To create this painting, Ai-Da painted 15 different versions of Turing’s face. After creating these works, Ai-Da chose three to combine with a painting she made of Turing’s Bombe machine, which helped decipher German codes in WWII, for the final artwork. The composite image was then digitally assembled and printed on a larger scale using a 3D textured printer, with additional texturing added by studio assistants to enhance the final piece.

British gallerist Aidan Meller created Ai-Da with the help from a team of Oxford University scientists. Named after the pioneering mathematician Ada Lovelace, Ai-Da presents as a woman with black hair wearing denim overalls.

“This auction seems an important moment for the visual arts, where Ai-Da’s artwork brings focus on artworld and societal changes, as we grapple with the rising age of AI. The artwork, AI God, raises questions about agency, as AI gains more power,” said Meller in a press statement.

AI God: Portrait of Alan Turing was the most significant sale of Sotheby’s digital art day auction, which fetched $1.48 million in total. The auction also featured pieces from Pak, XCOPY, and Refik Anadol, among others. The lot with the highest estimate was XCOPY’s DOOM Party (2020), estimated at $800,000 to $1.5 million. The work was passed over.

Spoerri continued to explore culinary themes through his concept of “Eat Art.” In 1968, Spoerri established an eponymous restaurant in Düsseldorf, with a menu characterized by unusual ingredients such as rattlesnake or elephant’s trunk, before opening the Eat Art Gallery upstairs two years later. There, he exhibited food-related, experiential artworks by himself and other artists like Joseph Beuys and Dieter Roth, thereby highlighting the dialogue between art, food, and social commentary.

In recent years, his work has been featured in solo exhibitions at Galerie Krinzinger, Anne Barrault, and Galerie Henze & Ketterer. He moved to Vienna in 2008, where he lived and worked until he died.

Sotheby’s will host its first auction in Saudi Arabia on February 8, 2025, marking the first international auction to take place in the country. This landmark sale, “Origins,” will be held in the historic town of Diriyah, located on the outskirts of Riyadh.

“This is an important milestone in our relationship with the Kingdom, and we look forward to hosting our inaugural auction to mark the occasion, fittingly in a historic location of such immense cultural significance,” said Charles F. Stewart, CEO of Sotheby’s.

The two-day evening auction will feature a selection of work by Saudi artists alongside international figures. In addition to artwork, luxury items such as jewelry, watches, cars, sports memorabilia, and handbags will be on offer. The lots featured in “Origins” will be on view in a free public exhibition from February 1 through 8, 2025.

“We wanted to inaugurate our official new home in Saudi Arabia with a taste of what Sotheby’s can bring to the doorsteps of both those who have started their own collections, and others who are about to enter this world for the first time,” said Ashkan Baghestani, Sotheby’s head of sale and contemporary art specialist. “As such, we wanted this first sale both to serve as an introduction to our offering and to embody the cross-category spirit we pride ourselves on curating.”

The decision to host the auction follows Sotheby’s formal incorporation in Saudi Arabia at the end of last year. A new Sotheby’s office is set to open in Riyadh’s Al Faisaliah Tower, the first skyscraper in the country.

“This is a very dynamic time for culture in Saudi Arabia. Sotheby’s has been active in the Kingdom for a number of years now, and we’ve witnessed the blossoming of the cultural scene with great interest,” said Stewart. “In committing to a physical presence in Riyadh, we’re supporting the enrichment of the artistic landscape of the country, which will empower the large youth demographic of Saudi.”

Sotheby’s presence in Saudi Arabia can be traced back to 2013, when the auction house hosted a highlights exhibition in the country. Sotheby’s went on to host Saudi Arabia’s first-ever charity auction in 2017, and later supported its first Contemporary Art Biennale and participated in the Riyadh International Book Fair.

Just last week, Sotheby’s closed a deal with the Abu Dhabi–based wealth fund ADQ, which delivered a $1 billion investment in the auction house. Shortly thereafter, the auction house announced that it had closed a deal to acquire the Breuer building on New York’s Madison Avenue, the former home of the Whitney Museum of American Art, which will become its new global headquarters.

Born in 1993 in Nottingham in England, Cunningham attended Loughborough University. Her childhood home neighbored woodlands, where she nurtured a bond with nature that greatly influenced her work. Cunningham started off making collages and, most significantly, paintings, that critiqued the fixed categories invented by scientists and celebrated nature as a unified system.

Cunningham was celebrated for her kaleidoscopic landscapes, characterized by her expressive mark making and explosive color palette. Often focusing on forests, her dense, gestural paintings veered into abstraction as swathes of blue, green, red, yellow, white, or black intentionally obscured the details of these natural scenes. “I am interested in creating this sense of place only to tear it down—and then build it up again,” Cunningham said in her Artsy Vanguard 2023–24 interview. “The way you ontologically separate these things—animal, human, tree—I’ve always found that way of thinking problematic.”

After attending the La Wayaka Current Artist Residency in Panama, she attended the Royal College of Art in London, where she graduated in 2022.

Cunningham mounted her first solo show with Almine Rech in New York just months after graduating from the Royal College. By 2023, Lisson Gallery had announced its representation of the artist, giving Cunningham a London solo show, “The Crystal Forest,” that November. She had her second solo show with the gallery in Los Angeles, “Flight Paths” this past summer.

In response to the devastation of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Atlanta-based nonprofit South Arts has launched the Southern Arts Relief & Recovery Fund. The new initiative aims to provide immediate financial assistance to artists across multiple states in the South, followed by longer-term recovery efforts within the arts community.

North Carolina alone suffered approximately $53.6 billion in damages from Hurricane Helene—a Category Four storm—according to the state’s Governor Roy Cooper. In particular, Asheville’s River Arts District faced significant damages, with approximately 80% of its buildings destroyed or damaged, the New York Times reported.

The fund was inaugurated in collaboration with regional partners such as Alternate ROOTS, Mid Atlantic Arts, and the National Performance Network. Artists across multiple disciplines residing in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia can apply for grants starting at $500. South Arts will distribute the grants for all states except North Carolina, where Arts AVL and the North Carolina Arts Council will manage them.

“This is a pivotal moment for our region’s cultural landscape. While we are providing immediate relief through this program, we recognize there is still much work ahead,” said Susie Surkamer, president and CEO of South Arts. “Our goal with this emergency fund is to act swiftly in supporting the artists that are vital to the South and also directly impacted by recent devastation. To fully realize this mission, we hope to engage both applicants and potential donors who can help strengthen and sustain these efforts.”

In addition to grant applications, South Arts is also soliciting donations to bolster the fund. Contributions can be made through the website, with all proceeds directed towards artists in designated disaster areas as determined by FEMA. The organization has shown the importance of community support in enhancing the stability of the regional arts sector.

“We are fortunate to have strong partners on the local, state, regional, and national level who have mobilized to provide resources for those affected by Hurricane Helene,” said Jeff Bell, executive director of the North Carolina Arts Council. “Together, we will continue to prioritize smart investment to stabilize and strengthen this region, where art is so vital.”

On November 21st, Sotheby’s in New York will auction off 31 subway drawings by Keith Haring at its contemporary day sale. These works, estimated to fetch between $6.3 and $9 million in total, will be presented at Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries in the exhibition “Art in Transit: 31 Keith Haring Subway Drawings from the Collection of Larry Warsh” from November 8th to 20th.

The auction comprises 31 of Haring’s subway drawings, executed from 1980 to 1985. These pieces, which will make their auction debut in November, originated from the private collection of Larry Warsh, a prominent collector and published author who has maintained these works for the last four decades.

Haring began creating these artworks in chalk on black advertising panels that had been left blank throughout New York City’s subway stations. This earned him the anonymous moniker “Chalkman.” For five years, this practice became a daily ritual for the artist. His early drawings often featured simplistic motifs that would become familiar in his later work, like UFOs and radiant babies. After partnering with art dealer Tony Shafrazi in 1982, Haring wrote: “I have been drawing in the subway for three years now, and although my career aboveground has skyrocketed, the subway is still my favorite place to draw.”

“Keith Haring’s subway drawings are his ultimate, years-long love letters to New York City,” said Ashkan Baghestani, head of Sotheby’s contemporary art day auction in New York. “Drawing dozens of works almost daily, Haring’s legacy unfolded in front of millions, as he transformed the everyday experience into the extraordinary through his lexicon of instantly identifiable imagery. They sometimes stemmed from world events and other times from new technologies or were about life, love, and death.”

The full suite of these subway drawings was last exhibited in 2012 at the Brooklyn Museum for “Keith Haring: 1978-1982.” Following the exhibition, the drawings were also featured in the book Keith Haring: 31 Subway Drawings, published in partnership with the Keith Haring Foundation.

The upcoming exhibition at Sotheby’s will recreate the 1980s New York City subway environment, complete with turnstiles and subway benches. Alongside the 31 drawings, the auction house will also present archival footage of Haring at work.

The Discoveries sector will host 22 exhibitors, including Asia Art Center and Jhaveri Contemporary. More than half of these names are emerging galleries established within the last decade. This sector is dedicated to fostering the visibility of up-and-coming talent in the art world. Insights, another sector, will present 24 curated projects from galleries, such as Tokyo’s Yutaka Kikutake Gallery and London’s Flowers, focused on Asia and the Asia Pacific region, emphasizing photography from the 1970s to the present.

“The impressive line-up of galleries participating in our 2025 Hong Kong edition reinforces the fair’s position as a cultural crossroads and vital anchor in Asia’s ever-growing art scenes,” Angelle Siyang-Le, director of Art Basel Hong Kong, said. “We’re committed to continuing to strengthen our ties with the local art scene and its rising stars.”

This edition will also introduce the MGM Discoveries Art Prize, supporting emerging artists with a $50,000 cash prize shared between the artist and their presenting gallery, plus an opportunity to exhibit in Macau, China. Art Basel has also co-commissioned a project with Hong Kong Museum M+, presented by UBS: Ho Tzu Nyen’s Night Charades (2024), which will reimagine famous Hong Kong film scenes in animation, will be projected on the museum’s facade during the fair.

For the complete list of galleries, follow this link.

A dedicated gallery will focus on work Asawa made after moving to San Francisco in 1949, highlighting her productivity during the subsequent decade. The gallery will prominently feature her iconic hanging looped-wire sculptures, which she developed in the 1950s and exhibited both locally and internationally.

Elsewhere, her designs for commercial projects, such as fabric patterns and wallpaper, will be highlighted. Additional sections of the exhibition will explore Asawa’s engagement with nature and her miniature wire sculptures, and will recreate the environment of her San Francisco home and studio.

“It is an immense privilege to present the full range of Ruth Asawa’s life’s work through this retrospective,” said Janet Bishop, a co-curator of the exhibition. “Not only was Asawa an exceptionally talented artist—among the most distinguished sculptors of the 20th century and a major contributor in so many other mediums—but she lived her values in everything she did, modeling the importance of the arts and opening up creative opportunities for others at every turn.”

Following its debut at SFMOMA and subsequent run at MoMA in New York, the exhibition will travel to the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain and the Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland, coinciding with what would have been Asawa’s 100th birthday.

“While we continue to cement our leadership in promoting established masters such as Lui Shou-kwan, Chao Chung-hsian, and Walasse Ting, Alisan Atelier will showcase emerging talents, welcome experimentation, and facilitate intergenerational and interdisciplinary exchanges, hopefully attracting a younger and broader audience as a result,” said Daphne King Yao, global director of Alisan Fine Arts.

Mok Yat-San is known for his surreal sculptures that also take a contemporary spin on ink work, while Man is known for multimedia techniques ranging from incense-burn marks to digital video. The exhibition also premieres “Mokman’s Cosmology,” a series of four collaborative works that bring together the artists’ reflections on landscapes and the universe.

“In the realm of art, Mok Yat-San and Man Fung-yi are rare ‘soulmates,’” said Tang Hoi-chiu, an adjunct professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, who curated the show.

Among Boy George’s works is Madame X (all works 2024), which depicts Madonna wearing an eye patch—a signature of her Madame X persona. The two artists have feuded since the 1980s; however, Boy George said, “You don’t have to like someone to paint them.” Meanwhile, Yamamoto depicts Bowie dressed in his famed “Tokyo Pop” bodysuit designed by Kansai Yamamoto.

Boy George’s Purple Reign is an homage to Prince’s sixth studio album, Purple Rain, depicting the star with a punk-like look and purple hair swooshed across his face. Lastly, Colour by Numbers is a self-portrait in which Boy George revisits his own image from the cover of the 1983 Culture Club album of the same name.

In addition to the “Fame” works, Boy George debuted a series of acrylic paintings, “The Originals Collection,” inspired by the New York club scene in the 1980s. These include Basquiat 03, a tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat, who Boy George met in the New York club scene of the 1980s; Give Drag a Chance, a celebration of the rise of drag culture adorned with materials like beads and sequins; and The Space Matador, a maximalist homage to the door attendants of nightclubs.

The David Bowie Centre will be organized into three zones, offering a mix of curated displays and interactive audiovisual installations. Visitors can also explore quieter study areas, where an array of Bowie’s personal and professional memorabilia will be on display, such as stage costumes, musical instruments, makeup charts, and original sketches.

The development is part of the East Bank project, designed to attract visitors to a new cultural and educational district in East London. The V&A East Storehouse, which will have free entry, will house over 250,000 objects and 350,000 books in its 170,000-square-foot space. Among these items are pieces relating to Elton John, PJ Harvey, and the Sex Pistols, as well as iconic fashion items from designers like Biba, Balenciaga, and Schiaparelli. Visitors will be able to book in advance to view any item from the museum’s collection.

“Through V&A East Storehouse, visitors will be encouraged to immerse themselves in the magical behind-the-scenes world of museums and empowered to make their own journeys through the V&A’s global collections,” said Tim Reeve, deputy director and COO of the V&A, and chair of the East Bank Board.

Egon Schiele’s death mask—a bronze cast of the celebrated Austrian expressionist’s face made shortly after his death—sold at Sloane Street Auctions on October 23rd for £19,000 ($24,600). The result amounted to 10 times the mask’s presale estimate.

The Death Mask of Egon Schiele (1918) was made by the Austrian sculptor Gustinus Ambrosi two days after Schiele died from the Spanish flu in 1918. Ambrosi visited Schiele’s coffin and made a plaster mold for the bronze death mask. The sculptor made four copies, three of which he gifted to publisher Richard Lanyi, art critic Arthur Rossler, and Schiele’s mother. Ambrosi and Schiele both later represented Austria at the 1925 Biennale di Roma, though the two artists never met in life.

Born in 1890, Schiele was mentored by Gustav Klimt after dropping out of the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) in Vienna. His early works took on the style of his mentor. Later, Schiele developed a distinctive style of portraiture characterized by fluid, elongated figures, which were often nude. He often utilized a continuous drawing technique, rendering his subjects with a single, unbroken line.

The artist avoided conscription for World War I for nearly a year but was drafted in 1915. In 1917, he returned to Vienna, where he produced new work prolifically until his death at the age of 28 in October 1918.

During his life, Schiele exhibited his work across Europe, including in Dresden, Germany; Zürich; and Prague. Shortly before his death, he was invited to participate in the Vienna Secession’s 49th exhibition, presenting 50 of his works as well as designing the exhibition poster. Today, the largest collections of his work are held at the Leopold Museum in Vienna; the Egon Schiele Museum in Tulln, Austria; and the Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna.

Schiele’s auction record was set by his painting Häuser mit bunter Wäsche (Vorstadt II) (1914), which fetched $40 million at Sotheby’s in 2011.

Maurizio Cattelan’s infamous Comedian (2019) will make its auction debut at Sotheby’s contemporary evening art auction in New York on November 20th. One of three editions of the viral conceptual art piece, comprising a banana fixed to a wall with duct tape, the artwork is valued at $1 million to $1.5 million.

The winning bidder will receive a roll of duct tape, a fresh banana, and a certificate of authenticity. The work includes detailed instructions for properly displaying the piece, allowing for both the duct tape and banana to be replaced as needed.

Comedian debuted at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019 at Perrotin’s booth. Two editions of the work sold for $120,000 each: one to Miami art collectors Billy and Beatrice Cox and the other to Sarah Andelman, founder of the Parisian boutique Colette. An edition of the work was also anonymously gifted to the Guggenheim in 2020. Cattelan reportedly purchased the bananas at a Miami grocery store for approximately 30 cents apiece. The artwork caused uproar at the art fair, which led to its early removal from the exhibition due to crowd control issues and security concerns.

“The most influential and radical artworks of the last century have had the power to fundamentally shift perceptions around the nature of art itself,” said David Galperin, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art for the Americas. “In this spirit, Comedian is a defiant work of pure genius. Balancing profound critical thought and subversive wit, this is a defining work for the artist and for our generation. With a single brilliant gesture, Cattelan rocked the foundations of the art world and brought art to the center of mainstream popular culture.”

Cattelan’s auction record was set at a Christie’s auction in May 2016 with Him (2001). The sculpture, depicting a kneeling, repentant Adolf Hitler, sold for $17.2 million.

On October 24th, the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo announced the theme for its 36th edition, titled “Not All Travellers Walk Roads–Of Humanity as Practice.” The biennial, which takes its title from the poem Da calma e do silêncio(Of calm and silence) by Afrobrazilian poet Conceição Evaristo, will examine how humans understand and engage with each other. The 2025 Bienal de São Paulo will take place from September 6, 2025, to January 11, 2026, at the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion.

Chief curator Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, who was appointed to lead this edition of the biennial in April, has formed a diverse team to bring this concept to life. The co-curators are Alya Sebti, Anna Roberta Goetz, and Thiago de Paula Souza, working alongside co-curator-at-large Keyna Eleison and communication advisor Henriette Gallus.

Ndikung and his team plan to create a space where different world views can coexist. “In a time when humans seem to have, again, lost grip on what it means to be human…it seems to us urgent to invite artists, scholars, activists, and other cultural practitioners anchored within a wide range of disciplines to join us in rethinking what humanity could mean,” Ndikung said.

The event is centered around three main themes: rethinking the dynamics of space and time, fostering a reflective view of oneself through the perspective of others, and nurturing spaces for meetings and dialogue.

Traditionally held from September to December, this new edition of the Bienal de São Paulo will be extended by four weeks. This change ensures that the exhibition coincides with the Brazilian school holidays. Additionally, the Biennial will be on view free of charge for its entire duration.

“This project not only reaffirms the Biennial’s role as a space for reflection and dialogue on the most pressing issues of our time but also demonstrates the institutional commitment of the Fundação to promoting artistic practices in a way that is accessible and relevant to diverse audiences,” said Andrea Pinheiro, president of the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo.

Here are some key findings from the report:

• 95% of collectors surveyed purchased through art dealers, 41% at art fairs, and 67% at auctions in 2024.
• 72% bought through dealer websites or online viewing rooms, and 43% purchased through Instagram.
• The share of works by women artists in high-net-worth individuals’ collections reached a seven-year high at 44%.
• Collectors surveyed allocated 52% of their expenditure to works by new and emerging artists.
• 70% of gallery purchases made by these collectors were local, up from 50% in 2022.
• Average spending among millennial high-net-worth collectors dropped by 50% to $395,000 in 2023, while Gen X respondents led spending at $578,000.
• Collectors in Mainland China reported the highest expenditures, with a median of $97,000 over this period. This figure was more than double that of any other region surveyed.
• Over 75% of collectors surveyed purchased paintings, 56% bought works on paper, and 35% bought prints in 2023.
• 43% of collectors planned to purchase art in the next 12 months, a decrease from previous years, when around 50% of those surveyed expressed plans to purchase.