At a time when respect for other cultures has never been more important, Canada is fortunate to have an important new world-class cultural institution, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. The 113,000-sq-ft museum was designed by Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Fumihiko Maki of Japan and was established by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). Active… Continue Reading

One of the perks of being an art appraiser in Vancouver is getting access to some of the most expensive homes in the country; but if there is one thing I have learned as an appraiser, it is that money and good taste do not go hand in hand. I’ve lost count of the number… Continue Reading

Rolling Stone reports that musician Lou Reed passed away earlier today in New York City at the age of 71 after receiving a liver transplant earlier this year. Introduced to us several years ago by our brother Adam Humphreys, Mr. Reed has been one of our most appreciated artists ever since. Here are some of… Continue Reading

I was forwarded an interesting read on a different way to look at art buying, focused on the younger generation of contemporary artists rather than the Old Master painters and “blue chip artists” like Richter or Picasso. Chad Loweth doesn’t suggest spending $300,000 to $3,000,000 on a few high valued (or often “overvalued” according to… Continue Reading

In one of the most significant gifts in the history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the philanthropist and cosmetics tycoon Leonard A. Lauder has promised the institution his collection of 78 Cubist paintings, drawings and sculptures. A Billion-Dollar Gift Gives the Met a New Perspective (Cubist) | New York Times

Check out this incredible 3D Tour of the Sistine Chapel. Turn up your speakers for the full experience… Source: Vatican

In the film Amedeus (1984), protagonist Austrian court composer Antonio Salieri describes the antagonist of the film — Mozart — as having both the voice of God and an unseemly, juvenile temperament. What Salieri means by “the voice of God” is Mozart’s totally integrated ability to produce innovative, beautiful music that somehow makes sense on… Continue Reading

A new post by my brother Adam Humphreys at Thought Catalog. How To Get Scalped tcat.tc/XVbT6W — Thought Catalog (@ThoughtCatalog) March 6, 2013   Reminds me of this:

Born in 1928 in Pittsburgh to a pair of Slovakian immigrants, Andy Warhol was a controversial artist who became a leader in the pop art movement. Known for his painting, printmaking, photography, persona, film, and music, Warhol introduced a new paradigm to art culture. He pioneered in something like experimental artistic entrepreneurialism, which, among others,… Continue Reading

Remembering one of Canada’s greats who died nineteen years ago today. It was nineteen years ago today that John Candy passed away in his sleep from a heart attack while filming a movie in Durango, Mexico. Appearing in over 40 films, John led an illustrious career, becoming one of Canada’s most successful entertainers. Born in… Continue Reading

For most of us, the auction house doesn’t really inspire excitement. I think of old dead work and old people. Kate Bellringer, who runs the contemporary art section of Maynard’s Fine Art department, is the exact kind of person to change that image. Young, enthusiastic, intelligent and honest, she made me want to start paying… Continue Reading

An incredibly inspiring look at the career of entertainment mogul David Geffen.

Former commodities broker and artist Jeff Koons. Making art work is like any other job, which means that intrinsically it has the possibility to be a real drag or the only way for some to live. Or both at once. The connections and parallels between artists and entrepreneurial business people are shocking despite the outside… Continue Reading

I really hate the word culture sometimes. It means a lot of different things to different people and seems to be applied to many things that to me don’t qualify but to others are valid. One person’s culture is anothers knitting club. How you define culture is up to you and like we talked about… Continue Reading

Appropriation – separating something from where it came to give it another purpose – has been with us for a while and seems hard for someone to understand how it works in art making today. The idea that somethings are art and others are not isn’t the easiest thing to understand. It’s subjective and personal.… Continue Reading