Maria Sharapova Serves Up a Furniture Collection, and Other News

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Tennis star Maria Sharapova serves up a debut furniture collection for Rove Concepts. 

Designed for Vancouver-based Rove Concepts, the athlete’s initial offering is inspired by her travels, and love of art and architecture. The multifunctional pieces are imbued in natural hues like taupe and olive and include a sofa that takes cues from Japanese minimalism, a cylindrical concrete coffee table, a minimalist lamp, a woven hemp rug, and more.  

In 2018, Christie’s gave away free NFTs that are now worth thousands of dollars. 

Back in 2018, Christie’s held its first annual Art+Tech Summit in the dark ages of the NFT market. When 300 attendees were given a series of NFTs by a 19-year-old digital artist, most of them didn’t understand the concept of crypto art, let alone how much the work would appreciate in value. Whether or not they appreciated it, attendees possessed Robbie Barrat’s Nude Portrait #7. Barrat was the first artist to upload his work to the SuperRare digital art marketplace, where his machine learning–powered series skyrocketed in value during the NFT bonanza. One of these NFTs resold for $13,736. Now, two years later, Yanger found that only 12 of the 300 tokens were ever claimed. 

Crypto businessman Andre Abdoune buys the world’s largest painting for $62 million.

Last fall, Sacha Jafri set the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest painting with a work that measures 17,000 square feet—covering an area roughly equal to six tennis courts. Painting The Journey of Humanity took eight months, sometimes working 20 hours a day at a time at the Atlantic, the Palm hotel in Dubai during lockdown. He sold the work for the equally staggering price of $62 million, making him the fourth most expensive living artist behind Jeff Koons, David Hockney, and digital artist Beeple. The proceeds of the sale, which comes just after Beeple’s $69 million NFT sale earlier this month, will benefit Dubai Cares, Unicef, UNESCO, and the Global Gift Foundation.  

Researchers develop a non-invasive and hassle-free skin-swab test for COVID-19.

Goodbye irritating nasal swab stabbing your brain, hello pleasant and hassle-free skin test. A study from the University of Surrey suggests there could be a new, easier way to test and diagnose viruses, including COVID-19, now and in the future. The science involves measuring changes in lipid levels by collecting sebum, an oily substance produced by the skin. 

In a new interview, Beeple predicts that crypto art is a bubble that will inevitably burst.

Beeple hardly needs an introduction at this point. In a new interview, the net artist (also known as Mike Winkelmann) who has practically become synonymous with the recent crypto art bonanza described the movement as an “irrational exuberance bubble” that will inevitably burst. Winkelmann also admitted to not knowing about non-fungible tokens six months prior to the record-shattering sale, and described the market as extremely speculative. “This is for people who are looking to take some risks, because a lot of this stuff will absolutely go to zero,” he says. “If you look at art historically, blue-chip stuff does pretty well over time. But most of it goes to zero. That’s just how it is. And I believe NFTs will be no different.”

A coalition of artist and activist groups are planning a ten-week-long strike against MoMA.

Citing museum trustees with alleged ties to unethical businesses, a coalition of artist and activist groups called the International Imagination of Anti-National Anti-Imperialist Feelings is staging a ten-week strike against the Museum of Modern Art. The group calls to “dismantle” the museum as it currently stands, ending its dependency on billionaire donors and reevaluating its wider role in society. Among the participating groups include MoMA Divest, Forensic Architecture, and Decolonize This Place, who penned a manifesto-like document that makes their case against the museum. “When we strike MoMA, we strike its blood-soaked modernity. The monument on 53rd Street becomes our prism. We see our histories and struggles refracted through its crystalline structure, and foreclosed futures come into view.”

Today’s attractive distractions:

This nomadic park ranger paints vibrant landscapes onto discarded detritus.

It’s getting a bit difficult to shop Zara because of their models’ strange poses.

Researchers develop a material that changes color with pressure detection.

The lines between musician Nick Cave and artist Nick Cave continue to blur.