Damien Hirst remains one of the most polarizing yet undeniably influential figures in contemporary art. His work—ranging from preserved animal carcasses to diamond-encrusted skulls—has consistently challenged conventions while commanding record-breaking auction prices. Born in 1965 in Bristol, England, Hirst rose to prominence in the late 1980s and 1990s as a leading figure in the YBA…
Agnes Gund, the 85-year-old Manhattan dowager who looks like she just stepped out of a Wharton novel and into a money-laundering thriller, has decided that the best way to punish the world’s autocrats is to hit them where it hurts: their taste in art. Last week, she sold a single Roy Lichtenstein—one measly cartoon explosion…
Banksy’s Global Game of Monopoly: How a Spray-Can Prankster Became the World’s Favorite Dissident Asset By Matteo “Macabre” Moretti, roaming correspondent, currently caffeinating in a Lisbon café that still smells faintly of fresh stencils. LONDON—PARIS—TOKYO—(Reuters of the Ridiculous)—Somewhere between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of TikTok, humanity collectively agreed that a…
