dealers abuzz frieze los angeles vip day frenzy

The VIP opening of Frieze Los Angeles at Santa Monica Airport saw a surge of high-value transactions and heavy foot traffic from both local and international collectors. Major galleries reported multi-million dollar sales within the first few hours, including a $2.8 million work by Njideka Akunyili Crosby at David Zwirner and a sold-out booth of Conny Maier paintings at Hauser & Wirth. Dealers described the atmosphere as a "frenzy," noting that sales figures in some cases already tripled their performance at previous major fairs like Art Basel Miami Beach.

Nan Goldin: Why The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is So Important

nan goldin the ballad of sexual dependency why so important

Gagosian London is hosting an exhibition of all 126 photographs from Nan Goldin’s seminal work, "The Ballad of Sexual Dependency," to mark the 40th anniversary of the photobook's publication. The exhibition traces the evolution of the project from its origins as a DIY slideshow performance in New York nightclubs to its status as a cornerstone of contemporary photography, featuring intimate portraits of Goldin’s inner circle across New York, Berlin, and beyond.

Éliane Radigue, Electronic Music Pioneer, Dies at 94

eliane radigue dead electronic music

Éliane Radigue, a pioneering French composer and electronic music visionary, has died at the age of 94 in Paris. A student of musique concrète founders Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, Radigue became renowned for her meditative, long-form compositions created primarily on the ARP 2500 modular synthesizer. Her work, deeply influenced by Tibetan Buddhism, focused on the subtle, sculptural qualities of sound and "barely perceptible" sonic shifts.

art sg 2026 sales report

ART SG concluded its 2026 edition at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands with steady sales and a reported attendance of 43,000 visitors. While the fair lacked the million-dollar trophy sales seen in previous years, blue-chip galleries like Thaddaeus Ropac and White Cube reported significant transactions, including a £475,000 Raqib Shaw painting and a sell-out presentation of Lee Bae works by Johyun Gallery totaling $2.76 million. The event also featured a strategic partnership with S.E.A. Focus, integrating the boutique fair into the main hall to highlight regional talent.

performance art new collectors

The commercial market for performance art is undergoing a significant shift in value and sophistication. While performance has been sellable for decades through archival editions and documentation—a model pioneered by figures like Marina Abramović and dealer Sean Kelly—newer methods include oral contracts for 'live' works and high-stakes secondary market sales. Recent examples, such as Hauser & Wirth offering a Felix Gonzalez-Torres performance piece with an eight-figure price tag, signal that the medium is moving from a niche interest into a high-value asset class.

Art Market Minute February 2026

art market minute feb 23

The art market is witnessing a significant shift in the commercial viability and valuation of performance art. While the medium has been sold in various forms for years, its increasing presence at major art fairs and galleries suggests a new era where collectors are beginning to prioritize the documentation and rights to live works as legitimate assets.

art galleries close for general strike

A nationwide general strike, called for Friday, January 30, 2026, in protest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minneapolis, has prompted numerous art galleries and organizations to close their doors. Major commercial galleries like Gagosian, David Zwirner, Hauser & Wirth, and Pace Gallery, alongside institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles and the Drawing Center, are participating in the shutdown.

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Artnet News is searching for a permanent writer for its Wet Paint gossip column, with guest writers like Janelle Zara filling in temporarily. The column focuses on speculating about the identity of the anonymous Instagram account @artnotnet, which posts humorous, all-caps commentary on art world headlines, and notes the rise of art sales on platforms like Facebook Marketplace.

art basel qatar preview galleries

Art Basel has launched its first edition in Doha, Qatar, with a deliberately small and tightly controlled format. The fair features only 87 galleries, all required to mount solo presentations, with strict limits on booth size, power sources, and rehanging of works. This creates a slower, calmer atmosphere distinct from its larger, more chaotic sister fairs in Miami and Paris.

times esther kim varet campaign wet paint

Lower Manhattan is getting a new nonprofit art space called Times (styled in lowercase), founded by Summer Guthery and Francesca Sonara. Located on the fourth floor of 151 Lafayette Street above the Museum of Chinese in America, the 3,000-square-foot venue will operate for only three years. Its inaugural exhibition, featuring Danish artist Nina Beier, opens February 21 with a display of melting Cornetto ice cream cones. The space will officially open February 12 with a performance by Latvian choreographer Jana Jacuka. Guthery, previously founding artistic director of Canal Projects, and Sonara, former director of communications at Minnesota Street Project, met as graduate students at Bard College's Center for Curatorial Studies.

the monument maker barbara chase riboud

Barbara Chase-Riboud, now 86, reflects on her transformative 1958 trip to Egypt, which she undertook on a dare as a 19-year-old student at the American Academy in Rome. The journey, during which she explored the pyramids and temples of Luxor and Karnak alone, profoundly influenced her artistic practice, leading her to create abstract bronze sculptures that evoke ancient Egyptian forms. The article traces her remarkable career as a sculptor and writer, highlighting her many firsts: the first Black female artist acquired by MoMA (at age 16), the first Black woman to earn an MFA from Yale, the first living female artist to have a solo show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the only visual artist to appear on the cover of Ebony.

the clock christian marclay

Artist Christian Marclay is interviewed at Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie ahead of his exhibition "The Clock," a 24-hour single-channel video installation that runs through January 25, 2026. The artwork is a meticulously edited collage of film clips, each showing a timepiece or time-related action, synchronized in real-time so that the film's time matches the viewer's actual time. Marclay discusses his long-standing interest in time, the project's origins in the early 2000s, and his process of deconstructing and linking found footage, emphasizing the crucial role of sound in smoothing transitions.

christies 2025 sales results uptick

Christie's and Sotheby's have released their projected 2025 sales results, signaling a potential recovery after three years of market contraction. Sotheby's reported total sales of $7 billion, a 17% increase over 2024, with fine art up 15% to $4.3 billion. Christie's posted $6.2 billion, a 6% rise from $5.8 billion in 2024, bolstered by $234 million from its Gooding acquisition. Notable sales include Canaletto's Venice, the Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day for £31.9 million at Christie's and a Gustav Klimt painting that sold for $236 million at Sotheby's.

top moments in photography 2025

Artnet News highlights the top photography moments of 2025, including Sara Cwynar's exhibition of search-engine images at ICA Boston, Inuuteq Storch's debut at MoMA PS1 showcasing his Greenlandic hometown, and Dietemar Busse's Polaroid portraits celebrated at Amant, New York. The year also saw Wolfgang Tillmans' blockbuster farewell exhibition at the Centre Pompidou before its five-year renovation, and Marian Goodman Gallery's inaugural show of Ana Mendieta's work, "Back to the Source," featuring her iconic photographs and performances. Mendieta's work was also spotlighted at Art Basel Miami Beach, with her piece "Sandwoman" (1983) drawing emotional responses from visitors.

in memoriam 2024

Artnet News published an alphabetical in memoriam list commemorating art world figures who died in 2024, including printmaker Norman Ackroyd, museum director Hope Alswang, sculptor Carl Andre, curator and writer David Anfam, painter Frank Auerbach, and gallerist Patti Astor. Each entry includes a brief tribute highlighting their key achievements and contributions, such as Ackroyd's meticulous printmaking techniques, Alswang's diversification of the Norton Museum of Art's collection, Andre's foundational role in Minimalism, Anfam's influential scholarship on Abstract Expressionism, Auerbach's distinctive painterly style, and Astor's pioneering East Village gallery.

paint drippings art industry news dec 8

This week's art industry roundup covers major sales and developments across art fairs, auction houses, and galleries. At Art Basel Miami Beach, strong sales were reported, including an $18 million Warhol at Lévy Gorvy Dayan's booth, while NADA Miami featured around 140 exhibitors. The Art Dealers Association of America announced a new ADAA Fair at the Park Avenue Armory for November 2025, and Design Miami will expand to Dubai in 2027 with Alserkal. In auctions, Fabergé's 'Winter Egg' sold for $30.2 million at Christie's London, becoming the most expensive Fabergé egg ever auctioned, and Rembrandt's etching 'Arnout Tholinx, Inspector' set a world record for an Old Master print at $4.1 million. A rare 15th-century triptych also sold at Sotheby's for $7.6 million. Gallery news includes the formation of Pace Di Donna Schrader Galleries, Hauser and Wirth's acquisition of a Palermo palazzo, and several artist representation changes.

8 new york gallery shows were excited about right now

Artnet News highlights eight winter gallery shows in New York City, including Ragnar Kjartansson's video installation "Sunday Without Love" at Luhring Augustine, featuring the artist and collaborators in folk costumes chanting a comedic line about living without love, and Louise Bourgeois's exhibition "Gathering Wool" at Hauser & Wirth, which explores themes of motherhood and abstraction through video, sculpture, and performance. Other notable shows include Jordan Casteel's floral canvases at Casey Kaplan and Geoffrey Holder's pulsing paintings at James Fuentes.

joan miro constellations 3 things to know

Spanish Surrealist Joan Miró created the "Constellations" series of 23 paintings on paper between January 1940 and September 1941, during the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Fleeing to Normandy and later Palma de Mallorca, Miró used oil and tempera on small sheets, producing joyful, abstract works filled with floating forms reminiscent of music and the cosmos. The series was shipped to New York in 1944 and exhibited in 1945 at Pierre Matisse's gallery, where it captivated exiled European artists and may have influenced Jackson Pollock's all-over drip painting style.

re air uncovering the louvres hidden stories

Artnet News re-airs a podcast episode exploring the hidden stories of the Louvre, prompted by a recent daylight heist in which thieves stole eight pieces of royal jewelry from the Paris museum. The episode features Elaine Sciolino, a former Paris bureau chief for the New York Times, who discusses her book *Adventures in the Louvre: How to Fall in Love with the World’s Greatest Museum*, based on unprecedented access to the museum's guards, curators, and hidden rooms.

9 artists whose markets artnet pro appraised in depth in 2025

Artnet Pro has published a roundup of nine artists whose markets it appraised in depth during 2025, including Dorothea Tanning, Gertrude Abercrombie, Emily Kam Kngwarray, Jack Whitten, and Olga de Amaral. The article highlights key market developments for each artist, such as record auction prices, growing international recognition, and shifts in collector interest, drawing on data and expert commentary from dealers, auction-house specialists, and advisors.

warhol bardot clemente bar

Artnet News' Wet Paint column reports on a special auction held at Clemente Bar in New York, where Fair Warning—an app founded by former Christie's executive Loic Gouzer—sold an Andy Warhol portrait of Brigitte Bardot for $14.5 million ($16.7 million with fees). The event, hosted by Gouzer and curator-advisor Lolita Cros, featured former Christie's auctioneer Jussi Pylkkänen and attracted a crowd of high-net-worth individuals, including Greek shipping magnate George Economou, dealer David Mugrabi, artist Tony Shafrazi, and other art-world figures. Bidding started at $7 million, and the winning bid came from an anonymous phone bidder.

sperone westwater gallery closing

Sperone Westwater, a pioneering New York gallery that launched artists like Bruce Nauman, Richard Long, and Francesco Clemente, will close on December 31 after 50 years. Co-founders Angela Westwater and Gian Enzo Sperone are pursuing separate endeavors. The gallery’s final show is a current exhibition for Long, and it will still participate in Art Basel Miami Beach next month. Founded in 1975 in SoHo, the gallery was known for championing Neo-Expressionism and transavanguardia, and later diversified its roster with artists like Joana Choumali and Gamaliel Rodriguez. Its eight-story Bowery building, designed by Norman Foster, faces an uncertain future.

paint drippings art industry news nov 14

This week's art industry roundup covers major developments across auctions, galleries, and art fairs. Highlights include $1.6 billion in art heading to auction at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips in New York; the sale of the 'Mellon Blue' diamond for $25 million at Christie's Geneva; and the Vanderbilt jewels achieving $4.2 million at Phillips Geneva. In galleries, Sperone Westwater faces possible closure or transformation after 50 years, while Upsilon Gallery opens a new space in Milan. The IFPDA Print Fair expands to include drawings and rebrands, and Abu Dhabi Art will relaunch as Frieze Abu Dhabi next year. The Gallery Climate Coalition reports significant emissions reductions among its members.

jeffrey epstein emails leon black picasso gagosian

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.

george condo spruth magers skarstedt representation

Galleries Sprüth Magers and Skarstedt have announced joint representation of artist George Condo, ending his six-year partnership with Hauser & Wirth. Condo has a long history with both galleries: he first showed with Monika Sprüth in 1984 and was represented by Skarstedt from 2004 to 2019. The announcement comes after a two-venue exhibition earlier this year that involved both Sprüth Magers and Hauser & Wirth. Condo's market remains strong, with recent auction sales exceeding $6 million and a current retrospective at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris.

food bukahra biennial recipes broken hearts diana campbell

The article reports on the inaugural Bukhara Biennial in Uzbekistan, titled "Recipes for Broken Hearts," which opened in the historic 16th-century Khoja Gavkushon complex. Curated by Diana Campbell, the biennial features over 70 projects spanning 500 meters of public space, including works by artists Subodh Gupta, Laila Gohar, and Carsten Höller. The exhibition embraces the local environment—sun, wind, and dust—as collaborators, rejecting the sterile white cube model. Food is a central theme, with communal plov parties, performative cooking sessions, and installations like Gohar's edible rock sugar pavilion. The biennial runs through November 20.

cai guo qiang centre pompidou activists respond

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.

centre pompidou fireworks display cai guo qiang

On September 22, the Centre Pompidou in Paris closed for a five-year renovation, marking the occasion with a daytime fireworks display titled “The Last Carnival” by Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang. Organized with White Cube gallery and set during Art Basel Paris, the three-act gunpowder spectacle—The Banquet, The Dawn of AI, and The Last Carnival—was conceived using Cai’s custom AI model, cAI™, and turned the museum’s façade into a monumental painting.

new gagosian director marian goodman edith dekyndt

Marian Goodman Gallery has taken on representation of artist Edith Dekyndt, whose multidisciplinary practice spans video, sculpture, installation, and performance, with plans to debut her work at Art Basel Paris in October. In other industry moves, Salon 94 now represents Raven Halfmoon, Timothy Taylor Gallery represents Martha Tuttle, Templon adds Martial Raysse, Acquavella Galleries represents Harumi Klossowska de Rola, and Gagosian has hired Aaron Baldinger as a director. Additionally, Jennie Goldstein has been named the inaugural Kippy Stroud Curator at the Whitney Museum, and Sotheby's will sell a tranche of artworks from the collection of the late Leonard Lauder, including Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, estimated at over $150 million.

okwui enwezor cuator duke collected writings

A new two-volume collection of Okwui Enwezor's writings, titled "Okwui Enwezor: Selected Writings, Volume 1: Toward a New African Art Discourse" and "Volume 2: Curating the Postcolonial Condition," has been published by Duke University Press in 2025, edited by Terry Smith. Spanning over a thousand pages and covering the years 1994 to 2019, the collection gathers Enwezor's catalog essays, exhibition reviews, and analyses, tracing his evolution as a poet, writer, curator, theorist, educator, and museum director who died in 2019 at age 56.