Ambiri Sana
Through our newsletter we deepen our market understanding, unlock value for our clients, and cultivate a diverse audience of intelligent and inquisitive individuals who are not traditional art world participants. We recognize a broad demand for insightful critique of art and the art world, plus an under explored dynamic interplay with the growing market for Digital Art. As we develop innovative products to engage and expand our audience; we are committed to creating value in the art market.
Artifacts of Faith and Power
Artifacts of Faith and Power The Fall of Rome and Rise of Early Christian Art (Part 1) Published: Thursday, 3 April 2025 Stand before the Arch of Constantine in Rome, and you'll see the story of civilization's greatest artistic collapse. On the same monument, sculptures from the Nerva-Antonine dynasty (96 - 192 CE) depict lifelike human forms and emotions: fear, determination, exhaustion, anatomically perfect muscles, and armor detailed down to individual links. However, the friezes carved...
Just Like Clockwork
Just Like Clockwork The Art of Being Swiss Published: Tuesday, 18 March 2025 "In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love—they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." Orson Welles delivered this verbal [arguably inaccurate] hand grenade in "The Third Man", and for decades it's stuck to Swiss...
The Pop Art Prophet
The Pop Art Prophet Andy Warhol and The Last Supper Published: Tuesday, 4 March 2025 In 2025, as we scroll through endless Instagram feeds where saints mingle with celebrities and sacred images become viral memes, it's worth remembering: Andy Warhol was there first. The artist famous for Campbell's Soup cans didn't just predict our culture of endless reproduction - he was secretly working on a deeper project: finding ways for religious meaning to survive in an age of mechanical reproduction....
Hiding in Plain Sight
Hiding in Plain Sight Interpreting Allegorical Art Published: Tuesday, 18 February 2025 On February 9th, Kendrick Lamar performed at the Super Bowl [1] halftime show. Millions watched as he transformed the field into a canvas of symbols and metaphors. The choreography, costumes, music, and set design were spectacular, but also spoke a visual symbolic language as old as art. It was a living allegorical painting with layers upon layers of deeper meaning. In that moment, Lamar wasn't just a...
The Bronze Frontier
The Bronze Frontier The Casting of the American West Published: Tuesday, 4 February 2025 You know what is fascinating about bronze casting? An artist's vision can be endlessly reproduced yet never exactly duplicated— each copy that emerges from the cast mold is both identical yet subtly different from all previous copies. In a world of identikit fashion, digitally replicated goods and formulaic music, it is refreshing to examine a medium where exact conformity is impossible. The recent...
Sweet Dreams Are Made of This
Sweet Dreams Are Made of This Australian Art Published: Tuesday, 21 January 2025 Dreaming. It is universal; it inspires children and sustains adults. Dreaming is part of our personal story, capable of evolution while connecting us to others and the world. Dreams can motivate, inspire, and guide us to our true selves. (Note that I'm talking about hopeful daydreams here, not the (potentially scary!) night-time dreams.... Think of Chagall's The Birthday or Sky Above Clouds IV by Georgia...
Beyond Rum and Reggae
Beyond Rum and Reggae Caribbean Art Published: Thursday, 9 January 2025 Happy New Year Everyone! Welcome to 2025! To kick off a new year at Ambiri Sana, we are diving into the vibrant and under-appreciated world of Caribbean art, to brighten the grey of winter with a splash of Caribbean sunshine. We’ve been fairly Western-centric so far, which is okay to build a foundation, but we need to broaden our horizons. There’s a world of art to discover, and it’s when you leave the cave that things...
Mimetic Miami
Mimetic Miami Art Basel Miami Published: Wednesday, 18 December 2024 After a week of embodying the mind, body and spirit of a seal pup with a pina colada (video below), I found myself in the middle of an art deco watering hole at Art Basel Miami. As the art world descended onto The 305 (i.e.'the Latin New York', aka Miami, Florida) to close out the 2024 season, you would not notice that attendance was apparently down by several thousand compared to last year: in contrast to some of the gloom...
When in Rome Part 3
When in Rome Part 3 Art and The Power of Display Published: Tuesday, 10 December 2024 Sometimes we forget the importance of context for our appreciation of things. A change in setting or display shifts how we perceive an object or person. Presentation and environment shape our experience and judgement. The designer fashion industry has certainly learned this lesson and is not shy about pulling all the levers to manipulate ahem influence our buying habits. Consider shopping at a thrift store...
When in Rome Part 2
When in Rome Part 2 It's All Greek (and Egyptian) To Me Published: Tuesday, 19 November 2024 Scheduling Note: We're an Anglo-American company, so we celebrate the King's Birthday and also Thanksgiving [1]. So, no newsletter next week due to holidays (vacations!); we'll be back in December. Sometimes we forget how multicultural art is. Popular movements typically associated with a culture can have strong influences from the art of other cultures. Whether its Japanese prints with French...
Through our newsletter we deepen our market understanding, unlock value for our clients, and cultivate a diverse audience of intelligent and inquisitive individuals who are not traditional art world participants. We recognize a broad demand for insightful critique of art and the art world, plus an under explored dynamic interplay with the growing market for Digital Art. As we develop innovative products to engage and expand our audience; we are committed to creating value in the art market.