The Gray Market Weekend Wrap #28

From gut-wrenching bark-cloth odysseys to impassive steamed-milk trolling

Welcome back to The Gray Market’s weekend wrap, where I ship out a one-of-a-kind haul of recommendations covering exhibitions, podcasts, articles and more, with thoughts on what makes each one matter to the current state of art and business.

In this weekend’s edition, you’ll find:

• A weighty yet gripping show of new paintings in Chelsea

• A heartening potential limit to AI’s role in commerce

• A trio of articles covering the latest would-be power move from an obnoxious, art-collecting crypto-baron; a wisely ruthless / ruthlessly wise program to conquer online luxury sales; and the market dynamics driving EDM deep into the Saudi psyche

If any of that sounds interesting—or if you just want to support The Gray Market in its ongoing mission to explore where the art business is headed and why—you can subscribe or upgrade your membership using the button below. Paid subscribers will receive all future editions of the weekend wrap, access to the full Substack archive (free posts are paywalled after two months), and much more. And if you’re already a paid subscriber, thank you.

Lastly, please be aware that I may receive a tiny commission if you buy any books through the links in this email.

So many shameless plugs omg

A big (and worthwhile) chunk of my time the past couple weeks has gone into auction coverage for the New York Times, most of it with the excellent Zachary Small. Our wrap-up story will go up early this week, but in the meantime here are links to our preview story, our report on the opening night of sales at Christie’s, and my look into how tf Alberto Giacometti’s Grande tête mince, a sculpture that was supposed to be the priciest lot of the week, turned into a big fat zero instead.

I also made a cameo in this Evening Standard feature on Ari Emanuel’s new live-events company buying Frieze, written by the always-sharp Anny Shaw.

And last but not least, I’m moderating two panels at this Thursday’s Art Business Conference in New York on two of what are rapidly becoming my favorite subjects: the Great Wealth Transfer, and Gen Z collecting. Come say hello if you’re in the building.