Comment | Why Frank Gehry was the ultimate artist’s architect

Frank Gehry (1929-2025) is remembered as the ultimate artist's architect, a figure whose career was deeply intertwined with the visual arts. The article highlights his lifelong friendships with numerous Los Angeles artists, his design of exhibitions for them, and his creation of iconic art museums like the Museo Guggenheim Bilbao (1997) and the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris (2014). Gehry believed his buildings offered artists a strong alternative to the white cube, and he renovated museums such as the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA and the Philadelphia Museum of Art with a remarkably light touch. His early exposure to art through a ceramics course with Glen Lukens at USC helped steer him toward architecture.

New York Galleries: Openings and Closings of the Week (12/08—12/14)

New tech and old names drive sales at Art Basel Miami Beach

Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB) saw strong sales and a cautiously optimistic mood, with Pace gallery reporting nearly $5 million in sales including a $1.1 million Sam Gilliam painting. The fair debuted a new digital art section, Zero 10, where a Beeple installation of robotic dogs excreting NFTs sold out within five hours for $1 million total, and generative art from Larva Labs sold for up to $45,000 each. However, the opening day crowd was thinner than in past years, and about 20 galleries did not return, replaced by a record 48 new exhibitors. Dealers noted a slower, quieter pace, with buyers more cautious than during the indulgent pre-pandemic era.

In pictures: a sculptural celebration at Art Basel Miami Beach

Nora Lawrence, executive director of Storm King Art Center, curated a selection of her favorite three-dimensional works at Art Basel Miami Beach, highlighting sculptures by Thaddeus Mosley, Rashid Johnson, Mary Ann Unger, Paloma Varga Weisz, and Claes Oldenburg, as well as a painting by Saif Azzuz. The tour, published by The Art Newspaper, showcases works from galleries including Karma, Hauser & Wirth, Berry Campbell, Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, Konrad Fischer Galerie, and Paula Cooper.

Steely gaze: a look back at Richard Hunt’s early work at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami

The Institute of Contemporary Art Miami has opened "Richard Hunt: Pressure," the largest survey to date of American sculptor Richard Hunt (1935-2023), focusing on his work from 1955 to 1989. The exhibition traces Hunt's evolution from self-taught welder at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to a master of welded steel, featuring early pieces like *Telescopic Construction* (1955) and *Hero's Head* (1956), the latter created after attending Emmett Till's open-casket funeral. Co-curated by Gean Moreno and Alex Gartenfeld, the show highlights Hunt's negotiation between formal innovation and social awareness, with works that balance beauty and brutality.

At the Aspen Art Museum, Glenn Ligon inspects the record

Glenn Ligon's exhibition "Break It Down" opened at the Aspen Art Museum on November 21, showcasing 47 works spanning three decades. The show examines how the artist constructs a portrait of self by drawing on external institutional documents, including school reports, museum conservators' notes, and James Baldwin's essay "Stranger in The Village." Key works include 50 screenprinted self-portraits with printing glitches that question stable identity, and a final gallery centered on a painting built from Baldwin's text, surrounded by dark carbon and graphite rubbings that reinterpret the essay through physical mark-making.

A time portal in 11 characters: On Kawara's "NOV. 27, 1984" sells for US$1.1m at Bonhams Hong Kong

On November 27, 2025, On Kawara's date painting "NOV. 27, 1984" from his Today series sold for HK$8.5 million (US$1.1 million) at Bonhams' Modern and Contemporary Art Sale in Hong Kong, becoming the top lot of the auction. The work, executed exactly 41 years earlier on November 27, 1984, features the date in white sans-serif lettering on a dark canvas and was acquired by a client represented by Bonhams specialist Ryo Wakabayashi, likely destined for a private collection in Japan.

Gagosian’s Kara Vander Weg On Shaping the Afterlife of an Artist’s Work

Gagosian debuted a show titled “Walter De Maria: The Singular Experience” at its Le Bourget gallery in Paris, featuring The Truck Trilogy—three vintage Chevrolet pickup trucks fitted with the artist’s signature stainless-steel rods. The exhibition is part of the gallery’s “Building a Legacy Program,” launched in 2017 after De Maria’s death without a will threw his estate into turmoil. The program, spearheaded by managing director Kara Vander Weg, aims to preserve and promote artists’ legacies through educational efforts, ambitious shows, symposia, and content in Gagosian Quarterly.

Van Gogh’s family used an erotic Gauguin ceramic as a flower vase

A researcher at the Van Gogh Museum, Joost van der Hoeven, has revealed that Paul Gauguin's erotic ceramic, the Cleopatra Pot (winter 1887-88), was used as a flower vase by Vincent van Gogh's family. Gauguin brought the pot to Arles when he stayed with Van Gogh in 1888, and after Van Gogh's ear incident, Gauguin gave the pot to Vincent's brother Theo as a gift. The pot later remained with Theo's widow, Jo Bonger, and a photograph from 1925-26 shows it on her piano holding flowers, surrounded by still-life paintings.

Paris art exhibitions to see this month

Paris is hosting a diverse array of art exhibitions this month, ranging from Jeffery Gibson's first solo show in France at Hauser & Wirth to a retrospective on photographer Denise Bellon. Other highlights include 'Radical Making' at Carpenters Workshop Gallery, featuring designs by Charlotte Perriand and Jean Prouvé alongside contemporary artists; Gareth Mason's ceramic-focused exhibition at the same gallery; Inez & Vinoodh's 'Think Love' series at India Mahdavi's Project Room #21; and a major Art Deco centenary exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. The guide also notes ongoing photography shows following Paris Photo 2025.

Miami Art Week 2025: Your Essential Guide to the Fairs, Exhibits, and Chaos

Miami Art Week 2025 takes place December 2-7, transforming Miami Beach and Wynwood into a sprawling art hub anchored by Art Basel Miami Beach, which features 281 galleries from 43 countries. The week includes over a dozen major fairs such as SCOPE, NADA, UNTITLED, and Pinta, alongside off-program events like street art battles at the Museum of Graffiti, a collaborative mural by RETNA and El Mac at Wynwood Walls, and David LaChapelle's world premieres at VISU Contemporary. The event follows record-breaking New York auctions totaling over $1.5 billion, including a $236 million Gustav Klimt and a $55 million Frida Kahlo.

Why Hong Kong is one of the greatest places in the world to buy art

Hong Kong has overtaken London to become the world's second-largest contemporary art auction market, according to ArtTactic. The city's commercial art scene is bolstered by outposts of top international galleries like Hauser & Wirth, Gagosian, Pace, and David Zwirner, as well as a successful annual Art Basel fair. Major auction houses including Sotheby's, Phillips, and Bonhams operate significant spaces there, with Sotheby's selling a Claude Monet for $65.5 million in Hong Kong in 2024. The city's art calendar peaks during March's Art Month, which hosts both Art Basel Hong Kong and Art Central.

One Fine Show: “Anselm Kiefer, Becoming the Sea” at the Saint Louis Art Museum

The Saint Louis Art Museum has opened “Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea,” an exhibition featuring 40 works by the German artist from the 1970s to the present, including over 20 pieces made in the last five years and five monumental site-specific paintings. The show highlights Kiefer's 1991 journey up the Mississippi River during a visit to St. Louis, a formative trip that inspired new works such as the 30-by-27-foot painting *Missouri, Mississippi* (2024), which depicts the artist encountering the Melvin Price Lock and Dam in Alton, Illinois. The exhibition also includes pieces like *Die Milchstraße* (1985-87) and two works dedicated to beat poet Gregory Corso, whose lines about eternal life gave the show its title.

Digital art is going mainstream

Digital art has achieved mainstream acceptance in the art world, ranking third in total spending among high-net-worth collectors after painting and sculpture, according to The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025. Over half of the 3,100 respondents purchased a digital artwork in 2024 or 2025, and the average share of digital art in collections rose from 3% in 2024 to 13% in 2025, signaling a maturation beyond the NFT boom of 2022. Art Basel is launching a new section called Zero 10 at Miami Beach 2025, featuring 12 exhibitors including AOTM, bitforms gallery, and Pace Gallery, with an interactive installation by Beeple. Major museums like MoMA, Tate Modern, and Centre Pompidou have hosted significant digital art exhibitions, further boosting collector confidence.

Van Gogh’s ‘Sower’ will soon go on sale at Sotheby's—where it's set to make record price

Van Gogh's drawing 'Sower in a Wheatfield with setting Sun' (July 1888) will be auctioned at Sotheby's New York on 18 November with an estimate of $8m-$10m. The work, which belonged to the late cosmetics heir and collector Leonard Lauder, is expected to set a new auction record for a Van Gogh drawing if it exceeds the $8.8m achieved by 'La Mousmé' in 2021. The drawing was originally made for the artist Émile Bernard and later passed through notable hands including dealer Ambroise Vollard and critic Théodore Duret before entering the Lauder collection. It will be sold alongside 23 other major works from Lauder's collection, including three important Gustav Klimt paintings, in a sale expected to fetch over $400m.

K11 founder Adrian Cheng on Hong Kong’s art scene, the future of collecting and the creative potential of AI

Adrian Cheng, founder of the K11 property business and a prominent figure in Hong Kong's art scene, discusses his two-decade role in shaping the city's cultural landscape. He founded K11 in 2008 to integrate museum-quality art with retail, developed the Victoria Dockside district and K11 MUSEA, and established the K11 Art Foundation and K11 Craft & Guild Foundation. Cheng has launched new ventures including K11 by AC and the ALMAD Group, and his foundations have partnered with major institutions like the Palais de Tokyo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Serpentine Galleries. He also initiated a regular salon series focused on art and technology, held during events like Frieze Seoul and Asia Now.

Jenny Saville Is Getting a Landmark Exhibition in Venice

Jenny Saville will be the subject of a major new exhibition at Venice’s International Gallery of Modern Art at Ca’ Pesaro, opening March 28, 2026 and running through November 22, 2026, alongside the 61st Venice Biennale. The show will feature around 30 paintings spanning her career from the 1990s to the present, including seminal works like *Hyphen* (1999) and *Reverse* (2002–13), and will conclude with a new series created in homage to Venice. The exhibition is curated by Ca’ Pesaro director Elisabetta Barisoni and supported by Gagosian.

Comment | As Cop30 opens in Brazil, it is time for the art world to embrace ethics with aesthetics

COP30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, opens in Belém, Brazil, with culture officially on its agenda for the first time, thanks to advocacy from the Amazonian activist group Labverde and Art of Change 21. The conference features interventions and performances by eight Brazilian and indigenous artists, including photographer Christian Braga and activist Beto Oliveira, alongside a flurry of artist-led activities in UK galleries and institutions. The article also marks the tenth anniversary of Gustav Metzger's environmental art project "Remember Nature," which mobilized over 140 artists including Judy Chicago, Olafur Eliasson, and Marina Abramović, and was revisited on November 4, 2025, with sixteen English arts institutions hosting public projects.

Wes Anderson to recreate Joseph Cornell’s studio at Gagosian Paris.

Filmmaker Wes Anderson, in collaboration with curator Jasper Sharp, will recreate the New York studio of American assemblage artist Joseph Cornell at Gagosian Paris. The exhibition, titled “The House on Utopia Parkway,” opens December 16th and marks Cornell’s first solo presentation in Paris in over 40 years. It will feature over 300 items from Cornell’s personal collection, including key works such as *Pharmacy* (1943), *Untitled (Pinturicchio Boy)* (ca. 1950), and *A Dessing Room for Gille* (1939), along with loans from the Joseph Cornell Study Center at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The installation, designed with exhibition designer Cécile Dégos and Anderson’s longtime collaborators, will reconstruct Cornell’s work table and include shadow boxes, assemblages, and ephemera that reflect his fascination with collecting and memory.

8 Must-See Solo Gallery Shows in November

Galerie magazine has curated a list of eight must-see solo gallery shows across the United States for November, highlighting exhibitions from New York to Los Angeles. Featured artists include Robert Storr, whose return to painting is showcased at Vito Schnabel Gallery in New York with a series of geometric canvases titled "Fits and Starts"; Katherine Bradford, whose figurative works are on view at CANADA in New York; and the late Robert Kobayashi, whose bricolage pieces are displayed at Susan Inglett Gallery in New York, curated by his daughter. Other notable shows include Flora Yukhnovich at Hauser & Wirth in Downtown Los Angeles.

How Art Week Tokyo is opening up routes into Japan’s contemporary art landscape

Art Week Tokyo, which launched in November 2021 during border closures, has adopted a unique "post-art fair" model that forgoes a traditional art fair in favor of connecting museums and galleries across Tokyo via free buses and inviting international art professionals. The fourth full edition coincides with three major Japanese art festivals—the Aichi Triennale, Okayama Art Summit, and Setouchi Triennale—creating a powerful autumn art season. Key highlights include AWT Focus, a selling exhibition at the Okura Museum of Art curated by Adam Szymczyk, featuring over 50 artists with increased international gallery participation, and the museum exhibition "Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989-2010" at the National Art Center, Tokyo, curated by Doryun Chong.

8 Must-See Exhibitions in Tokyo Right Now

Art Week Tokyo returns for its fourth edition from November 5–9, 2025, co-hosted by over 50 venues across the city. Instead of a traditional art fair, visitors can use free shuttle buses to explore participating galleries, museums, and nonprofit spaces, including Pace, Perrotin, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, the Mori Art Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. Highlights include a curated Focus exhibition titled “What Is Real?” by documenta 14 artistic director Adam Szymczyk, a survey show “Prism of the Real” co-curated with M+, a mid-career retrospective for Aki Sasamoto, and special programming such as a guided tour of micro homes by architect Kazuyo Sejima and a pop-up bar designed by Ichio Matsuzawa with a menu by Michelin-starred chef Shinobu Namae.

‘Sometimes the space comes first’: how Shohei Shigematsu is using architecture to break cultural ground

Shohei Shigematsu, director of OMA New York since 2006, has carved a niche designing luxury-brand exhibition spaces and flagship stores for Dior, LVMH, and Tiffany. His approach treats architecture as a cultural platform that integrates fashion, art, design, and food. Key projects include the 2016 'Manus x Machina' exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the 2023 'Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams' show in Seoul, where spatial design often precedes thematic content.

10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This November

This article highlights ten art shows to see in Los Angeles this November, featuring a diverse range of exhibitions. Key shows include Kathleen Ryan's bejeweled rotten fruit, Puppies Puppies's homage to freedom flags, and TJ Shin's bird songs. Historical perspectives are offered through a survey of prints by Robert Rauschenberg at Gemini G.E.L., rarely seen works by Mexican muralist Alfredo Ramos Martínez at Scripps College, and a tribute to the Brockman Gallery at the Vincent Price Art Museum. The two-venue exhibition 'Monuments' investigates how art reflects national narratives, while Puppies Puppies's dual shows use color and text to address contemporary liberation struggles.

9 Standout Solo Gallery Shows to See in Paris

The article highlights nine standout solo gallery shows currently on view in Paris, coinciding with Art Basel and other art fairs taking place in the city. Featured exhibitions include Elmgreen & Dragset's lifelike office worker installation at MASSIMODECARLO's Piece Unique window, Jessie Makinson's new surreal figurative paintings at Brigitte Mulholland, a tribute to Robert Rauschenberg's 100th birthday at Thaddaeus Ropac, Jeffrey Gibson's first Paris solo show at Hauser & Wirth, and Mickalene Thomas's new portrait series at Galerie Nathalie Obadia, among others.

Your Go-To Guide to All the Art Fairs in Paris This Week

Paris is hosting a busy week of art fairs, headlined by Art Basel Paris returning to the Grand Palais from October 24–26, 2025, under outgoing director Clément Delépine. The fair features 206 galleries across three sections, public programs at nine iconic venues including an inflatable Kermit the Frog by Alex Da Corte and a participatory installation by Harry Nuriev, and a talks series hosted by Edward Enninful. Satellite fairs include Design Miami Paris at L’Hôtel de Maisons, the dealer-run 7 Rue Froissart co-founded by Brigitte Mulholland and Sara Maria Salamone, and others like Paris Internationale and Asia Now.

‘Like a carefully choreographed performance’: meet the logistics professionals who bring art fairs to life

Art fairs appear serene on the surface, but behind the scenes, logistics professionals work frantically to ship, install, and present hundreds of artworks. The article shares dramatic installation tales from galleries and shippers, including Gianpietro Carlesso's heavy sculpture at Frieze Sculpture 2020, a Calder Stegosaurus transported for Art Basel Miami Beach 2013, and Mandy El-Sayegh's immersive booth installation at Frieze London 2023. These stories highlight the challenges of tight schedules, extreme weather, and complex installations that require structural engineers, cranes, and overnight work.

A manure mystery: why did Van Gogh depict heaps of sand in a painting of his beloved Yellow House?

A new study by Van Gogh Museum senior researcher Teio Meedendorp proposes that the mysterious piles of sand in Vincent van Gogh's 1888 painting "The Yellow House" are not, as previously thought, related to gas pipe installation, but rather cleansing sand used to absorb horse manure and urine on the streets of Arles. Meedendorp supports his theory with historical postcards from 1902 showing similar sand piles and street-cleaning practices, as well as municipal records indicating the city had outsourced dung removal in August 1888.

In the frame: photography comes to the fore at Frieze London and beyond

Photography takes center stage at Frieze London and across the city, with major exhibitions of Lee Miller at Tate Britain, Wolfgang Tillmans at Maureen Paley, Arthur Jafa at Sadie Coles, and Marina Abramović stills at Saatchi Yates. At Frieze Masters, Pace Gallery dedicated its booth to Peter Hujar, selling six prints on opening day at prices from $25,000 to $45,000. Commercial galleries like Gagosian and David Zwirner are investing heavily in photography, with Zwirner bringing Diane Arbus to London for the first time in a UK commercial context.

Art Basel Paris 2025 Public Program transforms the city – watch the video

Art Basel Paris 2025 will present a free public program across multiple iconic Parisian venues from October 21-26. Highlights include a multidisciplinary installation by Turner Prize-winning British artist Helen Marten at the Palais d'Iéna, presented by Miu Miu; exhibitions by Fabienne Verdier and a group show curated by Matthieu Poirier at the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine; seven monumental sculptures on Avenue Winston Churchill featuring works by Leiko Ikemura, Thomas Houseago, and Arlene Shechet; and quirky sculptures by Julius von Bismarck at the Petit Palais.