Art
Tiny Michelangelo Foot Sketch Smashes Records, Selling for $27.2 Million USD
SummaryA previously unknown Michelangelo sketch has sold for $27.2 million USD at Christie's New York, setting a new auction record for the artistThe drawing, a study of a foot for the Libyan Sibyl on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, was estimated to sell for just $1.5–$2 millionThe work was discovered after the owner submitted a photo to Christie's online valuation portal, unaware of its true origin, becoming the only known study for the Sistine Chapel to remain in private handsIn a stunning upset for the art world, a palm-sized sketch of a foot by Renaissance master Michelangelo has obliterated auction expectations. The drawing, titled Study of a right foot, sold for a staggering $27.2 million USD at Christie's New York earlier this month on February 5. Originally estimated to fetch between $...
Art Basel Just Wrapped Up Its Inaugural Edition In Qatar
With art fairs in Miami Beach, Hong Kong, Paris, and its flagship location in Basel, Art Basel recently added to its annual schedule of events with a week-long showcase in Doha, Qatar. The arrival of the contemporary art fair was, naturally, met with anticipation from those in the industry, with many quick to predict which artists and galleries would be part of the line-up. Having wrapped up the inaugural edition last week, Hypebeast takes a look back at the presentations and Special Projects that came out on top amongst its 17,000+ visitors. Kicking off the event, chairperson of Qatar Museums, Sheikha Al Mayassa Bint Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, led an intimate discussion with arts patron and founder of LUMA, Maja Hoffmann, and Serpentine Gallery art director Hans Ulrich Obrist. As part of...
New Museum’s ‘New Humans’ Comeback Show Looks to the Future
SummaryThe New Museum in New York is set to open New Humans: Memories of the FutureOpening on March 21, the expansion's inaugural showcase features over 700 that reimagine the relationship between humanity and technologyIn an era drunk on algorithmic prophecy, the presence (and fear) of the mechanized nonhuman is ever-present. Yet with every new technology that comes our way, we’re forced to face the same question that artists and scientists have been wrestling with for centuries: what does it mean to be human?With excitement high for the long-anticipated reveal of the New Museum’s OMA-designed expansion, the institution has announced the full artist list for its expansive comeback show, New Humans: Memories of the Future. A fitting theme for the newly revamped building, the exhibition exp...
Transmediale Returns To Berlin, ‘Re-wiring’ A Web that Extends Globally
Words by Will Allstetter for HypeartAt the end of January, Transmediale returned to Berlin for its 39th edition. The art and digital culture festival wove through the city and took root in an eclectic mix of venues, ranging from Berghain to the Canadian Embassy. Navigating the programming required transferring between trams, subways, buses and cars, as well as shuffling on frozen-over sidewalks.Though partly a logistical byproduct, the geographical network the festival embedded into the city was cannily on target for its theme: “By the Mango Belt & Tamarind Road.” In their thematic compass, curators Neema Githere and Juan Pablo García Sossa write, “the festival is reimagined as a living recursive carrier net — a hammock of relational technologies in practice that stretch across latitud...
Jahan Loh Reimagines Chinese Deities as Interstellar Travelers in ‘The Fortune Trilogy’ Exhibit
SummaryJahan Loh has unveiled The Fortune Trilogy, a new solo exhibition curated by artceo at Singapore’s Tanjong Pagar DistriparkThe show reinterprets the traditional Chinese trinity of Fu Lu Shou (Blessing, Prosperity, and Longevity) through monumental astronaut sculpturesExclusive merchandise accompanies the exhibition, including a bespoke Incense Chamber by Kuumba and gold jewelry by Point JoaillerieSingaporean artist Jahan Loh has officially opened The Fortune Trilogy, a genre-bending exhibition that transports ancient Chinese iconography into a chrome-laden future. Launching today, February 13, at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, the show serves as a cosmic invocation of renewal just in time for the Lunar New Year, reimagining the enduring symbols of Fu Lu Shou—the deities of blessing, pros...
Ruth Asawa’s Massive Retrospective Heads to Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
SummaryThe Guggeneheim Museum Bilbao is set to host Ruth Asawa: Retrospective, after stops at MoMA and SFMOMAOpening in March, the exhibition covers six-decades of live and practice, from her upbringing in a Japanese internment camp to works completed in her home-studio in her final yearsWorks on view include nature-inspired tied-wire pieces, clay and bronze casts, paperfolds, paintings, drawings, sketchbooks, lithographs and an abundance of her famed looped-wire sculptures“An artist is not special,” the legendary Ruth Asawa once said. “An artist is an ordinary person who can take ordinary things and make them special.” Asawa, a West Coast favorite turned canon name, made work that changes the way we look at the elemental world and what it can teach us.Following stops at the Museum of Mode...
Casa de Los Leones Opens as a New Platform for Contemporary Mexican Craft
Summary The project marks the brand’s move into hospitality through a contemporary art and design focused lens Original architectural elements were preserved and paired with custom furniture, ceramics, textiles and artworks that feel embedded in the space rather than stagedClase Azul México has opened Casa de Los Leones, a new cultural space housed in a restored historic mansion in Polanco. Opening February 17, the project marks the brand’s move into hospitality through a contemporary art and design focused lens, positioning the house as a platform for contemporary Mexican craftsmanship and creative collaboration.The restoration and design were led by C Cúbica Arquitectos, working directly with Mexican designers, artisans and artists across multiple floors of the home. Original architectur...
Bonhams Unveils New US Headquarters in New York
SummaryAuction house Bonhams opens its new US headquarters, home to Steinway Hall at 111 West 57th Street in ManhattanTo launch the building, the house is hosting several exhibitions across its four story spaceHighlights include a renovated Steinway Rotunda, which now serves as an exhibition space; two auction rooms and a triple-height galleryBonhams unveiled its new US headquarters, leaving behind its previous Madison Avenue address for the neoclassical grandeur of 111 West 57th Street, the century-old home of Steinway Hall and the world’s skinniest skyscraper.With a presence in a Manhattan’s “Billionaire’s Row” stretch secured, the move marks a major global and local expansion for the 230-year-old auction house. Rather than merely showcase, the new space is built to inspire and engage au...
The Art of the Outsider: GR Gallery’s ‘Purgatory’ Explores Modern Renegades
SummaryPurgatory opens at GR Gallery from February 20 to March 21, featuring 16 paintings by Jordan Sullivan, Robert Martin, Jacob Rochester and RUMINZThe exhibition explores suburban life and Americana through themes of nostalgia, alienation and redemptionGoing on view at GR Gallery next week is Purgatory, a group exhibition featuring 16 paintings by artists Jordan Sullivan, Robert Martin, Jacob Rochester and RUMINZ. The exhibition creates a cross-cultural dialogue by blending diverse styles influenced by outsider art, rural aesthetics and Americana. Collectively, the works form a contemporary grand tour centered on themes of self‑discovery and revelation, while confronting social realities through raw depictions of suburban and everyday life. The exhibition’s visual language is deliberat...
Grotesque Meets Sublime in Christian Van Minnen’s ‘Metanoia’
Summary Christian Rex van Minnen’s Metanoia exhibition explores themes of transformation and the grotesqueNotable works include "Still Life with Octopus in Vase and Upside Down Figure," blending classical still‑life with surreal distortionsOn view at NANZUKA UNDERGROUND until February 21, 2026Christian Rex van Minnen’s solo exhibition Metanoia at NANZUKA UNDERGROUND marks his second major presentation with the gallery following his 2021 debut. Known for his surreal and unsettling imagery, van Minnen introduces new works that continue his exploration of psychological transformation, corporeality and the grotesque.This exhibition represents a significant point in the artist’s career, as indicated by the title Metanoia, which refers to a fundamental change in mind or a spiritual conversion. B...
‘What a Wonderful World’ Reawakens Los Angeles’ Cinematic Gem
SummaryThe Julia Stoscheck Foundation reopens Los Angeles' storied Variety Arts Theater for What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem, its first major U.S. presentationThe exhibition features 35 artists, ranging from cinema pioneers to today's contemporary artists, including Jon Rafman, Precious Okoyomon, Doug Aitken, Arthur Jafa, Walt Disney and moreVariety Arts Theater, the five-story ex-cinema palace in downtown Los Angeles, has kept its doors shut for decades. Now, the landmark is making a major public comeback, courtesy of the Julia Stoschek Foundation, to stage one of the most ambitious presentations of its kind.Titled What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem, the exhibition unfolds as a cross-century encounter of video storytelling. It takes on the form of an art house cinemath...
Paint the Town Red: Cj Hendry and Tony’s Chocolonely Debut $1 USD Mystery Boxes
SummaryTony’s Chocolonely partnered with artist Cj Hendry to create an immersive red pop-up in New York for Valentine’s DayThe $1 mystery box concept highlights inequality in the cocoa industry through playful designIn a bold intersection of activism and art, Tony’s Chocolonely has partnered with contemporary artist Cj Hendry for an immersive "Only Red World" pop-up in New York.Just in time for Valentine's Day, The "Valentony" pop-up took place over the weekend and transforms the brand’s signature red into a fully saturated environment designed to blend sensory overload with a heavy social message. While the space is unapologetically playful and rich, it serves as a creative vehicle to communicate the "bitterly unfair" reality of the cocoa industry, where farmers earn less than a dollar a ...
