In addition to the Artecal Charitable Exhibition, a host of new art exhibitions are coming to Hong Kong this month. This time around, we’ve highlighted six must-see art exhibitions, including “The Tombs Are Upset”, a sculptural showcase by American artist Matthew Ronay; “Hyperland”, Chinese artist Caison Wang’s solo exhibition that references humanity and religious deities; and “MOTLEY”, which pays homage to Hong Kong’s 90s movies by Japanese artist Jun Oson. Read on for more.

Hong Kong art exhibitions to see this June 2023

screen-skins

When: 18 March to 24 June

New York-based artist Tishan Hsu’s second solo exhibition with Empty Gallery dives into “the complex manner in which information technology has altered the affective, perceptual and political contours of our embodied experience”. Running until the end of June, “screen-skins” comprises six paintings and a sculpture created with a range of methods such as UV printing, 3D printing, casting and digital manipulation.

Empty Gallery, 19/F, Grand Marine Center, 3 Yue Fung Street, Aberdeen, Hong Kong, +852 2563 3396

The Tombs Are Upset

When: 5 May to 10 June

Matthew Ronay presents six new sculptures in his signature medium of hand-carved, hand-dyed polychromed basswood. Each piece in “The Tombs Are Upset” are the American artist’s reflections upon death and the way in which the experience of living is framed by the knowledge of an end. Alluding to processes of the body, creatures and growths, Ronay’s sculptural forms ultimately evade true representation.

Perrotin Hong Kong, K11 Atelier, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, +852 3758 2180

Hyperland

When: 6 May to 25 June

Titled after Hyperion in Greek mythology, “Hyperland” is artist Caison Wang’s solo exhibition that combines the whimsical and ghoulish with deconstructed references to humanity and religious deities. Large-scale works on canvas depict two skeletal figures, Jack and Mary, acting out different scenarios in surrealist landscapes that Wang built via 3D modelling software. By presenting different idyllic and dystopic imagery, the artist reinterprets heaven and hell as psychological experiences and part of the empirical human condition.

de Sarthe, 26/F, M Place, 54 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Hong Kong, +852 2167 8896

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MOTLEY

When: 25 May to 18 June

Hong Kong’s iconic 90s movies are the subject of Japanese artist Jun Oson’s new exhibition “MOTLEY”. Despite having never been to Hong Kong, Oson has created 15 paintings that represent his vision of the city, inspired by action and comedy classics like In the Mood for Love, A Better Tomorrow and Out of the Dark. Blending his unique pop art and manga styles with colourful peanut-shaped characters, he brings to life the city’s cinematic energy in a bold and imaginative way.

Gallery by the Harbour, Shop 207, Level 2, Ocean Centre, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Safe Spaces

When: 25 May to 30 June

“Safe Spaces” is Korean-American artist Cha Yuree’s second solo exhibition with Over The Influence and her first show in Asia. Known for her use of saturated colours and graphic shapes, the LA-based artist reflects on the moments in her daily life that bring the greatest sense of fulfilment and peace, such as the time spent with her grandmother. The paintings serve as a reminder to Cha to spend more time with nature, as well as a wish for the women around her to stop and take pleasure in the little things, such as the act of slicing a melon or watching the wind.

Over The Influence, G/F & 1/F, 159 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2617 9829

The Green Room

When: 9 June to 29 July

The Stroll Gallery brings Korean artist Lee Na’s work to Hong Kong in a new exhibition titled “The Green Room”. 11 paintings, influenced by Lee’s childhood memories from the 80s and 90s, depict scenes of nature with children running freely in the foreground. Referring to the familiar yet distant feelings of childhood, as well as the harmonious relationship between nature and humankind, Lee Na remarks: “I hope that [this exhibition] will be an opportunity to evoke emotions and experiences that the audience feels but has easily overlooked.”

The Stroll Gallery, Unit 504, 5/F, Vanta Industrial Centre, 21-23 Tai Lin Pai Road, Kwai Chung, Hong Kong, +852 6366 0717

(Lead and featured images courtesy of Caison Wang via de Sarthe)

This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong

The post 6 Art Exhibitions Happening In Hong Kong This June appeared first on AugustMan Hongkong.

British artist Damien Hirst has joined hands with art services and technology business HENI to present his iconic Spin Paintings in a more technology-driven format dubbed The Beautiful Paintings. Now, fans of Hirst’s decades-old work can get their own version of Spin Paintings in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) using HENI’s technology.

The Beautiful Paintings NFTs are minted on the Ethereum blockchain. They can also be physically produced in four different sizes in either square or round shapes. HENI says Hirst will sign the physical artworks by his own hand.

The artworks can be produced by avid collectors via an app dashboard accessible on HENI’s official website.

More about The Beautiful Paintings

How to use the dashboard and create an artwork?

Collectors can select the size, style, colours, shape and medium to generate their artwork, which will be randomly generated using the inputs. HENI says that “each artwork in this series will be unique.”

There are 25 different styles that generators can pick. Spin styles are given names such as ‘Heavens,’ ‘Gyrations,’ ‘Explosions,’ ‘Tourbillons,’ ‘Supernovas,’ and ‘Typhoons’ among others. There is also a black-and-white style named ‘Star Clusters.’ Collectors can further customise their output by using the optional blur feature.

Titles of each output, which are “playfully long and descriptive,” are created through machine learning, starting with the word ‘Beautiful’ and ending in ‘Painting.’ But if the name is not what the collector would want, they can regenerate a new one for the artwork.

The Beautiful Paintings were launched on 31 March and will be available till 10 April. The physical versions of the artwork are Giclée prints on poly-cotton artist canvas mounted on birch plywood stretchers. Depending on the size, the physical artworks will cost between USD 1,500 to USD 6,000, excluding taxes. All NFTs versions, on the other hand, are priced at USD 2,000 excluding taxes.

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What are Spin Paintings?

The Spin artworks were produced on a spinning canvas, with Damien Hirst pouring in pigments and the colours merging together.

Hirst started his Spin Paintings in 1992. The first artwork was titled Beautiful Ray of Sunshine on a Rainy Day Painting.

One of his famous collaborations was with music legend David Bowie, with whom Hirst created Beautiful, Hallo, Space-Boy Painting in 1995. That painting was auctioned for around USD 1 million in 2016.

(Main and Featured images: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd.)

This story first appeared in Prestige Online Hong Kong

The post Damien Hirst’s Latest Project Lets You Design Your Own ‘Spin Paintings’ appeared first on AugustMan Hongkong.

What is the ‘moon art’ that Sacha Jafri is sending to the lunar surface?

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The post Sacha Jafri Is Sending The First Official Artwork To The Moon appeared first on AugustMan Hongkong.

Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli, a renowned art and film production house, has hopped on the ‘Year of The Rabbit’ trend as well. Fans were greeted with an adorable Nengajo card drawn by the veteran Japanese storyteller to celebrate 2023’s Year of The Rabbit. The iconic anime studio took to Twitter to thank fans worldwide for their constant support and even shared more details about Miyazaki’s illustration.

あけましておめでとうございます。

宮﨑さんが描いた兎。

名前は、うーちゃん。
ふーちゃんという双子がいるそうです。

本年も宜しくお願い申し上げます。 pic.twitter.com/W86BmQhmxe

— スタジオジブリ STUDIO GHIBLI (@JP_GHIBLI) December 31, 2022

Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘Year of the Rabbit’ art piece is the perfect Nengajo card

In case you aren’t aware of the term, Nengajo is one of Japan’s ancient traditions where people send each other New Year greetings via adorable cards. Studio Ghibli’s Year of The Rabbit Nengajo illustration is a great way to kickstart the year, especially since it depicts the enigma in Miyazaki’s animated characters. Apart from having the Miyazaki touch, the rabbit illustration also has references to his films’ iconic characters. The rabbit has been named ‘U-Chan’ by the studio, with a twin brother named ‘Fu-Chan’. The Miyazaki art also aligns with Japan’s Nengajo tradition perfectly.

This isn’t the first time Miyazaki is celebrating the Chinese New Year. In 2022, he also created an illustration of a tiger to commemorate the Year of the Tiger.

新年明けましておめでとうございます。
本年もよろしくお願い申し上げます。 pic.twitter.com/wwF4p3dk6h

— スタジオジブリ STUDIO GHIBLI (@JP_GHIBLI) December 31, 2021

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Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli is also coming up with a new animated film

The new feature film from director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli has been announced! HOW DO YOU LIVE (tentative title) opens in theaters in Japan on July 14, 2023. https://t.co/fHnLM6epTS

— Studio Ghibli (@GhibliUSA) December 13, 2022

Today, Hayao Miyazaki is an acclaimed artist whose films have stood the test of time. His iconic filmography includes Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, and The Wind Rises. This year will be extra special for Studio Ghibli fans as Miyazaki’s production house has announced a new release for the summer. Once again, fans will have Miyazaki’s signature hand-drawn anime style to look forward to.

The new project, named How Do You Live?, will release on 24 July 2023. The story is based on a 1937 novel of the same name and revolves around the life of a 15-year-old boy figuring out his life. For the unversed, Miyazaki’s last release, The Wind Rises, was supposed to be his final film. Fortunately, in 2021, he gave up on his retirement plan and began working on more stories.

(Hero Image Credits: Twitter/@JP_GHIBLI)
(Feature Image Credits: Twitter/@JP_GHIBLI)

The post New Hayao Miyazaki Art For 2023 ‘Year of The Rabbit’ Is Absolutely Adorable appeared first on AugustMan Hongkong.

M+ celebrates its first anniversary with a monumental scholarly showcase. Co-curators Doryun Chong and Mika Yoshitake take Prestige behind the scenes. Step into Yayoi Kusama’s cosmos, where the truest form of self can be understood with no restraint.

Polka dots.

These two words, spoken or written, once registered, instantly flood the brain with images of the distinctive pattern. Once acknowledged, it’s impossible to stop the round circles scattered against a homogenous background from filling up the blank screen of the conscious mind.

Few motifs carry as much cultural significance as the polka dot, which developed in Europe in the 1840s-’60s – the name derives from polka music – and later swept early 20th-century America, appearing on everything from garments and bed sheets to homewares. Minnie Mouse first donned her signature polka dot dress in 1928, while Sinatra serenaded the world with Polka Dots and Moonbeams.

This globally recognisable pattern has also been transformed by one artist into a language through which she communicates her ethos with the world. Indeed, her signature style is so familiar, the name Yayoi Kusama, prolific Japanese contemporary visionary, is invariably flashing in your mind.

Her pumpkins, sculptural or featured on canvas, and infinity net paintings – not to mention her notoriously photogenic mirror rooms – are so representative of contemporary art that a quick Google search of the two words results in two Kusama pieces in the top six images. One of them features the artist, with her famous red bob, wearing a yellow and black polka dot dress that matches her pumpkin installation in the background.

Given the extent of her fame, it’s no surprise that Hong Kong’s M+ has taken up the challenge of organising an extensive retrospective of Kusama’s work to celebrate its first birthday. Her influence and prominence, which are are matched only by those of Warhol and Rothko, has already been thoroughly studied by the art establishment. Her first solo show in Japan was in 1952, which was followed five years later by an exhibition in the US, at Seattle’s Dusanne Gallery. A glance through her own studio website confirms that aside from the ’70s, a quiet period in her career, her work constantly has been in the public eye. 1999 alone saw 13 solo shows, in locations as diverse as Tokyo and New York, Taipei and Los Angeles. Currently, there are almost 30 places around the world where Kusama’s creations, big and small, can be viewed.

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The main question concerning the M+ exhibition Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now is whether it will shed new light on Kusama and her oeuvre. This is important, as opinions on her significance are splintering. While her fame is well established, she’s been denounced as overhyped and overrated; writing in The Guardian in 2018, Jonathan Jones called Kusama “as artistic as a lava lamp” and her works “as fun as a fizzy drink and about as nourishing”. Such polarisation simply fuels curiosity about the M+ show which, with more than 200 pieces on display – including three never seen before – is one of her biggest ever.

Fortunately, to put Kusama and her work in perspective, M+ chief curator and curatorial deputy director Doryun Chong and Mika Yoshitake, an independent curator and an expert on post-war Japanese art, are on hand to talk us through the exhibition.

“It’s not all about the polka dots,” is how Chong begins. “Kusama is a cultural icon. Her omnipresence is a double-edged sword – everyone, informed or not, recognises her art works, but that also means she’s easily limited to the superficial impression of being the lady with red hair who paints polka dots and wears polka dots, and sometimes makes cute pumpkins with polka dots. But she’s so much more than that – and that’s what 1945 to Now is here to show.”

“When Doryun approached me to co-curate this exhibition,” Yoshitake says, “I knew how important it was to present Kusama in Hong Kong and at M+. I’m thrilled about M+’s position as a new model for museums to play a part in rethinking art history. The perception of Kusama as a global icon is relatively shallow – there’s a real need to do a scholarly show.”

As to how the M+ showcase can offer a different experience to visitors, Chong provides a thorough insight into their curatorial considerations. “We were very mindful of our position. Yes, she’s had a number of retrospective shows that cover her career, but let’s not forget that, at 93 years old, she’s still producing and has a career that spans seven and a half decades. The last extensive retrospective before ours was 10 years ago, organised by Tate Modern and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Now is a good time to refresh and update the dialogue. What we’ve curated is also, I believe, the first full-scale scholarly investigation into the artist outside of Japan within Asia.”

The exhibition is designed to be a fully comprehensive examination of Kusama’s life and career. “The dominant narrative of Kusama as an artist tends to focus on the 15 crucial New York years – from 1958 to 1973,” says Chong. “She returned to Japan at the age of 44. If you do the maths, she wasn’t even at the halfway point in her career at the time. Since her move back to Tokyo until now, it’s been almost 50 years, and she’s been creating art relentlessly through this time, even when she struggled deeply, in more ways than one, from the ’70s and into the ’80s. The global icon we know today is born through the world’s rediscovery of her closer to the ’90s. The ups and downs of her career within Japan and Asia is something we want to stage, to illustrate the different phases of Kusama’s practice, the continuity and evolution of her art.”

“What’s amazing about Kusama’s work is that it’s endless,” says Yoshitake. “So much study has been done on her but there’s a lack of in-depth examinations on why she does what she does and what her vision and philosophy are, which is why it’s been very interesting to present this show through our thematic approach.”

Chong explains there are six themes to the show: Infinity, Accumulation, Radical Connectivity, Biocosmic, Death and Force of Life. “The first two are obvious; Infinity refers to Kusama’s breakthrough body of work of infinity net paintings, while Accumulation cites her soft sculptures. We’re calling them themes rather than series to highlight the ideas of infinity and accumulation that extend beyond her artworks from the ’50s and ’60s and are woven in the fabric of Kusama’s philosophies.

“We continue with Radical Connectivity,” Chong adds. “This is not drawn from the artist’s work but is rather our curatorial interpretive term to closely inspect Kusama’s unique and, actually, really profound understanding of life. We use the word radical because Kusama truly believes all of humanity and the universe are interconnected, intertwined and completely inseparable. She uses the term “self-obliteration”, one that sounds ominous but is in fact something radically forward looking and optimistic – the idea that through obliteration, you erase the boundary between self and everything else to become one with humanity and the universe.”

“Biocosmic is special to Doryun and I,” says Yoshitake. “It’s a neologism we came up with to suggest Kusama always connects biologically, at cellular and molecular levels, with the cosmic galaxy. When you study her motifs, you experience this very kinetic, undulating current. Her signature body of work, the infinity net paintings, are inspired by a flight she took over the Pacific Ocean.

“This is where I began to think a lot about her childhood, growing up under a totalitarian Japanese government. It was common to question realism within the art world during the war, and nature was something artists examined to reassess their existence. Kusama was the same, her early works in her notebooks, which you’ll see in the exhibition, depict her observation of plants, even the decay. There’s such a conscientiousness over the life cycle, of life and death.

“The drawings she did in the ’50s were very microcosmic; they look like amoebas and seeds, or even light and stars. They capture these fleeting moments through Kusama’s integration of the realms of earthly and celestial. Once I realised this, I see the theme reoccurring over and over again – in her ’50s works, but also in her pieces created in the ’70s and ’90s, through her collages and psychosexual soft sculptures.”

Of the last section showcasing Death and Force of Life, Chong explains they represent Kusama’s consistent openness and honesty when it comes to discussing her struggles with mental health and fascination with death. “In her time, mental health was a taboo topic, especially in Asian cultures,” he says. “Kusama breaks convention and has been fully transparent about it for decades. We want to highlight how she always connects her struggles with the therapeutic power of art making. That is why she obsessively makes art; it’s her force of life. Her view on death isn’t tainted with darkness or pessimism, but rather an affiliation to the idea of regeneration. It’s about the cycle and renewal of life. We want to showcase that Kusama’s expansive understandings of the world, the universe and life itself are very humanistic, very universalist yet undeniably idiosyncratic.”

Chong and Yoshitake talk repeatedly about how visitors will see the continuation but also the evolution of Kusama’s work in this exhibition. The three new pieces, commissioned by M+, echo the sentiment. The star of the show, Death of Nerves (2022) is a massive installation that serves as an “update” to Kusama’s historically significant soft sculptural piece painstakingly hand-made by the artist herself in 1976. The monochromatic palette of the original transforms into an array of Technicolor hues that cascade in the three-storey vertical space at M+, signifying Kusama’s rebirth in contrast to her frail state when she created the original. The palette mirrors the colours used in some of her most recent paintings on display at M+. Dots Obsession – Aspiring to Heaven’s Love (2022) is a fresh take on her infinity mirror rooms made famous on social media, while Pumpkin (2022) sees her signature symmetrical gourds grown in new and more “alive” forms.

Complementing the exhibition is a richly illustrated 400-page publication, edited by Chong, Yoshitake and their team, and replete with essays, thematic texts, a visual chronology of Kusama’s life, a discussion between leading experts, a selection of poetry, manifestos, past interviews and, most excitingly, previously unpublished writings by the artist. “I can’t believe the book is so long,” Yoshitake says with a laugh. “I remember saying we should have this and add that, and this too, and this, and this, and this…”

An extensive series of public programmes is also available throughout the exhibition period, including talks, family-friendly activities and special screenings. “One thing that makes M+ remarkable is it has a full-fledged art house cinema,” says Chong. “Our three cinemas will be screening the well-known documentary titled Kusama Infinity, as well as a series of films from the 1960s showcasing radical performances by a group of women artists in New York. Another one to note looks at the 1980s context when Kusama was becoming active again, and the kind of work she and her cohorts were doing at the time. There’ll also be abstract animations inspired by Kusama’s well-known patterns – polka dots, infinity nets and accumulation sculptures.”

Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now is showing at M+ from November 12 until May 14

This story first appeared on Prestige Hong Kong

The post Experience Yayoi Kusama’s Beautiful Art At M+ Museum’s Breathtaking Exhibition appeared first on AugustMan Hongkong.

As NFTs continue to take the world by storm, these artworks have generated the most value.

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have become the “it” thing of the moment ever since artist Beeple sold a sold a piece for a whopping US$69.3 million in 2021. NFT artworks share some attributes with physical artworks in terms of creativity and aesthetics. However, the key difference is that being NFTs, they are simply a code — digital art that exists only on the internet.

Certain works go beyond a simple piece of visual art, such as REPLICATOR, by Canadian artist Mad Dog Jones, a piece that replicates itself and produces a new NFT every 28 days.

According to its seller — auction house Phillips — it is an “NFT experience comprising seven unique generations of artworks”. The work sold for US$4.1 million in April 2021, making Mad Dog Jones the most expensive living Canadian artist.

And since, the prices of NFT sales of artworks have skyrocketed. It seems that the market for most expensive NFT artwork has just started to flourish, leaving room to expect much more in the coming years.

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The Merge: US$91.8 million

The Merge is a unique digital artwork in the world of NFTs because, instead of being a single piece of work, The Merge is what can be called fragmented art.

Created by the renowned artist who goes by the pseudonym Pak, The Merge was sold on NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway between 2 and 4 December 2021. It fetched a record sum of US$91.8 million — the most expensive NFT ever sold that as an artwork.

Instead of a single owner, The Merge is held by 28,983 collectors. This is because the artwork was sold in units known as ‘mass’. Thus, the collectors together bought a total of 266,445 masses by the time the sale ended on 4 December.

Each ‘mass’ cost US$575 when the sale began, and the price of the tokens went up by US$25 every six hours.   

Everydays – The First 5000 Days: US$69.3 million

Acclaimed digital artist Mike Winklemann, better known as Beeple, created a record when his single piece artwork titled Everydays – The First 5000 Days sold for US$69.3 million at a Christie’s auction on 11 March 2021. Therefore, it is the most expensive NFT sale recorded for an artwork by Beeple.

The artwork is so named because it is a collage of 5,000 individual images made one per day over more than thirteen years from 2007 to 2020.

It was the first purely digital NFT-based artwork offered by a major auction house. Following the sale, Christie’s said Beeple now ranked among the “top three most valuable living artists.”

Its buyer, MetaKovan, later revealed as crypto investor Vignesh Sundaresan, called it “a steal” while talking to The New York Times.

The costliest single-piece NFT artwork, Everydays – The First 5000 Days, is credited by many as the sale that started the NFT boom through 2021. It also catapulted Beeple and his works into an even bigger league, with collaborations with Nike and Katy Perry.

Human One: US$28.9 million

On 9 November 2021, Beeple had his one of the most expensive NFT artwork sale. At an auction hosted by Christie’s, the American artist’s creation, Human One, went under the hammer for US$28.9 million. The buyer was Swiss entrepreneur and venture capitalist Ryan Zurrer.

Human One is remarkably different from Everydays: The First 5,000 Days — the former is a hybrid digital and physical artwork, whereas the latter does not physically exist.

Beeple created a futuristic human-like sculpture, which was seven feet tall and appears to be perpetually walking across ever-changing landscapes. The 3D movement is presented through four video screens of 16K resolution, which come together to form a 4×4-feet box.

According to Christie’s, the kinetic video sculpture came with dual media servers and had a polished aluminium metal, mahogany wood frame.

Speaking to Christie’s head of digital sales Noah Davis, Beeple said, “We had a bunch of TVs on rollers in our studio and were rolling them around in different shapes and patterns. Then I was like: ‘We should roll them into a little box unit.’…We immediately realised that this configuration of screens was a powerful canvas — anything we put on it looked awesome.”

Human One was sold with a corresponding dynamic NFT, which was minted on 28 October 2021. The unique feature of the work is that Beeple will continue to have remote access and creative control over it. This means that the artist can change the creative elements, such as the landscape, as long as he is alive.

“The Physical Element is designed to continuously display the Artwork. Beeple will maintain remote access to the Physical Element to ensure proper functionality and/or enhance the displayed Artwork. Beeple warrants that the Physical Element does not contain any features designed to impair the continuous display of the Artwork,” Christie’s said in its description of Human One.

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CryptoPunk #5822: USD 23.7 million 

👽 pic.twitter.com/lQg6DzSttr

— Deepak.eth ⛓ (@dt_chain) February 12, 2022

CryptoPunks have long been one of the most sought-after tokens in the NFT space. One of the earliest NFT projects, CryptoPunks, was launched in 2017. A creation of Larva Labs, the acclaimed studio founded by Canadian developers Matt Hall and John Watkinson.

CryptoPunks is essentially a collection of 10,000 tokens called ‘punks’ by their creators and collectors. Often considered the OG NFT collection, each is a collectible character — much like a trading card. No two ‘punks’ are the same, which makes each CryptoPunk an exclusive item.

In a major sale on 13 February 2022, CryptoPunk #5822 was sold for 8000 ETH, which converts to roughly USD 23.7 million at the time of sale. This makes it the most expensive CryptoPunk sale ever.

The CryptoPunk is part of the Alien series collection and has bluish-green skin with only one attribute — a blue bandana. Its buyer, reportedly, is the CEO of blockchain infrastructure company Chain, Deepak Thapliyal, who posted a tweet showing Punk #5822.

CryptoPunk #7523: US$11.75 million

On 10 June 2021, CryptoPunk #7523 was sold for US$11.75 million at a Sotheby’s auction, making it the second-most expensive ‘punk’ of all the collections. #7523 is one of the nine in the Alien series of the collection.

The bluish-green-skinned character wears a knitted cap and earrings, too. It is also the only Alien character and one of the 175 in the collection with a medical mask.

According to Reuters, Sotheby’s revealed the token was bought by Israeli entrepreneur Shalom Meckenzie — the largest shareholder of digital sports company DraftKings.

CryptoPunk #3100: US$7.58 million

On the same day Beeple created history, a crypto art, known as CryptoPunk #3100, was sold for US$7.58 million. Like #7523, the #3100 is also one of the nine Alien ‘punks’. It has bluish-green skin and just one other feature — a white-and-blue headband. Only 406 out of 10,000 in the collection wear a headband and only 333 have just one attribute.

At the time of its sale, CryptoPunk #3100 was the highest-priced ‘punk’, beating the record set by #7804 a day before by just a whisker.

It has been in the news for some time because of its listed price. According to Larva Labs, it is currently up for sale for US$114.54. If realised, it would become the highest-priced NFT in history.

CryptoPunk #7804: US$7.57 million

The ‘punk’, which looks more like Sherlock Holmes with shades, is another of the nine Aliens among the 10,000. On 10 March 2021, it made news for fetching US$7.57 million for its seller, Figma CEO Dylan Field, who had dubbed it his “digital Mona Lisa.”

The pipe-smoking character wears small shades and is one of the 254 who wears their cap forward. Unlike #3100, the #7804 is not up for sale.

Right-click and Save As guy: US$7.09 million

Xcopy is the pseudonym of a London-based crypto artist whose works are one of the most in-demand across marketplaces. According to The Crypto Times, Xcopy, who is known for his dystopian- and death-themed works, has sold over 1,900 artworks.

The Right-click and Save As guy is the name of an NFT artwork created by the artist as a joke on those who think that NFTs are worthless because they can simply be right-clicked and downloaded.

The artwork shows a character wearing large shades and a hoodie. Its red-tinted lips are constantly moving, as if mumbling something.

Right-click and Save As guy was sold on the SuperRare marketplace for US$7.08 million in early December 2021. It was bought by the user known online as ‘Cozomo de Medici’, who has a vast storehouse of NFT digital collectibles.

Some speculate that ‘Cozomo de Medici’ is the alias of rapper Snoop Dogg. Even though the American celebrity admitted that he is the man behind the identity, it has not been independently verified.

Ringers #109: US$6.9 million

Ringers #109 is an artwork by Art Blocks, which is a project that creates loops around pegs using an algorithm. The artwork can be a 3D image, an interactive feature, or a static picture.

Ringers #109 is a static image of a series of loops around multiple pegs. The dominant colour is black on a white background. The balanced wrap orientation, the loop and the white background are three very rare attributes in Art Blocks’ creations. The rarest is, however, a red peg — the colour is present in just 0.3 percent of its tokens.

The NFT was sold for US$6.9 million in October 2021 — a record price for Art Blocks. It is not clear who bought the NFT but according to The Crypto Times, the seller was AKIRA, co-founder of NarcissusGLRY, who revealed the sale on Twitter.

According to AKIRA, the NFT was bought by them for US$550 in March 2021.

A Coin for the Ferryman: US$6.01 million

One of the earliest works by Xcopy, A Coin for the Ferryman was sold on SuperRare for US$6.01 million on 4 November 2021.

The artwork is a GIF, showing constantly changing expressions on a person’s face. It was minted by Xcopy on 20 April 2018.

A Coin for the Ferryman – 1/1
💥New #crypto #art release over @SuperRare_co #bitcoin #banker #ETH pic.twitter.com/dLQgervQOw

— XCOPY 🏴 (@XCOPYART) April 20, 2018

At the time, it was bought by a user named @0xclipse for US$139. In 2019, it was transferred to a user named @electricmeat who eventually sold it on SuperRare to the current owner @jpeggy.

Ocean Front: US$6 million

Beeple’s Ocean Front is much more than one of the most expensive NFT artworks. It is a telling reminder to the world of the impending disaster that unchecked climate change is set to bring.

The artwork is part of Beeple’s “Everydays” series. It shows a series of trailers and containers stacked upon each other on a platform in the middle of an ocean. At the top of the dystopian man-made objects is a tree, underneath which mushrooms can be seen growing.

The artwork was bought on 23 March 2021 following intense bidding on Nifty Gateway by Justin Sun, the founder and CEO of the Tron Foundation, for US$6 million. Beeple himself announced the winner and the winning bid on Twitter.

(1/4)🤩Here let’s enjoy @beeple‘s NFT artwork “OCEAN FRONT” that I successfully won a bid for!

“OCEAN FRONT” expresses Beeple’s concerns on global climate change, a profound message of the need for environmental protection. pic.twitter.com/zGXWyyPgmO

— H.E. Justin Sun🌞🇬🇩🇩🇲🔥 (@justinsuntron) March 30, 2021

Following the transaction, Sun tweeted that proceeds from the sale to Open Earth Foundation — an NGO working to tackle climate change.

(Main image: Pak / @muratpak / Twitter; (Featured image: SuperRare)

This story was originally published on Lifestyle Asia Kuala Lumpur

The post Take A Look At The Most Expensive NFT Artworks Ever Sold appeared first on AugustMan Hongkong.

Global colour expert Pantone Color Institute has chosen Viva Magenta 18-1750 as the colour of the year for 2023. Needless to say, the choice is bold, positive and vibrant.

The Pantone Color Institute is globally recognised for its prowess in addressing, choosing and developing the colour challenges that harmonise with the brand’s visions. The crimson red shade symbolises strength and power, but at the same time, it promotes optimism, joy and enthusiasm.

In a post shared by Pantone on Instagram on 2 December 2022, the tint has been described as an “unconventional shade for an unconventional time.”

 

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More about Pantone’s colour of the year — Viva Magenta

The brave and fearless descendant of the red family, Viva Magenta is certainly assertive and empowering but not aggressive. This is not the conventional red that strikes our mind when we think of the shades of crimson. A balanced shade, a pink of warm and cool tones, and the borderline between red, pink and blue is Viva Magenta.

According to Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of Pantone Color Institute, the hue is an “animated red, pulsating with movement.” For inspiration, the institute directly points toward mother nature. Cochineal dyes acquired from insects, the rich pink and magenta shades in fabrics and the shades of butterflies, all inspired them to create this brave and fearless Viva Magenta.

While selecting the annual colour, the institute also considered the challenges we faced in the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It felt it was time to choose a colour that inspires hope, strength, and dynamics. After the passionate blue shade Veri Peri of 2021, a very much technology-inspired colour, this is a fresh and brand-new approach towards an innovative idea.

By Pallabi Bose,

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What did the Pantone Color Institute say?

Pantone’s official website quotes Eiseman as saying, “In this age of technology, we look to draw inspiration from nature and what is real. PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta descends from the red family, and is inspired by the red of cochineal, one of the most precious dyes belonging to the natural dye family as well as one of the strongest and brightest the world has known.”

Another Pantone Color Institute member and trend forecaster Jane Boddy said, “It’s a great colour for reflecting light, which gives it a sense of fantasy and glamour,” adding, “It’s so flattering across all skin tones and all genders.”

“Traditionally you would imagine this (to) be a colour for the lips or the cheeks whereas now we’re seeing it as a solid eye colour in a painterly stroke,” she added.

The experience of choosing and experiencing the colour is termed ‘Magnetaverse.’ It is a collaboration between Pantone and ARTECHOUSE. The colour experience will be on display from 3 December in Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, US.

(All Images: Courtesy of Pantone)

This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Bangkok 

The post Viva Magenta Is Pantone’s Colour Of The Year For 2023 appeared first on AugustMan Hongkong.

Robbing artwork worth millions of dollars from heavily guarded museums is not an easy feat. However, despite all the dangers of being caught and prosecuted for art theft, it is not uncommon. And, real-life instances of museum heists envisioned and implemented by highly notorious and skilful robbers have also found a way into pop culture.

For instance, movies like Entrapment (1999) or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2018), which crafted their plots brilliantly using real-life incidents. Netflix also came up with a documentary called This Is a Robbery: World’s Biggest Art Heist in 2021, which has a part-by-part investigation of the robbery at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

While some of these mysteries are revealed with the stolen artworks being restored to their rightful place, some are still waiting to be solved such as the precious paintings of the Boston museum, valued at USD 500 million (RM 2240 million), or the rare 1887 painting of Vincent van Gogh, Poppy Flowers, which was stolen from Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Giza, Egypt. Empty frames still stand tall at these museums, waiting for the exquisite, one-of-its-kind paintings to return just as mysteriously as they were stolen.

What is an art heist?

Stealing art mostly by physical coercion (for instance, holding guards at a gunpoint) and successfully fleeing with it is categorised as an art heist. The techniques used by the thieves are often imaginative, bold and sometimes gimmicky.

Art heists: Past and the present

Did you know? The first-ever art theft was carried out way back in 1473, when a few Polish pirates robbed Hans Memling’s The Last Judgement (1467–71) from a ship bound for Florence. The painting hasn’t been returned to the Italians still as it is one of the prized possessions at the National Museum in Gdańsk, Poland.

Cut to the latest art heist that shocked the world. A group of robbers entered the Bavarian Museum on 22 November 2022 and walked away with around 500 gold coins worth millions of euros belonging to the 100 BC era.

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Here are some of the most daring and fascinating museum heists of all time

The Mona Lisa heist

One of the most highly regarded artworks in the world, The Mona Lisa, by Leonardo Da Vinci, was stolen back in 1911. In a misguided sense of delivering justice, an ordinary Italian handyman by the name of Vincenzo Peruggia thought he was doing a service to Italy, which was ravaged by the French leader Napoleon Bonaparte by stealing the painting.

With less attention on this particular painting back then, Peruggia was able to escape with the artwork along with his accomplices. He took it to Paris and tried selling it to an art dealer in Florence. The dealer immediately notified the Uffizi Galleries director Giovanni Pog who got Peruggia arrested.

The Boston Museum heist

This might be one of the most sensational thefts which shocked the whole art world. This even inspired Netflix to make a documentary series. The year was 1990 and the place Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, when two convincing-looking individuals posed as policemen entered the museum premises in broad daylight, tied up the guards and uttered the famous lines, “Gentlemen, this is a robbery” and went away with 13 exquisite, expensive and original works of art.

Their stolen artworks included The Concert (1664), one of the rare Vermeer paintings, a 1633 Rembrandt painting and another by Manet. The total worth of these paintings as estimated in 2021, is around USD 500 million (RM 2240 million). Their recovery is still awaited. A few claim that the priceless art pieces are lost forever.

The Museum of Modern Art, Paris robbery

Ultra stylish and super innovative, the heist at Paris’s Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville in 2010, is bookmarked in history as one of the most famous art robberies. The criminal mastermind behind this art theft, Vjeran Tomic, called himself Spiderman after entering not once or twice but several times into the heavily guarded establishment to steal important works of art, repeatedly.

His method was spraying acid until the window melted, providing easy access without any force of entry.

Initially, he only took Henri Matisse’s Pastorale (1905) but was tempted to steal more. Later he took paintings by Amedeo Modigliani, Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. He along with his two accomplices were caught and sentenced to eight years. Despite the thieves getting nabbed, valuable artworks worth USD 107 million (RM 479 million approximately) are still missing.

Mexican Archeological Museum heist

Another case of reel-life inspired by real life. The movie Museo (2018) starring Gael García Bernal was based on this incident. This robbery took place at the National Museum of Archaeology in 1985, by a couple of college dropouts wanting to make quick money to fuel their drug addiction. One of the most prized artefacts from their loot was the jade mask of a Mayan ruler.

As outlandish as it may sound, they were actually successful in taking over 124 artefacts before selling them for hordes of cocaine.

World’s most stolen painting — ‘Takeaway Rembrandt’

An artwork from Britain’s Dulwich Picture Gallery holds a place in Guinness Book of World Records for being the most stolen painting. A portrait of Rembrandt depicting Jacob de Gheyn III (1632) has been stolen four times — 1966, 1973, 1981 and 1986.

Because of its chequered history, the painting came to be known as the ‘Takeaway Rembrandt.’

Poppy Flowers robbery at Giza

This robbery took place in 2010, at Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Giza, Egypt and is a black mark on the authorities and the Government alike. The art thieves managed to get away with the robbery of one of the most celebrated paintings around the globe, an 1887 Vincent van Gogh piece called Poppy Flowers. Reportedly, on the day of the robbery, only nine visitors checked in but the thieves managed to loot the museum owing to poor security.

There was a rightful media outrage against the museum’s director, eleven cultural ministry workers resigned and police officers arrested security guards for negligence. The painting worth USD 50 million (RM 224 million) still hasn’t been retrieved yet.

The Scream and The Madonna Heist, Oslo

While a different version of The Scream (1893), a painting by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch was stolen once in 1994 from the National Gallery of Oslo, another version of it was taken along with the impressionist’s famous painting, The Madonna in 2004, in broad daylight from the Munch Museum, Oslo, amid a huge crowd. Few masked men took the paintings away and fled after threatening the museum security at gunpoint.

Although police successfully caught the culprits, The Scream, which is the most expensive work of Munch, had been damaged.

Jewels from Dresden Museum, Germany

This 2019 robbery will go down in history as one of the quickest art heists as it was completed in less than a minute. The thieves first cut the electric current of the Grünes Gewölbe (Green Vault) and then rammed an axe into the glass case and stole USD 1.2 billion (RM 5.34 billion approximately) worth of jewels including a sword encrusted with 800 diamonds and the 49.84-carat Dresden White Diamond.

The police arrested four for the crime but are still on the lookout for the jewels.

Impression, Sunrise from Paris Museum

One of the most daring heists to have taken place in the history of museum robberies was when a group of thieves entered the museum premises and bought tickets to go inside. They then held nine guards and 40 other visitors at gunpoint before fleeing with a total of nine paintings including Claude Monet’s 1872 artwork Impression, Sunrise and a few works by Berthe Morisot and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Fortunately, the police were able to nab seven thieves in 1990 at Corsica, and recover the art. The paintings were estimated to be worth USD 20 million (RM 89 million approximately) except for Impression, Sunrise which is priceless.

The Saleira by Benvenuto Cellini, Vienna

In one of the rare instances where the thief turned out to be the security guard himself, Robert Mang, a 1543 relic was stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in 2003. The police arrested the thief and got hold of the USD 60 million (RM 268 million approximately) worth golden sculpture — The Saleira by Renaissance master Benvenuto Cellini, which was hidden away in a lead box in a forest by Mang.

(Main and featured image: Courtesy Leonardo Da Vinci/Wikimedia Commons)

This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Malaysia 

The post The Biggest Museum Heists Of All Time Including The Poppy Flowers Robbery And Mona Lisa’s Theft appeared first on AugustMan Hongkong.

American artist Daniel Arsham doesn’t really need an introduction. The New-York based artist has created some of the most beautiful sculptures in the world, and has become a leading pioneer of innovative design. He has also been a part of some surprising collaborations recently and just earlier this year, his Pokémon sculptures in Tokyo went viral on social media. Well, it looks like Arsham is set to partake in another exciting collaboration, this time with smartphone giant Xiaomi. The two have come together to collaborate on the Xiaomi 12T Pro Daniel Arsham Edition.

What is the vision for the Xiaomi x Daniel Arsham 12T Pro?

This smartphone will be an example of what Arsham refers to as ‘fictional archeology’ and will feature a dark teal marbled appearance on the surface. The textured finish also gives off the illusion that it is partly eroded, a signature of Arsham’s works.

According to Arsham, “In 20 years, there will be people who have this phone that don’t use it as a phone anymore and it just becomes a sculpture object that is kind of linked to a particular moment in time.” He further added, “That way, its use is carried beyond the functionality of it, it becomes a sculpture.” 

 

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A post shared by Xiaomi Global (@xiaomi.global)

What are the Xiaomi x Daniel Arsham 12T Pro’s features?

The smartphone is also quite power-packed. It will feature a 200-megapixel camera and upgraded Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor. Xiaomi is also installing this model with a special wallpaper that is going to complement its unique and innovative design.

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It’s also important to note that this is going to be a limited-edition model as only 2000 are going to be produced. So if you have plans of owning this unique gadget, you need to make sure you book it well in advance. Fortunately, pre-sale is going to begin soon.

Release Date: Pre-sale begins on December 5th
Price: $990 (India price may be subject to market variation)

Main and feature image: Courtesy Daniel Arsham/@Instagram

The post Daniel Arsham And Xiaomi Have Created A Limited-Edition Model Of 12T Pro! appeared first on AugustMan Hongkong.