Exclusive Interview with Dave Vescio – Part 2: Death, Darkness, Light!14th Century Vajradhara Figurine Sells for €4.16 Million as Speelman Collection of Ancient Himalayan Art Achieves €15.2 Million at AuctionHow To Discover Yourself As An ArtistRecord-Breaking Sale: Ancient Tibetan Sculpture of Virupaksha Achieves $4.85 Million at Bonhams Hong Kong Auction
Maurice Leloir’s Four Historical Scenes Sell for €128,600 at BonhamsJacob Jordaens’s Portrait of His Wife Sells for €154,200 at BonhamsRenaissance Portrait Attributed to Conrad Faber Sells for €295,000 at BonhamsJodi the Nanotyrannus Sells for US$47.3 Million at Sotheby’sQianlong Emperor’s Jewel-Encrusted Gold Ewer Sells for US$7.11 Million at Christie’sHockney’s €282,200 Print Leads Warhol and Banksy in €1.06 Million Bonhams SaleMV Agusta Sells for $1.3 Million, Setting an Italian Motorcycle Auction RecordEnigma Machine Sells for £203,600 at Bonhams: Inside the 1941 Cipher DeviceUzo Egonu’s Will Knowledge Safeguard Freedom I Sets Auction Record at £198,900Yusuf Grillo’s One Man Band Sets Artist Auction Record at £461,300Ben Enwonwu’s Anyanwu Sells for £602,100, Setting a Sculpture Record at BonhamsRare Gandhi Portrait Achieves £152,800, Tripling Its EstimateBanksy’s British Cool Mickey Snake Triumphs at Bonhams, Selling for £330,600Whistler’s First Portrait Commission Sells for Five Times Estimate, Fetching $495,000Bridget Riley Stuns Art World as Myrrh Soars to $2.36M at Bonhams

Russia

Breaking the Silence: Mihail Rakov’s Audio Drama ‘The Call’ Confronts Workplace Sexual Harassment in Russia and Post-Soviet Countries | VIDEO

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The Call, audio drama by Mihail Rakov.

Sexual harassment in the workplace has become one of the most discussed issues in recent years. Women worldwide have found the courage to step forward and share their experiences. This act has been particularly important for those in societies where victim-blaming is the norm in cases of abuse. This is especially true in post-Soviet countries, where sex and sexuality were taboo topics, and sexual abuse was often seen as something for which only the victim was responsible. Over the past few years, movements like #MeToo have exposed the uncomfortable reality of harassment in women’s professional lives. Millions of women have bravely shared their hidden traumas with the public, inspiring others to speak out.

Discovering The Shigir Idol: A 10,000 BC Artifact

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The Shigir Idol.

Imagine for a moment, that you are a miner in Siberia at the end of the nineteenth century, slogging with your colleagues through the moss-laden, muck-infused waters of the mire in search of gold, only to stumble upon something far more rare. This is precisely what occurred in 1890, within the Sverdlovsk region of Russia’s Ural Mountains, when a team of laborers who were busy excavating a peat bog inadvertently discovered a strange and ornate wooden figure featuring an eerie human face. Resting at an approximate depth of four meters beneath the surface of the acidic, oxygen-low, and therefore anti-bacterial conditions of the bog that had preserved it, the mysterious object that would come to be known as the “Shigir Idol” (named after the Shigir bog it was found within) was discovered in a series of 10 fragments.

Why Soviet Firearms are a Great Investment – Part 1: The SKS

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SKS rifle on a white background with the words ‘THE SKS’.

Despite its relatively short term as the Soviet Union’s main battle rifle, this has not diminished the SKS rifle’s presence on the global market as an increasingly sought-after firearm that is both highly collectible and investible. There are in fact numerous reasons for this. The most readily apparent is the historical aspect. There is of course the SKS rifle’s iconic status as a classic WWII and Cold War era firearm of the Soviet Union. There is also its extensive use by other countries across numerous conflicts throughout history, including the Chinese Civil War and the Vietnam War. To this day, the SKS remains in active, secondary, and ceremonial use across the world.