If you see a fleet of U-Haul trucks filled with art around New York, it’s not a scam—it’s merely the latest gallery and art fair model to hit the city.

Last spring, in May 2024, James Sundquist and Jack Chase took matters in their own hands, establishing U-Haul Gallery, a commercial enterprise located inside the ever-familiar moving van. Sundquist is the gallery’s founder and director, while Chase serves as its curator. And this fall, they will launch a fair with a similar spirit.

“U-Haul Gallery was borne out of a frustration with the financial constraints of showing work in New York City,” Chase explained to ARTnews in an emailed interview. Instead of paying thousands in overhead costs each month, the gallery utilizes truck rentals as low as $19.99 a day, plus the cost of mileage.

This new kind of space, Chase continued, poses “an alternative to the contemporary exhibition format, one that is more inclusive and accessible than its peers. The mobility of the gallery allows us to capitalize on the foot traffic of established galleries and institutions, as well as show work in unconventional areas (sporting events, public parks).”

In lieu of the traditional brick-and-mortar, U-Haul Gallery has the luxury of never needing to move spaces because it is always on the move. Inside, white gallery walls are installed using the protective wooden railing found inside each truck. Additional lights are run from the power outlet in the dashboard. Outside, spinning on top of the truck, is a hand-stenciled plywood sign with the gallery’s logo.

As for the art, the pair focuses on mounting “projects that would be difficult to show in conventional galleries, primarily because of financial difficulties. With our low overhead and diversified revenue streams, we have the ability to take risks on shows that would not be financially feasible in a traditional gallery environment,” Chase said.

Last fall, for example, U-Haul gallery staged the pop-up performance “Show of Stolen Goods” by artist and sculptor Victoria Gill, which saw Gill, Chase, and Sundquist mimic a heist of sorts. On view was quite literally a selection of stolen goods, including a trove of black combs. Submissions for the show were advertised through an open call on Instagram, with a few objects having already been sourced from a previous iteration of the project in London.

As broker fees were recently slashed and New York rent prices continue to rise, and art fairs fall flat amid major market shifts, the roving model doesn’t seem like such a bad alternative. Those wishing to get in on the action have a chance to do so when the duo launches the U-Haul Art Fair in September.

“The U-Haul Art Fair is an opportunity to extend the unique advantages of the U-Haul as an exhibition space to like-minded galleries and curators. It will allow us to amplify our habit of working within public space and manufacturing exhibition space,” added Chase.

The U-Haul Art Fair is slated to take place concurrently with Armory Show. Running September 5–7, it will feature 10 exhibitors, comprising galleries and independent curators, who will all be stationed in U-Haul trucks in New York’s West Chelsea neighborhood.

“Bearing witness to the wave of retiring old-guard dealers, we believe there is no better time for the U-Haul Gallery. To us, the traditional white cube has run its course. There is an appetite for new and energetic forms of presentation, especially in the white cube capital of the world,” Chase said.

This fall, Di Donna Galleries will mount a major exhibition of more than 50 paintings, works on paper, and sculptures by René Magritte and Les Lalannes in New York in collaboration with the London-based gallery Ben Brown Fine Arts.

Opening on October 8, “Magritte and Les Lalanne: In the Mind’s Garden” will feature rare loans of paintings by the Belgian Surrealist in dialogue with works from the estate of French sculptors François-Xavier Lalanne and Claude Lalanne.

“A show like this has never been done,” gallerist Emmanuel Di Donna told ARTnews. “With a project like this, where it’s something new, it’s something that’s relevant, and I think that’s something that’s going to be very poetic. I think together, those works will sing together.”

In addition to all three artists’ shared sensibility—through a surreal and poetic transformation of the natural world—they were concurrently championed and represented by the legendary gallerist Alexander Iolas in the 1960s.

Di Donna told ARTnews discussions for the exhibition first started late last year, but it was put together “fairly fast” due to access to works from the Lalanne family, Di Donna’s long-term involvement in the market for iconic Surrealist works by the Belgian artist, and important private collectors willing to loan pieces.

“I know where most Magrittes are,” he said. “It’s a phone call or a letter, explaining what we’re doing, you know, what the reasoning behind the show is, and showing a few examples of the works that we already have and how well they work together.”

Adding, “People always need to see beautiful shows. If they can be part of putting contributing to great show, I think people want to do it.”

Ben Brown has also represented Les Lalannes for several years, knew the French couple and sculptors personally, and observed how their market continues to expand and attract new buyers.

Di Donna is still working on securing loans of other works in the next few weeks, including ones that have been hidden from public view. “There’s a lot of works that haven’t been seen in museums or anywhere in years,” the gallerist said. “So I’m excited to show some some works by Magritte that are really special and in conversation with those wonderful Lalannes.”

Confirmed highlights of the exhibition include Magritte’s oil painting L’ami intime (1958), which sold for £33.66 million last March at Christie’s in London; François-Xavier Lalanne’s Hippopotame I (1968/1998), a bright blue 9-foot-long bathtub made of molded polyester resin and brass in the shape of a life-sized hippopotamus; and François-Xavier Lalanne’s “Sauterelle” Bar (1970) made of porcelain, polished brass, and steel in the shape of a large grasshopper which only has two editions.

“The scale of it just makes it like, it looks like a UFO,” Di Donna said in reference to the “Sauterelle” Bar. “It’s such an amazing creative object.”

“The first show that I did when I opened the gallery in 2011 was a Magritte show,” Di Donna said, noting the catalog cover featured L’empire des lumières (1954), which set a new auction record for the artist when it sold for $121 million at Christie’s 20th century evening sale last November.

Interest in works by all three artists continues to be strong even in a sluggish art market. In May, Magritte’s L’empire des lumières (1959) retained its value by selling for $34.9 million with fees at Christies’s single-owner sale for Leonard & Louise Riggio: Collected Works. And last month, Francois-Xavier Lalanne’s life-sized bronze desk Grand Rhinocéros II (2003) sold for $16.422 million with buyer’s premium—well beyond its high estimate of $5 million. It was the top lot at Sotheby’s important design day sale in New York and the artist’s second-highest result at auction.

Di Donna also believes the market for Les Lalannes still has room to grow, due to the couple’s unique style and growing number of buyers. “There’s nobody that can compete in terms of quality, and imagery with them,” he said. “When you see those giant hippos or giant gorillas or like the small choupette or, you know, I mean, all those pieces in themselves, very poetic, very beautiful and very charming to live with. And they’re enchanting.”

A press release noted the illustrated catalog for “Magritte and Les Lalanne: In the Mind’s Garden” will also contain texts from leading scholars in Surrealism, with a focus on Magritte and Les Lalanne.

Editor’s Note, July 30, 2025: A previous version of this article said both Di Donna Galleries and Ben Brown Fine Arts represented Les Lalanne. Only Ben Brown Fine Arts represents the French sculptors.

The art market may be on shaky ground, but no one told the megas. Hauser & Wirth, which currently has 17 locations worldwide, has just revealed plans to open a new gallery in Palo Alto, California, in spring 2026.

The Palo Alto space will be the gallery’s third location in California, joining its Downtown Los Angeles complex—which includes the farm-to-table restaurant Manuela—and its West Hollywood outpost, which opened in 2016 and 2023, respectively.

“Northern California occupies an equally powerful position [as Los Angeles] as home to a fantastically dedicated community of collectors and the museums they have built,” gallery president Marc Payot said in a statement. “Perched in its prime spot on the edge of the Pacific Rim and populated by generations of astute and ambitious patrons of the arts, the Bay Area is a place where we are proud to be creating a new space, an energy center for our artists and the community.”

The new 2,600-square-foot gallery—Hauser & Wirth’s first in the Bay Area—will occupy a former post office at 201–225 Hamilton Avenue, a short walk from the Stanford University campus. Architect Luis Laplace, principal of Laplace, will lead the renovation.

Hauser & Wirth is the first mega-gallery to take a bet on the Bay Area since Pace Gallery closed its outpost there in 2022—a somewhat surprising development given that the region routinely ranks among the wealthiest metro areas in the United States. Gagosian operated a location in San Francisco, near SFMOMA, for around four years until December 2020.

According to Henley & Partners’s U.S. Wealth Report 2024, the Bay Area has a comparable number of millionaires and centimillionaires—and slightly more billionaires—than New York City.

The region is home to many ARTnews Top 200 collectors, including Laurene Powell Jobs, billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreesen and Laura Arillaga-Andreesen, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, former Gap Inc. chairman Robert Fisher, and tech power couple Komal Shah and Gaurav Garg, among others.

On Tuesday evening, Shah told ARTnews that the new gallery “makes a lot of sense” for Hauser & Wirth.

“Part of the Bay Area culture is to not talk about possessions or collecting, but there is an active community,” Shah said, noting Hauser’s ties to regional collectors, its connections to nearby Stanford, and a growing population of young collectors who she said need to be cultivated and engaged.

“I’m confident that Hauser will do it right—with a host of programming, books, and activations alongside the art,” she added. “They know how to go into a place and energize it.”

The last wave of mega-gallery expansion in the Bay Area came in the mid-2010s, when Pace and Gagosian opened locations in Palo Alto (2014) and San Francisco (2016), respectively. At the time, the moves were seen as a sign of a maturing local scene and a strategic play to court the region’s growing class of tech collectors.

Pace’s initial Palo Alto gallery—a former Tesla showroom—was framed by president Marc Glimcher as a pop-up. It was rented from John Arrillaga, the late Silicon Valley real estate developer and father of Arrillaga-Andreessen. In 2018, the gallery relocated to a smaller, more permanent space in a converted movie theater nearby, but in August 2022, it announced plans to shutter the outpost, citing a consolidation of its West Coast operations.

A month earlier, Artnet News had reported that Powell Jobs—long affiliated with Pace—had shifted her support to Hauser & Wirth. Around this time, she also began to separate from Superblue, the immersive art venture cofunded by Powell Jobs and Pace.

As for whether Hauser might face the same challenges that Pace did, Shah said she sees the Swiss gallery moving in a “more deliberate and intentional” way, with a diverse program that will “meet its match” in the Bay Area’s “very” international community.

“If this is done right—and I believe it will—it would be a huge win for everybody,” Shah said, citing collectors’ strong support for local institutions such as Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center and the Anderson Collection. “This seems like the right time and the right thing to do.”

Four artworks by Pablo Picasso, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Diane Arbus surrendered to the US Department of Justice in connection with the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal are now being auctioned online by the US Marshals Service.

Gaston and Sheehan, an auction house in Pflugerville, Texas, has been contracted by the US government to sell Jean Michel Basquiat’s Self Portrait (1982) and collage Red Man One (1982), Pablo Picasso’s Tête de taureau et broc (1939), and Diane Arbus’s Child with a Toy Hand Grenade. The online only auction began on July 16 and closes on September 4. Notably, there is no buyer’s premium on any of the artworks.

Art advisors and experts told ARTnews the works are high caliber and have “crazy” starting bids relative to their actual value based on previous auction records and sales information. However, the simple auction website and association with an international fugitive may deter potential bidders in an already sluggish art market.

“It’s not the sexiest place to buy, but it could present the right opportunity for a savvy buyer,” art advisor Dane Jensen told ARTnews.

“Most of my clients would not be interested in sitting on this website and bidding on it just because the website is so terrible,” art advisor Arushi Kapoor told ARTnews. “If someone sent me this website that wasn’t you, I would probably be like, ‘someone’s trying to scam me’.”

Documents filed by the Justice Department in July 2020 state Basquiat’s Self Portrait was surrendered to the US government by Christopher Joey McFarland, who co-founded Red Granite Pictures with Riza Shahriz Bin Abdul Aziz, the stepson of the former Malaysian prime minister. McFarland and Aziz also produced the 2013 movie The Wolf of Wall Street.

The other three artworks were purchased by Malaysian businessman and fugitive Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, between 2012 and 2014 and gifted to actor and art collector Leonardo DiCaprio, who also starred and produced The Wolf of Wall Street. Documents filed by the Justice Department state DiCaprio—who appeared on ARTnews‘ Top 200 Collectors List in 2015 and 2016—surrendered all three artworks to the US government after the Picasso and Basquiat were located in Switzerland in 2017.

Low is currently wanted in several countries, including by Interpol, for his key role in the 1MDB scandal. The US Justice Department believes more than $4.5 billion was stolen from Malaysia’s sovereign investment development fund between 2009 and 2015 “by high-level officials of 1MDB and their associates, and Low Taek Jho (aka Jho Low), through a criminal scheme involving international money laundering and embezzlement.” 

ARTnews previously reported that Basquiat’s Red Man One (1982) sold for $3.5 million with fees at Sotheby’s Contemporary evening sale in New York in May 2009. Documents filed by the Justice Department state the Basquiat collage was purchased for $9.4 million from the Helly Nahmad Gallery in New York “in or around November 2012,” using diverted proceeds for a bond sale for 1MDB. The starting bid for Red Man One on the US Marshals Art Auction website was $2.975 million.

Documents filed by the Justice Department in June 2016 state the Picasso painting Tête de taureau et broc (1939), also known as Nature morte au crâne, was acquired on January 2, 2014 using $3.28 million in funds from a diverted bond sale in 2013. The painting was gifted to DiCaprio the same month with a handwritten note that said “Happy belated Birthday! This gift is for you.” and signed “TKL,” Low’s initials.

The starting bid for both Basquiat’s Self Portrait and Picasso’s Tête de taureau et broc on the US Marshals Art Auction was $850,000.

Documents filed by the US Justice Department also stated the gelatin silver print Child with a Toy Hand Grenade (1962) by Arbus was purchased from the art and movie memorabilia company Cinema Archives for $750,000. The starting bid for Child with a Toy Hand Grenade on the US Marshals Art Auction was $4,400.

While proceeds from federal seizures typically go to the Treasury Department, funds from the sale of assets connected to the 1MDB case will benefit people who were harmed by the corruption in Malaysia, a Justice Department spokesperson told NPR in 2019. A press release from the Justice Department published last June stated it had repatriated approximately $1.4 billion.

Gaston and Sheehan previously sold two other artworks in connection with the 1MDB scandal in February 2021: Heinz Schulz-Neudamm’s rare “Metropolis” 1927 film poster and Andy Warhol’s Round Jackie (1964). The gold Warhol painting sold for $1.04 million, slightly below the $1.055 million Low paid for it at a Sotheby’s contemporary evening sale in New York in November 2013, before gifting it to Top 200 collector Swizz Beatz.

Another artwork previously connected to Low, Mark Rothko‘s Untitled (Yellow and Blue), sold for a much larger drop last November at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. The nearly 8-foot-tall 1954 painting sold for $252.5 million HKD ($32.5 million) on a high estimate of $275 million HKD ($35 million), 30 percent less than when it it sold for $46.5 million at a Sotheby’s New York evening sale in May 2015.

While some art advisors said the association with Low might also result in discounts for Self Portrait (1982), Red Man One (1982), Tête de taureau et broc (1939), and Child with a Toy Hand Grenade, at least one industry expert said it was too early to predict bidding activity for the blue-chip artists.

“A sale price below the estimate or below a prior sale price could be caused by so many factors – it is difficult to tell if it is due to a slump or downturn in the art market, a problem that everyone’s writing about, or if it’s related to an issue with the particulars of this sale and auction process,” Jane Levine, partner and co-founder of The ArtRisk Group, former federal prosecutor as well as former Chief Global Compliance Counsel and Head of Government Affairs at Sotheby’s, told ARTnews. “It’s always hard to know what will happen at a public auction, and it could defy expectations and go higher. That’s part of the fun of auctions and makes them so, but interesting.”

News of the US Marshals auction was first reported by Lynda Albertson, the CEO of the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art (ARCA). The previous art auction at Gaston and Sheehan in 2021 was first reported by Greg Allen.

Editor’s Note, 7/30/2025: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the auction listings referenced above did not include condition reports. They are available on the website. ARTnews regrets the error.

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday.

On Friday night at Assembly—a former Catholic girls’ school–turned–music venue in Kingston, New York, a two-hour drive due north of midtown Manhattan—self-described “Virgo arts organizer” Helen Toomer was busy flying across the dance floor, introducing guests in a black-and-white polka dot dress with an oversized bow in back, like a gift. Half the crowd matched her energy in extravagant outfits; the other half swayed in sweaty T-shirts and jeans to sunny disco beats. The event marked the official launch of the sixth edition of Upstate Art Weekend, the annual arts festival Toomer founded in 2020.

“I woke up in June [2020] and realized how lucky and privileged we were to have space and trees. So many of my friends in the city were just losing their minds,” Toomer told ARTnews, as a meter projected behind her tallied donations for abortion-rights nonprofit Noise for Now. “I just thought, I need to do this, because I miss people, and I miss art.”

The inaugural edition of UAW, which featured 23 participants, came at the right time. While artists and the art-adjacent have slowly filtered up to Hudson and the surrounding region since the mid-2010s, the exodus from New York City surged in 2020, as the wealthy (and the merely upper middle-class priced out of the Hamptons) fled the city for green space. Now, UAW’s participants have grown to a whopping 158 stretching across 6,000 square miles, south to north from Tarrytown to Stamford, west to east, from Narrowsburg to East Chatham.

While the pace of relocation has slowed some, the movement itself has not. The pandemic exodus and its aftermath are most evident in the real estate market. In January, Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress reported that the median home price across the region’s nine counties topped $300,000 for the first time last year. Counties tied to the area’s growing art scene saw the steepest climbs since 2019—Sullivan rose 158 percent, Ulster 89 percent, Orange 85 percent, and Columbia 84 percent. Kingston and Hudson, meanwhile, have seen sharp income growth: in Hudson, the top income bracket jumped from $225,000 in 2013 to $632,000 in 2023. However, that report also noted deepening income inequality in Hudson and a growing housing crisis across the region.

As Kristen Dodge, the founder of September Gallery in Kinderhook, told ARTnews, the pandemic supercharged demographic shifts already underway. “When we opened back up [after lockdown], it was like the world around us had shifted. Suddenly there were so many people here that I didn’t know before. Like a whole new population,” she said. The real estate market, she added, “went nuts during and after [the pandemic], and in many ways still is.”

Dodge moved upstate in 2014 after closing her Lower East Side gallery, burned out by the “immense pressure” of the “more is more” contemporary art market, as she described it in interviews at the time. She relocated with plans to become a real estate agent, but was coaxed back into curating by dealer Zach Feuer at his and Joel Mesler’s Hudson project space. When that closed in 2016, Dodge opened September.

Dodge has participated in every edition of Upstate Art Weekend, which she said has been critical to getting collectors in the door to purchase work, but also getting writers and curators to understand the gallery’s program, which features both internationally recognized artists and local practitioners for whom art may not be a primary career. About half of September’s exhibitions are group shows.

“That’s pretty unheard of in other programs, especially in the city,” she said. “That’s possible because our rent is so much lower. We can afford to sell work at a range of price points. In one group show, we sold 15 pieces each at $500. That would be a bad business plan if you were in the city.”

The gallery also participates in two fairs a year, with past appearances at Expo Chicago, Untitled Miami, and the Armory Show.

Storage Facilities Turned Into Art Destinations

Dodge said one reason she opened September was the example set by The School, Jack Shainman’s ambitious outpost in Kinderhook—proof that serious art could thrive in the “middle of nowhere,” as she put it. 

Founded in 2013, The School began as a “fantasy” to have a big storage facility with “a couple of large viewing rooms,” but the magisterial former high school—renovated by Spanish architect Antonio Torrecillas—has become much more. Its 30,000 square feet have hosted major solo shows by artists like Nick Cave and El Anatsui, often on view for six months or more. On a typical weekend, it draws about 200 visitors; blockbuster exhibitions, like 2019’s “Basquiat x Warhol,” have brought in as many as 650 in a single day.

“We never did this as a get-rich-quick kind of thing, and a lot of the collectors up here we knew already [when we opened],” Shainman told ARTnews. “But there are so many more artists and galleries here now. Catskill has changed like crazy, and Kingston too. I was shocked last year when I saw how long the list of venues [for UAW] was.”

The long drive to Kinderhook—whether from Manhattan or farther afield—is part of the appeal for Shainman. If collectors or institutions make the trip, he said, they tend to spend more time and have “deeper conversations” about the art.

Veteran dealer James Cohan similarly described The Campus, a year-old joint venture between six major Manhattan galleries, as an art storage play that has turned into something more. Last year’s inaugural show was a scattershot, if occasionally sublime, exhibition spread across the classrooms of the former school in Hudson. This year, the one- and two-artist presentations appear more focused and intentional. In one standout, Dana Schutz’s grotesque, yet humorous paintings rhyme with her partner Ryan Johnson’s strangely lyrical, slyly figurative sculptures. 

There is also a far wider spread of artists; Cohan estimated that 70 percent of the artists in the current show aren’t represented by any of the partner galleries. 

Several mega-galleries pitched in to bring The Campus’s  expanded offering to life. Pace founder Arne Glimcher helped shape presentations for Richard Tuttle, Kiki Smith, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, and Arlene Shechet, according to Cohan. Gagosian assisted with works by Nancy Rubins and Katharina Grosse. Hauser & Wirth helped secure pieces by Rita Ackermann and Schutz. Tuttle and Smith even traveled Upstate to help install their work.

“Whether we intended to or not, we created conditions that are very artist-friendly, and it’s a great venue where artists really want to be seen,” Cohan said.

While the Campus has been successful in “selling some pictures and sculptures,” as Cohan put it, the greater success may be foot traffic—something that could eventually translate into sales. On a typical weekend, the outpost draws 400–500 visitors. During Upstate Art Weekend this year, it appeared to be many times that, with the downtown fashionable, the Brooklyn tote brigade, and Upstate locals crowding the hallways, and filling the gymnasium for a dance performance by artist Nicole Cherubini, who is represented by September. (Jeffrey Gibson, who converted his own former schoolhouse in Hudson into a 14,000-square-foot studio, was spotted in attendance on Saturday.)

The Campus has added a café, bookshop, and a lawnside BBQ vendor this year. “There’s an element of hospitality, too,” Cohan said. We see that doing events—concerts, performances, and talks—lends itself well to the community.”

An ‘Anti-Hamptons’ Fair

At Caboose Hudson, a newly renovated wedding venue adjacent to Hudson’s Amtrak station, Fairchild Fries, a former brand designer for Apple and Saint Laurent, put on an impromptu “invitational” featuring stalwart Upper East Side gallery Franklin Parrasch, Chinatown’s Post-Times, Dutton of the Meatpacking District, and Abri Mars, the gallery Fries founded in the Lower East Side last fall. Fries had originally planned a solo pop-up at an Airbnb, but when that fell through, he scrambled to secure Caboose—an airy former coal barn far too big for just one gallery. That’s when he called Broc Blegen, the director of Post-Times, and the two picked up the phone and started calling in favors.  

Within a matter of weeks, Loading…—as Fries dubbed the event at Caboose—was born. Fries designed the website, branding, and materials in a single week. “I didn’t sleep for, like, eight days straight,” he said, with a laugh. “I started calling local places and was like, I accidentally started an art fair. Can you bail me out?”

On Friday afternoon, golden sunlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows, lighting up the artworks, which were hung salon-style on a zig-zagging plywood divider that matched the venue’s maple walls. (Because they couldn’t drill into the historic walls, the plywood was mounted with ratchet straps and clamps.) The works on view ranged from an affordable (by art-world standards) $1,000 to $20,000, with a standout piece from Parrasch—an $80,000 solar burn by Land artist Charles Ross—anchoring the upper end. The vibes were similar to Esther, the alternative fair held in Manhattan’s Estonia House, which Blegen participated in in May.

Given the short notice, Fries and company seemed unsure what to expect, and mostly just hopeful to get their name out there. Parrasch too seemed unsure, despite his far longer history upstate. He has owned a home in nearby Hillsdale since 2006, and operated a gallery in Beacon through various partnerships until this past fall, when Analog Diary—his joint venture with Derek Eller, Abby Messitte, and Katharine Overgaard—quietly closed. He described his participation in Loading… as a kind of market research mission.

“I wanted to get a sense of what’s going on in Hudson,” he said. “I don’t know who comes here that buys art, but that’s what I’m hoping to find out.”

Blegen, meanwhile, confessed, “We’re not the most sales-oriented group of galleries. We just want people to engage with the art in a real sense.”

As we talked, their friend Alex Camacho, an artist and art handler, wandered in after completing a third round-trip drive between Upstate and the Hamptons, where he’d been installing for the Hamptons Art Fair there. As we compared the two summer destinations, he quipped of Loading…, “The anti-Hamptons—there’s no pretense.”

“It’s a little slow in the summer in the art world,” Fries added, hopeful that he could put on a more planned version of Loading… next year. “But there’s energy here. So it’s just like, let’s take it to where everyone went.” 

He continued, “People are getting sick of going to the Hamptons. It’s a very different kind of energy here. A lot of people come up here now in the summer.”

The Return of the Ambitious Group Show

In a recent edition of On Balance, ARTnews reporter Daniel Cassady noted the conspicuous absence of ambitious summer group shows in New York—a seasonal tradition. This year, the answer to where they went seems clear: Upstate.

Artist Ashley Garrett moved to the Hudson Valley with her husband, artist Brian Wood, in 2016. She has participated in UAW since its first edition, when she showed work with September. Last year, the pair organized “Upstate Gnarly,” a group show in their 4,000-square-foot studio in Chatham. It wasn’t the first time that Garrett, a former member of the Brooklyn collective Underdonk, has worn multiple hats.

The first “Gnarly” featured four artists—sculptors Gracelee Lawrence and Courtney Puckett alongside paintings by Garrett and Wood—staged as a dialogue between the two mediums. The response was strong enough that they extended the show to accommodate visits from collectors and institutions, including Ian Berry, director of Skidmore College’s Tang Teaching Museum in Saratoga Springs.

Garrett told ARTnews the show helped build lasting relationships with both local and international collectors. One large painting, priced at $14,000, sold to a collector who had previously acquired three smaller works from her 2023 solo show at September. Another UAW open studio visitor bought a painting from that show for $18,000. Wood sold several drawings priced between $2,500 and $3,000, and Lawrence sold two 3D-printed sculptures for about $1,000 each.

This year’s “Upstate Gnarly” expanded to include 14 artists, with prices ranging from $1,000 to $75,000. Highlights include a print from Sam Messer’s “Photoplasm” series—a suite recently acquired by the Brooklyn Museum—and collaborations with galleries such as P.P.O.W, DC Moore, and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, as well as the Carolee Schneemann Foundation.

One of the goals, Garrett said, is to center artists who have lived and worked in the region for years. “We want to make space for artists who have been here for a long time, and to retain the freshness of that,” she said.

At the same time, she acknowledged that the arrival of major venues like The Campus has created new visibility. “It just feels like [UAW] has given us space to imagine all kinds of awesome possibilities,” she said. “There’s room for it, and support in the community, and attention because of the platform.”

The buzziest exhibition of the weekend—and perhaps the summer—was the inaugural biennial from Sky High Farm, the food-security nonprofit founded by artist Dan Colen more than a decade ago. Installed in a former apple storage facility, the show featured more than 50 artists with a curatorial emphasis on ecology, social justice, and place-based dialogue.

The roster is stacked: Mark Grotjahn, Tschabalala Self, Roni Horn, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lyle Ashton Harris, rafa esparza, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Puppies Puppies, and Anne Imhof, whose dystopian installation of water-storage tanks formed the show’s central infrastructure. Also included were artists with deep ties to the Hudson Valley.

Most works are for sale, with artists designating a portion of proceeds to Sky High Farm. Prices ranged from a few hundred dollars to more than $1 million—a spread seemingly typical of upstate shows, where audiences vary widely in financial capacity. Proceeds support Sky High’s programs and expansion, including its current 40 acres and a new 560-acre farm acquired in 2023. Revenue helps fund community food access, farmer training, and grants ranging from $250 to $40,000. In 2024, the farm donated 26,000 pounds of vegetables, 6,000 pounds of protein, and 45,000 eggs to organizations in the region’s urgent food system.

The exhibition is bookended by works that embody the organization’s ethos. The opening gallery is dedicated to Ben Wigfall, the late artist from New Paltz and Kingston whose community print shop, Communications Village, anchors the show. A suite of his prints is accompanied by audio of his father recalling life in the Jim Crow South. A central installation displays about 20 African masks from Wigfall’s personal collection, curated by Lauren Halsey, alongside tapestries by his wife, Mary Wigfall, who ran a school for children of migrant farm workers. 

The show’s title, “Trees Never End and Houses Never End,” comes from a guerrilla artwork by the nonprofit’s first farmer, self-taught artist Joey Piecuch, who died in 2014. The piece stands vigil in the show’s expansive final room, which features a mirrored floor by Rudolf Stingel.

The Wigfalls “really believed in creative practice and its role in solving social problems,” said Sarah Workneh, who became the organization’s co-executive director—along with Josh Bardfield—in January 2024 after 14 years leading the prestigious Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in Maine. 

“I always think about the similarity between art-making and farming. It’s all world-building, right? Especially what we do—we’re building the world that we want to inhabit,” she said.

A ‘Spotlight’ On Upstate

The Upstate art network is, fittingly, like a small town. Earlier this month, painter Tschabalala Self and curator Michael Mosby held their wedding reception at Caboose, the Hudson venue that also hosted the Loading… invitational. On Saturday, Self welcomed the Guggenheim Young Collectors Council to her two-floor Catskill studio, followed by a cocktail party hosted by Alma Communications—whose clients include Shainman—at the Taghkanic House, a glass home designed by architect Thomas Phifer (and recently featured on Severance)

And wherever you go, one name always comes up: Helen Toomer.

“I always say, it’s not me,” Toomer said of UAW’s success. “I’m not doing it. I’m just shining a spotlight on the work being done up here.”

Each edition of UAW has added tweaks aimed at both accessibility and professionalization. This year, Toomer launched Upbringing, a year-round art space in Kingston that now serves as the event’s headquarters. Throughout the weekend, she offered custom itineraries for visitors and answered questions on-site. UAW’s application process—shaped in part by Toomer’s experience running Photofairs New York, the IFPDA Print Fair, and Pulse—is intended less as a gatekeeping tool than a way to ensure broad access across venues. This year also saw a new partnership with Bloomberg Connects, the museum-focused audio guide app.

UAW has made its name by skipping many art-world conveniences: there’s no single venue, no heavy-handed curation, no guided tour for out-of-towners. But after feedback from attendees and would-be participants, Toomer is moving the 2026 edition to the final weekend of June. The new timing could position UAW to capture the post-Basel crowd—especially as London’s summer sales, once a fixture on the calendar, fade in significance. (Christie’s sat them out this year.)

Is an art fair next? Toomer didn’t rule it out, but she’s not eager. “I’ve hung my art fair hat up,” she said. For her, success means driving traffic to galleries and institutions across the region. “Hopefully, acquisitions are made, and galleries and artists get paid,” she said. She’s heard that sales are happening—“the proof is in the pudding,” as she put it—and museums have reported membership bumps to her.

While some attendees grumble about the distances between venues, few artists or dealers expressed interest in a more centralized format. For most, the draw is precisely the opposite: the chance to encounter art in situ and to draw attention to the diverse variety of local arts organizations.

“Upstate Art Weekend has successfully drawn a map and webbed together all these different organizations—for-profit, nonprofit, and artists’ studios—in a way that didn’t exist before,” said September Gallery’s Kristen Dodge. “The more programming there is Upstate, the more people will come up who can have an impact on what we can do for our artists.”

Art Basel Miami Beach has named the 285 exhibitors that will participate in its 2025 edition, scheduled to run at the Miami Beach Convention Center from December 5–7, with preview days on December 3–4.

As is typical with Art Basel Miami Beach, the fair will include all four mega-galleries—Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace Gallery, and David Zwirner—along with leading blue-chip galleries from around the world. Top US dealers include Acquavella Galleries, Paula Cooper Gallery, Jeffrey Deitch, Gladstone Gallery, Marian Goodman Gallery, Karma, David Kordansky Gallery, Lisson Gallery, Matthew Marks, Mnuchin Gallery, Sperone Westwater, and Tibor de Nagy, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

International dealers who will flock to South Florida include Gallery Baton, Crèvecoeur, Cardi Gallery, Thomas Dane Gallery, Massimo de Carlo, Gallery Hyundai, Alison Jacques,  Mennour, Victoria Miro, Thaddaeus Ropac, and White Cube.

This year’s Art Basel Miami Beach will also see an increased presence of galleries from Latin America and the Caribbean, including A Gentil Carioca, Raquel Arnaud, Gaga, Kurimanzutto, Mendes Wood DM, OMR, Nara Roesler, and Galería Sur, as well as several enterprises that have not exhibited at the fair before.

The fair will also include 41 first-time exhibitors across four of its sections, up from the 34 exhibitors that debuted at the 2024 edition. Those include El Apartamento, Johyun Gallery, Nina Johnson, Richard Saltoun Gallery, and Galerie Cécile Fakhoury in the main Galleries section. Candice Madey, Rebecca Camacho Presents, and Carbon 12 slated to debut in the Nova section. In Positions, Lodos, Margot Samel, and Erin Cluley Gallery will show at the fair for the first time, while kó, Parallel Oaxaca, The Pit, and Voloshyn Gallery will be in the Survey section.

“The strength and caliber of this year’s exhibitors reaffirms Art Basel Miami Beach’s centrality within the global art ecosystem,” Art Basel Miami Beach director Bridget Finn said in a statement. “This edition reflects the vitality of artistic production across the Americas-which continues to shape contemporary art practice, patronage, and discourse worldwide-and the fair’s role as a critical gateway for introducing pioneering international artists and perspectives to the American market. It is bold, rigorous, and attuned to the moment.”

The full exhibitor list follows below.

Galleries

Exhibitor	Location(s)
1miramadrid / 2miraarchiv	Madrid
303 Gallery	New York
47 Canal	New York
A Gentil Carioca	Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo
Miguel Abreu Gallery	New York
Acquavella Galleries	New York, Palm Beach
Afriart Gallery	Kampala
Alexandre Gallery	New York
Alisan Fine Arts	Hong Kong, New York
Almeida & Dale Galeria de Arte	São Paulo
Altman Siegel	San Francisco
Ames Yavuz	Singapore, Sydney, London
Galeria Raquel Arnaud	São Paulo
Alfonso Artiaco	Napoli
BANK	Shanghai, New York
Barro	Buenos Aires, New York
von Bartha	Basel, Copenhagen
Gallery Baton	Seoul
Nicelle Beauchene Gallery	New York
Livia Benavides	Lima
Ruth Benzacar Galeria de Arte	Buenos Aires
Berggruen Gallery	San Francisco
Berry Campbell	New York
Peter Blum Gallery	New York
Marianne Boesky Gallery	New York, Aspen
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery	New York, Los Angeles
Bortolami	New York
Bradley Ertaskiran	Montreal
Luciana Brito Galeria	São Paulo
Broadway	New York
Ben Brown Fine Arts	London, New York, Hong Kong
Matthew Brown	Los Angeles, New York
Canada	New York
Cardi Gallery	Milan, London, Ibiza
Casa Triângulo	São Paulo
David Castillo	Miami
Cayón	Madrid, Manila, Menorca
Central Fine	Miami Beach
Galeria Pedro Cera	Lisbon, Madrid
Chapter NY	New York
James Cohan Gallery	New York
Commonwealth and Council	Los Angeles
Galleria Continua	San Gimignano, Beijing, Habana, Les Moulins, Paris, Rome, São Paulo
Paula Cooper Gallery	New York
Crèvecoeur	Paris
Cristea Roberts Gallery	London
Galerie Chantal Crousel	Paris
Thomas Dane Gallery	London, Naples
Dastan Gallery	Toronto, Tehran
Tibor de Nagy	New York
Massimodecarlo	Milan, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Seoul
Jeffrey Deitch	Los Angeles, New York
Document	Chicago, Lisbon
Anat Ebgi	Los Angeles, New York
Edel Assanti	London
Andrew Edlin Gallery	New York
El Apartamento	Havana, Madrid, Miami
galerie frank elbaz	Paris
Derek Eller Gallery	New York, Santa Monica
Thomas Erben Gallery	New York
Larkin Erdmann	Zurich
Galerie Cécile Fakhoury	Abidjan, Dakar, Paris
Daniel Faria Gallery	Toronto
Eric Firestone Gallery	New York, East Hampton
Konrad Fischer Galerie	Berlin, Dusseldorf
Peter Freeman, Inc.	New York
Stephen Friedman Gallery	London, New York
James Fuentes	New York, Los Angeles
Gaga	Mexico City, Guadalajara, Los Angeles
Gagosian	New York, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Le Bourget, Basel, Gstaad, Rome, Athens, Hong Kong
Galatea	São Paulo, Salvador
Gavlak	West Palm Beach
Gemini G.E.L.	Los Angeles
François Ghebaly	Los Angeles, New York
Gladstone Gallery	New York, Brussels, Seoul
Gomide&Co	São Paulo
Galería Elvira González	Madrid
Goodman Gallery	Johannesburg, Cape Town, London, New York
Marian Goodman Gallery	New York, Paris, Los Angeles
Gray	Chicago, New York
Alexander Gray Associates	New York
Garth Greenan Gallery	New York
Galerie Karsten Greve	Cologne, Paris, St Moritz
Hales Gallery	London, New York
Hauser & Wirth	New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Monaco, Menorca, Basel, Gstaad, Sankt Moritz, Zurich, London, Somerset, Los Angeles, West Hollywood
Galerie Max Hetzler	Berlin, Paris, London, Marfa
Hirschl & Adler Modern	New York
Edwynn Houk Gallery	New York
Pippy Houldsworth Gallery	London
Xavier Hufkens	Brussels
Gallery Hyundai	Seoul, New York
Ingleby Gallery	Edinburgh
Instituto de visión	New York, Bogotá
Isla Flotante	Buenos Aires, São Paulo
Alison Jacques	London
Charlie James Gallery	Los Angeles
rodolphe janssen	Brussels
Jenkins Johnson Gallery	San Francisco, Brooklyn
Nina Johnson	Miami
Johyun Gallery	Busan, Seoul
Galerie Judin	Berlin
Kalfayan Galleries	Athens, Thessaloniki
Casey Kaplan	New York
Jan Kaps	Cologne
Karma	New York, Los Angeles
Kasmin	New York
kaufmann repetto	Milan, New York
Sean Kelly	New York, Los Angeles
Anton Kern Gallery	New York
Galerie Peter Kilchmann	Zurich, Paris
Tina Kim Gallery	New York, Seoul
Michael Kohn Gallery	Los Angeles
David Kordansky Gallery	Los Angeles, New York
Andrew Kreps Gallery	New York
kurimanzutto	New York, Mexico City
Pearl Lam Galleries	Hong Kong, Shanghai
Leeahn Gallery	Seoul, Daegu
Lehmann Maupin	New York, Seoul, London
Galerie Lelong	Paris, New York
Lévy Gorvy Dayan	New York, London
Josh Lilley	London
Lisson Gallery	Beijing, Shanghai, London, Los Angeles, New York
Locks Gallery	Philadelphia
Jane Lombard Gallery	New York
Luhring Augustine	New York
Magenta Plains	New York
Mai 36 Galerie	Zurich, Madrid
Maisterravalbuena	Madrid
Matthew Marks Gallery	New York, Los Angeles
Philip Martin Gallery	Los Angeles
Martos Gallery	New York
Barbara Mathes Gallery	New York
Mayoral	Barcelona, Paris
Mazzoleni	Milan, Turin, London
Miles McEnery Gallery	New York
Anthony Meier	Mill Valley
Mendes Wood DM	São Paulo, Brussels, Paris, New York
Mennour	Paris
Maruani Mercier	Brussels, Knokke, Knokke-Heist, Zaventem
Mignoni	New York
Victoria Miro	London, Venice
Mnuchin Gallery	New York
The Modern Institute	Glasgow
moniquemeloche	Chicago
mor charpentier	Paris, Bogotá
Edward Tyler Nahem	New York
Helly Nahmad Gallery	New York
Nanzuka	Tokyo, Shanghai
neugerriemschneider	Berlin
Nicodim Gallery	Los Angeles, New York, Bucharest
Night Gallery	Los Angeles
Carolina Nitsch	New York
Galerie Nordenhake	Berlin, Mexico City, Stockholm
Gallery Wendi Norris	San Francisco
Galerie Nathalie Obadia	Paris, Brussels
OMR	Mexico City
Galleria Lorcan O’Neill Roma	Rome, Venice
Ortuzar	New York
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery	Sydney
P.P.O.W	New York
Pace Gallery	New York, Berlin, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Geneva, London, Los Angeles
Pace Prints	New York
Paragon	London
Parker Gallery	Los Angeles
Parrasch Heijnen Gallery	Los Angeles
Franklin Parrasch Gallery	New York
Patron	Chicago
Perrotin	New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Paris, Tokyo, Seoul, Dubai, London, Los Angeles, Las Vegas
Petzel	New York
PKM Gallery	Seoul
Polígrafa Obra Gràfica	Barcelona
Proyectos Monclova	Mexico City
Galeria Marilia Razuk	São Paulo
Almine Rech	Paris, Brussels, Shanghai, Monaco, Gstaad, London, New York
Regen Projects	Los Angeles
Rele Gallery	Lagos, London, Los Angeles
Roberts Projects	Los Angeles
Nara Roesler	São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, New York
Thaddaeus Ropac	Salzburg, Paris, Paris-Pantin, Milano, Seoul, London
Meredith Rosen Gallery	New York
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery	New York
Lia Rumma	Milan, Naples
Richard Saltoun Gallery	London, Rome, New York
SCAI The Bathhouse	Tokyo
Esther Schipper	Berlin, Seoul, Paris, New York
Schoelkopf Gallery	New York
Galerie Thomas Schulte	Berlin
Marc Selwyn Fine Art	Beverly Hills
Jack Shainman Gallery	New York, Kinderhook
Susan Sheehan Gallery	New York
Sicardi Ayers Bacino	Houston
Sies + Höke	Dusseldorf
Sikkema Malloy Jenkins	New York
Jessica Silverman	San Francisco
Bruce Silverstein	New York
Simões de Assis	Curitiba, Balneário Camboriú, São Paulo
Skarstedt	Paris, London, New York
Fredric Snitzer Gallery	Miami
Société	Berlin
Sperone Westwater	New York
Sprüth Magers	Berlin, London, Los Angeles, New York
STPI	Singapore
Luisa Strina	São Paulo
Galería Sur	Punta del Este
Timothy Taylor	London, New York
Templon	Paris, Brussels, New York
Cristin Tierney Gallery	New York
Tilton Gallery	New York
Tornabuoni Art	Florence, Paris, Forte dei Marmi, Milan, Roma, Crans Montana
Leon Tovar Gallery	New York
Travesía Cuatro	Madrid, Guadalajara, Mexico City
Two Palms	New York
Uffner & Liu	New York
ULAE	New York
Vadehra Art Gallery	New Delhi
Van de Weghe	New York
Van Doren Waxter	New York
Tim Van Laere Gallery	Antwerp, Rome
Nicola Vassell	New York
Vedovi Gallery	Brussels
Vermelho	São Paulo
Vielmetter Los Angeles	Los Angeles
Galleri Nicolai Wallner	Copenhagen
Wentrup	Berlin, Venice
Michael Werner Gallery	New York, Berlin, Athens, London, Beverly Hills
White Cube	London, Hong Kong, Paris, Seoul, New York
Yares Art	New York, Beverly Hills, Santa Fe
David Zwirner	New York, Paris, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles

Nova

Exhibitor	Location(s)	Artist(s)
Galería Isabel Aninat	Vitacura	Huanchaco (Fernando Gutierrez Casinelli)
Rebecca Camacho Presents	San Francisco	ektor garcia, Karen Barbour
Luis De Jesus Los Angeles	Los Angeles	Hugo Crosthwaite
Espacio Valverde	Madrid	Huanchaco (Fernando Gutierrez Casinelli)
Gypsum Gallery	Cairo	Huda Lutfi, Koak, Nova Jiang
Heidi	Berlin	Akeem Smith
Lohaus Sominsky	Munich	Melanie Siegel
Candice Madey	New York	Liz Collins
Max Estrella Gallery	Madrid	Glenda León
mother’s tankstation limited	Dublin, London	Prudence Flint
Nazarian/Curcio	Los Angeles	Widline Cadet
Galerie Alberta Pane	Paris, Venice	Luciana Lamothe
Pequod Co.	Mexico City	Renata Petersen
Proyectos Ultravioleta	Ciudad de Guatemala	Claudia Alarcón & Silät, Johanna Unzueta
Phillida Reid	London	Mohammed Z. Rahman
Rolf Art	Buenos Aires	Mapa Teatro, Rember Yahuarcani, Roberto Huarcaya
Chris Sharp Gallery	Los Angeles	Altoon Sultan
Silverlens	Manila, New York	Bernardo Pacquing, Nicole Coson
Park View / Paul Soto	Los Angeles, New York	Roberto Márquez
Union Pacific	London	Huda Lutfi, Koak, Nova Jiang
Welancora Gallery	Brooklyn	Debra Cartwright
Kate Werble Gallery	New York	Beth Campbell, Ken Tisa, Marilyn Lerner
W—galería	Buenos Aires, Garzón	Claudia Del Río
YveYang	New York	Anastazie Anderson, Huidi Xiang, Wang Ye

Positions

Exhibitor	Location(s)	Artist(s)
56 HENRY	New York	Daid Puppypaws
Galerie Allen	Paris	Linus Bill + Adrien Horni
Carbon 12	Dubai	Nour Malas
Crisis	Lima	Ana Navas
Franz Kaka	Toronto	Azadeh Elmizadeh
Lodos	Ciudad de México	Samuel Guerrero
Lomex	New York	Yoshitaka Amano
Madragoa	Lisbon	Emilio Gola
Proyecto Nasal	Mexico City, Guayaquil	Manuela García
Nicoletti	London	Josèfa Ntjam
Pasto Galería	Buenos Aires	Manuel Brandazza
Galeria Dawid Radziszewski	Warsaw, Vienna	Aleksandra Waliszewska
Margot Samel	New York	Carolina Fusilier
Theta	New York	Kelsey Isaacs
Verve	São Paulo	Adriel Visoto
Zielinsky	Barcelona, São Paulo	Cisco Merel

Survey

Exhibitor	Location(s)	Artist(s)
Piero Atchugarry Gallery	Miami, Garzón	Eva Olivetti
Catharine Clark Gallery	San Francisco	Masami Teraoka
Erin Cluley Gallery	Dallas	Nic Nicosia
David Peter Francis	New York	Pat Oleszko
Sebastian Gladstone	Los Angeles, New York	Nan Montgomery
kó	Lagos	Nike Davies-Okundaye
Galeria Mapa	São Paulo	Firmino Saldanha
Galeria Elvira Moreno	Bogotá	Luis Fernando Zapata
Paci contemporary	Brescia, Porto Cervo	Leslie Krims
Parallel Oaxaca	Oaxaca	Nahum B. Zenil, Susana Wald
Pauline Pavec	Paris	Juliette Roche
Diane Rosenstein Gallery	Los Angeles	Julian Stanczak
Ryan Lee	New York	Emma Amos
Sapar Contemporary	New York	Ferne Jacobs, Nancy Hemenway Barton, Yvonne Pacanovsky Bobrowicz
The Pit	Los Angeles	Kirk Mangus
Voloshyn Gallery	Kyiv, Miami	Janet Sobel
Wooson	Seoul, Daegu	Myungmi Lee

A juvenile Ceratosaurus fossil sold for $30.5 million with fees at Sotheby’s, blasting past its high estimate of $6 million.

The top lot of Sotheby’s natural history sale on July 16 prompted a six-minute bidding war between six bidders on the phone, online, and in the room, resulting in the third-highest price for a dinosaur at auction.

The auction result follows the sale of a 27-foot-long skeleton nicknamed ‘Apex,’ for $44.6 million at Sotheby’s in July 2024 to Top 200 collector Ken Griffin, which is currently on loan to the American Museum of Natural History. Christie’s sold a $32 million Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton in 2020.

A Sotheby’s press release described Lot 11 as “exceptional” and “one of the finest and most complete examples of its genus ever found,” with 139 original fossil bone elements and “a remarkably complete and fully articulated skull.” The carnivorous dinosaur roamed the early earth approximately 154 million–149 million years ago.

The fossil was unearthed at the storied Bone Cabin Quarry (West) in Wyoming in 1996, and was formerly exhibited unmounted at the Museum of Ancient Life, a nonprofit institution in Utah.

The New York Times reported the museum had removed it from its collection and sold it to Brock Sisson, a former employee who is now a commercial paleontologist, for an undisclosed amount. Sisson’s company mounted the fossil and then brought it to Sotheby’s for auction.

Sotheby’s also sold a Gorgosaurus skeleton in 2022 for $6.1 million and the first-ever dinosaur to be sold at auction, a T. rex nicknamed “Sue,” for $8.4 million in 1997, now housed at the Field Museum in Chicago.

A Sotheby’s press release stated that the unnamed buyer of the Ceratosaurus intends to loan it to an institution.

The natural history auction at Sotheby’s also featured the largest piece of Mars on earth. After 15 minutes of bidding with auction specialists on the phone and online, the Martian Meteorite – NWA 16788 sold for $5.3 million with fees, on a high estimate of $4 million. The result for the 54-pound scientific specimen instantly set a new world record for the most valuable meteorite ever sold at auction.

The other two lots that sold for seven figures and well above high estimates were dinosaur fossils: a “virtually complete” Skull of a Pachycephalosaurus (estimate $800,000–$1.2 million) and an articulated Tyrannosaurus Rex Foot (estimate $250,000–$350,000). Both sold for $1.758 million including fees.

Notably, all four of the top lots in the natural history sale also accepted cryptocurrency payments.

Shinsuke Sakimoto, the CEO of luxury goods reseller Valuence Holdings Inc., revealed himself as the buyer of a Hermès Birkin bag auctioned last week in an interview with the Khaleej Times on Monday.

The handmade, all-black leather bag sold at Sotheby’s Paris for €8.6 million ($10 million) with fees. The original Birkin was commissioned in 1984 exclusively for—and in collaboration with—actress and fashion icon Jane Birkin by Jean-Louis Dumas, who was then the CEO of Hermès. It had previously sold at auction in Paris in 2000 and remained in a private French collection until last week.

At the time of sale, Sotheby’s said only that the winning bidder was an anonymous Japanese buyer. But Sakimoto is anonymous no more, telling Khaleej Times that winning the bag was “a personal milestone” and a “defining moment for Valuence,” the company he founded in 2011.

Through Valuence and his previous company, Nanboya—a store that resold luxury goods—Sakimoto is a proponent of what he calls “circular luxury,” which he defines as a sustainable and ethical form of luxury that gives such items second lives. Valuence hosts its own auctions and sells fine art, vintage watches, and authenticated resale.

“This isn’t just about a record purchase; it’s about honoring the legacy of one of fashion’s most iconic pieces,” he said. “For me, it was about ensuring this masterpiece would be in the hands of a company that truly values its story, and will share that story with the world. We’re proud, humbled, and deeply excited about what’s ahead.”

Sakimoto said he sees the Birkin as the embodiment of Valuence’s mission, perhaps hinting that he now has something of his own to sell. He said that he plans to eventually show the bag in Japan.

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday.

The owner of three paintings currently on view at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC) in Bucharest, Romania, is threatening to sue the art publication e-flux and Ukrainian American art historian Konstantin Akinsha for defamation.

The works—Suprematist Composition in Color (ca. 1915), Cubo-Futurist Composition (ca. 1912–13), and Linear Suprematism (ca. 1916)—are currently part of “Kazimir Malevich: Outliving History,” an exhibition that opened in May. The show also features 14 abstract works by contemporary Romanian artists. The owner of the three paintings— Yaniv Cohen, a Bucharest-based Israeli businessman—claims the works are by Suprematist painter Kazimir Malevich (1879–1935).

But on June 30, Akinsha, a curator and scholar of Eastern European modernism, sparked controversy by questioning the origins of the paintings in an article on e-flux. In it, he accused MNAC of “lacking expertise” and challenged the provenance of the previously unseen works. Akinsha further asserted that MNAC’s June 8 announcement for the exhibition, also published on e-flux, contained multiple errors and “historical misinterpretations” of Malevich’s biography. He wrote that these “misinterpretations” suggested “a lack of expertise not only in the biography of Malevich but also in the broader context of Soviet modernism.”

In response, Cohen told ARTnews that he sent a letter to e-flux and Akinsha via the Tel Aviv–based law firm Rosen-Ben Gal, demanding the removal of Akinsha’s article and an apology for the “reputational damage, professional harm, and personal distress caused” to him.

“Should you fail to comply with the above demands … we will pursue all legal remedies available to our client, including but not limited to initiating proceedings for defamation, injurious falsehood, and reputational harm, along with claims for damages and legal costs,” the letter reads.

The umbrella definition “Russian avant-garde” was introduced at the end of the 1960s, early 1970s and refers to modernist art of different trends that was made in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union between 1900 and the mid-1930s. Works associated with movements from that period are highly prized on the art market, with top pieces by its most celebrated figures fetching tens of millions of dollars. The current auction record for a painting by Malevich is $85.8 million, achieved in 2018 at Christie’s New York for Suprematist Composition (1916). That sale also set the record for the most expensive Russian artwork ever sold at auction.

But the market for the Russian avant-garde is also notoriously fraught. Several dealers, auction house specialists, and authenticators have told ARTnews that most of the works they encounter are not genuine. The issue is so well-known that in 2020, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany, staged an exhibition investigating the authenticity of its holdings, which include 600 Russian works produced between 1905 and 1930.

As ARTnews reported in a landmark 1996 investigation—of which Akinsha was a co-author—such works were frequently counterfeited after their repression under Stalin. Soviet authorities later prevented the works from leaving the USSR, which meant that when they did resurface, in the 1960s and ’70s, they often lacked complete—or any—provenance. With prices climbing, forgers seized the opportunity. In the decades since, numerous lawsuits involving works attributed to Malevich and other Russian avant-gardists have followed.

From Under the Bed to Museum Walls

Cohen has said he inherited the paintings from his 95-year-old grandmother, Eva Levando, who in turn received them from her Ukrainian Jewish father, Ben Ziion Levando. According to Cohen, Eva brought the paintings from Russia to Israel in 1990 and kept them under her bed until last year, when he had them authenticated and appraised by Ukrainian art historian Dmytro Horbachov, who said they were worth between $160 million and $190 million. (Cohen also said that Horbachov has included the paintings in a book and described them as “first-class, museum-level Malevich works.”)

Akinsha’s concerns stem from apparent gaps in the paintings’ provenance. The works are dated between 1912 and 1918, but Cohen has said his great-grandfather acquired one in 1929—from an unknown party as payment for accounting work in Odessa—and that he purchased the other two in 1930, also from an unidentified seller.

Akinsha pointed to apparent provenance gaps of up to 17 years. “There is no information about who owned these paintings before Mr. Levando,” he said.

Following the publication of Akinsha’s opinion piece, e-flux appended a note to MNAC’s original exhibition announcement. It reads: “e-flux became aware after the publication of this announcement that the Malevich works on which this exhibition is based are likely forgeries. We apologize for inadvertently disseminating information about this.” e-flux did not respond to a request for comment from ARTnews.

An MNAC spokesperson, meanwhile, referred ARTnews to a disclaimer published on the museum’s website on July 3, which described the exhibition as “a curatorial experiment” intended to “reflect on how art historical meaning is constructed, interpreted, and challenged over time.”

“The inclusion of the disputed works should not be interpreted as institutional validation of their authorship or authenticity,” the statement continued. “Since the exhibition’s opening, concerns have been voiced in public discourse regarding the authenticity or attribution of the three historical pieces signed Malevich. The museum would like to clarify that it does not possess or claim expertise in authenticating these particular works.”

That position marked a notable shift from MNAC’s initial e-flux announcement, when it wrote that it “assumed that the expertise assessing the authorship of the three Malevich pieces, and the explanation of their provenance through an adventurous rescue from the Soviet Union to Israel are solid enough to allow the public exposure.”

Alexandra Kusá, former director of Slovakia’s National Gallery, told ARTnews that museums have a responsibility to take strong positions on provenance and avoid questionable works.

“To display art with disputed provenance is a no-go zone—we do not only work with art, but also with reputation and trust,” Kusá said.

In an interview with ARTnews, Cohen dismissed MNAC’s updated disclaimer as “standard institutional practice when dealing with historic works that may not have complete archival documentation.”

“MNAC reviewed the scientific reports, restoration documentation, expert evaluations, and provenance materials before agreeing to exhibit the works publicly,” he said. “I therefore believe the exhibition itself, along with the accompanying wall texts and catalogue, speaks volumes about the institution’s view of their significance.”

While Akinsha has argued that there is no documentation from the artist’s lifetime to support the works’ authenticity, Cohen has maintained that he “categorically rejects the insinuations” and told ARTnews he possesses original documentation proving their lineage and legitimacy.

“No one who is writing negative things about the paintings has come to see them in person, nor have they asked to see the provenance themselves,” he said.

However, when ARTnews asked to review the full provenance, Cohen said it would not be possible until August due to a non-disclosure agreement signed with “a major museum who is interested in exhibiting the three works.” He also claimed to be in discussions with three institutions—one in New York, one in the Middle East, and one in Vienna. (Cohen also provided what appeared to be a customs receipt from Romania’s Ministry of Public Finances, which he said he received when bringing the works in for the exhibition.)

“As for the NDA, a portion of the provenance involves materials shared with a European museum under conditions of confidentiality during ongoing institutional review,” Cohen said. “This is a temporary restriction, and I expect that in due course—pending formal resolution—these materials can be disclosed publicly.”

He added: “The information presented by MNAC was based on reputable academic sources, including the published works of Dmytro Horbachov, one of the foremost scholars on Malevich … Any suggestion that the museum engaged in historical misrepresentation is unfounded and defamatory … We stand by the integrity of the MNAC curatorial team and the legitimacy of the exhibition.”

Horbachov did not respond to ARTnews’s request for comment.

Sponsorship Questions 

The show’s financing has also drawn scrutiny. MNAC lists one sponsor for the Malevich exhibition: Dental Clinic Herăstrău, which is owned by Cohen. When asked whether this constituted a conflict of interest, MNAC director Călin Dan declined to comment and abruptly ended the interview with ARTnews. The museum did address the issue, however, in the July 3 disclaimer posted to its website.

“As part of the defamatory discourse against the Museum, a truncated and malicious information was released concerning the sponsorship of the exhibition,” the museum’s statement said. “We would like to clarify that the amount in question is dedicated entirely to covering the costs of additional security required for such exhibitions, a financial effort surpassing MNAC’s possibilities.”

The museum declined to answer further questions about the sponsorship.

Cohen told ARTnews that he personally paid €24,000 “for laser trip wires and security guards,” as well as €1,800 for a buffet for VIP guests at the exhibition’s opening on May 14. He added that he insured the paintings himself for €50 million because “MNAC was only able to insure them up to €10 million.” Cohen also provided videos that appear to show the paintings arriving in Bucharest, escorted by armed guards.

A Market ‘Heavily Impacted by Forgery’

The persistent problems in the Russian avant-garde market have made many buyers and sellers wary of such works.

Jo Vickery, director of Vickery Art Ltd. and former international director of Russian art at Sotheby’s, told ARTnews that the major auction houses will not handle a Malevich unless there is “solid and compelling evidence linking the work to the lifetime of the artist.” She added that technical testing and independent condition reports are typically required, along with provenance documentation.

“A photograph of the artist standing next to a work is always reassuring. However, even vintage photos can be doctored or used by fakers to create facsimile works, so they must be verified too,” she said.

In February, Cohen hired the Paris-based company Institut d’Art Conservation Coleur (IACC) to restore and analyze the three paintings. Its report stated that “the pigments, fillers, and organic binders identified are consistent with the presumed period of [the works’] creation (1879–1935).”

However, Steve Maslow, CFO of ArtDiscovery—an art analysis and authentication company with laboratories in London and New York—warned against using such tests as definitive proof of authorship. He told ARTnews that “in a market so heavily impacted by forgery, the only responsible standard is robust, multi-technique analysis.”

“Basic analytical tests leave too many questions,” he said. “Scientific data must also be contextualized against the known working methods of the artist. In the case of Malevich, that means specific pigments, surface preparation, and technique. Without this level of scrutiny, material findings alone say very little about authorship.”

Cohen told ARTnews he has no intention of selling the works. “I only want to exhibit them around the world to honor the wishes of my grandmother,” he said. However, he added last Thursday that he might consider selling them after her death.

While Cohen does not have a photograph of Malevich with the paintings, he said he does have photos of his great-grandfather standing with them, taken between 1970 and 1976. “These photographs clearly document the presence of the works in the family’s possession during that period—well before their eventual transfer to Israel,” he said.

“This proves they are real,” Cohen claimed. “Because there are no Malevich fakes made before the 1970s.”

But Aleksandra Shatskikh, an art historian specializing in Malevich and the Russian avant-garde, told ARTnews that fake Malevich paintings were already circulating by the early 1970s, created in cities like St. Petersburg and later brought to Israel.

Cohen said the works were stamped by Soviet authorities before their export. “In 1990, shortly before immigrating to Israel, Eva Levando stamped the reverse of each painting with an official seal of the Soviet ministry of culture,” he said. “This seal has been unequivocally authenticated by certified experts as well as through independent scientific analysis conducted at a laboratory in Paris [IACC].”

Akinsha cast doubt on Cohen’s claim, telling ARTnews, “It is highly unlikely that experts from the USSR culture ministry would have permitted the export of works by Malevich, especially considering that the Soviet authorities themselves confiscated two of his paintings from the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow for politically motivated exchanges. The export of works from the USSR created before 1945 was strictly prohibited.”

He added: “It is well known that the private collecting of radical modernist art in the Soviet Union was virtually non-existent during the 1920s and 1930s.”

Still, Akinsha told ARTnews that if his concerns regarding the paintings’ provenance are disproven with what he considers credible documentation, “I will gladly retract my so-called ‘slanderous accusations’ and express my regret.”
​​​​​​​
If you have any tip-offs or art world stories, write to me at gnelson@artnews.com. All correspondence will be confidential.

While much of the global auction market continues to be in a correction period, overall auction sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips for the first half of 2025 have fallen only 6.2 percent and the number of lots sold rose 1.3 percent compared to the same time last year.

“Nothing has felt very good this year, but the data actually showed the decline was 6.2 percent compared to the level of uncertainty, especially due to things like the tariffs,” Lindsay Dewar, ArtTactic’s chief operating officer and head of analytics, told ARTnews.

The art market research and analysis company ArtTactic released five reports earlier this week with detailed analysis of global auction data, including online-only sales, geographic trends, category breakdowns, luxury goods, and the impact of guarantees.

While global auction sales fell 6.2 percent overall, sales of post-war and contemporary art dropped 19.3 percent to $1.22 billion, impressionist and modern art fell 7.7 percent to $989.5 million, and luxury sales were almost flat (down 0.5 percent to $805.9 million). There were big increases for design, decorative arts and furniture (up 20.4 percent to $172 million) and even more for Old Masters (up 35.6 percent to $171.2 million).

Dewar noted the drop in sales of post-war and contemporary art for the first half of 2025 was due to fewer high-priced trophy lots, noting the withdrawal of Andy Warhol’s Big Electric Chair and Alberto Giacometti’s bronze bust Grande tête mince (Grande tête de Diego) which failed to find a buyer in May.

“If you’ve got a real trophy lot, and you’re a bit anxious about selling it at the moment, I imagine a lot of people, if they didn’t have to sell, they would hold on to it,” she said. “It’s those kind of bellwether blue chip artists that people trade in when people get nervous and don’t want to sell them. There might be things selling between $1 and $10 million, but that’s not going to really pull the totals up.”

By comparison, the 7.7 percent drop in total sales of impressionist and modern art reflects a more conservative, risk-averse approach to new acquisitions by buyers, according to Dewar.

“It’s people thinking in an uncertain market, if I have, say, a million dollars to spend, am I going to spend it on an artist that I didn’t hear of until a month ago?,” Dewar said. “Or am I going to spend it on an artist that has been around for the last 50 years, whose market trades very consistently? You might not get a huge return, but it will still be worth probably around $1 million in two or three years.”

Data analyzed by ArtTactic also showed the outsize role of guarantees on artworks by postwar and contemporary artists born after 1910 at evening sales in New York, London, and Hong Kong.

For the first half of 2025, the market share of post-war and contemporary works sold at evening sales with either a house or third-party guarantee rose to 72.9 percent, the highest number since ArtTactic started tracking this figure in 2016. “This is probably the highest level of guarantees ever on the market,” Dewar said. “Some people will argue this is a sign of market confidence. People are saying that, but I think that actually, at the moment, it’s a sign of risk aversion.”

Third-party guarantees also accounted for 96 percent of total guaranteed sales value and 90.7 percent of guaranteed lots sold for works in this category, as auction houses transferred the risk of guaranteeing to third-parties. “It’s so unusual now to see something that isn’t,” Dewar said, noting the shift even applies to dedicated single owner sales, and essentially means those lots have been sold before the auction takes place. “It’s essentially a public-private sale, you could argue. It does just take a bit of the risk out for people.”

Data also showed lots without guarantees often didn’t sell or withdrawn pretty quickly. “No one would guarantee that Giacometti because there was no buyer for it at the $70 million level that the client wanted, and therefore it did not sell,” Dewar noted. “So without the guarantee, how do you know if a lot is is going to sell or not?”

One upside for the small number of works without guarantees that do sell at auction is the much higher average compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 36.4 percent, compared to an average of 4.6 percent for lots with guarantees.

While non-guarantee lots can be more volatile, Dewar said the likelihood of a better return is due to a perception that guarantees can be a kind of a hedge against risk, and might discourage more bidding. “So if you are able to not need the guarantee, you can perform so much, so much better, especially in a market like right now,” she said.

Dewar also noted the emphasis on sales based in New York, compared to auctions in other cities like Paris, London, or Hong Kong, and a shift in the summer sales calendar at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips.

“There really used to be a big summer season,” Dewar said, noting Christie’s did not have an evening sale and “much, much smaller sales” at Sotheby’s and Phillips. “It felt like they were holding back a little bit. I get the feeling that it’s a supply issue, and they were wanting to hold back and wait for October.”

Data analysis by ArtTactic showed online-only auctions experienced a 10 percent drop in value, but the number of lots sold through these platforms grew by 12.9 percent, with “evolving buyer engagement” and growth “largely centred in major European cities”.

Dewar attributed these shifts to greater confidence in buying and selling online over the last five years prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Covid allowed people to be like, Oh, actually, okay, this is fine. We can trade online. We can buy something for a million dollars online, or whatever. So people are confident to do it.”

In addition to the lower-end of the market—works estimated at $1 million and below—also doing well, Dewar noted the structure of online sales allowing for more bids over a week compared to a day sale. “It just allows more volume to go through that particular sales channel,” she said.

For the second half of the year, Dewar anticipates that guarantees will play a “really crucial role” in attracting consignments. “It gives them confidence that the auction house is confident in them, and it helps kind of with a bit of risk aversion,” she said.

The perception of guarantees in the art market might also shift due to their prevalence and examples of success, such as the recent record-breaking sale of a Venice view by Canaletto for £31.9 million ($43.7 million) at Christie’s Old Master’s auction in London.

“I think that the role of guarantees could be about to turn from being a risk aversion tactic to a confidence marker,” Dewar said. “If nearly three quarters of the market is guaranteed, and you’re looking at one lot that isn’t, I think I would be starting to think ‘now, well, why didn’t they guarantee that one? Are they so confident that it’s such an amazing lot or or does nobody else want it?'”