Feb. 23-24 auction weekend teams Palm Beach Modern sale with Urban Culture Auctions debut

Alexander Calder (American, 1898-1976), Yin Yang, lithograph, ed. 15/175. Est. $1,500-$2,500

PALM BEACH, Fla. – Every auction hosted by Palm Beach Modern is an event to remember, from its complimentary catered buffets and valet parking to the comfortable, friendly environment in which outstanding modern art and design are showcased. Over the weekend of February 23-24, Palm Beach Modern Auctions will share the spotlight with its spinoff company, Urban Culture Auctions, bringing bidders premier contemporary and modern art along with fascinating entertainment memorabilia, cool designer goods, and many other tangible artifacts reflecting today’s ever-changing global culture.

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Peter Doig masterpiece gifted to the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Peter Doig (British, b. 1959), ‘Two Trees,’ 2017, oil on linen, 94½ in. x 11 ft. 7¾ in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of George Economou, in celebration of the museum’s 150th Anniversary, 2018 © Peter Doig / 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

NEW YORK – The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced the acquisition of Peter Doig’s monumental landscape painting Two Trees (2017), a gift from George Economou in celebration of the Met’s upcoming 150th anniversary, in 2020.

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Santa Fe Art Auction features Spanish Colonial paintings Feb. 24

‘Portrait of Mary with Her Parents,’ oil on canvas affixed to board, Cuzco School, 52 x 33½ inches. Estimate: $12,000-$15,000. Santa Fe Art Auction image

SANTA FE, N.M. – Santa Fe Art Auction will conduct its first-ever online sale of Spanish Colonial and Hispanic Arts on Sunday, Feb. 24. The auction is composed of Latin American Colonial artworks alongside 20th-century pieces by the most renowned artists working in traditional Northern New Mexico genres of bultos, retablos and devotional art – more than 100 lots. Bid absentee or live online through LiveAuctioneers.

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Super Mario Bros. video game sells for record $100K

Nintendo’s 1985 Super Mario Bros., still sealed after 34 years, which sold for $100,150. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions

DALLAS – An unopened copy of Super Mario Bros., the classic video game released by Nintendo in 1985, set a world record for a graded game when it recently sold for $100,150.

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Sotheby’s to offer important Mark Rothko painting May 16

Mark Rothko, ‘Untitled,’ oil on canvas, 69 by 50 1/8 in. Executed in 1960. Estimate $35/50 million. © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

NEW YORK – Sotheby’s will offer Mark Rothko’s Untitled, 1960, on behalf of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in May to benefit the institution’s acquisitions fund.

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Going full tilt for arcade video games

A big part of the appeal of Computer Space was its futuristic-looking cabinet. Photo courtesy of Peekaboo Gallery

NEW YORK – For many people, a favorite childhood memory was time spent in the local arcade playing video games. Long before home gaming consoles like PlayStation and Xbox kept kids home, they would flock to arcades to play video games, lured in by the flashing lights, music and intoxicating sounds effects of the games.

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