One Fine Show: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys at the VMFA
Exhibitions of art collections are not meant to be cohesive; this one is a mixtape where each track is strong even if it doesn’t flow naturally into the next.
The 10 Gourmet Grocers Fueling Miami’s Wellness Moment
Erewhon, who? These markets turn grocery shopping into an epicurean adventure.
The 50 Most Powerful PR Firms of 2026
This year’s honorees are emblematic of a notable shift in public relations from responsive publicity to proactive leadership in the moments that matter most.
Business
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Warren Buffett’s Final Berkshire Bet Brings Him Back to Newspapers
Warren Buffett’s final Berkshire Hathaway investment reflects a full-circle return to the newspaper business that launched his career.
Sam Altman’s Acqui-Hire of OpenClaw’s Peter Steinberger May Define ChatGPT’s Future
OpenAI hires OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger to advance personal A.I. agents, even as experts warn of privacy and security concerns.
Sam Altman and Dario Amodei Make India Their Next A.I. Battleground
In New Delhi, Altman and Amodei signal that India is central to their battle for global A.I. dominance.
Observer New Media Power List: Call for Submissions
Nominations are open for Observer’s 2026 New Media Power List
Meta’s Controversial A.I. Chief Alexandr Wang Outlines His Superintelligence Playbook
Alexandr Wang says Meta’s vast global reach gives it a decisive edge in delivering “personal superintelligence” tailored to each user’s goals.
Art
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Dean Majd’s “Hard Feelings” Expands the Emotional Register of Masculinity
In his debut solo exhibition at BAXTER ST, the photographer depicts intimacy, grief, fraternity and joy among men with rare candor.
Pier Paolo Calzolari On the Quiet Alchemy of Time
“For me, Arte Povera was about understanding everything as part of a broader whole, trying to merge with it, to understand it, to follow it in some way. There is a kind of familiarity with things,” the artist told Observer.
Nunu Hung’s Year of Ambition, Intellectual Depth and Unapologetic Openness
“The program is more than simply a series of individual exhibitions that end once they are deinstalled; when audiences look back on the full arc of the year, I hope they see a space deeply committed to intergenerational, intersectional and global narratives,” she tells Observer.
Inside the Wang Contemporary, Alexander Wang’s New Cross-Disciplinary Arts Platform
“What really excites me is the opportunity to collaborate with artists outside of fashion and to continue learning from creatives working in entirely different forms—it feels like the beginning of a new dialogue,” he told Observer.
11 Books That Will Transform Your Understanding of Art
The best books about art expand not only what we know but also how we see, sharpening our awareness of the forces that shape artistic production across time.
Lifestyle
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An Oregon Sommelier Maps the Best Tasting Rooms in Willamette Valley
A local expert reveals where pinot noir, chardonnay and sparkling truly shine in Oregon’s premier wine region.
Park Hyatt Tokyo, a Cinematic Icon, Reclaims Its Place in the City’s Skyline
The high-rise that changed Tokyo hospitality returns warmer and sharper, with its legacy intact.
Dubai-Born Gaia Brings Its Simple Yet Glamorous Mediterranean Flavors to Miami
The Dubai sensation arrives in Miami Beach with an ice market of pristine seafood and a philosophy rooted in simplicity over spectacle.
Cassidy Gard’s 10 Best Books to Read at Life’s Crossroads
“These books didn’t just inspire me—they gave me permission to be complicated, to be a hurricane, to take up space. And when I finally gave myself that permission, my own story came pouring out.”
Fouquet’s Saint-Barth Takes the High Ground in Gustavia
Perched above the harbor in Gustavia, Fouquet’s Saint-Barth trades beachfront theatrics for altitude, discretion and a quietly confident grip on the island’s social whirl.
Interviews
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Meet the Collector: Julia Stoschek On the Challenges and Rewards of Collecting Durational Art
With more than 900 works spanning video, film and immersive installation, her collection reflects decades of commitment to preserving and advancing the language of moving images.
How Artist Diana Thater and CMACC’s Cass Fino-Radin Are Rebuilding an Archive After Disaster
“Out of over 200 artworks, I’ve identified 55 that need to be located. We’re now working to find those pieces in institutions and private collections and digitize them so that I at least have a digital copy of the work.”
Davide Balliano’s Geometric Abstraction Sits at the Threshold of Precision and Entropy
“My work comes out of an anxious need to control time and space on a limited human scale, which is the scale of a painting, a sheet of paper, whatever it is,” the artist tells Observer.
At Swivel Gallery, Amy Bravo Confronts Intergenerational Trauma, Identity and the Power of the Collective
The artist’s works in her second solo exhibition with the gallery reflect the regenerative strength she finds in unity.
Sargent’s Daughters’ Allegra LaViola Is Playing the Long Game
“I work for the artists,” she tells Observer. “If the artist is happy and the work is strong, everything else follows.”
Power Lists
See AllObserver New Media Power List: Call for Submissions
Nominations are open for Observer’s 2026 New Media Power List
The 50 Most Powerful PR Firms of 2026
This year’s honorees are emblematic of a notable shift in public relations from responsive publicity to proactive leadership in the moments that matter most.
Wall-to-Wall Cultural Capital: Inside Observer’s Art Power Index Party
Under the dim lights of the Lower East Side’s Maison Nur, art world luminaries gathered to celebrate Observer’s Art Power Index—and each other. From the impassioned speeches to the sharp tailoring and Damien Hirst over the bar, the evening embodied our legacy of chronicling power with style.
2025 Nightlife & Dining Power Index
Humanity is still the most vital ingredient in hospitality, and that isn’t changing anytime soon.
Observer’s 2025 Art Power Index: The Art Market’s Most Influential People
Their acquisitions, affinities and approbations move the needle on valuation and redefine how art is made, shown and sold.
Latest
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Ted Sarandos, Greg Peters Fight to Lock in Netflix’s Warner Bros. Discovery Deal
As Paramount re-enters the picture, Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters push regulators and investors to lock in the defining media merger of the streaming era.
What Sotheby’s Buyer’s Premium Increase Reveals About the Major Houses’ Evolving Commercial Strategies
Fee increases reflect intensifying competition among auction houses seeking to maximize revenue across tiers.
Humain CEO Tareq Amin Injects $3B Into Elon Musk’s xAI to Power Saudi A.I. Ambitions
Humain CEO Tareq Amin led a $3 billion investment in Elon Musk’s xAI, strengthening Saudi Arabia’s role as a capital and infrastructure force shaping global A.I. development.
New York’s High Energy Costs Are a Hidden Affordability Crisis
Catalyst Power’s Gabe Phillips analyzes how Winter Storm Fern exposed a structural problem behind New York City’s soaring power costs. As Local Law 97 deadlines approach and federal solar incentives phase down, he argues that targeted reforms could deliver measurable cost relief while strengthening grid resilience and accelerating clean energy deployment.
DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis Warns AGI Remains Years Away Despite A.I. Breakthroughs
Demis Hassabis warns A.I.’s uneven reasoning limits progress toward AGI, despite breakthroughs like AlphaFold and Olympiad-level math performance.
From Jim Farley to RJ Scaringe, Auto CEOs Turn Off-Road Vehicles Into Profit Engines
Ford CEO Jim Farley says off-road SUVs like Bronco and Raptor deliver major profits, as automakers cash in on rugged styling and high-margin trims.
Sotheby’s “Origins II” Results Suggest Saudi Collectors Are Prioritizing Legacy
The auction house’s second sale in Saudi Arabia achieved $19.6 million, driven in part by strong demand for MENA artists.
The 11 Best New Restaurants to Check Out This February in New York City
New York City’s February restaurant openings include over-the-top omakases, thoughtful cocktail spots and much more.
Old Master Grandeur and Modern Patronage Converge at the 2026 Norton Museum of Art Gala
Inspired by the museum’s “Art and Life in Rembrandt’s Time: Masterpieces from the Leiden Collection,” the evening’s design was an homage to the enduring legacy of 17th-century Dutch painting.
At the Riviera Maya Edition, Francisco Ruano Turns a Milestone Into a Culinary Power Play
Francisco “Paco” Ruano and Jonatán Gómez Luna showcased both earthy and oceanic ingredients from Mexico and the Caribbean.
Why a Signature Can Make or Break an Artwork’s Price
The convention of signing an entire edition at once dates back to the 1930s, when Paris dealer Leo Spitzer persuaded several major artists, including Matisse and Picasso, to produce refined reproductions that they would sign and he would sell.
Don’t Miss: “Darwin in Paradise Camp” at the Whitworth in Manchester
Blending humor, camp aesthetics and rigorous research, artist Yuki Kihara challenges the authority of Western knowledge systems and their role in defining gender and culture.