While the graffiti artist Banksy typically uses building facades as his canvas, it appears he’s stuck working from home like the rest of us. The anonymous artist painted a series of 10 rats wreaking havoc from the walls of what appears to be his bathroom, along with the caption “My wife hates it when I work from home.” “I’d give it a minute,” reads another.
Read MoreAmerican Fine Art continues to afford collectors the opportunity to enjoy the experience of collecting fine art, only now in a new way. They believe that part of the enjoyment and thrill in collecting fine art comes from the connection you have at a gallery. In today’s climate, the gallery understands that collecting can be particularly challenging. American Fine Art is proud to announce our partnership with ArtVR LLC to ensure that the feeling is not lost when building your art collection. With this new avenue for previewing and selecting works through virtual reality, the gallery offers their collectors the opportunity to see the artwork in a similar setting that they would receive when visiting their showroom.
Read MoreAmerican Fine Art presented art collectors, aficionados and enthusiasts the opportunity to cast their votes in their exhibit Battle of the Mustache: Neiman, Dali, and Max an exhibition of artists known for their iconic mustaches – Leroy Neiman, Salvador Dali, and Peter Max. The results were overwhelming, and I must say, a bit surprising. Given that Dali’s mustache has its own Wikipedia page, a book, and a 40-foot-long, 14-foot-tall sculpture outside the Dali museum in Saint Petersburg, Florida as well as the previous title of “most famous of all time” from a 2010 poll I thought him a shoe-in.
However, LeRoy Neiman proved once again to be a fan favorite. Described as “luxurious”, “instantly recognizable” and “extremely large” LeRoy Neiman’s handlebar mustache was as much a part of his presence as his kaleidoscopic palette.
Read MoreSteve Wynn Paid More Than $100 Million for Marron’s Picassos – The casino mogul is reported to have snapped up two Picassos, Woman With Beret and Collar (1937) and the 1962 portrait Seated Woman (Jacqueline), from the estate of the late Don Marron for $105 million. Wynn is believed to have already told friends about the purchase, though a spokesperson for his art business did not confirm or deny the sale. Another collector who was offered works from the estate, says that artworks worth more than $200 million from the collection have already found new homes. (Wall Street Journal)
Read MoreWho knew that baseball could look so enticing? From the Hollywood Collection of Frederick Mellinger this major league work would complement any room with its presence and playful gaze. Mellinger’s baseball player is filled with duality and innovativeness both conceptually and in execution. The model wears Mellinger’s overall design that is dripping in sex appeal. When a woman’s sexiest curves are revealed, overalls suddenly become not only acceptable, but also desired. As with all Mellinger girls this one has her distinct personality with a confident pose pushing one hip out as she stretches the bat behind her shoulders she flashes a spunky outward glance that says “Put me in Coach!” Her long toned leg draws our eye to the baseball positioned just beyond her high heeled slingbacks. Mellinger strove to allow every woman to feel beautiful and sexy, this design hits it out of the park!
Read MoreA large Banksy painting depicting primates sitting in Britain’s parliament sold for more than $12 million a record price at auction for a work by the secretive British street artist.
“Devolved Parliament”, in which chimpanzees replace politicians in the House of Commons, more than comfortably surpassed its estimated price tag of 1.5 million to 2 million pounds, with the auctioneer declaring “history being made” at one point during the sale.
After bidding that lasted some 13 minutes, the 2009 artwork from a private collection sold to loud applause for a hammer price of 8.5 million pounds, to which fees are added giving a final price of 9,879,500 pounds ($12.2 million).
“Record price for a Banksy painting set at auction tonight. Shame I didn’t still own it,” Banksy wrote on his Instagram feed beside a post quoting art critic Robert Hughes about the value of artworks.
Read MoreBasquiat’s “Defacement”: The Untold Story will be exhibited through November 6, 2019 at the Guggenheim New York.
This exhibition takes as its starting point the painting The Death of Michael Stewart, informally known as Defacement, created by Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1983. Originally painted on the wall of Keith Haring’s studio within a week of Stewart’s death, Basquiat’s painting was a deeply personal lamentation that has rarely been exhibited in a public context. With The Death of Michael Stewart as its centerpiece, this exhibition examines Basquiat’s exploration of black identity, his protest against police brutality, and his attempts to craft a singular aesthetic language of empowerment. Several of the works on view by Basquiat illustrate his sustained engagement with the subject of state authority in the paintings depicting police figures.
Read MoreImagine Salvador Dali talking to you as if he were alive today, sharing observations on current events and shedding light on the motivations behind his artwork. That imagined Dali now becomes real with the debut of Dali Lives, a groundbreaking AI experience exclusively at The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL.
Using cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI), Dali Lives will provide Museum visitors an opportunity to learn more about Dali’s life from the person who knew him best: the artist himself. When the experience opens, visitors will be able to interact with an engaging life-like Salvador Dali on a series of screens throughout the Museum.
Read MoreA 3-foot-tall silver bunny just set an art world record. Rabbit, by the playful and controversial artist Jeff Koons, sold for more than $91 million — the most for work by a living artist at auction.
Rabbit, a stainless steel casting of an inflatable rabbit, was the star of the auction house's spring sale and overtook the previous record set by British painter David Hockney's "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)", which sold last November for $90.3 million. Previously, Koons held the distinction when his orange Balloon Dog sold for $58.4 million in 2013.
Read MoreThe auction world’s exclusive eight-figure club has a new member.
On Monday night in Hong Kong, a painting by the artist KAWS (aka the New Jersey–born Brian Donnelly) sold for a staggering 115.9 million HKD, or about $14.7 million in U.S. dollars, a new auction record for the artist. It sold to an unidentified buyer for $14.8 million including fees, a record for the artist and about 15 times the estimate of 6,000,000—8,000,000 HKD ($760,000–$1 million), soaring to that lofty finish.
Read MoreArthur Brand, a man nicknamed the “Indiana Jones of the art world,” has done it again.
The Dutch art historian and art crime investigator recently located Pablo Picasso’s Portrait of Dora Maar ( also known as Buste de Femme) after it was stolen from a Saudi sheikh’s yacht on the French Riviera in 1999.
The 1938 painting, which hung in Picasso’s home until he died in 1973, had a personal significance to the artist: Dora Maar was his lover and muse for seven years.
Read MoreThe Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has dug into its extensive holdings of pieces by Joan Miró for a show that demonstrates how one major work can be a turning point in an artist’s career. For the Spanish artist, it was the appropriately titled The Birth of the World, a large-scale painting he made in 1925.
Read MoreThe British Museum has acquired its first work by Banksy. Di-faced Tenner is an imitation UK £10 banknote bearing the face of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, rather than that of the Queen, and is prominently inscribed “Banksy of England”.
Banksy produced the £10 note in 2004, seven years after the death of the princess, intending to use it in a performance. The anonymous street artist claimed to have printed 100,000 copies to throw from a building. The banknotes now sell on eBay at prices ranging from £1.99 to £750, although many are reproductions rather than authentic Banksy fakes. The British Museum’s example was donated by Pest Control, the artist’s agent and authentication body.
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