ArtAsiaPacific

Cancel Culture

MF HUSAIN

Padmini Mohini Shankhini

c. 1969, oil on canvas, 64.7 × 124.4 cm. Courtesy Sotheby’s New York.

With cultural capitals such as New York and London becoming national epicenters of the Covid-19 pandemic, the art world’s auction calendar has been reshuffled repeatedly as auction houses try to decide the safest course of action. Sotheby’s and Christie’s have also furloughed hundreds of employees and slashed pay to make up the shortfall in revenues. Meanwhile, Christie’s Dubai nixed its March sale of modern and contemporary Middle East art, consolidating it with the house’s annual London sale in that category in October, citing insufficient high-quality consignments as the reason.

NEW YORK

Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art sale was the only one of its

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Contributors
Christine Han is a Singapore-based art writer. She was previously a contributing editor at World Sculpture News and Asian Art News, and her writing has appeared in Artforum, ArtAsiaPacific, Artlink, e-flux, Frieze, Flash Art, Mousse, Ocula, and Sculp

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