4 h. ago RoboCop statue rises in Detroit: ‘big, beautiful, bronze piece of art’

A 15-year quest ends with a monument, drawing crowds and nostalgia as Detroit embraces its cult-film pastThe statue looms and glints at more than 11 feet tall and weighing 3,500 pounds, looking out at the city with, how to put it a characteristically stern expression?Despite its daunting appearance and history as a crimefighter of last resort, the giant new bronze figure of the movie character RoboCop is being seen as a symbol of hope, drawing fans and eliciting selfie mania since it began standing guard over Detroit on Wednesday afternoon. Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago Art Basel Miami 2025: Latin American artists take center stage

The Florida-based art gathering is spearheaded this year by artists from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and PanamaWhether it’s literally bringing Panamanian soil to Miami, or subverting the messages of Mexican religious cults by appropriating their iconography into tile murals dripping with sexual innuendo, Latin American artists at Art Basel Miami Beach this year are finding ways to reinvent their cultural heritage as surprising and fantastic pieces of art.The Mexican artist Renata Petersen, originally from Guadalajara, has outfitted her Art Basel booth with three collections that may at first appear disconnected – intricate murals made from tiles and covered slogans and iconography, 80 chrome-blown glass works that look slightly like chess pieces but are actually derived from sex toys, and ceramic vases sporting carefully arranged motifs. For Petersen, these works spring from a childhood lived with her anthropologist mother, where she learned to look at cults and other religious moveme...

Politics

2 w. ago Watch the moment a Gustav Klimt painting sells for record amount at auction

A Gustav Klimt painting has become the most expensive piece of modern art ever after it was sold at auction.

Politics

2 w. ago Gustav Klimt painting sells for $236.4 million as the most expensive piece of modern art ever sold at auction

The piece was owned by beauty tycoon Leonard Lauder who died in June and was son and heir to Estee Lauder.

Economics

3 w. ago Total recoil: David Shrigley is literally putting some old rope on display – and it can be yours for £1m!

Stephen Friedman Gallery, LondonIs the pranksy artist’s latest show a worrying comment about Britain’s discarded rope problem – or a joke at the expense of the buy-anything art world?How long is a piece of string? David Shrigley can’t answer that, but he can tell you how much it weighs: 10 tonnes, apparently. His latest installation is literally an exhibition of 10 tonnes of old rope, accumulated by him over months, and left in towering mounds in this swanky gallery in London’s Mayfair. Most of it is marine rope, destined for landfill. It’s hard to recycle this stuff, it seems, and there’s an endless supply of it dumped around the world. So Shrigley scooped up as much of it as he could find, piled it up and put a massive price tag on it.The work can be yours for £1m. And that’s the point of the show: this is literally money for old rope. It’s not that deep – it’s just an idea taken to its logical conclusion, an idiom taken too far, a pun taken too literally. Continue reading...

Economics

3 w. ago Yours for £1m! David Shrigley puts 10 tons of old rope on display in a gallery

Stephen Friedman Gallery, LondonIs the pranksy artist’s latest show a worrying comment about Britain’s discarded rope problem – or a joke at the expense of the buy-anything art world?How long is a piece of string? David Shrigley can’t answer that, but he can tell you how much it weighs: 10 tons, apparently. His latest installation is literally an exhibition of 10 tons of old rope, accumulated by him over months, and left in towering mounds in this swanky gallery in London’s Mayfair. Most of it is marine rope, destined for landfill. It’s hard to recycle this stuff, it seems, and there’s an endless supply of it dumped around the world. So Shrigley scooped up as much of it as he could find, piled it up and put a massive price tag on it.The work can be yours for £1m. And that’s the point of the show: this is literally money for old rope. It’s not that deep – it’s just an idea taken to its logical conclusion, an idiom taken too far, a pun taken too literally. Continue reading...

Economics