philip tinari ucca tai kwun asian art industry news

This edition of State of Play, part of Artnet Pro's The Asia Pivot newsletter, reports on multiple developments across Asia's art scene. Highlights include the launch of Art Fairs Pavilion Taipei, a new alternative art fair co-founded by Hong Kong dealers Willem Molesworth and Ysabelle Cheung, with 13 galleries for its inaugural edition. Galleries Antenna Space and Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery are expanding into Hong Kong and Singapore respectively, while veteran Beijing gallery Long March Space has closed its physical venue. The Taipei Fine Arts Museum announced Taiwan's collateral exhibition at the Venice Biennale, and the Hong Kong Museum of Art named artists for its collateral show. The Asia Society Museum in New York will open a 70th-anniversary exhibition, and the H+ Museum in Suzhou, designed by Tadao Ando, officially opened with two inaugural shows.

industry moves december 30 2025

This ARTnews industry moves roundup from December 30, 2025, reports that Fabienne Levy Gallery now represents Amit Berman, whose work is currently in a group show at the Haifa Museum of Art and was previously presented at the Jewish Museum of Venice during the 2024 Venice Biennale. Kevin Umaña has joined The Pit gallery; the New York-based artist had his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles in 2025 and received the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award that same year. Additionally, Qatar Museums and the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center have signed a five-year partnership to create educational programs in India and Qatar. The article also notes that the Bayeux Tapestry will be loaned to the British Museum in 2026, requiring a UK Treasury guarantee of $1 billion to insure the work while its French owner undergoes renovation.

martin wong painting unseen art basel miami beach ppow

A long-unseen 12-foot-wide painting by Martin Wong, titled *Tai Ping Tien Kuo (Tai Ping Kuo)* (1982), will be exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach next month courtesy of New York gallery P.P.O.W. The work, which features a rare nude portrait of the artist’s mother and stepfather, was last shown publicly in 1987 at the Asian Arts Institute in New York. It was kept in storage for decades because Wong’s mother, Florence Wong Fie, objected to its display out of modesty. The painting adopts a classical three-panel altarpiece format, blending Chinese American history with references to Western art, the Taiping Rebellion, and Wong’s own Lower East Side influences.

taipei art week taiwan market review

The second edition of Taipei Art Week has drawn a large crowd, anchored by Art Taipei—Asia's longest-running art fair—and the 14th Taipei Biennale. Galleries have raised their ambitions, with pop-up shows, talks, and collectors' parties filling the city. However, Taiwan's art market faces significant headwinds: art imports fell 15.2% in 2024, Ravenel's spring auction sales plummeted from $14.6 million in 2020 to $3.6 million in 2025, and Taipei Dangdai announced it would cease operations after its sixth edition. Geopolitical tensions with China have reduced Chinese collector participation and visitor numbers at the National Palace Museum.

artnews awards 2025 nominees

ARTnews has announced the nominees for the 2025 ARTnews Awards, which honor excellence in art at US institutions and galleries. The awards, now in their second year, feature six categories: Emerging Artist, Established Artist, Lifetime Achievement, Best Thematic Museum Exhibition, Best Gallery Group Show, and a newly introduced Best Historical Artist category. The jury includes five top US curators and two ARTnews editors, with winners to be celebrated in November.

harpers gallery bangkok

New York-based dealer Harper Levine is planning to open a new location of his gallery, Harper's, in Bangkok, Thailand, in spring 2026. The 2,500-square-foot space will be in the Siam Patumwan House, headquarters of Siam Motors Group, near the Jim Thompson House and Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. The expansion follows a pop-up show in Bangkok last year and will include an exhibition space, an advisory for Southeast Asian clients, a hospitality program, and an artist residency starting in 2026. StudioMDA, which has worked with Harper's and Marian Goodman Gallery, is handling the design.

asia pivot art news july

Art Collaboration Kyoto announced 72 exhibitors for its fifth edition, with 25 first-time participants. Patti Wong, former Sotheby's executive, launched New Perspectives Art Partners with Ed Dolman, Brett Gorvy, and others. Art Fair Tokyo's 20th edition saw sales of ¥2.86 billion, down 10% from last year. Lisa Horikawa and Mizuki Takahashi were appointed co-curators of Japan's pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The Sharjah Art Foundation named Angela Harutyunyan and Paula Nascimento curators of the 17th Sharjah Biennial. YDP, a new non-profit space in London, will open with a solo show by Duan Jianyu. At Sotheby's London, Yu Nishimura's painting sold for £292,100. Hong Kong collector Adrian Cheng resigned from New World Development's board.

el greco paint drippings art industry news jun 20

This week's art industry roundup covers a range of developments: a new wave of younger, deliberate collectors is reshaping the art market, as reported from Art Basel; the Independent art fair will relocate to Pier 36 in New York in 2026; Riga Contemporary, a new fair, launches in Latvia; and the inaugural Arrival art fair took place in North Adams, Massachusetts. In auctions, seven never-before-seen Picasso ceramic plates sold in Geneva for nearly double their estimate, while a Giacometti sculpture made the top 10 sales list. Galleries news includes Nara Roesler now representing Asuka Anastasia Ogawa, a new gallery called Open Studio opening in New York, and Andrew Edlin Gallery relocating. In museums, a government watchdog found the Trump Administration broke the law by withholding funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and UC Irvine and the Orange County Museum of Art plan to merge. A legal battle over an El Greco painting withdrawn from Christie's auction is advancing, with the owner revealed as Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev.

art busan 2025

Art Busan wrapped its 14th edition on a high note, with over 100 galleries participating and a special exhibition titled “CONNECT” curated by Wonseok Koh under the theme Territories and Boundaries. The fair, part of Busan Art Week, saw strong engagement from international galleries such as Société (Berlin) and Canada (New York), with directors noting maturing visitors and serious local collectors. A new partnership with Tokyo Gendai will bring 10 Korean galleries to Japan this September, and the fair debuted a Future Art Award for emerging galleries.

5 artists gallery weekend beijing 2025

Gallery Weekend Beijing (GWBJ) returned for its ninth edition from May 22 to June 1, 2025, adopting a new invitation-only model that emphasizes curatorial integrity. The event expanded beyond the 798 Art District into neighboring areas including 751 district, Caochangdi, and the Beijing Free Trade Zone Art District. A committee of five gallerists selected participants, aligning with an inaugural 'Beijing Art Season' that also includes Beijing Dangdai and Art021 Beijing. The article spotlights five emerging local artists: Cheng Xinyi, Liao Wen, Guo Cheng, and others, highlighting their exhibitions and market traction.

state of play april 23 guy ullens death

Belgian billionaire Guy Ullens, a key figure in promoting Chinese contemporary art, died at age 90. His death was announced by the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) in Beijing, which he founded in 2007 as one of China's first privately run contemporary art centers. The article also covers Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Dubai's digital art sales, Gallery Weekend Beijing's new invitation-only system, Bluerider Art's expansion to Los Angeles, the appointment of Ho Tzu Nyen as artistic director of the 16th Gwangju Biennale, the Turner Prize 2025 shortlist, the opening of New Taipei City Art Museum, and Saudi Arabia's new typefaces.

Sotheby’s Buoyant $303.4 Million Modern Art Evening Sale: By the Numbers

Sotheby’s modern art evening sale on Tuesday night generated $303.4 million, with a 97.6% sell-through rate and a hammer total of $256.5 million. The top lot was Henri Matisse’s *La Chaise Lorraine* (circa 1919), which sold for $48.4 million after a prolonged bidding war. The house withdrew three lots before the sale to improve optics, and 85% of the lots were guaranteed, mostly by third parties. Asian collectors were active at seven-figure price points, contrasting with sparse high-end bidding at Christie’s the previous night.

yoshitomo nara hayward gallery london 2025

The first U.K. public institutional solo exhibition of Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara opened at London's Hayward Gallery in June 2025, featuring over 150 works spanning four decades. The retrospective includes paintings, drawings, sculptures, and installations, such as the large-scale painting "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" (2017), which sold for $12.3 million at Sotheby's Hong Kong. Notable visitors include artist Takashi Murakami and collector RM of BTS. The exhibition runs through August 31.

frieze seoul asian galleries asia pivot

Frieze Seoul returns for its fourth edition at Coex from September 3 to 6 with 120 galleries, maintaining last year's scale. Asian galleries now represent 64 percent of exhibitors, up from 48 percent, signaling a stronger regional identity. Notable non-returning galleries include Blum, Karma, and Neugerriemschneider. Meanwhile, Kiaf Seoul will run concurrently with 176 exhibitors, and Art021 Group suspended its 2025 Hong Kong show after a single edition. Gallery Weekend Beijing concluded its ninth edition with a new invitation-only model, and several Asian-rooted artists are featured in London Gallery Weekend. New institutions opened, including the Photography Seoul Museum of Art and the Naoshima New Museum of Art, while the inaugural Bukhara Biennial program was announced.

15 Art Shows to See in NYC This May

Hyperallergic's May 2025 guide to New York City art shows highlights 15 exhibitions, including a survey of Hawaiian Japanese-American artists from the Metcalf Chateau group at Ryan Lee Gallery, a retrospective of Malian photographer Seydou Keïta at the Brooklyn Museum, and Renée Green's multimedia project 'Secret' at Bortolami Gallery. The article also features Lynette Yiadom-Boakye's quietude-focused works, a meditation on grief and death, and a document of a city devastated by the AIDS crisis through portraits of inanimate objects, among other shows.

The Louvre Remains the World’s Most-Visited Museum, with Competition Coming from the Middle East and Asia in 2025

The Louvre maintained its position as the world's most-visited museum in 2025, drawing approximately 9 million visitors according to the Art Newspaper's annual ranking. The Vatican Museums and the National Museum of Korea in Seoul followed closely, rounding out a top ten list that includes major institutions in London, New York, and Shanghai. Overall, about 200 million people visited the top 100 museums globally, a figure still below the pre-pandemic 2019 peak of 230 million.

Hirshhorn Director Melissa Chiu Departs to Lead Guggenheim Museum

Melissa Chiu is stepping down as director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden after a decade-long tenure to lead the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Appointed by Guggenheim Foundation CEO Mariët Westermann, Chiu will officially assume her new role on September 1, while deputy director Aaron Seeto takes the interim helm at the Hirshhorn.

Editors’ Picks: Six Solo Gallery Shows to See in Hong Kong, March 2026

Six solo gallery exhibitions are opening in Hong Kong in March 2026, featuring a diverse range of established and influential artists. The shows include Jaffa Lam's multi-media works at Axel Vervoordt, a tribute to the late Dinh Q. Lê at 10 Chancery Lane, new metal tapestries by El Anatsui at White Cube, the first Hong Kong solo show for collective Slavs and Tatars at Rossi & Rossi, and the debut Hong Kong presentation of Chow and Lin's "The Poverty Line" project at SC Gallery.

Seoul’s new Centre Pompidou Hanwha museum opens next month—can it live up to expectations?

Seoul's new Centre Pompidou Hanwha museum will open to the public on June 4, 2025, marking the Pompidou's second Asian branch after its collaboration with Shanghai's West Bund Museum. The four-year partnership between the Hanwha Foundation of Culture and the Centre Pompidou will feature two exhibitions per year from the Pompidou collection, starting with "The Cubists: Inventing Modern Vision." The museum occupies 11,000 square meters over four floors of Hanwha Group's 63 Building, with one gallery dedicated to early 20th-century European art and another to global contemporary art with a Korean focus, curated in-house. The inaugural Korea Focus section includes local artists such as Kim Whanki and Yoo Youngkuk.

A Joan Mitchell diptych and a rare stack by Donald Judd: our pick of the May auctions

The Art Newspaper highlights five major lots from New York's May 2025 auctions. Phillips offers Joan Mitchell's diptych 'Plain' (1989), estimated at $5-7 million, from the collection of late Miami art patron Tina Hills. Christie's presents Donald Judd's rare copper and red Plexiglas 'Untitled (Stack)' (1969), estimated at $10-15 million, from the Minimalist collection of the late Henry S. McNeil Jr. Sotheby's leads with Jean-Michel Basquiat's 'Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown)' (1983), estimated above $45 million, and Mark Rothko's 'Brown and Blacks in Reds' (1957), estimated at $70-100 million from the collection of late dealer Robert Mnuchin.

Art Movements: New Museum Names Its First Artist Studio Residents

The New Museum has named Yun Choi, Alison Kuo, and Korakrit Arunanondchai as the first artists-in-residence for its new Artist Studio, a 730-square-foot space created by the museum's OMA-designed expansion. The residencies will run from spring 2025 through winter 2027, with each artist developing new work, onsite exhibitions, and public programs. Separately, Forge Project announced its 2026 fellows—six Indigenous artists including Jay Bellis, Heidi Brandow, and Tiare Ribeaux—who will each receive $25,000 and a three-week residency. In other news, the Robert Therrien Estate has left Gagosian for David Zwirner Gallery, Laurel Nakadate won the Maud Morgan Prize, and Frieze New York revealed a staff uniform designed by artist Reika Takebayashi.

Digital Art Pioneer Nancy Burson Collapses the Border Between Mysticism and Quantum Physics

Nancy Burson, a pioneering digital artist, presents her latest solo exhibition "Light Matter" at Heft Gallery in New York, featuring "Quantum Entanglement" paintings that appear as white dots on black canvases but reveal jittering forms and depth when viewed through a phone camera. The 78-year-old artist, known for her 1980s composite portraits blending faces of businessmen and movie stars, continues her exploration of perception and technology, claiming a special gift to perceive the universe's emergent energy grid. The exhibition runs through May 2.

dib bangkok opens critical turning point thai art scene

Dib Bangkok, Thailand's first international-standard contemporary art museum, opened on December 20 with a festive and dramatic inauguration in Bangkok. Founded by the late industrialist and art collector Petch Osathanugrah and completed by his son Purat "Chang" Osathanugrah, the museum debuted with the exhibition "(In)Visible Presence," curated by Ariana Chaivaranon and Dr. Miwako Tezuka, featuring 81 works by 40 artists from the museum's collection. The opening included a visceral performance by Marco Fusinato, where Chang struck a wall with a baseball bat to complete the artwork, symbolizing a "big bang" for Thailand's cultural landscape.

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Thailand is emerging as a major contemporary art destination, with a wave of new institutions, fairs, and tax incentives drawing international attention. The government-initiated Thailand Biennale opens in Phuket, while the third and final edition of the Ghost biennial just concluded in Bangkok. Collector Marisa Chearavanont recently opened Bangkok Kunsthalle and Kai Yao Art Forest, and Purat “Chang” Osathanugrah is launching Dib Bangkok, billed as the country’s first international contemporary art museum, on December 21. New York dealer Harper Levine plans to open a Bangkok outpost of his Harper’s gallery in spring, and Seoul-based Artue is planning a scaled-up art fair called Art Bangkok International for next year. In August, the Thai government approved tax deductions for purchasing artworks by national artists and higher tax breaks for artists.

art basel paris satellite fairs art week 2025

Art Basel Paris at the Grand Palais has drawn a constellation of satellite fairs across the city, including Paris Internationale and Asia Now, both celebrating their 10th anniversaries. Paris Internationale, founded in 2015 by gallerists Ciaccia Levi, Crèvecœur, and Gregor Staiger, presents 59 galleries and seven non-profit spaces from 19 countries at the Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées, emphasizing independence and artist-centered values. Asia Now, held at the Monnaie de Paris, returns with the theme “Grow,” featuring 68 galleries and focusing on plural, borderless Asian contemporary art. Newcomers 7 rue Froissart and Upstairs Art Fair add community and irreverence, while Detroit Salon launches a three-year global roadshow with its first stop in Paris.

What You Should Definitely Avoid in Venice

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The article humorously critiques the Venice Biennale, highlighting several disappointments. It describes a Japanese pavilion installation by Ei Arakawa-Nash featuring baby dolls for diaper-changing, which a critic dismisses as a male artist over-romanticizing parenthood. Other flops include long queues for the German and Austrian pavilions, underwhelming main exhibition "In Minor Keys," and annoying self-promotional performers outside venues. The piece also laments the presence of loud American collectors and donors who dominate the event.

An Era Ends When the Illusions Underlying It Are Exhausted

"Eine Ära endet, wenn die ihr zugrunde liegenden Illusionen erschöpft sind"

A media roundup covers several art world stories. The Art Newspaper reports that the ongoing Middle East conflict is unsettling the Gulf art market, causing fair postponements and shaking Dubai's image as a stable luxury hub, though galleries emphasize they continue to work. Meanwhile, the search for a new director for Germany's Kulturstiftung Dessau-Wörlitz continues after a protracted legal battle, with applications open until May 31. The New Yorker presents a reading of Johannes Vermeer's quiet scenes as fragile refuges from a violent historical context, while the Berliner Zeitung critiques the global commercialization of Frida Kahlo into a licensed brand.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s new David Geffen Galleries reframe 6,000 years of history

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is preparing to open its new $720m David Geffen Galleries, a massive undulating concrete structure designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor. Spanning Wilshire Boulevard, the new building adds 110,000 square feet of gallery space and 3.5 acres of public parkland, marking the completion of a two-decade capital project led by Director Michael Govan. The facility will house the museum’s permanent collection, which has been largely out of public view for seven years, and features innovative exhibition strategies such as hanging artworks directly onto concrete walls.

Gozo Yoshimasu Wins £200,000 Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize

Tokyo-based poet and artist Gozo Yoshimasu has won the inaugural Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize, receiving £200,000 (approximately $272,000) along with solo exhibitions at Serpentine Galleries in London in fall 2027 and at the FLAG Art Foundation in New York in spring 2028. Yoshimasu, 87, emerged from the avant-garde scene of 1960s Tokyo and is known for blending poetry with performance, photography, audio recordings, and moving image. His work has been featured in the Shanghai Biennale, the Bienal de São Paulo, and major surveys such as “Poet Slash Artist” at Factory International. The prize was selected by a jury including Serpentine artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist, FLAG Foundation director Jonathan Rider, MoMA curator Michelle Kuo, Museum MACAN director Venus Lau, and artist Rirkrit Tiravanija.

Collateral Events Not to Miss at 61st Venice Biennale

The article highlights several collateral events not to miss at the 61st Venice Biennale, including "The Spirits of Maritime Crossing 2026" at Palazzo Rocca Contarini Corfù, featuring 20 artists from Southeast Asia, Ireland, and Serbia, anchored by Marina Abramović's performance piece "Sea Punishing" (2006). Other notable exhibitions include a seven-decade survey of Korean artist Lee Ufan at San Marco Art Centre, "TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East" at ACP Palazzo Franchetti featuring 11 female artists from Central Asia, Li Yi-Fan's "Screen Melancholy" at Palazzo delle Prigioni, and Nalini Malani's "Of Woman Born" at Magazzini del Sale.