Art News. Vasari Codex

article news schedule Sep 17, 2025 visibility 16 link 4 artists

aichi triennale protests israel matching program

The Aichi Triennale in Japan has become embroiled in controversy over the Aichi-Israel Matching Program, a business initiative linking local companies with Israeli startups. Protesters, including several participating artists, have signed an open letter demanding the program's cancellation, accusing it of normalizing alleged human rights abuses. The triennial's curator, Hoor Al-Qasimi, has publicly criticized Israel's military actions in Gaza, and one organizing committee member, Hideyuki Tomita, has resigned amid the backlash.

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article culture schedule Sep 15, 2025 visibility 17 link 4 artists

newly discovered snail named after picasso

An international team of malacologists has discovered 46 new species of Southeast Asian microsnails, all under the genus Anauchen. One of them, Anauchen picasso, is named after Pablo Picasso because the angular patterns on its 3mm-wide shell resemble Cubism. The findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys, based on fieldwork in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, and comparisons with specimens from the Florida Museum of Natural History.

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article culture schedule Sep 11, 2025 visibility 10 link 2 artists

mahmoud khalil nan goldin market tanked palestine activism

Artist Nan Goldin and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil discussed Khalil's 104-day ICE detention, the 'Palestine Exception' to free speech, and the backlash faced by pro-Palestinian activists in a conversation published in Dazed magazine. Khalil was arrested in March 2024 after serving as a negotiator during Columbia University protests, with the Trump administration alleging he undermined foreign policy and later claiming he failed to disclose information on his green card application. Goldin compared her own experience leading the activist group PAIN, which successfully pressured museums to cut ties with the Sackler family over the opioid crisis, noting that pro-Palestinian activism has faced far greater criminal and professional repercussions.

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trending_up market schedule Aug 20, 2025 visibility 14 link 1 artist

sasan ghandehari lawsuit christies picasso auction guarantee

Collector Sasan Ghandehari has filed a lawsuit against Christie’s in the High Court of England & Wales, alleging the auction house failed to disclose that a Picasso painting he guaranteed was owned by a man convicted of drug-related charges. The work, Picasso’s *Femme dans un rocking-chair* (1956), was offered in a February 2023 London evening sale with a third-party guarantee from Ghandehari’s company, Brewer Management Corporation (BMC). Ghandehari claims Christie’s told him the owner was José Mestre Jr., but the painting actually belonged to his father, José Mestre Sr., who was sentenced to nine years in prison after 202 kilos of cocaine were found on a cargo ship in 2010. The lawsuit seeks to cancel the guarantee contract and recover a £4.8 million partial payment.

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trending_up market schedule Aug 19, 2025 visibility 21 link 14 artists

barbara hepworth sculpture uk national collection

The Hepworth Wakefield and Art Fund have successfully raised £3.8 million to acquire Barbara Hepworth’s sculpture *Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red* (1943). The wood and string artwork, previously in private hands and rarely seen publicly, was sold at Christie’s in London last March for £3.5 million. A temporary export bar imposed by the UK government gave the museum time to raise funds, with the deadline set for August 27. The funding came from over 2,800 donations and major grants, including £1.89 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and £750,000 from the Art Fund, along with private support.

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trending_up market schedule Aug 18, 2025 visibility 12 link 3 artists

sothebys van halen guitar grails week

Sotheby’s will auction Eddie Van Halen’s custom-built 1982 Kramer guitar, estimated at $2–3 million, as the centerpiece of its inaugural “Grails Week” in New York this October. The instrument, unseen for over 40 years, was played on tour, later owned by Mötley Crüe’s Mick Mars, and features Van Halen’s iconic red, black, and white striped design. The week-long sales series will also include Bob Dylan lyrics, Rolling Stones album artwork, and a Beatles cymbal.

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article news schedule Aug 18, 2025 visibility 21 link 3 artists

greenpeace unfurls anish kapoors bloody butchered work across north sea gas rig

Greenpeace activists scaled a Shell-operated gas rig in the North Sea and unfurled a 315-square-foot canvas titled "Butchered," designed by artist Anish Kapoor. The activists sprayed crimson paint made from beetroot powder and pond dye across the canvas, creating a blood-like stain intended to symbolize environmental destruction. The work, described as the first fine art exhibited from a working gas rig, was erected during the UK's fourth heat wave of the summer to protest fossil fuel companies' role in climate change.

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article culture schedule Aug 8, 2025 visibility 18 link 14 artists

deleuze seminars painting

A newly translated English edition of Gilles Deleuze's 1981 seminars on painting, originally published in French as 'Sur la peinture' in 2023, has been released by the University of Minnesota Press. Translated by Charles J. Stivale, the eight lectures explore what concepts painting can offer to philosophy, rather than the reverse. Deleuze discusses terms like catastrophe, the diagram, and figure, focusing on artists such as Titian, Turner, Cézanne, van Gogh, Klee, Mondrian, Pollock, and Bacon, offering a chaotic yet magnificent counterpoint to his more systematic book 'Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation'.

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article news schedule Jul 25, 2025 visibility 14 link 3 artists

samherji odee copyright case

A London high court has upheld a previous ruling against Icelandic artist Oddur Fridriksson, known as Odee, ordering him to surrender ownership of his conceptual artwork *We’re Sorry* (2023). The work consisted of a website impersonating Samherji, Iceland’s largest fishing company, and featured a fake apology for the company’s role in the 2019 “fishrot” corruption scandal. Judge Anthony Mann rejected Odee’s final appeal, affirming that the artwork constituted copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and malicious falsehood. The artist must now hand over control of the domain samherji.co.uk to the corporation.

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article news schedule Jul 25, 2025 visibility 17 link 2 artists

uk high court rejects artists final appeal after he issued fake apology for fishing firms alleged role in fishrot scandal

The UK High Court has rejected a final appeal by Icelandic artist Oddur Eysteinn Friðriksson, known as ODEE, to retain ownership of his conceptual artwork *We're Sorry* (2023), a fake website that mimicked Iceland's largest fishing company Samherji and apologized for its alleged role in the Fishrot corruption scandal. Judge Anthony Mann upheld a previous order requiring ODEE to surrender control of the domain, ruling that the site was not a parody and constituted an instrument of fraud, thus not protected under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act.

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article culture schedule Jul 23, 2025 visibility 11 link 3 artists

hieronymus bosch garden of earthly delights why important

The article examines Hieronymus Bosch's masterpiece "The Garden of Earthly Delights" (c. 1490–1510), explaining that while modern viewers often call it surreal, the term is an anachronism; the painting reflects a medieval worldview where damnation and divine order were accepted realities. It describes the triptych's structure, its likely commission by Engelbert II, Count of Nassau, and its narrative flow from grisaille exterior to vivid interior panels depicting Eden and hell. The piece also notes how 20th-century Surrealists like André Breton and Salvador Dalí claimed Bosch as a precursor, with Dalí directly borrowing motifs from the painting.

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article culture schedule Jul 22, 2025 visibility 14 link 3 artists

eddington ari aster poster david wojnarowicz

Ari Aster's upcoming film *Eddington*, premiering at Cannes, uses David Wojnarowicz's 1988–89 artwork *Untitled (Buffalos)* as its poster image. The film, set in May 2020, follows a sheriff and mayor clashing over face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wojnarowicz's work, originally a critique of U.S. government indifference during the AIDS crisis, depicts bison falling off a cliff—a metaphor for societal collapse. The poster slightly alters the image, and A24, the production company, has not commented on the design.

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trending_up market schedule Jul 16, 2025 visibility 8 link 5 artists

global auction sales h1 2025 arttactic analysis

Global auction sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips fell 6.2% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, while the number of lots sold rose 1.3%. ArtTactic’s analysis reveals significant category shifts: post-war and contemporary art dropped 19.3% to $1.22 billion, impressionist and modern art fell 7.7% to $989.5 million, and luxury sales were nearly flat. In contrast, Old Masters surged 35.6% to $171.2 million, and design, decorative arts, and furniture rose 20.4% to $172 million. The decline in high-value trophy lots, including the withdrawal of Andy Warhol’s *Big Electric Chair* and Alberto Giacometti’s *Grande tête mince*, contributed to the slump in contemporary sales.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jul 9, 2025 visibility 14 link 6 artists

ed sheeran paintings jackson pollock heni

Singer Ed Sheeran is presenting a series of abstract paintings titled the “Cosmic Carpark Paintings” at Heni Gallery in London, with the exhibition opening this Friday. The works, made by dripping and splashing paint onto canvases placed on the floor, closely resemble Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings. Sheeran’s foundation is selling prints for £900 each, with 50% of proceeds benefiting UK schools. Sheeran told the Guardian he painted in a disused Soho car park during tour downtime, and the gallery’s press release describes the works as “inspired by celestial patterns” without mentioning Pollock.

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article local schedule Jul 7, 2025 visibility 16 link 8 artists

manhattans beloved elizabeth street garden is saved

New York City has abandoned plans to demolish Soho's Elizabeth Street Garden for affordable housing, instead rezoning three nearby sites to build 620 units while preserving the garden. The deal, brokered with council member Christopher Marte—a former garden volunteer—ends a years-long campaign backed by celebrities like Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, and Patti Smith, as well as artists JR and Dustin Yellin and curator Klaus Biesenbach. The garden, filled with antique architectural remnants, was created by the late Allan Reiver and his son Joseph Reiver, who continued the fight after Allan's death in 2021.

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article culture schedule Jun 30, 2025 visibility 18 link 9 artists

lorde virgin vinyl photograph talia chetrit

A revealing photograph of singer Lorde from the vinyl edition of her new album *Virgin* has gone viral, sparking debate on social media. The image, credited to artist Talia Chetrit, shows Lorde in see-through pants without underwear, echoing the album's cover—an X-ray of her pelvis by Heji Shin. Chetrit, known for exploring power dynamics and sexuality in her work, previously photographed Lorde for a single cover. The photo has drawn comparisons to Chetrit's earlier self-portraits and has been discussed in the context of nudity and illusion in art.

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article culture schedule Jun 26, 2025 visibility 13 link 3 artists

28 years later antony gormley angel of the north

The article examines the appearance of Antony Gormley's iconic 1998 sculpture *Angel of the North* in the zombie film *28 Years Later*. The Cor-Ten steel work, which towers 66 feet tall near Gateshead, appears in an overgrown field as a symbol of post-apocalyptic abandonment, reflecting the film's themes of failed quarantine and societal collapse. Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland use the sculpture to critique conservative British politics, with the film's ending making explicit reference to a British celebrity posthumously accused of rape.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 26, 2025 visibility 17 link 13 artists

carlos agredano fume los angeles nomadic art division

Artist Carlos Agredano, who grew up near the 105 Freeway in Lynwood, California, has created a traveling sculpture titled "FUME" (2025) that uses air quality sensors mounted on his 1992 Toyota Pickup to measure pollution from vehicle exhaust and ambient air. The work was exhibited at the Los Angeles Nomadic Art Division (LAND) and is part of Agredano's broader practice examining how the LA freeway system has harmed working-class communities of color through toxic drift and destructive urban planning. His research draws on sources including Eric Avila's book "Folklore of the Freeway" and studies from UCLA's Center for Occupational & Environmental Health.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 18, 2025 visibility 11 link 2 artists

picasso ceramics auction geneva

A rare collection of seven unique Picasso ceramics, hand-painted between 1947 and 1964 at the Madoura Pottery Workshop in Vallauris, France, will be auctioned at Piguet in Geneva on Thursday. The pieces, including plates and platters featuring animals and motifs from Picasso's oeuvre, have been in private hands for nearly 40 years after being gifted from the Picasso estate to a friend in the 1980s. Estimates range from 20,000 to 50,000 Swiss francs, with a pigeon platter expected to fetch the highest price. Two additional works on paper by Picasso from the same owner are also included in the sale.

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candle obituary schedule Jun 13, 2025 visibility 16 link 11 artists

graham gund architect art collector dead

Graham Gund, an architect and prominent art collector, died on June 6 at age 84. With his wife Ann, he built a significant contemporary art collection featuring works by Pablo Picasso, Kenneth Noland, Kiki Smith, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and Richard Serra. Gund designed and funded the Gund Gallery at Kenyon College, his alma mater, and was a longtime patron of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, where a gallery and the directorship endowment bear his name. He appeared multiple times on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 12, 2025 visibility 19 link 9 artists

coney art walls deitch

Jeffrey Deitch, the New York dealer and former director of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, is co-curating a new street art project called "Coney Art Walls" in Brooklyn with real-estate developer Joseph Sitt of Thor Equities. The project features murals by prominent graffiti and street artists including Crash, Daze, Lady Pink, How & Nosm, Lee Quinones, Futura, Kenny Scharf, Miss Van, Swoon, and Icy Signs, and will accompany a Smorgasburg Coney Island pop-up with 12 food vendors. Photos show the artists hard at work as the project rapidly takes shape.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 10, 2025 visibility 16 link 7 artists

the gates christo jeanne claude

Artist duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude developed 'The Gates' for New York City's Central Park in 1979, but the project faced over two decades of bureaucratic hurdles before finally being installed in 2005 under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The work consisted of 7,503 steel gates with orange nylon fabric along 23 miles of pathways, using 5,390 tons of steel. Now, on its 20th anniversary, a comprehensive survey titled 'Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Gates and Unrealized Projects for New York City' is being held at the Shed, accompanied by an augmented reality experience via the Bloomberg Connects app.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 9, 2025 visibility 22 link 16 artists

new york sales underperform may 2025

Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips collectively fell short of their spring auction expectations, bringing in just over $1 billion in evening sales against estimates of $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion. The hammer total of $837.5 million was down from $1.4 billion in the same week last year and $1.8 billion in 2022, with a notable drop in high-priced works and fading interest in emerging artists. The top ten lots generated $278.6 million, a 63 percent decline from 2022, and only a handful of artists under 45 appeared in evening sales, compared to previous years.

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article news schedule Jun 5, 2025 visibility 14 link 4 artists

campaign for barbara hepworth sculpture gathers momentum

A campaign to return Barbara Hepworth's sculpture "Rock Form" (1964) to the Mander Centre in Wolverhampton, UK, is gaining momentum. The sculpture, valued at £1 million, was removed from the shopping centre in June 2024 during a redevelopment. Campaigners argue it was originally offered to the previous owner at cost price on the condition of public display, and they fear current owners—the Royal Bank of Scotland and Delancey—may sell it privately.

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article news schedule May 22, 2025 visibility 14 link 5 artists

brian eno calls out microsoft israeli military

Brian Eno, the English musician and artist who composed the iconic startup sound for Windows 95, has publicly called out Microsoft for its business relationship with the Israeli Ministry of Defense amid the ongoing war in Gaza. In an open letter titled “Not in My Name” posted to Instagram, Eno expressed dismay that the company he once associated with a promising technological future is now providing cloud and AI services to the Israeli military, which he and human rights organizations accuse of committing genocide and war crimes. He urged Microsoft to suspend all services that contribute to violations of international law and announced he would donate his original fee for the Windows 95 chime to Gaza victims.

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article culture schedule May 16, 2025 visibility 14 link 6 artists

art bites illustrator marginel wright enright frank lloyd wright sister

Maginel Wright Enright, the youngest sister of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is the subject of this article highlighting her career as a prolific children's book illustrator and commercial artist. Born in 1877, she studied at the Chicago Art Institute and worked for the engraving firm Barnes, Crosby Co. before illustrating 63 children's books, including works by L. Frank Baum (author of *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz*), Johanna Spyri's *Heidi*, and Clara Ingram Judson's *Flower Fairies* series. She also contributed to magazines such as *Woman's World* and *McClure's*, and created a World War I poster.

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article culture schedule May 16, 2025 visibility 13 link 9 artists

salvador dali mustache origin

Salvador Dalí's iconic mustache, voted the Most Famous Mustache of All Time in a 2010 Telegraph survey, originated in the 1940s after he initially sported a more subdued "Menjou" style in the 1930s. The artist developed his flamboyant upturned mustache, first appearing in his painting *Soft Self-Portrait with Grilled Bacon* (1941), and maintained it with meticulous daily grooming using date-based wax. Dalí treated the mustache as a personal logo and creative symbol, even co-authoring a 1954 book with photographer Philippe Halsman titled *Dalí's Mustache*, featuring 28 surreal photographs.

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article culture schedule May 12, 2025 visibility 13 link 6 artists

art bites dali yoko ono blade of grass

The article recounts a bizarre anecdote from art history involving Salvador Dalí and Yoko Ono. After meeting in 1969 during Ono's honeymoon with John Lennon, Ono later requested a hair from Dalí's mustache, offering $10,000. Dalí, suspicious that Ono might use the hair for occult purposes, instead sent her a dry blade of grass in a pretty box, as recalled by his muse Amanda Lear.

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article news schedule May 8, 2025 visibility 12 link 1 artist

smith partner art investment firm 11m fraud

Smith and Partner, a London-based art investment firm, has been accused of defrauding over a thousand investors out of $11 million through a scheme involving high-pressure sales of limited edition art prints with promises of future returns that rarely materialized. The company, founded by Austrian citizen Peter Paul Adam in 2015, faced complaints from 2020 onward, leading to its bank freezing accounts and an investigation by British Trading Standards. Liquidators are seeking $17 million in compensation, and a High Court judge has upheld asset freeze orders against former director Luke Sparkes and his company Zeno Fine Art, which allegedly inflated print prices by nearly 500 percent.

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article culture schedule May 7, 2025 visibility 10 link 3 artists

who was joan shogren computer art

Joan Shogren, a chemistry graduate from San José State University (SJSU) in the early 1950s, created some of the world's first computer-generated art in 1963 while working as a secretary in the chemistry department. Collaborating with graduate student Jim Larson and assistant professor Ralph Fessenden, she developed a theory that computers could create art if given "rules" of proportion, balance, and center of interest. Fessenden translated her "laws of art" into code on an IBM 1620 computer, producing artworks that were printed as number arrays and later hand-colored by artist Marvin Coon. Shogren exhibited these works in May 1963 at the campus bookstore, recognized as the first public display of computer art. Two decades later, she was commissioned by software company T/Maker to create the first clip art, "ClickArt," released in 1984 for Macintosh computers, designed pixel by pixel.

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