Art

The BRED Abu Dhabi festival, presented by HYPEBEAST, recently concluded its dynamic showcase at the Yas Bay Waterfront. Among its diverse attractions, the unveiling of the Harmony in Play: A Mural of Love, Unity, and Nature mural by artists Omar Sha3 and Ana Barriga stood out for its expressive elements amidst a lively, dynamic collaboration between the artists.Situated within the vibrant Hypeart Studio, the mural encapsulates the essence of joy, love, unity, and the interconnectedness between humanity and nature. Ana Barriga's playful aesthetic, blending reason with emotion, infuses the artwork with elements of fun, playfulness, and irony. Through her dedication to learning and her passion for painting, Barriga invites viewers into a world where imagination reigns supreme.Complementing Ba...

Frank Stella, the pioneering American artist best known for his minimal abstract paintings, passed away over the weekend at his West Village home in New York, age 87. The late artist's wife, Dr. Harriet E. McGurk, told The New York Times that the cause of death was due to complications with lymphoma.Hailed as the 'Father of Minimalism,' Stella is one of the most important figures in the U.S. post-war art scene. He signaled an end to the loose and gestural tenants set forth by the Abstract Expressionists during the 1950s, in favor of a cool, calculated aesthetic that emphasized rigid geometric patterns, precise line-work and vibrant color combinations that were partly inspired by his formative years painting houses and boats in his hometown of Malden, Massachusetts. “Frank Stella is not int...

A newly attributed painting by the 16th century Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio will soon go on view at Madrid's Prado Museum. The artwork, which measures 43.7 x 33.8 inches and depicts Jesus Christ wearing a crown of thorns prior to his crucifixion, nearly sold at a Spanish auction house in 2021 for $1,600 USD, as it was widely believed to be the work of Caravaggio's disciple, José de Ribera. After experts examined the artwork further, however, the painting was deemed an original by Caravaggio — who is believed to have only created roughly 60 paintings in his lifetime — and has a value that could be “stretched into the tens of millions, if not more," according to the Associated Press. Entitled Ecce Homo (1605-09), the work is believed to have once been in the private coll...

Paul McCartney's rare photographs from The Beatles' 1963–64 U.S. tour arrive at the Brooklyn Museum. Rediscovered from McCartney's archives, over 250 images capture the frenzy of Beatlemania and the band's personal moments. The exhibition blends photography, video clips, and archival materials to immerse viewers in the era. Director Catherine Futter describes it as a window into McCartney's journey amidst fame and camaraderie.McCartney's diverse artistic talent shines through in his photos, reflecting influences from 1960s photography styles. From formal portraits to candid snapshots, the exhibition showcases his range beyond music. "Eyes of the Storm" offers a personal narrative of McCartney's journey alongside John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.Beyond nostalgia, the exhibition...

Vancouver-based artist FVCKRENDER launched his first physical sculpture show Ascend during Frieze Art week in New York. Curated by Carlo McCormick, the exhibit offered a diverse array of artworks, blending tangible works with digital creations. Enhancing the immersive experience, DS & Durga provided curated scents that added an extra dimension to the showcase, engaging visitors' senses in unexpected ways.Among the highlights were six new artworks, including three digital pieces available exclusively at the show, offering attendees a unique opportunity to acquire limited-edition works directly from the artist. Additionally, three prints accompanied by digital artwork were made available for purchase online, ensuring broader accessibility to FVCKRENDER's creations.In collaboration with L...

American artist Paul Pfeiffer has been interrogating the act of image making for 25 years. Working across a wide range of creative disciplines, he commonly employs found and source material from pop culture to probe into the spectacle of sports and the myth of celebrity. On view at MOCA's Geffen Contemporary in Los Angeles, Pfeiffer presents a thorough look into his nearly three decade career. As the first US retrospective on the artist, Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom unpacks society's obsession with spectacle and how our collective consciousness is constructed through image circulation. Sports fan or not, Pfeiffer's exhibition is immediately gripping as you walk into the museum, as the drum of former matches reverberate across the white walls like ghosts from a bygone era. ...

Tremaine Emory and Cactus Plant Flea Market are teaming up for Just Junk, a new exhibition set to open at Tom Sachs' Bodega 245.Though little is currently known about the exhibition's exact content, Emory and CPFM promised "a thoughtful pile of junk" in the Instagram post announcing the show, which also showed a DJ controller and speakers nestled among what appears to be a bodega's food prep area. This isn't Emory's first direct foray into the world of art and design: he curated an exhibition titled Tremaine's Distinction at Raisonne Gallery a piece from his Denim Tears label was placed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's seminal In America: An Anthology of Fashion exhibit, and he was also one of the honorees at the Queens Museum's 50th-anniversary gala. It's also a family affair of sorts ...

British artist Antony Gormley has transformed White Cube's New York gallery into a matrix of aluminum bars. His latest solo show Aerial is an exploration into proximity and space, cleverly harnessing the room in which his installation sits in as a material in itself, catalyzing it to evoke a feeling of dynamism without mass."We've tried many times to make environments that make the viewer more aware of his or her movement through space and, in a way, attend to their own experience of that movement and their existence in time," Gormley explained. Notably inspired by Piet Mondrian’s Pier and Ocean series and the paintings of the 15th century Italian artist, Piero della Francesca, "Whiskers" as Gormley refers to the bars as, is the closest attempt he's done so far at making his "space conscio...

Harry Potter became a global phenomenon when it released in 1997. J.K. Rowling's first book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, or Sorcerer's Stone in the US, introduced audiences to the magical world of Hogwarts, setting the stage for six more books, seven blockbuster films and a passionate following that persists in every corner of the world today.Sotheby's will soon auction off the original watercolor cover artwork for the first book. Created by British children's book author illustrator Thomas Taylor, the image depicts a young Harry curiously waiting to board the Hogwarts Express for his first year at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This will be the second time the artwork will hit auction — the first at Sotheby's London in 2001, which sold for $106,000 USD, four times its...

Following Laps One, Two and Three, Hot Wheels and Daniel Arsham's collaboration is now approaching the finish line, with the last and final release, Lap Four set to take place on May 11. The drop will feature two distinct 1:64 scale models, an eroded 1986 Porsche 911 Turbo "Safari" and a 1968 Ford Mustang, also in the artist's signature style.The 1986 Porsche 911 Turbo "Safari" is notably an adaptation of one of Arsham's personal vehicles, modified for off-road use and later used for the basis of one of his eroded sculptures. As for the Hot Wheels example of the vehicle, it features a grey finish and various crystal formations. In contrast, while featuring the same eroded aesthetic crafted from silkstone, the 1968 Ford Mustang is finished in matte black and is notably inspired by the chase...

A gold watch that survived the Titanic has sold for $1.2m USD at auction, the highest sum paid for a Titanic related item ever. The object once belonged to John Jacob Astor, the richest passenger who perished with the ocean liner when it tragically sunk in the early hours of April 15, 1912. The watch sold to a private US collector on April 27 from auction house Aldridge & Son's “Titanic, White Star and Transport Memorabilia” sale. John Jacob Astor was a wealthy American real estate developer, businessman and writer whose family largely accrued his wealth from the American Fur Company, historically considered as one of the first monopolies within the US. Astor was mired in controversy at the time of the Titanic's maiden voyage, as he married a woman 30 year younger than him, which he ha...

Northern Irish artist Ted Pim is showcasing a new solo exhibition of paintings at Almine Rech's London outpost. The Belfast-based artist creates meticulously detailed compositions that reference art historical periods, such as the Dutch 17th century and Italian Renaissance, but recontextualized with contemporary cultural and sartorial depictions. Never Odd or Even is Pim's second solo show with the gallery and reflects on mythology tied to mirrors and transformation. The exhibition makes allusion to Irish folklore, in which reflective surfaces are often covered in fear of any deceased souls escaping through the ether. By repurposing the works of Old Masters, Pim surveys the concept of transformation through abstracted duplications, mixing pictorial motifs from the Renaissance and Baroque p...