Min Chen
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Articles by Min Chen
Phillips Kicks Off Its London Sales With $7.6M Richter, $2.1M Banksy
Flashes of excitement punctured an otherwise measured modern and contemporary art evening sale at Phillips in London tonight, which totaled £14.8 million ($19.6 million). All 20 lots sold—three more were pulled after being acquired ahead of the sale—and two artist records were set. Leading the pack was Gerhard Richter‘s Mathis, coming from the collection of French collector Marcel Brient.
Frank Lloyd Wright Saw Red Over the Guggenheim’s White Facade
The Artnet Bulletin is our daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. What Was Not All Right With Wright Given that it is technically not a color, white has managed to shape art history and architecture in, well, colorful ways. The how and why are in critic Wendy S. Walters’s new book, A Dead White, which unpacks the cultural history of the hue that provides no hue.
Cyndi Lauper on the Art Behind Her Maximalist Looks: ‘Using Color That Would Explode’
In the summer of 1983, Cyndi Lauper arrived at Coney Island in New York with Annie Leibovitz to shoot the cover of her debut album She’s So Unusual. Decked out in a red vintage dress, dripping with costume jewelry, and sporting a head of flaming orange hair, Lauper posed outside an old wax museum. Standing against its graffitied facade, a thought came to her: “In the darkest place, shed the brightest light,” she wrote in her 2012 memoir.
Andy Warhol’s Mythical Pop Art Book Gets a Second Life
Yes, it contained photographs and texts, but its pages held even wilder surprises. There were pop-ups, stickers, moisture-sensitive tabs, a silver balloon, and a paper accordion that played a sound when you flipped the page. A flexi-disk came attached to a wire spring, and an image of a rainbow nose could be folded out for a “Do-It-Yourself Nose Job.” The whole thing was so unlike a book that publishers added “(Book)” to its title to avoid confusion.
Marina Abramović Is Turning 80 and Still Won’t Quit: ‘Working Makes My Day’
Marina Abramović is turning 80 in November. She’s not entirely jazzed about it. “It’s horrible,” she told me over a video call. “The only thing that is great about turning 80 is cutting bullshit from your life.” Unburdened by bullshit—she doesn’t drink or party, nor does she have children or a “boring husband”—Abramović has been able to zero in on her greatest source of pride and joy: her work.
Banksy’s Brexit-Era Rat Bound for $2.3M Auction
The Artnet Bulletin is our daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. Got room in your life for a Banksy? Phillips is selling a mural that the anonymous street artist created on a repurposed E.U. arrivals gate for the 2019 summer exhibition at the Royal Academy in London. The shuttered gate is printed with the words “KEEP OU,” its missing “T” wielded by a rat attempting to smash a padlock at the bottom of the gate.
Chicago Exhibition Week Was Bigger Than Ever. Here’s What Caught My Eye
“This was a big experiment,” Abby Pucker, founder of Gertie, said of Chicago Exhibition Week (CXW) at its opening dinner on September 18. “And it worked!” Expo Chicago‘s director, Kate Sierzputowski, who was sharing the stage, rejoined. And so it has. The fourth edition of CXW launched with more than 70 participating museums and galleries staging some 150 events.
Who’s In, Who’s Out? Art Basel Miami Beach Reveals ‘More Focused’ Exhibitor List
The countdown to Miami is on. Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB) has just revealed the exhibitors taking part in its 2026 edition, which will run December 4–6 at the Miami Beach Convention Center, with VIP days on December 2 and 3. The fair boasts a new floor plan and fresh faces, but there are a handful of notable absences. This year, 272 exhibitors hail from more than 40 countries, including more than 30 newcomers who are mostly showing at the Nova, Positions, and Survey sectors.
‘Blade Runner 2049’ Props Hit the Block as Memorabilia Market Booms
Deep Cuts is your monthly digest tracking the hottest and most high-value collectibles entering the market—from rare cultural artifacts to headline-grabbing sales. Want a piece of dystopian Los Angeles? Now’s your chance. Propstore is selling a bounty of artifacts from Blade Runner 2049, the 2017 sci-fi film by Denis Villeneuve celebrated for its brooding visual language.
Hilla Rebay Helped Shape the Guggenheim. Now Her Own Art Is Getting Its Due
We know Hilla Rebay today as the driving force behind New York’s Guggenheim Museum. As co-founder and inaugural director of the institution, her modern taste shaped its collection and her imagination animated its architecture. But her own career as an artist has faded from view. Not any longer. Los Angeles-based Weinstein Gallery is bringing Rebay, the artist, back into the spotlight at Independent 20th Century.
How John Wilson Found Beauty—and Impermanence—in Concrete
John Wilson has made a film about concrete. Typical of the documentarian’s style, it’s not a linear affair. Its sprawling footage veers from a seminar on how to write a Hallmark movie to a tattoo preservation company to a musician grieving the death of his fiancee. But for all its oddball detours, the film mines something profound out of the world’s most popular building material: a meditation on how we create, what we destroy, and the impermanence in between.
Pace Prints Acquires Brand X Editions, Creating a Printmaking Giant
One of the leading printmakers in the U.S. just got a lot bigger. Pace Prints has acquired fellow publisher Brand X Editions, bringing two major names in printmaking under one roof. While the move folds Brand X into Pace Prints, both companies will continue operating their existing workshops. Brand X’s facilities in Long Island City will bolster Pace Prints’s New York footprint. Pace Prints is also gearing up to open a gallery and workshop in Los Angeles this fall.
Frank Lloyd Wright Gem Hits the Market for $2.1M
The Artnet Bulletin is our daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. Another one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian masterpieces has landed on the market. Built in 1953 for research scientist Samuel Eppstein, this one-story home in Galesburg, Michigan, was restored a decade ago with an eye toward architectural integrity: Elements like its mahogany woodwork and overhang roofs are true to Wright’s vision.
How Gemini G.E.L. Spent 60 Years Reinventing the Art of Printmaking
Ostensibly, Gemini G.E.L. is a printmaker. Yet, over its 60-year history, the artists’ workshop and publisher has exploded the idea of what a print can be, pushing it beyond conventional limits of scale, form, and dimension. Its presses have turned out monumental lithographs, prints on materials as unexpected as player-piano rolls, and editions that are more sculpture than work on paper. The guiding light through it all? The artists, of course.
Futura and Lego Are Building Something Together—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our new daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. Now here are the makings of something awesome: Danish toy giant Lego has recruited Futura as official creative collaborator and artistic co-creator for its Ninjago series. The graffiti legend is the first living artist to embark on such a multi-year partnership with the company.
Forget a Galaxy Far, Far Away. The New George Lucas Museum Is Finally Here
Filmmaker George Lucas spent his career telling stories. Now, he’s built a museum to hold them. After a decade of delays, the $1 billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is gearing up to open in Los Angeles on September 22, with its 100,000 square feet of gallery space given over to the collection of its founders, Lucas and his wife, investor Mellody Hobson.
Julien’s Auctions Sets Sights on Abu Dhabi With Blockbuster Memorabilia Sale
The stars are aligning in Abu Dhabi. Julien’s Auctions is bringing a blockbuster lineup of celebrity memorabilia to the Gulf later this year, betting big on the region’s burgeoning appetite for collectibles. The sale is happening as part of the auction house’s first Celebrity & Culture Week, opening at Rosewood Abu Dhabi, December 5–10.
Iconic ‘Mondrian Dress’ Heads to Auction—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our new daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. Fair Warning is about to put some serious fashion history on the block. On September 17, the auction platform is launching its Impossible Couture Collection, featuring iconic items curated by Peter Brant Jr., son of collector Peter Brant and model Stephanie Seymour. Expect the greatest hits.
8 New York Museum Shows You Need to See This Fall
Summer is over, but museum season has only just begun! From major retrospectives to surprising pop culture deep dives, New York’s institutions are rolling out some of their biggest shows this fall. Here are eight exhibitions we wouldn’t miss.
The Photographer Who Followed David Bowie Around the World
In 1983, Denis O’Regan landed the kind of assignment photographers dream about: trailing David Bowie on a globe-spanning tour. In the following years, O’Regan would capture the iconoclastic musician on and offstage, amassing an astounding archive of more than 10,000 images. Now, a selection of those photographs—some instantly recognizable, some never before seen—is resurfacing within an immersive installation in Venice.
Cj Hendry Takes Over Phillips With Oddball Trading Cards
Cj Hendry is so done with play. As a mother of three, she told me, she’s had her fill of playdates and playgrounds. These days, she just wants to sit down or go to sleep. And yet, she can’t help herself. “My brain always goes there,” she said about the idea of play. “This is just where my equilibrium lies. I guess I need to go to a therapist to figure that out.” And so play is at the heart of her new project, Mere Mortals.
Landmark Ultraman Archive Comes to Auction—and Other Collectibles News
Deep Cuts is your monthly digest tracking the most important collectibles entering the market. For 60 years, Ultraman battled kaijus. Now, he’s taking on the auction market. On September 22, Julien’s Auctions is offering some 300 rare objects related to the beloved Japanese superhero, including costumes, scripts, paintings, miniatures, posters, and toys, most hailing from Ultraman’s 1970s-to-’80s heyday.
A New Twist for Smithsonian’s Latino Museum—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our new daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. The future of the long-embattled National Museum of the American Latino is once again in flux. As the Smithsonian Institution comes under increasing fire from the Trump administration, it is weighing a proposal to house the Latino museum in its newly reopened Arts and Industries Building, sidestepping congressional approval.
Why Louis Comfort Tiffany Still Dazzles Collectors
Louis Comfort Tiffany‘s lamps are coveted and his stained glass is celebrated, but the artist behind the famous brand has remained stubbornly in the shadows. Two new exhibitions aim to throw the spotlight on his full talents. At the Nassau County Museum of Art, in Roslyn, New York, “Louis Comfort Tiffany: Artist of the Gilded Age” has assembled more than 130 of his paintings to examine his lifelong yet little-known painting practice.
Yusaku Maezawa’s Latest Acquisition? A $350M Superyacht Fit for a Trophy Hunter
A hulking vessel made, um, waves over the weekend when it was spied sailing off Hawaii, leaving locals wondering who owned it. Turns out, it’s Japanese entrepreneur and art collector Yusaku Maezawa, who was debuting his spanking new superyacht. And what a behemoth it is. Named Nausicaä (after the Studio Ghibli film), the $350 million floating palace reportedly measures 375 feet—large enough that some onlookers suspected that it was a military vessel.
There’s a Sexy Herman Melville Statue Out There—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our new daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. Public sculptures are often easy targets for online pile-ons. New Bedford, Massachusetts’s new Herman Melville statue, however, has inspired something closer to thirst.
The Lucas Museum Is Now Taking Reservations—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our new daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. The Hottest Table in the Galaxy… The countdown to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art‘s September opening in Los Angeles begins—and so have reservations. Eager visitors can now snap up admission to the museum, priced at $25 for adults (a fee that has caused some consternation), and even make bookings for its flagship restaurant, Skywalker Grill.
Is the Rauschenberg Foundation Selling Its Storied New York Home?
A piece of New York art history appears to have just hit the market. Robert Rauschenberg‘s former NoHo home, currently the headquarters of his namesake foundation, has been listed with the real estate company Newmark. The five-story, 9,200 square-foot townhouse at 381 Lafayette Street was constructed in the early 19th century, before functioning as an orphanage and convent.
The Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden Blooms Again—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our new daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. The Hirshhorn Museum’s sculpture garden is a-flowering! On October 31, the site in Washington, D.C., will reopen following renovations overseen by artist-architect Hiroshi Sugimoto. Its reflecting pool has been revamped, an underground passageway unlocked, and exhibition space doubled.
Amid Aspen Fairs, Collectors Peruse Big-Ticket Art, Private Jets, $62.5M House
Long before Aspen belonged to billionaires, it belonged to one millionaire’s imagination. Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke arrived in Aspen after the end of World War II with an audacious vision: to remake the fading mining and ranching community into a cultural capital. He snapped up properties across town, launched cultural events, and in perhaps his most inspired move, hired an artist.
Inside Filmmaker Gregg Araki’s Kinky New Art-World Romp
In Gregg Araki’s new film, a directionless young man named Elliot lands a dream art job: assistant to red-hot contemporary artist, Erika Tracy. The daily rhythms of her studio give him a renewed sense of purpose—until they veer into something far stranger. Erika, as is her wont, seduces Elliot, and their ensuing relationship gradually spirals from the professional to the sexual to the borderline criminal.
Gee’s Bend Meets Ralph Lauren—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our new daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer will do it every morning. Here’s your chance to bring a bit of Gee’s Bend home with you.
Colonel Sanders’s Personal Archive Is Served Up—and Other Collectibles News
Deep Cuts is your monthly digest tracking the hottest and most high-value collectibles entering the market—from rare cultural artifacts to headline-grabbing sales. Turns out, Colonel Harland Sanders, the man immediately recognizable for his white suit and black string tie, left behind more than a fried chicken empire. Next week, the personal archive of the Kentucky Fried Chicken founder is coming to auction, offering a rare glimpse into the life behind the legend.
Forgotten Chagall Reemerges After 20 Years in Customs
Twenty years after being detained at the Franco-Swiss border, a Marc Chagall artwork has finally reemerged from customs. The etching, L’Acrobate Au Violon (1924), arrived in 2005 at the roadside border as one of a truckload of artworks bound for Switzerland. French officials found two of the works—the Chagall and a 1959 drawing by Russian sculptor Ossip Zadkine—were not authorized to leave the country, customs authorities said.
A New Hope for the Parthenon Marbles? And Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our new daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer will do it every morning. This is Min, and I’m interested in how art intersects with popular culture. A New Twist in an Ancient Dispute… With a new U.K. prime minister at the helm, there’s fresh optimism that Greece could reclaim the Parthenon Marbles.
Frank Gehry’s Seven-Ton Desk Crushes Estimates, Sets Auction Record
Reception desks don’t usually make auction history. But one designed by Frank Gehry just set an auction record for one of the late architect’s objects of design. Colloquially known as Icehenge, the work brought in $243,200 at Chicago-based auction house Freeman’s last week, more than 10 times its high estimate of $20,000. Its new owner is receiving quite the behemoth: a 16-piece, seven-ton glass installation that Gehry created for the lobby of the Inland Steel Building in Chicago.
The Soft Power of Lucy Sparrow
Lucy Sparrow’s first U.S. museum exhibition is an all-felt recreation of a 1980s supermarket titled “The Beginning of Convenience.” Its making, however, was anything but convenient. The installation is stocked with more than 20,000 to-scale soft sculptures, painstakingly hand-crafted by the British artist and her team of felters over two years. The only thing convenient about the project? “It’s light!” Sparrow told me at the show’s opening.
Monumental Mural Erased by Pinochet Reemerges in Chile After 50 Years
Long-thought lost, a historic mural by Chilean artist Julio Escámez that was erased by Augusto Pinochet’s military regime in 1973, is finally reemerging in Chile’s city hall. A team from the Heritage Unit of the Municipality of Chillán (UPA) is currently in its third phase of uncovering and restoring the celebrated mural in the Salon de Honor.
The Viking Ship in ‘The Odyssey’ Is More Than a Movie Prop
Homer’s epic The Odyssey is back on the big screen. And it’s not just any cinematic adaptation this time round: celebrated filmmaker Christopher Nolan is charting the course, which means we’re getting breathtaking vistas, blockbuster action, and a cast of A-listers. Also in the movie? A real, ocean-going wooden Norse longship fit for a Viking. The Draken Harald Hårfagre, however, is no prop or ordinary replica.
Christie’s $4.5 Billion First-Half Haul Is Its Biggest in Five Years
Sotheby’s is not the only auction house having a banner 2026. Christie’s just posted its own impressive mid-year total, $4.5 billion, from January through June this year. Auction sales reached $3.5 billion with a 91 percent sell-through rate. That sum represents a remarkable 71 percent leap above its first-half haul last year, and it just edges out the $3.4 billion that Sotheby’s reported in auction sales on Tuesday. The house’s private sales climbed to $1 billion, versus Sotheby’s $826 million.
Louvre Heist’s Mastermind Craved More, Allegedly—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our new daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer will do it every morning. This is Min, and I’m interested in film, popular culture, technology, and the collectibles market. A mystery that gets more mysterious… The jewels stolen during last year’s cinematic $102-million Louvre heist remain missing—but the crime could have been worse.
Australia’s Museum of Old and New Art Plans Bangkok Branch
The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), the provocative institution that has helped define Australia’s creative landscape, is going global with a planned new outpost in Thailand. MONA Bangkok will be a partnership between the Australian institution, which is based in Hobart, Tasmania, and the Thai real estate group Asset World Corp Public Company Limited (AWC). The project is led by DarkLab, the production company behind MONA, under the direction of the museum’s colorful founder, David Walsh.
Joseph Beuys Turned Groceries Into Artworks. Conserving Them Is Complicated
Joseph Beuys made art with fat, felt, and coyotes, but one of his most incisive installations contains something far more prosaic: groceries. For Wirtschaftswerte (1980), the German artist lined metal racks with goods procured from East Germany—sugar, honey, tea, barley, chocolate, cookies, beer, bandages, and the like. The enigmatic array delivers a pointed meditation on value in a postwar landscape.
Heritage Auctions Posts Record $1.4 Billion Mid-Year Total, as Collectibles Market Roars
Heritage Auctions said today that it had more than $1.4 billion in sales through June, the highest mid-year total in the company’s 50-year history. That is a roughly 47 percent jump over Heritage’s 2025 mid-year total of $962 million. If the pace continues, the Dallas-based house is poised to eclipse its annual sales record of $2.15 billion, which was set in 2025. That made it the year’s third highest-selling auction house, behind only Sotheby’s and Christie’s. What’s powering this success?
Rarely Seen Botero Works Spotlight His Overlooked New York Years
Fernando Botero left his indelible mark on New York, in the 14 monumental sculptures that lined Park Avenue in 1993, as well as the Adam and Eve statues that still stand at the entrance to Time Warner Center. But the city also left its imprint on the Colombian master. A new exhibition is uncovering how Botero’s years in New York helped cultivate the visual language that would become his signature.
Daniel Arsham Is Selling His Historic Firehouse Home and Studio
Like the Ghostbusters before him, Daniel Arsham has spent the past few years based out of a converted New York firehouse. Now, the artist is parting with the space he has called home and studio, listing it with Compass for $8.9 million. The 19th-century, 2,800-square-foot structure on 185 Lafayette Street still boasts its original patterned brickwork exterior and cast-iron pillars, while its insides were handsomely renovated by Arsham when he purchased the landmarked property in 2022.
Did This Large Animatronic Bear Inspire Jeff Koons? It’s Heading to Auction
A big bear of an animatronic model is lumbering onto the auction block. It’s not just any mechanical curiosity: The seven-foot costume comes with a possible connection to America’s top-selling living artist, Jeff Koons. The 50-year-old Bear is emerging after a long hibernation from the London home of British writer and film producer Stephen Marians, who designed and commissioned the model.
Frank Gehry’s Changed the Face of Museums. A Potent Survey Shows How
Before the Guggenheim Bilbao and the Fondation Louis Vuitton rose into the sky, there were countless sketches and meticulous models, as the imagination of Frank Gehry took flight. These in-process materials are making a rare appearance in “The Century of Gehry,” an illuminating new exhibition on the late Canadian-American architect at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, Portugal, that was organized in concert with Gehry Partners and the Getty.
Towering Bronze Laocoön Sells for $18.1 Million at Sotheby’s, Demolishing Estimate
It’s a monumental cast of one of antiquity’s most iconic sculptures, and it now has an equally breathtaking auction result. A life-sized bronze cast of Laocoön and His Sons hit the block at Sotheby’s London today, bringing in a stunning £13.6 million ($18.1 million) with buyer’s premium. The final price in the single-lot auction crushed its presale estimate of £2 million to £3 million ($2.6 million to $3.9 million), making it the most valuable Neoclassical sculpture ever to sell at auction.
1,000 Unseen Karl Lagerfeld Sketches Hit the Auction Block
The appetite for all things Karl Lagerfeld shows no signs of slowing. Since 2021, the late fashion icon’s personal effects and homes have brought in millions of dollars at auction. Now, Sotheby’s is returning to the well for the sixth time, bringing to the block Lagerfeld’s collection of gloves and iPods, as well as hundreds of previously unseen sketches. These archives will unearth the “extraordinary breadth and discipline” of Lagerfeld’s practice, the auction house promises.
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