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At Prince & Wooster, Old Masters and Emerging Artists Coexist
It’s fitting that art gallery Prince & Wooster, one of the latest additions to SoHo’s historic gallery district, has set up shop in Dia Art Foundation’s landmarked Earth Room building. The notion of looking to the past to contextualize the present is pervasive in the space, where works by the likes of Cy Twombly, Keith Haring, Salvador Dalí, and more from founder Leo Rogath’s private collection are paired with new works from upstart contemporary painters.
Rogath cut his teeth as a client advisor specializing in postwar and contemporary art at Christie’s before facilitating donations to Tate, the Whitney, and ICA Miami. He soon came to a realization: “The ability to see contemporary artists and their predecessors in one space is the most raw and authentic way to pull connections and further the historical canon,” he says, admitting that such a curatorial perspective is often missing outside of museums. Catch the gallery’s latest show on May 13, with an exhibition of paintings by rising star Emily Ferguson. —Jenna Adrian-Diaz
“Spider” (1996) by Louise Bourgeois. Photography by Edouard Fraipont, courtesy of Sotheby’s …
Louis Bourgeois’ menacing Spider sculpture is expected to fetch up to $40 million.
Sotheby’s New York is set to auction Louise Bourgeois’ iconic Spider sculpture, which is expected to fetch between $30 million and $40 million. The piece, created in 1996, stands ten feet tall and 18 feet wide, with spindly legs reaching outwards. Called a symbol of motherhood by Bourgeois, the Spider has become a global icon and acquired by cultural institutions around the world.
The first-ever trial involving NFT insider trading heads to Manhattan federal court.
Nathaniel Chastain, a former product manager at the NFT marketplace OpenSea, is about to face the first-ever insider trading trial in the digital assets world. Chastain is accused of buying NFTs ahead of their feature on OpenSea’s homepage and then selling them for up to five times the purchase price, thereby violating his duty to keep the information confidential. Prosecutors have charged him with wire fraud, and his trial is set to last for one to two weeks, with jury selection starting on Monday in Manhattan federal court.
After raising $2 million, LACMA acquires ten new artworks for its permanent collection.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) raised more than $2 million for its acquisition budget and purchased ten new artworks for its permanent collection during a gala auction hosted by leading art collectors in Los Angeles. The pieces include an 11th-21st century architectural fragment from Granada, historic textiles from Pacific islands, and contemporary works from Chicago artists Nick Cave, Theaster Gates, and Miyoko Ito. LACMA has raised more than $49 million since launching the Collectors Committee Weekend in 1986 and aims to complete its controversial $750 million construction project in late 2024.
The Dyson Zone. Photography by Tom Bunning/Dyson…
The Dyson Zone noise-canceling headphones that double as air purifiers debut today.
The highly anticipated Dyson Zone noise-canceling headphones, which double as an air purifier, will be available for purchase in the U.S. starting today. The Ultra Blue/Prussian Blue version will be sold at Best Buy while the Prussian Blue/Bright Copper version, with two extra electrostatic carbon filters and an in-flight adapter, will be available online via Dyson’s website. The companion MyDyson app allows users to adjust airflow speed and switch between transparency and isolation modes, while the electrostatic filters capture 99% of particle pollution as small as 0.1 microns.
Ikea is launching an all-new collection that revises some of its bestselling products.
Ikea is capitalizing on the vintage trend by launching a new collection called Nytillverkad, which recreates some of the brand’s most iconic designs from as far back as the ‘80s. The collection includes furniture, bedding, and accessories in vibrant colors and striking patterns, with some pieces selling for more than $600 online. According to Karin Gustavsson, Ikea of Sweden’s Creative Leader, the collection is “loud, colorful, and fun” and aims to find the “icons of the future in the old.” The collection is expected to launch in Ikea stores in July after debuting at 2023’s Milan Design Week.
An exhibition at Milan Design Week comes under fire for showcasing “racist figurines.”
At Milan Design Week, an exhibition by architect Massimo Adario featuring a collection of glass figures was criticized by Stephen Burks, Anava Projects, and Hello Human, who decried the display as embodying racist stereotypes. The pieces were included in a display called Il Collezionista and were intended to be a hypothetical collection of objects gathered by a fictional collector of Meissen porcelain Kaspar Utz. Burks, a pre-eminent African American designer, says the figurines sent an “unfortunate message” about the inclusiveness of the design community and prompted a discussion about the industry’s issues with racism.
Twitter’s blue checkmark…
Today’s attractive distractions:
Archaeologists uncover an 1,800-year-old ritual cedar mask in Osaka.
Jasmin Attia is reconnecting with her Egyptian heritage through cuisine.
The internet of the 2010s ended with the shuttering of Buzzfeed News.
