Artworks

SummaryBanksy has revealed a new painting on the side of the Royal Courts of Justice building in LondonThe mural, which depicts a judge coming down on a protest with a gavel, is thought to be linked to the recent protests against the government's ban on Palestine ActionShortly after the artwork appeared, it was covered up by authoritiesA new Banksy piece has surfaced in central London and, in true Banksy fashion, is already drawing major controversy. On Monday morning, the anonymous graffiti artist took to Instagram to authenticate the work, simply captioning it with its location: the Royal Courts of Justice.Painted on the exterior of the Queen's building, the mural depicts a judge garbed in full regalia striking down on a protester with a gavel, blood splattering across the placard.While ...

SummaryGentle Monster's HAUS NOWHERE has unveiled its first art project created in collaboration with Namibian-German artist and director Max Siedentopf"More Is More" is now on view in Seoul, Dosan, Shanghai and ShenzenEven if you've never heard of HAUS NOWHERE, you know HAUS NOWHERE. The Gentle Monster brainchild behind this massive, two-faced cyborg for the eyewear label's Margiela collab or Nudake's crossaint-clad Shainghai store, the experimental project is on a mission to rewrite the rules of retail.For the launch of its new Seoul outpost, HAUS NOWHERE has unveiled its first major artwork, "More Is More," created in collaboration with artist and director Max Siedentopf. Lauded for his surreal, hyperrealistic sculptures, Siedentopf pushes the brand's "space unlike any other" mantra int...

SummaryAcclaimed artist Rashid Johnson is bringing his adaptation of Amiri Baraka's "Dutchman" (1964) back for a limited run of performancesThe performance's themes of race, violence and assimilation are heightened by its unusually immersive choice of venueRashid Johnson's "Dutchman" is making a highly-anticipated return to the Russian & Turkish Baths for a five-night run, starting September 24. Debuted 2013, the seminal Performa-commissioned performance marked the artist's directorial debut, setting him on a path beyond visual art. Over a decade later, he revisits Amiri Baraka's 1964, Obie-winning portrait of race and sexuality with renewed urgency.Baraka premiered his "Dutchman" in at the storied Cherry Lane Theatre in 1964, with its 2007 revival catching the attention of one Johnson...

SummaryLos Angeles-based artist Cleon Peterson is teaming up with Avant Arte to release a new sculptural edition, titled “Shame”The artwork will be available starting September 17 as a time-limited release via Avant ArteCleon Peterson has built a career off his exploration of society's often unsavory underbelly. Sex, corruption and the struggle for power take shape in scenes of unrest and clashes of monochromatic figures. In his latest sculptural edition with Avant Arte, the Los Angeles shifts his flat, graphic silhouettes into new gears, giving weight and permanence to this vision of conflict.Titled “Shame,” the resin-cast sculpture depicts a bowed figure, head in hands, grip tight on a sword pressed into the ground. Rendered in matte black, it's a posture thick with contra diction, gestu...

SummaryThe Chihuly exhibition at Maker's Mark connects the distillery's brand to art and sustainability.The "Summer of Sours" program is a new marketing strategy that uses cultural collaborations to sell a lifestyle, not just a product.Last week, I got on a plane and flew to Louisville then hopped in a car to Bardstown, Kentucky. My destination was Maker's Mark, where glass artist Dale Chihuly has an exhibition running through December with tours available here.Chihuly's glass installations amplified the place, mounted across the brand's Star Hill Farm. In the main cellar, a massive chandelier of twisted glass hung above rows of barrels. The work was a sharp, powerful piece and though its colorful forms contrasted with the cellar's pared-down atmosphere, the artist picked a commanding spot...

SummaryApartamento Publishing re-releases Kyoichi Tsuzuki's Happy Victims photo bookIt documents 87 individuals in Tokyo whose lives are shaped by their fashion brand devotionThis new edition adds an updated foreword, introduction and redesigned coverMore than 15 years after its original 2008 publication, Kyoichi Tsuzuki’s Happy Victims photo book returns in a newly reissued hardcover edition from Apartamento Publishing. First serialized between 1999 and 2006 in the fashion magazine Ryuko Tsushin, the series documents 87 individuals in Tokyo whose deep devotion to specific fashion brands shapes both their wardrobes and their living spaces. Tsuzuki’s portraits - one “happy victim” per spread - are accompanied by concise commentaries detailing each subject’s daily routine, revealing the pers...

SummaryAi Weiwei and Avant Arte have teamed up on a “Colored Vase,” a five-piece sculptural edition that probes the tension between tradition and commercializationPriced at $1,554 USD each, the works will be available for a one-week window starting August 28Ai Weiwei has built a career on turning tradition inside out, consistently returning to ancient Chinese pottery to confront politics of value, heritage and power. In his provocative 1995 piece “Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn,” Weiwei did just that, reframing destruction as its own act of preservation. In other works, centuries-old vases are graced with a logomaniac touch, weaving symbols of commercial emblems into objects of deep cultural heritage.The iconic artist and activist builds on this dialogue in a new five-piece collaboration with ...

SummaryClimate activists from Greenpeace installed Anish Kapoor's “BUTCHERED” on a Shell gas rig in the North SeaThe piece references the violence, loss and destruction wrought on by titanic oil and gas extraction initiatives and corporationsActivists from the climate organization Greenpeace have unveiled a new artwork by Anish Kapoor on a Shell gas platform in the North Sea. Titled “BUTCHERED,” the artwork arrives as the UK records its fourth heatwave of the summer, and in the words of Kapoor, is “a reference to the destruction – the bleeding – of our globe of our state, of being.”On the morning of August 13, seven Greenpeace members scaled Shell's Skiff platform, located 45 nautical miles off the coast of Norfolk before mounting a 12-by-8 meter canvas to the side of the rig. The activist...

SummarySingaporean artist Jahan Loh is set to release a “POSTCARDS FROM SPACE 天山星::KEPLER-22B” toy on August 8The figure is inspired by a painting included in Loh's exhibition of the same name, staged at Le Freeport in Chengdu last fallA follow up to his immersive, interplanetary-inspired POSTCARDS FROM SPACE in Chengdu last fall, Singaporean artist Jahan Loh is taking his iconic astronauts off the canvas in a new toy.The figures are based on one of his large-scale paintings displayed at Le Freeport, which explored the concept of "interplanetary diaspora." Here, Loh imagines a future where humans inhabit exoplanets or other celestial bodies. The body of work is rendered through a blend of  Eastern iconography, pop culture motifs, and sci-fi, making for unsettlingly surreal, digital-like co...

En Iwamura, the Japanese artist celebrated for his Jomon handicraft-inspired pop ceramics, has partnered up with London-based Avant Arte to release a pair of sculptural editions, titled “Neo Jomon: Biomorphic fantôme.”The sculptures embody the Japanese philosophy of ma, described by the artist as a presence that “exists between one thing another,” and “between moments in time.” This concept lays at the heart of Iwamura's work, as his endearing, often undulating, figures foreground the ever-flowing energy between object and space.Carved from white and red Bardiglio Nuvolato marble, each sculpture's organic form and raked textures recall the serenity of Zen Buddhist gardens, emphasizing the importance of ma, while encouraging collectors to envision it within their own lives.For those looking...

SummaryFrench artist Christelle Oyiri presents In a perpetual remix where is my song?, the debut work of Tate's Inaugural Commission.On view through August 28, the multimedia installation explores how digital and material worlds collide in the quest for the ideal formUnder the low-slung ceilings of Tate's Tanks, a sculptural symphony of flesh and machine unfolds. The London institution tapped French artist, DJ and producer Christelle Oyiri for its inaugural Infinities Commission, and her resulting work delivered nothing short of stunning.In a perpetual remix where is my song? examines the impact of digital art on the ways we construct identity, reconsidering bodily form in an age of cut-and-splice technologies and the uncanny parallels between DJing, cosmetic surgery and online image-makin...

SummaryMaurizio Cattelan’s banana artwork "The Comedian" gets devoured again, this time at Centre-Pompidou-MetzThe piece has been eaten multiple times from a viral act by artist David Datuna in Miami to a hungry student at Seoul’s Leeum Museum in 2023It was only a matter of time before someone took another bite. Maurizio Cattelan’s infamous banana artwork "The Comedian" has once again been consumed and this time at the Centre Pompidou-Metz in eastern France.The fruit, taped to a wall as part of the museum’s current exhibition Endless Sunday, was swiftly devoured by a visitor over the weekend. Security responded quickly. Within minutes, the banana was replaced, business as usual.Artnet reported: "In a characteristically tongue-and-cheek retort, the Italian artist-provocateur said he was dis...