Author: godlove4241

Titian’s Early Masterpiece Rest during the Flight to Egypt (c. 1508) sold last night at Christie’s in London for £17.56 million ($22.17 million). The sale set a new auction record for the Renaissance artist, surpassing the previous record of $16.9 million. Sacred Conversation (c. 1560) sold at Sotheby’s in 2011. The work sold below its pre-sale estimate of £15 million to £25 million ($18.75 million to $31.25 million), making it the top lot in Christie’s “Old Masters I” sale, which totaled £43.59 million ($55.1 million). Last night, Christie’s also held an “Extraordinary Sale” as part of its Classics Week series,…

On Thursday, June 20, the humid, muggy air, the dancing of fireflies among leaves and flowers, and handfuls of ripe mulberries falling from the sky over New York’s Paradise Gardens set the stage for the premiere of Alexandra Neuman’s cosmological story of abortion. The event is scheduled to take place around the summer solstice on a garden mound. Collective womb (2024) reframes abortion as a creationist myth central to the development of our universe, complete with live music, large puppets, womb cookies, and moments of humor. After opening in a Manhattan public park, the 45-minute show will be free to…

A new museum dedicated to the ancient Roman city of Pompeii is about to open in Naples, Italy. The space will cover 103,000 square meters (1.1 million square feet) and was designed by architect Paolo Desideri. It will be located in the former Albergo dei Poveri building, also known as Palazzo Fuga. The new institution will serve as a sister museum to the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN), hence the name MANN 2. The building has been vacant for decades, and the new museum is part of a larger citywide revitalization effort to improve tourism. A large number of…

Taylor Swift will be the focus of a new “line” at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), titled Taylor Swift: The Songbook Line. The exhibition, which will run from July 27 to September 8, is inspired by the 34-year-old singer-songwriter’s storied career, from when she first moved to Nashville at the age of 14 to her rise to global fame. Coming after the UK leg of Swift’s “Time” tour, Taylor Swift: A Songbook Journey will take visitors on a journey through the life of the pop icon through visual culture, divided into 13 themed “stations” across the museum. Swift’s costumes,…

On a recent afternoon, a couple was viewing Joel Meisler’s latest exhibition at the Beaux-Arts townhouse at Lévy Gorvy Dayan Gallery on New York’s Upper East Side when Meisler himself stopped them and asked a startling question. “Have you seen the secret clown room?” the art dealer-turned-artist said. “You really have to see the secret clown room.” Hidden behind sliding doors on the gallery’s first floor, the “Secret Clown Room” contains eight portraits of clowns in, you guessed it, various states of happiness (or pain). The works are exceptions to Meisler’s exhibition, titled “The Kitchen Is a Good Place to…

British artist Anya Gallaccio has been selected to create a new AIDS memorial in London, located on South Crescent, Store Street, Fitzrovia. Scheduled to be unveiled in late 2027, the installation will resemble a felled tree, with growth rings removed and arranged next to the tree, representing the void left by those who have lost their lives to the disease. The work is Gallaccio’s first permanent public artwork in London and will showcase her unique use of organic materials that change over time. “The current proposal preserves the space, intended to provide a gathering place, a center for community events…

Caravaggio, The Young Sick Bacchus (1593), oil on canvas, 26 x 21 inches (Image via Wikimedia Commons) Statistics on the scope of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and many other 12-step programs that specialize in different forms of recovery are somewhat elusive due to the inherent anonymity of the group; AA reports having members in approximately 180 countries around the world and over 123,000 individual AA groups. While AA itself is a relatively young institution, only nearly 90 years since its founding in Ohio, the concepts of healing and recovery from addiction have their roots in the oldest human societies. The 12…

Documenta has officially unveiled its replacement selection committee for the search for the next artistic director of the prestigious German five-year exhibition, a search that is still ongoing following the collective resignation of the original committee last year. The new six-member selection committee is made up of Yilmaz Dziewior, Sergio Edelsztein, N’Goné Fall, Gridthiya Gaweewong, Mami Kataoka and Yasmil Raymond, all but one of whom have curated at least one major biennial. Notably, the group includes three people based in Germany (Dziewior, Edelsztein and Raymond), while none of them were on the previous committee. related articles One of the Israeli…

Featured work by artist Mark Stebbins. Based in London, Ontario, Mark Stebbins creates acrylic paintings that explore the connections between digital imaging, craft histories, artistic labor, and memory. Using a combination of brushstroke and pen drawing techniques, Stebbins applies tiny smears of acrylic paint to layers of surface to create illusions of textiles, brushstrokes, and pixelation. He is inspired by various visual histories of painting and textile traditions (particularly those specific to the American Southwest, where he hails from), as well as contemporary digital imaging and AI-rendered images. “I think of my painting process as a form of conceptual layering,…

Hundreds of visual and performing arts venues in Florida were shocked to learn that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis had vetoed $32 million in state budget funding for arts and culture. DeSantis signed the decision on Wednesday, June 12, just weeks before the start of the fiscal year on July 1—the first time in the state’s history that the cultural sector has been left in complete limbo. In the state’s $117 billion proposed budget, the state arts and culture department initially proposed allocating $77 million to meet the needs of 630 eligible nonprofit organizations, which can each The grants were for…