Vasari Art Codex

trending_up market schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 2 link 1 artist, 2 galleries

jeffrey epstein emails leon black picasso gagosian 1234761921

Newly released emails from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein reveal that he discussed a plan by billionaire art collector Leon Black to purchase a Picasso painting from Gagosian gallery for $100 million. In a 2015 email to Melanie Spinella, a representative for Black, Epstein questioned the lack of a written contract for the overseas transfer, calling it 'fishy.' The emails also show Epstein advising Black on broader art purchasing strategies, including assigning agreements to family members, and offering opinions on Artspace, the online art marketplace acquired by Black's publishing house Phaidon.

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article news schedule Nov 13, 2025 visibility 1 link 10 artists, 4 galleries

jenny saville lands first solo show in venice should selfies be banned in museums and more morning links for november 13 2025 1234761536

Jenny Saville will have her first solo exhibition in Venice at the International Gallery of Modern Art at Ca’ Pesaro, running from March 28 to November 22, 2026, coinciding with the 2026 Venice Biennale. The show, supported by Gagosian, will feature 30 paintings curated by Elisabetta Barisoni. Separately, former Sotheby’s CEO Tad Smith expressed optimism about blockchain art ahead of Robert Alice’s NFT sale at Sotheby’s New York, and Ed Ruscha created a limited-edition chocolate bar shaped like California’s Central Valley. Other news includes the upcoming auction of Kirk Hammett’s Frank Frazetta painting and the closure of San Francisco’s Rena Bransten Gallery.

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article culture schedule Nov 7, 2025 visibility 2 link 13 artists, 1 gallery

jennifer lawrence contemporary artist collaboration w magazine art issue 1234760596

W magazine's current art issue features Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence in a three-part collaboration with French filmmaker and artist Philippe Parreno, American painter Elizabeth Peyton, and German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. Parreno shot a short film starring Lawrence, Tillmans photographed her at his London studio wearing a T-shirt referencing his Centre Pompidou exhibition, and Peyton painted a portrait of the actress in her signature loose, romantic style. The issue has three different covers, each dedicated to one collaborating artist's work.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 6, 2025 visibility 1 link 8 artists, 1 gallery

gagosian teams up with movie director wes anderson to reimagine joseph cornells new york studio in paris 1234760319

Gagosian has partnered with filmmaker Wes Anderson to recreate the New York studio of Joseph Cornell at its Paris gallery space on 9 rue de Castiglione. The exhibition, curated by Jasper Sharp and titled “The House of Utopia Parkway,” will run from December 16 to March 14, 2026, transforming the gallery into a tableau that blends a time capsule with a life-size shadow box. It marks the first solo presentation of Cornell’s work in Paris in over four decades, featuring iconic glass-fronted “shadow boxes” such as *Pharmacy* (1943), *Untitled (Pinturicchio Boy)* (circa 1950), and *A Dressing Room for Gille* (1939).

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article news schedule Oct 27, 2025 link 1 artist, 2 galleries

cai guo qiang centre pompidou activists respond 1234758938

Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang staged a fireworks performance titled *Le Dernier Carnival (The Last Carnival)* outside the Centre Pompidou in Paris on October 22, during Paris Art Week, to mark the museum's five-year closure for renovations. The show, created in collaboration with White Cube gallery, used pyrotechnics, paint, and a custom-built AI model. Activists from Students for a Free Tibet France protested the event, condemning Cai for a previous pyrotechnic stunt in Tibet that sparked environmental concerns and led to the dismissal of four Chinese officials.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 9, 2025 visibility 4 link 10 artists, 11 galleries

british museum ball morning links 1234756304

Sotheby's will offer Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1981 painting *Crowns (Peso Neto)* in its fall contemporary evening sale in New York with a high estimate of $45 million, the highest estimate ever for a Basquiat work from that pivotal year. The painting, never before auctioned, is described by the house as marking the artist's transition from street artist to international art star. Separately, Art Basel has released the exhibitor list for its inaugural fair in Qatar, featuring 87 galleries including heavyweights like Hauser & Wirth, Gagosian, and Pace, with all booths dedicated to solo presentations curated by artistic director Wael Shawky.

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article culture schedule Oct 9, 2025 visibility 1 link 47 artists, 4 galleries

v joy simmons collection tour baldwin hills home 1234756282

V. Joy Simmons, a longtime art collector and physician, opened her Los Angeles home in Baldwin Hills for a tour, revealing a vast collection of over 150 works by Black artists. The collection spans from early purchases like Elizabeth Catlett's 1973 lithograph 'Which Way?' to site-specific installations by Lauren Halsey and works by Romare Bearden, Kerry James Marshall, Mark Bradford, and Kehinde Wiley. Simmons, who began collecting in the 1970s while in medical school, has curated intergenerational juxtapositions throughout her home, including stained-glass windows by Varnette Honeywood and Joyce Dudnick, a church pew by Genevieve Gaignard, and a bottle tree sculpture by Dominique Moody.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 3, 2025 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

dom perignon takashi murakami limited edition collaboration 1234754986

Dom Pérignon has partnered with artist Takashi Murakami to design limited-edition labels and packaging for its Vintage 2015 and Rosé Vintage 2010 releases. Murakami’s signature smiling floral motifs appear on black backgrounds, and the collaboration is framed as an exploration of time, transformation, and the intersection of historical craftsmanship with contemporary art. Murakami worked with Dom Pérignon’s Chef de Cave Vincent Chaperon, and the project is part of a broader series titled “Creation is an eternal journey,” which also involves actors, musicians, and chefs.

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article culture schedule Oct 3, 2025 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

dom perignon takashi murakami limited edition collaboration 1234754986

Dom Pérignon has partnered with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami to design limited-edition labels and packaging for its Vintage 2015 and Rosé Vintage 2010 champagnes. The designs feature Murakami's signature smiling floral motifs on black backgrounds, described by the brand as an encounter between historical mastery and innovation. Murakami worked with Dom Pérignon's Chef de Cave Vincent Chaperon on the project, which is part of a larger series titled 'Creation is an eternal journey' that also includes collaborations with actors, musicians, and chefs.

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article culture schedule Sep 29, 2025 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

times square statue thomas j price statue debate 1234741944

A 12-foot-tall bronze statue of a Black woman by British sculptor Thomas J. Price, titled *Grounded in the Stars* (2023), has been installed in Times Square, sparking a polarized public reaction. Online, conservative commentators and social media users have labeled the work a sign of a "very sick society" and a "death of civilization," with racist AI-generated and Photoshopped images circulating. In person, the sculpture has drawn both affirming responses—such as a Black woman mimicking its defiant pose—and disrespectful acts, including a white man groping the statue's buttocks for a photo. The work, which stands near permanent monuments to white male figures, will be on view until June 17.

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museum exhibitions schedule Apr 24, 2026 visibility 16 link 4 artists, 6 galleries

Inside Gagosian’s Quiet Power Move to Street Level on Madison Avenue

Gagosian has opened a new 2,275-square-foot ground-floor gallery at 980 Madison Avenue in New York, relocating from its longtime sixth-floor space after 37 years. The move was prompted by Bloomberg Philanthropies' acquisition of the building in 2024, which displaced several fine art tenants. The inaugural exhibition features works by Marcel Duchamp and Robert Rauschenberg, and the space was designed by architect Jonathan Caplan with advanced lighting by Dot Dash.