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A $30 Estate Sale Find Shatters Gertrude Abercrombie’s Auction Record
7 days ago•Source: Artforum
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170.535 min•1 month ago
Kusama’s Universe: From Radical Vision to Global Icon
Jerry Saltz argues that while Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms made her a global icon, they risk obscuring the radical depth of her broader practice—from early installations and soft sculptures to performance and antiwar actions—that dismantled traditional art boundaries and anticipated a world of endlessly proliferating images.
152.505 min•1 month ago
Sony bets on Nemu: a sleep-deprived bear set to rival Hello Kitty
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Pollock’s 1948 Number 7A Sells for $181 Million, Setting Auction Record
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Venice Biennale 2026: Quiet Bonds and Global Geopolitics in In Minor Keys
Venice Biennale 2026’s main exhibition, 'In Minor Keys,' curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, centers six artists—Cauleen Smith; Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons; Tiona Nekkia McClodden; Alfredo Jaar; Walid Raad; Kaloki Nyamai—whose restrained, atmospheric works explore memory, loss, and cross-generational bonds while reflecting on the geopolitics of minerals, with installations and multimedia pieces that emphasize quiet resilience amid global disruption.
Loie Hollowell Turns Birth and Bodies Into Cosmic Abstraction
Loie Hollowell’s Overview Effect at Pace Gallery London pairs large twin-circle canvases with pastel drawings to explore birth, abortion, pregnancy and breastfeeding through a cosmic, abstract lens inspired by her own experiences. The works fuse bodily imagery with outward, planetary forms—reflecting a developmental arc from her first birth’s diagrammatic representations to a more internal, space-inspired approach. Influences range from Louise Bourgeois and O’Keeffe to home-birth photos and Ina May Gaskin, and Hollowell discusses how shifting reception and female curators have allowed her to speak more openly about abortion and sexuality. The show, timely with Artemis II, situates the body within abstract art and questions market-driven pigeonholing, running at Pace Gallery, London, through May.
Escher’s Infinity Loop Unveiled: Four Rectangles, Elliptic Curves, and a Self-Referential Image
A Hackaday piece explains how MC Escher’s 1956 drawing creates a Droste-like, self-referential loop by using four differently scaled, interconnected rectangles. Building on work by B. de Smit and H. W. Lenstra Jr. (2003) and popularized via a 3Blue1Brown video, the technique can be modeled by treating the scene as an elliptic curve over the complex numbers, allowing the central void to be filled with a coherent, endlessly looping transformation rather than remaining blank.
Hidden Michelangelo Foot Sketch Sells for £16.9m at Christie’s
A previously unknown red chalk foot sketch by Michelangelo, dating to about 1511–12 and linked to the Libyan Sibyl on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, sold at Christie’s for £16.9 million ($23 million), far above its estimate after infrared imaging helped confirm the attribution.
Vanthournout Collection Headlines Christie’s Modern Visionaries Series
Christie’s features the Roger & Josette Vanthournout Collection as the centerpiece of its Modern Visionaries sale in London, spanning Surrealism to Post-War avant-garde with works by Magritte, Ernst, Kusama and others; the collection is being presented in three dedicated auctions — Evening Sale on March 5, Day Sale on March 6, and an online sale running Feb 25–Mar 10, 2026 — with global previews in Brussels, Hong Kong, New York and Paris.
Photographer's Black-and-White Dreamscapes Featured in 3 New York Exhibitions
Renowned Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide's black-and-white dreamscapes, capturing empowered inhabitants, mythical creatures, and sacred landscapes, are showcased in three New York exhibitions, highlighting her poetic portrayal of daily life and community experiences.
Mystery Solved: Did Leonardo da Vinci Paint a Nude Mona Lisa?
The article explores the possibility that Leonardo da Vinci may have painted a nude version of the Mona Lisa, based on historical accounts, sketches, and comparisons with other Renaissance artworks, suggesting that the famous portrait could have had a more provocative origin.
Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' to tour Japan this summer
The Mauritshuis will lend Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' to the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka this summer, marking a rare international travel for the painting, which is usually kept as a star exhibit in the Netherlands. The loan, organized in collaboration with Asahi Shimbun, aims to fund museum renovations and create an education center, offering a unique opportunity for Japanese audiences to experience the iconic artwork.
Top Small Gallery Shows to Watch This January
This article highlights five notable art exhibitions at small galleries around the world in January 2026, featuring diverse works from artists Justus de Rode, Gwen Evans, Sera Holland, Morgan Lehman Gallery, and Francesco Pantaleone, showcasing themes from nature and domestic unsettling to textured abstraction and precarious sculptures.
Ghanaian Artist Ibrahim Mahama Reaches Art World's Pinnacle
Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama gained international fame with his burlap sack installations addressing themes of global trade, colonialism, and capitalism. His work has earned him top recognition in the art world, including being the first African to top ArtReview's Power 100 list. Mahama emphasizes collective effort and community engagement, founding art institutions in Ghana to foster new generations of artists and cultural awareness.