Installation view: “Nothing Still About Still Lifes” at the Deji Art Museum in Nanjing, China. Courtesy of the Deji Art Museum
Welcome to One Fine Show, where Observer highlights a recently opened exhibition at a museum not in New York City, a place we know and love that already receives plenty of attention.
Late last year, I had the privilege of being a guest of Shanghai’s West Bund Art & Design, the most important fair on the Chinese mainland. It was the first edition in the futuristic and newly constructed West Bund Convention Center, and alongside strong sales—Perrotin reported 40 percent of its high-end booth sold out on day one—there was an array of excellent and sophisticated art, particularly in its curated xiàn chǎng section, the equivalent of the Untitled section at Art Basel in Switzerland. But I spent the days prior to the fair at a venue no less tony with art no less impressive: the Deji Plaza luxury shopping mall in Nanjing, atop which sits the Deji Art Museum.
Deji was a revelation on several levels. As with the West Bund fair, sales at the shopping mall were nothing to sneeze at: $3.5 billion in 2025, which, according to the Economist, may make it the highest-grossing mall in the world. The museum on the top floor was open until midnight, an idea more museums should embrace because it remained popular throughout the night. Its best-loved exhibition, “Nothing Still About Still Lifes,” reopened in October and is one of those great shows that showcases the surprising depths that can be explored through artworks on a single subject: flowers.
Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch, Henri Rousseau, Andy Warhol, Yayoi Kusama, David Hockney and Anselm Kiefer are all on display, paired with works by numerous Chinese luminaries. The boldfaced names featured in this show from Deji’s extensive and distinguished collection might make it sound straightforward and even dull, but the exhibition is not. Almost everything on display is experimental in some way, an unexpected offering from the artist or an unusual take on this ancient subject. This is announced in the very first room dominated by a monumental Jeff Koons sculpture, Pink Ballerina (2009-2021), composed of delicate lace-like white marble and fresh-cut roses—real ones in deep red. Like the pink of its title, the piece’s intense florality exists mostly in the mind of the viewer.
The blockbusters on display are incredible and expensive, to the point that going through the show can feel like going to a really good preview at an auction house. I found myself especially attracted to the stranger works that display the depths of the collection. The false-looking painterly vegetal mass surrounding yellow buds in Corbeille de Fleurs would have led me to think the work was made in the 2010s or maybe the 1980s, but in fact it was made in 1925 and by Georges Braque of all people.
Not that the blockbusters aren’t just as fun. Renoir’s Fleurs dans un Vase (1878) is displayed alongside the original Majolica vase depicted in the painting. The exhibition rewards deep looking and offers threads to be followed. That first room with the Koons includes two works by Picasso, both titled Vase de Fleurs from 1901 and 1904, that demonstrate, with economy, the transition from his Blue to his Rose period. The threads between West and East are no less satisfying to explore. Wu Dayu’s Untitled 128 (c. 1980) merges the bursts of color found in European modernism and the distinctly Chinese philosophical ideas of inner energy and resonance. Sanyu’s Vase of Flowers in Blue (1956) is meanwhile sui generis. The vase is a sketch compared to the intense details of the flowers, and the background is so rich that it could be an astounding abstract painting without anything else in it.
But each work in this show is a gem. Shanghai’s West Bund Art & Design for 2026 is sure to be as well attended as this past edition, and if you’re in the region, a day trip to Nanjing to see this show at Deji would be time well spent.
Experts’ view on the market performance for the different artist segments over the next 12 months. Source: ArtTactic Art Market Expert Survey – January 2026
As Observer predicted would happen in our own end-of-year reporting, the market’s K-shaped divide will only become more acute: the most robust performance and dynamic deal flow are expected either at the top end—above the $1 million mark—or in the more accessible tiers below $50,000, while the middle market remains sluggish, especially for contemporary artists whose prices outpaced their résumés on the way into the five-figure range.
While 51 percent of experts surveyed expressed a positive outlook for the over-$1 million segment, confidence has rebounded even more sharply in the lower tiers, with 61 percent of respondents expecting a stronger year, compared with just 44 percent in 2025. Even on the heels of a stellar fall auction season, most experts—57 percent—agree that the secondary and auction markets will recover more quickly than the primary market, where 46 percent anticipate a flat year of post-bubble stability and only 35 percent foresee a comparable revival.
Across period categories, demand continues to concentrate around a limited number of names. For example, while the $236.4 million record-breaking Klimt sale contributed to the Modern segment’s standout performance—reaching $1.38 billion in 2025, up 19.4 percent year over year—the survey shows that auction sales were largely driven by just three top performers: Pablo Picasso (up 23.8 percent), Mark Rothko (up 122.2 percent) and Alexander Calder (up 108.9 percent). Similarly, on the Postwar and Contemporary side, the strongest gains were recorded by institutionally and market-consolidated artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gerhard Richter, David Hockney, Ed Ruscha and Yoshitomo Nara, all of whom have been the subject of major museum exhibitions in recent years, reinforcing both buyer interest and market confidence.
Meanwhile, as the ultracontemporary segment continues to cool, all five of the top-selling Young Contemporary artists at auction—Matthew Wong, Nicolas Party, Avery Singer, Shara Hughes and Jadé Fadojutimi—have experienced year-over-year declines in both lot volume and total sales since 2023. Nicolas Party, once a market phenomenon, saw his total auction sales fall from a peak of $20,170,129 in 2023 to $2,497,160 in 2025. It remains unclear whether his current exhibition of 40 pocket-size paintings at Karma New York is intended to reignite market interest or to strategically introduce more accessible price points for new buyers after prices rose too quickly to sustain demand. Only 10 works were actually offered for sale, priced between $165,000 and $205,000, and all sold. The remaining three quarters of the exhibition consist of works from the artist’s archive—replicas of earlier pieces—intended, perhaps, to maintain visibility and keep his “myth” alive.
Installation view: Nicolas Party’s “Dead Fish” at Karma Chelsea. Courtesy Karma
More broadly, compared with the near-impossible waiting lists of the recent past, many of these artists are now considerably more accessible on the primary market, provided buyers are willing to meet revised price expectations. This shift may help explain the increase in unsold, withdrawn or canceled lots at recent auctions, unless estimates were already adjusted to create a sense of “deal.” A vivid 2022 abstraction by record-setting artist Jadé Fadojutimi, for example, failed to sell at Phillips last November, likely due to an overly ambitious $800,000-1,200,000 estimate. At Frieze Seoul in September, Taka Ishii presented an entire booth of her works priced between a more accessible $475,000 and $610,000, all available for sale on preview day.
Holding periods and annual rates of return
Looking at 81 repeat sales in the contemporary segment, the average annual rate of return (CAGR) fell to +2.3 percent (not inflation-adjusted), down from +5.1 percent the previous year. Short-term resales were particularly weak: nine works resold within five years posted an average annual loss of -9.2 percent. While it’s best to avoid framing art purely in financial terms, analysis confirms that, in today’s post-wet-paint-bubble market, historically validated works held for extended periods by the same owner deliver the strongest resale outcomes.
In the Impressionist category, for example, at least 67 percent of resold lots generated positive returns, up slightly from 65 percent in 2024, with an average annual return of +5.4 percent (not inflation-adjusted), compared with +4.3 percent the previous year. The average holding period increased to 27.3 years from 22.9 years in 2024, while the top 10 performing lots achieved an average CAGR of +18.2 percent over an average holding period of 14.6 years. The strongest individual result of 2025 was Tamara de Lempicka’s Femme Assise (1925), which sold for $522,357 (including buyer’s premium) at Christie’s Hong Kong in September 2025 after being acquired in 2015 for $31,283—an annualized return of +30.3 percent over a ten-year holding period.
Returns are even more polarized in the Postwar category when holding periods are factored in. According to ArtTactic, among 10 works resold within five years, the average annual loss was -7.6 percent. In contrast, works held for more than two decades delivered significantly stronger results, with average annual returns of +9.6 percent, rising to an average CAGR of +19.1 percent over a 15.3-year holding period.
In today’s post-wet-paint-bubble market, historically validated works held for extended periods by the same owner deliver the strongest resale outcomes. Source: ArtTactic Art Market Expert Survey – January 2026
In the contemporary segment, the holding period proves decisive, as time allows living artists to achieve more meaningful institutional validation—helping justify price levels and fueling both demand and confidence. Longer-held works, particularly those owned for more than 20 years, continued to perform more positively, delivering average annual returns of +8.9 percent. The strongest result was Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Womanology (2010), which sold for $573,181 (including buyer’s premium) at Phillips London in March 2025 after having sold for $90,600 at Christie’s London in 2014, yielding an annualized return of +19.4 percent over a 10.4-year holding period.
Political uncertainty and market expectations
One of the most revealing elements of the report is the extent to which art market experts’ sentiment aligns with rapidly shifting global geographic and economic conditions—particularly given how eventful the year’s opening has been. Despite growing political division and rising tension at both national and international levels, the Federal Reserve Bank’s Blue Chip survey of professional forecasters still projects about 1.9-2.0 percent real GDP growth for 2026, with inflation hovering around 2.9 percent and unemployment slightly higher than in 2025. At the 2026 World Economic Forum, U.S. officials suggested even stronger early-year momentum, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick forecasting first-quarter GDP growth above 5 percent. Reinforcing this relative resilience, all 33 U.S. banks with assets over $50 billion posted positive total returns last year.
Yet political uncertainty is clearly filtering into market expectations. While art expert sentiment toward the U.S. art market as the primary global center remains broadly positive heading into 2026, more optimistic growth expectations declined from 52 percent in 2025 to 48 percent in 2026. The current political and economic environment has also shaped experts’ perceptions of London and, more broadly, the U.K., which was once the undisputed second global center of the art market. Nearly half of respondents—49 percent—expect the British art market to remain at current levels, reflecting cautious confidence but also an acknowledgment that punitive tax policies targeting high-net-worth individuals—compounded by the longer-term disruptions of Brexit—have increasingly pushed wealth toward other global centers rather than attracting it.
Despite growing political division and rising tension at both national and international levels, the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s Blue Chip survey of professional forecasters still projects about 1.9-2.0 percent real GDP growth for 2026. Source: ArtTactic Art Market Expert Survey – January 2026
Despite Europe entering 2026 in a phase of growing fragility—marked by heightened geopolitical tension, economic deceleration and a visible erosion of political leverage on the global stage—expert sentiment toward the continent has nonetheless improved. Positive expectations for Europe’s role in the art market rose from 17 percent to 28 percent, primarily driven by Paris’s renewed positioning as the most dynamic global art hub. Still, with the overall economic growth outlook for 2026 remaining sluggish at around 1.3 percent with slower wealth expansion than in other regions, most experts anticipate a stabilized, largely flat market characterized by incremental improvements rather than a full revival or renewed growth cycle.
Experts increasingly agree that power dynamics—and particularly the financial force shaping the future of the art market—are shifting toward new geographies. Unsurprisingly, with the arrival of Art Basel and Frieze and the success of Sotheby’s early Saudi sales, the Middle East—and the Gulf in particular—stands out as the most bullish region heading into 2026, with 76 percent of experts expecting positive market performance and minimal downside risk. This confidence is driven not only by the growing concentration of wealth but also by robust public investment in cultural infrastructure, an expanding institutional presence and sustained government-backed initiatives, with tourism authorities partnering directly not only with global museum brands but also, increasingly, with fairs and auction houses. Although the Middle East still accounts for a relatively small share of global turnover and activity remains concentrated in a limited number of centers, with regional economic growth projected at around 3.9 percent in 2026, its fairs and institutions are emerging as new magnets for international market activity at a moment when other regions face slower growth and mounting political headwinds.
South Asia and Southeast Asia are the other regions experts expect to sustain growth, driven by rising domestic wealth, increasing international recognition of regional artists and expanding institutional engagement that continue to bolster market confidence. This momentum is further reinforced by a younger, increasingly affluent population drawn to art, design and luxury collecting, with growing spending power. According to Christie’s year-end results, younger and new buyers from the region accounted for 37 percent of global luxury auction spending. Reflecting this shift, 53 percent of respondents now believe the art market in South Asia will continue its ascent, up from 32 percent last year. In comparison, positive expectations for Southeast Asia have climbed to 48 percent, up from 35 percent in 2025. India, in particular, remains the region’s anchor market, supported by strong domestic demand, projected economic growth of around 6.4 percent in 2026 and a rapidly expanding base of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
The primary gateway to the region remains Hong Kong, where all major auction houses have doubled down over the past year, investing heavily in expansive, experience-driven luxury headquarters. While auction results in 2025 were uneven and buyer behavior at Art Basel Hong Kong was notably more conservative, expert sentiment toward the city has improved sharply. Positive expectations for Hong Kong as the region’s leading art-market hub rose from 19 percent to 48 percent, while negative views fell dramatically from 52 percent in 2025 to just 14 percent heading into 2026.
China’s improving art-market outlook appears increasingly driven by ultra-high-net-worth individuals and internationally mobile capital, particularly as it continues to funnel through Hong Kong’s established financial and cultural infrastructure. Source: ArtTactic Art Market Expert Survey – January 2026
This rebound in confidence has unfolded alongside renewed optimism around mainland China. Despite escalating geopolitical tensions and U.S. tariffs, China posted approximately 5.0 percent economic growth in 2025, meeting the government’s official target and marking a modest rebound amid persistent domestic weakness and external pressures. While domestic consumption remained subdued—with retail sales growing only about 3.7 percent—and private museums continued to close throughout 2025, the improving art-market outlook appears increasingly driven by ultra-high-net-worth individuals and internationally mobile capital, particularly as it continues to funnel through Hong Kong’s established financial and cultural infrastructure.
Looking more broadly across Asia, experts also anticipate renewed energy in the South Korean market following a slow year and sluggish sales at Frieze Seoul, as the initial contemporary boom gave way to more conservative behavior—even among younger buyers. Thirty-four percent of experts expect a positive turn (up from 16 percent in 2025), supported by a broader wealth outlook pointing to moderate economic recovery, with growth projected at around 1.9-2.0 percent in 2026, driven by semiconductors, A.I.-related investment and a rebound in domestic consumption. This recovery is expected to be measured rather than explosive, as the market stabilizes after a speculative phase and becomes increasingly supported by institutional engagement and a more selective, quality-driven collector base.
Stability is also expected to continue to characterize Japan’s steadily evolving art market, in line with its broader economy and political landscape. Neutral sentiment among experts rose to 65 percent (up from 35 percent), reflecting a market historically anchored in mature institutions and seasoned players—largely resistant to speculative excess after having already absorbed its consequences during the 1980s boom.
Looking to the other side of the Americas, despite slowing regional growth and heightened geopolitical tension heading into 2026, confidence in the Latin American art market is strengthening, with positive expectations rising to 41 percent on the back of record-setting Modern sales and increased international visibility.
Experts’ outlook for Africa’s art market also remains stable rather than expansionary, with modestly improving sentiment and declining downside risk supported by selective institutional interest and growing international visibility—even as strong economic growth from a low base continues to be tempered by structural infrastructure constraints.
David Hockney, The Poet, from The Blue Guitar, 1976-77. Courtesy of Adam Baumgold Gallery
Auction results are usually the only public data available for reading the art market, even though they reflect only the secondary sphere. Art fair sales reports can hint at how the primary market is behaving and what collectors are circling, but even those numbers are unstable, shaped by discounts, negotiations and the many variables that can shift between an invoice being issued and a wire arriving. Artsy, widely regarded as the largest online marketplace for art, recently released its first Buyer Trends Report based on the searches and primary-market transactions on its platform, offering a clearer picture of what collectors were buying in 2025.
“This report reinforces the patterns we identified in Artsy’s Art Market Trends 2025: collectors are becoming more selective, and that discipline is directing demand toward the primary market—especially mid-tier and emerging artists,” Artsy CEO Jeffrey Yin told Observer, noting that works priced under $10,000 are benefiting as buyers look for strong entry points that do not rely on speculation. “Even as the top end recalibrates, the fundamentals remain healthy. People are acquiring art they genuinely want to live with, at price points that feel responsible in today’s market.”
Trend 1: Smaller paintings at smaller prices
Small paintings have dominated recent gallery shows and fairs, particularly on the emerging side. Pocket-sized works encourage a more intimate and emotional relationship with the subject, but they are also easier to live with—lighter to ship, simpler to frame and far less punishing when it comes to storage or relocation. In cities like New York and London, where aggressive real estate markets make long-term leases a luxury, collectors are increasingly opting for art that can move with them.
Artsy’s users in 2025 were actively seeking art on a micro scale, with searches for “micro,” “mini” and “small” rising 40 percent, 47 percent and 49 percent. Forty percent of all purchases on the platform were for small works, and acquisitions tagged as “miniature and small-scale paintings” increased 66 percent year over year.
These numbers may be predictable for an online marketplace, where buyers tend to trust digital transactions for lower price tiers rather than multimillion-dollar blue-chip masterpieces that require in-person due diligence. Still, the pattern aligns with the 2025 Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report, which noted that while the highest-end segment contracted sharply (sales above $10 million fell steeply in both number and total value), works priced below $50,000 accounted for roughly 85 percent of dealer transactions in 2024. Smaller galleries—those with under $250,000 in annual turnover—reported a 17 percent increase in sales. The report also confirmed steady growth in the sub-$5,000 range, mirroring Artprice’s recent data showing a rise in transactions under $10,000. Hiscox’s 2024 Online Art Trade Report found that 60 percent of online buyers purchased works under $5,000, with the fastest-growing bracket under $1,000. At the fair level—from NADA Miami and Untitled Art, which just closed, to Independent New York and Future Fair—small-format works were often among the first to sell out, frequently within VIP day, as both younger and seasoned collectors favored accessible entry points that fit urban apartments.
The design world is echoing the same preference. Artsy identified the rise of “gallery wall” and salon-style décor as a key trend, with interiors favoring densely hung arrangements of small pieces over single statement works. Publications from Elle Decor to The New York Times have likewise pointed to small-format art as the next major wave in collecting—easier to buy, easier to place and uncannily suited to the economic and spatial realities of 2025.
As collectors lean toward more affordable, manageable formats, editions and drawings are also gaining popularity, particularly for those who want to access established and blue-chip names otherwise out of reach. Artsy’s report dedicates a spotlight to David Hockney, who, after a few landmark years of museum shows, saw a spike in demand not only for paintings but also for prints available at more accessible price points. Searches for his name were up 46 percent on Artsy in 2025, making him the third most searched artist on the platform, with strong demand for his more “popular-priced” etchings.
Trend 2: Blue’s growing appeal
In a time of uncertainty and global turmoil, collectors have been turning toward the calming psychological pull of blue. Searches for “blue” on Artsy were up 20 percent year over year, with a particular preference for cobalt, a deep, vivid shade. Searches for “cobalt” rose 131 percent year over year, while purchases tagged “bright and vivid colors” increased 22 percent.
Yves Klein, California (IKB 71), 1961. Sold for €18.4 million ($21.4 million). Christie’s
As water becomes more precious and record-hot summers force us to reckon with its growing scarcity, blue has gained traction for its association with water. Works depicting swimming pools, waves and open seas have seen growing interest, with searches for “ocean,” “sea” and “water” rising by 33 percent, 28 percent and 24 percent, respectively. This trend has been visible at fairs over the past few years and in the auction market—most notably with Yves Klein’s California (IKB 71) (1961), a monumental museum-grade masterpiece that sold for €18.37 million ($21.34 million) at Christie’s Paris in October.
But the blue trend extends well beyond the art world. Pantone’s Spring 2025 palette featured multiple saturated blues, with Strong Blue among its most circulated seasonal shades. Vogue declared cobalt the “new it-color,” as designers Tommy Hilfiger and Loewe leaned into deep blues in their spring/summer 2025 runway shows. Miu Miu, Balenciaga and Ferragamo pushed electric and ultramarine blues in recent campaigns, while beauty and consumer culture followed suit: Glossier and Rare Beauty launched cobalt liners, Dyson released cobalt-violet appliances that became TikTok fixtures and Apple’s deep-blue iPhone finish emerged as the most ordered shade of its cycle.
Trend 3: A return to nature
This widespread desire to disconnect and return to the essence has also fueled a renewed longing for nature—something many rediscovered during the pandemic. This “bucolic escapism,” a contemporary take on the idyll, has taken hold in gallery shows and fair presentations through dreamy landscapes, rolling hillsides, lush gardens and flower compositions, as well as scenes of horses.
Art history offers precedent: renewed fascination with pastoral imagery tends to surface during moments of political fatigue or cultural volatility. In Ancient Rome, pastoral ideals emerged amid expansion, civil war and social anxiety, as poets and painters projected fantasies of rustic simplicity—Virgil’s Arcadia being the archetype. After the turmoil of the Napoleonic era, European painters embraced a neoclassical pastoral vocabulary as an antidote to upheaval and imperial overreach. The pastoral has long served as a stabilizing fiction—a world governed by harmony rather than conflict, by timeless nature rather than chaotic politics. Today’s appetite for harmonious landscapes, garden scenes and atmospheric horizons reflects similar pressures: climate dread, digital overload and geopolitical tension.
Caleb Hahne Quintana, A Flicker in the Ancient Rhythm (detail), 2025. Flashe and drybrush on linen, 74 x 54 in. Courtesy the artist and Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles / New York. Photo by Shark Senesac
On Artsy, purchases of works tagged “landscapes and waterscapes” were up 35 percent year over year, “flora” up 44 percent and “earth tones” up 29 percent. Searches for related topics also accelerated: “picnic” rose 208 percent, “outdoors” 80 percent, “nature” 30 percent and “landscapes” 19 percent.
Once again, the trend extends beyond the art world, with organic, nature-inspired shapes, earth tones and natural light dominating collectible design and interiors—fueling continued momentum for the Lalannes—and echoing lifestyle culture more broadly. Biophilic design, from indoor gardens to moss-green upholstery and stone surfaces, has become a recurring feature in architecture and retail, while fashion and wellness brands lean into materials and palettes that promise grounding and retreat in an increasingly unstable, urbanized world. Pinterest’s 2025 summer trend report highlighted a sharp rise in nature-oriented searches tied to the “digital detox” narrative. Airbnb reported a 100 percent increase in searches for countryside stays and a 50 percent rise for national park stays, with Gen Z driving a 26 percent surge in fall travel searches—Vermont ranked as a top foliage destination. TripAdvisor and other booking data indicate that smaller, nature-adjacent cities are outperforming major metropolitan destinations, and the U.S. National Park System logged roughly 332 million visits in 2024, confirming that nature-based travel and outdoor engagement have become defining trends of 2025.
Trend 4: The return of domestic tableus
With the pandemic, for better or worse, people rediscovered the pleasures of staying home, reviving interest in domestic rituals such as cooking and shared meals. Unsurprisingly, the final key trend Artsy identified is the rising popularity of still lifes that depict this comforting domesticity, along with scenes of people eating together. Purchases of works tagged “food” were up 61 percent year over year, while searches for “dinner” and “food” each rose 44 percent, “dining” 38 percent, “meal” 28 percent and “table” 18 percent.
Once again, the trend extends across lifestyle and communication. Etsy reported that searches for “dining ware” and “supper club,” driven by table-setting categories, surged by 1,000 percent. Social platforms are flooded with cooking tutorials, dinner-party events and images of dining—often at home. On TikTok, “dinner parties” content views were up 70 percent year over year and #CookingTok remained one of the most active tags, while on Instagram, posts tagged #tablescape increased over 35 percent. On YouTube, cooking videos saw a 25 percent increase in watch time, and Eventbrite reported a 45 percent rise in cooking-class bookings in 2024-2025. As eating out becomes more expensive and people feel more disconnected and alienated, the rediscovery of cooking and sharing food reflects a contemporary nostalgia as much as a desire to reconnect with the essence—what truly nourishes body and soul.
Now, if we think of art as both symptom and palliative, these buying patterns begin to read as something larger than market behavior. They reveal a broader societal undercurrent—a map of what people are seeking, avoiding or trying to soothe. In this sense, what collectors gravitate toward becomes a quiet proxy for the contemporary condition, a way of understanding not only what is selling but what people feel they need.
The October evening sales brought the London auction houses their highest totals in years. Courtesy of Sotheby’s
Sales aren’t just buoyant at Frieze this week—London’s auction houses also saw their strongest results in years, signaling renewed confidence at the top of the market. Kicking off the action, Christie’s 20th/21st Century London Evening Sale on October 15 achieved a robust £106,925,400 ($142,852,000), marking the auction house’s best Frieze Week evening sale in more than seven years. The total was up 30 percent from last year, with 92 percent sold by lot and 90 percent sold by value. Katharine Arnold and Keith Gill, vice-chairmen of 20th/21st century art, Christie’s Europe, reported entering the week with confidence and “carefully priced material,” noting a “spirited and well-attended” public viewing at King Street. “We are proud to have realized such a solid outcome during Frieze Week, a moment that highlights the energy and cultural vitality of London’s art scene,” they told press.
Leading the sale was Peter Doig’s monumental Ski Jacket (1994), which sold for £14,270,000 ($19,064,720) against a £6,000,000-8,000,000 estimate after more than 13 minutes of fierce bidding between six contenders. Carrying a third-party guarantee, the painting had been acquired in 1994 by Danish collector Ole Faarup, and 100 percent of the proceeds will now go to his foundation. This unusual arrangement also helped Christie’s secure two additional Doigs, despite the artist having become a rare presence at auction.
With an extensive exhibition history, Doig’s Country Rock (1998-1999) nearly hit seven figures in sterling—though it comfortably did so in dollars—achieving £9,210,000 ($12,304,560). A third, more abstract and heavily textured work, also acquired by Faarup in 1994, sold a few lots later just shy of its high estimate at £635,000. The strong results coincided with the opening of Doig’s new show at the Serpentine in London, further fueling demand.
Christie’s evening opened with a standout result for Domenico Gnoli, whose hyperrealistic painting fetched £977,000, doubling its low estimate. Immediately after, a more impressionistic landscape by René Magritte landed at £762,990—well above expectations—reinforcing both continued momentum for the artist and the broader strength of surrealism. Later in the sale, Magritte’s drawing La veillée (The Vigil) exceeded its £500,000 high estimate, selling for £812,800.
The 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale at Christie’s resulted in several new artist records. Photo: Guy Bell | Courtesy of Christie’s
Picasso, as usual, delivered dependable results, with several works selling above or within estimate, including the £2,002,000 oil and ink on panel Chevalier, pages et moine. The modern and impressionist offerings also performed within expectations, largely due to the quality of the material: a Marc Chagall painting fetched £2,246,000, while a lyrical bucolic scene by Nabis painter Maurice Denis sold for £1,697,000. Meanwhile, a horizontal abstract work by Hurvin Anderson exceeded expectations, fetching £3,222,000.
The sale also set several new world auction records, underscoring the ongoing momentum for women artists and long-overlooked names being rediscovered. Paula Rego’s Dancing Ostriches from Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” (1995) soared to £3,466,000 ($4.63 million), setting a new landmark record for the artist. Suzanne Valadon’s Deux nus ou Le bain (1923) followed with a £1,016,000 ($1.36 million) record. Contemporary sculptor Annie Morris’s Bronze Stack 9, Copper Blue (2015) achieved £482,600 ($644,754), while Danish artist Esben Weile Kjær set his first auction record with Aske and Johan upside down kissing in Power Play at Kunstforeningen GL STRAND (2020), which sold for £25,400 ($33,934).
Among the few unsold works of the night were Yoshitomo Nara’s drawing Haze Days, which failed to find a buyer at its ambitious £6.5-8.5 million estimate, and a gray monochrome by Gerhard Richter—even with the artist opening a major survey at the Fondation Louis Vuitton during Paris Art Week. A black Blinky Palermo also went unsold, while a colorful but slightly less iconic Nicholas Party work, Tree Trunks, was withdrawn ahead of the sale.
Notably, Christie’s reported that 56 percent of buyers in the evening sale came from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with only 28 percent from the Americas and 16 percent from the Asia-Pacific region. This confirms revived demand in the regional market, as also evidenced earlier in the day by the heavy attendance at Frieze.
A £17.6M Bacon headlined at Sotheby’s
Led by a £17.6 million Francis Bacon, Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction closed at $63.5 million. While the total was less than half of Christie’s the night before, the comparison needs context: this was Sotheby’s third major London evening sale since March—whereas it was Christie’s first of the season. Sotheby’s has already staged two major white-glove sales this year—the £101 million Karpidas collection auction in September and the £84 million Summer Evening Sale—meaning that with last night’s results, the house has now sold £233 million worth of modern and contemporary art in London since March. Moreover, the £63.5 million total marked the highest October evening sale result since 2023, up 25 percent from the previous year.
Since March, Sotheby’s has sold £240 million worth of Modern and Contemporary art in London. Courtesy Sotheby’s
“Frieze is always a special time for London, with so many collectors in town whose presence we always feel in our sales,” Ottilie Windsor, co-head of contemporary art, Sotheby’s London, told Observer. “It was great to have them with us tonight and to see so much live action in the room, helping sustain the strong momentum we’ve built over the past few seasons here.”
The Francis Bacon result came after 20 minutes of suspense and fierce bidding across multiple phone specialists and a bidder in the room, pushing the final price to nearly double its £6-9 million estimate. In U.S. dollars, the hammer plus fees rose to $17.6 million. For comparison, the last notable Bacon—Portrait of Man with Glasses II—sold at Christie’s in March for £6,635,000 ($8.4 million), and that work was almost a third smaller. Another, smaller Bacon, closer in scale to Christie’s example, sold here for £5,774,000 ($7.3 million). Bacon’s record still stands at $142.4 million, set at Christie’s New York in 2013 with his triptych Three Studies of Lucian Freud.
The sale opened strong, with solid results for several younger contemporary artists who have recently drawn both market and institutional attention. At lot one, a painting by Ser Serpas landed at £27,940 ($35,700)—just under estimate but still enough to set a new auction record for the artist. The California-born painter, who studied in Switzerland and gained early recognition there, was recently included in a MoMA PS1 exhibition and held a solo show at Kunsthalle Basel during the June fairs.
Two of the hottest rising names in recent auctions—driven largely by Asian demand and limited primary-market availability—followed. An abstract by Emma McIntyre, now a Zwirner favorite, sold for £50,800 ($65,000), and Yu Nishimura achieved the same price. Both works carried estimates of £40,000-60,000, reflecting the tight competition at this level.
In between, a 2009 painting by Hernan Bas acquired from Perrotin sold just above its low estimate, likely to its guarantor, at £254,000 ($323,000). Momentum continued for Lucy Bull, whose kaleidoscopic abstraction from 2021—originally acquired from Paris gallery High Art—more than doubled its top estimate of £500,000 ($635,000), landing at £1,260,000 ($1.6 million) after being chased by five bidders, most from Asia.
Overall, the auction confirmed the ongoing strength of the market for women artists, all of whom sold above estimate. Sotheby’s also posted strong results for Paula Rego: her pastel on paper Snow White Playing with her Father’s Trophies sold within estimate for £900,000 (about $1.15 million), while Jenny Saville’s charcoal study exceeded its high estimate, selling for £533,000 (around $675,000).
Among other notable six-figure results, a monumental El Anatsui sold just shy of its high estimate at £1,999,000 (about $2.53 million). Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (The Arm) from 1982—a pivotal year in the artist’s rise—landed squarely within estimate at £5,530,000 (approximately $7 million). Andy Warhol’s Four Pink Marilyn (Reversal) followed, selling within estimate for £4,326,000 (about $5.5 million).
The masters also held firm. Both of Auguste Rodin’s monumental sculptures from his seminal series The Burghers of Calais sold within estimate to a collector in the room: Jean de Fiennes, vêtu, Grand Modèle achieved £762,000 ($1 million), while Pierre de Wiessant, vita, Grand Modèle, vêtu sold for £889,000 ($1.2 million).
The market for Lucio Fontana also showed signs of recovery—at least for major works. His rare blue 14-slashed Concetto spaziale, Attese sold just above estimate at £2.8 million (about $3.7 million) following a fierce bidding war among four potential buyers. The deep blue of the canvas was inspired by Yves Klein’s IKB pigment—but Klein’s own Untitled Fire Colour Painting (FC 28), which appeared one lot earlier, surprisingly went unsold after failing to meet its £1.8-2 million estimate ($2.3-2.5 million), despite both an irrevocable bid and a guarantee.
Other unsold works of the night included paintings by Frank Auerbach and Daniel Richter. Still, Sotheby’s achieved a healthy 89 percent sell-through rate by lot.
On October 17, Sotheby’s also staged a single-owner sale of 17 iPad drawings by David Hockney from his celebrated series The Arrival of Spring. The results were remarkable: the group doubled its high estimate to reach £6.2 million ($8.3 million), achieving a white-glove sale and setting a new auction record for the artist. With this result, Sotheby’s London has now brought in £240 million (approximately $304 million) since March. Notably, American buyers accounted for 40 percent of the purchasers in the Hockney sale, underscoring the continued global demand for blue-chip British artists.
A £2,374,000 Basquiat tops Phillips’ London Evening Sale
On October 16 at 5 p.m., Phillips hosted its London Modern & Contemporary Evening Sale, achieving a total of £10,332,200 ($13,884,410) across 22 lots. The auction was more modest—and less successful—than the others, posting a 32 percent drop compared to last year after four lots failed to sell and four others were withdrawn before the start. The evening was led by a new auction record for Emma McIntyre: Seven types of ambiguity (2021) sold for £167,700 ($225,355) from a modest £50,000-70,000 estimate, edging past her previous record of $201,600 set in May 2025 at Phillips Hong Kong. The second-highest lot of the night was Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Pestus) (1982), which comfortably met its pre-sale estimate at £2,374,000 ($3,190,181).
An energetic moment from Phillips’s London Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale. Courtesy Phillips
Once again, contemporary women artists confirmed their momentum at Phillips, reaching a high point after Emma McIntyre’s record-setting result when Flora Yukhnovich’s My Body knows Un-Heard of Songs (2017) fetched £1,276,000 ($1,714,689) against a £900,000-1,500,000 estimate.
Opening the sale was a purple-and-pink abstraction by Martha Jungwirth—now a familiar presence across Thaddaeus Ropac’s fair booths—which exceeded expectations at £180,600. A few lots later, an early work by Sasha Gordon sold just shy of its high estimate at £116,100. Demand for Gordon has been reignited by her blockbuster solo debut at Zwirner in New York, which made her the youngest artist represented by the mega-gallery. Painted in 2019 during her studies, Drive Through marks a transitional moment in her shift toward the more discursive, cartoon-inflected style that catapulted her into the global spotlight.
Later in the sale, Noah Davis’s Mitrice Richardson (2012) found a buyer within estimate at £451,500 ($606,726), while Derek Fordjour’s Regatta Pattern Study (2020) fetched £528,900 ($710,736), surpassing its high estimate of £500,000. Other notable results included Sean Scully’s Wall of Light Summer Night 5.10 (2010), which achieved £967,500 ($1,300,127) against a £600,000-800,000 estimate, and Robert Rauschenberg’s Gospel Yodel (Salvage Series), which sold for £709,500 ($953,426), more than doubling its £350,000-550,000 estimate. A 2012 sculpture by Bernar Venet fetched £516,000 ($693,401) from a £250,000-350,000 estimate, reflecting the artist’s rising demand—particularly in Asia.
Not everything landed. A Warhol-inspired Banksy portrait of Kate Moss, estimated at £700,000-1,000,000, failed to find a buyer, while a cacophonic abstract work by Sigmar Polke from 1983-84 also went unsold, likely due to its overly ambitious £600,000-800,000 estimate relative to current market demand for the artist.
For Olivia Thornton, Phillips’s head of modern and contemporary art, Europe, the overall positive auction reflected “the vibrancy of contemporary collecting” and reaffirmed London’s enduring magnetism: “London remains the cultural crossroads of the global art market.”
According to Aleksandra Artamonovskaja, the digital art we make today has a long lineage dating back to the 1950s. Tezos Foundation
As the world becomes increasingly digital and technologically integrated, it is harder than ever to draw clear boundaries between analog and digital experiences. Technology is now deeply woven into how we express, communicate, share and process information and ideas, making it nearly impossible to find contemporary art completely untouched by digital tools or platforms. Artists working in traditional media inevitably engage with the digital realm in some capacity—even if only as a platform for sharing or a source of inspiration for works created in more conventional formats.
For this reason, the term digital art can be confusing. Some interpret it broadly to include any work shaped by technology, while others reserve it for “digital-native” practices created entirely within the digital space.
To explore this evolving landscape, Observer spoke with Aleksandra Artamonovskaja, who has worked in the Web3 art space for nearly a decade and now serves as head of Arts at TriliTech, the team behind the Tezos Art Foundation. Artamonovskaja shared her perspective on the current state of digital art, its market and the broader ways technology and digital platforms are reshaping how art is produced and circulated.
“You have both professionals in the broader creative economy or artists whose works are exhibited in traditional institutions such as museums, falling into this category,” she tells Observer. Still, there are some defining parameters. “To me, digital art is a form that relies fundamentally on digital technology, not just the tools, but the medium itself, as the product or the process. Digital art allows experimentation across various areas, such as lighting, texture, movement and interactivity, that traditional media can’t always convey. It’s not just about using a screen as a canvas, but often reinventing what the idea of a ‘canvas’ even means.”
Tezos began actively engaging with the digital art world in 2021. Artists and collectors on NFT platforms like Hic et Nunc, Objkt, and fx(hash) adopted the blockchain for minting and selling works, quickly making it a hub for digital, generative and experimental art.
Established around the same time, the Tezos Foundation formalized its support for digital art soon after, launching major initiatives between late 2021 and early 2022. Since then, it has evolved into an artist-first hub within the Web3 ecosystem. Through high-profile partnerships with institutions like MoMA and Art Basel, it is positioning itself as a vital conduit for Web3 creativity.
Since Artamonovskaja was appointed head of arts at TriliTech in 2024, she has played a central role in ensuring that the Tezos ecosystem maintains an artist-first framework. Priorities like sustainability, affordability and inclusivity are amplified through programming that raises global awareness of digital art while empowering existing talent with meaningful opportunities for growth.
Sabato Visconti, barbie~world~breakdown, 2024. At the Museum of the Moving Image, as part of its partnership with the Tezos Foundation. Photo: Thanassi Karageorgiou. Courtesy of MoMI
“Marketplaces on Tezos like objkt, along with high-profile partnerships with the Museum of the Moving Image, Serpentine, ArtScience Museum and others, help contextualise digital art within broader cultural landscapes,” Artamonovskaja says. She sees contextualization as fundamental to supporting the appreciation and institutionalization of a newly established field like digital art. “Our current programs also encompass a range of activities, including residencies, publications, and exhibitions, nurturing a creative environment that fosters artists’ career trajectories.” One major upcoming initiative she previewed is Tezos’ second participation at Paris Photo, in partnership with Paris-based Artverse gallery, where curator Grida Jang Hyewon will present a group booth featuring work by six artists who originate from, or are deeply shaped by, Asian cultures.
Fostering awareness of these tools and technologies is another key priority. “The Tezos Foundation has supported several educational projects, including WAC Lab, which taught professionals from cultural institutions about Blockchain best practices, as well as artist onboarding programs, such as Newtro, a program focusing on Latin American artists,” Artamonovskaja says. “Through these ongoing initiatives and upcoming projects, it’s no surprise that the Tezos ecosystem serves some of the most respected voices in the digital art space, including bitforms gallery, the Second Guess curatorial collective and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.”
Just as importantly, Tezos has helped connect and map a decades-long history of relationships between artists and digital media, beginning with early net art and extending back to Nam June Paik’s pioneering inquiry into media and technology as a form of expression. As Artamonovskaja explains, the history of digital art runs from the algorithmic plotter works of Manfred Mohr and Vera Molnár, to Alan Rath’s kinetic sculptures fusing electronics with movement, to Paik’s groundbreaking video art, and to the browser-based experiments of 1990s net artists like Cory Arcangel and Olia Lialina. “Each era redefined what it meant to create and experience art in dialogue with new technologies, shifting from producing singular digital images to building works that exist natively within global networks. I’ve always been fascinated by how forward-thinking some of the artists were. Seeing Nam June Paik’s Electronic Superhighway in person, its glowing map of America alive with moving images, makes you reflect on how foretelling his vision was to today’s hyperconnected, media-saturated world.”
The “Paintboxed Tezos World Tour” exhibition at Digital Art Mile, Basel, 2025. Courtesy Tezos Foundation
The Paintboxed Tezos World Tour paid tribute to this long history, spotlighting the heritage of the Quantel Paintbox—the legendary 1980s commercial computer designed for artists and famously used by David Hockney and Keith Haring. “The digital art we make today most certainly belongs to a long lineage dating back to the 1950s, with interactive systems, initiatives such as E.A.T. and tools like the Quantel Paintbox,” Artamonovskaja points out.
In the past year, the Paintboxed Tezos World Tour has appeared at major art events in Miami, Paris and New York, culminating in a pivotal exhibition at the Digital Art Mile in Basel. The Basel presentation was accompanied by a catalogue of works produced by early pioneers such as David Hockney and Kim Mannes-Abbott—among the first to experiment with the tool—alongside a younger generation of artists like Simon Denny, Coldie and Gretchen Andrew. “Recognizing these histories enriches our understanding and positions Web3 art not as a fleeting trend but as a continuation of decades of creative innovation,” Artamonovskaja says.
She recalls first encountering Olia Lialina’s work in person at her presentation during Rhizome’s 7×7 conference in 2017, an experience that left a lasting impression. “What struck me most was not only her early, both critical and playful approach to the browser as a canvas, but also the nuanced commentary on the word ‘technology,’” she recalls, noting how the artist was vocal in her criticism of how the term had been overused to the point of losing specificity. “This reminded me how in the 1990s, ‘technology’ in an art context often meant something tangible, visible and experimental. In contrast, today it’s so embedded in our lives that we rarely stop to question it, and by doing so, in a way, we lose our power. The work and reflections of early net art artists often underscore the importance of maintaining that spirit of inquiry.”
Creative freedom and new audiences
For Artamonovskaja, the digital realm opens vast possibilities: dynamic experimentation, global reach and direct control. Over the past decade, she notes, social media has reshaped the artist’s role—shifting it away from reliance on galleries and institutions toward a more direct relationship with audiences. “Some artists have become their own marketers, community builders and storytellers, shaping not only how their work is seen but also how it’s valued,” she says. “This shift didn’t just change the market side of art; it influenced the medium itself. Many artists, including those working in traditional media, have begun creating works either conceived for the screen or engaging with it from a conceptual or critical perspective, responding to its formats, visual rhythms and narratives, while reflecting on how these elements shape our ways of seeing and experiencing art.”
The rise of blockchain and NFTs has taken this further by adding new layers of transaction and interactivity. “Within the Tezos ecosystem, for example, sales platforms like objkt.com have nurtured their own curatorial voices and collector bases,” she explains. “At the same time, through our ongoing initiatives like Tezos Foundation-supported open calls, residency programs and partnerships with leaders such as Art Basel and Musée d’Orsay, we’ve created new success structures for artists.” Fully harnessing this potential means embracing both creative and structural possibilities—whether by experimenting with digital-native forms, exploring interactive or generative elements, or engaging with blockchain-native ecosystems to connect with communities and shape how their work is experienced, owned and valued.
Rodell Warner, World Is Turning, 2024. At the Museum of the Moving Image, New York, as part of its partnership with the Tezos Foundation. Photo: Thanassi Karageorgiou. Courtesy of MoMI
The importance of context in curating digital art
Context, Artamonovskaja stresses, is just as important for digital art as for any other medium when it comes to establishing value and recognition. Digital art curation—including art on the blockchain—has evolved rapidly over the past several years, she notes. Having worked in the digital art space for nearly a decade, longer than many of her contemporaries, she has witnessed these shifts firsthand. “It may not seem like a significant amount of time in the grand scheme of things, but in the Web3 world, everything is accelerated,” she observes. “The COVID-19 pandemic forced the traditional art world to embrace virtual environments en masse. In blockchain and digitally-native art, these technological advancements that reshape how the audience interacts and experiences the work happen every few months.”
For this reason, curating digital art already extends far beyond simply displaying work—it is about building trust and transparency with both artists and viewers. “Given the size of the digital art market and its novelty, the curator’s role is often also that of an art dealer helping artists position their work, connecting them with the right collectors and helping them navigate the commercial and technical aspects of selling digital art in a rapidly evolving environment,” she clarifies.
“In many ways, the Web3 market functions as an accelerated mirror to the traditional art world—compressing the cycles of creation, curation, sales and audience engagement into days or weeks instead of months or years,” she continues, noting that this might not apply to every project but that, over time, it makes the discovery of emerging talent more accessible. “The same dynamics of representation and influence exist, but blockchain-enabled provenance, global marketplaces and always-on communities make the process faster, more transparent and oftentimes more efficient.”
Aleksandra Artamonovskaja with a work by Jenni Pasanen. Courtesy Tezos Foundation
Artamonovskaja acknowledges that whether this acceleration is good or bad for artists and the market is still open to debate, but she sees one undeniable advantage: the ability to engage new audiences.
Challenges in collecting and preserving digital art
In May 2022, the Tezos Foundation unveiled its Permanent Art Collection (PAC), curated by Misan Harriman, as its first official high-profile program dedicated to celebrating and elevating digital art created within its ecosystem. This marked the beginning of an ongoing commitment to showcase and acquire works by diverse, emerging artists.
Artamonovskaja has been collecting digital art and NFTs for years. When asked about her criteria for identifying a significant work worth collecting, she says it often comes down to whether the piece moves her or signals that the artist is bringing a fresh perspective to her areas of interest. “Factors such as strong artistic vision, thoughtful use of technology and meaningful cultural context are also incredibly important,” she explains. “Novelty—both conceptual and visual—plays a significant role.” This is a defining feature on sales platforms like objkt, which frequently highlight advanced interactive pieces ranging from minimalist HTML sketches to fully immersive browser-based games and on-chain data experiments. Other platforms, such as EditArt or InfiniteInk, enable interactive co-creation and dynamic experiences.
“As someone who collects the art they love, I find that the resonance within the wider ecosystem often plays a big role,” Artamonovskaja says. “Given that the market was born under the premise that there are no more gatekeepers and each artist can represent themselves, an artist’s approach to self-representation can be as important as how a gallery typically represents its artists.” Today, a community of artists exists with varied definitions of success, some prioritizing reach and community growth over traditional markers of recognition. “Perhaps this is where comparing art on the blockchain to traditional markets is a fallacy.”
Collecting digital art also raises new questions around preservation and conservation, as these works often depend entirely on the technologies through which they are created, circulated, displayed and stored. Preservation begins with recognizing that it’s not just about maintaining the still or moving image as we see it on a platform or as we right-click save it. “If we care about the work’s association with a blockchain, we need to maintain a relationship between the smart contract and the output,” she explains. “We need to care about whether the work has an archival file, a higher resolution exhibition copy, or just the web copy we see in front of us. We also want to safeguard the metadata and the environments in which the work is intended to reside.”
She notes that ensuring a worthwhile chain of documented provenance for blockchain-registered art requires active collaboration between artists, technologists, archivists and node operators. For a work to remain tied to a chain, archival advocates and conservation specialists may need to preserve not only the piece but also its operational context.
Across blockchains, one of the most significant risks in recent years has been the shutdown of marketplaces. “In such instances, it was either the core team’s efforts or the community that preserved the works, ensuring they remained accessible as intended,” Artamonovskaja points out, emphasizing that this was possible only thanks to open-source access and the benefits of decentralization.
On Tezos, for example, every artwork collected on objkt is stored on IPFS, a decentralized network designed for long-term preservation. The team ensures that each asset is pinned and remains accessible, with safeguards in place so that even if the platform were to go offline, the art would remain secure. “Tezos provides a reliable and future-proof foundation for building digital art collections,” Artamonovskaja emphasizes.
Another advantage of NFTs on Tezos is that its self-amending blockchain and formal on-chain governance make contentious hard forks far less likely than on other chains, reducing the risk of the same NFT appearing on two separate blockchains. “Because protocol upgrades are proposed, voted on and activated within the blockchain itself, NFTs remain recorded on a single chain that all participants continue to use.”
When it comes to conversations about technology, the biggest elephant in the room is the A.I. revolution, which is reshaping nearly every aspect of our lives—and, in turn, how artists approach their work and creative process. Increasingly, artists admit to using A.I. not only to refine work but also to brainstorm or seek feedback. This has sparked ongoing debate about the role of A.I. in the creative process—as a tool, an assistant or even a collaborator.
Asked about the opportunities A.I. presents for the art world and the risks it poses, particularly for digital art, Artamonovskaja is convinced that if it is approached as an instrument, it can help extend an artist’s vision. Its value, she argues, depends on how intentionally it is applied—whether to streamline workflow, unlock new aesthetic possibilities, or enable experiments that would be impossible through traditional means.
“Artists like Dr. Elgammal have even credited A.I. as their creative partner. Ultimately, art is subjective, so the idea of improving it is hard to define,” Artamonovskaja considers. “For some creators, A.I. is integrated on a deeper technical level—artists like Ivona Tau or Mario Klingemann write their own systems, shaping the algorithm as much as they shape the final product. Other artists, such as Trevor Paglen or Kevin Abosch, engage with A.I. from a critical standpoint, using it to question the technology’s politics, biases and social implications.”
At the same time, she warns of potential risks: diluting authorship, amplifying biases embedded in training data or reducing the artist’s role to that of a passive editor rather than an active creator. In 2021, she collaborated with Mike Tyka to release his renowned Portraits of Imaginary People on the blockchain, a project that delved directly into these themes. By training GANs on thousands of Flickr images, Tyka generated faces of people who do not exist, exposing how A.I. systems can reproduce and amplify identity biases. “His approach challenged notions of authenticity and sparked dialogue about technology’s influence on representation and trust,” she notes.
With the arrival of more sophisticated tools in recent years, Artamonovskaja observes that the market is still struggling to understand and value generative artistic practices. “For me, the most compelling A.I. art is not simply about the image produced, but about the relationship between human intention and machine capability, and the conceptual story that emerges from that relationship,” she reflects, emphasizing again that it is not about the medium itself but the critical and creative approach to it—the inquiry into its potential—that transforms a work of art into a tool for better understanding, or even anticipating, the broader sociological, anthropological and political implications of these new technologies in our existence.
Frieze Art Week has officially kicked off in London with its first openings, as the local community and international visitors gear up for the launch of Frieze London and Frieze Masters tomorrow (October 9). Despite the buzz that some global collectors might skip London in favor of Paris due to the challenge of committing to a full two-week marathon of fairs, the city’s art scene—through its galleries and institutions—has once again curated an impressive lineup that makes a stop in the British capital worthwhile, even if just for a few extra days before heading to the next art week or fair. To help you navigate this year’s Frieze offerings, Observer has compiled a list of the top show openings to check out in London.
Mire Lee’s Hyundai Commission at Tate Modern
Visceral and uncanny, Mire Lee’s art probes the boundaries between the technological and the human. Selected for the prestigious annual Hyundai Commission at Tate Modern, she has transformed the Turbine Hall into a surreal landscape of hanging fabric sculptures and epic mechanical installations, reimagining the space as a living factory populated by alien forms and mysterious processes.
Drawing on the building’s history as a power station, Lee reflects on its monumental scale and how it mirrors humanity’s relentless drive for dominance and control over nature. She has reconfigured the hall into an industrial womb—an environment where human desires and ambitions echo through sprawling mechanical systems. Crafted from industrial materials like silicone, chains, and eerie fluids, her “skin” installations stir a complex interplay of emotions, provoking awe and disgust, desire and repulsion. The work explores horror not merely as fear, but as a gateway to alternative possibilities and future potentialities, as once theorized by Foucault. As Lee expressed in a statement, “Ultimately, I am interested in how behind all human actions there is something soft and vulnerable, such as sincerity, hope, compassion, love and wanting to be loved.”
Exploring a non-human concept of the body, the Korean artist’s intricate installations challenge the technological illusion of solidity and permanence, confronting viewers with the inevitable decay and deformation of all subjects over time. By staging this perpetual state of transformation and metamorphosis within a post-apocalyptic setting, the artist engages with a new notion of hybridity—one that blurs the line between the products of the Anthropocene and the unknown entities and processes that will ultimately supersede them.
Mire Lee’s “Open Wound” opens tomorrow (October 9) and is on view at Tate Modern through March 16.
“Hockney and Piero: A Longer Look” at the National Gallery
Detail from David Hockney’s My Parents (1977). Courtesy London’s National Gallery
Don’t miss this rare conversation at the National Gallery, which explores the inspiration David Hockney drew from the enigmatic paintings of Renaissance master Piero Della Francesca. This one-room capsule project creates a space for slow contemplation, juxtaposing two of Hockney’s works—one portraying his mother and father, and the other depicting his friend, curator Henry Geldzahler, alongside the thread that connects them: Piero della Francesca’s The Baptism of Christ. Part of the National Gallery’s Bicentenary celebrations, the project illuminates the connections that weave through art history, highlighting how it’s been a continuous journey of confrontations, inspirations and exchanges, where artists revisit and reinterpret recurring themes and archetypes according to the aesthetics and sensibilities of their own era.
Opening just ahead of Frieze Art Week, Whitechapel Gallery has set up a compelling dialogue between two artists who, despite distinct geographical and cultural backgrounds, have similarly sought to redefine the relationship between artist and audience by fostering greater interaction and a more participatory approach.
Brazilian artist Lygia Clark, a pioneer of the “Neo-Concrete Movement” (1959-1961), anticipated the notion of Relational Art by developing a new, organic concept of the artwork—one that could fluidly respond to the phenomenological space of the senses. Her creations evolved into “social sculptures” designed to engage and transform through direct interaction, unfolding within the temporal space of community and social cohesion. “Lygia Clark: The I and the You” traces her artistic journey from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, exploring how her radical approach emerged in response to a turbulent period in Brazil’s history.
In parallel, Venice Golden Lion-winner Sonia Boyce explores similar themes of manipulation and inhabitation, inviting viewers to engage, touch and experience her work in unscripted, immersive ways. “Sonia Boyce: An Awkward Relation” is conceived specifically to resonate with Lygia Clark’s exhibition, showcasing the strong synergies between the British and Brazilian artists’ experiential, participatory practices.
George Rouy’s debut solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth London, “The Bleed, Part I.” Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Following the announcement of his representation just a few months ago, the highly sought-after George Rouy is making his debut with Hauser & Wirth in London. The painter’s meteoric rise stems from his ability to resonate with a new generation of collectors, offering a visual language that captures the tensions and contradictions of the body and psyche as they navigate the physical and digital realms.
“The Bleed, Part I” showcases Rouy’s latest body of work, where he delves further into themes of collective mass, multiplicities, and human movement across different modes of existence. Playing between the “void,” where the psyche expands and projects itself, and the “surrounding,” where the physical body is in constant negotiation with external forces, Rouy’s paintings depict the push-and-pull between these realms, producing figures that are simultaneously fragmented and whole. This tension suggests the potential for a new hybrid human experience, oscillating between the linear constraints of the body and the quantum possibilities it can access.
The exhibition will continue with “Part II” at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles, launching during Frieze L.A. and underscoring the gallery’s commitment to positioning Rouy as “a leading figure of the new generation of painters.”
George Rouy’s “The Bleed, Part 1” is on view at Hauser & Wirth London through December 21.
Suspended between a dreamlike world, a sentimental dimension, and a poetic space of literary references, Dominic Chambers’s paintings capture moments of joy, leisure, love, and life. His vibrant canvases are defined by intentionally surreal palettes that heighten the emotions and atmosphere of each scene. Since graduating from Yale, the young artist has swiftly risen to prominence, making his debut at Lehmann Maupin in New York soon after. Now, for his first solo show at the gallery’s London location—his U.K. debut—Chambers presents an expansive new body of work, including paintings, works on paper and color studies. His visual language has already evolved into something more allegorical, shifting from human-centered scenes to lyrical or oneiric landscapes where figures often float, yet the mood and feeling remain the true protagonists.
Drawing its title from the Greek word meraki, meaning “to pour one’s soul into one’s work,” the exhibition takes this notion as a springboard to explore how the concept of the soul—or one’s interiority—intersects with devotion and creativity. Rich in both art historical and religious references, the works tap into a more spiritual dimension, expanding beyond the sentimental intimacy that defined his earlier pieces. Deeply influenced by Magic Realism, Chambers’s paintings detach themselves from material reality, moving fluidly between inner, outer and otherworldly realms, exploring symbols, signals and intermediaries that guide us in navigating the layers of human experience.
Dominic Chambers’s “Meraki” is on view at Lehmann Maupin through November 9.
Rirkrit Tiravanija at Pilar Corrias
“A MILLION RABBIT HOLES” marks Rirkrit Tiravanija’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias
As a pioneer of Relational Art, Rirkrit Tiravanija’s work carries an inherently political charge, as demonstrated by his latest show at Pilar Corrias London. In “A MILLION RABBIT HOLES,” Tiravanija explores the deepening polarization and disillusionment surrounding the U.S. election, touching on globally pervasive sentiments as the world’s balance grows increasingly fragile. Transforming the gallery walls with forest-like wallpaper, he creates an immersive environment reflecting the charged atmosphere of American politics in the lead-up to the election, inspired by his experiences in Upstate New York.
Known for his groundbreaking installations centered around cooking and communal sharing, Tiravanija’s practice emphasizes human connections over traditional notions of art as static objects. His works often subvert societal hierarchies and behavioral norms, inviting audiences to participate actively—whether through interactions with others or through the artist’s facilitation. In his London exhibition, visitors are plunged into a world of paradoxical propaganda, surrounded by an intentionally illusory, pastoral setting that underscores the fiction of contemporary politics and the false promises of a better future.
Rirkrit Tiravanija’s “A MILLION RABBIT HOLES” is on view at Pilar Corrias, London, through November 9.
Tracey Emin at White Cube
Tracey Emin’s “I followed you to the end” at White Cube, London. Courtesy of teh Artist and White Cube.
Since her rise to fame as the queen of the Young British Artists with her unforgettable My Bed (1998), Tracey Emin has captivated international audiences with her provocatively raw yet deeply human art, addressing the peaks and valleys of existence—love, desire, grief and loss—with an unflinching honesty. Her autobiographical approach has laid bare the intensely personal yet universal experience of being a woman, capturing everything from the awakening of sexual desire and the claiming of one’s pleasure to the visceral trials of violence, shame, illness, abortion and menopause. This turbulent inner world of emotions, passions, and sensations is instinctively translated onto Emin’s canvases through bold, unplanned strokes that channel her emotional energy directly onto the surface.
Emin has never hesitated to confront the most profound physical and psychological challenges, chronicling the unique struggles of the female condition in today’s world. Her latest show in London continues the journey she began with her recent exhibition at White Cube New York last year, presenting a powerful new series of paintings and sculptures that delve into themes of love and loss, mortality and rebirth.
Every time Anna Weyant stages an exhibition, it becomes evident that beneath the buzz surrounding her private life, there’s an undeniable technical mastery that continues to evolve while remaining deeply engaged in a dialogue with art history. Drawing as much from the refined elegance of Flemish portraiture as from the dramatic chiaroscuro of Caravaggio, Weyant’s paintings are not only visually captivating but also deeply intriguing. They meticulously uphold the Western canons of beauty and “good painting”—executed with precision—but simultaneously disrupt this perfection with uncanny elements that provoke the viewer to question these very ideals.
Rendered in somber tones and pale hues, her figures often play tragicomic roles, suspended in a dreamlike, timeless space. These doll-like girls move through her canvases with a fierce presence, yet subtly reveal a concealed inner struggle—suggesting a fragile, unspoken vulnerability. They project an image of strength, wielding their allure with confidence, but betray an underlying trauma or insecurity that compels them to seek validation and admiration externally. This tension resonates perfectly with the exhibition’s title, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” Marking her London debut, the show makes these dynamics of concealment and performance even more apparent. The feminine attributes of her meticulously rendered classical bodies are only glimpsed through small windows, partially obscured by a fabric blind or a newspaper—introducing a fresh psychological layer to her latest body of work.
“Calder: Extreme Cantilever” at Ben Brown London. Courtesy of Ben Brown.
Opening on Frieze Masters Night at Ben Brown Fine Arts, this exhibition reunites Alexander Calder’s three unique cantilever sculptures for the first time, presented alongside a curated selection of oil paintings, works on paper and historically significant artifacts. The centerpiece sculptures—Extreme Cantilever, More Extreme Cantilever and Extrême porte à faux III—are on loan from the Calder Foundation and distinguished private collections, showcasing the artist’s boundless imagination and intuitive genius that firmly position him as one of the 20th Century’s leading innovators. More importantly, this grouping captures a pivotal evolution in Calder’s formal and conceptual approach to spatial abstraction, shaped by the seismic impact of the Second World War. Confronted with a world grappling with collective trauma, Calder responded with sculptures that became strikingly evocative, featuring increasingly complex forms that seem to encapsulate the anxieties of an era—a resonance that remains poignant amid today’s renewed geopolitical uncertainties.
“Calder: Extreme Cantilever” opens tomorrow (October 9) and runs on November 22 at Ben Brown Fine Arts in London.
“Enchanted Alchemies: Magic, Mysticism, and the Occult in Art” at Lévy Gorvy Dayan
Geltrude Abercrombie, Lady with Black Braid; Oil on Masonite, 8 × 10 inches (20.3 × 25.4 cm). Courtesy of Lévi Gorvy Dayan
As interest in Surrealism, now 100 years old, continues to rise, Lévy Gorvy Dayan’s latest exhibition in London delves into themes of magic, mysticism, and the occult through a collection of masterpieces primarily by Surrealist women artists such as Gertrude Abercrombie, Eileen Agar, Leonora Carrington, Elda Cerrato, Ithell Colquhoun, Leonor Fini and Monica Sjöö, placed in dialogue with contemporary figures like Francesco Clemente, Chitra Ganesh, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bharti Kher, Linder and Goshka Macuga. Blurring the boundaries between spirituality, mysticism, and hallucination, the show provides a sweeping exploration of the human imagination across cultures and eras.
Organized into three thematic chapters—“Occultism and Dreams,” “Magic and Mysticism” and “Alchemy: Enchantment and Transformations”—the exhibition examines how artists over the past century have engaged with occult and esoteric traditions to shape and reshape their personal, cultural and historical narratives. The timing feels particularly relevant as society experiences a renewed fascination with alternative knowledge and spirituality in an era that has “killed its idols” yet still searches for new belief systems amid a pervasive sense of irrationality and uncertainty.
Jordan Schnitzer in 2023. Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Portland-based real estate developer, philanthropist and art collector Jordan Schnitzer hopes to boost the arts scene at Portland State University (PSU) with a $10 million gift. In addition to supporting the eponymous museum at the university, the funds will help PSU’s art and design school grow.
“An arts education is the best background to think creatively, to learn to be innovative, to help build our workforce and economy, and most importantly, to help solve society’s great challenges,” said Schnitzer in a statement, adding that his donation will not only help students but the entire Portland region. “In my opinion, this is a worthy philanthropic investment to help PSU continue to be an active part of a thriving downtown Portland.”
Half of Schnitzer’s funds will pay for the construction of a new building for PSU’s school of art and design, which will be renamed the Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design in recognition of the donation. The facility is scheduled to open by 2026 and will let PSU expand its key offerings, including a pioneering art and social practice program emphasizing the relationship between art, community engagement and social justice.
Another $4 million will support operations at a PSU museum launched in 2019 with another donation by Schnitzer. Known as the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at PSU, it houses 20th- and 21st-century artworks from the philanthropist’s vast collection. The remaining $1 million will reinvigorate PSU’s urban campus through outdoor art, additional signage and lighting.
Schnitzer’s gift is a direct response to a call to action from Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, who earlier this year asked for business, civic and educational leaders to invest in downtown Portland. “The success of Portland State University is integral to the vision we share for downtown,” she said in a statement.
Arts and philanthropy run in the Schnitzer family
Schnitzer’s patronage of PSU follows a long line of family philanthropy. His mother Arlene opened the Fountain Gallery in the 1960s (one of Portland’s first professional galleries) while his father Harold founded Schnitzer Properties, the real estate development company Schnitzer runs today. The duo were generous contributors toward PSU, having established the university’s visiting professorship in art, Judaic studies program and the Arlene Schnitzer visual arts prize.
Their actions largely inspired Schnitzer’s activities in the art world. His collection, which primarily consists of contemporary prints and multiples, contains works by more than 1,500 artists, including Andy Warhol, Jeffrey Gibson, David Hockney and Kara Walker. In addition to showcasing items from his collection at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and art institutions at the University of Oregon and Washington State University, Schnitzer exhibits maintains his own Portland-based gallery and loans out pieces to museums across the globe.
“My parents often said ‘to whom much is given, much is expected,’ but this applies to all of us,” said Schnitzer. “With this significant contribution, one of the largest in PSU’s history, we are joining others who also are thankful for all the opportunities we have had living and working in downtown Portland.”
Scotland’s vibrant capital city is a destination steeped in history and brimming with character with loads to see and do. Edinburgh Castle looms over the skyline and sits opposite Arthur’s Seat, an ancient volcano situated in the middle of the wild but walkable highland landscape of Holyrood Park. The city also boasts centuries-old pubs, Michelin-starred restaurants, luxury accommodations like Gleneagles Townhouse and stunning architecture.
Edinburgh’s art scene is yet another draw, and in fact, the city may be best known to culturally attuned international visitors as the site of the annual Fringe Festival—the largest performing arts festival in the world. Beyond the Fringe, however, the city’s thriving year-round visual arts scene offers an exciting program of exhibitions, events and installations in an array of galleries and museums.
The list below features some of Edinburgh’s top art galleries, but it’s by no means an exhaustive list (honorable mentions include the eclectic Velvet Easel Gallery, the multi-arts venue Summerhall, Ingleby Gallery and the photography focused Stills Gallery). Most of the must-visit art galleries in Edinburgh are free and open to the public, and all offer something unique within the realm of visual arts, from textile works to outdoor installations and more.
Edinburgh’s Best Art Galleries
Fruitmarket Gallery
Fruitmarket Gallery. RUTH CLARK
If you’re traveling to or from Edinburgh by train, then you don’t have much of an excuse not to visit Fruitmarket. Built in the 1970s on the site of a former fruit and vegetable market, Fruitmarket Gallery is a small, independent exhibition space nestled right next to Waverley Station, making it the perfect place to call in before continuing your journey.
Despite its relatively small size, Fruitmarket has shown big names in contemporary art throughout the years, including David Hockney, Eduardo Paolozzi and Nancy Spero. Under the careful directorship of Fiona Bradley, who took the helm in 2003, there’s always something fascinating to explore in the gallery’s three exhibition spaces.
Recent highlights include “the apparent length of a floor area,” an exhibition by Portuguese artist Leonor Antunes. Her sculptural installations are inspired by traditional artisanal techniques and make use of cork, wood and rope to rethink how sculpture is defined. Fruitmarket is currently screening a documentary film on climate change entitled “Project Paradise” by the artist Sarah Woods, and the gallery hosts Edinburgh’s annual Artists’ Bookmarket, a festival that celebrates artist-led publishing.
Fruitmarket celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and will be presenting a program of Scottish, British and international artists including work by Turner Prize-winning sculptor Martin Boyce and Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama. There’s also a fantastic cafe and gallery shop to enjoy once you’ve finished exploring the exhibitions.
Jupiter Artland
Jupiter Artland. Allan Pollok-Morris
Founded in 2009 by Robert and Nicky Wilson, Jupiter Artland is a fabulous and sprawling sculpture garden located just on the edge of Edinburgh. In the peaceful surrounds of the 100-acre estate, you can plot a route between more than thirty outdoor installations, including Antony Gormley’s Firmament, a giant polygonal structure constructed of steel balls, and Landscape with Gun and Tree, the nine-meter-tall cast-iron shotgun by Cornelia Parker that leans against one of the park’s trees. You can even check exactly how many kilometers away you are from the planet Jupiter thanks to Peter Liversidge’s handy Signpost to Jupiter.
The interplay between art and nature at Jupiter Artland is often whimsical, but there are more unsettling pieces to unwrap, too. A particular highlight is Scottish artist Nathan Coley’s In Memory, which depicts a private cemetery containing several gravestones with the names of the deceased removed. Site-specific works by artists such as Christian Boltanski, whose Animitas installation sits within Jupiter Artland’s Duck Pond, invite visitors to sit and reflect using all five senses (Animitas has over 200 Japanese bells that gently chime in the wind).
Recent exhibitions have included a series of raw and deeply personal works by Tracey Emin entitled “I Lay Here For You” (2022), as well as a hugely well-received first solo show by Lindsey Mendick entitled “SH*TFACED” (2023).
Alongside slightly more adult-oriented artwork, there’s also plenty for families with children to enjoy. Easter time brings egg hunts in the park, while at Christmas, the estate transforms into a Winter Wonderland complete with Festive Donkeys and an Elf Workshop. The permanent installations offer plenty for young children as well, with Peter Jencks’ landform work Cells of Life providing a network of sculpted hillsides and small lakes to explore. Incidentally, you can find another outdoor work by Jencks, Ueda, right outside the entrance to Modern One (see below).
National Galleries of Scotland: National
Scotland’s National gallery. Gillian Hayes
The National is (as the name suggests) the national gallery of Scotland. The building is in the middle of the city, overlooked by Edinburgh Castle, and directly surrounded by other iconic locations including Princes Street Gardens, the Balmoral Hotel and the Scott Monument. Easy to access and mostly free to enter (bar certain temporary exhibitions), the National Gallery is an excellent introduction to Scotland’s artistic heritage.
After years of renovation work, the gallery now boasts a stunning new wing devoted to the finest in Scottish artwork. Its open-plan design, which features a series of large windows, allows visitors to admire works by pioneering Scottish artists such as William McTaggart and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, while also enjoying snapshots of Edinburgh’s iconic city center in the background.
For many, Sir Edwin Landseer’s The Monarch of the Glen will be the most recognizable painting on display. The majestic red deer stag sits among a host of traditional Scottish oil-on-canvas landscapes. But there are other jewels in the new wing, too, including The Progress of a Soul, a stunning series of four embroidered panels by Phoebe Anna Traquair that depict the soul’s journey from birth to final redemption.
The National also offers an array of international art, including Renaissance works by Titian and paintings by Dutch masters Rembrandt and Vermeer. For families with children, the venue hosts an activity space and relaxed informal events for parents and youngsters, including ‘Bring Your Own Baby’ and ‘Family Fridays.’ Finish off your visit with lunch at the cafe, which overlooks Princes Street Gardens or treat yourself to a souvenir from the gallery gift shop.
Dovecot Studios
The Dovecot Studios weaving floor. Shannon Tofts
Dovecot Studios offers something different from other art galleries in Edinburgh. Located a stone’s throw from the city’s historic Cowgate, Dovecot is a unique artistic center that combines a working textile studio with a traditional gallery space.
Visitors don’t have to pay to enter the studios, where you can peer down from the Tapestry Studio’s viewing balcony and watch the resident Dovecot weavers at work. This is a real treat—members of the public can observe works-in-progress as they’re hand-woven in real time. The Dovecot team has collaborated with a host of famous artists over the years, including Turner Prize winner Chris Ofili and renowned Scottish-Barbadian artist Alberta Whittle.
In addition to the viewing balcony, Dovecot Studios hosts a program of paid exhibitions throughout the year. A special mention must go to the hugely well-received “Scottish Women Artists – 250 Years of Challenging Perception” which closed in January after a tremendous six-month run and celebrated the work of female artists including Joan Eardley and Victoria Crowe. Now Dovecot is playing host to the first-ever showcase of Andy Warhol’s commercial textile designs.
National Galleries of Scotland: Modern
Scottish National Gallery Modern One. Keith Hunter
Modern is the place to visit for Edinburgh’s most outstanding collection of contemporary art. The gallery is split into two buildings, Modern One and Two, both of which are located on Belford Road in the city’s stunning Dean Village neighborhood. The grounds feature a striking landform by Charles Jencks, with other outdoor installations by the likes of Martin Creed to discover along the pathways up to each gallery.
Contemporary art lovers of all tastes and styles will find something to enjoy here. The permanent collection at Modern One hosts work by big names such as Henri Matisse and Barbara Hepworth and lesser-known gems such as Slow Movement by Eileen Agar. Modern Two tends to focus on abstract and experimental work from the late 19th Century onwards.
Modern is an excellent introduction to contemporary art and has previously played host to the British Art Show (“British Art Show 8”), as well as recent exhibitions on Surrealism. This year promises more exciting and challenging displays: from May onwards you can visit “Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990.” And if the Scottish weather holds out and the sun is shining, make sure to enjoy the courtyard cafe at Modern One for some tea and scones.
National Galleries of Scotland: Portrait
National Portrait Gallery of Scotland. Andrew Lee
Last but by no means least, the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland is not to be missed. Its diverse collection of portraits, which includes iconic faces from Mary, Queen of Scots through to Billy Connolly and Chris Hoy, tells the story of Scotland through its people—and the artists who painted them.
Located in the city center on Queen Street, the gallery building is an attraction in itself. Surrounded on all sides by modern architecture, Portrait is a Neo-Gothic masterpiece. Inside its Great Hall, the beautiful so-called ‘Zodiac ceiling’ has thousands of golden stars and 47 constellations.
The collection itself is a fascinating glimpse into some of the lives that have shaped the Scotland we know today. And when you need a break from viewing the portraits, you can browse the building’s stunning 19th-century Library and Print Room.
Frieze L.A. in 2023. Photo by River Callaway/WWD via Getty Images
Los Angeles continues to solidify its place as a cultural hub, attracting prominent artists, museums and New York-based galleries drawn in by its gravitational pull—not to mention Southern California’s enviable climate and relaxed atmosphere. While L.A.’s art scene has experienced pivotal bursts of growth and evolution, the changes happening now are setting a different tone and pace with some art experts referring to this period as the Los Angeles’ golden era of art. What’s beyond doubt is that the city has firmly staked its position as a destination for art aficionados, boasting headline-grabbing gallery and museum exhibitions, revered art fairs and a coordinated push to keep highlighting talented, historically under-represented artists.
The Obvious Must-See: Frieze L.A.
If you’re currently in Los Angeles, you don’t want to miss this standout March art fair. Inspired by the acclaimed annual Frieze Art Fair in London, Frieze L.A. now draws gallerists and collectors from far and wide who come to see the vibrant artwork and attend the associated cultural events that enliven this city. This year, Frieze Los Angeles will take place from February 29 through March 3 at the Santa Monica Airport, which will host 95 gallery showcases.
One must-see booth is Sean Kelly Gallery’s solo presentation of L.A.-based conceptual artist Awol Erizku (stand A18). Erizku confronts traditional Eurocentric interpretations of beauty, tapping into varied inspirations ranging from Ancient Egypt to hip-hop, using mediums such as neon work, photographs, lightbox and silkscreen with an accompanying musical playlist. Visitors should also look for the site-specific artworks dotting the fair and inspired by the unique history of Santa Monica Airport, where Hollywood set designers in the early 1940s created an entire mock suburb to camouflage WWII operations. These pieces are part of The Art Production Fund’s “Set Seen” exhibition.
Other L.A. art happenings worth checking out
‘Coca Cola Girl 1’ (2019). Lococo Fine Art Publishing
First, head across town to Felix Art Fair—another must-see Los Angeles art fair, which runs concurrently with Frieze. This unique fair, located in the iconic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, ingeniously fills guest rooms with artwork from galleries both well-known and emerging, creating an exciting, Spring Break atmosphere. Some exhibition rooms open right onto the pool, making the fair not only a great Hollywood hangout but also a true breath of fresh air. Felix’s set-up always introduces me to new and exciting artists, which is why it’s an event I attend every year.
Next on my must-see list is this month’s debut of Destination Crenshaw, an open-air museum that spans more than a mile and celebrates Black artists with connections to L.A., where you can see pieces by Kehinde Wiley, Artis Lane, Maren Hassinger and others.
Beyond that are two gallery exhibitions that visitors and L.A. natives and transplants should make time to see.
This exhibition celebrates trailblazing artist Sam Gilliam with three bodies of work from his last five years: watercolors, drapes and tondos. To me, Gilliam’s drapes (made from washi, a handmade Japanese paper soaked in both watercolor and acrylic paint) embody the genius in material experimentation that cemented his name in the art world. The vibrant yet translucent drapes are pleasantly haunting, suspended from the ceiling, they immerse us in his art.
From groundbreaking, MacArthur Prize-winning artist Tavares Strachan, this six-environment show is epic in size and scope, with site-specific work that utilizes mediums including ceramic, bronze, marble, hair, painting, neon and sound. The newly built Seward Gallery space has been transformed: a vast clay earthen floor challenges visitors’ expectations and contextualizes life-sized ceramic sculptures depicting notable African American figures and themes of aspiration and hidden histories.
Rounding out my list of must-see art in L.A. is the Getty Center’s new exhibition, “First Came a Friendship: Sidney B. Felsen and the Artists at Gemini G.E.L.” For those fascinated with the relationships between artists and their processes, this exhibition delivers context and celebrates the art world’s seminal late-20th-century pioneers as well as prominent 21st-century artists.
Finally, make time to stop by Santa Monica’s iconic Shutters on the Beach hotel. Perched on the Pacific coast, the resort invited me to curate an art collection that would blend the novel with the familiar. I selected pieces that evoked an upbeat, relaxed, oceanside vibe, including Ellsworth Kelly’s celebrated leaves (Cyclamen II, Cyclamen IV and Camellia III), John Baldessari’s depiction of fish (Blueberry Soup, and Carrot Soup) and David Hockney’s whimsical land and seascapes—many of which are readily viewable while dining or relaxing at the hotel.
My most recent acquisition for the resort is Coca Cola Girl 1 by pop artist Alex Katz, a nostalgic lithograph hung in the lobby area, a stone’s throw away from Claes Oldenburg’s Slicing Strawberry Shortcake—an etching of a large slice of strawberry-topped cake leisurely floating down a river. Feel free to get in touch with me, as for a limited time during Frieze, I’ll be giving private tours of the property’s collection as part of the resort’s Culture on the Coast package.
Art advisor Cynthia Greenwald (l.) and Alex Couri at the Art Los Angeles Contemporary Reception at the home of Gail and Stanley Hollander. Photo by Jesse Grant/WireImage
