Qingtai Hu at Shanghai, All Images © MCH Messe Schweiz (Basel) AG

After a hectic week, the Art Basel Hong Kong event is winding down, leaving behind it a record of strong sales and high-profile attendees, continuing the fair’s prominent footprint in Hong Kong’s ever-strengthening draw for collectors and artists.  Pi Li and Doryun Chong of the M+ Museum could be seen browsing the works, as well as Uli Sigg, Takashi Murakami and Carsten Nicolai, who had just opened his astounding installation at the International Commerce Center. (more…)

Rapper A$AP Rocky was spotted this week wearing a piece from Supreme’s Jean-Michel Basquiat Collection, which is set for release today both online, and in Supreme flagship stores nationwide.  Featuring photographs and graphics from Basquiat’s work, the line has been hotly anticipated by urban fashion enthusiasts and art lovers alike. (more…)

Robert Wilson, Stargazer Beds (2013), courtesy Matthew Teti for Art Observed

This year’s Watermill Benefit, the annual summer event supporting Robert Wilson’s performance lab in Water Mill, New York, welcomed over 1,200 guests to Wilson’s 8-acre property, presenting over 20 site-specific performances, as well as a silent auction featuring over 100 works. Following this, 700 guests dined under a large outdoor tent to watch the Simon de Pury-led live auction of works by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michael Basquiat, Luc Tuymans, and Tseng Kwong-Chi, among others, with master of ceremonies Alan Cumming, and appearances by Winona Ryder, Marina Abramovic, and Lady Gaga.  Titled Devil’s Heaven, the event showcased a diverse group of performances which differed in content, but effectively came together to produce an ominous and sensual atmosphere as guests followed the prescribed path through the foundation’s grounds, appropriately lit by the setting sun and the fire of tiki torches.

View of Watermill grounds, courtesy Matthew Teti for Art Observed (more…)