Signals / 04 Sep 2026
The Kusama question is now in print. A New York Times investigation asks how much of Yayoi Kusama's 2023–24 output — a signed and dated pumpkin sculpture in Tokyo, more than 450 Louis Vuitton objects — she personally made while largely bedridden, which turns a long-whispered studio question into a documentation problem for anyone holding recent work. Elsewhere the mechanics of buying got more expensive: Christie's premium increase took effect September 1 and Bonhams follows October 1, putting both at Sotheby's post-February levels. And in Seoul, where dealers describe a distinctly more cautious room, Thaddaeus Ropac still moved an Adrian Ghenie for €1.1 million on VIP day while Salon 94 announced joint representation of Leilah Babirye with Gordon Robichaux and Max Hetzler — the day's clearest bet on an artist still early in her pricing curve.
A New York Times investigation into who made Yayoi Kusama's 2023–24 works lands the same week Christie's raises buyer's premiums to Sotheby's levels and Frieze Seoul dealers report a more cautious room.
Salon 94 takes on Leilah Babirye in joint representation with Gordon Robichaux and Galerie Max Hetzler, with a first solo exhibition planned for spring
Hetzler brings a European collector base Babirye has not had access to, and next spring's Salon 94 show is where the new primary price gets set — the window to buy at current levels is roughly two seasons wide.
gallery move · Growth · Leilah BabiryeThaddaeus Ropac sells Adrian Ghenie's 'Figure with Funerary Stele' (2026) for €1.1 million on Frieze Seoul's VIP day, among the fair's leading transactions
A seven-figure primary placement on day one, in a room dealers themselves describe as cautious, says Ghenie's demand is not dependent on market enthusiasm — no reason to sell into softness.
auction record · Blue-chip · Adrian GhenieNan Goldin says her market 'tanked from one day to the next' following her public support for Palestine
This is the artist's own account and unverified against results, but Goldin's photography market is thin enough that sentiment moves it — check the last four auction cycles before you transact either direction.
price trend · Blue-chip · Nan GoldinLucas Museum of Narrative Art opens to the public September 22 in Los Angeles, a $1 billion institution built around Norman Rockwell and narrative illustration
Paired with George Lucas's reported $20–30 million private purchase of Rockwell's 'Shuffleton's Barbershop', illustration now has a permanent institutional home — a category that has been priced as a curiosity gets a validating anchor.
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