Auction sales fall 6% in the first half, raising fears of an art market shift

Auction sales at Sotheby's, Christie's, and Phillips fell to $3.98 billion in the first half of 2025, a 6% decline from the same period in 2024 and the lowest total in at least a decade excluding the pandemic. Postwar and contemporary art, the traditional growth engine, dropped 19%. ArtTactic cites lingering concerns over global economic growth, inflation, and geopolitical tensions as dampening confidence, even as wealthy individuals' personal wealth and stock markets reach record highs.

Beyond The Mini-Bar: How Hotels Are Reimagining The Modern Art Gallery

Hotels are increasingly transforming their spaces into dynamic platforms for contemporary art, moving beyond generic decor to embed curation into their operational core. The article highlights 21c Museum Hotels, which operates nearly 80,000 square feet of free exhibition space across seven U.S. locations, featuring works by artists such as Xenobia Bailey, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Natia Lemay, and Xavier Daniels. Chief Curator Alice Gray Stites emphasizes radical accessibility, removing barriers like ticket prices and elitism, and fostering partnerships with institutions like Artadia to support local artists.

The art market bites back as estimates fail to score

Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips raised a combined $1.27bn from their May 2025 marquee auctions of Modern and contemporary art in New York, an 8% decline from the same period last year, according to data from London-based auction analysts Pi-eX. The highest-priced lot, Alberto Giacometti’s 1955 bronze bust *Grande tête mince (Grande tête de Diego)*, estimated at $70m, failed to sell, while Andy Warhol’s *Big Electric Chair* (1967), valued at $30m, was withdrawn before Christie’s auction to avoid a similar fate. The downturn is attributed to geopolitical uncertainty under Donald Trump’s presidency, including tariffs announced on April 2, which have unsettled buyer confidence.

As Iraq's economy shows signs of recovery, a thirst for new art is emerging

Iraq's improving economy and security situation, despite regional conflict, is fueling a revival in its art scene. Artists who fled violence are returning, and curators from the Arab region are touring the country. Key initiatives include Tarkib, a Baghdad art platform co-founded by Hella Mewis that offers workshops and exhibitions, and Babil Performance Art, set up by Zurich-based artist Wathiq Al Ameri to focus on performance work. These efforts reflect a generational shift spurred by the 2019 Tishreen protests, particularly among young women.

Hunterdon Art Museum exhibition explores the wonder of … paper

The Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, New Jersey, presents "Pulp: The Fluid and the Concrete," a group exhibition featuring 26 artists who explore the artistic potential of handmade paper. Curated by Gail Deery and Cynthia Nourse Thompson, the show transforms the museum's second floor into a celebration of paper as a versatile, sculptural medium, with works ranging from Joan Hall's marine-inspired "Red Tide Returning" to Michelle Samour's intricate paper installations and Marc Rosenquist's pulp sculptures.

The Artist Who Keeps Remaking His Childhood Home

The New York Times profiles an artist who repeatedly recreates his childhood home through various artistic mediums, exploring memory, loss, and the passage of time. The article details how the artist reconstructs the house from memory, using materials ranging from drawings and sculptures to immersive installations, each iteration reflecting a different emotional or psychological state.

Everything to Know About Christie’s Modern Middle Eastern Art Auction

Christie’s has opened an online auction of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, running through May 8th and featuring 69 works from across the Gulf, Levant, North Africa, Iraq, and Iran. The sale is led by pioneering artist Samia Halaby’s 2013 painting 'Water Lilies', estimated at $100,000–$150,000, and includes a dedicated 'Saudi Now!' section with 12 pieces by Saudi artists such as Ahmed Mater and Manal AlDowayan. Over a third of the lots are by women artists, including Etel Adnan, Helen Khal, Huguette Caland, Tala Madani, and Tagreed Darghouth, alongside North African figures like Mohamed Melehi and Hassan Hajjaj.

“Defying Boundaries To Celebrate Creativity” — Highlights From Art Basel in Basel 2025

Samsung Electronics partnered with Art Basel in Basel 2025 as the official display partner, presenting a digital art experience called 'ArtCube' at the fair from June 19 to 22, 2025. The lounge featured Samsung Art TVs including The Frame Pro, MICRO LED, and Neo QLED 8K, displaying artworks from the Samsung Art Store collection. A talk session included RM of BTS and artist Basim Magdy, discussing digital technology's role in art. Samsung also launched a new collection of 38 highlighted pieces from the fair on its Art Store, allowing subscribers worldwide to view the works remotely.

Oasis Fever Hits Sotheby's: 'Liam + Noel' Portrait Set to Fetch $2 Million USD

Elizabeth Peyton's 1996 double portrait of Oasis brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, titled *Liam + Noel (Gallagher)*, is set to be auctioned at Sotheby's contemporary art sale in London on June 24. The painting is expected to fetch between £1.5 million and £2 million GBP ($2.03–$2.71 million USD). Created at the peak of the band's fame following their historic Knebworth Park shows, the portrait captures the brothers in a tight embrace, with Sotheby's specialist Antonia Gardner noting the "quiet tension" that foreshadowed their 2009 breakup. The work will be on public view at Sotheby's London galleries from June 18–24.

New Sandton art space celebrates African creativity

Standard Bank has launched The Standard Bank Art Lab, a new visual arts space at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton City, South Africa, on June 5. The inaugural exhibition, titled "Follow the Blue Thread: It’s Woven Into Who We Are," features works by artists including Penny Siopis, Judith Mason, Sam Nhlengethwa, William Kentridge, and Miriam Ndebele, focusing on tapestry and African creativity.

Pussy Riot co-founder starts Los Angeles prison performance with existential scream

Nadya Tolokonnikova, co-founder of Pussy Riot, began a durational performance titled "Police State" at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles on June 5, 2025. Inside a mock prison cell at the Geffen Contemporary, she screams, plays a pink toy piano, synthesizer, and laptop, and layers live music with sampled prison noises to create an 80-hour experimental soundscape. The performance, running until June 15, references her own 2012 imprisonment in Russia for an anti-Putin protest. On the fourth day, MOCA closed due to clashes between ICE agents, the California National Guard, and protesters over immigrant raids, prompting Tolokonnikova to post: "Police State exhibit closed today due to police state."

Singapore to Paris! These Art students go global

Fifty-three students from Little Artists Art Studio in Singapore, including four with special needs, were selected to exhibit their work at Art Capital Paris: Le Salon des Artistes Français, held at the Grand Palais Éphémère in February 2025. Forty of the students, ranging from tweens to teens, traveled to Paris to present their pieces in person, marking the first time in the event's over 200-year history that children's artworks have been included. The studio also won the Prix D’Innovation award, and students received certificates from the salon's president, Bruno Madelaine, and French painter Alain Bazard.

The rise of contemporary African art in a global market

The article reports on the rapid growth of the contemporary African art market, which has more than doubled in value since 2016 to an estimated annual combined value of $72 million. Sales of ultra-contemporary works by African-born artists under 45 surged from $16.2 million in 2020 to $40.6 million in 2021, and the market could reach $1.5 billion this year. Aspire Art, a South African auction house, has set records for artists like Joseph Ntensibe, whose painting *Forest Scene* sold for R924,200, and Nicholas Hlobo, whose work *Intlambo yochulumanco* fetched R1,479,400.

The Palestinian artist channelling ‘rage, love and hope’ into her paintings

Palestinian artist Malak Mattar presents her new solo show "Falasteen" at Central Saint Martins, featuring works created during her MFA that respond to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The exhibition marks a synthesis of her earlier vibrant style and the stark monochrome she adopted after Israel's latest assault, with colors cautiously returning alongside themes of hope, resilience, and freedom. The show includes large-scale paintings, a concertina book, and new techniques like photo transfer and collage, including her 2024 painting "No Words," a black-and-white mural recalling Picasso's "Guernica." This is the first solo show by a Palestinian artist ever held at Central Saint Martins.

Let him entertain you: Robbie Williams gets honest in latest Moco exhibition

Pop star Robbie Williams opened his new exhibition "Radical Honesty" at the Moco Museum in London on May 2, 2025, featuring his latest sculptures and paintings. The show was attended by celebrities including documentary maker Louis Theroux, artists Chris Levine and Daniel Lismore, and comedian Leigh Francis. Williams's works incorporate his trademark sarcastic and self-deprecating humor, with one painting bearing the text: "To be completely honest I’m not sure if we are friends or we’ve just been in the same room a lot in the last 15 years." This is not Williams's first art venture; in 2022 he presented 14 large-scale works at Sotheby's London co-created with Ed Godrich under the name Williams Godrich, and he is also an art collector with pieces by Banksy, Peter Blake, Christopher Page, and Morris Wade.

Kemper Art Museum wins best monograph award

The Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis has won the 2024 best monograph award from the Midwest Art History Society (MAHS) for its exhibition catalog "Adam Pendleton: To Divide By." The catalog, published by the museum and distributed by the University of Chicago Press, was honored during the society's Outstanding Catalog Awards ceremony in Denver on April 4. Edited by Kemper curator Meredith Malone, the volume features essays by Malone, Joshua Chambers-Letson, Hal Foster, and a conversation between Pendleton and critic Isabelle Graw, along with transcripts of two film portraits by the artist.

Basquiat masterpiece expected to fetch $15m at Sotheby’s auction

A rare, untitled 1981 Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, unseen for over three decades, will headline Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction in New York this May, with an estimate of $10–15 million. The work, created when Basquiat was 20, captures his transition from street art to international fame and has been held in the same private collection since 1989. The auction also features pieces from Barbara Gladstone’s collection, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, and works by Lucio Fontana, Robert Rauschenberg, and Pablo Picasso.

ROBERTO BEHAR ROSARIO MARQUARDT WIN THE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD AT THE ELLIES OOLITE ARTS AWARDS

The Argentine artistic duo Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt have received the $75,000 Lifetime Achievement Award at The Ellies Oolite Arts Awards. The pair, founders of R&R STUDIOS, are recognized for their decades-long collaborative practice that merges art, architecture, and public space to create social sculptures.

Animated Bodies

Animierte Körper

Latefa Wiersch presents her exhibition "Atlas Studios" at the Istituto Svizzero in Rome, featuring unsettling, puppet-like sculptures that resemble film sets. The works explore themes of bodily helplessness, imperfection, and geopolitical displacement, drawing on her earlier project "Hannibal" at the Dortmunder Kunstverein, which addressed post-migrant German realities and the demolition of a housing complex. The new installation references the Atlas Studios in Ouarzazate, Morocco, and the history of cinema, with figures made from rags and nylon stockings that appear as actors or set workers.

À Florence, une touriste poursuivie pour avoir endommagé la fontaine de Neptune

In Florence, Italy, a 28-year-old tourist is being prosecuted for damaging the historic Neptune Fountain during a bachelorette party on the night of April 18-19. She allegedly climbed the monument on Piazza della Signoria after a dare from friends to touch the statue's intimate parts, causing an estimated €5,000 in damages to the horses' legs and a decorative frieze. This follows a similar incident in September 2023, when a 22-year-old German tourist caused €5,000 in damage to the same fountain while posing for photos.

valentino new york art week tefaf

Valentino CEO of the Americas Daniel Paltridge and CULTURED Editor-in-Chief Sarah Harrelson hosted a dinner at Casa Tua New York to celebrate the opening of TEFAF New York art fair. The private event gathered collectors, curators, and exhibitors, including Komal Shah, Dana Farouki, Kinga Lampert, Away founder Jen Rubio, TEFAF Executive Committee President Hidde van Seggelen, and exhibitor Lucas Ratton, for conversation and Italian cuisine.

New exhibits start at Public Works Art Center

The Public Works Art Center in Summerville, South Carolina, opens five new exhibitions on May 21 with a reception from 5:30-8:30 p.m. The shows include "GODBODY: THE FEMME," a group exhibition celebrating Black women artists; Amy Stewart's "Intersections" exploring interconnectedness; Nick Cerrato's "Our Society Needs To…" featuring abstract works created with his feet; Sarah Mitchell's "Wildlife in Wool" with needle-felted animals; and the Summerville Artist Guild's annual "All Members Show." During the reception, guild members will create collaborative paintings for sale to benefit the Summerville Rocks Scholarship Fund.

New Seoul art fair HIVE drops booth fees in market experiment

The inaugural HIVE Art Fair in Seoul, opening May 21 at COEX Magok, is testing an alternative business model that eliminates fixed booth fees. Instead, galleries can choose which services and installations to pay for through a "selective purchase system," with the fair relying on ticket sales, corporate partnerships, and promotional lounges for revenue. The fair features 48 galleries (36 South Korean, 12 international) and 158 artists, with no overlapping artists between galleries, and will display exhibition titles and curatorial statements alongside gallery names.

Enzo fair is fun and fee-free

The inaugural Enzo art fair has launched in Echo Park, Los Angeles, featuring nine galleries primarily from New York’s Chinatown and Lower East Side. Founded by collector R Parmar at Alabaster Projects, the fair operates on a unique fee-free model for exhibitors and visitors alike, removing the traditional financial barriers of booth fees and wall build-outs. The opening saw a vibrant atmosphere with works ranging from Peggy Chiang’s suspended sculptures to Radek Szlaga’s textile installations.

Curiosities at the 2026 Venice Biennale: the Tanzania Pavilion is full of Italian artists

Curiosità alla Biennale di Venezia 2026: il Padiglione della Tanzania è pieno di artisti italiani

The Tanzania Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, titled "Minor Frequencies: The Inner Life of a Nation," features a significant number of Italian artists alongside Tanzanian voices. Curated by Lorna Benedict Mashiba and Martina Cavallarin, the exhibition is housed across the Gervasuti Foundation, Palazzo Canova, and Supernova in Cannaregio. It includes works by 14 Italian artists such as Alice Andreoli, Christian Balzano, and Silvia Canton, as well as artists from Europe and Asia, while centering the practices of Tanzanian artists like Turakella Editha Gyindo, Lazaro Samuel, Valerie Asiimwe Amani, and Amani Abeid.

A Roma fotoromanzi e cliché sono i protagonisti di una mostra femminista a Villa Medici

A retrospective exhibition titled "Fotoromanzo" by French artist Nicole Gravier (born 1949) is on view at Villa Medici, the French Academy in Rome. The show explores Gravier's semiotic dissection of Italian photo-romance magazines from the 1970s, using irony and staged self-portraiture to deconstruct the fabrication of femininity and patriarchal narratives. The exhibition runs concurrently with a separate show dedicated to filmmaker Agnès Varda at the same venue, highlighting parallel feminist inquiries into women's representation.

There are 21 artists supporting the new voyage of the Global Sumud Flotilla that set sail from Sicily with painted sails

Ci sono 21 artisti a sostegno del nuovo viaggio della Global Sumud Flotilla salpata dalla Sicilia con vele dipinte

A new humanitarian mission by the Global Sumud Flotilla set sail on April 26 from Augusta, Sicily, with 59 Italian and Spanish boats heading toward Gaza. The flotilla, which follows a first attempt in September 2025 that ended with activists arrested by the Israeli military, aims to deliver humanitarian aid by early May. Twenty-one artists have joined the initiative, called Vele d'Arte, painting the sails of the boats with symbolic artworks. Among the participating artists are Gio Pistone, Antonio Curcio, Escif, Lydia Giordano, Glenda Costa, Millo, Elia Novecento, MP5, Matteo Todeschini, Alleg, Sam3, Okuda, Antonella Santonocito, Fabrizio Foti, Igor Scalisi Palmiteri, Andrea Sposari, and Salvo Ligama. The project was conceived by Carlo Alberto Giardina, who hopes the energy painted on the sails will transform into positive forces.

Elevating High Fashion. Issey Miyake and Ensamble Studio Together at Fuorisalone 2026

Valorizzare l’alta sartoria. Issey Miyake e Ensamble Studio insieme al Fuorisalone 2026

Satoshi Kondo, a director at the Miyake Design Studio, has partnered with the Madrid-based architecture firm Ensamble Studio to explore the creative potential of the Paper Log, a byproduct of Issey Miyake's signature pleating process. The collaboration will culminate in an exhibition titled 'The Paper Log: Shell and Core' during the 2026 Fuorisalone in Milan, featuring prototype furniture and sculptural forms made from the compressed paper rolls and unfolded pleated paper.

In Florence, Art Creates Community and Dialogue in the Bagasseria Space: An Interview with its Founder

A Firenze l’arte crea comunità e confronto nello spazio Bagasseria. Intervista al suo fondatore

Painter Samuele Alfani has launched Bagasseria, a new independent art space and studio in the Sant’Ambrogio district of Florence. Named after the Catalan word for a house of prostitution as a gesture of reclamation and freedom, the venue functions as a porous community hub that blends artistic production with public engagement. Its inaugural exhibition, "Bau Bau Baby," is a group show curated by Luigi Presicce and Anna Capolupo featuring artists such as Francesco Lauretta, Davide Serpetti, and Thomas Berra.

Pride of place: the rise of LGBTQ+ art in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's art scene is witnessing a significant rise in the visibility and institutional embrace of LGBTQ+ art, particularly during its annual Art Week. Exhibitions like the Sunpride Foundation's 'Myth Makers—Spectrosynthesis III' at Tai Kwun Contemporary have acted as major accelerants, moving queer discourse from semi-private contexts into prominent public institutions.