Cash-Strapped Hong Kong Arts Hub Saved—Plus a Rundown of the Latest in Asia’s Art World
Hong Kong's financially struggling West Kowloon Cultural District, a major arts hub, has been rescued from its cash crisis. This development was part of a broader Asia art world update that also included leadership changes at Japan's Art Collaboration Kyoto and the announcement of a new art fair in Shenzhen.
Frieze New York kicked off its preview day at the Shed in Manhattan with strong sales and high energy, as many attendees arrived fresh from the Venice Biennale. Galleries reported brisk presales and early placements, with White Cube selling major works by El Anatsui and Antony Gormley for seven-figure sums, and other dealers like James Cohan Gallery nearly selling out their booths. Collectors, advisors, and celebrities including Anderson Cooper, Michael Stipe, and Leonardo DiCaprio were spotted, while the Brooklyn Museum made acquisitions through the new Sherman Family Foundation Acquisition Fund.
Pat Steir, the acclaimed American painter known for her Waterfall series, died in Manhattan on 25 March at age 87. The article traces her career from early struggles as a freelance illustrator and art director, through her transformative encounter with Sol LeWitt in the early 1970s, to her eventual emergence as a major figure in contemporary painting. It highlights her teaching at CalArts and Parsons, her involvement with feminist and artist-run institutions like Heresies and Printed Matter, and the pivotal moment in the early 1980s when she cut up a reproduction of a Jan Brueghel the Elder flower painting into 64 panels, repainting each in a different historical style.
The 14th edition of the San Francisco Art Fair (SFAF) has launched with 88 exhibitors and a robust program of public projects and talks. A central highlight is the exhibition “The Sun Beneath,” curated by Mara Gladstone and featuring artist Jon Cuyson, which serves as a preview for their upcoming collaboration at the Philippine Pavilion for the 2026 Venice Biennale.
Art Basel Paris is undergoing a major transformation for its third edition, officially rebranding from 'Paris+ par Art Basel' and moving into the newly renovated Grand Palais. The historic venue, fresh from a $500 million restoration, allows the fair to expand its footprint by 26 percent, hosting 194 galleries compared to last year's 154. The move includes the opening of the ornate balconies for emerging galleries and a new sector called Premise, signaling the fair's transition from a successful 'preamble' to a permanent fixture in the French capital.
A flurry of art fair activity across Asia marked the early weeks of 2026. Art Basel's inaugural Qatar edition broke format with single-artist presentations, focusing on MENASA artists and discreet institutional buying. The India Art Fair in New Delhi reported strong sales for local and international galleries, while new fairs launched in Jakarta, Manila, and Hong Kong. Tokyo Gendai announced its return, and Art Basel's digital platform Zero 10 expanded to Hong Kong.
somersets unlikely contemporary art scene is a welcome departure from the uks london centric thinking
Hauser & Wirth's Somerset gallery, established in 2014 in the rural town of Bruton, has transformed the local area into a significant contemporary art destination. The gallery complex, featuring exhibition spaces, a restaurant, meadow, and educational programs, has catalyzed gentrification and attracted other galleries, trendy hotels, and high-end amenities to a formerly unremarkable settlement.
A series of significant developments occurred across the global art industry this week. Expo Chicago announced a scaled-back edition under new director Kate Sierzputowski, while the Outsider Art Fair revealed its exhibitor list. A long-lost Renaissance portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola resurfaced at the Winter Show. Christie's will sell the collection of the late MoMA trustee Barbara Jakobson, featuring works by Jeff Koons and others. Bonhams made a key hire, and Sotheby's priced a major art-backed securitization. In gallery news, Alissa Friedman returned to Salon 94, Mary Cork joined Lehmann Maupin London, and several artists gained new representation, while New York's Francis Irv gallery announced its closure.
Larry Gagosian has opened a major exhibition of Jasper Johns's crosshatch paintings from 1973 to 1983 at his Upper East Side gallery in New York. In a forthcoming Gagosian Quarterly interview, Gagosian explains his motivation simply: he wanted to look at the works. The show features key pieces including all six versions of "Between the Clock and the Bed" (1981), borrowed from top-tier collectors and museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Gallery of Art. Gagosian recounts first encountering the crosshatch paintings in 1976 at Leo Castelli's gallery, before he had met Johns, through his connections with Merce Cunningham and John Cage.
This week's art industry roundup covers major developments across auctions, galleries, and institutions. Christie's will auction René Magritte's 'Les grâces naturelles' (ca. 1961) as the star lot of its Art of the Surreal evening sale in London on March 5, with an estimate of £6.5–9.5 million. Zona Maco in Mexico City has announced 241 exhibitors for its 22nd edition, including a new section called Forma. The London Art Fair reported strong sales for British women abstract painters, while Vienna's Spark Art fair canceled its 2025 edition for a strategic pause until 2027. In gallery news, Amy Sherald signed with Creative Artists Agency, and several other artist-gallery representation changes were announced. The U.K. government pledged £1.5 billion to support cultural organizations from 2025 to 2030, and Tarek Atoui was named the next Turbine Hall commission artist at Tate Modern.
Several international curators and museum directors, including Connie Butler of MoMA PS1, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Julieta Gonzalez of the Wexner Center for the Arts, and Madeleine Grynsztejn of MCA Chicago, selected artworks that they believe define 2025. Highlights include Ayoung Kim's video installation 'Delivery Dancer’s Arc: 0º Receiver' (2024), Beeple's 'Regular Animals' premiered at Art Basel Miami Beach, and Kerry James Marshall's painting 'Haul' (2025) from his retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts. Julieta Gonzalez also pointed to a broader constellation of practices emphasizing collectivity, ecological thinking, and Indigenous cosmologies rather than a single emblematic work.
Artnet News editors and writers compiled a list of the worst art of 2025, calling out works they found lazy, cynical, overhyped, or ethically dubious. Highlights include Flora Yukhnovich's site-specific painting installation at the Frick Collection, which critics deemed middling and out of place among the museum's historic masterpieces; Jeff Koons's eight-foot-tall Hulk (Tubas) sculpture, sold for $3 million at Frieze New York and described as an obnoxious trophy piece; and actor Adrien Brody's interactive gum wall installation, which invited visitors to stick chewed gum onto a canvas.
Artnet News's 'The Asia Pivot' reflects on its 2025 coverage, highlighting the expansion of Asia's art scene beyond traditional East Asian markets into emerging regions such as the Gulf, South Asia, and Central Asia. Key developments include the debut of the Bukhara Biennial in Uzbekistan, the opening of the Almaty Museum of Arts in Kazakhstan, and the flourishing art scene in Thailand with new private museums like Dib Bangkok. The report also covers major markets like China, Japan, and South Korea, noting the impact of geopolitical dynamics and market shifts.
Artnet News published its quarterly list of the most exhibited living artists in U.S. museums for December 2025, compiled by tracking temporary exhibitions across hundreds of institutions. The list ranks artists based on the number and type of shows they appear in, prioritizing career retrospectives, dedicated exhibitions, and biennial appearances. Among the top artists featured are Marie Watt, whose touring print exhibition "Storywork" and numerous group show appearances earned her a high ranking, and Jeffrey Gibson, known for his installation at MASS MoCA. The article notes that Watt also won the $250,000 Heinz Award in September 2025.
Frieze New York opened on a warm Wednesday morning, with a packed spring art week schedule that saw the fair and TEFAF's US edition separated by just 24 hours. The VIP day was animated with strong sales, including Jeff Koons's *Hulk (Tubas)* reportedly selling for $3 million at Gagosian, which presented the artist's first collaboration since he left the gallery in 2021. Other notable sales included works by Liza Lou, Joan Snyder, David Salle, and Adam Pendleton, with Pace Gallery selling all six of Pendleton's paintings within hours. Galleries reported a slower but deliberate pace of buying, with collectors taking more time to make decisions.
The article provides a comprehensive guide to essential acronyms used in the art world, explaining what each abbreviation stands for and its significance. It covers organizations like AAM (American Alliance of Museums), AAMD (Association of Art Museum Directors), and ADAA (Art Dealers Association of America), as well as art fairs such as ABMB (Art Basel Miami Beach) and ARCO (Arte Contemporáneo in Madrid). It also includes advisories like AIG (Art Intelligence Global), historical galleries like AIR (Artists in Residence), and defunct fairs like FIAC (Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain), offering context on their origins and current relevance.
Thaddaeus Ropac, a major European blue-chip gallery, opened its seventh location in Milan in January 2025, occupying a prime palazzo previously home to Massimo de Carlo and Peres Projects. The inaugural exhibition pairs Georg Baselitz and Lucio Fontana in a show titled "L’aurore viene." The move has reignited debate about whether Milan is finally poised to become a contemporary art capital, despite past false starts and the city's stronger identity as a fashion and design hub.
Yukako Yamashita will step down as director of Art Collaboration Kyoto (ACK) after leading the fair since 2022. The four-day event, which concluded at the Kyoto International Conference Center, featured 72 galleries from 19 countries and regions, with 29 Japan-based galleries hosting 30 international galleries in shared booths—its largest edition yet. Highlights included Annely Juda Fine Art's sale of three David Hockney works and Kurimanzutto selling 75 percent of its solo booth with artist WangShui. The fair also launched the Bangkok Collaborate Kyoto Fellowship, awarding WangShui and Takuro Tamayama a residency in Bangkok. ACK will return November 6–9, 2025.
Joel Shapiro, the acclaimed American sculptor known for his abstract wooden and bronze figures, died June 14 at age 83. In the weeks before his death, he gave a career-spanning interview to Max Norman for ARTnews, reflecting on his legacy. The article describes Shapiro's final New York show at Pace Gallery in fall 2024, which featured large works like "Splay" (2024), "Wave" (2024), and his largest wooden sculpture "ARK" (2020/2023–24), alongside small models and bronzes. It also offers a glimpse into his Long Island City studio, where he constantly experimented with form, material, and scale.
The Armory Show's VIP preview day on Thursday saw long queues and a cautiously upbeat mood at the Javits Center, despite a shaky art market marked by gallery closures and fair cancellations. Dealers reported serious interest and solid sales, including a $1 million work at Galleria Lorcan O’Neill, a Kehinde Wiley painting for $265,000 at Sean Kelly, and a Kennedy Yanko sculpture for $150,000 at James Cohan. The highest-priced work, Alex Katz's 1962 painting *October 2*, was listed at $1.2 million but remained unsold. The fair attracted major collectors like Don and Mera Rubell and institutional figures such as Thelma Golden and Scott Rothkopf, with the Presents section for emerging galleries also seeing brisk sales.
London-based art advisory Princedale Modern, founded by Edward Warburton in 2022, has marked its second anniversary amid significant shifts in the global art market. Warburton discusses the firm's growth, including scaling alongside the U.K. art market's rise to 18% of global share, and highlights attendance at major art fairs in Basel, New York, Miami, and Paris. He notes that while auction house sales at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips have dropped nearly one-third and the overall market contracted by 12%, private sales have risen 14% and online sales remain strong at 17%.
Frieze has announced over 280 exhibitors for its October fairs in London, with around 160 galleries at Frieze London and 120 at Frieze Masters, running concurrently in Regent's Park from October 15 to 19. In auction news, the original Hermès Birkin bag prototype will be sold at Sotheby's Paris on July 10, and Bonhams has appointed Celine Assimon as chief commercial officer. Galleries saw significant moves: Christian Deydier in Paris is closing due to new EU regulations on imported cultural objects, while Carroll Dunham joined Matthew Brown, Cristina Iglesias signed with Hauser and Wirth, and several other artists changed representation. Meanwhile, Tate Liverpool received £12 million in UK government funding plus philanthropic support for its redevelopment, the Royal Academy of Arts named Simon Wallis as its new secretary and chief executive, and the Whitney Museum suspended its Independent Study Program for a year after controversy over censorship of a pro-Palestine performance. The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation made three new appointments, and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris faces eviction.
Takashi Murakami opened his latest exhibition, “JAPONISME → Cognitive Revolution: Learning from Hiroshige,” at Gagosian New York, building on a 2024 presentation at the Brooklyn Museum. A second show, “Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow,” opens later this month at the Cleveland Museum of Art, expanding on a 2022 iteration at the Broad in Los Angeles with new works and a monumental installation reimagining a Japanese Buddhist temple. In an interview with ARTnews, Murakami discusses his process of copying historical works—from Hiroshige’s ukiyo-e prints to Monet and Van Gogh—as a method of cultural excavation, incorporating UFOs as symbols of awareness.
This week's art industry roundup covers major auction activity, including Christie's $250 million sale of Barnes and Noble founder Len Riggio's collection, and Sotheby's postponement of an ancient Buddhist gemstone auction after criticism from academics and India's Ministry of Culture. Frieze New York, recently sold to Ari Emanuel, reported strong sales with a $3 million Jeff Koons sculpture at Gagosian, while Gagosian's TEFAF New York booth featuring Anna Weyant's jewelry-themed paintings sold out. Other news includes Céline Assimon's appointment as chief commercial officer at Bonhams, the Spring Break Art Show's return, and gallery representation changes.
Days before a Louise Nevelson sculpture was to be auctioned at Sotheby’s in May 2022, Pace Gallery founder Arne Glimcher declared the work inauthentic, claiming it was assembled by the artist’s son, Mike, rather than by Nevelson herself. The consigner, the estate of collector Hardie Beloff, has now sued Pace Gallery in US District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania, alleging that Glimcher deliberately sabotaged the sale to protect Pace’s control over Nevelson’s market. The lawsuit centers on Glimcher’s call to Sotheby’s, where he warned the work would not be included in a forthcoming catalogue raisonné, and on a 1993 appraisal in which he had valued the same sculpture at $85,000 without questioning its authenticity.
Artnet News and Morgan Stanley have collaborated on a report analyzing the art market's recovery after COVID-19, with a focus on Asia's emergence as a powerful engine. Using data from the Artnet Price Database and Artnet Analytics, the report shows that China (including Hong Kong) has become a dominant force, overtaking the U.S. and U.K. in fine-art auction sales. By 2020, China reclaimed the top-selling global fine-art auction market position, and as of mid-2021, it remains neck and neck with the U.S. The report also examines the role of Hong Kong, which has consistently contributed over 40% of China's fine-art sales, driven by its unique economic policies and integration into the global art market.
The Guardian’s weekly art roundup highlights the opening of 'Extraction' at Jupiter Artland, an exhibition featuring artists like Marguerite Humeau and John Gerrard that explores the environmental impact of fossil fuels. Other notable UK openings include Michaela Yearwood-Dan’s museum debut at The Whitworth, a survey of Paula Rego’s drawings at Victoria Miro, and a showcase of Thérèse Oulton’s textured landscapes at Vardaxoglou.
The Guardian's weekly art roundup highlights several exhibitions, including Wilhelm Sasnal's politically charged paintings at Sadie Coles HQ in London, a Joan Eardley retrospective in Edinburgh, and a Guerrilla Girls show in East Sussex. It also reports on Art UK's digitization of over 6,700 UK murals, the theft of Impressionist paintings from an Italian museum, and the discovery of a stolen ancient gold helmet.
Israeli artist Doron Langberg is launching his first New York exhibition in seven years at Jeffrey Deitch’s Tribeca gallery, marking a significant shift in his practice. Known primarily for "New Queer Intimism" and domestic portraits, Langberg’s new body of work pivots toward monumental landscapes that grapple with his Jewish identity and the destruction in Gaza. The exhibition features works inspired by his family’s Holocaust history in Ukraine, used as a lens to process current geopolitical violence.
Sotheby's is auctioning Maurizio Cattelan's solid gold toilet, titled "America" (2016), during its November evening sale at the Breuer Building in New York. The 18-karat, 100-kilogram functional toilet will be on view from November 8, though visitors will not be allowed to use it. The starting bid will be determined by the work's weight in gold, estimated around $10 million. The piece was previously exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in 2016, where over 100,000 visitors used it, and at Blenheim Palace in the UK, where it was infamously stolen in a smash-and-grab heist and never recovered. Sotheby's will accept cryptocurrency for the sale, following the precedent set by Cattelan's banana artwork last year.