Several iconic works by both Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat will be at auction this May in New York, the Wall Street Journal reports, including a 1981 painting by Basquiat at Christie’s which has never been resold, and has never before been exhibited publicly.  It is valued at $20 million.  Also on sale is Warhol’s Six Self-Portraits series from 1986, which is valued at $25 million, and is selling at Sotheby’s. (more…)

The Wall Street Journal has published a feature article on artist George Condo’s collection of rare and custom stringed instruments, which the artist has ordered to his own specifications.  The artist, who studied music theory at the University of Massachusetts, is an avid musician and collector.  “I don’t want to simply collect instruments and not know how to play them,” Condo says. “It’s a great way to take my mind off the here and now—all the aspects of what goes on in the art world.” (more…)

Domenico Gnoli, Ritratto di Luis T (1967) All images courtesy Luxembourg & Dayan unless otherwise noted.

Prodigious Italian artist Domenico Gnoli left behind only several dozen paintings when he met an early fate – at age 36 – in April 1970. Eighteen of those important works are currently on display in the first U.S. exhibition dedicated to the artist in over 40 years. The paintings are primarily acrylic mixed with sand; finely detailed and close cropped, they are intimate portraits of a very certain place and time.

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