Interior shot of Fitzroy Gallery, Courtesy of Fitzroy

By Mackie Healy, Art Market Views, Contributor

Forsaking Chelsea, Fitzroy Gallery has recently opened doors in SoHo at 77 Mercer Street (near Art in America’s headquarters, as a matter of fact), with 3,000 square feet of exhibition space on two levels.

The gallery is led by Maureen Sarro, who returns to the area to launch her own enterprise after 11 years as director of Friedrich Petzel. (Petzel moved to its current Chelsea location in 2000, following seven years on Wooster Street.)

“I loved the idea of returning to SoHo, and developing a program a bit set apart from Chelsea or LES,” Sarro said.

Fitzroy will represent international emerging and established contemporary artists. The gallery also plans to exhibit historic works, which will feature glimpses into the art history the SoHo surroundings.

The inaugural exhibition, a collection of six large-scale monochromes by London-based artist Gerry Judah, runs until until January 29th.

Hiroyuki Doi standing beside his "The Transmutation of the Soul, HD 2819" at Ricco/Maresca. © Photo: Lindsay Pollock

Japanese artist Hiroyuki Doi, 64, sporting Jackie O sunglasses and a mischievous smile, spoke this past Saturday afternoon about the death of his brother, the wonders of washi paper and his desire to draw the smallest circles on earth. He addressed a group of fans, including collector Audrey Heckler, who had gathered on a brisk Chelsea afternoon at Ricco/Maresca Gallery.

“My challenge, precisely, is how small circles I can draw,” said Doi, speaking through a translator. Doi’s drawings contain thousands of pulsating, clustered orbs, inked with a trusty Pilot pen. His drawings are at once microscopic and while paradoxically appearing to contain the infinite vastness of the universe, or a star-filled sky, observed Doi’s dealer Frank Maresca. They are simultaneously minimal and maximal, noted Maresca.

Doi is a chef by training. He continues to teach elderly Japanese men to cook as a sideline.

The death of a younger brother 37-years-ago triggered his artistic impulse, first represented by landscapes and floral images. His 20-year-old brother died of a brain tumor. “That was very shocking,” said Doi. “It was a big loss for me.”

He found his metier in corn…

Zhang Lichen张立辰 (b. 1939). Orchid, 1986. Ink and color on paper. 19 ¼ x 31 ½ inches. Signed with 5 artist seals. Courtesy China 2000 Fine Art.

By Mackie Healy, Art Market Views, Contributor

Ever since the New York International Asian Art Fair was mothballed in 2009, dealers and auctioneers have jockeyed to keep the spirit of Asia Week alive.

This year’s bid takes place around Manhattan from March 18-26, as Asian art dealers, auction houses and museums join forces to present week-long events highlighting the continent’s flourishing arts and buoyant market.

Thirty-four dealers will take part, hailing from the US, England, France, Italy and Japan.

Festivities begin on March 18 with a private cocktail reception and panel discussion at Asia Society.

The big money Asian art auctions take place at Christie’s and Sotheby’s. The houses grossed $82 million in sales last March, and upped the ante to $98.4 million last fall.

Japan Society’s offerings include a group show, Bye Bye Kitty!!!, featuring young Japanese artists, the majority of whom are based in Japan and have never exhibited in New York.

More info is available here.

DC Moore new Chelsea gallery space, still under renovation. Image: Courtesy DC Moore Gallery

The midtown art exodus continues as DC Moore Gallery relocates from 57th Street to Chelsea.

The new location, at 535 West 22nd Street, opens Feb. 3, 2011. The space was previously home to CRG Gallery which has since moved.

“It was the allure of a bigger space, with higher ceilings, which helps to serve our contemporary art program,” said gallery president Bridget Moore.

The new space features two exhibition galleries. The inaugural shows include Robert Kushner and Romare Bearden.

DC Moore, founded in 1995, represents a wide swath of artists including historical figures such as Jack Levine, Jacob Lawrence, Charles Burchfield and newer names including Mark Innerst and Yvonne Jacquette. The gallery’s newest addition: Darren Waterson.

Giacometti sculptures, courtesy Eykyn Maclean

By Mackie Healy, Art Market Views Contributor

Here’s a look at shows running in Manhattan’s East 60s at Marianne Boesky, Friedman & Vallois and Eykyn Maclean.

BOESKY:  Alighiero Boetti’s show at Boesky’s uptown lair on 64th street centers around a 10-foot long drawing of the components of his studio, Tracce del racconto (Tracing the story).  The pieces focus on an obsession with oppositions and his newer work in alternative mediums such as ballpoint pen, stamps, envelopes and fabric.

On display are a number of his “woven texts” – rainbow-hued alphabet grids which, when deciphered, portray prophetic phrases in Italian. The piece that gives the exhibition its title spells Un’idea Brillante in this conceptual format.

Boetti is paired with contemporary artist Jay Heikes, fresh off his praised October show at Boesky’s Chelsea space. Heikes evokes natural elements to complement his Arte Povera idol in the surrounding rooms, including a rusted root bronze sculpture aptly titled Generational Anxiety.

FRIEDMAN & VALLOIS: A show of striped ceramic vases by artist Daniel Buren is currently on display at the Madison Avenue Deco gallery. The show, Hundred Vases, showcases Buren’s signature…

Janis Gardner Cecil

Janis Gardner Cecil has been appointed director of sales at Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, the 57th Street modern and contemporary art gallery.

Cecil joins Nahem from Marlborough Gallery where she was sales director and director of publications and press.

She recently helped organize a Manolo Valdes sculpture exhibition on Broadway,  as well as shows for Chakaia Booker at the Kemper and DeCordova museums. She worked at Marlborough from 2001 until recently.

Cecil’s first gallery job came in 1992 at Wildenstein & Company where she remained for nine years.

Edward Tyler Nahem will be exhibiting at the upcoming edition of Art Basel Miami Beach.

Jacob Kassay painting sold at Kitchen benefit on Nov. 16 for $94,000

The recession is not stifling Jacob Kassay. Prices for his elegant, minimal, silver paintings, have spiked ten-fold this month.

At his rather startling auction debut at a Phillips de Pury Nov. 9 day sale,  a 2009 acrylic and silver deposit canvas, tagged to sell for up to $8,000 went bananas, selling for $86,500.

Last week, at a Kitchen benefit auction, a silvered 2010 work zoomed above the $12,000 “retail value,” selling for $94,000 according to two sources who attended the sale.

The last time I came face to face with a few smaller Kassays, in a group show earlier this year, the work was attractively priced $2,200. They were, not surprisingly, sold.

Kassay has met plenty of critical and market acclaim in the past few years. He has participated in dozens of shows, including recent solo presentations at Art: Concept in Paris and the 8th Gwangju Biennale in South Korea.

What’s the deal? A few in-the-know dealers told me Pace Gallery is making a play for Kassay. I emailed the gallery last week, but got no response.

A dealer told me he suspected Pace may have…

Thomas Gentille, wearing a brooch of his own design, at Gallery Loupe. Photo: Courtesy Gallery Loupe

Thomas Gentille is undoubtedly a master of the brooch. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art owns four. His creations can also be found in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne and Houston’s Museum of Fine Art.

An eminence grise in the art jewelry field, 74-year-old Gentille is little known in art circles, despite his work’s obvious connections to painting and sculpture, albeit on a small, wearable scale.

He studied painting and sculpture at the Cleveland Institute of Art in the 1950s. His work is spiritually bound to Minimalists like Agnes Martin and Donald Judd and Fred Sandback.

His astoundingly inventive show, Thomas Gentille Twenty First Century, is on view until Nov. 20 at the excellent Gallery Loupe in Montclair, New Jersey. I’ve included a selection of images below, priced about $3,000-$10,000.

The Ohio-born artist lives and works on the Upper East Side. He is a brilliant colorist, fastidious craftsman and wildly inventive with his materials, using pumice, bone, aircraft plywood, woods and eggshell.

Gallery Loupe has produced a 120-page catalog, designed by Gentille, available through the gallery. Click here for images.

Photo: Wolfgang Tillmans show at Andrea Rosen Gallery via Eduard Planting on flickr, Taken September 3, 2010

By Mackie Healy, Art Market Views Contributor

Andrea Rosen Gallery has had added two new senior staffers. Katie Rashid and Andrea Cashman have joined as directors/artist liaisons. Cashman came from Deitch Projects where she was a director for five years. Rashid served as director at Rhona Hoffman Gallery and Jack Shainman before joining Rosen.

Staffer Jane Denton has been promoted to a new position, financial controller. Jennie Sears and Felicia Rossomando will fill administrative roles in the gallery and registrar department.

John Connelly has returned as director of the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation, after recently closing his Chelsea gallery – John Connelly Presents (a story we reported here) Connelly served as a director at the Andrea Rosen Gallery from 1994 to 2002. Allison Hemler will serve as the director of archives and communications for the Gonzalez-Torres Foundation.

Andrea Rosen Gallery is located at 525 West 24th Street in Chelsea. Artists include Gonzalez-Torres, Rita Ackermann,  Friedrich Kunath, and Wolfgang Tillmans.

The Jan Krugier Gallery, known as a source for Picassos and other 19th and 20th century artworks, will be closing its New York operation at the end of the year, according to a gallery announcement.

The gallery retains Jan Krugier & Cie, its Geneva outpost. The gallery’s founder, Jan Krugier, died in 2008.

The gallery was founded in 1962 in Geneva. A New York venue was established in 1967 and relocated to the midtown Fuller building in 1987. Most recently, Krugier operated from a space at 980 Madison Avenue, open by appointment only. Krugier had the exclusive North American rights to sell works from Picasso’s granddaughter, Marina Picasso.

The gallery intends to continue exhibiting at international art fairs. Tzila Krugier, Jan’s daughter, will to focus on establishing a foundation in her father’s memory. Krugier was both a dealer and collector and the foundation will present exhibitions from Krugier’s holdings.