Painting

The Dubai artist whose work has sold for millions

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Contemporary artist Sacha Jafri prides himself on his unique way of working. His “huge” Dubai studio includes three gallery spaces, a digital space, an office and a boardroom. He even has a room dedicated to nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. The space is home to around 40 paintings, largely made up of his retrospective collection, along … Read more

Venice Biennale titled ‘Foreigners Everywhere’ platforms LGBTQ+, outsider and Indigenous artists

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VENICE, Italy — Outsider, queer and Indigenous artists are getting an overdue platform at the 60th Venice Biennale contemporary art exhibition that opens Saturday, curated for the first time by a Latin American. Brazilian curator Adriano Pedrosa’s main show, which accompanies 88 national pavilions for the seven-month run, is strong on figurative painting, with fewer … Read more

A painting of Winston Churchill by an artist whose work he hated is up for auction

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LONDON — A portrait of Winston Churchill by an artist whose work the British leader loathed went on display Tuesday at Churchill’s birthplace ahead of an auction in June. The painting by modernist artist Graham Sutherland was made in preparation for a larger portrait that Churchill hated and which was later destroyed — an episode … Read more

Couple quit their jobs to start art business

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Artist Omar Obaid with his wife, Summer. The pair quit corporate roles to run their art business Abstract House. Abstract House Omar Obaid has enjoyed painting and drawing since he was a child. As an adult, he would wind down from work at the weekend by creating abstract art on canvas, hanging his pieces in … Read more

Morocco hosts one of Africa’s first exhibitions of Cuban art, a milestone for Afro-Cuban painters

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RABAT, Morocco — When Morocco ‘s King Mohamed VI visited Havana in 2017, Cuban-American gallery owner Alberto Magnan impressed him with a “full immersion” in the Caribbean island’s art and culture, drawing a line between the cultural and historical themes tackled by Cuban artists and those from across Africa. Seven years after that encounter, one … Read more

A painting by René Magritte may fetch $64 million at an auction marking a century of surrealism

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LONDON — A major work by surrealist painter René Magritte that hasn’t been shown in public for a quarter century could fetch 50 million pounds ($64 million) at auction next month. Christie’s auction house announced Saturday that it will offer “L’ami intime” (The Intimate Friend) at a March 7 sale in London marking a century … Read more

Pompeii’s ancient art of textile dyeing is revived to show another side of life before eruption

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POMPEII, Italy — A new project inside the Pompeii archaeological site is reviving ancient textile dyeing techniques to show another side of daily life before the city was destroyed by a volcano in A.D. 79 The inspiration comes from frescoes unearthed inside the archaeological site that show winged cupids dyeing cloth, gathering grapes for wine … Read more