Carlie Porterfield

1 week ago | theartnewspaper.com | Carlie Porterfield

The first thing to sell out at Art Basel this year was not a gallery stand—it was a Labubu. A series of monster elves designed by the Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung, the furry plush characters have gone viral thanks to the popularity of Gen Z strapping the small stuffed animals onto bags as a purse charm. For this year’s fair, Art Basel teamed up with Lung to create a limited-edition figurine.

1 week ago | theartnewspaper.com | Carlie Porterfield

Art Basel’s two largest satellite fairs, Liste and Volta, both mark important milestones this year; Liste, the fair known for championing work by young artists, will turn 30, while Volta, which prides itself on the community it builds between galleries, will celebrate its 20th edition. When Liste Art Fair was founded in 1996, it was strictly for work by young artists, and the fair banned participating galleries from showing artists over the age of 40.

1 week ago | theartnewspaper.com | Carlie Porterfield

After the cancellation in February of this year’s edition of Design Miami Basel, the long-running design fair held concurrently with Art Basel, a group of mostly French galleries have come together to stage a new venture and continue a design presence in Basel. Maze Design Basel is made up of 11 dealers and is the brainchild of Charlotte Ketabi-Lebard, a partner at Parisian gallery Ketabi Bourdet . “Basel is the epicenter for us, for the art world.

1 week ago | theartnewspaper.com | Carlie Porterfield

The Swiss collector Nicola Erni is a very private person. Over more than 25 years, she has quietly built one of the world’s largest private photography collections. Largely focusing on images from the 1960s and 70s, she has also amassed fashion photography from artists like Helmut Newton, Mario Testino and Annie Leibovitz. Erni’s contemporary art collection is nothing to scoff at either—she owns important works by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol.

2 weeks ago | theartnewspaper.com | Carlie Porterfield

In June 2023 Sotheby’s announced it would purchase Marcel Breuer’s former Whitney Museum of American Art building, a feat of Brutalist architecture, for $100m. Two years later, Sotheby’s says it is months away from opening at 945 Madison Avenue and has released renderings of what the space will look like as the auction house’s new galleries and salesroom. The Breuer building first opened on the Upper East Side in 1966 as the Whitney Museum.