and movement in too small a space." The disquieting character of these scenes is rendered with a playful handling of brushwork; at times childlike and explorative, at other times, well structured. His technique reveals certain color-field and abstract expressionist influences, combining a gentle attention to detail with "something like an attack… with oil paint. I find a selfish amusement in toying with that juxtaposition." Aaron Bushnell was featured in the December 2009 issue of American Art Collector. Special thanks to our host, Poliform SLC, for letting us use their beautiful space for this show. We hope to see you there!

• A Los Angeles federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit may proceed for the return of a Nazi-looted painting from Spain’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation to its rightful owner, the heirs of Lilly Cassirer Neubauer. The painting, Pissarro’s Rue Saint Honoré—Afternoon, Rain Effect (1897), was relinquished to Nazi officials in 1939 to obtain visas for Neubauer to flee Germany. The case will proceed to trials court unless the US Supreme Court decides to review the ruling. Read the full article at The Art Newspaper. • Japanese filmmaker and comic-book illustrator Satoshi Kon died on Tuesday in Tokyo, at the age of forty-six. Kon’s animated films, such as Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, and more recently Paprika, received critical acclaim both in Japan and in the international community. Susan J. Napier, a professor of Japanese studies at Tufts University, identified Kon as “part of a line of great Japanese humanist directors and writers.” From ArtForum. • “Big Sign – Little Building” is the name of a new exhibition at the Office for Contemporary Art Norway, in Oslo. A curatorial statement claims the show will investigate the “expanded temporal and spatial field for cultural production resulting from the modern shift in the notion of landscape from the Kantian sublime to the space of leisure time.” Artwork by Robert Smithson, Ed Ruscha, Claes Oldenburg and other contemporary artists will be featured, along with the original glass slides used by the late architect Steven Izenour in his academic lectures. Check out e-flux for more information. • Los Angeles Times art critic and “Culture Monster” Christopher Knight reports that the design submitted by architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro to Eli Broad for his forthcoming art museum contains the same “mistake” as Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art (also designed by DS+R) – that the galleries are too distant from the front entrance of the museum. Read his interesting argument at the Los Angeles Times website.

• The 29th Bienal de São Paulo will be held between September 25 and December 12 in Brazil’s largest city. Entitled “There is always a cup of sea to sail in,” it will feature the work of more than 150 artists from several countries. The showcase is “based on the idea that art and politics have reached a level of almost non-distinction, being therefore urgent to emphasize art from other realms of knowledge.” Check out e-flux for further information. • Los Angeles County has approved a plan for a new museum in downtown LA to house the contemporary art collection of Eli Broad. The philanthropist’s new 2.5 acre parcel could be the site of the predicted $80-$100 million building, but he is considering an alternate site in Santa Monica as well. Click here for more. • A new contemporary art prize has been created by Skoda Auto India and Seventy Event Management Group to recognize and reward outstanding work by young Indian artists. The 10 million rupee Skoda prize will be awarded in January. Read the full article here. • New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art saw over 700,000 visitors at its recent Picasso showcase, making it the best-attended exhibition at the Met since 2001 and the seventh best-attended overall. The show featured more than 300 paintings, sculptures and drawings from the Spanish modernist. From ArtForum.

• Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art will host its annual Art Auction, the institution’s most important fundraiser, on October 30. For the first time ever, the sale will take place in the MCA galleries, and the event will feature an outdoor tented area made completely of paper where guests will enjoy their dinner and participate in live auctions. Work by a wide range of contemporary artists will be available, from names like Olafur Eliasson, Kiki Smith, and Ed Ruscha. From Art Knowledge News. • Renowned street artist Shepard Fairey will auction off a personally guided tour of his LA studio on August 25, through the website charitybuzz.com. The auction’s winner will also receive a group of five pro-peace screen prints. Proceeds will benefit the Brave New Foundation, “an organization that champions social justice issues by using media to inspire, empower and teach civic participation that makes a difference.” Click here to learn more. • New York’s Museum of Modern Art will present a retrospective of work by filmmaker Barbara Hammer from September 15 though October 13. Hammer was a pioneer in “queer cinema” beginning in the late 60s, and the show will feature her prominent early films like Dyketactics (1974) and Women I Love (1976), as well as a new film, Generations (2010). Head to the MoMA website for more information. • A new exhibition at the Nam June Paik Art Center in South Korea, called “Trickster Makes This World,” will explore the work of Paik and other contemporary artists who sought to “negotiate between separate realities.” Paik himself often brought together political and artistic spheres through publicized stunts, and his video oeuvre demonstrates his interest in the gap between authentic and televised realities. On view 31 August through 21 November. Check out e-flux for more details.

We are very excited to be showcasing works by Utah artist Roland Thompson. His works embraces order and chaos and with such elegance and control. He meticulously applies layers of paint and wax to aluminum, giving the pieces beautiful depth, then cuts the shape out, giving the work even more of a sculptural feel. "My work is a product of a lifetime investigation into design, process, beauty, and aesthetic experience in connection to the larger question of the human condition.  I have adopted the language of geometric abstraction which was established over a hundred years ago to address spiritual and social issues.  We live in a different time, but I think that Industrialization and Globalization have common themes, one of which is the process of restructuring.  Social, physical, intellectual, and spiritual systems are undergoing significant revision and may some day be consolidated into one theory of all things, or into one elaborate language.  This process is difficult to express visually.  To me, it seems to be happening at a level that direct representation can’t illustrate.  It can only be addressed metaphorically, and this is why the language of geometric abstraction is as vital as ever. The drawings that I make are like snap-shots of this elusive, evolving structure.  Many of them are perfect manifestations of a particular moment or situation; but they don’t quite capture everything and so more artwork must be made. The process through which my paintings develop is quite different.  They begin as very complex structures that are labored over; edited, adjusted, and refined until I am fully satisfied with the physical quality, and emotional and intellectual effect of the painting.  I hope they adeptly express our time-- today and for millennia to come." - Roland Thompson Thompson received his M.F.A. in Painting at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, and has exhibited his work nationwide, with shows in Utah, Virginia, New York, Ohio, Maryland, and New Mexico.  His works have shown in museums and have won several awards in juried exhibitions.  For a full listing of Thompson's exhibition history, please click here. To see available works by Roland Thompson, please click here.

• The 12th annual Art London opened last Thursday, bringing art from over 70 international galleries to the Royal Hospital in Chelsea. Art of all kinds is for sale – work by pop artist Clive Baker, a Pre-Raphaelite painting by Burne-Jones, and even an early Picasso drawing. The fair ends on Sunday. Read more about Art London at Art Knowledge News. • A new solo show by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm entitled Narrow Mist is on display at Beijing's Ullens Center for Contemporary Art until September 15. Featured is Wurm’s trademark “One Minute Sculptures,” a performance-cum-sculptural piece in which the artist mimics visitor’s poses, incorporates props, and photographs the results. Go to ARTINFO for more information. • A series of 19th century circus posters have been discovered plastered to the side of a home in northern Vermont during renovations, and sent to the Northeast Document Conservation Center in Massachusetts for treatment. The posters, concealed for over 130 years, represent a “poster war” by two rival traveling circuses. One depicts the famous Two-Headed Lady – a pair of conjoined twins named Millie-Christine. From The Art Newspaper. • Following the signing of a cultural agreement between the British and Indian governments last week, it was announced that an ambitious new exhibition of work by acclaimed artist Anish Kapoor would be held in Mumbai and New Delhi. Kapoor himself stated: "While I am delighted the first major show of my work in India is going ahead, I feel I need to make it clear publicly that the planning of the show well pre-dates the election of the present Conservative government. We have in fact been working on this show for more than ten years." Click here for more.

Mondo artist Pilar Pobil was recently featured in El Mundo, the national daily newspaper in Spain, Pilar's native country. Click HERE for a link to the article (which is in Spanish). For those of us that don't speak Spanish, Pilar has translated the article below. The Light of the Mediterranean Sea in Utah The Mallorquin painter Pilar Pobil,  by Carlos Fresneda. Translated by Pilar Pobil The island: Mallorca. The little girl: Pilar Pobil. The time: Around eighty years ago, on the verge of the fratricide of the Guerra Civil war in Spain in which she lost her father. The Adventure: The daring jump across the ocean, enamored of Walter, her American love. “Are you Mormon?” was her first question to Walter- “Are you polygamous?” He must have felt enchanted with her unexpected questions and unusual curiosity; at that time, hardly anyone in Europe had heard of Utah and the LDS Church in the City of the Lake of Salt. Walter had fallen in love with a girl who was brave enough to break from the traditions prejudices of her remote island home (“I must have been the first girl in Mallorca that married an American”). In turn she departed across the sea to unknown America, and the city where she started her second life. Since her childhood, Pilar has had art in her being. Her father was her first and only artistic mentor. Pilar’s mother did not believe women should be occupied by anything except ordinary household chores and occupations. As a young teenager of fourteen, she painted greeting cards that she sold to curiosity stores without her mother’s knowledge. She also created her own magazine, Luz y Colores, letting her paints and brushes express themselves on the white paper. But the restlessness she carried inside did not break free until much later, when she was mother of three children in Utah. The self-taught and indefatigable artist that was inside finally broke the barriers of her prison, starting first with clay scluptures that represented familiar images of her childhood, Christmas figures and saints from the old churches, the peasant men and women she had known, and the people she had loved. Soon she was turned to watercolors and oils. Nourished by frequent visits back to Mallorca and Spain, the memories of Pilar’s past began to materialize in paper and canvas in images like "Se Murada", 'El Sol ardiente", "Mediodia", and many others of unmistakable Mediterranean flavor. Unavoidably, the transparent light of the southern Utah deserts slowly infiltrated her retina, along with the warmth and the brilliant colors of Mexico. All these influences, collected with the passing of time among different people and landscapes, converge together in what she defines as her third life, living alone and independent wit her dog, in her Museum home in the Avenues. Her World in Salt Lake City Here, in the most liberal zone of the city, protected by the mountains with their snowy peaks still white at this time of year, Pilar has created her own world that jumps from her canvas to her frames, and from there to the doors, the columns, the basement, the chairs, the garden, and all she can reach except the attic (already beautiful and sacred treasures from the past, and I cherish and respect their integrity, Pilar says). “I cannot stand still, I feel the urgency to create with the time that I still have left, either with brushes and paint, or writing, painting with the imagination.” “The Art of Pilar Pobil, with its movement and brilliant color, reminds us of the mental and physical landscapes of El Greco and Joan Miro, the passion for Mexico of Frida Khalo, and the Utah deserts of Maynard Dixion,” writes Robert Newman, Dean of the Uiversity of Utah College of Humanities, in the indroduction to Pilar’s book My Kitchen Table: Sketches of My Life. The book was published by University of Utah Press, and is a testimony to Pilar’s life and art. Pilar lost her husband Walter ten years ago, but did not feel the need to close the circle and return to Spain. Overcoming the sadness of her loss, she decided to remain in the puzzling city by the lake that she loves, in her house that has just surprised us with its hidden secret spaces and magic garden. “I denied myself for so long, that now I feel more than ever the urgent commitment and promise to my work. My roots are in Spain, never forgotten, but now this is my world, surrounded by friends, and people I love. I visit Spain frequently (my youngest daughter lives there) to absorb the landscape of mountains and sea, and the passion of my people that is always in my memory, but this is the place where I want to stay and create my work as long as I live.” Salt Lake City, June 2010 published in Spain's El Mundo magazine To see works by the talented Pilar Pobil, please Click HERE.