Frieze London diary: art historical speed dating and frozen faeces

During Frieze week in London, the National Gallery hosted its 'Unexpected Views' talk series, where eight contemporary artists including Grayson Perry, Shirazeh Houshiary, and Haegue Yang gave ten-minute talks on their favorite works. Tracey Emin and British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan held a candid discussion titled 'Confessions in the Museum,' and the art collective Konn Artiss placed ice blocks containing frozen feces outside major galleries and auction houses as a protest against the art market. The week also featured a lavish Frieze Collectors' Dinner with guests including Ari Emanuel, Sadie Coles, and Christian Levett, and a secret performance by musician Sampha.

London 20th/21st Century Frieze Week sales achieve a running total of £141.8m / $189.7m / €162.75m

Christie's 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale during Frieze Week 2025 achieved £106.9 million, up 30% year-on-year, with a 90% sell-through rate by value. The top lot was Peter Doig's 'Ski Jacket' (1994), which sold for £14.27 million after intense bidding, far exceeding its £6 million low estimate. Eight additional lots from the Ole Faarup Collection, including another Doig painting 'Country Rock' (£9.21 million), contributed significantly to the total. The sale marked Christie's highest London Frieze Week evening sale total in seven years, with 67% of lots fresh to auction and strong bidding from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and Asia.

Artists Gala Porras-Kim, Jeremy Frey and Tuan Andrew Nguyen among winners of 2025 MacArthur ‘genius grants'

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has named 27 new MacArthur Fellows for 2025, including visual artists Gala Porras-Kim, Jeremy Frey, Matt Black, Garrett Bradley, Tonika Lewis Johnson, and Tuan Andrew Nguyen. Each recipient receives $800,000 over five years in unrestricted "genius grants." Porras-Kim, known for institutional critiques, has recent solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Bern, Museo delle Civiltà, and Kukje Gallery. Nguyen, whose work examines colonialism and war in Vietnam, is a co-founder of The Propeller Group and Sàn Art. Frey, a seventh-generation Wabanaki basket-maker, recently had a solo show at the Portland Museum of Art that traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Why Was Sarah Miriam Peale, Pioneering Member of America’s First Art Dynasty, Left Behind?

Sarah Miriam Peale, a member of the prominent Peale art dynasty and arguably the first professional woman artist in the United States, is finally receiving long-overdue institutional recognition. Despite a prolific sixty-year career painting portraits of political figures and still lifes in Baltimore and St. Louis, her legacy was largely overshadowed by her uncle Charles Willson Peale and her male cousins. Her independence as an unmarried woman who supported herself entirely through her craft marked a radical departure from the gender norms of the 19th century.

Rare Portraits Reveal How Elizabeth I Turned Image Into Power

Philip Mould & Company in London is hosting a new exhibition titled "Elizabeth I: Queen and Court," featuring four rare portraits of the Tudor monarch alongside depictions of her closest advisors and political rivals. The show traces Elizabeth's visual evolution from a pious young princess to a formidable, iconographic ruler, highlighting how she utilized fashion and symbolism to solidify her authority and manage public perception during a period of immense political and religious transition.

6 Objects That Capture Everything Brilliant and Strange About the Shakers

The Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia has opened a new exhibition titled "A World in the Making: The Shakers," which places the work of seven contemporary artists alongside over 100 historical Shaker objects. The show, a collaboration with the Vitra Design Museum and the Milwaukee Art Museum, draws heavily from the collection of the Shaker Museum in New York to explore the community's legacy of radical simplicity, order, and purpose.

The History of the Brontë Sisters Portrait

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The only undisputed portrait of the Brontë sisters—Charlotte, Emily, and Anne—is currently gaining renewed attention as it tours Asia in a major exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery, London. Painted in 1834 by their brother Branwell Brontë when he was just 17, the work serves as a rare visual record of the literary icons. The painting's profile has been further elevated by a 'Brontë renaissance' in popular culture, including Emerald Fennell’s recent film adaptation of Wuthering Heights and upcoming television projects.

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Artemisia Gentileschi's 17th-century painting 'Lucretia' sold for €1.88 million ($2 million) at Dorotheum's Old Master sale in Vienna, more than double its high estimate. The work, previously unseen in public, was acquired by an Australian collection, continuing a trend of strong auction results for the Baroque artist.

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Artnet News reports on the rediscovery of Colombian artist Luis Fernando Zapata (1951–1994), whose solo booth at Art Basel Miami Beach features works from 1988 to 1994 that resemble ancient artifacts. The booth, titled “The Immemorial: The Transcendence of Luis Fernando Zapata,” is presented by Bogotá’s Galería Elvira Moreno in the fair’s Survey sector, which highlights historically significant art made before 2000. Zapata’s pieces—including totemic shields, a mud-brown sarcophagus with cuneiform-like glyphs, barques, steles, and his “excavaciones”—are mostly hand-sculpted papier-mâché, evoking ritual and imagined cosmologies. Diagnosed HIV+ in the mid-1980s, Zapata died in 1994, leaving a body of work that has remained largely absent from the queer canon and art-world consciousness until now.

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Wong Ping and Heidi Lau have been named joint winners of the third edition of the Sigg Prize, a biennial award stewarded by Hong Kong's M+ museum since 2018. This marks the first time the prize has recognized two artists simultaneously. Wong, based in Hong Kong, won for his animated narrative *Debts in the Wind* (2025), a lo-fi, darkly humorous commentary on a local land dispute over a golf course. Lau, born in Macau and now based in New York, won for *Pavilion Procession* (2025), an altar-like ceramic installation with a robotic spider inspired by the ancient Chinese text *Shanhaijing*. Both artists were selected from a shortlist of six, all born after the 1980s and '90s.

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Conservators at Blenheim Palace in the U.K. have discovered a mysterious dossier of names and phrases scratched into the ceilings of the Great Hall and Saloon by past workers, dating back to the 19th century. The graffiti was found during a £12 million ($15.9 million) restoration project led by OPUS Conservation, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Blenheim Foundation, which is also repairing paintings by Baroque artists James Thornhill and Louis Laguerre. The palace is now asking the public for help identifying the individuals behind the markings, which include names like "W Smith 1888" and "T Harwood Plasterer 1843."

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The New York Botanical Garden's 34th annual "Holiday Train Show" features miniature replicas of New York landmarks crafted from natural materials by the botanical artists of Applied Imagination. This year's edition adds two new models: the recently renovated Delacorte Theater in Central Park and the Whitney Museum of American Art's Meatpacking District flagship, designed by Renzo Piano. The Whitney replica, built over three months by artist Ava Roberts and fabrication director Kaitlin Schmidt, uses a new two-way mirrored acrylic glass technique for the windows and incorporates materials like purple smoke bush branches, horse chestnut bark, and fallen Zelkova bark. The company, founded by Paul Busse in 1991 and now run by his daughter Laura Busse Dolan, creates whimsical versions of landmarks using leaves, sticks, fungi, and other dried plant materials.

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French artist JR is presenting two solo exhibitions in China: “La Vie en Mouvement” at Perrotin Shanghai and “Kaleidoscope” at Galleria Continua in Beijing. The shows feature works from the past two decades, including photographs of ballerinas in unexpected urban settings and an installation that appears to crack open the gallery wall to reveal a Summer Palace pavilion. In an interview, JR discussed how architecture shapes his images, his resistance to being labeled an activist, and his reflections on past projects in Shanghai’s now-vanished shantytowns.

Sonic investigations non-profit to be artist-in-residence at London's Gasworks

The non-profit organization Earshot, founded by artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan, has been awarded a three-year studio bursary at London's Gasworks. The bursary, backed by Spanish patron Mercedes Vilardell, provides an annual stipend and covers monthly rent for a studio space at the south London exhibition and residency space. Earshot uses sound in the defense of human and environmental rights, and the residency gives it a platform to operate independently after an incubation period with Forensic Architecture. Abu Hamdan and Earshot will also take over the Barbican Centre this autumn for an event titled Repercussions, featuring installations, performances, screenings, and live music.

7 Shows to See in Milan Right Now

Inside Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Radical Reinvention

Milan’s art scene takes center stage during the Miart fair with a diverse array of institutional and gallery exhibitions. Highlights include Cao Fei’s exploration of global farming and technology at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Anselm Kiefer’s monumental tributes to female alchemists at Palazzo Reale, and a survey of Italian conceptualist Salvo at Pinacoteca di Brera.

‘It’s not much but, at the same time, it’s very much’: the enduring impact of Sade’s style

The article discusses the enduring style of Sade Adu, frontwoman of the British group Sade, following the band's announcement of their induction into the 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It highlights how Adu's signature look—scraped-back hair, red lipstick, hoop earrings, and simple black dresses or denim—has become iconic and influential, with her outfits featured in exhibitions like V&A East's 'The Music is Black' and referenced by celebrities such as Drake. The piece traces the origins of her style to her fashion design studies at Saint Martin's School of Art and her early work with designer Fiona Dealey.

Philip Castle obituary

Philip Castle, the influential British airbrush artist best known for creating the iconic poster for Stanley Kubrick's film 'A Clockwork Orange,' has died at age 83. Castle's distinctive, futuristic style, achieved with an airbrush tool, defined a key visual aesthetic of late 20th-century pop culture.

A Muddy History of Plant-Hunting

The exhibition "Seeds of Exchange" at London's Garden Museum highlights a 1773 botanical collaboration between British amateur plant hunter John Bradby Blake and Cantonese painter Mak Sau. Centered on Blake’s unpublished "Flora Sinensis," the project attempted to systematically catalogue Chinese flora, including the Camellia japonica, through detailed watercolors that blended Western objective illustration with Chinese artistic expertise. These works served as the primary medium for introducing Chinese plant species to the West long before live specimens could survive the journey.

Private Sales Are Surging as Auction Houses Lean into Exclusive, Experience-Led Selling

Sotheby's and Christie's are increasingly turning to private, invitation-only sales to move high-value artworks, bypassing the traditional auction model. Sotheby's recent "The Apartment" exhibition in London, featuring works by David Hockney, George Condo, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, sold half its $40 million inventory before the public even saw it. Christie's reported that its three most expensive paintings sold in 2025 were all private transactions, with the house trading $1.5 billion privately last year—nearly a quarter of its global sales.

Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter to Co-Headline ‘Immersive Experience’ at Art Basel

Thomas Bangalter, formerly of the electronic music duo Daft Punk, is scheduled to co-headline an immersive experience called 'WAREHOUSE ARTEFACTS' at the Art Basel fair in Basel, Switzerland. The event, produced by Nordstern Basel nightclub in cooperation with Art Basel and Fondation Beyeler, will also feature house music producer Rampa and conceptual artist Julian Charrière.

Lorna Simpson’s David Adjaye–Designed Brooklyn Home and Studio Remains On the Market—At a Much-Reduced Price

Artist Lorna Simpson has significantly reduced the asking price for her Brooklyn home and studio, located at 208 Vanderbilt Avenue in Fort Greene. Originally listed for $6.5 million in August 2025, the 3,300-square-foot townhouse is now priced at $5 million following months on the market. The property, which features a double-height great room and floor-to-ceiling windows, was custom-built in 2006 for Simpson and her then-husband, artist James Casebere.

2026 Guggenheim Fellowships Go to Sonya Clark, John Miller, and American Artist

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has announced its 101st class of fellows, awarding 223 scholars and artists across 55 disciplines for 2026. Selected from a pool of nearly 5,000 applicants, the new cohort includes prominent visual artists such as Sonya Clark, John Miller, American Artist, and Kota Ezawa. The fellowships provide significant financial grants to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.

Italian Winemaker Ornellaia Reveals Marina Abramović’s Designs for Its 2023 Vintages

Marina Abramović has collaborated with the Italian winemaker Ornellaia to design labels for its 2023 vintage as part of the annual Vendemmia d’Artista project. The designs range from self-portrait drawings and photographs featuring grapes to a conceptual 9-liter bottle that instructs the drinker to listen to Nino Rota’s theme from La Dolce Vita while consuming the wine. A selection of these limited-edition bottles will be auctioned at Bonhams in June to raise funds for the Guggenheim Museum.

Alex Heilbron at as-is

Artist Alex Heilbron presents a solo exhibition at the Los Angeles gallery as-is. The show is featured as a lead review in the February 2026 issue of Contemporary Art Review LA, highlighting Heilbron's continued exploration of painting and visual language within the Southern California art scene.

Fair Warning Expands With Saara Pritchard, Doubling Down on ‘Conviction’ in a Crowded Art Market

Loïc Gouzer’s boutique auction app, Fair Warning, is expanding its leadership by appointing Saara Pritchard, a veteran specialist from Christie’s and Sotheby’s, as a partner. Since its 2020 launch, the platform has carved out a niche by rejecting the high-volume model of traditional auction houses in favor of a highly curated, "one work at a time" approach. This strategy has proven lucrative, recently achieving a record $16.7 million for an Andy Warhol portrait and a $4.07 million record for Elizabeth Peyton.

The New Museum’s ‘New Humans’ Reckons With Human-Machine Relations in the Workplace

The New Museum has inaugurated its recently renovated space with 'New Humans: Memories of the Future,' a sprawling exhibition featuring over 700 works across four floors. The show explores the historical and evolving relationship between humanity and labor, tracing the narrative from ancient Mesopotamian myths to the industrial age and the rise of robotics. Key sections like 'Mechanical Ballets' highlight how artists have historically responded to the dehumanization of the workforce through the lens of early 20th-century avant-garde movements.

Eddie Kang at Gana Art Los Angeles

The article is a table of contents for the February 2026 issue of Contemporary Art Review LA, listing numerous features, interviews, and reviews. It highlights an interview with artist Eddie Kang at Gana Art Los Angeles, alongside other content covering topics like olfactory art, tarot, video art, and reviews of exhibitions across Los Angeles galleries and museums.

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Novelist Ben Lerner reflects on Rose Salane’s installation '60 Detected Rings (1991–2021)' as part of a new series exploring impactful artworks. The piece consists of rings recovered by a metal detectorist over three decades in Atlantic City, which Salane subsequently analyzed through laboratory 'melt value' reports and psychic readings. Lerner describes the work as a profound exercise in 'revaluation,' where discarded objects are transformed into auratic relics through scientific and spiritual inquiry.

Antonio Homem, Champion of the Ileana Sonnabend Collection, Dies at 86

Antonio Homem, the longtime associate and eventual director of the Sonnabend Gallery, has died at 86. Homem began working with legendary gallerist Ileana Sonnabend in Paris in 1968, helped her open the New York gallery in 1971, and became the primary steward of the Sonnabend collection after her death in 2007, overseeing its transition into a foundation and a new public museum in Mantova, Italy.

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Sotheby’s London achieved a rare "white-glove" result during its spring modern and contemporary evening sale, with every lot finding a buyer. The auction totaled £131 million ($175 million), representing a 110 percent increase over the previous year's equivalent sale. High-profile successes included a record-breaking £5.2 million sale for Leon Kossoff’s "Children’s Swimming Pool" and strong performances for works by Andy Warhol and Josef Albers, largely driven by prestigious consignments like the Lewis Collection.