No longer accessible The hazards and disasters of the coronavirus crisis mean many countries and artists that once seemed to be within reach are no longer accessible, and will apparently remain that way for some time. Excellent exhibition This is why we should...
https://youtu.be/e94QGzpYduU Patrick Drahi It’s been 12 months since Sotheby’s was bought by the French businessman Patrick Drahi. It’s been 9 months since he appointed a new head of the auction house, former investment banker at...
Heartbreaking story “This is Takashi Murakami. I’m a contemporary artist. Today’s story is my very heartbreaking story.” At the end of June Takashi Murakami uploaded a 15-minute video to Instagram that had been filmed at his studio on 23...
https://youtu.be/Y73YWHsMoc8 Absolute masterpiece It’s a small museum that contains an absolute masterpiece. Located at Hauterives, in a commune of 2,000 inhabitants not far from Lyon, Saint Etienne and Valence, it is home to a complete...
When the sun never set In a past now relegated to the history books, the English used to say that the sun never set on the British Empire. On 10 July 2020, Christie’s will be able to use the same slogan for their auction. On that day...
https://youtu.be/XE0qmphievc The end of colonial ruls Even before the world was put on hold due to the arrival of a highly contagious virus, our society was already experiencing a profound shift in values. A number of countries that were...
Online: the new norm In barely three months the online contemporary art market has become the new norm. Nothing can ever replace seeing artworks “in the flesh”, but while we await more favourable times once travelling restrictions are lifted,...
47 years together They’ve lived together for 47 years. Those 47 years have fostered a shared interest in painting, sculpture, literature, and poetry. Simone Fattal (born in 1942 in Damascus) grew up in Lebanon. Etel Adnan was born in 1925 in...
World afterwards again Since the start of the coronavirus crisis there's been too much talk about what the world's going to look like afterwards, to the point of rendering the expression meaningless even if it's true. No doubt mankind will still be pursuing...
Established for many centuries When talking about the art market there’s a tendency to immediately think of 20th-century art, which attracts the most fans and the highest figures. However, at a time when values are being called into question,...
https://youtu.be/iRPVvzwfR68 Injustice to a black man While the United States reverberates with violence over the injustice done to a black man, George Floyd, who died as a result of the racism of a police officer in Minneapolis who believed...
Christo died on 31 May 2020 at the age of 84. He was one of the very first artists that I interviewed early on in my career. I went to meet him in 1993 at his studio in Soho in New York, where I made his acquaintance through the dealer Daniel Varenne, now also...