yasunao tone fluxus dead 1234742202

Yasunao Tone, a composer, theorist, and artist associated with the Fluxus movement, has died at age 90. Artists Space, which hosted his first US retrospective in 2023, announced his passing due to age-related complications. Tone was known for experimental music that used unorthodox methods such as altering instruments with ice, scratching CDs to create white noise, and producing graphic scores that resembled abstract artworks. He co-founded Group Ongaku in 1961, collaborated with key figures like Nam June Paik, George Maciunas, and Yoko Ono, and later explored digital corruption of audio files and AI. His work influenced experimental music and sound art, with a 2023 profile in AnOther Magazine stating he "changed music forever."

Affaire Indiana : un éditeur d’art condamné à 102 millions de dollars

A federal jury in Manhattan has ordered Michael McKenzie and his company American Image Art to pay $102 million (€95 million) to the Morgan Art Foundation for unauthorized exploitation of works by artist Robert Indiana (1928-2018), including his iconic LOVE image. The case, filed in May 2018 just before Indiana's death, alleged that McKenzie—a former agent of the artist—produced and sold unauthorized editions, sculptures, and merchandise under Indiana's name, violating exclusive reproduction and commercialization rights granted to the foundation in the 1990s. The jury found McKenzie guilty of trademark infringement, copyright violation, and contractual interference, with $6.2 million specifically tied to 44 LOVE works. The defense, weakened by sanctions for hiding evidence and refusing to cooperate, plans to appeal.

balenciaga decade of demna 2660980

At Kering's historic Laennec headquarters in Paris, the exhibition "Balenciaga by Demna" presents a self-curated retrospective of the designer's decade-long tenure at the house, from 2015 through 2025. Open by appointment through July 9, the show features 101 objects including complete looks, accessories, and provocations drawn from 30 collections, alongside audio narration using an AI rendering of Demna's voice. The exhibition serves as a capstone before Demna transitions to his new role as creative director of Gucci, while Pierpaolo Piccioli prepares to take over at Balenciaga. Highlights include a metallic gold ballgown shaped like a Ferrero Rocher candy, a hyperrealistic mannequin of muse Eliza Douglas, and the Spicy Chili Chips Bag clutch.

the ashes tudor lodge wall paintings 2635562

Rare 16th-century wall paintings depicting fantastical beasts, heraldic rabbits, and Grotesque heads have been uncovered at the Ashes, a Tudor hunting lodge in Inglewood Forest, Cumbria, U.K. Built in the 1560s during Elizabeth I's reign, the two-story building originally housed William Simpson, a bailiff of Castle Sowerby Manor. The paintings, created using the secco technique on dry plaster, were found in stages—first on the second story in the 1970s, then on the ground floor during excavations in the 2010s and 2020s. The most recent discoveries, made by owners Jen and Richard Arkell, reveal elaborate decorative panels likely inspired by textile designs, reflecting the cosmopolitan tastes of the period.

This influential L.A. collector bought the artists no one else would. The art world is finally catching up

Eileen Harris Norton, a foundational figure in the Los Angeles art scene, is being celebrated with a major exhibition of her collection at Hauser & Wirth. The show, "Destiny Is a Rose: The Eileen Harris Norton Collection," features over 80 works, many from her home, highlighting her five-decade commitment to collecting artists who were often her friends and neighbors, particularly women, artists of color, and Southern California-based artists.

louvre jewels stolen value 1234758137

Nine jewels stolen from the Louvre are valued at $102 million, according to Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, contradicting earlier French claims that they were of “incalculable” value. The stolen items include a diadem worn by Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense, an emerald necklace of Empress Marie-Louise, and a diadem once held by Empress Eugénie, the latter containing nearly 2,000 diamonds. One crown belonging to Empress Eugénie was recovered after being dropped by the thieves, but the rest remain missing. The robbers entered through windows using small chainsaws and exited in under eight minutes. The Louvre has been closed since the heist, and cultural minister Rachida Dati defended the museum’s security systems before the National Assembly, calling the theft “a wound for all of us.”

claudia alarcon silat artnews awards 2025 emerging artist 1234762427

Claudia Alarcón, an Indigenous Wichí artist from Argentina, made her U.S. debut at James Cohan Gallery in New York with an exhibition co-organized with Cecilia Brunson Projects. The show features weavings created collaboratively with Silät, an all-women weaving collective formed by curator Andrei Fernández, using traditional Wichí techniques and the yica stitch. The works draw on Wichí cosmology, including a centuries-old tale of women descending from stars, and challenge the distinction between craft and fine art. Alarcón is recognized as the first Indigenous woman to exhibit her work as art at Argentina's foremost art fair.

leah ke yi zheng painting new talent 1234743480

Leah Ke Yi Zheng, a Chinese-born artist who initially pursued law and business before committing to art, is gaining significant recognition. She opened her second solo exhibition with Mendes Wood DM in New York in January and is preparing upcoming shows in Vienna and at the Renaissance Society in Chicago. Zheng's paintings use Chinese silk on custom wooden stretchers, often irregularly shaped, blending traditional Chinese materials with Western avant-garde formal provocations. Her work explores themes of spirituality and interrupts the data-saturated modern experience, often depicting mechanical devices like fusees from antique clocks or abstract compositions inspired by the I Ching.

Never-Before-Seen Stanley Kubrick Photos Debut in New York

A collection of 18 previously unseen photographs by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick will make its public debut at the Photography Show in New York. Discovered by the Duncan Miller Gallery within a larger archive purchase, these images date back to 1945 when a teenage Kubrick worked as a staff photographer for Look magazine. The series captures candid, late-night scenes within the New York City subway system, utilizing a concealed shutter release to document commuters in their most natural states.

harpers gallery bangkok 2667721

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.

warhol muhammad ali 18 million art basel miami beach sale 1234765235

Lévy Gorvy Dayan sold Andy Warhol's 'Muhammad Ali' (1977) for $18 million during the VIP preview of Art Basel Miami Beach. The painting, autographed by Ali and formerly owned by Richard L. Weisman, was displayed just a few hundred feet from the Miami Beach Convention Center, where Ali defeated Sonny Liston in 1964. The consignment was kept secret until ten days before the fair, and the work drew crowds of buyers and admirers, including Ali's sons and figures connected to Warhol's 'Athletes' series.

Leah Ki Yi Zheng’s Personal I Ching

Artist Leah Ke Yi Zheng's exhibition "Change, I Ching (64 Paintings)" at the Renaissance Society in Chicago presents a series of oil and acrylic paintings on silk, each depicting one of the 64 hexagrams from the ancient Chinese divination text, the I Ching. The artist physically altered the gallery's architecture to control light and create a specific viewing rhythm, synthesizing materials and techniques from Chinese ink painting traditions with Western geometric abstraction and oil painting.

Slim Phillips London Sale Totals $13.9 Million, Off 32 Percent From 2024

Phillips London's evening sale of Modern and contemporary art on Thursday totaled £10.3 million ($13.9 million), a 32 percent drop from the equivalent sale in 2024. The 45-minute auction saw 4 of 26 lots withdrawn before bidding, and 4 of the remaining 22 failed to sell, including works by Banksy, Andreas Gursky, Sigmar Polke, and Andy Warhol. The top lot was Jean-Michel Basquiat's *Untitled (Pestus)* (1982), which sold for £2.37 million ($3.19 million), just below its estimate. A new auction record was set for Emma McIntyre, whose painting *Seven types of ambiguity* (2021) more than doubled its high estimate to fetch £167,700 ($225,355).

Phillips' Priority Bidding drives 100% sell-through at Hong Kong evening sale, totalling US$20.5m

Phillips achieved a 100% sell-through rate at its Modern and Contemporary Art Evening Sale in Hong Kong on 27 September, totaling nearly HK$160 million (US$20.5 million). All 20 lots sold, with six works exceeding HK$10 million. The top lot was Yoshitomo Nara's *Pinky* (2000), which sold for HK$56.64 million (US$7.2 million) after its estimate was lowered from HK$60–80 million to HK$35–55 million. The sale was the first major test of Phillips' new Priority Bidding (PB) system, which offers a reduced buyer's premium to collectors who place written bids at or above the low estimate at least 48 hours before the auction. Seven lots were withdrawn and several estimates revised downward ahead of the sale, contributing to the white-glove result.

Amanda Carneiro and Raphael Fonseca to curate 2027 Bienal de São Paulo

Amanda Carneiro and Raphael Fonseca have been named curators of the 2027 Bienal de São Paulo. Carneiro, a curator at MASP since 2018, has organized solo exhibitions for artists including Santiago Yahuarcani, Beatriz Milhazes, and Sonia Gomes, and was part of Adriano Pedrosa’s curatorial team for the 2024 Venice Biennale. Fonseca, visual arts programmer at Culturgest and curator-at-large at the Denver Art Museum, is currently curating the Taiwan Pavilion for the 2026 Venice Biennale and co-curating the 3rd Counterpublic Triennial. He also curated the 2025 Bienal do Mercosul.

From ‘Game of Thrones’ to ‘Downton Abbey’—Iconic Costumes Go on View in Scotland

An exhibition titled "Costume Couture: Sixty Years of Cosprop" is opening at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, featuring over 80 iconic costumes from major film and television productions such as 'Game of Thrones,' 'Downton Abbey,' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean.' The show, which premiered last year in London, celebrates the six-decade legacy of the renowned costume house Cosprop, founded by Oscar-winning designer John Bright.

Michaelina Wautier review – an astounding lost artist steps out of her male contemporaries’ shadows

A major exhibition at the Royal Academy is presenting the work of 17th-century Flemish painter Michaelina Wautier, an artist whose significant oeuvre was long misattributed to her male contemporaries, including her brother Charles. The show acts as a real-time art historical investigation, using scientific analysis, scholarship, and connoisseurship to reconstruct her career and assert her authorship of ambitious works like the monumental 'The Triumph of Bacchus'.

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Launches Digital Catalogue Raisonné

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum has launched Access O’Keeffe, a comprehensive digital catalogue raisonné that makes over 2,000 of the artist’s works available to the public for free. Based on the definitive 1999 scholarship by Barbara Buhler Lynes, the platform includes paintings, sketches, and letters, featuring advanced search tools that allow users to filter by color, medium, and theme. The project was completed despite a significant funding scare when a federal grant was briefly rescinded during the Trump administration before being restored via legal action.

Refik Anadol’s AI Art Museum DATALAND Will Open in Los Angeles in June

Refik Anadol and Efsun Erkılıç will open DATALAND, a museum dedicated to AI art, in Los Angeles on June 20, 2026. Located in the Grand LA complex designed by Frank Gehry, the 25,000-square-foot venue will feature five gallery spaces plus 10,000 square feet for supporting technology. Its inaugural exhibition, "Machine Dreams: Rainforest," created by Refik Anadol Studio, uses AI trained on ecological datasets to generate sensory experiences, including a version of Anadol's Infinity Room with a 1987 recording of an extinct Hawaiian bird and AI-generated scents. Membership starts at $350 per year.

exhibition canceled by trump dei ban opens 1234755467

An exhibition titled "Before the Americas," originally scheduled to open at the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, D.C., was canceled after the Trump administration deemed it a DEI program and cut its funding. The show, which surveys work by Afro-Latino, Caribbean, and African American artists from the Greater Washington area, has now opened at Gillespie Gallery at George Mason University School of Art in Fairfax, Virginia, thanks to about 50 to 60 private donors who stepped in to fund it. Curated by Cheryl Edwards, the exhibition features 39 artists from 17 countries, including Amy Sherald, Renee Stout, Alma Thomas, Elizabeth Catlett, and Alonzo Davis, and runs through November 15 before traveling to the University of Maryland Global Campus.

Refik Anadol’s Dataland Museum Sets an Opening Date

Refik Anadol's Dataland, billed as the world's first A.I. art museum, will open on June 20 in Los Angeles after more than two and a half years of planning. Founded by Anadol and his partner Efsun Erkiliç, the museum is housed inside the Frank Gehry-designed Grand L.A. complex and features five galleries. Its debut exhibition, "Machine Dreams: Rainforest," uses ecological data processed through Anadol's Large Nature Model to create digital sculptures simulating possible rainforests. The museum, designed by Gensler, dedicates nearly a third of its 35,000 square feet to operational hardware and runs on 87 percent carbon-free energy.

No Need to Shed a Tear for the Jury

"Man muss der Jury keine Träne nachweinen"

The entire jury of the Venice Biennale resigned shortly before the opening, prompting criticism of Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco. Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli accused Buttafuoco of pursuing a misguided "pacificist fantasy" by readmitting Russia to the six-month exhibition, calling it failed "side foreign policy." Commentators in German media, including Niklas Maak (FAZ) and Marcus Woeller (Die Welt), see the resignation as a symptom of a crisis in the art world, with the jury having acted as a "political tribunal" by pre-judging artists based on nationality, particularly regarding Israel. The Biennale leadership defended inclusion, but the standoff has caused significant "image damage." Separately, Dirk Knipphals (wochentaz) delivers a scathing review of Wolfram Weimer's first year as cultural policy commissioner, accusing him of empty rhetoric and failing to counter right-wing cultural politics. Juliane von Mittelstaedt (Der Spiegel) reports on Saudi Arabia's use of a spectacular new art museum in Riyadh as a stability narrative amid regional conflict.

Alexander Calder, Brilliant Sculptor of Air and Color Celebrated at the Fondation Vuitton

Alexander Calder, génial sculpteur de l’air et de la couleur célébré à la fondation Vuitton

The Fondation Louis Vuitton is hosting a major celebration of Alexander Calder, the American sculptor who revolutionized 20th-century art by introducing movement and play into the medium. The article traces Calder's formative years in Paris starting in 1926, where the young engineer-turned-artist gained avant-garde fame with his 'Cirque Calder'—a miniature circus of wire and fabric figurines. This period marked his transition from traditional painting to his signature 'drawings in space,' featuring wire sculptures of figures like Josephine Baker that projected dancing shadows and captured the kinetic energy of the era.

Viral Beeple robot dogs to go on display at Berlin museum.

Viral Beeple robot dogs to go on display at Berlin museum.

A set of robotic dog sculptures by digital artist Beeple, which became a viral sensation online, have been acquired by Berlin’s König Galerie for its permanent collection and will go on public display. The four lifelike, animatronic canines, titled "S.2122," are modeled on Boston Dynamics' "Spot" robots but are weathered and decaying, with exposed wires and organic growths. This marks Beeple's first major physical sculpture series to enter a prominent institutional collection, following his landmark $69 million NFT sale in 2021.

V&A Pulls Catalog Materials Due to Chinese Censorship Laws

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London has admitted to removing maps and images from two exhibition catalogs following censorship demands from a Chinese printing firm. Documents revealed that C&C Offset Printing flagged content in the catalogs for the exhibitions "Music Is Black" and "Fabergé: Romance to Revolution" as violating Chinese law. The censored items included a 1930s map of British trade routes and a photograph of Vladimir Lenin, which the printer claimed could not be produced under Beijing’s strict regulations.

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Sandra Mujinga, a Congolese-born artist based in Berlin and Oslo, recently unveiled a new performance at the Park Avenue Armory in New York and has a major installation, "Skin to Skin" (2025), finishing its run at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam before traveling to the Belvedere museum in Vienna. The installation features 55 lithe, tentacular figures covered in the artist's own textiles, arranged around mirrored columns in a green-lit environment. In an interview, Mujinga discussed how fashion and clothing function as data and storytelling, reflecting identity and belonging, a theme that permeates her sculptures, videos, and performances.

pulitzer critic christopher knight retires los angeles times 1234763888

Christopher Knight, the Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic for the Los Angeles Times, is retiring after a 45-year career in criticism, including 36 years at the newspaper. His final day is Friday. Knight, one of the few remaining full-time art critics in American journalism, was praised by colleagues for his encyclopedic knowledge and razor-sharp assessments. He won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2020, notably for a series of articles that harshly critiqued the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's (LACMA) proposed redesign by architect Peter Zumthor. He also received a lifetime achievement award from the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation in 2020, and the College Art Association's Frank Jewett Mather Award in 1997. Before his journalism career, Knight worked as a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and consulted for the Lannan Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art.

top 200 collectors 2025 issue editor letter 1234753943

The editor's letter for the 2025 ARTnews Top 200 Collectors issue recounts a cinematic moment at Art Week Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, where a government-affiliated collector described their role as "everyone and no one," reflecting the behind-the-scenes, museum-focused art acquisitions under Vision 2030. The issue features a report by Melissa Gronlund on the Gulf art scene, noting that Saudi Arabia is prioritizing museums and noncommercial programming before an independent market can emerge, while private collectors and foundations are also gaining ground. The article also highlights the cooling art market in Europe and the US, with collector Christen Sveaas criticizing blue-chip galleries for over-commercial pricing strategies.

fbi recovers paintings university new mexico harwood museum art 1234744684

The FBI has recovered two paintings stolen 40 years ago from the University of New Mexico's Harwood Museum of Art in Taos. Victor Higgins's oil painting *Aspens* (c. 1932) and Joseph Henry Sharp's portrait *Oklahoma Cheyenne aka Indian Boy in Full Dress* (c. 1915) were taken in March 1985, when the building housed a public library with a museum on the second floor. The recovery was triggered by a late 2023 tip from investigative reporter Lou Schachter to museum executive director Juniper Leherissey, who then led an Art Recovery Task Force. The paintings had been sold in 2018 by the Scottsdale Auction House under altered titles, and were located, recovered, and returned to the museum on May 12, 2025, with a public unveiling on June 6.

the met agrees to repatriate artifacts to cambodia as douglas latchford fallout continues 2409554

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has agreed to repatriate 14 artifacts to Cambodia and two to Thailand following an investigation into the late antiquities dealer Douglas Latchford. Latchford, who was indicted in 2019 for trafficking looted Khmer Empire relics, died in 2020 before trial, but federal authorities have continued to track works sold through his network. The returned items include significant sandstone statues and bronze deities dating back as far as the 7th century.