Author: Sam Art

An art world power couple who held senior positions at Gagosian – chief operating officer Andrew Fabricant and his wife Laura Paulson, director of Gagosian Art Advisory – have left the gallery. Founder Larry Gagosian announced his departures in an email to his staff on Thursday (June 13).”Andrew Fabricant and Laura Paulson are no longer with the gallery,” Gagosian said in a statement The Journal of Art. “At this point in the evolution of the gallery, we reached the point where I decided it was time to part ways. We appreciate their contributions over the past few years and wish…

Federica Masini is an Italian artist whose work is influenced by her diverse experiences and passion for music. Living between Germany, Spain, and France, Masini finds inspiration in the varied cultures and vibrant art scenes of these countries. Though her formal art education took place in Italy, it was the city of Berlin that shaped her artistic vision. Masini’s artistic journey is deeply intertwined with her love for music. Growing up immersed in new wave, post-punk, rock, and Marvel comics, these influences are evident in her work. She often combines the raw energy of these genres with the vivid, dynamic…

Later this month, in a Sotheby’s modern and contemporary sale in London, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 triptych Portrait of the artist as an abandoned young man it will go up for auction for the second time in three years. The seven-foot-wide work appears to have significantly diminished in value. When Christie’s put the work up for auction in 2022, that house gave it an estimate of $30 million; just before the sale, the work was quietly withdrawn. This time, Sotheby’s gave the work an estimate of between 15 and 20 million dollars. Any Basquiat that comes to auction is considered an…

Paul Fortunato began his artistic journey in New York, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts (SVA). He spent 23 years teaching at SVA, influencing many young artists’ careers. Nine years ago, he relocated to South Korea to teach at Hanbat National University, marking a significant cultural shift. This move provided him with fresh insights, allowing him to blend Eastern and Western artistic philosophies. Fortunato views every creation as a form of drawing, whether using traditional materials or incorporating 3D objects. This philosophy underscores his belief in art as an ongoing process of exploration and…

Garda Alexander, a German artist based in Switzerland, draws inspiration from nature and people, crafting meaningful expressions through unique shapes and colors. Her artistic repertoire spans painting, sculpture, and spatial concepts, reflecting her diverse education and training across various countries. With a background in human medicine, Alexander’s work is infused with a symbolically charged formal language, bridging the gap between art and science. Her curiosity drives her to explore new materials and techniques, resulting in a versatile body of work that captivates and inspires. As a visual artist and consultant in spatial transformation, she enhances living and working spaces, collaborating…

Madeline Gardner Meryash, an award-winning artist from a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, grew up in a large artistic family. As the sixth of fourteen children, creativity and art were integral parts of her upbringing. Madeline began painting seriously in the late 1990s and has since dedicated herself to the craft. Despite being largely self-taught, she refined her skills under the guidance of classically trained artists at the Grand Central Atelier in New York City. Madeline’s style is contemporary classical realism, and she primarily works with oils. Recently, she has been experimenting with painting on water-gilded panels, employing techniques from the…

Paul ‘Gilby’ Gilbertson is an artist using a unique technique that has become his signature style. This technique involves using salt in his watercolor paintings, a discovery he made back in the early 1970s. Over the years, Gilby has mastered this salt effect, using it to create stunning backgrounds and intricate details in his subjects. One of Gilby’s standout pieces is “Go Badgers,” a tribute to his love for the Big 10 Badger Fans. The inspiration for “Go Badgers” came to Gilby in a moment of creativity around 4 am while living in Colorado Springs. He thought it would be…

Annie Sliwka, a French artist, discovered lacquer while preparing for her future at higher art school, and it was love at first sight. This medium captivated her, intertwining with her sensitivity at the heart of her work. Her lacquers, filled with extraordinary poetic and metaphorical imagination, possess a unique charm, revealing just enough to entice viewers without giving everything away. Soft, iridescent lights, gold laminated surfaces sprinkled with precious rains, and voluptuous quivering—these elements form successive metaphors of infinite beauty, capturing the crystal of the soul. Her career has been decorated with twenty-nine prizes, including four international awards. Among these…

In a career spanning more than 50 years, British journalist Lynn Barber has interviewed numerous artists, writing in the last line of her new book A bit of art education that “they have that consuming passion that will last them a lifetime”. Barber, a self-proclaimed outsider to the art world whose memoir was turned into the acclaimed film. An Education (2009), recalls and gives away in this compilation of his encounters over the decades. She describes why she came to admire Tracey Emin but fell out with other big players, including Jake and Dinos Chapman, after a controversial interview for…

ArtMaxwell RabbPortrait of Boscoe and Geoffrey Holder, London, 1961. Courtesy of the Holder Family Archive.Geoffrey Holder, Woman on man’s shoulders, approx. late 1970s. © Geoffrey Holder. Courtesy of Geoffrey Holder Estate and James Fuentes.Dancer, choreographer, designer, actor and painter – brothers Boscoe Holder and Geoffrey Holder wore all these hats as they charted parallel paths through art and performance over careers that spanned more than half a century. Born in Trinidad and Tobago in 1921 and 1930 and settling in London and New York respectively, the brothers drew inspiration from their rich heritage and the cultures of their adopted cities…